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 Deviled Egg Potato Salad (Leftovers) Total time: 2 hours.
Not for Dad. Serves 4-6.
4-5 medium potatoes
2 hard boiled eggs, diced + 2 hard boiled egg yolks
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1-2 celery stalks, sliced
1-2 dill pickles, minced
2 tsp pickle juice
2 tsp dijon mustard
1 tsp ground yellow mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp paprika
salt & pepper to taste
Wash potatoes well, remove sprouts and blemishes, and either peel or don’t peel them. Cut potatoes into bite size or larger cubes. Place potatoes in a large pot, and fill with water 2 inches higher than the highest potato. Cook covered or uncovered 20-40 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Drain well.
Rinse potatoes with cool water, drain well, and refrigerate for 20-30 minutes.
In a large mixing bowl, mix together mayonnaise, hard boiled egg yolks, celery, pickles, pickle juice, dijon mustard, dry mustard, salt, paprika, and optional salt & pepper to taste. Be sure to crush the egg yolks to make them smooth. It should taste on the salty side. Refrigerate for 20-30 minutes.
Add potato and egg pieces to the dressing and mix well. Chill for 20-30 minutes to let the flavors settle.
If you’re wanting a picnic salad, you really shouldn’t use eggs.
I use a full teaspoon of salt, plus 1/2 teaspoon of pepper, so that I don’t have to salt and pepper my salad on my plate. Most people will probably be fine with just 1/2 tsp of salt, though.
 Beef with Curried Tomato Almond Sauce Total time: Approximately 1 hour.
The July 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by Margie of More Please and Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make their own nut butter from scratch, and use the nut butter in a savory recipe. The original recipe given called for chicken, I used beef, and I substituted heavy cream in place of milk.
1 Tablespoon (15 ml) olive oil
24 ounces beef, cubed or diced
Salt to taste
Spice Blend:
1.5 tablespoons (20 ml) garam masala seasoning
1 teaspoon (5 ml) ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon (2 ml) ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon (1 ml) black pepper
Sauce:
4 tablespoons (60 ml) butter
1 large onion, cut in half pole to pole
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (15-ounce/425 g) can tomato sauce
1/3 cup (80 ml) almond butter
1/2 cup (80 ml) heavy cream
½ to ¾ cup (120 to 180 ml) chicken broth or water, more as needed
1 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
 Almond Cream Directions:
Mix together almond butter and heavy cream in a food processor or blender (or whisk until smooth). Set aside.
Stir garam masala, ginger, cinnamon, and pepper together in a small bowl. Set aside.
If desired, pound meat to ¼ inch (6 mm) thickness to promote even cooking. Sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper to taste. Heat 1 teaspoon (5 ml) olive oil a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add half the meat; sauté 3 to 5 minutes on each side or until cooked through. Cook the meat in 2 batches, adding more oil if needed for second batch. Set aside on clean plate and keep warm.
Melt the butter in large nonstick skillet over medium-low heat. Add the onion and cook gently for several minutes to infuse the butter with onion flavor. Keep the heat low to avoid burning the butter; a little color is fine. Add the spice blend and garlic and cook for 1 minute or till fragrant, stirring constantly. Add the tomato sauce, stir well, and bring to boil. Reduce heat to simmer. Whisk in almond cream until thoroughly combined with tomato sauce. Return to simmer. Add broth (or water) to sauce to reach desired consistency; return to simmer. Add more broth (or water) as needed to thin sauce as desired.
Transfer sliced meat to sauce. Simmer gently for a few minutes until meat is heated through.
Serve meat and sauce over rice. Garnish with chopped parsley and/or sliced almonds if desired.
As this is, I couldn’t possibly label it as Indian, but it definitely has an Indian flavor to it. So if you’re looking for something reminiscent of Indian food, and you’re not a fan of cumin or fenugreek, this is definitely a winner.
 Pecan Cream Total time: 30 minutes.
The July 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by Margie of More Please and Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make their own nut butter from scratch, and use the nut butter in a savory recipe.
It looks like stroganoff with tofu, and it could be.
One 14 ounce package of tofu, cubed
1 recipe of pecan butter (about 1/2 cup)
1 cup heavy cream, or more for a thinner sauce
1/2 large onion, finely chopped
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp minced garlic, or to taste
salt and pepper to taste
sage, thyme, or rosemary (optional)
Mix pecan butter and heavy cream in a food processor or blender (or whisk until smooth). Set aside.
