savoury – a hippie with a minivan

Buttermilk Cluster

I found this recipe at The Fresh Loaf and I just had to try it… and now that I have I will make it again…

Buttermilk Cluster
Makes 12 to 18 rolls, depending on size
6 to 6 1/2 cups (750 grams) bread or all-purpose unbleached flour
1/2 tablespoon salt
1 envelope (2 1/2 teaspoons) active dry or instant yeast, or 1 15 gram cake fresh yeast
1 tablespoon warm water
1 3/4 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon honey

Glaze:
1 egg beaten with 1 teaspoon water

Topping:
1-2 tablespoons seeds (poppy, sesame) or grains (cracked wheat, rolled oats)

Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl. Combine the warm water and yeast in a small cup and allow to proof for 10 minutes.

Pour the yeast, buttermilk, and honey into the flour mixture and mix well. If the dough is so dry that some of the flour won’t stick, add a bit more buttermilk or water. If the dough is too sticky to knead, more like a batter, add more flour by the tablespoon until the correct consistency is achieved.

Knead by machine or hand for approximately 10 minutes. Return the dough to the bowl, cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp cloth, and set aside to rise until the dough has doubled in size, approximately 90 minutes.

I made the dough, let it rise and then used a 9X9 cake pan and separated the dough into 12 pieces…
and then let that rise again for about 40 min and then brushed with the egg and sprinkled with sesame seeds…

Then bake at 425 for about 30 min… (mine took about 25min)

It makes an amazing bread with a great consistency… It was the perfect bread to go with the soup I made, I it is great not having to cut it because the pieces come apart easily..

This will be a great bread for when company comes also because it looks beautiful also…

Crispy Tofu on Coconut Quinoa… two ways!

This is a variation of a recipe that Annie shared with me a while back and I love it!

Usually I make another variation of her way and make curried tofu (the recipe is at the end for that) and of course that is always delicious but I was craving spicy peanut sauce tonight…

What I love about this recipe also is that it takes very little preparation, takes little time to cook, is filling, delicious and nutritious…

For the Coconut Quinoa..

Chop up an onion and sauté in a pan until translucent (I sauté it in coconut oil)
Add 1 1/2 cup of Quinoa.. I like to leave it in there a few minutes and toast it a bit…
Add one can of coconut milk and one can of water and simmer until ready (about 20 min) and then fluff with a fork

Peanut Sauce

Mix together in a saucepan on low heat … 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter, 1/2 cup hot water, 3 tsp tamari, 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar, 1 tsp brown sugar and garlic chili sauce (to taste)

Crispy Tofu

cube one block of tofu
in a container (with a lid) add a few tsps of corn starch, add a bit of salt and garlic powder and then add the tofu and shake so that it evenly coats the tofu
Add a few tsp of peanut oil to a wok or pan and toss and fry until crispy on all sides…

Serve the Tofu on the Quinoa and drizzle the peanut sauce on top.

If you want to make the curried version don’t make the peanut sauce and instead coat the tofu with the following spice mix:

1 tbsp of cornstarch
1 tsp cumin
1 tbsp curry powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1tsp paprika
1 tsp cayenne (optional if you want the heat or not)
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp tumeric…

Fry the tofu in a bit of oil until crispy and serve over the Quinoa with veggie of your choice 🙂

(curried version)

Adventures with Seitan…

Since last week I have really felt really put off by meat… So last week my meal plan involved more veggie meal than meat based ones and this week they are all veggie based…

Yesterday when making my meal plan I looked over a few YouTube videos on how to make Seitan… and having Vital Wheat Gluten already in my cupboard today I decided to try it out and make some Seitan Souvlaki…

So I put about 1 1/2 cups of gluten in a bowl with nutritional yeast, a bit of flour and a few spices

Added Broth (water, tamari and spices)

Knead together and let rest…

Boil in Broth and simmer for an hour…

It doubles in size and looks… well… a little like a brain…

Took it out of the broth and patted it dry…

and then I cut it in bite size pieces and marinated it in a bit of oil, lemon juice, garlic, tamari and oregano for a few hours… and then took it out and placed it on a baking sheet…

Then Broiled it for about 10 min…

It turned out really good!!

I made some Tzatziki with some homemade yogourt that I drained a bit before mixing with drained shredded cucumber, garlic, salt and a bit of dill… and then served it on a pita…

I really liked the texture, especially after broiling, and the broiling added a bit of crunch like when you BBQ…. Simon and the kids liked it also…. So I think that I will be trying out different ways to eat it…

yumm…. vegetable chowder and pumpkin butter…

After feeling awful yesterday morning I needed some light comfort food to keep my tummy happy happy…

I cleaned up the house a bit, dusted and cleaned the kitchen (cooking is always better with a clean kitchen)

I got the pumpkin in from outside cut and roasted it and then pureed it…

Then I made an amazing Vegetable Chowder… a variation of a recipe that I got on Recipezaar (I add a lot more seasonings and more veggies and broccoli instead of peas and not as much dairy) and we ate that with some of my sourdough bread…