Phew! It’s been a while and I have loads of recipes to share with you. And a lot to keep to myself (read: “Coxy’s Kitchen Disasters.”)

I hope ALL my loyal readers (Dad?) enjoyed your holidays and are set for the new year. Or, are at least recovering from overdoing it in every way.

We’ve had a wild month and if it was hectic, we brought it on ourselves. We had a Christmas party over here that was loads of fun. Unfortunately, there are no pix as our hands were literally full the whole time. Luckily Bea had just started walking so every so often I’d see the crowds part and a little 2 footer stagger on through like a tiny drunk looking for her Mama (her nickname for George.)

The party presented me the opportunity to live a lifelong dream of making decorated/frosted sugar cookies for Christmas. Until around 12:45AM the night before the party, as I stood up squeezing Royal Icing onto each of the three dozen cookies when I started hating the cookies. Those cookies were privy to lots of F bombs.

Anyway, I’m a little bummed we didn’t get any pictures as we saw a lot of friends we haven’t seen lately – some in over a year. We sure did appreciate them coming by to see us!

Around the middle of the month, Patsy arrived and we couldn’t have been more thrilled! Having Nana here as another set of ears to listen to the 3 year old soap operas going on between a green alligator finger puppet (named “Toy Store”) and his sister, a golden lab Calico Critter named “Bella” was a HUGE relief for another set of ears. (Mine.)

Maddie finally understood the tree decorating. I still don’t really understand it but I’m glad she does.

And Bea helped too.

Between our party and Christmas, we were invited to a 3 year old “Under the Sea” birthday party. Stay tuned – that will be a separate posting for those of you interested. Amazing work by a talented & extremely pregnant Swedish woman.

Enough about family reminiscing – let me insert this yummy Carmelized Mushroom recipe for you before you’ve fallen asleep for the night!

G doesn’t “do” fungus but Maddie & I do. Since he was working late every night, we threw all mushroom caution to the wind!

This recipe marks my first attempt to use egg replacer. I picked it up at The CO-OP in Santa Monica. It comes in a groovy, totally Brady Bunch looking box.

See?

You can probably get egg replacer at any health food store or maybe even Whole Foods? The kind I got comes in powder form.

Ok. Let’s make the biscuits first!

Here’s what you need for those:

BISCUIT INGREDIENTS
2.5 c all purpose flour
1 TBSP baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
1/2 – 1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
1/4 c chopped fresh chives
3/4 c unsalted butter, cold & cubed
1 large egg (I used egg replacer!)
3/4 c buttermilk, cold

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, black papper & chives.

I spent so much time buying, chopping and photographing my chives…

that I forgot to add them until the end. It worked out fine though.

2. Add butter to dry ingredients. Just look at it!

3. Use your fingers or a pastry cutter to incorporate the butter into the flour mixture.

4. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg replacer & buttermilk.

5. Make a small well in the center of the fat and flour mixture.

6. Add the buttermilk mixture.

Use a fork to combine the wet & dry ingredients.

7. Be sure to moisten all the flour bits with the liquid. Your dough will be “shaggy.” No problem!

8. Dump the dough out onto a lightly floured surface & kneed together until well combined. Use a rolling pin or your hands to make your dough about 1.5 inches thick.

9. Use a round 1.5 inch biscuit cutter to cut the biscuits. I didn’t because I didn’t have one. But I did use a flower cookie cutter. Because I did have one. Doesn’t my biscuit look cute?

Place biscuits on a cookie sheet, wrap with plastic & refrigerate until ready to bake.

Here’s what you need for the mushroom mixture:

MUSHROOM MIXTURE INGREDIENTS:
2 TBSP olive oil
1 TBSP unsalted butter
1 pound small cremini mushrooms, cleaned and cut into bite size chunks
1 medium purple onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1.5 teaspoon dried thyme
2 medium carrots, sliced thin
2 cups diced sweet potatoes (small!)
1.5 cups frozen peas
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups vegetable or mushroom broth (Mushroom broth? They really have that?)
salt and pepper to taste
2 tsp Worchestershire sauce
dash of balsamic vinegar (optional)

1. If you plan to make the whole kit n caboodle, then set the oven to 375 right now!

2. Melt butter into olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.

Add mushrooms in a single layer in the pan and allow to cook, without disturbing, for about 4 minutes. Add a hearty pinch of salt & black pepper. Toss the mushrooms every once in a while until softened and golden brown.

You’re probably looking at this picture and thinking to yourself, “That doesn’t look like a single layer of mushrooms to me.” I need to use a bigger saucepan next time. So sue me!

Remove mushrooms from pan.

