GASP! A regular Wednesday Post!

Oh ho! I wasn't full of talk yesterday! I'm still in New Jersey, spending time with my family, and I still don't have my camera cord, so you'll have to wait to see how yummy these cookies look until I get back to LA on the 4th.

Today my mom and I baked our traditional cookies: Russian Teacakes. These are small, powdery, butter and sugar cookies that taste really, really good. We make them before Christmas most years, but since I didn't get down until right before and we had so many things to do, we baked them right before New Years instead this year :)

You will need the following:

1 cup (2 standard sticks) of butter (this recipe is easily made vegan by substituting margarine. But my personal opinion of margarine is extremely low. Butter is where it is at!)

1/2 cup powdered sugar (aka 10x, aka confectioner's sugar, depending on where you are from)

1 tsp of vanilla extract

2 1/4 cups flour

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat that oven to 400 degrees!

First, soften the butter either in the microwave, or if you are like me when I am in my apartment and do not have one, by heating it very carefully over the store. Do not melt it. Just get it nice and creamy.

Then mix the butter, the powdered sugar and the vanilla until it is a delicious cream with a very similar texture (and indeed, the same ingredients) to my homemade frosting.

Next, add the salt and stir, then add the flour about a half cup at a time, continuing to stir it in. At some point, you may need to abandon your spoon and use your hands. The texture once all the flour has been added will be more powdery and flaky than doughy. This is OK.

Next, add the nuts. If you are going to chop or grind your own nuts, try to get them to about the size of an M and M mini (NOT A REGULAR M and M!) When you add the nuts, the texture will change and the dough will be easier to deal with.

Now, roll the cookies into one inch diameter balls. These cookies do not spread, so make them look like you want your cookies to look. You can also make them into finger shapes, but we never do that. Balls are easier for the last step.

Bake the cookies for ten minutes at 400 degrees. Take them out right away and go on to the last step.

Get two plates. Cover one plate in a big pile of powdered sugar. While the cookies are still pretty hot, roll them in the sugar so they get totally covered on all sides. Then put them on the other plate, from which they will be picked up and eaten by your adoring friends and family.

OM NOM NOM!

A Tale of Two Pies, Part 2

We shall now continue our study of pies from last week. You may ask yourself "dangersecond, aren't you supposed to post on Wednesdays? Why do you always post early on Thursday morning?" There are two reasons for this, my friends. First of all, most of my friends live in the EST. I live in the PST. Also, I get off work at 8:00 PM and have a lot of things to do before I get to use the computer, such as nomming. So it ends up being late at night my time when I post. This is my explanation. Now here is an explanation of french apple pie.

If you recall, I left you last week with one completed pie and an extra pie crust. For this second pie, you will need the following ingredients:

• Five to seven apples (depending on their size)
  
• 1/4 Cup white sugar
• 1/4 Cup brown sugar
• 3/4 Cup flour
• 3/4 Teaspoon Cinnamon
• A dash of nutmeg
• 6 Tablespoons of butter

Preheat your oven to 400F.

Slice up the apples to be nice and small. I like to make them about the size of a thimble, like this:

Cut the butter into slices that are a couple of millimeters thick.

Put the apples in the pie crust in a nice, big mound (sorry, that's the only word I could think of). Then sprinkle them with the white sugar.

Mix all of the remaining ingredients together in a mixing bowl and stir them until the butter is all crumbled up.

Pour this on top of the apples.

Put your pie in the oven and bake it for 35 minutes.

The pie that will result will not have a standard "dough top", but instead a delicious crumb top similar to coffee cake. The only problem I ever have with this pie is that sometimes it becomes too juicy and I have burned myself with delicious, hot apple pie juices (man, this post is inadvertently sexual). So indulge with care.

Good Noms goes Mexicano

Say it with me: Me-hi-ca-no!

Before I get into the cooking part - let me say that before I tasted lentil tacos, I was skeptical. I am a big fan of ordinary tacos, with spicy beef, hot salsa and cool sour cream, mmm. I wasn't so sure that a vegetarian knock off could deliver. I am not ashamed to admit that I was very, very wrong. And so I present to you - a 2 part post singing an ode to the glory that is lentil taco ... glory.

Part uno - adobo sauce.

2 jalapenos or ancho chilies
1/8 large onion
1/3 can (2 oz) tomato paste
3 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp garlic powder
2 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp allspice
1/8 tsp dried thyme
small pinch of ground cloves
smaller pinch (smaller than the one above) hot pepper powder, or chili powder

Tu (my fiancee) would like me to tell you that he personally invented this spice blend for your enjoyment, so be kind and don't sell it (without at least telling him), in case he ever becomes famous.

Without further ado, slice your peppers in half and roast them slightly in a small amount of your choice of oil. Chop up your onion and add them to your pan. Cook this until the onions are turning clear and the peppers are getting a bit wrinkly. De-vein the peppers if you're a wuss. Toss everything (yes, everything, including the oil peppers cooked in, and all your spices) into your food processor or blender with maybe 1/2 a cup of water. Get this from the Alps, your Brita, your tap, if you're adventurous, really your imagination is the limit, unless you're living in a third world country.

