Cake - sugar free/artificial sweetner free

Eat this!



INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup pitted dates
1/2 cup pitted prunes
1/2 cup chopped raisins
1 cup water
1/2 cup margarine
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
DIRECTIONS
1 Cut dates and prunes into small pieces. Boil dates, prunes, raisins, and water for 5 minutes. Add margarine. Mix and set aside to cool.
2 Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
3 Mix the eggs, vanilla and nuts. Add to the fruit mixture. Sift the flour, baking soda and salt and add to the fruit mixture. (If you want a spicy bar add 1/2 tsp. Cinnamon and 1/4 tsp. Nutmeg to the flour.)
4 Spread in 7 x 11 inch pan and bake for 25-30 minutes.

Oh my god, try this cake! It is sweetened only by the dried fruit, and it tastes like cake. I used the optional nutmeg and cinnamon, and I recommend it. We all loved it, and it's actually pretty healthy too.

Thai Green Vegetable Curry

6oz/175g shiitake mushrooms, sliced
5oz/150g small broccoli florets
5oz/150g fine green beans, halved
4oz/110g asparagus tips
2x14oz/400ml tins coconut milk
1tsp palm or soft brown sugar
3 dessertspoons fresh green peppercorns, or green peppercorns in brine, drained
4 kaffir lime leaves (optional)
1/2oz/10g each basil and coriander leaves
1/2 mild red chili, deseeded and cut into hair like threads

For the Green curry paste:
6-8 whole birds eye chillies, de-stalked
1 lemon grass stalk, trimmed, sliced thinly and soaked for 30 min in
2 tbsp lime juice
1 rounded tsp thinly shredded lime peel (kaffir lime if possible)
1 inch/2.5cm piece of fresh galangal, or other fresh ginger, sliced
1 heaped tsp fresh coriander stalks, chopped
1/2 tsp each cumin and coriander seeds, dry roasted in a small frying pan till toasted, then ground in a pestle and mortar
3 garlic cloves, peeled
5 thai shallots (or other shallots), peeled
You will also need a wok or a flame proof casserole

Put the paste ingredients into a food processor and whiz to a paste, stopping once or twice to scrape the sides down.
To make the curry, place the tins of coconut milk upside down on the counter, open them and you will see that it will have separated into a thick cream below, and a watery milk on top. Divide these by pouring the milk into one bowl and the cream into another.
Place the wok or casserole over a high heat without any oil in it. When it is very hot, add three quarters of the coconut cream. You are going to fry this until it separates, stirring the whole time so it doesn’t catch. As it starts to separate, the oil will begin to seep out and it will reduce. Ignore the curdled look, this is normal.
Next add the curry paste and three quarters of the coconut milk, which should be added a little at a time, keeping the heat high and letting it reduce down slightly. Stay with it and keep stirring to prevent it from sticking. Add the sugar and the peppercorns. Stir again and gently simmer everything, uncovered, for 5 min. Now add the remaining coconut milk and some salt along with the vegetables. Gently stir them in, then bring the liquid back to the boil before simmering for 5 min, or till the vegetables are just tender.
Just before serving place the lime leaves on top of each other (if using), roll them up tightly and slice them into very fine shreds. Stir the basil and coriander into the curry, and scatter the lime leaves and red chili over the top.

This one is from Delia Smith and it’s really good. My husband loves Green Thai Curry, so I figured I’d give it a go. It was so much easier then I thought it would be, it hardly took any time at all. I used slightly less chili peppers in the sauce, but still enough to give it a good kick. The green peppercorns in brine were an entirely new experience for me. They’re really good, and strange, and I like them a lot.

One thing to note… My coconut milk cream never did separate in that first stage of coking. I think that it hadn’t separated from the milk properly because the cans were on their sides in the cupboard, so there wasn’t really a way to turn them upside down. Anyway, it was fine, I reduced it down, and eventually it did start to look a bit curdled, so I figured I was probably still on the right track.

Too spicy for the boys, but my husband and I loved it!

Sugar Free Fruity Oatmeal Cookies

They could be better, they could be worse.