Heat the oil in a large saucepan over high heat. Cook the onion 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly, then lower the heat to medium-high until well browned (about 5 minutes). Add garlic and cook for one more minute.
 Pecan Cream Tofu on noodles with mixed greens, cheese, and chopped pecans Add tofu and cook until most of the moisture is gone from the pan, and the tofu is brown on all sides (about 10 minutes). Add pecan cream and any herb seasonings, and bring just to a boil.
Salt and pepper to taste. Serve over rice or noodles.
Try it with meat instead of tofu. Add mushrooms, if you like (I don’t like).
 Pecan Butter Total time: 10-20 minutes.
The July 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by Margie of More Please and Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make their own nut butter from scratch, and use the nut butter in a savory recipe.
3/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans*, toasted
3/4 tsp salt, more as needed
1 – 2 tsps vegetable oil (optional)
Instructions for nut butter, by Margie and Natashya:
Pour nuts into bowl of food processor. Grind the nuts in the processor until they form a paste or butter. The nuts first turn into powdery or grainy bits, then start to clump and pull away from the side of the bowl, and finally form a paste or butter.
The total time required depends on the fat and moisture content of the nuts; grinding time will vary from roughly 1 to 4 minutes (assuming a starting volume of 1 to 2 cups [240 to 480 ml] nuts).
You may add oil as desired during grinding to make the nut butter smoother and creamier or to facilitate grinding. Add oil in small increments, by the teaspoon for oily nuts like cashews or by the tablespoon for dryer/harder nuts like almonds. You may use the corresponding nut oil or a neutral vegetable oil like canola. The inclusion of salt in the nut butters is optional and to taste. If you make nut butters from salted nuts, peanuts or cashews for example, you will not need additional salt.
 Almond butter made with toasted almond slivers (no skins) It’s helpful to keep in mind that the yield of nut butter is about half the original volume of nuts. If you start with 1 cup nuts, you’ll get about ½ cup nut butter.
Roasting the nuts before making nut butters is optional according to your preference. To roast nuts in the oven, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C/Gas Mark 4). Spread nuts in a single layer on a baking sheet or roasting pan. Bake for approximately 10 minutes or until nuts are fragrant and a shade darker in color. Allow nuts to cool before grinding. Roasted nuts will make butter with darker color than raw nuts.
 Curried beef with vegetables on rice Total time: Approximately 1 hour.
The July 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by Margie of More Please and Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make their own nut butter from scratch, and use the nut butter in a savory recipe.
1 pound sliced beef
14 ounces (1 can) coconut milk
2/3 cup peanut butter or other nut butter*
1 carrot, sliced or julienned
1/2 bushel of fresh spinach, rinsed well
1/4 cup Thai red curry paste or more to taste
1/4 cup soy sauce (or 2 Tbsp fish sauce)
1/4 cup loose (not packed) brown sugar
1 Tbsp chopped onions (optional)
1 Tbsp vegetable or other oil
* To make your own nut butter, process in a food processor an amount of nuts equal to double what the recipe requires. In this case, I used 1.5 cups of salted, unshelled peanuts, and processed until a smooth paste formed. Some nut butter might require oil (to process and make smooth) and salt (to taste).
This is a stirring-constantly stir fry.
Heat oil in a large skillet on medium-high. Add onions (it should sizzle) and cook until clear or golden brown, 3-5 minutes. Add sliced beef and cook until brown on all sides, 2-3 minutes. Add curry paste and mix well until all pieces of meat are coated.
Add carrots, coconut milk (remember to shake it before opening it!), and peanut butter. Stir well. Add soy sauce and brown sugar, mix well, and cook until it just starts to boil. Cover and reduce heat to low, cooking until the carrots are tender or desired doneness, 5-10 minutes. If you like your carrots firm, skip the reduction.
Add spinach and stir well until the spinach wilts and is completely covered in sauce.
Serves 4-6.
This is a little more sauce than there is food to coat, so if you have more vegetables, you should probably add them.
The flavor of your red curry paste will vary, so use caution if you don’t like a lot of heat. I never put seafood anything in my curry paste, and I always use the full amount of peppers, because you never know if you’ll get “lame duck” peppers instead of the good hot kind you really want.
 Spinach and Strawberry Salad Total time: 8 minutes.