Part deux - tacos (makes 8)

8 tortillas
1/2 lb dry lentils
1/4 lb beans (optional)
1/4 large onion
2 cloves garlic

salsa
lettuce
cheese
sour cream
anything else you want to crown your glorious taco creation

Soak your lentils, and your beans (separately) for a while (overnight if you want tacos for breakfast). Once they're ready, start by chopping up some onion, mincing some garlic, and putting it all in a pan with a bit of oil on medium heat. Add your drained lentils with a small amount of water (it'll cook away, it's just to keep it from getting too dry/sticky). Cook for 2 minutes, add about half of your adobo sauce, cook stirring for another 5-10 minutes, until lentils are soft (and your whole household is salivating over their plates).
Boil the beans on medium-high heat until they become softer (this might take a half hour so a good idea to start this beforehand). Drain them, add a little oil and continue cooking on medium heat. They will begin breaking down (you can help this along by smashing them). Continue cooking, adding a tiny bit of water if needed.
When the beans are more or less mushy, take a spoonful and smear it on the bottom of your tortilla shell. Heck, smear some on the sides if you want. Go nuts. On top, layer some of the lentils. For toppings - I like to go in this order: cheese (first so it can melt), salsa (or extra adobo sauce if you're packing serious huevos), lettuce (so it doesn't go limp from the heat), sour cream.
Stuff your face. Repeat as necessary.

A Tale of Two Pies, Part 1

Hi there, loyal fans! I recently had Thanksgiving, like many other people. One of the best parts of Thanksgiving is pie. I made two pies this year: pumpkin and apple, because I am very traditional. I shall now embark on the task of explaining to you how to make both of these pies from scratch.To begin with, you will make the crusts. This recipe will make the pastry for two (2) crusts. You will need the following:

• 2 Cups of flour
• 1 Teaspoon salt
• 2/3 Cup shortening
• About a cup of very cold water
• A rolling pin or alternative

A quick note on the the ingredients: I prefer to use wheat flour and organic vegetable

shortening, but you can use what you want.

A quick not on rolling pins: I don't have a rolling pin. I used a tubular, metal water bottle as one. You can also use a wine bottle, a sturdy high ball glass or any other rolling pin shaped object as such.

First, you must mix the flour and the salt in a large bowl. Then you add the shortening. The next is the first important part of this procedure.

You must use two case knives, one held in either hand, to chop the shortening into pieces about the size of peas. I was cooking this without a camera man (as the professional was visiting his grandparents at the moment) so I took a photo myself which does not look very good:

What you cannot really tell is that I am holding one knife in each hand and using them to chop the shortening up. I am about halfway done with my chopping.

After it has gotten to about pea size, you will need to put your hands into the bowl and knead the pastry until it begins to become a doughy texture. I find that uncooked pie crust feels a bit like playdough when you're doing it right. Once you start kneading it, you will also need to start adding the cold water, about a tablespoon at a time, to improve the texture. The whole operation will start out feeling a bit dry. Keep kneading away and dropping in water until it reaches playdough status.

At this point, you will split your crust into two balls and place one a

side while we begin to form the first from a dough into a proper crust:

You will notice from this photo that, like a rolling pin, I don't have any nice pie plates. If you are like me in this way, you can get these for a dollar each at your grocery store. Now, after lamenting your lack of fine pie plates, or complimenting yourself on them should you have them, you should take one ball of dough and start rolling it out. Throw some flour down on a clean surface and get your rolling pin or rolling pin like object and start rolling your dough until it is about the right pie crust thickness: a couple of millimeters. Not too thin that it will fall apart, not so thick that you don't have enough dough to make an entire pie crust. Don't worry if it isn't exactly the right shape. You can patch it later:

As you can see, I need a new camera for Christmas,

and this doesn't exactly look like a pie yet.

Take your oddly shaped crust and place it in your pie plate. Then begin the process of shaping it to actually look like a pie. Rip off the bits that overhang your pan and, using more of your cold water, attach them to places where you haven't enough dough and the pan shows through. Take your time with this and make sure everything is covered:

If you have enough dough left, you can make thumb prints around the edge of your plate for a more fancy look. Your crust should look something like this when you complete it:

You can make your second crust from the ball of dough the same way you did this one.

Next, we'll begin making the pumpkin pie. If you don't want to make both a pumpkin pie and an apple pie you can either make two of one or freeze the other crust for a later time. Then it becomes just like a store bought frozen pie crust.

Unfortunately, my pumpkin pie is a little fakey, simply because I don't have any way to puree my own pumpkin.

