Sunday, November 30, 2008

Reduced-Guilt Apple Crisp

Juicy Apple Crisp Apples never let you down: You can get them year-round, and you can use just about any variety in this quintessential always-works dessert. With this kind of dependability, who needs chocolate?

1/2 cup regular oats
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 tablespoon thawed apple juice concentrate
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
8 cups sliced peeled Granny Smith apple (about 2 pounds) (Sue used macintosh)
1/4 cup thawed apple juice concentrate, undiluted
2 tablespoons water
3/4 cup vanilla light ice cream

Preheat oven to 425°.

Combine first 6 ingredients; set aside.

Combine the granulated sugar, cornstarch, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, and salt.

Place the apple slices in an 11 x 7-inch baking dish, and sprinkle with the cornstarch mixture.

Pour 1/4 cup juice concentrate and water over the apple mixture.
Top with the oat mixture.

Bake at 425° for 25 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown. Let stand for 15 minutes. Serve with ice cream.

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 1 cup apple crisp and 2 tablespoons ice cream)

CALORIES 258 (16% from fat); FAT 4.6g (sat 2.4g,mono 1.2g,poly 0.5g); IRON 1.2mg; CHOLESTEROL 10mg; CALCIUM 56mg; CARBOHYDRATE 55.2g; SODIUM 101mg; PROTEIN 2.2g; FIBER 3.4g

Cooking Light, JANUARY 2001

Sue's notes: I put extra topping on. I didn't have concentrate juice, or cider, or anything, so I used the juice from a can of peaches (pear juice). That worked great. We didn't have ice cream either, but we'll get some.

original post:
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=printerFriendly&recipe_id=222976

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Thanksgiving 2008

We enjoyed our annual gathering in New Hampshire. We had lots of Computer Fun.

Turkey
Blintzes--The Video
Community Cooking
Very Many Computers
Animoto and Photoshop ... (For everything else... there's mastercard!)





Sandy, we hope you enjoyed the day!

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Near Enemies

Near Enemies

The near enemies are qualities that arise in the mind and masquerade as genuine spiritual realization, when in fact they are only an imitation, serving to separate us from true feeling rather than connecting us to it. . . .

The near enemy of loving-kindness is attachment. . . . At first, attachment may feel like love, but as it grows it becomes more clearly the opposite, characterized by clinging, controlling and fear.

The near enemy of compassion is pity, and this also separates us. Pity feels sorry for "that poor person over here," as if he were somehow different from us. . . .

The near enemy of sympathetic joy (the joy in the happiness of others) is comparison, which looks to see if we have more of, the same as, or less than another. . . .

The near enemy of equanimity is indifference. True equanimity is balance in the midst of experience, whereas indifference is withdrawal and not caring, based on fear. . . .

If we do not recognize and understand the near enemies, they will deaden our spiritual practice. The compartments they make cannot shield us for long from the pain and unpredictability of life, but they will surely stifle the joy and open connectedness of true relationships.

- Jack Kornfield, A Path with Heart

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Dharamsala Recipe Blog

Thanks to the Global-Lab Trekkers for this link to a blog of recipes from India.

Follow the links, and you might even find chai!

http://www.aambrosia.typepad.com/

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Grandma Karash's Raisin Bread

Great Grandmother Theresa Karash's Raisin Bread

Ingredients:
yeast
1 1/2 cup milk
sugar
1/8 lb butter
5 1/2 cups flour
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
salt
1 box of raisins
Kitchen stuff:
saucepan
big bowl
two loaf pans
Directions, as recorded by Sandra Karash...
Start yeast in a little water with 1 tsp sugar.
Warm 1 1/2 cup milk in pan on stove.
Add 1/8 lb butter (1/2 stick) to milk in pan.
Heat until butter melts.
Put 2 cups flour in big bowl.
Add yeast and water to flour.
Add milk and butter to flour.
Stir to moisten all the flour.
Let 3 eggs come to room temperature.
Beat the 3 eggs with egg beater, and add 1 tsp vanilla.
Add 1 tsp salt to dough in big bowl.
Add 1 cup sugar to dough.
Add egg mixture to dough.
Mix in by hand. (There must be a better way!)
Add 3 1/2 cups sifted flour.
Mix by hand (again!) until dough doesn't stick to hand as much.
Add 1 box of raisins, which have been plumped over steam.
Grease two loaf pans well!
Put dough into pans, filling 1/3 full.
Cover with warm lid. Let rise until 2/3 full.
Put dough into warm oven for 15 minutes until it fills pan.
Bake until toothpick comes out clean, about 45 minutes: Bake at 250 about 25 minutes, then raise heat to 275 for 20-25 minutes more until it is brown.
Take bread out and place on soft surface (pillow) after removing from pan.

