Recipes – Page 5 – a hippie with a minivan

Beef and Broccoli

This is a quick supper and has so much flavour…

First you will need:

1 lb thin cut of beef sliced across the grain into strips
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp raw sugar
1 tsp tamari
1 tbsp water
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp baking soda

I found the most amazing tip somewhere on the internet a while back. I usually don’t like beef strips because they often turn out tough and chewy, however, adding a tsp of basking soda to the marinade makes all of the difference. The beef is tender, soft and absolutely perfect! However, very important.. don’t leave it in the marinade for more than 30 min!!

While the beef is marinating, make the sauce and prepare 4-5 cups of broccoli florets.

For the sauce

4 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tsp fish sauce
3 tbsp Tamari
1 tbsp minced ginger
2 tbsp water

Add an 1-2 inches of oil to your wok for deep frying, and in batches, deep fry the beef for about a minute until golden brown and set aside.

When the beef is done, pour all but about 2 tsp of oil out of the wok and heat back up…

To the hot wok add 3-4 cloves of garlic, minced and one chopped onion and stir fry until the onion is translucent.

Add the brocoli and cook until it has changed colour but is still has crunch to it.

Add the sauce to the broccoli and cook down for a min or two and then thicken the sauce with a mix of 2 tsp of cornstarch and 2 tbsp of water…

Add the beef and you are done…

You can serve this on rice, as I believe most people do, but we like it on its own…

Dehydrated Curried Lentil Soup

Let me say this first, I don’t like Lentils.

I mean… at all.. but I do want to like them.

They are cheap, they are filling and they are healthy (and how can I call myself a hippie if I don’t eat lentils!) but each time I tried a recipe I ended up hating them even more.

A few weeks ago I picked up a bag of Lentils at the grocery store determined to try et least one more time.. this week I put Lentil soup on my meal plan.

Because the recipes that I have tried in the past never worked for me, this time I didn’t have a recipe, I didn’t have a guideline… I just decided to wing it… it worked. I loved this soup!

I used my pressure cooker to make the soup as I was in a bit of a rush and I will definitely be making it that way each time…

For the soup:

Chop up 1 Large onion and sauté in a bit of Olive oil.
Add a few minced garlic cloves
Add a few stalks of celery, a few carrots and a red pepper (all diced)
Cook down the veggies for a few minutes and add some salt and pepper, cumin powder, garlic powder, oregano and basil and a few tsp of curry powder.
Add about 8-9 cups of stock (Veggie or Chicken)
Add 1 small can of tomato paste
Finally add in 2 cups of dried red Lentils

If using a pressure cooker, bring to a simmer, put the lid on, bring to pressure and cook for 20 min.

If using a pot, cook for about an hour or until the lentils have given up their shape and the soup is all creamy and thick.

Adjust seasoning to taste…

This was our meal last night and the leftovers were put away in the fridge. That is when the dehydrating idea came into play.

I am loving my dehydrator and have been wanting to try dehydrating soup that can then be powdered and reconstituted with hot water. Great for a quick meal, snack or for when we go camping…

Using the non-stick sheets in my dehydrator, I lathered about 1 1/2 cups of the thick soup onto the sheets about 1/4″ thick, making 6 trays of soup.

I put the dehydrator at the temp that I usually use for veggies and fruits, so quite warm, and after about 1-2 hours I started seeing the thinner parts were becoming very dry and crumbly. After about 6-7 hours all the trays were completely dry, even the thicker parts.

Next, I put all of the pieces in the Food processor and made it all into a powder…

It was really that simple…

Of course we had to test it out. It took about 3-4 Tbsp of powder to get a good consistency in one cup of water… it is a bit thinner than the original soup, though I could be thicker if I used more powder, but the flavour was right on and Xavier brought it into the living room and ate it all up.. so it definitely got the thumbs up!

I am so happy that not only did I make a Lentil soup that I will be making again, but it also made a great instant meal for the whole family!

Choco-coconut date bars…

yumm…

that was my first impression of these bars…

These are “Lara” type bars… great for energy and full of good for you things without the preservatives or the high price.

The following recipe is just a guideline and you can add or substitute anything you wish, that is a great thing….

How about dried apples and cinnamon, cranberries and dark chocolate chips, pumpkin and spices… so many options!

Also, my food processor can handle the 4 cups of dates, but my old one couldn’t have, so you might want to start by halving the recipe to see what your food processor can handle.

This makes 18 good sized bars… and here is what you need:

4 cups of pitted dates
1/3 cup cashews (I also used puffed millet for a nut free version)
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
3 tbsp cocoa powder (unsweetened)
1 tsp Vanilla (I use my homemade extract)

Put 2 cups of dates into the food processor and pulse it until it breaks them up a bit.

Add the nuts, puffet millet, seeds, cocoa powder and coconut or whatever dry ingredients you are using

and process until grainy…. add the vanilla…

Add the rest of the dates a handfull at a time and then process until it starts coming together…

Pour the mixture into a pan (I use a 9X9)

and flatten…

Put in the Fridge until cooled and hardened and then using a pizza cutter or sharp knife, cut into 8 bars (6 rows X 3 rows)

Store in a container in the fridge or wrap individually…

If you are counting calories, as is these bars are about 166 cal each, which makes them a great snack…

Have fun making your own!

Strawberry Lemonade…

It might be the beginning of Spring, but this drink tastes like Summer.

I decided to make this on a whim because I had quite a few lemons I needed to use up and some strawberries that were a bit too ripe to be eaten.

this makes a big batch, but feel free to half it…

First mix 1 cup of water and 1 cup of sugar in a small sauce pan and bring to a boil until all the sugar has disolved, turn off heat and set aside.

While the simple syrup (yep, that water and sugar combo is what you just made) is cooling, Juice 6-7 lemons (enough to make 2 cups of lemon juice)

Next, purée the strawberries (I had about 15 strawberries left in my container and it also made about 2 cups)

(please ignore the tape holding my handmixer together…. I think I need a new one soon)

Next, pour the purréed strawberries and the lemon juice into your serving container along with the simple syrup…

Add water to taste… 8 cups was a good amount for us… not to sweet and with a perfect amount of tartness… then Chill and Serve 🙂

(I love this Gallon jar a friend passed onto us at the Winter unschooling gathering)

Sugar Cookies for Valentine's day…

(Can you believe that the beautiful red colour in this Icing comes from a beet?)

I originally got this recipe a few years ago from here…

I have used it quite a few times and I love them. They are easy to to make, easy to roll out and cut and hold their shape perfectly when baked.

For the Cookies….

1 cup softened butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
3 1/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together. Add the eggs one by one and incorporate them well. Add the extracts.

In another bowl, mix flour, salt baking powder and baking soda together and then mix with the butter mixture.

Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours.

When the dough is ready…

Preheat oven to 400.

On a floured surface, roll dough out to about 1/4 inch thick and cut out your favourite shapes…

Place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and bake for 4-6 min.

Transfer to rack and let cool.

When the cookies have cooled, make the icing…

2 cups sifted icing sugar
1 tablespoon milk (or any liquid… Today I used the juice from a grated raw beet to get an amazing red/pink colour)
1 tablespoon light corn syrup (this is optional but gives the icing a beautiful shine and helps it harden)
1/4 teaspoon almond extract (or vanilla… or vanilla bean)

Mix all of the ingredients together. You might need more liquid to get it to the right consistency… you want it thick but spreadable.

Using a pastry brush, ice the Cookies and let the icing harden before storing…

Here is the shredded beet and the beautiful coloured icing that I got from it…

Just grated it finely and squeezed out the juice…