Lentil Love! Boats on a Stormy Sea

We have tried every way of cooking lentils I could find: soup, salad, rice pilaf, dal, loaf, etc. The children never liked them. THIS they loved!

I got the recipe from here: http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=15326.0 and changed it a bit to fit our tastes.

2 cups cooked lentils
1/2 onion
1/4 cup packed cheese
2-3 tbl ground flax seeds
salt, pepper, chili powder, dried marjoram, onion powder, garlic powder
2:1 ration water and oil

First, I cooked one cup of dried lentils in two cups water. After bringing it to a boil, added a bit of salt, one crushed garlic clove and a few springs of thyme. This way, the lentils are delicious and ready for any recipe. Today I added a bit of rind from some good hard cheese. Simmered, covered, for 20 minutes. Left covered until needed. Drained lentils (reserving broth) and discarded the cheese rinds and thyme sprigs.

Boiled two potatoes in salted water. (Saved the potato water and lentil broth for soup later).

Chopped half a small red onion. Mashed the drained lentils, mashed the potatoes, combined them, and added the spices to taste. Added enough water and oil mix to make an eggless binder with the flax seeds and moisten the mix until it's sticky. Let it sit a bit. Preheat oven to 350.

Chop/shredded half a green cabbage, and one and a half red onions. Sauted in oil, browning the onion and cabbage. Added two prunes (or you can add a few raisins). Once browned, add a shot of liquid. I used a sweet white wine. Once dry, added some dill to taste.

While the cabbage browns, shape the mash into boats. Brush with oil and bake for 30-40 minutes until browned and crispy on the outside.

Plate the cabbage, place the boat on top. Stick a small leaf of bok choy or other green into the boat, as a sail. The kids ate it!! Yeay! And DH and I loved it! Hope you do too!

The most fun of this dish? I named it boats on a stormy sea.

Christmas Dinner.

Our Christmas dinner was a huge success. We had:

An appetizer of bacon-wrapped apricots & bacon-wrapped dates (stuffed with goat cheese)
- 30 minutes in the oven at 350.

A delicious side of kale, green beans, and mushrooms - Found out that the man thinks kale is "too chewy." I loved it, though.

Another delicious side of root vegetable pancakes (similar to potato pancakes but with root vegetables & scallions)

And a main protein of duck breasts topped with a pomegranate sauce. I merged two recipes into one to make the duck breasts. Here's what I did.

Duck Breasts with Shallot & Pomegranate
(Originally from Eating Well)

2-4 duck breasts
1 cup pomegranate juice
1 shallot, minced
1 tablespoon cornstarch

Score the skin of the duck breasts in criss-cross fashion - making sure to not cut the meat. Salt & pepper the breasts. In a low temperature skillet, place the breasts skin side down. Cook the skin for about 30 minutes or until most of the fat is rendered. It should be a lot!! Save the fat for a later use - except for 1-2 tablespoons for the shallot.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Remove the breasts from the skillet, & put into a rectangular baking dish. Bake for 7-9 minutes. Let the duck rest for 10 minutes after removing it from the oven.

In a saucepan, place 1-2 tablespoons of the duck fat & the shallot. Saute the shallot. Add 3/4 cup of the pomegranate juice & reduce to half. Stir the rest of the pomegranate juice & cornstarch in a small bowl until the cornstarch dissolves. Add to the pan. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, stirring, until the sauce is thickened, 1 to 2 minutes. (I was too impatient for the reduction. That's why the sauce in the picture is runny.)

Slice the duck on the bias, & top with the pomegranate sauce.

Enjoy!!

Enchiladas

The man & I purchase a HUGE pork loin from Costco a few months ago. It's been sitting in the freezer waiting to be eaten.

Tick.
Tock.
Tick.
Tock.

When his dad came for a visit, we defrosted it in hopes of having a family meal together with leftovers the next week. Unfortunately, we got 21 inches of snow, the roads became marginally passable, & the man's dad fled to sleep at airport. So, we had a 4-5lb. pork loin on our hands with only 2 mouths to feed.

Since it was already marinated, I roasted half of it with potatoes & carrots, & we ate the meat sliced. Normal reheated leftovers the next day. No big whoop.

But here's what I did with the other half. It's pretty easy & really delicious. The man's family normally makes this with chicken breasts (4 cooked in the skillet with oil, salt, pepper, whatever spices - then shredded).

