Egg-Free Ginger Cookies

Yep, another recipe. I know, weird, but I'm also hoping to get my egg-free sugar cookie recipe up here before Christmas, so don't be too surprised. 

Christmas makes me want cookies, especially the ginger/molasses kind. I'm not really a fun of the crunchy gingerbread stuff, but these are perfectly soft and delicious. Yum! Perfect to leave out for Santa. 

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon ground flaxseed

3 Tablespoons hot water

2 1/4 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3/4 cup butter (to make these dairy-free you can use dairy-free margarine)

1 cup sugar

1 Tablespoon water

1/4 cup molasses

White sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat the often to 350 degrees.

2. Mix the flax and hot water. Set aside. (More info about using flax this way here.)

3. Mix the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cloves and cinnamon. 

4. In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar until it is fluffy. Add the flax mixture and beat until combined. Then add molasses and water. Gradually add in the dry ingredients until everything is combined.

5. Roll dough into balls, about 2 inches each. Dip each ball into some sugar and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. 

6. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. 

Makes about 2 dozen. 

Breastmilk Cookies

 Alternate recipe title: Awesomest Ever Egg-Free Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies.

These are my most favorite cookies of all time, I like them even more than regular ones made with eggs. These are the reason that I have lost very, very little baby weight since Princess was born. Oops! And today I decided to share the goodness with you. These cookies do contain a very special top secret ingredient. Can you guess what it is? I'll give you a hint, it's not breastmilk. (I'll tell you why I call these Breastmilk Cookies in just a minute.) The secret ingredient is (drum roll, please)...

Flaxseed! Have you heard about this stuff? Not only is it super good for you and all that jazz, but it is an awesome egg substitute. I use it all the time in baking, and we can go through a whole 1 pound bag in a month sometimes. I also think it's quite yummy. I can find it in most grocery stores in the baking aisle. 

On to the recipe:

Egg-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup butter 

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

10 tablespoons hot water

4 tablespoons flaxseed meal

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

3 cups oats

1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven at 375 degrees. Mix together the flaxseed and the hot water and set aside for 3-5 minutes. Letting it sit makes it all gluey, which is what makes it such a great egg substitute (see the picture above). In a large bowl cream the butter and sugar together. Add flaxseed mixture and vanilla and beat until blended. Sift together flour, salt and baking soda and mix with butter mixture. Stir in the oats and then chips. Scoop or drop onto baking sheet. Bake 8-12 minutes, depending on cookie size. If you want to make these dairy free, just use dairy free margarine and chocolate chips and you should be good to go!

With the flax/water mixture, I realize that 4 tablespoons is the same as 1/4 cup, but for some reason if I measure it that way (like I did today) I mess it up somehow and the cookies turn out just wrong. Which is why there is a stock photo at the top of this post, instead of a pic of my own sad, flat, yet delicious cookies. 

This cookie dough also freezes really well. Between working two jobs while taking care of a house and husband and two very creatively active little girls, I don't have much free time, so rather than taking a lot of time cooking a ton of cookies at once, I will cook one dozen of these when I first make the dough, then put the rest in some plastic wrap like so:

I throw it in the freezer and then later when I still have no time but want some cookies, I can just cut off some slices and bake them. But let's be honest, most of the time I just cut of slices and eat them raw, yum! And no eggs means no salmonella danger!

But why do I call these breastmilk cookies? Two reasons: 1. When you say that that is what they are called right as someone is taking a bite, it's hilarious to watch their face. 2. If you happen to be a breastfeeding mom, the oats and flax in these babies will cause a nice boost in your milk supply. (Don't worry, if you are not currently lactating, these cookies will not cause you to start.) 

A common nursing problem fixed by the most delicious cookies ever? You're welcome! 

