ITALIAN BISCOTTI - My grandmother's secret recipe

My grandmothers' both loved to cook.  They were both Italian, and created similar recipes.  In our house it became a running joke about who made the best sugo (pasta sauce), ravioli, and minestrone (to name a few).  It was quite the competition when they both showed up at our house for Sunday dinner, and expected us to tell them whose dish tasted better.  Around the holidays, my grandmothers' would make biscotti and we were "forced" to sample each of their cookies.  We learned to be very careful not to take more of one grandma's cookies than the other for fear we wouldn't get them anymore.

They each guarded their recipes like a lion guards her cubs. I remember watching one grandmother make sugo and trying to get the recipe out of her because of course nothing was written down.  She would say, "I added a little of this, and a little of that."  The thing is, sometimes that is exactly what she did.  She would open her refrigerator and take something wrapped in plastic out, smell it, and then throw it in the pot.  If I asked what it was, she would shrug and say, "left overs."  We never got food poisoning so I assume whatever she threw in there was edible... The end results always tasted delicious too.

I was digging threw some boxes that have been in my garage since I moved several years ago and I cam across a biscotti recipe written in my grandmother's had.  I have no recollection how I got her to write down the ingredients but I am not going to make the mistake of losing this again.

If you are going to bake these plan on spending the morning or afternoon at home as biscotti are labor intensive and take about 3 hours to make.

INGREDIENTS:

4 eggs, beaten    

1 cup sugar
1 cube butter
4 cups flour
2 tsps baking powder
1 tsp anise extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 small jar anise
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or almonds

Optional:
marsala or muskatel
amaretto
almond extract

I remember putting amaretto in my cookie batter to give it a sweeter taste.  I don't have the proportions here as she didn't write them down.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees and grease a cookie sheet.

Cream butter.  then add sugar.  Gradually add beaten eggs and anise & vanilla extract.  Mix well.

In another bowl, sift flour and baking powder together.  Add about half of this to the wet mixture. When this is blended, add the nuts, mix, and then add the rest of the flour.

Put dough on a board and knead it. Separate the dough into 5 pieces.  Take one piece at a time and make a ball out of it.  If dough is too sticky you may need to add a little bit of flour to the board and/or your hands. Roll ball until smooth.  Then using both of your hands to shape ball of dough, roll it until it is about 12 inches long and 2 inches thick.

Place all 5 logs on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 25-30 minutes.  Don't worry if dough is pale when you take it out of the oven.

Place logs on board and cut into 1/2 inch slices on the diagonal.  Then place the cookies back on the cookie sheet and toast for about 10 minutes.  They should be firm and lightly browned when you remove them from the oven.

Beet and Quinoa Burgers

I'm always looking for the best tasting veggie burgers as they are a staple in my diet.  I bring them to work for lunch with a salad and they freeze well.  I found a recipe online that I liked so I modified it to my taste.  Beets, quinoa and black beans; you just can't go wrong with this combo in my book.  I have two taste testers for my recipes, my husband, and my co-worker.  My husband's idea of a two thumbs up is if he says "it didn't taste like dirt".  Well truly he only said that once when I overcooked the eggplant burgers I was making, but still... Notice that recipe didn't make it on this blog.  My co-worker is a vegetarian who doesn't like to cook but appreciates good food.  She gave these burgers a "yeah baby!"  




1 cup uncooked Quinoa   

2 large beets
1 medium carrot
1 head garlic
Olive oil
4 medjool dates pitted
1 onion chopped
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp thyme
2 tbsp Basaltic vinegar
 2 tbsp fresh parsley

 2 tbsp fresh cilantro

2 tbsps lemon juice 

1/2 cup Bread crumbs
Salt and pepper to taste
16 ounces cooked black beans (or 1 15 oz can)

Cook the quinoa like steamed rice (2:1 ration, water to grain). Bring water to a boil, stir in quinoa (rinsed) and cover. Simmer 15 - 20 min, until cooked through. If all water has evaporated, but the grain still isn't cooked through, just add a bit more water and continue to cook until done. Cool completely.

Heat oven to 400 degrees.  Place beets, and carrot on an  oven baking pan that has been lightly coated with Pam or olive oil.  You can also lightly spray veggies before putting them in the oven. Roast veggies until soft but not mushy, about 20 minutes. Allow them to cool.  Peel them when cooled.