Jeff's Family's Enchiladas
2-2.5 lb pork loin in marinade from store
2-3 cans of salsa verde (prefer Herdez brand)
1 cup of chicken stock
1 package of corn tortillas (18 used)
3-5 tablespoons of spicy sauce (we used Thai Chili Garlic sauce but hot sauce would work well)
1/2 - 1 cup of shredded cheese (we used chipotle cheddar)
1/4 cup of oil

1. In a slow cooker, place your pork loin, the spicy sauce, and 1/2 cup of water. Place on low for 6 hours. Pork should shred easy after this. If it doesn't shred easily, turn slow cooker up to high for another hour.
2. Shred all of the pork.
3. Heat salsa verde & chicken stock in stovetop until thoroughly warmed.
4. Place about 1/4 cup of oil onto plate or large shallow bowl.
5. Dip a tortilla in the oil to moisten.
6. Place the tortilla into rectangular casserole dish (or whatever you're going to use to bake the enchiladas).
7. Do steps 5 & 6 for all of the tortillas. Keep in mind that each enchilada is going to be filled. So, you'll want to make sure each looks "like a taco" in the casserole dish. Stack them next to each other. They'll hold each other up.
8. Add a tablespoon of the salsa verde into each tortilla.
9. Add a few tablespoons of the pork into each tortilla.
10. Add a tablespoon of the salsa verde on top of the pork.
11. Fold the tortilla ends over each other, & roll the tortilla so that the bottom is now on top.
12. Top with shredded cheese, & put into the oven until the cheese melts.

These are delicious & keep in the fridge for a few days. I hope you enjoy them!

The Perils of Online Recipes.

Apparently, the Food Network yanked the chocolate biscotti recipe offline that I just posted. I'm not sure if this is because Gourmet magazine went under, Food Network isn't being paid to publish Gourmet magazine's recipes anymore, or whatnot.

I found a similar recipe online at Epicurious.com from Bon Appetit. At least they're still around!

Regarding the cookies from this year's Christmas Cookie Explosion, I've received some excellent comments from recipients. All of the cookies were favorites of someone. None of them were "okay." The only criticisms were that the thin mint cookies could've been crispier & that the biscotti could be a little less hard. That's not too shabby!

Happy Baking & Happy Holidays, everyone!

It's a Christmas Cookie Explosion!

Just ask the man. ;)

As gifts for my family, I've decided to make cookies for everyone. The problem is that a few family members have food intolerances/allergies, which makes this a little more creative of a problem. I've chosen these cookies for everyone:

1. Alton Brown's sugar cookies (made gluten-free with Jules' flour)

What I love:

The cookies taste fresh when they are 2 weeks old, the batch of dough makes a lot, & they're really tasty.

What I hate:

All the sifting hurts my hands/arms. I always forget that I can probably just get away with whisking the dough.

2. Heidi's peanut cookies (egg-free, dairy-free, made gluten-free)

What I love:

These cookies are delicioso!

What I hate:

They are a little crumbly & work well as a smaller cookie. It all works out well later as they need a glass of milk as an accompaniment.

3. Heidi's thin mint cookies (egg-free, made gluten-free)

What I love:

I made these years ago using a star-shaped cookie cutter. All of my little points broke when I dipped them in chocolate. This year, I made little rounds, & that worked out swell!!

What I hate:

The dough turns rock-hard if you leave them in the fridge for too long. (Heidi recommends freezing it for 20 minutes, but I refrigerated them since it would be a day or two until I could bake them.)

4. Chocolate chip cookies

What I love:

These are my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe. My number 1 Taste Tester just smiled, mumbled, & finished his cookie. They are WAY delicious.

5. Almond lemon biscotti (made diabetic-friendly with agave nectar & no white chocolate dip)

What I love:

The flavor of these are amazing. Really lovely. I opted to zest 2 oranges in my 4th batch in lieu of the lemons & swapped the sugar for agave nectar. Really nice!

What I hate:

My first batch turned out mildly crunchy. My second? Extremely hard. I'd kick that second baking time down to 10 minutes.

6. Chocolate hazelnut biscotti
old link: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sara-moulton/chocolate-hazelnut-biscotti-recipe/index.html

What I love:

The man said these weren't overly chocolately, which was nice.

What I hate:

The dough got a few big cracks in it while it was baking. I didn't think that I overmixed!

7. maybe Triple Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal cookies

What I love:

You can really hide the flax to go egg-free in these. I haven't made them yet, & I don't know how much more baking I can do this week. I'll keep you posted!

Also, we ran out of tupperware to store all the cookies before shipment. Must ship all cookies tonight!