1/2 pound fresh baby spinach
1/2 cup toasted almond slivers
1/2 cup thinly sliced strawberries
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 green onion, finely chopped
dressing *
1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup to 1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Alternatively, I hear this is really good with pre-made raspberry vinaigrette.
Serves 4.
What a crisp, summer, fresh, wonderful salad!
I mixed up the salad and then drizzled the dressing on top. I put a full 1/2 cup sugar in the dressing, but it was just way too sweet for me. Next time, I’ll chop it in half and add to taste.
I’m glad I didn’t mix the dressing in with the salad… It makes 4 bowls of salad, but the dressing makes enough for 8-12 bowls, depending on how liberal you are with dressing. I’ll definitely adjust that for next time, too.
 Pecan Biscotti Total time: 1 hour, plus “frosting” time
3 cups cheap all-purpose flour (or 2 1/2 cups of King Arthur flour)
1 cup sugar
1 cup raw pecans, chopped
2 eggs
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 Tbsp hazelnut syrup
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp salt*
optional spread
1 cup butterscotch chips
1 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp brown sugar
* Only use 1/2 tsp salt if you’re skipping the butterscotch spread.
Preheat oven to 350.
Mix flour, baking powder and salt in a small mixing bowl, set aside.
Beat sugar and softened butter until smooth. Add eggs, syrup and vanilla, beat until smooth. Add flour mixture to egg mixture and mix just until just blended. Fold in pecans.
 Pecan Biscotti with Butterscotch Divide dough into two pieces. Form into long flat loaves about 1/2 inch tall and 12-15 inches long. Place the loaves 3-4 inches apart on a prepared or non-stick baking sheet.
Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for 10-15 minutes (or until you can handle the loaves without burning yourself) on a cooling rack or cutting board.
With a serrated or extremely sharp kitchen knife, cut diagonally into 1/2 inch thick slices. Lay the slices flat on the baking sheet.
Bake for 15-18 minutes, turning over once. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Melt butterscotch chips, brown sugar and butter on low in a double boiler on the stove or on low heat in the microwave, stirring frequently. Spread warm butterscotch mix across the side or bottom of biscotti. Transfer to wax paper to cool.
Makes about 2 dozen.
The butterscotch chips were apparently more packed with sugar than I anticipated. This makes for an incredibly sweet and somewhat “thick” spread instead of what I’m used to with chocolate. Next time, I’ll not be using any brown sugar. It still cooled and became solid, but I’d much prefer to dip or drizzle it over the top of the biscotti instead of having to spread it on like peanut butter.
The biscotti tastes pretty darn good without the butterscotch.
 White Bean Layer Total time: 1 hour, plus overnight chilling.
The June 2010 Daring Cook’s Challenge was hosted by Evelyne, of Cheap Ethnic Eatz, and Valerie, of The Chocolate Bunny, and they chose delicious pâté with freshly baked bread.
I served my vegetable pâtés as individual pâté instead of a layered block. I’ve included the red pepper recipe I skipped, as well as my version of the other two layers.
Yields one 25 by 12,5 cm (10 by 5 inch) terrine or loaf pan
Line your pan with plastic wrap, overlapping sides.
White Bean Layer
16 ounces cannellini (white kidney beans), rinsed, drained thoroughly
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp minced fresh oregano or 1 teaspoon dried
2 garlic cloves, pressed
salt and pepper to taste
Boil beans in large saucepan for 30-60 minutes, until soft. Drain thoroughly. Mash beans in large bowl. Add lemon juice, olive oil, oregano and garlic and blend until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Spread bean mixture evenly on bottom of prepared pan.
Red Pepper Layer
7-ounce / 210 ml jar roasted red bell peppers, drained, chopped
3/4 cup / 180 ml crumbled feta cheese (about 4 ounces)
Combine peppers and feta in processor and blend until smooth. Spread pepper mixture evenly over bean layer in prepared dish.
 Pesto Layer Pesto Layer
2 garlic cloves
1 cup fresh basil leaves
1 cup fresh Italian parsley leaves
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup ricotta cheese, partially drained
Mince garlic in processor. Add basil, parsley and pine nuts and mince. With machine running, gradually add oil through feed tube and process until smooth. Mix in ricotta. Spread pesto evenly over red pepper layer.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
To unmold, invert pâté onto serving platter. Peel off plastic wrap from pâté. Garnish with herb sprigs and serve with sourdough bread slices.