For the garlic, peel away the outer layers of the garlic bulb leaving the skins of individual cloves intact. Using a knife, cut off 1/4th to 1/2 inch of the top of the cloves.  Drizzle the top of the garlic with olive oil and wrap in tinfoil and place in the oven with other veggies.  Cook for about 30 minutes or until garlic is soft and fragrant.  I use 6-8 cloves in the beet burgers. They are easy to remove from peel after they are cooked.

Turn  oven down to 350 degrees.

Place the pitted dates in a bowl and pour enough boiled water to cover them.  Soak until softened (about 30 minutes) and then drain water. 

Heat 1-2 TBSPs olive oil  in a large saucepan. Sauté the onions,  over medium low heat for about 7 minutes, or until soft and translucent.  Add coriander, smoked paprika, and thyme.  Mix well.  Pour in the balsamic vinegar and stir.  Cook for 2-3 minutes until vinegar has reduced slightly.  Remove from heat.

Place black beans, beets, carrot, and 6-8 peeled garlic cloves in food processor.  Add dates, onion mixture, parsley, cilantro, lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste. Process until everything has combined but is still on the "chunky" side.  remove mixture from food processor.  Add quinoa and bread crumbs.  Mix well using your hands.  If mixture is too wet add more quinoa and/or bread crumbs.  You want to be able to form patties that will hold together when cooked.

Make 6-8 patties out of mixture.  Place on greased cookie sheet and put in oven. (did you turn oven down to 350 degrees?)  Turn patties after 12 minutes.  you may need to reshape them if they fall apart.  Be careful not to burn yourself while handling patties.  Bake for 20-25 minutes until brown on top but not burned.

Cold Buster - My Morning Kale Smoothie

It's bright green!  My co-workers look horrified as I sip my smoothie. What are you drinking they ask?  That green goo is my breakfast and it contains kale the vegetable du jour.  The beauty of making a smoothie everyday is that my refrigerator never contains rotten fruit or vegetables.  They go into the blender before they get bad.  No more buying spinach because I need more veggies in my diet and then tossing it in the garbage a week later when it looks like a weird science experiment gone wrong.  Buying vegetables was half the battle and actually cooking them was the other  half. I bought a vitamix about a year ago and I have experimented with lots of veggie drinks since then.  My favorites usually contain beets but they can be hard to digest for virgin raw veggie sippers so I make this one to entice family and friends over to the dark leafy side...

Kale Smoothie
serves 2 or save some for later
1 high powered blender such as Vitamix
2-3 oranges peeled -toss them in whole
juice of 1 lemon
1 green apple - seeded and cored
1-2 celery stalks
1 tomato
1 bunch of kale -washed
water
stevia (optional)
1-2 carrots - it's up to you


Put water in blender first, then everything else.  Put kale in last so that the other items will liquefy and make kale easier to blend.  Make sure to add enough water to keep smoothie from being too thick.  I usually add half the kale and blend. Then I add more kale and water until it is the right consistency.
Enjoy!

For a more tropical tasting drink try adding papaya, mango, and pineapple to the kale.

Mushroom Lentil Burgers

This was an experiment to see if I could make a mushroom burger that didn't taste like dirt, hold the salt.  The first recipe  I tried tasted great to me but my husband thought the mushroom burger tasted worse than dirt.

He ate two of these right after I cooked them so I am saving the recipe.

1 cup beluga lentils
4 cups raw mushrooms chopped.  (I used a mixture of portobello, cremini, and shiitake)
1 red onion chopped
5 garlic cloves chopped
1-2 Tbsps olive oil
1 Tbsp fresh or dried Thyme
2 tsps fresh or dried Oregano
1 tsp Sage
1/4 tsp marjoram
Or add 2 TBSPs Italian seasoning
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup parsley
1 jalapeño pepper

Directions:

1.  Heat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Wash and drain lentils. Place lentils in a medium sized pot.  Add 2 cups of water.  Bring to a boil, cover, reduce to simmer and cook until tender (about 20-25 minutes). Take lid off to cool and set aside. Drain if there is any water left.

3.  Heat olive oil in large saucepan. Sauté the mushrooms, onions, garlic, thyme, oregano, sage, and marjoram   over low heat for about five minutes, or until soft. 

4.  In a large blender add mushroom mixture to lentils, sunflower seeds, parsley, jalapeño, salt and 

pepper to taste.  Mix well. Add chopped walnuts and fold into mix.  Shape into 7 or 8 patties.  Place on greased cookie sheet.  Place in oven.  After about 12 minutes flip patties over and return to oven.  They may need to be reshaped when they are flipped over.  Bake for 20-25 minutes total until brown on top but not burned. You don't want them to dry out.