Thursday, July 30, 2009

Cherry Peach Crisp

Mmmm yay for cherry season and the farmers market. As usual I got over ambitious at the farmers market this weekend and bought too much fruit that combined with my parents coming up with their own contributions created a dire situation... The solution? FRUIT CRISPS! This is my favorite one from the week. I hope you enjoy it!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups cherries
2 large peaches
1 cup brown sugar (Note: You could easily double the sugar in this recipe if you prefer things sweeter.)
2 tsps apple pie seasoning (This stuff if the best addition to your spice rack EVER! If you don't have any yet cinnamon is a good replacement.)
3 tbsp vegan butter
2 tbsp soymilk
6 tbsps flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour but I'm sure all purpose would do the trick)
1 1/2 cups quick oats

Directions:
1. Set the oven to pre-heat at 350 degrees
2. While your waiting pit the cherries.... Or if you're feeling super lazy don't and just leave a bowl for seeds on the table when you serve this... hehe
3. Dice the peaches up
4. Mix the cherries, peaches, 3 tbsp of flour, 1 tsp apple pie seasoning and 1/2 cup of the brown sugar up and put them in your pan. I used an 8 X 8 pan but I doubt the exact size matters too much
5. In a bowl mix up the butter, soymilk, remaining 3 tbsps of flour, remaining 1 tsp of apple pie seasoning, oats and last 1/2 cup of brown sugar.
6. Crumble the mixture of oats on top of your fruit.
7. Bake for 25 minutes or until the top looks crisp enough.

This surprisingly not only tastes good right out of the oven but even better the next day out of the fridge. Yum!

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Brussel Sprouts

Stop making faces! They're really good. I promise!

Ingredients:
1.5 lbs brussel sprouts cleaned and quartered
1 can cannelini beans (aka white kidney beans)
1 red bell pepper all chopped up
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1-2 spring onions or 1/2 a medium purple onion all diced up
1 clove garlic grated up
Salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
Optional: crushed red pepper flakes

1. Preheat your oven to 350 F
2. While the ovens preheating chop those brussel sprouts and mix them up with the olive oil, salt, black pepper, garlic, crushed red pepper and onion. Spread this mixture out over a cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes.
3. Use the ten minutes to chop up the bell pepper and rinse out the beans from the can. Mix the chopped bell pepper and cannelini beans up and pour them over the brussel sprouts once the 10 minutes are up.
4. Bake for another 10-20 minutes or until the brussel sprouts and bell peppers are brown around the edges.
5. Once they've cooled mix everything up in a big bowl.

I love these so much I usually just eat them as a meal with out much accompaniment however, I bet they'd be lovely with some Italian bread or as a side to any meal.

Sweet Potatos, Spinach & Beans

2-3 medium sweet potato's - boiled, peeled, and chopped into bite sized cubes
1 cup canned black beans
1 cup canned kidney beans
1 pound fresh spinach chopped (or frozen)
1 medium tomato chopped up
1/2 a medium onion diced
1 clove garlic grated
1/2 tsp fresh grated ginger
crushed red pepper and salt to taste
pinch of turmeric
1/2 tbsp cumin
1/2 tbsp ground coriander seed
1 tbsp olive oil

1. Heat up your olive oil on high heat
2. Once it's hot throw in the garlic, onion, ginger and crushed red pepper
3. Once the onions brown turn the heat down to medium and throw in the beans and let them cook for about 2-3 minutes before putting in the spinach.
4. Once the spinach has started to wilt down throw in the sweet potato's and tomato.
5. Add your spices and salt


I like using this as a filling for sandwiches. Mmm. Try serving it with a mixture of ketchup and fresh ground black pepper. Yum! Plus, it freezes well so you can save whatever you don't use for a lazy day.