2 sm. (or 1 lg.) ripe banana
2 c. unsweetened applesauce
3 tbsp. butter
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 c. oatmeal
1 c. whole wheat flour
1 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 c. currants or raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degree. Combine bananas, applesauce, butter, eggs and vanilla. In large bowl, mix together oatmeal, flours, baking soda, salt, spices and currants or raisins. Add fruit mixture to dry ingredients until blended. Drop by tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Makes 40 cookies. From Cook.com.

I only made half a batch because I just wanted to try them. Also, I have to assume they meant melted butter, because otherwise, it doesn't make much sense.

They were ok, much more muffin-ish then cookie-ish. Far bigger on subtle flavor then sweetness.

Don't bother with these, I have a much better one for tomorrow.

Turkey Bacon sandwich w/ Walnut Rocket Pesto

or Sandwiches a la Anthony!


PS Rocket is British for Arugula

“For a quick tip , take some arugula , a few pine nuts , or almonds , or even walnuts (they work best) with some garlic , maybe 1 clove to 2 cups of arugula , and 1/4 cup walnuts. and put it all in a food processor , and blend away while adding a good olive or canola oil in a steady stream. It makes an awesome pesto. Put it on a turkey sandwich with some bacon , and OH MY GOD...So Good!!”

I got this suggestion from my brother-in-law, and let me tell you, he’s not wrong. So Good! The spicy-ness of the rocket and the substantial flavor of the walnuts go perfectly with the always wonderful combo of bacon and turkey.

We added cheese to our sandwiches because my older son demands cheese whenever there are sandwiches (even peanut butter and jelly, though in that case I tend to put it on the side). I think this would have been good with a big crusty type of bread, but we just used what we had in the house and it was still fabulous.

As always, Anthony rocks!

Mallorcan Braised Grouper

Though actually, this is monkfish...



5 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for drizzling over the fish
1 medium sized onion, quartered and thinly sliced
5 medium sized garlic cloves, sliced
2tsp sweet (not smoked) paprika
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
2 roasted red bell peppers (see below), cut into strips
2 roasted Yellow bell peppers, cut into strips
2 large vine ripened tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
2.5 cups Swiss chard, leaves only, chopped
1 medium sized bunch flat leaf parsley, leaves only, chopped
1 bay leaf
1/3 cup dry white wine
1/3 cup currants (I used raisins instead)
4 thick Grouper steaks about 2 lbs total (See Note)
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
Flour for dusting the fish
4 large Yukon gold potatoes (about 2lbs total), boiled and sliced 1/4 inch thick
1/4 cup pine nuts

Note: If you can’t get Grouper you can substitute another firm salt water fish like Monkfish, mahimahi, or halibut. If you want to use fillets, they need to be thick, and reduce the baking time by about 15 min. I used Monkfish and baked for 35 min and it was perfect

To roast the peppers:
Preheat the oven to 425f. Line a baking sheet with kitchen foil and brush it with olive oil. Core, cut in half and deseed the peppers. Place them on the sheet skin side up and push down on them gently to flatten. Brush with olive oil and bake for about 35 min. Transfer to a large bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let stand for 15 min, then peel.

Heat 4 tbsp oil in a large skillet, preferably non-stick, over medium-low heat. Cook onion and garlic for about 7 min. Add paprika and red pepper flakes, and stir for a few seconds. Add the roasted red and yellow peppers and the tomatoes, increase the heat to medium, and cook till they begin to release their juices, about 5 min. Stir in the chard and parsley and cook stirring till they just wilt. Add the bay leaf, wine and currents and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium low and cook until the vegetables are softened and the flavors are blended, 5-7 min. This can be prepared ahead, and refrigerated, covered for 1 day.
Preheat the oven to 300f
Rub the fish steaks generously with salt and pepper. Heat the remaining tbsp of oil in a pan over medium high heat. Dust the fish lightly with flour, add it to the skillet and sear for about 30 seconds on each side, then transfer to a plate.
Take an earthenware casserole or a deep glass baking dish in which the fish would fit snugly all in one layer. Arrange the potato slices on the bottom all in one layer, overlapping them slightly. Sprinkle salt on the potatoes and arrange the fish on top. Remove the bay leaf from the veg mixture, season with salt to taste, and spoon it evenly over the fish, along with it’s pan juices. Drizzle olive oil over the top and sprinkle with the pine nuts. Bake till the fish is very tender, 45-50 min depending on thickness (see note above). Let cool for 10 min.