I lined my cupcake tin with saran wrap, placed pecans and almond slivers in the bottom of some cups, then filled them with bean, pea or pesto mash. After chilling in the refrigerator overnight, I gently flipped them out onto my cutting board to make cute little mini pâtés.
I kept them in the freezer until an hour before I was going to use them. Over the course of few weeks, I tried each of these with pita bread, whole wheat bread toast, and a variety of crackers. The bean layer tasted best with some cream cheese on a pita, and the pesto layer tasted great on everything (I love basil and pine nuts).
 Pea pâté Total time: 30 minutes, plus optional overnight chilling
The June 2010 Daring Cook’s Challenge was hosted by Evelyne, of Cheap Ethnic Eatz, and Valerie, of The Chocolate Bunny, and they chose delicious pâté with freshly baked bread.
Adapted from Sesame Sweet Pea Spread in 356 Ways to Cook Vegetarian by Kitty Morse.
10 ounces petite peas
1/4 cup tahini (sesame paste)
1/4 cup dry sherry
2 Tbsp butter
1/2 large onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp salt
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter and cook onion and garlic until softened (3-4 minutes). Add peas, sherry, and salt. Cover, reduce heat to low, and cook until peas are soft (4-5 minutes). Stir in lemon juice, and let cool 5 minutes.
In a blender or food processor, puree pea mixture. Add tahini and process until well blended.
 Pea Pâté with Pecans Serve chilled, formed or not.
I lined my cupcake tin with saran wrap, placed a pair of pecans in one cup, then filled them with pea mash. After chilling in the refrigerator overnight, I gently flipped them out onto my cutting board to make cute little mini pâtés.
This was the recipe I selected instead of doing the roasted red peppers from the DC challenge recipe. Maybe it was the sherry, maybe it was the tahini, I’m not quite sure, but something just didn’t seem right tasting to me after it chilled in the refrigerator. I liked it better warm, as a spread, than cold as a pâté.
 Cinnamon Rolls Warning: Cinnamon rolls take time – lots of time. The following recipe is 4-5 hours or overnight. This recipe is supposed to make 12, but I always end up with 16-20 rolls.
5 cups cheap all purpose flour (or 4.5 cups of King Arthur AP flour)
1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)
1/2 cup seedless raisins (optional)
3 eggs, beaten
7 T shortening
7 T white granulated sugar, plus 2 tsp sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 T warm water (105-115F)
1 T ground cinnamon
1 T active dry yeast
1 tsp salt
4 T – 8 T melted butter, or as much or less as you want
Scald 1 cup of milk (I like to put it in the microwave on high for 30 seconds, stir, on high for a minute, stir, then on high again for 30 seconds). Add shortening, stir well. Set aside to cool to room temperature (about 30 minutes).
In a small bowl, combine yeast, water, and 2 tsp sugar. Let sit for 3-5 minutes or until frothy.
In a large mixing bowl, combine white sugar, eggs, and salt. Add cooled milk mixture, mix well. Add yeast mixture, mix well. Add flour, mix well for 3-5 minutes, until all the flour is completely incorporated.
Transfer to a lightly greased bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled (3-4 hours).
Lightly flour the surface of the dough and your hands. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured board. You might want to lightly flour your rolling pin, as well. Roll dough to a thickness of 1/4 inch, rectangle optional.
In a small bowl, mix brown sugar and cinnamon until the color becomes a uniform brown.
Spread the surface of the rolled dough generously with melted butter. Sprinkle cinnamon mixture as evenly as possible across the surface. Follow suit with pecans and/or raisins.
Starting at one side of your dough, fold dough in tightly and roll as snugly as you can to the opposite side. Cut into 1 inch slices and place directly into lightly greased baking tin. Place rolls 1/4 inch to 1 inch apart. Cover and let rise 30 minutes, or cover and store in the refrigerator up to 48 hours. (Remove from refrigerator and let rise 30 minutes before baking.)
Bake 15-30 minutes in a 375F oven, until tops are golden brown (eggwash optional). Just keep an eye on them after the 15 minute mark. I use the middle rack.
When I bake 4 in my 8 inch brownie pan, I only bake them for 15 minutes. Same thing if I squeeze them into a circle on my cookie sheet. When I put 8 in my lasagna pan, I have to bake them quite a bit longer, hence the “15-30” minute range on baking times.
Check out Joy the Baker’s photos here for step by step instructions on how to roll, sprinkle, and prepare cinnamon rolls (not to mention a much sweeter recipe).
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