3. Add more olive oil and sautee onions about 4-5 minutes, until soft & translucent.

4. Add garlic & cook for another minute.

5. Add carrots & sweet potatoes and sauté for 5-7 minutes. I actually did 10-12 minutes because I worried I hadn’t chopped them small enough.

6. Add thyme. Return mushrooms to the pan. Turn heat to low and add flour. Toss. Slowly add broth, stirring constantly until thickened. Add peas.

7. Add salt & pepper to taste. Stir in Worchestershire sauce and balsamic vinegar.

Pour mushroom mixture into an 8×8 inch pan. Or whatever you have that comes close. I think I used an 8×11 glass casserole baking dish. Place the biscuits on top of the mushroom mixture.

8. Bake for 20-35 minutes until biscuits are golden brown.

YUM!

These will keep in the fridge for up to 4 days and they get better!

From Joy the Baker.

Please excuse the funkiness of the printable but that’s the only way to insert two recipes on one posting according to my technological prowess.

I was going to go into more about the neighbor who “adopted our cat” and renamed him “Maxwell” despite him sleeping here every night but I think we’re all tired so I’ll sign out here.

Tomorrow check back for the Christmas pix and, more important, the recipe for the EASIEST NO-KNEAD (no need to knead?) rustic bread you’ve ever (or never) made in your life!! If you’ve never made bread before, you only need FOUR ingredients, all of which can be purchased at Ralph’s. So definitely check back tomorrow for that posting! And then call Maddie & ask if she can take a nap tomorrow so I can actually write it. Thank you!

Some days I have no idea(r) what to make for dinner. Sesame noodles, pasta with olive oil & parm, pizza, and mac & cheese can only be served so many times. Well, LOTS of times, actually.

Here’s something you can literally throw together without feeling *as* guilty. (I’m not a Catholic, but I play one in real life.)

Here’s all you need:

1. Sautee onion in heated oil over medium heat until translucent (about 4-5 minutes.) Add garlic & cook for another minute.

2. Add diced tomatoes.

3. Add oregano.

4. Yell at kids & remind them that you only need 10 minutes if they can just “be good & watch TV!”

5. Hold baby while finishing this soup and thank your stars you picked something easy tonight.

6. Add broth. Bring soup to a boil. Then add tortellini & follow cooking instructions on package. Unless you made them yourself, in which case you aren’t reading this blog.

7. A minute before tortellini is done, add spinach. I told you to read the WHOLE recipe before you started! Oh, you say I didn’t? I meant to!

That’s it!! There’s nothing else to do except sprinkle fresh parmesan cheese on top.

You really don’t need to bother with bread or a salad which makes fewer dishes.

My kids loved this the first time. (I had to cut Bea’s tortellini up and obviously she couldn’t handle hot soup but she ate the solid parts cut up.) The second time Maddie refused to eat anything but the tortellini. Believe it or not, I have read all sides of the picky eater being made v. born and, with that knowledge under my belt, I think next time I’ll puree the soup before adding the tortellini. In other words, in one ear & out the other.

I might even puree the spinach in if it won’t look too gnarly.

***

UPDATE: I made this a few more times and finally have it down! The reasons I omitted the spinach are threefold:

1. My kids hate it.

2. I refuse to buy spinach when my garden is full of swiss chard.

3. It gets slimy the next day. Nobody likes slimy leftovers and I don’t like wasting food.

Instead I added 3-4 shredded carrots. I also pureed the tomatoes before adding. My beloved in-laws gave me an immersion blender for Christmas so I used that. Thanks Fitzs!!

Finally, I added some parmesan cheese directly to the soup & stirred. I then sprinkled a little across the top of each serving! Yum!

Adapted from Annie’s Eats.

Back in my pre-kid days I went through a 6 month bread-making phase. Without a bread machine. It takes some time but is so totally worth it. What goes better with bread than soup?

My friend brought over some chayotes. (Thanks, Rebecca!)

I didn’t take this picture. Obviously.

Photo from Palace of Latin Food blog.

Have you had these? I hadn’t. Having no idea what to do with them, I found this recipe for chayote soup. It was really easy & yummy – but much better the second and third day. Then I went crazy and made this excellent bread to have with it. YUM!

Here’s what you need for the soup:

Where’s the lid?

INGREDIENTS:
2 tbsp butter OR olive oil
1 small yellow onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 chayote squashes, peeled & diced
[OPTIONAL] 3 large carrots, sliced
3 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
salt & pepper to taste
crushed red pepper to taste (start with 1/4 tsp)
2.5 cups vegetable broth
1 veg bullion cube (use a chicken flavored one if you can find it! – I actually threw in an old chicken bullion cube I had in the cabinet but Ralph’s has vegetable ones that have a chicken flavor without the poor chicken!)