This recipe is from The New Spanish Table

This dish was so good! It took a bit of prep work because of roasting the peppers, but that can be done way before if you want to save time during the actual cooking. Actually, the whole veg mixture can be made up to a day in advance. Which ever way you do it, it is totally worth it.
The mix of flavors was really interesting. My husband pointed out that it has a bit of an African taste to it. That makes sense as it is from Mallorca, which I believe is not so far from there. It has a good balance of sweet and spicy, and also, since it has greens and potatoes and veg and fish all in it, it can really stand alone as a dinner. No need for side dishes if you don’t feel like it.

I used Monkfish, on the advice of my wonderful and knowledgeable fish guy. I’ve never cooked it before. It is a really good fish, very firm and meaty, and it stayed perfectly moist even though it cooked for a long time (I don’t know if that’s down to the fish or the recipe, but it sure is a good thing). It seemed fairly easy to bone too, which is a big deal for me since I feed it to the boys. They loved it by the way. My picky eater was suckered in by the raisins, he can’t resist raisins, and he discovered that he liked the fish too. I loved it, and also, I was not intimidated by cooking it. Looks like I might just get used to cooking fish after all.

Slow cooked Root Vegetable Soup

8oz/225g Each: carrots, celeriac, leeks, and swede, peeled and cut into 2 inch pieces
1 small onion peeled and roughly chopped
2.5pints/1.5litres hot stock
3 bay leaves
Salt and pepper
Greek yogurt to garnish
Put everything (except yogurt) into the pot, bring to a gentle simmer and put into the oven at 275f/140c for 3 hours.
Remove the bay leaves and process till smooth. Serve with yogurt swirled in.

Mostly I made this soup because I had most of these vegetables left over from the Roasted Vegetable and Brown Rice Gratin I have to say that cooking the soup in the oven really does increase the depth of flavor in a pretty amazing way. This was a very good soup, but I have to admit that I am getting a bit tired of the British pureed soups. They seem to like to puree all of their soups, soups with chunks are few and far between.
Still, this Delia Smithsoup was really tasty, and if you have these vegetables laying around, it’s a great thing to do with them.

Quick-braised Celery

1 head celery, trimmed, destringed, and cut into 3 inch pieces
1oz/25g butter
1 medium onion, peeled and thinly sliced
3oz/75g carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
8oz/225ml hot stock
1tbsp fresh chopped parsley
salt and pepper

melt the butter and cook the onions for 3-4 min. Add the carrots and cook 2 more minutes. Add the celery and fry for 5 more minutes, then season with salt and pepper and add the stock, place a lid on the pan, turn down the heat and cook for 20 min. Take the lid off and simmer till the liquid has reduced and become slightly syrupy, about 5 min.

Well, if you have some celery that’s just going to go bad if you don’t use it up, then I would make this, but I wouldn’t go out of my way for it. It’s pretty tasty, the carrots and onions especially, but I think I like celery as an ingredient better then I like it as a side dish.

I got this one from Delia Smith.

Steamed Thai-style sea bass and rice

Actually, this is sea bream, not bass



For the thai paste
2 large bunches fresh coriander, leaves picked and stalks reserved
2 thumb sized pieces of fresh ginger, peeled
3 cloves of garlic, peeled
2 fresh red chillies, halved and deseeded
2 tsp sesame oil
6tbsp soy sauce
Juice and zest of two limes
1x400ml tin of coconut milk

