boppty bop blog

Roasted Sweet Potato Salad

2009-09-29T11:53:00.001-07:00

A good fall salad.

Roasted Sweet Potato Salad

*2 pounds sweet potatoes (equaled 4 small for me)
*1 large red onion
*2 tbl olive oil
*mesclun greens
*toasted walnuts
*dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Peel the sweet potatoes and chop them into roughly one inch chunks. Peel and quarter the onion, then cut each quarter in half.

Toss the potatoes & onions in a bowl with the olive oil, then spread them out on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast in the oven about 40 minutes, or until potatoes are soft and somewhat browned. Let cool.

While the oven is still on, toast the walnuts on a baking sheet for a few minutes.

Layer the mesclun greens, then sweet potatoes and onions and a bowl. Sprinkle with cranberries, toasted walnuts and tahini dressing (below).

Tahini dressing:

*1/3 cup water
*1/4 cup tahini
*2 cloves garlic, pressed
*2 tablespoons barley miso paste

Whisk all ingredients together. Should keep in the fridge for several days.

Vegan Danishes

2009-09-29T08:59:00.001-07:00

My first attempt at making vegan pastries! "Cream cheese" filled on the left and pain au chocolat on the right. Used this and this website to make the pastry dough and this recipe for the cream cheese filling.

Blueberry Pie

2009-09-26T10:43:00.002-07:00

Originally I wanted to make a cherry pie, but I had a lot of trouble finding sour cherries, and the ones i did find were really expensive. I bought 7 dollars worth at the farmer's market and it ended up being enough for about half a pie (!), so I put them in the freezer for a special occasion. Blueberries are in season and pretty cheap in the farmer's market recently so I decided to try that instead.

Blueberry Pie

Crust (recipe from mom):

* 2 cups sifted flour
* 1 tsp salt
* 3/4 cup shortening
* 1/4 cup ice water

Filling:

* 5 cups of fresh blueberries, rinsed and stems removed
* 3 tbsp cornstarch
* 2 tbsp lemon juice
* 1/2 cup granulated sugar

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

To make the crust, mix the flour and salt in a bowl. Cut in the shortening with 2 knives until mixture is grainy, about the size of small peas. Combine 1/3 cup of this mixture with water and add to remaining shortening/flour mixture. Mix with fork just until dough sticks together. (Don't over mix, the dough will get tough.) Divide in half and roll out on lightly floured board or between 2 sheets of wax paper. Fit one half into a 9 inch pie pan and trim the overhanging dough. Chill the other half while making filling. (I actually ended up having enough crust and filling to make one regular pie and one little individual pie.)

To make the filling, stir together the blueberries, sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice in a large bowl. Pour into the pie shell.

Take the other half of the pie crust out of the refrigerator and make the pie top, either by making shapes with a cookie cutter, making a lattice top, or a single covering with steam vents.

Bake at 425° for 30 minutes, reduce oven temperature to 350°, and bake for another 25 to 35 minutes, until juices are bubbling and crust is lightly browned. (It's a good idea to place a bakigng sheet under your pie to catch what bubbles over, i didn't and now i have blueberry goo all over the bottom of my oven.)Let cool on a wire rack.

Makes 8 servings.

Kathryn Goetz Scrapbook

2009-09-26T10:11:00.000-07:00

I found this amazing scrapbook at a thrift store awhile ago & couldn't believe someone had actually gotten rid of it. Seems to be the scrapbook of a Dayton highschool girl from the 1920s. Makes me wonder about her life and how her scrapbook ended up at the Village Discount...maybe she never got married and never had a family? Or maybe they just aren't sentimental?

It's full of really great ephemera- old dance cards (she had a romance with someone named Basil), soda fountain menus, playbills, party favors..she must have been pretty wealthy to have been so well entertained in the 20s.

It's way too full of treasures for me to keep to myself so I thought I'd post up some shots of it on Flickr. The rest of the pictures are here.

World's Longest Yard Sale

2009-09-17T10:12:00.000-07:00

A few pictures from the World's Longest Yard Sale. Treasures, country roads, blue skies, friendly people. Best weekend of the summer, always. More pictures here.

Trail Mix Cookies

2009-09-16T10:42:00.000-07:00

Making these was a result of having too ripe bananas and a whole lot of quick cooking oats because I always by them accidentally instead of the old fashioned kind. Now they're my favorite cookies and Ive made them three times in like 2 weeks. They're good for breakfast because they have lots of carbohydrates and protein for energy in the morning. I also like that they don't have any white sugar and are just the right amount of sweet. When my roommate saw me taking this picture he asked "are you taking pictures of your vomit?" Right after he said that he ate 4 of them.

