Phew!

Good morning! Whee! We had a very nice weekend visiting with K. our guest who came all the way from Milwaukee!! We went out in the boat, played on the swings in the backyard, checked out Lumberjack Days... and of course we ate food.

Here's my favorite new recipe that I tried this weekend! It's the Morning Glory Loaf turned into muffins! People, these are gooood! I doubled the recipe and we still have batter in the fridge awaiting deployment (aghlaghlaghlaghl)!

Morning Glory Muffins

3 C all purpose flour (24)
1 C whole wheat flour (4)
1 1/3 C brown sugar (22)
1 T cinnamon
1 T + 1t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
1 C canola oil (32)
1 16 oz can crushed pineapple (reserve 1/2 C juice) (8)
1 T ginger paste
2 t vanilla
2 C carrots, grated
1 C craisins (6)
1 C shredded coconut (16)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin tin.
Mix dry, then wet.
Makes 2 loaves, bake 50 - 60m or until tests done.
Makes 36 muffins, bake 18 - 22m or until tests done. Cool in pan.
Each muffin is roughly 3 points.
Notes;
next time add 2 T flax seed meal?

I kept meaning to make the green beans this weekend, but never got to it- here's what we had last night, sauteed green beans with herbs from the back yard! and Susan's Easy Mac and Cheeze reheated (I made this for when K. got in Fri. night) with 1 T oil added. Oh, and some salt and pepper. Yumm...
Bug break! Okay, check out this guy I saw while I was outside taking the seed pods off of my lilies... is it a spider? I Googled yellow spider with orange stripes and came up with nada. Maybe it's one of those bugs that masquerade as another?
I also made Chocolate Chip cookies, and did the whole refrigerate them for 24 hours thing...
I thought the refrigeration time really helped with the consistency of the dough- it was much firmer, and so therefore the cookies themselves baked up really nice, like where you get that crispy edge around the outside and it was all melty chewy in the middle and the tops crack a little bit- super!! Plus the dough got browner (due to saturation of the flour with the water) so they look better. And, it's hard to judge, but I think the taste was better. I did not bake a control batch, so who knows.

Unfortunately, I also think that the extended time that gave the cookies a richer taste also allowed for the baking soda to permeate? the cookie too. D. said they tasted like baking soda. Boo. So next time I'll drop the baking soda and then we'll see if we don't have chocolate chip crackers...

Chocolate Chip Cookies from Vegan with a Vengeance

1 C Earth Balance margarine (2 sticks) (48)
1 1/4 C sugar (20)
1 T molasses (1)
2 t vanilla
2 1/2 C all purpose flour (20)
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
1 C chocolate chips (12)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream together margarine and sugar until fluffy.
Add molasses and vanilla.
Add flour, baking soda and salt and mix well.
Fold in chocolate chips.
Drop by teaspoonfulls 2" apart on greased cookie sheet.
Bake 8 - 10m until slightly browned, remove and cool on sheets 5m, then on cooling rack.
Makes 3 dozen.

notes;
I got 4 dozen.
better with refrigeration (24 hrs), but reduce baking soda to 1/2 t.
Next up, this Napa Cabbage Salad. This was an amalgamation of several recipes. It was pretty good, but next time I'd double the dressing or something- it didn't really pop like I wanted it to...
I have to admit I'm kind of a sucker for recipes that use things like a package of ramen noodles in a salad. Must be my roots showing...

Napa Cabbage Salad

1 Napa cabbage, julienned
2 C edamame
8 green onions, sliced thin
1 carrot, grated
1 pkg ramen noodles, souop packet reserved and noodles crumbled
1/4 C sliced almonds
2 T sesame seeds

dressing;
1/4 C olive oil (16)
2 T sesame oil (8)
3 T rice wine vinegar
2 T sugar (2)
packet ramen soup mix

Toast the sesame seeds, almonds and ramen noodles in a large skillet, stirring constantly. Set aside.
Blend dressing.
Chop veggies and toss everything together.
If refrigerating, add toasted noodles, almonds and sesame seeds right before serving.

Makes a lot!

Notes;
In lieu of ramen soup packet, use soy sauce.
Could double dressing.
Finally, here's what we took out on the boat for a picnic- Tofu Dill Salad Sandwiches. This was also from Vegan with a Vengeance! It was a great way to use up that dill from the CSA.

1 lb extra firm tofu, drained and pressed (8)
3 T red onion, diced fine
3 T Vegenaise (9)
1/2 C fresh dill, chopped
2 t Dijon mustard
2 T apple cider vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Crumble tofu in a bowl, mix in the rest of the ingredients.
Refrigerate before serving.

Okay, still reading through "Meeting at Corvallis" by Stirling, it's good.
No knitting this weekend.
That's all for today.