Return of the galette!

I know, I know.  Another food post*.  But what do you expect me to write about?  My life?  Yeah right :) ...

*I borrowed pictures from each of the sites I linked to and from google images, because sadly I am not a food photographer, just a food eater.  

I miss my tahini!  And also, I really miss having a garden at home.  Thus, I have assembled a list of recipes for those things that I would cook were I at home.


If I had fresh tomatoes and herbs, and perhaps had some goat cheese on hand, too, I would make a Flaky Tomato Tart.

With fresh hot peppers (you can substitute red ones, too!) and cilantro, here is a recipe for a Green chili omelette.

This isn't really fresh, but if I was at home with some roasted tomatoes, I would make Mushrooms stuffed with dried tomatoes.

I would also make some yummy jalapeno pepper jelly.  I know it sounds weird, but with crackers and cream cheese, it's delicious.

As it is, I have managed to do fairly well for myself here at college.  The other night I made a butternut squash and caramelized onion galette (halved, and I substituted a mixture of mostly muenster, with a little bit of swiss and cheddar cheese, for the fontina), and it was amazing.  I cooked the butternut squash in the microwave, though.  Is that cheating?  Oh well :)  

Yesterday I had the leftovers from that, plus the leftover butternut squash, cubed and cooked in the microwave and then sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, and a salad with great homemade salad dressing.
This dressing is amazing.  You should go make it, RIGHT NOW.  I went to the corner grocery store to pick up some apple cider vinegar, and you can too.  Trust me - it's worth it.  The original recipe, napa cabbage salad with buttermilk dressing, is here, but my revisions are below (I halved it, and just had it on some regular salad.  I'm having it again tonight.)


Delicious Buttermilk Dressing
1/2 cup well-shaken buttermilk (or substitute 1/2 cup reduced-fat milk curdled for five minutes with 1/2 T lemon juice)
2 tablespoons mayonnaise

2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons minced shallot (or substitute finely minced onion)
1 tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoons finely chopped chives (substitute finely chopped/minced green onions)

Whisk together buttermilk, mayonnaise, vinegar, shallot, sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a large bowl until sugar has dissolved, then whisk in chives.

Anyways, moving on... Last night I also made some gnarley muffins, recipe below:

Gnarley Muffins

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup flax seed meal

3/4 cup oat bran (I got mine from one of those dispenser things at a health food store.)

1 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon (I would add more of this, plus some nutmeg for extra flavor)

1 1/2 cups carrots, shredded (you can use pretty much any fruit/vegetable for this.  I used a small peach, finely chopped + half of a mashed banana)

2 apples peeled and shredded (tart baking apples are especially delicious)

1/2 cup raisins (optional)

1 cup nuts, chopped (optional)

3/4 cup milk

2 eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon+ vanilla extract

1.  Using a wooden spoon, mix together flour, flax seed meal, oat bran, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl.

2.  Stir in carrots, apples, raisins and nuts.

3.  Combine milk, eggs and vanilla.  Pour liquid all at once into the dry/fruit mixture.  Stir until ingredients are moistened.  Do not overmix.

4.  Fill muffin cups 3/4 full.  Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 15 to 20 minutes.  Yields 15 medium sized muffins.

I got some muenster cheese on sale at the Hispanic market the other day, and discovered that muenster grilled cheese sandwiches are delicious.    Well actually, pretty much everything cheesy is delicious.

Oh, and last week I made rolls for the ward break-the-fast (Mom's recipe, I can post it later if anybody wants it :) and later, chocolate yogurt snack cakes, which are sinfully delicious.  But I console myself that it's only one unhealthy thing I've made so far.  We won't mention the half-jar of peanut butter that is mysteriously missing, or the 5 oz. of leftover chocolate chips that also seem to have flown the coop.

My list of to-makes is about a mile long.  I think tonight I will make mushroom crepe cake, because I have some mushrooms to use.

Note: I have some serious mushroom envy and I would love to try cooking with some of the more exotic dried mushrooms.  Luckily, they're pretty cheap at the aforementioned Hispanic market... (They also have good prices on eggplants, yay!!  What a discovery :)

I have two fresh ears of corn in the fridge, though, so I'm thinking I may cook those up and prepare the kernels for a fresh tomato and corn pie.

Yum.  I am also craving the black bean, corn, and cheddar fritters that Natalie gave me the recipe for (thank you for that, btw!  I love them!).  Plus, I have about five peaches and some blueberries that are just dying to be made into some sort of cobbler/crumb cake/other deliciousness.  I love late-summer food.

Missing home, as always, but I'm settling in to my difficult and intriguing classes.  Love to all!

<3
Eliza