Grandma Karash's Blintzes

Grandma Karash's Blintzes

Pancakes:
4 eggs
3 cups flour
4 cups milk
1 t. salt (teaspoon?)

Filling:
32 oz. cottage cheese (I remember that we were supposed to get "dry cottage cheese") [Sue notes that 'I currently use low fat ricotta, and drain it briefly in a strainer.]
2 eggs
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 t. salt
butter for the pan

Steps:
- Take chill off milk, mix 2 c. milk with eggs
- slowly add flour to liquid (and salt!)
- gradually add rest of milk...
- cook pancakes crepe style !!

- mix filing ingredients after straining cottage cheese (just excess liquid)
- place in center of pancake by tablespoonfull
- fold up, then saute in butter
- bake 1/2 hour in 350° oven

Chai with Prerna

Today's recipe
For 1 cup:
1/3 cup water and 2/3 cup 1% milk (If using skim milk, just use 1 cup skim milk)
boil on stove in pot with
1 tsp Taj Mahal Tea Powder per cup (or 2 tea bags per cup. they are weaker)
Add the following spices while boiling
1 clove (crushed up) per cup
2 pinches cardamom powder
1 small slice of fresh ginger (2 slices if you LOVE ginger)
OR... instead of all the spices, use 2 pinches of tea masala
Boil that til you get the right color. (whick is kind of a nice tan. Think Carribbean for about 3 days with proper sunscreen.)
Strain into your cup using a nifty tea strainer.
Add sugar to taste.
Watch for the book "Chai with Prerna"... coming soon.
:-)

Blog Transformation

This blog is adding a new dimension: recipes. Whoa!

My life has been plagued by this problem for years... I cook something I like, then I want to make it again, and...
  • which web site was it on?
  • which cookbook was it in?
  • did i make changes?
  • omg. I am in New Hampshire, and I don't have that book!
  • isn't it on a card in the pantry in Boxboro?

I am solving ALL of those problems with one single word: BLOG!

So, I'm entering recipes into the blog now. Whoppee!

  • Family recipes
  • Indian recipes
  • Vegetarian recipes
  • Crock-pot (not crackpot), aka 'slow cooker' recipes
  • Anything I might want to make again somewhere else

Welcome to the newest department of the blog:

Sues Stews!

Friday, November 14, 2008

masala dosa

Ingredients Needed:

Dosa batter for dosas

Potato Masala (serves for 4)

Potatoes - 250 gms
Onions - 3 big
Salt to taste
Water - 1 cup
Oil - 2 tsp

For seasoning
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
Urud Dal - 1/2 tsp
Bengal Gram - 1 tsp
Cashew Nuts - 5 whole broken to 4 pieces.
Green chillies - 4-5 depending on the variety
Ginger - 1"
Curry leaves few
Coriander leaves for garnish

Method to prepare:

Cook potatoes in pressure cooker till its soft. Peel skin and let it cool

Chop onions into juliennes. Heat a kadai with oil. Once its hot, add all the seasoning ingredients except coriander. Sauté well. Once its splutters, add onions. Add salt and simmer and let it fry for 2 mins. When you find the onions turning translucent, smash the potatoes with palm and crumble it to the oil. This way you will have few big chunks and few mashed potatoes.

Keep sautéing and cook on high flame for 2 mins.Ensure it doesn't get burnt. Then simmer and add water. Adjust salt and let it cook for 5 mins. Finally garnish with chopped coriander..

Note: Extra onions add more taste to this masala. And also should not add too much of water since this is going to on top of a Dosa!