A Day in the Kitchen

So, I was thinking about how I'm probably going to forget all about my recipes that I'm making now once I get to college, so I figured that I should write them down... but I lose notebooks. And all the notebooks I have are dirty. And the pages are really too wide for writing down ingredients.

Instead, I figured I'd revamp this old blog into a food blog and recipe collection! Maybe some time I'll write about why I think food is so important... but not in this post. For now, content yourself with the three recipes I made today (it was a busy day):

Disappearing Zucchini Pasta

Pasta (I used half a box of macaroni, but I don't think it really matters)
1 chopped onion
Garlic, chopped (I used 4 cloves)
2-3 Zucchini (I used 2 green and 1 yellow... it doesn't really matter though)
Herbs (thyme, oregano, basil, rosemary)
Other veggies (optional, I used daikon radish and garlic scapes)
Cheese (optional, any flavor is good)
Spaghetti sauce (optional, I added some on my 2nd helping, and it's not better or worse than plain.)

Use a mandolin or the wide side of a cheese grater to slice up zucchini and other veggies. Saute in a pan with onion, garlic, and plenty of olive oil. At the same time, boil the pasta. When the veggies are done, cut the heat, add herbs and cheese, and mix with pasta. Add salt or other seasonings as desired.

PS - this recipe is adapted from Barbara Kingsolver's amazing book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, hence the creative title.

Whole Wheat Bread

3 cups warm water (110 degrees F)
2 (.25 oz) packages active dry yeast
2/3 cup honey or sugar
5 cups bread flour (I took this to mean white flour...)
3 tbsp butter, melted
>4 cups whole wheat flour
Whole flaxseed (optional, I got some at my health food store for $0.70 and it provides a nice seedy texture and extra omega-3s)

In a large bowl, mix water, yeast, and 1/3 cup honey or sugar. Add all 5 cups white bread flour. Stir. Let sit 30 minutes (it'll rise).
Mix in butter and the rest of the sugar or honey. Then add 2 cups whole wheat flour (this will not mix in easily... do your best). Flour a flat surface with the rest of the and knead with whole wheat flour until it's coated with flour (bread's pretty forgiving, so if you use too much/too little it doesn't matter much).
Place in greased bowl. Turn dough around so every part gets coated with a thin layer of grease, and put in a warm spot for 2-3 hours. I put it outside for 2... the recipe said 3... so use your own judgement. Make sure to cover it, especially if you put it outside.
While you wait, clean up your mess (this took a while for me) and clean 3 9x5 in. bread pans. Cover the sides with oil and some more whole wheat flour.
Afterwards, punch the dough down (dramatically for best effect) and divide into 3 loaves (add flaxseed too). Allow to rise for, oh, however long you want. However high the bread rises is how high it will ultimately be.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes (push some more flaxseed into the top to give it a nice crust). Afterwards, lightly brush the tops of the loaves with butter. Eat while warm with butter or other spread!

Beet and White Bean Hummus

This one's definitely an odd one...

1 washed beet (the root part)
1 garlic clove
1 can of white beans, drained and washed
1/4 cup olive oil (I eyeballed it)
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp salt (roughly)

Put the beet and the garlic (with skin on it) in a piece of aluminum foil and seal it up (make sure to leave plenty of room around the beet for air to circulate - it's more like a pocket than a ball of aluminum). Put in the oven at 400 degrees F for 45 minutes.
Remove from oven and peel the beet. I've heard that using a ziploc bag around your hand takes the skin right off... didn't work for me, but you might find it handy. Put peeled beet in food processor. Squeeze garlic out of it's skin (this also didn't work for me, but it usually does) and put in food processor. Add the rest of the ingredients and pulse until smooth. Admire the bright pinkness of the hummus and put on pita or something else. I tried putting it on the bread... it tasted alright.

And that pretty much does it for my wonderful day of cooking! I hope you enjoy the recipes if you make them; even if you don't have all the right ingredients, mix it up! Enjoy! (PS - if you do find a way to enjoy the hummus, let me know! I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it! :)