My mother used to love to buy lady’s club cookbooks. You know the ones – they’re made up of the members favorite recipes. Once I left home, she would buy them for me, too. This was years before the internet. Back then, we had to rely on cookbooks, magazines, and recipes passed on from friends and family.
Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake became an instant favorite of mine. Not only is it delicious, but it’s made in a bundt pan, which makes serving easy.
I feel obligated to disclose that back when I was very young and could afford the calories, I would top my serving of Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake with vanilla ice cream, followed by chocolate sauce. Amazing!!!
CHOCOLATE CHIP COFFEE CAKE
- 1/2 cup (113g) + 1 T butter at room temperature, divided
- 1 cup (191g) (6.5 oz) granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups (268g) (9.5 oz) + 1 T all-purpose flour, divided
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup (226g) (8 oz) sour cream
- 1 cup (170g) (6 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips (I use Nestle’s)
- 1/3 cup (48g) (5.5 oz) dark or light brown sugar (I use dark)
- 1/4 cup (24g) (3/4 oz) powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup (46g) (1.5 oz) walnuts, chopped & lightly toasted
- 2 tsp cinnamon
Preheat oven to 350º Fahrenheit.
Prepare the bundt pan by melting 1 T butter and stirring in 1 T flour. 
Using a pastry brush, paint flour/butter thoroughly on bundt pan – getting into all the crevices. 
In an electric mixer, cream together 1/2 cup butter and granulated sugar for 3 minutes (don’t cut this time short).
Beat in eggs and vanilla. 
In a separate bowl, combine the 2 cups of flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
On low speed of mixer, beat in 1/2 of sour cream (don’t worry about being exact). 
Beat in 1/2 of flour mixture, then beat in remaining sour cream, followed by remaining flour. Stir in chocolate chips. (The picture below shows vanilla being added now – I forgot to add it earlier with the eggs.)
In a separate bowl, combine brown sugar, powdered sugar, walnuts, and cinnamon. 
Spoon half of batter on bottom of bundt pan, gently spreading it out evenly. I find it easiest to scoop the batter into the bundt pan using a 3 T ice cream scoop, then gently spread the batter evenly around. 
Sprinkle on half of brown sugar mixture, then spoon on remaining batter, spreading it evenly. Finally, sprinkle on remaining brown sugar mixture. 
Bake at 350º F for 45-60 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean (it’s okay for there to be chocolate from the chips).
When done, remove from oven and let cake sit in pan for 20 minutes before removing to a wire rack to completely cool. 
Sprinkle on powdered sugar, if desired.
When asked to attend a potluck, my Spicy Macaroni Salad is often specifically requested. Unlike the usual bland pasta salads, this recipe will wake up your mouth…in a good way!
Stir the carrots, radishes, cucumber, scallions, parsley, and dill into the dressing. Mix well and chill.
Cook pasta in salted water until just tender. Rinse with cold water to stop the cooking (don’t worry, it will continue to soften when mixed with the dressing) and drain. Mix into the dressing. Chill at least an hour to allow the flavors to penetrate the pasta.
Avocado Sauce is a quick and easy topping for tacos, salads, quesadillas, or anything else you want. As opposed to guacamole, which is usually chunkier, it’s meant to pour – thus covering more territory.
Pulse until creamy – scraping down sides as needed.
Adjust seasoning to your preference.
Split in half lengthwise. 
Scoop out the insides, measuring out 1½ to 1¾ cups, and mash. 
The skin and remaining insides are not going to be used.
In a separate bowl combine the cornmeal, flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 
Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and gently mix together just until the flour is incorporated. (Don’t over-mix.) Over medium-high heat, melt remaining 1 T butter in a 10″ non-stick or cast iron skillet until bubbling. 
Pour in batter, spreading out evenly. 
Bake at 425º F 25-30 minutes – until toothpick comes out clean.
You can eat it plain, or top with butter, maple syrup, honey, etc.
One, generally, associates ‘gazpacho’ with the red, tomato based chilled soup. But there are other types, including ajoblanco – an almond based gazpacho.
While the bread is soaking, grind 1¼ cups almonds in a blender until they become a fine powder – about 30 seconds. 
Gently squeeze water out of bread back into the bowl (you’re going to use this water). 
Place the bread into the blender with the almonds. Set aside 1½ cups of the bread water for later. Into the blender, add the remaining water in bowl (NOT the 1½ cups you set aside), the vinegar, garlic, salt, and cayenne. Blend for 30 seconds. 
With blender running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil.
Pour in the 1½ cups bread water and run blender to mix.
Strain soup into a serving bowl. 
Into a small bowl combine 1 T of the strained soup with the almond extract. Then pour 1/2 tsp of this mixture into the soup (it enhances the almond flavor) and discard the rest (a little goes a long way). 
Correct for seasoning, if needed (I usually need more salt). Chill, at least, 3 hours – more is better. Toast remaining 3 T almonds in a dry skillet or toaster-oven.
One of my favorite flavor combinations is lemon and garlic, so it’s no surprise that Greek Potatoes are a go-to side dish in our house. Not only is it delicious, but it’s super fast and easy to prepare. (It does take about 40 minutes to bake, but that’s hands-off.)
Place in 475º F oven 
Remove from oven and sprinkle on parsley. Serve while hot.
Start swirling pan until butter is browned (turns reddish/amber) – it happens fast, so don’t leave unattended! (You may need to turn down the heat a bit or raise the pan off the flame.)
