Vegetarian Foodie

Key Lime Pie

photo credit: Baked Bree

Key Lime Pie is delicious and easy to make. Baked Bree has a fabulous set of photos here: Key Lime Pie

• 1/2 cup fresh lime juice (12 to 15 key limes)
• 4 teaspoons grated lime zest
• 4 egg yolks
• 1 - 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
• 11 graham crackers
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• Whipping Cream and a dash of sugar for topping 

Whisk the egg yolks and lime zest together, Beat in milk, then juice. 

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Mix graham cracker crumbs and sugar in another bowl.

Add butter and stir with a fork until well blended.

Pour into a 9-inch pie pan and press over the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Try using the bottom of a measuring cup to make sure the graham cracker mixture forms a firm crust on the bottom of the pie pan.

Bake or about 15 minutes until the crust is lightly brown, remove and let cool to room temperature.

Pour the lime filling into crust, spread evenly, and then bake for 15 minutes until the center sets 

Remove from oven and cool to room temperature. Refrigerate for at least three hours (if you can)

Whip the cream and top......

Coffee Cake

I love a crumbly breakfast coffee cake. I recently made the coffee cake shown above and it was...good- but I find myself shrugging my shoulders when I say, "Good" as if it must not have been that good. The recipe was from The Art and Soul of Baking... a tome of a cookbook that checked out from the library.

So I am still in search of the perfect recipe...you know, the one in my back pocket that I have memorized and it never fails. The one the kids will clasp their hands together on a Friday night and say, "Please make Saturday morning coffee cake Mom"....

To-do and In search:

Pioneer Woman claims to have the Best Coffee Cake

Smitten Kitchen rarely fails me so I must add this recipe to my to-do: Big Crumb Coffee Cake

and a Raspberry Crumb Coffee Cake with Vermont Maple Frosting looks like it deserves a chance.

That should keep me busy for a few Saturdays.... To Be Continued.... 

 

 

 

 

 

Hibiscus Marshmallows

This is a page from the recipe book I recently purchased (on the left) HomeMade. While I adore the photos, font and layout...

The recipes overall have been underwhelming: Sad but true. I know the book was translated from French into English so I suppose there could have been a few issues there.... not sure. While I understand recipes being bland or boring... having something totally not work out and actually taste bad is very strange. There is actually a moment in the marshmallow recipe in which I think there is a comma missing and it confuses the recipe immensely. I have tried about 10 of the recipes and will continue before I just turn around and sell this book on Amazon..... I am anxious to be be won over.  

No rose petal tea so I settled on hibiscus.... Gelatin is gross and not vegetarian true.... but seeing that I am the only veg in the house and marshmallows are a hit with kids.... right?!

I am not printing this entire recipe because it sucked. The kids didn't even like the marshmallows.... But, here are photos of the marshmallow process. Don't be surprised if someday I try a different marshmallow recipe.... I have heard there are some good vegan recipes.

Applesauce Walnut Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

If only I could locate the recipe on Bon Appetite... I saw it there and made it last week. I also made it Gluten Free (for a friend who was coming to dinner) by substituting rice flour and it worked out very well....

It was a lovely recipe because it called for applesauce and was so quick to make... This cake looks equally as great though: HERE

I am very pleased that fall is here... Squash, apples and rain! Hooray.

The Business of Hazelnuts and Plums...

Remember when I received a box of plums from a very generous neighbor and squeezed 2 gallons of plum wine out of the lot? Well, I managed to also make this (picture above) .......yes yes and yes. I happened to make the tart in the morning of what would later turn into a power outage party so this hazelnut plum crumb tart sat ready made and begging to be eaten.

Puffed Brown Rice, Peanut Butter and Chocolate Bar

About the time we stumbled upon the recipe for chocolate peanut butter cups we also stumbled upon this recipe. We are undergoing an effort around here to eliminate all processed and packaged foods... so I am in search of the perfect granola bar to pack for to go lunches. My search continues... while these are good-they are not it.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

What a stunning week end past of sunshine, rain, friends, a pie party (!), out of town visitors.... and all with the husband out of town - (Imagine me falling into bed at 8:05 PM every night)

To welcome him home we thought we would make chocolate peanut butter cups. Tasty bits indeed... howeveer they fell apart at every attempt to pull the wrapper back. Hmmm.... not sure about that or how to fix.

We allowed them to go to room temperature and there seems to be a magic moment in which the cups are not too cold or not too warm (melty) in which they emerge from their wrapper in a pretty manner.

A bit high maintenance really....

The above photo is the cups without their top layer of chocolate just to offer a perspective of the assemble process. Here is a link to the blog in which I pulled the recipe: Handle the Heat

Strawberry Jam

• 2 Lbs Fresh Strawberries
• 4 Cups White Sugar
• 1/4 Lemon Juice

Crush the berries into a mess!

In a heavy bottomed saucepan, mix together the strawberries, sugar, and lemon juice. Stir over low heat until the sugar is dissolved. Increase heat to high, and bring the mixture to a full rolling boil. Boil, stirring often.

We did not add thickener (pectin) so this really is more of a strawberry drizzle and begged to be eaten within a day or so.

So, we made Crepes..... with bananas and strawberry drizzle.... YUM!

Nectarine Boysenberry Crumble

Nectarine Boysenberry and Almond Crisp from Rustic Desserts

Crisp Topping

• 1 1/4 C Flr
• 3/4 C sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 C butter cut into cubes
• 3/4 C sliced almonds, toasted

Preheat til 400 F, Butter a 3 Qt Baking Dish

Mix crisp ingredients with fingers/pastry cutter until it resembles coarse crumble. Add almonds, mix further and place in freezer until you are ready.

Fruit Filling

• 1/2 C sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstartch
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 6 Nectarines cut into slices
• 1 pint Boysenberries
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Rub together sugar, cornstarch and salt in a bowl. Add fruit, toss then add vanilla. pour into baking dish and top with crisp topping.

Bake 45-55 minutes or until fruit is bubbly and crisp topping golden brown

Delightful topped with vanilla bean ice cream....

Ginger Snap Ice Cream Sandwiches

Ginger Snap Cookies from The Art of Simple Food

2 cups (280 g) flour
1½ teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1½ teaspoons ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
11 tablespoons (150 g) butter, salted or unsalted, at room temperature
2/3 cup (130 g) sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup (80 g) mild-flavored molasses
1 large egg, at room temperature

Stir together the dry ingredients.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, or by hand, beat the butter just until soft and fluffy. Add the sugar and continue to beat until smooth, stopping the mixer to scrape down any butter clinging to the sides of the bowl.

Stir in the vanilla, molasses and egg.

Mix in the dry ingredients gradually until the dough is smooth.

Divide the dough in two equal portions and roll each on a lightly-floured surface until each is about 2-inches (5cm) around. Don’t worry if they’re not perfect; you can neaten them up in a second.

Wrap each in plastic wrap then roll them lightly on the counter to smooth them out. Refrigerate, or better yet, freeze the cookie logs until firm.

To bake, preheat the oven to 350F (180C) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

Slice cookie dough into 1/4-inch (a scant 1 cm) rounds with a sharp knife. Dip one side and press firmly in a bowl of coarse sugar if you want (you can also use granulated sugar instead), and place sugar-side up on baking sheet, evenly-spaced apart. Leave a couple of inches, about 5 cm, between cookies since they’ll spread while baking.

Bake for 10-14 minutes

***Once cookies cool, sandwich with ice cream...freeze and eat*****