asparagus mushroom crepes with dijon wine sauce

mmm... french food...

asparagus mushroom crepes

filling:
1 bunch thin asparagus
1 10-oz. box of sliced portobello mushrooms
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
thyme, to taste

crepes:
3 eggs
1 c soy milk
1/2 c potato starch
pinch of salt
2 tablespoons canola oil

1. cut off tough ends of asparagus. then chop stalks into quarters. melt some butter in a pan and saute mushrooms and asparagus, with spices and herbs, until mushrooms release their liquid.
2. put eggs and milk into a blender. blend.
3. add potato starch and salt and blend again. refrigerate for 20 minutes.
4. take crepe batter out of the fridge. pulse briefly, then pour into hot crepe pan (we use a pre-seasoned cast iron pan. it makes wonderful crepes that don't stick!). swirl the mixture around to coat the bottom of the crepe pan evenly.
5. cook over medium heat until the surface of the crepe looks dry, about 1-2 minutes. flip and cook the other side for about 30 seconds.
6. slide crepe onto a plate and fill 1/4 of it with the asparagus mushroom mixture. then fold in quarters over the mixture. top with dijon wine sauce (below) and paprika :)

dijon wine sauce:
1 tbsp butter
1 1/2 tbsp namaste perfect flour blend
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1/2 c white wine (i used a white wine from the cotes du rhone region)
1/2 c grated cheese (i used a mix of swiss and meunster)
black pepper, to taste

1. melt butter in a heavy bottom sauce pan. whisk in flour and stir to thicken.
2. add dijon.
3. pour wine over roux and stir constantly to ensure nothing will stick in the pan.
4. bring to a boil. remove from heat and stir in cheese until fully melted. add pepper.
5. pour over crepes!


warning: sauce is bitey! i actually would use less dijon for my tastes, but lee loves dijon. you could easily cut it down to a half tbsp of dijon and still have a great tasting sauce, in my opinion.

orange poppy seed muffins

i'm behind! i have 2 recipes to post that i think you all will like (and could easily change for your own "normal" eating habits!). this recipe makes about 1 1/2 dozen large muffins. i adapted it from a recipe for lemon poppy seed bread or cake and left the overall quantities the same because i wanted a lot of muffins. well, i got 'em! :)


orange poppy seed muffins (makes 1 1/2 dz.)

1 c orange juice
2/3 c poppy seeds
2 3/4 c namaste perfect flour blend
1/2 c cornmeal
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/8 tsp salt
1 c spectrum vegan shortening
1 1/3 c packed brown sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla

1. mix together oj and poppy seeds in a small bowl.
2. in another bowl, mix together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, xanthan gum and salt.
3. using a stand mixer (or hand mixer), cream the shortening and the brown sugar. add the eggs one at a time and then vanilla. add the dry ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with the oj/poppy seed mixture.
4. scoop into muffin pans prepared with liners or lightly oiled. bake at 350 for about 30 minutes. the tops should spring back when gently pressed.

delicious warm, with a tad bit of butter or honey :)

sherlockian adventures

well folks, i finally finished volume 1 of the sherlock holmes annotated edition that i was reading. it was fantastic and fun enough that i just checked out volume 2! and it's even bigger than volume 1!

it took me 4 months to read it because it is too hefty to commute with. but for anyone looking for fun, short stories, with just the right twist of mystery, i would encourage you to jump in and read some sherlock holmes. you don't have to read the enormous tomes i'm reading... there are other collections that are slimmer and easier to cart around.