• The ingredients include the following:
• 1 Can of Organic Pureed Pumpkin
• 1 Cup of heavy cream
• 1/2 Teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 Teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 Teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 Eggs

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Pour your pumpkin into a bowl. When you open the can, if you are me, a smush-faced cat will appear and beg you for cat food, and you may have to sacrifice a bit of your cream to make it up to him:

Stir it up so its nice and liquidy. Then crack the eggs in a separate bowl and beat them nicely. Pour the eggs into the liquified pumpkin and stir it up. Then add the cream and stir again. Add the vanilla, which is my very important secret ingredient that makes this pie amazing, cinnamon and nutmeg and stir a final time.

Next, you will need to pour your very thinly textured liquid into the pie pan and carry it into the oven. This is not so hard if you have a real pie plate. If you, like myself, do not, BE VERY CAREFUL. Like, as careful as you have ever been, because if the foil pie plate bends, it will be all over. Your pie should look like this before it goes into the oven:

Allow it to bake for about a half an hour. You will need to check it frequently because I have found that baking times are never an exact science. Test your pie by poking a fork into it. If it does not appear to be pumpkin pie texture, it needs to cook longer. Although the ingredients for this pie are slightly different than a standard pumpkin pie, it should look and feel the same as a regular one, and this is important. It will taste a lot better than usual, too :D

Here is the finished pie:

If you would like to make a vegan pie, that is very easy. I can, first of all, tell you how NOT to do it. Some sites recommend using silken tofu blended in a blender or food processor in place of the dairy ingredients. DO NOT DO THIS. Instead, use almond milk (in my opinion, the superior false milk for baking) in an amount of one cup instead of the cream. You do not need to add anything to substitute the eggs. You can make this pie without eggs and it will still taste great, if you are allergic to eggs. The texture will not be exactly the same, but it will be tolerable. One year, I followed a vegan friend's advice and tried to make a tofu pumpkin pie. No one could eat it. In the end, we had to put it outside for the squirrels. They wouldn't eat it either, which had never happened before or since.

In the next post (which will happen tomorrow, because Blogger and I are not getting along. At all), I will show you how to make a Good Noms apple pie. I had to rewrite large parts of this post twice, and import each picture three times. C'est la vie. At least you can have pumpkin pie now!

Bruschetta Pasta!

After the ups and downs of an extremely busy past couple of weeks, you, dear reader, are finally given a post from your third author: A.K. My needs when cooking are simple: I want to enjoy food the way it was meant to exist, to prepare as much as possible from scratch, to avoid eating foods that my body cannot handle and to make things as delicious as possible! I strive to eat all natural, all the time and to only eat "whole corn", meaning, to me, kernel corn or course ground cornmeal. My recipes may also sometimes lack certain things, simply due to my long list of food allergies.

Now, without further ado, onto my first recipe for you! I present a favorite, simple dish: Brushetta Pasta.

To prepare this, you will need:

• Pasta. I am still using pre-prepared pasta, so I use about 3/4 a box. If you make your own, more power to you! Simply prepare enough for the amount of people you wish to serve.
• Six fresh tomatoes
• Three cloves fresh garlic
• 1 large onion
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
• Mozzarella or parmesan cheese, to taste (optional)

1) Prepare pasta as one normally would, by boiling it in water with a little salt and olive oil, or however you prefer to.

2) While this is cooking, begin by chopping all six tomatoes, being careful to save the juices. I like to chop them into chunks about the size of your average dice (this analogy is made more complicated if you, like me, are a huge geek. I am thinking of a standard D6, geeky friends!). You can then set these chopped tomatoes aside in a bowl. I do this first to allow the tomatoes to sit and let the juices flow out of them a bit.

3) Next, I chop the onion and garlic. I like to dice my onions to be fairly small, but leave my garlic in medium sized pieces, perhaps two millimeter cubes. While you are making preparations, you should wash and tear up or cut your basil into small pieces, tearing or cutting each leaf into at least quarters. I usually simply rip herbs and greens instead of cutting them because it makes them less smushed, but the choice is yours. Set the basil aside once you have prepared it.

4) Following this, place the onions and garlic in the pot you plan to cook in with the olive oil. I generally cook almost everything except stews and soups in a large wok, but if that is not available to you, use a good sized sauce pan. Fry the onions and garlic in the oil until they are soft and they fill your kitchen with a wonderful aroma.

5) Add the basil and cook it in the oil with the onions for a bit so that it gets soft and the flavors mix. At this stage of cooking it is hard to give a time estimation, but I would suggest a couple of minutes, while keeping a weather eye on things and making sure to stir continuously.

6) Once things are fragrant and looking delicious, add your tomatoes. Stir everything up. Allow these to come to a boil and then let them simmer for about fifteen minutes, or until your sauce is of the desired texture. It should yield a very chunky sauce that has little in common with a standard tomato sauce, since there are no crushed tomatoes involved.

7) Serve over your choice of pasta, which should have been finished and drained at some point. If you wish, you may choose to add mozzarella or parmesan cheese to the top, but it certainly isn't nessesary. Season each portion with salt as desired. I like to add salt to tomatoes all the time, but my partner prefers to allow the basil to speak more strongly.

8) Enjoy. This is a good nom!