Homemade Baby Food

I have been accused more than once of being a hippie. I can't deny that I like a lot of hippish things. I love to do yoga, I eat plain yogurt every day and sometimes will make it myself, I make my own laundry soap, I've been known to take "herbal remedies," and while I probably shouldn't admit this in public, I have been known to do some unconventional things with breastmilk (best mosquito bite cure ever!). 

People have also called me a hippie for making my own baby food from scratch. While I do really enjoy knowing exactly what is going into my baby's belly, I have to admit that the #1 motivation for me to make my own baby food is cold, hard cash. Those little plastic tubs of baby food are so convenient, but for the cost of just one serving of peas, I can buy a gigantic bag of frozen peas and make 10+ servings of peas. I want to make it perfectly clear that I have nothing against store-bought baby food, it's great nutrition and certainly more convenient than making it yourself, but for the health of our bank account, this is the way I do it. And I've had enough people ask me how to do it, too, that I figured it was about time for a blog post. 

Making homemade baby food is so super easy. The basic recipe is this: 

1. Decide what kind of baby food you are going to make. I simply buy what is cheapest at the grocery store. Cheapest not only makes my frugal side happy, but it is usually what is in season, which means it has more nutrients than when it is out of season. It also usually was grown somewhere more locally instead of it being shipped half way across the world. Right now is a great time to stock up and make a ton of baby food because so much is in season, especially the really good baby food things like sweet potatoes and squash.

2. Remove the skins/peels/pits/seeds, etc. For a lot of fruit like plums, peaches, etc, a 30-second dunk in some boiling water followed by tossing it in some ice water will take the skins right off super fast. 

3.Cook it if it needs cooking. Most veggies do need cooking, most fruit does not. The basic rule is, if it crunches, cook it. Steaming is best because it retains more of the nutrients than any other cooking method.

4. Puree it. You can do this in a food processor or a blender, whatever you have. You can add water or the cooking juices to thin it out and make it whatever consistency your baby needs/likes.

5. Freeze it. I have some silicone ice cube trays that are perfect for baby food because they make it super easy to pop the food out when it is frozen, but any ice cube trays will work. Simply fill the ice cube trays with the puree, put plastic wrap over the top and freeze. Once it is frozen, pop them out and put them in a labeled zip-top bag. 

All done! When it is time to feed the baby, just grab a few cubes and microwave them enough to defrost, super easy!

For more specific recipes and tons more info, I found an amazing site, check it out here!

Nut-Free Pesto - The Unrecipe

I adore basil. I love basil so much that I have even eaten it in ice cream and loved it. Which means it probably won't surprise you that I love, love, love pesto. You can throw pesto on pretty much anything and I will happily eat it. But there is just one problem. Do you know that pesto has nuts in it? My poor nut-allergy girl can never have real pesto because of those pesky (yet delicious!) pine nuts. In my desperation for some good pesto we have tried many different experiments over the years, and this is the best that I have been able to come up with. (As a side note, sunflower seeds absolutely do not work in place of the pine nuts. At all.)

This is not a recipe, sorry. When I married Marquis, I was the kind of girl who could (barely) follow a recipe and have stuff turn out decent most of the time, but any deviations were pretty disastrous. After 12 years of being his sous chef and watching lots of Food Network, I now consider myself a halfway decent cook, I don't always use recipes, and most of the time the food comes out edible. So this unrecipe will be in the form of "some of this" and "a few of that."  I have included some of what I think would be the approximate measurements, but don't hold me to it because I honestly don't know. 

Since that is way more than enough babbling, on to the unrecipe! 

Nut-Free Pesto

Ingredients:

Basil - about 1 cup

Parmesan cheese - about 1/2 cup grated

2 cloves garlic, peeled

Kosher salt

Freshly ground pepper

Extra virgin olive oil

First, wash some basil and throw it in a food processor or blender. I buy the big bag of basil at Sunflower Market. Grate a bunch of Parmesan cheese and throw that in there, too. Peel 2 garlic cloves and throw those in, then sprinkle in some kosher salt and grind in some fresh pepper. Turn the food processor or blender on and drizzle in the olive oil while it mixes. When it looks like pesto, you are done!