1. Prepare onion, garlic & chayote.

NOTE: I am no chayote expert but did read about a milky white substance that weeps out of the chayote when you skin/cut it which can cause skin sensitivities. That’s why I wore rubber gloves when cutting! ‘Course I might just be a real Nancy but Lord knows my hands are dry enough & don’t need any added irritants.

2. Melt butter in large saucepan. Saute onion for 4-5 minutes or until translucent.
Add garlic for another minute. Add chayote, carrots,  2 tbsp cilantro & red pepper. Stir to coat with butter.

As you can plainly see, I forgot to add the cilantro. And the carrots. But you won’t!

3. Stir in vegetable broth, bullion cube & 1 tbsp cilantro. Heat to boiling & then simmer on low for 30 minutes. I think I simmered mine over an hour – I kept tasting my chayote to see if it was tender.

4. Ok. Here’s the tricky part. I couldn’t even photograph this since I needed both hands and was using my phone to take pix. In a blender or food processor, puree the whole kit and caboodle until smooth. I did a little at a time because last time I tried to puree a hot soup in the blender there was a LOT of clean up on the surrounding environs. If you like it a little chunky – just puree it a little.

You’ll notice I have whole carrot slices in my soup. That’s because I added maple glazed carrots as an afterthought. I actually have these in my refrigerator all the time for Bea. I will add a link to that recipe as soon as I get a chance! Anyway, they are really tasty but I definitely wouldn’t make them JUST for this soup – carrots do add a nice sweetness though.

5. Pour into bowls & garnish with cilantro or even a dollop of sour cream.

This soup tastes better the second, third & fourth days. VERY healthy yet it seems creamy!

Adapted from AllRecipes.

Now for the bread!! Ooooooohhhh the bread!!

Whoever wrote the directions did it so perfectly I have to just repeat them verbatim. No way to improve on them…

Here’s what you’ll need:

(I just realized I put that Flax Seed in the picture but then forgot to add it to the bread dough. Anyway – you can add a little to the bread dough for extra fiber, lignans & omega 3 fats.)

INGREDIENTS:
2 c boiling water
1 c rolled oats
1/2 c honey
2 tbsp butter
2 tsp salt
1 (.24 oz) package of active dry yeast (or 1 1/4 tsp)
1/2 c warm water (NOT hot – hot will kill your yeast)
1.5 c whole wheat flour
4 c bread flour

2 tbsp milk
2 tbsp honey
handful of rolled oats

1. In large mixing bowl (stand mixer bowl if you have one), combine boiling water to oats, honey, butter and salt. Let stand 1 hour.

2. In small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.

Someone forgot to take a picture of this.

3. Pour the yeast mixture into the oats mixture. Combine wheat flour and bread flour in separate bowl.

Add 2 cups of flour mixture to oats mixture and combine well.

Continue adding flour mixture to mixing bowl by 1⁄2 cup increments until dough pulls together.

It’s starting to pull together:

But you can see it needs a little more flour:

This will happen when between 5 1⁄2 & 6 cups of flour has been added. You may not need the last 1⁄2 cup of flour. (I did!)

4. When the dough has pulled together, turn it onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic. Or add your bread hook to your mixer and knead for a few minutes.

5. Lightly oil a large bowl, place dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hr. (I preheat the oven for about 5 minutes then turn it off, make sure it’s warm but not hot and put the bowl in there to rise, this seemed to work best because for this recipe is there is much more flour than yeast).

Risen dough:

6. Deflate the dough and turn it onto a lightly floured surface. Divide into two equal pieces and form into loaves. Place in 9 x 5 greased loaf pans and cover with damp cloth & let rise again until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes. (I return the pans to the oven for this step too.)

7. Preheat oven to 375. While oven is preheating mix milk and honey together in mug and microwave for about 20 seconds. Brush warm milk mixture over loaves and generously sprinkle with rolled oats.

8. Bake loaves at 375 for 25‐30 minutes or until top is golden brown and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Let cool before removing from pans.

Can we see that again from another angle?

Whole Wheat Honey Oatmeal Bread recipe copied verbatim (pix are mine!) from Fly Through Our Window

You can freeze this – just wrap in foil & then put in an airtight Ziploc Freezer Bag.

She’s got a PDF file as a link on her site!

Lots of times I’ll start making something at night, yes, without reading the ingredients first, and realize I’m missing something. Last time it was buttermilk. This one’s easy to remedy!

It involves 2 ingredients that you might have lying around:

Just add 1 tablespoon of white vinegar to 1 scant cup of milk. If you only need half a cup of buttermilk, why then, add 1/2 tablespoon of white vinegar to 1/2 scant cup milk.

What is a scant cup? It means just under a cup.

Lookie here:

Add the vinegar & let it sit for 5 minutes. Now you’re ready to cook!