Immediately pour into large mixing bowl of your electric mixer. Add in the remaining 
Let melted butter cool at least 15 minutes. (You don’t want to melt the shortening.)
Add in the brown sugar, granulated sugar, salt, and vanilla. Beat on medium 2 minutes. Don’t shortchange the 2 minutes – it aerates the batter.
Add in whole egg and yolk and beat on low for 30 seconds. Let rest 3 minutes. USE A TIMER! (You’ll be doing this for a total of 3 times.) Beat on low for 30 seconds, then let rest another 3 minutes. Finally, beat on low for 30 seconds (this is the LAST time, I promise!) and let set 3 minutes.
Add in the chips and pecans, and mix on low until they are evenly disbursed and all the flour is incorporated.
Line cookie sheets with parchment or grease. Use a 3 T ice cream scoop or a 1/4 cup measuring cup filling it 3/4 full. Drop dough onto cookie sheet, spacing them far apart – you should get no more than 9 per sheet.
Bake in a preheated 375º F oven 8-11 minutes. (Check at the 8 minute mark – they cook faster on a dark sheet.) You want the edges to look done, but not the center (unless you like crispier cookies). The cookies will continue to bake on the hot sheet.
Remove from oven and let set on the hot cookie sheet for 10 minutes. Slide onto a wire rack to finish cooling.
It’s tempting to eat them right away, but try and resist. The flavor improves as they cool and firm up.
Remove from heat and stir in vinegar, mustard, and dried tomatoes. 
In a Dutch oven, bring 2 quarts of water and 1 T salt to a boil. Remove 1/2 cup of this water and stir into shallot mixture. 
To the pot of boiling water add the broccoli and cauliflower. 
When the water resumes boiling, cook veggies 1 minute only, just to blanch them, then scoop them out and add to the shallot mixture (which is still off-heat).
Add the pasta and lemon zest to the boiling water, cooking until the pasta is done. 
Save a cup of the pasta water in case you need it, then drain pasta. Into the empty Dutch oven combine the shallot mixture and pasta.
Adjust seasoning, if needed. Add saved pasta water if you feel it needs to be looser.
Chop leaves with knife, then place in food processor and pulse until leaves are very finely chopped. 
Add egg and oil, and pulse a few times to blend. 
Pasta making is all about having the right ratio of liquid to dry ingredients. The spinach, egg, and oil are the wet, and the flour is the dry. You’ll have to go by feel since the water in the spinach and the size of the egg are variable. Don’t worry, there’s wiggle room!
When dough reaches the proper consistency, form 2 balls and place them back in food processor with lid to rest for about 1/2 hour or so. 
Attach pasta machine to a table or countertop with plenty of room to lay out dough. You’ll also need something to hang the dry pasta over, such as a dowel. Pour about 1/4 cup of flour on the work surface. Work as quickly as you can so the dough doesn’t dry out.
Brush off extra flour the run dough through machine at the lowest number setting (this will be either ‘0’ or ‘1’). Fold dough like an envelope and run it through again. 
Lay dough flat and rub a little flour over both sides of dough. 
Fold in half and run it through machine at same setting. Repeat this last step 3 more times. You will have run the dough 6 times through the machine on the lowest setting. Repeat with second dough ball.
Run these pieces through the cutter before doing the other strip, so the cut edges don’t dry out.
Who doesn’t love a warm loaf of Italian bread? Well, now you can make one just as good as any bakery….for pennies!
Cover bowl with a plate or tea towel and let the dough rest on the counter 18 – 24 hours (the longer, the better flavor). You’ll notice a significant change to the dough – it will become wetter and bubbly:
Cut a piece of parchment paper big enough to line a 3-4 quart saucepan with corner ‘ears’ sticking up. Rub paper with a light coating of vegetable oil and lightly sprinkle bottom with flour. Place dough in center of paper then lift the dough into the saucepan by the 4 corners of the parchment. Cover with lid and let rise on the counter for 4 hours.
Cover with lid and place in cold oven. Immediately turn oven on to 450°F. (As the oven slowly heats, the dough will yield more oven rise.) Set timer for 1/2 hour. 
After 1/2 an hour, remove lid and continue baking without the lid until the temperature of the interior of the loaf reaches 209°F. 
If you don’t have a thermometer, do a visual check – the top should be well browned. Remove the loaf and the bottom should be browned, too. 
Remove loaf from pan to a wire rack to cool. Let loaf cool at least 20 minutes (this takes some will-power) before slicing in order to get a cleaner slice.
Mexican Rice is one of those foods that can be both a side dish and an ingredient in something else. For example, Monday night you might want a side dish with a bit of a kick to perk up a main course, and then on Tuesday it can become part of a burrito or taco. One preparation, two meals! Love it!!!
Empty into a large measuring cup and add enough stock or water (both work fine) to add up to 4 cups total. Set aside.
Put uncooked rice in a sieve and rinse well to remove excess starch. 
In a saucepan, heat oil. Add rinsed rice and sauté 6 minutes. 
Stir in the tomato purée, garlic, salt, jalapeños, and tomato paste. Pour into casserole dish. 
Cover and bake at 350º F 30-40 minutes, stirring halfway through, until rice is fully cooked. (Make sure rice is fully cooked – it won’t continue to soften off-heat.) 
Add in cilantro and lime juice to taste. If you want more kick, stir in another minced jalapeño.
Vegetarian Cooking For Carnivores BLOG 