Of course, the pesto is good on pasta, but the last time I made this we actually had it on pizza. We had homemade crust, pesto for the sauce, some leftover grilled chicken from the night before, diced tomatoes, and grated mozzarella and Parmesan. Yum!! I was going to get a picture of that, too, but well, it didn't last long.

I have to add the disclaimer that if you are a pesto aficionado, this is definitely not the same. But it's really pretty darn yummy stuff and a good replacement for when you can't have the real thing.

**After I wrote this and before it actually posted (yes, I blog ahead of time, so sue me), my sister informed me that if you bruise the basil before you blend it, it lets out more flavor. More flavor means even more yummy pesto! So smack that basil around first, take out some aggression.

What the Pho?

I'm going to do something I've never done on here before. I'm going to share a recipe. Now don't get too excited, this is not going to turn into a food blog or anything, but I am nothing if not random, right?

But first, a story! A few years ago my sister introduced me to Pho (pronounced fuh). If you don't know, Pho is a Vietnamese beef soup, and it is way yummy. After loving it in the restaurant I found a recipe for it and tried making it at home, and it has become one of my favorites. The last time we had it we decided to invite that same sister and her little family over to enjoy it with us, and to see if what we made was anything close to what they serve in a Vietnamese restaurant.

Of course, Murphy's law came to play that day, and about the time I needed to start the broth the power went out. We have an electric stove. But I'm stubborn and I wanted my own homemade Pho, and so we improvised, like so:

Kids, don't try this at home. Our grill has a side burner, and so that is where we prepared the entire dinner. We moved the grill into the garage because it was too windy outside for the flame to stay lit. The strong wind was also why the power was out in the first place, I suspect. We opened the garage door a touch and kept the back door open to provide ventilation so we didn't all die of carbon monoxide poisoning. I used the grill part as my work surface. And then my sister and her husband got there and laughed at our strangeness. The end.

And now, the recipe!

Ingredients:

Stock:

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 minced garlic cloves

1 small onion, chopped

3 inch piece ginger, thinly sliced

12 cups beef stock

2 cinnamon sticks

2 star anise

2 lemon grass sticks, slightly bruised

2 tablespoons fish sauce (Hint, don't smell this before you put it in, just trust me. Also, don't google how they make it. You won't like it, I promise. Just trust.)

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 teaspoons sugar

For the rest of the soup:

2 lb fresh rice noodles

7 oz beef eye fillet, very thinly sliced (if you freeze the meat before slicing it works better)

2 cups bean sprouts

Fresh basil leaves

Limes cut into wedges

Jalapenos, cut into slices

Plum sauce (found in Asian section of grocery store)

Heat the oil in a large stock pot. Add the garlic, onion and ginger and fry until it really starts smelling awesome. Add 8 cups of water, beef stock, cinnamon, star anise, lemon grass, fish sauce, soy sauce and sugar. Bring to a boil and then turn to low and simmer for 30 minutes. Allow to cool for a few minutes and then strain the stock and return it to the pot. Return it to a boil. You want this very, very hot. Like roiling boil hot. Super hot. This makes enough stock to feed about 6-8 people.

While making the stock, cook the noodles per the package directions.

And now for the fun part about Pho. The beef that you put in your bowl is raw, like so:

You put the noodles in the bottom of the bowl, then add the beef. I also add my other "toppings" at this point. The bean sprouts, basil and lime are a must, and I like a few jalapenos in there, too.

The broth then gets poured over the top, and if it is hot enough and if the meat is sliced thinly enough, it will cook the meat instantly. I love watching the meat turn from red to pink to fully cooked as each scoop of broth is poured over.

Adding some plum sauce at this point is even more yummy. The other fun thing about this soup is that you eat it with chopsticks and some of those fun Asian soup spoons. You get the big pieces with the chopsticks and then the broth with the spoon. Yum!