PS What if you don’t have white vinegar? Do you have a lemon? Replace the vinegar with lemon juice & you’re good to go!

I know what you’re thinking!! “Christina, Coconut Lemongrass Soup has entirely too many ingredients for me! You can take this recipe & shove it.” To that, my honest reply is, “You’re correct! It’s a lot of effing ingredients!” (I dare you to make sense of effing, Auto-correct! D’OH!! It DID by turning “effing” into “offing”!” And you, Sir, are a formidable opponent.)

Use this recipe to challenge yourself to:
a) Dirty every pot/pan/measuring cup/knife & cutting board in your house.
b) Impress the checkout woman at Ralph’s with your slew of exotic ingredients,
c) Make a beautiful, yummy soup that is sure to impress!

All you need are these ingredients:

Hooo boy, that’s a lot of stuff!

This picture was so dark as a cloud was passing over the house at just that moment. I brightened it in Photoshop. It still looks weird/ugly. As my dad always says, try not to think about it. He’s a real softie.

INGREDIENTS:

For the Infusion:
1.5 c dry white wine
(4) 14.5 oz cans light coconut milk
12 cloves garlic, peeled & bruised
6 stalks lemongrass, cut into 2 inch pieces & bruised
12 slices fresh ginger
3 Thai chilis (cut lengthwise & seeded)

Ok. First you’re going to make the “infusion.” This is great news! You’ll make this, pop it in the fridge, and enjoy the rest of your evening with the whole bottle of dry white wine (less the 1.5 cups, mind you), Bravo TV and a massive pile of laundry to avoid.

THE INFUSION
Combine all the ingredients in a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Cover, remove from heat, and let it sit for a minimum of 2 hours. Overnight is ideal. And more supportive of any Bravo habit.

NOTE: Wearing rubber gloves, I used 3 Thai chilis which I first sliced lengthwise, scraped out the seeds, and then chopped. Thai chilis are MORE THAN HOT. (If you don’t believe me, click that link & scroll down – Thai chilies merit a 5 chili pepper heat rating which is 1 chili pepper hotter than a Serrano chili pepper. D’OH!)

Slice ‘em lengthwise

To say these are hot is an understatement.

Get rid of these seeds. Unless you’re making this soup for an enemy. Oh yeah, and no matter how much your eye itches, do NOT SCRATCH YOUR EYE!

[Incidentally, the infusion can be stored in the fridge for up to a week in a jar with a tight-fitting lid, after straining it.]

Ok. Now for the soup!

INGREDIENTS
For the Soup:
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1.5 c minced onion
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp minced ginger
2 teaspoons salt
1 medium carrot, thinly sliced
2 c chopped cabbage
About 10 small mushrooms, quartered (feel free to do more if you like them!)
1 small zucchini, thinly sliced
1 red pepper, thinly sliced in short strips
1/2 pound extra firm tofu, diced
1.5 c basil leaves, coarsely chopped
1-3 tbsp fresh lime juice

1 tsp sugar

OPTIONAL: 10 kaffir lime leaves, torn
ALSO OPTIONAL:
Any veggies will be fine as substitutes: cauliflower, baby corn etc.

THE SOUP
1. In a large soup pot or Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion, saute about 4-5 minutes or until translucent. Add garlic, ginger and half the salt for another minute or two.

2. Add the carrots, cabbage, mushrooms, and the rest of the salt and stir. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

My advice: unless you want pink soup, do NOT use purple cabbage!

3. Add zucchini and bell pepper, cooking for another minute or two.

4. Strain the infusion into the soup, and heat to almost boiling.

5. Turn heat down to low and simmer for a few minutes.

6. Add the tofu, basil, lime juice, about 10 torn kaffir lime leaves (if you have ‘em!) & sugar.

7. Add cayenne & curry powder to taste. Another option if you have it: add fish sauce. Of course I didn’t have any fish sauce so I didn’t add any!

Oh my gosh! I love this soup but I loved it even more over the next two days. You may notice my finished soup has a pinkish hue to it. That became even more pronounced each day and was due to the purple cabbage. I used purple cabbage simply because I had it in my fridge already. You should use a non-purple cabbage. Unless you want pink soup!

SUBSTITUTIONS:
1. If you can’t get Thai chilis, you can use Jalapeños or Serranos. See the link I posted above about how to substitute them.
2. Don’t worry about the kaffir lime leaves if you can’t get them!
3. Lemon juice can replace the lime juice in a pinch.
4. Vegetables – feel free to throw any veggies you think will be good in there! I chose veggies for beauty, color, and convenience.

This soup will really wow your company! Maddie surprised me by picking out all the mushrooms. And then EATING them. What kid does this?

Adapted from Mollie Katzen’s Vegetable Heaven. (Thank you, Nina!!)