Trail Mix Cookies

*1/3 cup chunky peanut butter
*2 ripe bananas
*1 tsp vanilla
*2 tbsp vanilla soy milk
*2 tbsp maple syrup
*2 1/2 cups quick oats
*1/2 tsp cinnamon
*1/4 cup flour
*handful of each: sunflower seeds, raisins, chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mash the bananas until they're mostly smooth, a little chunky is ok. Add the vanilla, soymilk, peanut butter, and maple syrup and combine. Add the oats, flour, and cinnamon, and stir again. Then mix in the raisins, sunflower seeds, and chocolate chips.

Place by teaspoon on an ungreased baking sheet and bake 12-15 minutes.

Nickolas Muray

2009-08-18T07:07:00.000-07:00

Just came across this photographer on flickr. I love the vibrant colors and the idyllic quality of his photographs. Apparently Nickolas Muray did quite a bit of work for Harper's Bazaar, Vanity Fair, and Ladies Home Journal, so I'll be keeping an eye out for his pictures in old magazines. His archive at the George Eastman collection includes over 25,000 images! See more here.

Raspberry Macadamia Blondies

2009-08-14T11:37:00.000-07:00

OMG These are so good. Maybe the best thing I have ever baked. Started from this recipe and changed it around a bit. Even better after sitting in the fridge for a day.

Raspberry Macadamia Blondies

*1 1/2 cups flour
*3/4 cup sugar
*1/4 cup oil
*6 oz plain unsweetened yogurt (Wildwood brand)
*1 tbsp vanilla
*2 tbsp molasses
*1 tsp baking soda
*1/2 tsp salt
*2 tbsp raspberry jam
*1 container fresh raspberries
*1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts

Preheat oven to 350 and line an 9 inch baking pan with parchment paper or spray the pan with oil, and set aside.

Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt.

In a large bowl combine yogurt, oil, vanilla and molasses with a wire whisk. Add the sugar and whisk until well combined.

Slowly fold the dry ingredients into the wet, stirring as you go along. Fold in macadamia nuts.

Pour batter into the brownie pan, spread with a spoon or spatula. Drop the jam onto the batter by tablespoon and swirl throughout. Place raspberries on top of batter. Bake for 1 hour or until top is firm and brown.

Let cool completely before serving.

Cincinnati Chili

2009-08-05T11:41:00.000-07:00

This weekend I am going home (yay!), so I wanted to post about my favorite home food. In Cincinnati, the most famous local food is chili made with cinnamon and cocoa on top of spaghetti with a mountain of cheese, raw onions, and hot sauce on top.Probably sounds kind of gross, but it's actually amazing. And I love it, but maybe that's just because I've eaten it for as long as I can remember. There are about 100 locations all over Cincinnati and in college this was always where we would end up at 2 in the morning after the bars. Some out of towners love it, some can't really get used to it. My mom has always made her own version at home and the recipe has come in handy now that I'm vegan and stay far far away from the real thing which is 90 percent ground beef. This version made with TVP though is just like I remember my mom's and still my favorite remind-me-of-home food.

Cincinnati Chili (recipe from mom)

*1 cup dried TVP, reconstituted in vegetable broth
*1 quart water
*1 6 oz. can tomato paste
*1 cup chopped onion, plus more for topping
*2 tbl chili powder
*2 tsp chopped garlic
*1 1/2 tsp salt
*1 tsp cinnamon
*1 tsp cumin
*1/4 tsp nutmeg
*1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
*2 tsp cocoa
*2 scant tbl cider vinegar
*2 tsp worcestershire sauce
*2-3 dashes allspice
*5 whole cloves
*1 bay leaf
*shredded vegan "cheddar"
*1 box spaghetti

Combine TVP and water in a large pan. Add tomato paste and spices. Put cloves and bay leaf in a tea ball and add to pan.

Simmer at least an hour to allow spices to combine, covering pan if mixture gets too thick.

Serve over spaghetti, with shredded vegan cheese and onions on top.

Isreali Couscous Salad

2009-08-04T08:37:00.000-07:00

I'm never going to get my college loans paid off if I keep spending so much money all the time, so I'm trying to do things to save money like bring my lunch to work. This salad is the start of that, based off of a recipe I found on the internet and modified a bit. I'd never made Israeli couscous before but now it's my new favorite grain. Usually I cook with a lot of spices, so I like that this recipe is just simple ingredients that go really well together.

Israeli Couscous Salad

Salad:
*1 cup Israeli couscous, uncooked
*1/2 cup dried cranberries
*4 scallions, chopped
*1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
*several handfuls of fresh spinach, chopped

Dressing:
*2 tbsp sunflower oil
*1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
*1 tbsp agave nectar
*salt and pepper to taste

Cook the couscous, drain and set aside while you chop the vegetables and make the dressing.

In a small bowl, whisk together the canola oil, vinegar, agave nectar, salt and pepper.

In a large bowl, combine the couscous, cranberries, and scallions. Pour the dressing over it and stir to combine.

Serve immediately, or chill in the fridge to blend the flavors. Tastes better the next day.