400g/14oz basmati rice
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
4x170g/6oz sea bass fillets, pinboned and skin scored
A handful of sugar snap peas or mangetouts
A bunch of spring onions, outer leaves discarded, trimmed and finely sliced
1-2 fresh chillies, deseeded and finely sliced
1 lime, quartered
Preheat the oven to 200c/400f
In a food processor, whiz up the coriander stalks, half the coriander leaves, the ginger, garlic, halved chillies, sesame oil, soy sauce, lime juice and zest, and the coconut milk. This makes a lovely, fragrant Thai-style paste.
Cook your rice in salted boiling water till it’s just undercooked, then drain it in a colander. Scoop in into a high sided roasting tray. Pour the thai paste over the rice and mix it in well, then shake it out flat. Lay the sea bass fillets on top, scatter over the snap peas or mangetouts, then cover the dish tightly with foil, and put it in the preheated oven for around 15 minutes. Remove the foil and sprinkle over the spring onions, the sliced chili, and the other half of the coriander leaves. Divide between your plates with a wedge of lime.

This is a Jamie Oliver recipe.

I don’t cook fish. That’s always been my stance anyway. For one thing, it’s just far too expensive, but the real problem is that I am afraid to cook it. I can’t say exactly why, but I always have been. Maybe it’s stories about people getting sick from shellfish, or just that I would hate to ruin anything so pricey. What ever the reason, it’s time to get over it.

I went to talk to my local fish guy. Turns out he’s the best fish guy ever. He’s a mobile market guy, so if anyone reading this happens to live in the East of England, check your local market for his stall… F.E. Tucker & Sons. I imagine he must be one of the sons, cuz they’ve been around since 1956.

Anyway, the recipe calls for Sea Bass, but I was shocked at how much that costs. The guy said that it’s that expensive because it’s like the Champaign of fish. He sold me some Sea Bream instead, which costs half as much, and has a wonderful flavor and texture. He described it as tasting very similar to shellfish, and after trying it, my husband and I agreed with him. They are also pretty and red, which is fun.

As for the recipe…
When you make the paste, you should be warned, it’s ugly. It mixes to a strange consistency, I actually thought I must have gotten it wrong, but then I tasted it, and it’s REALLY good. Once you mix it with the rice, you can’t tell that it was ever ugly. I used brown rice because I noticed at the last minute that I had run really low on Basmati. The flavor of the sauce is totally powerful enough to handle brown rice.
The cooking was a bit of trouble, just because of my fear and inability when it comes to fish cooking. I guess the deal with fish is that any cooking time is really just an estimate as it depends so much on the thickness of the fillet. Mine took twice as long to cook as it was supposed to which made me panic a bit, but the end result was great. The sauce and the toppings make this dish really special. Everybody loved it, the boys too!

I’m going to try to do a fish dish every week (I’d do more, but it’s still too expensive to be more regular then that). I WILL learn to make good fish, and not be intimidated.

Roasted vegetable and brown rice gratin

For the rice:
10oz/275ml brown basmati rice
1tbsp olive oil
2 medium onions, peeled and finely chopped
1pint/570ml hot stock
1 tsp salt

For the vegetables:
10oz/275g butternut squash (peeled weight)
5oz/150g each of the following: celeriac, swede, carrots, parsnips (peeled weight)
2 medium red onions, peeled
1 heaped tbsp chopped fresh herbs (such as parsley thyme tarragon)
1 fat clove of garlic, peeled and crushed
2tbsp olive oil
salt and freshly milled black pepper

For the cheese sauce:
1pint/570ml milk
1.5oz/40g plain flour
1.5oz/40g butter
a little cayenne pepper
2oz/50g mature cheddar, grated
1oz/25g parmesan, finely grated
a little freshly grated nutmeg
Salt and black pepper

Preheat to 230c/450f
For the veg:
Cut the Squash, celeriac, swede, carrots, and parsnips, into 1 inch cubes. Place them and the red onions, each cut into 6 pieces through the root, into a bowl along with the herbs, garlic, a good seasoning of salt and pepper and the olive oil, then toss them around so they get a good coating of oil, and herbs. Arrange them evenly all over a baking tray, then place it on the highest shelf for about 30 minutes, or till they are nicely brown at the edges. As soon as they are ready, take them out and reduce the temp to 400f/200c.
For the rice, warm the frying pan over a medium heat, then add the oil and the onions and let them cook for 3-4 minutes until lightly tinged brown. Next stir in the rice and turn the grains in the pan till they become lightly coated and glistening with oil.