READ IT! i haven't enjoyed something so much in a while. it's just so playful and you never know what clue holmes sees that watson and scotland yard don't. and then there's the little twist of sherlock's perhaps double-crossing brother mycroft, but i won't give you details there. all i can say is that it was an entirely pleasant 4 months that i passed at the baker street residence.

p.s.--the annotated volumes are great for background information and random facts that i otherwise wouldn't have understood. if you can handle them, i would recommend them over other versions. i found the annotations were often helpful, and when i didn't need them, i didn't read them.

p.p.s--i quit another book: the life of mary baker g. eddy by georgine milmine and willa cather. it's hard for me to read it right now. i just have so many i want to read to read something else (in my spare time) for work. also, it's SOOOO factually wrong that i find myself rolling my eyes a bit too much and not taking it seriously. so i've put it on the back burner for now and may return to it later.

r.i.p. chris brown

my sister had this friend named chris brown--not to be confused with the rapper or the other chris browns that i know. anyway, christy met him in 5th grade, when she punched him and he fell off his bike--his little red huffy. and you know how 5th grade friendships go. from the moment of that punch, they were inseparable.

i don't remember (or have chosen not to remember) many of my sister's childhood friends. my sister had a lot of troubles growing up: with the law, drugs, school, you name it really. but she's cleaned herself up nicely and has a sweet husband and my 2 cute nephews. chris was one of the few friends who have been with her the whole way, and was instrumental (i feel) in introducing her to better people and a better crowd, which included the above-mentioned sweet husband.

sadly, chris himself did not fare so well as an adult and had his own problems that concerned christy and her other friends. but even more sadly, on may 13, chris had a tragic accident and passed away. he was 29. i didn't know chris well, and i haven't seen him in about 2 years now, but whenever i visited ohio he was a part of the crowd that would be invited to my sister's house for some get-together. i usually got a "what the hell have you been up to?", a goofy grin, and some crazy stories. in short, chris was always a nice guy.

my heart goes out to chris's family and those who knew him. and a shout-out to my sister and her family as they deal with a loss that impacts them profoundly. cheers to the 18 years that chris was in my sister's life and helping to make it a better one. we miss you!

tofu 3 ways

i love tofu. sometimes, i even crave it. here are some pictures of beautiful, tasty, tofu-featuring dinners i've had recently:

lemon asparagus risotto with tofu balls on the side. the lemon asparagus risotto was made with lemon juice instead of wine, a touch of lemon zest, and chopped asparagus. the tofu balls were made with the changes i suggested before--no flour on the outside, hands covered in oil and used to coat the balls. then i baked them in the oven until brown and a little crispy on the outside. i have also since found that not putting shallots in them helps them hold together much better. and they are delish! i love making a batch of these on the weekend to have with several meals throughout the week :)


mango ginger tofu, from my favorite ppk ladies! we put ours on skewers with pineapple and yellow bell pepper and then grilled. served with black rice.


cornmeal encrusted tofu with an olive and sundried tomato "gremolata." basically, a traditional gremolata with the olives and sundried tomatoes added to my taste. served with mashed potatoes and miso gravy and sweet green peas. this made me swoon!

curry powder

i ran out of curry powder, but wanted to make this great pea and potato curry dish that lee and i like. so i made my own. this made 2 tsp of curry powder, so of course you could make a bigger batch. however, don't make a bunch to store because it won't taste as good. make and use as needed:

ann's curry powder

1/2 tsp tumeric
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp paprika
pinch each ground black pepper, kosher salt and nutmeg

it was waaay better than store bought curry powder (surprise, surprise). i won't buy it anymore now. i'll just make this.

country fried tofu

'nuff said :)


ann's country fried tofu

1 lb extra firm tofu
1 egg
1/2 c plain soymilk
3/4 c white rice flour
1/2 c gluten free bread crumbs
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
paprika, to taste (optional)

1. drain tofu well and pat dry with paper towels.
2. slice into 8 slices, by cutting the block in half, then the halves in half, etc...
3. mix white rice flour with plenty of salt and pepper in a small bowl. i love to add paprika here as well. mix egg and milk together in another small bowl. put bread crumbs in a third small bowl.
4. dredge tofu in white rice flour, followed by milk/egg mixture, then bread crumbs.
5. fry. i shallow fried mine, because deep fried foods gross me out. but you don't need to deep fry with this tasty recipe :)

serve with vinegar slaw and biscuits for a down home kinda meal.