One Common Table: cooking our way through seminary and life together
Friday, October 31, 2014
the best veggie burger...
Friday, October 10, 2014
carrot, ginger & fennel soup
It's been awhile since I (Beth) have blogged... summer happened and already it is mid-October! 'Tis the season of root veggies... yum! Now that it is truly fall here in Ohio and the leaves are displaying lovely shades of reds, oranges, yellows, and browns, homemade soup has become one of my favorite meals. A bowlful of flavorful, filling soup can be the perfect thing on a chilly, windy day!
We bought some organic fennel, baby ginger root, scallions, and carrots at the Worthington Farmer's Market last Saturday, and today I turned them into a yummy soup!
Ingredients:
*always buy local and organic if you can!
3-4 carrots
1 fennel
1 small bunch of scallions or green onions
1 inch x 1 inch piece of ginger, minced
1/3 cup of coconut oil
2-4 cups of filtered water
sea salt and garlic powder, to taste
Steps:
1. Wash scallions and then slice thinly. Heat up coconut oil in a medium saucepan on medium heat, adding scallions and salt to taste. Stir constantly until they are tender and not crunchy.
2. Wash carrots and fennel, and then slice carrots into small round coins. Dice fennel.
3. After scallions are tender, add filtered water, carrots, fennel, ginger, garlic powder, and sea salt to taste (as a general guide, I use 1 tsp sea salt per quart of veggies or water).
4. Bring to a boil, and then cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until carrots are tender.
5. You may add Earth Balance for a buttery flavor... but coconut oil is great and healthier!
6. ¡Buen provecho! :) I think it would go well with sourdough bread, a salad, quinoa, or as a main dish!
Thursday, June 19, 2014
apple pie chips!
See what I mean?
- Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
- Slice apples into 1/8" chips with a mandolin or knife.
- Coat apple chips in lemon juice to preserve freshness.
- Spread apple chips in a single layer on parchment covered cookie sheets.
- Combine sugar and cinnamon, and coat apple slices evenly with the mixture.
- Lightly sprinkle sea salt over the apple chips, if desired.
- Lightly drizzle slices with honey or maple syrup.
- Bake apple chips at 200 degrees for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, flipping chips every 30 minutes.
- Apple chips are done when they are dried, curled on the edges, but still slightly chewy.
- Let cool and enjoy!
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
vegan spicy crispy chicken sandwich
Thursday, March 27, 2014
the art of granola
I am getting a bit of a reputation: I am the girl who makes granola. I LOVE making it, so naturally when it is done, I post a picture on facebook. And then all my friends want the recipe. And that’s exciting and all, but the problem is…I don’t really have a recipe. I have a recipe for dark chocolate sea salt granola, but these days I just throw oats in a bowl with whatever else we have on hand and hope for the best. Last week, we had cinnamon walnut granola. This week was chocolate chip pecan! The possibilities are endless. I told my friends, who were begging for the recipe for chocolate chip pecan granola, that granola making is more art than science for me. So I suppose, then, that it is my job to teach you all the art and inspire you to create your own amazing varieties of granola! It really is simple and fun!
Here is the basic mixture for any granola recipe I make. Just five ingredients!
Basic Granola Mixture:
4 cups oats
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1/3 cup honey
salt to taste
cinnamon to taste
Combine all of these ingredients in a bowl. YOU CANNOT MESS THIS UP! You can melt the coconut oil if you want, but I refuse, because that would be more work, and the little chunks of coconut oil create wonderful little granola clusters! Feel free to add more honey, less honey, more salt, less salt, lots of cinnamon, no cinnamon…this is your granola and, I repeat, you cannot mess it up! Be sure to taste it along the way as you make adjustments, too. That is half the fun!
Beyond this basic mixture, the possibilities are ENDLESS! Fruit? Nuts? Chocolate? Vanilla or other extracts? Experiment with what you have! I must say, the pecan chocolate chip is my favorite so far. It is simply the above granola base, some cocoa powder (2-3 tablespoons), some chocolate chips (1/4-1/2 cup, to taste), and chopped pecans (about 1/2 cup). I love some chocolate in my granola, but it can’t be too rich to eat with yogurt or fruit! So this little bit of chocolate, along with the pecans that roast perfectly as the granola bakes, is ideal for me. If you’re going for super simple, just add lots of cinnamon (to taste, of course!) to the basic granola mixture above and throw in some nuts of your choice, and you have a wonderful cinnamon honey nut granola that tastes like a warm oatmeal cookie!
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
- Combine ingredients in a bowl. Stir them. Be creative. Taste them. Do not fear.
- Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Pour granola masterpiece onto parchment paper and spread evenly.
- Bake for 60 minutes at 250 degrees, stirring every 15 minutes. If desired, drizzle additional honey or melting ingredients (such as chocolate chips!) on top of the granola before returning it to the oven—this helps create additional yummy clusters!
- Let cool.
- Enjoy!
Be brave. Be creative. And let me know what delicious combinations you discover!
Monday, January 13, 2014
twice baked sweet potato skins
A few weeks ago, I ran across a recipe for twice baked sweet potato skins. Since Beth LOVES eating the skins when we have baked potatoes, I figured she was also a fan of twice baked potatoes and loaded potato skins. Needless to say, I was shocked to find out that she had never had them before! With this recipe, we changed that. Better late than never.
These guys are easily adaptable for vegan and gluten-free diets, so you can enjoy them by yourself or with any and ALL of your friends! The recipe is super flexible and more of a general guide, so make however many you’d like with whichever toppings you prefer. We made two varieties, one sweet and one savory. The sky is the limit, though, and we would love to hear about other toppings you try!
Ingredients:
Small sweet potatoes (1-2 per person; choose wisely since you’ll be eating the skin)
Coconut oil or butter
Sweet Topping Suggestions:
Cinnamon
Brown Sugar
Chopped walnuts
Salt, if desired (we LOVED ours with some salt!)
Savory Topping Suggestions:
Shredded cheddar cheese or your choice of vegan cheddar “cheese”
Steamed broccoli florets
Salt and pepper
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Wash and dry sweet potatoes. If desired, coat the potato skin in oil and salt. Place on baking sheet and bake for 45 minutes.
- Remove from oven, cool until they are cool to the touch, then cut in half. Scoop out the flesh of the sweet potatoes and place in a mixing bowl, leaving a thin layer of sweet potato still in the skin.
- Oil the sweet potato skin “boat” with either coconut oil or butter (I prefer coconut oil to butter in the sweet version, even though I am not vegan myself!) and bake for an additional 10 minutes.
- While the skins are baking, combine the sweet potato flesh with your desired toppings.
- Divide mixture equally and place in sweet potato “boats,” adding additional toppings if desired.
- Bake skins for an additional five minutes to warm (and melt cheese, if necessary) before serving. Enjoy!