Add the boiling stock along with the salt, stir once only then cover with the lid. Turn the heat to the very lowest setting and cook for 40-45 minutes. Do not remove the lid and do not stir.
Meanwhile make the cheese sauce by placing the milk, flour, butter and a pinch of cayenne into a medium sized saucepan, then whisk it all together over a gentle heat till you have a smooth glossy sauce. Let it cook on the lowest heat for 5 minutes, and after that add half the cheeses. Whisk again and allow them to melt into it, then season with salt pepper and nutmeg.
Once the parts are cooked, arrange the rice in an ovenproof dish, put the vegetables on top of that, followed by the sauce, pouring it over and around the veg as evenly as possible. Scatter over the remaining cheeses and a sprinkling of cayenne then return the dish to the oven and give it about 20 minutes till the sauce is browned and bubbling.

This manages to be both total comfort food, and also good healthy fairly diet friendly (there is very little cheese in the cheese sauce) food at the same time. Excellent! I realized after I started making it that it’s kind of a cheat to put it on here as it is actually quite similar to another Delia Smith recipe that I made before. It’s sort of a winter vegetable, and rice version of the Gratin of Rigatoni with Roasted Vegetables. Still, it was different enough that I figured it would be ok.

I have to say, it really was great. It’s such a simple way of preparing the vegetables, but it yields such a great flavor and texture, and the sauce is way easy to make, and so tasty. This one is all good. Even my older son (3 yrs), who is going through his picky eater phase, ate everything on his plate. That’s really saying a lot.

Gennaro’s Salad

400g/14oz new, or small waxy paotaoes
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
4 large eggs
2 heaped tbsp salted capers
2 lemons
1x 220g tin of really good tuna in oil, drained, or 300g/11oz fresh tuna
For fresh tuna: a good pinch of oregano, and half a red chilli, chopped
Good quality extra virgin olive oil
A large handful of rocket
A large handful of mixed salad leaves, torn
1 small red onion, peeled and finely sliced
4 salted anchovies, rinsed boned and filleted

Give the potatoes a little scrub, bring a pan of water to a boil and add the potatoes to it, then season the water with salt. Put the lid on and boil fast, till the potatoes are tender, and you can put a knife through them. At the same time, boil your eggs for 7-8 min so that they are firm, but soft boiled. Refresh them in cold water, shell them and put to the side.
While the potatoes and eggs are cooking, wash the capers under the tap, then drain them and put them in a bowl with the juice of one of the lemons, to draw out any excess salt.
If you are using fresh tuna, cook it in a non-stick pan with a little olive oil, oregano, and some chilli, salt, and pepper. Either sear it so it remains pink in the center, or fry for a few minutes on each side till cooked through, but do not overcook.
Wash the salad leaves and spin them dry.
By now the potatoes will be done, so dress them while they are still really hot. Drain them really well in a colander, then halve or chop them inot a bowl. Add the capers and lemon juice, 5 tbsp of the oil, a pinch of salt and pepper, and the finely sliced onion, and toss together really well. Taste a potato to make sure the seasoning is just right – you may want a little more oil or lemon juice. When they get down to room temperature, flake in the tune, add the salad leaves and the halved or quartered eggs, drizzle a little oil over, mix carefully, divide onto four plates, and lay over the anchovies.

Ok, this is a lot of text, so you might think that this salad is a lot of work, but actually it’s super easy… Boil some potatoes and eggs, add dressing and some stuff and toss together.

This one is from Jamie Oliver, who never lets me down.

It was a really great salad. It has the potatoes, the eggs and the tuna which makes it really substantial and good for dinner, and the flavors are some of my favorites. It’s got the caper and lemon dressing (how good an idea is that?), and some anchovies thrown in too. Also, I loved the consistency of the soft/hard boiled eggs.

I thought this was a great summer meal!