Category Archives: Vegetarian

Dutch Oven Homemade Bread

This time of year is my favorite time to bake in the kitchen. The air is crisp and I often spend most my weekend mornings trying new recipes and baking. As the weather starts to get cooler outside that means I can bake more to heat up the house. I love the smell of fresh homemade bread permeating throughout the house. I do believe Yankee Candle even makes a candle with this fragrance but nothing compares to the actual process of baking.

Fresh homemade bread seems to complete a Sunday dinner at our house. I always remember my mom having an Italian loaf with every Sunday family dinner.  My husband’s mom also always had Italian bread from a local bread bakery with all her supper meals she prepared which makes it all more nostalgic for my husband and I.

I made this Dutch-oven bread the other day with pork tenderloin in the slow cooker. It paired really well with parsley potatoes.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups warm water (bath water temp; 80° F–90° F)

1 teaspoon honey

1 1/2 Tablespoons active dry yeast

3 ½-4 cups bread flour

1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt

1 tablespoon olive oil for coating

Prework: Preheat oven to 500 degrees with large Dutch-oven in the oven.

Directions:

  1. Place warm water, honey, salt, & yeast in a glass measuring vessel. Let the yeast proof (becomes foamy) for 5 minutes (if the yeast does not grow, throw it out).
  2. In the meantime portion out the flour in a large electric mixer mixing bowl.  Start with the 3.5 cups and add more (1/4 cup at time), continue to add if dough is too sticky. Once the yeast has proofed add the yeast water mixture to the flour and on low speed with dough hook attachment knead the dough until the dough forms a ball. This should only take a few minutes.
  3. Remove dough from hook and knead with hands on a lightly floured surface to form into ball.
  4. Place evenly one tablespoon of olive oil on the outside of the dough. Place dough ball back in the mixing bowl and cover with a clean cloth towel on top of the preheating oven. You may be tempted to use plastic wrap however trust me use a cloth towel this will allow the dough to breath.
  5. Allow to dough to double in size this should take 45 to 60 minutes. Which works out perfectly because you want your Dutch-oven hot. The Dutch oven should be in the oven at 500 degrees for at least an hour. Don’t skip this step. 
  6. Once the dough is ready place on parchment paper and cut a few slits on the top surface of the loaf with sharp knife. This method will allow the steam to escape.
  7. With oven mitts remove the lid from Dutch oven and place bread in center of the baking vessel. Using oven mitts cover with the lid. Decrease the oven temperature 400 degrees and bake the bread for 45 minutes. Do not peek, trust the Dutch oven.
  8. Remove from oven and allow to cool on wire rack before slicing into.

 

Pumpkin Bread with Flaxseed

 
My wonderful neighbors brought us over some sugar pumpkins! 

  
Which means I need to get to roasting & baking! Tonight I actually made pumpkin soup and pumpkin bread to start us into fall! Okay we still have a few more days of summer left and I am holding onto those a days. 

This recipe yields 6 mini loaves of you use 1 cup of batter per loaf vessel. 
Ingredients: 

3 eggs

1/2 cup egg substitute 

1 tsp high quality pumpkin pie spice

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon 

3/4 canola oil 

1/2 cup milled flaxseed

1 & 3/4 cup sugar

2 packets of Vanilla Sugar free fat free pudding mix ( I uses one sf ff cheesecake & one vanilla)

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp kosher salt 

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 cup ap flour

2 cups of fresh roasted pumpkin purée (or 1 can of puréed pumpkin)

Predirections: preheat oven 350 degrees. Grease up with cooking spray bread vessels. 

Directions:

1. In a large bowl whisk together pumpkin purée, eggs, egg substitute, & oil. Set aside.

2. In a separtate bowl mix together pudding dry mix, flours, sugars, salt, & baking soda. 

3. Mix the wet ingredients in with the dry using a whisk to fully incorporate. Make sure no dry residue remains. 

4. Measure out 1 cup of batter into each mini pan loaf. I use my stonewear pampered chef 4 mini vessels per pan. 

5. Bake for 40 minutes. Or until toothpick comes out clean. 

6. Remove from pan and allow to cool before slicing into. 


Apple Overnight French Toast!

 

One of my favorite dishes to make for breakfast is Overnight French Toast! I think I like it so much because you can put everything together the night before and the next morning you can spend your time enjoying your coffee instead of making a ton of noise in the kitchen and waking up your guests.

Ingredients:

1 can sweetened fat free condensed milk 

1 cup fat Free milk

1/2 cup egg substitute 

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla pure extract

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/8 ground mace, cloves 

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Pinch of salt 

1 whole wheat or french baguette a day old would be good 

Topping ingredients:

3 cups Granny Smith Apples sliced thin (no need to peal the skin)

1 cup toasted pecans, finely chopped

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/8 ground mace, cloves 

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon 

6 TB cold unsalted butter cup up

9 by 13″ baking pan

Directions:

1. Cut baguette into 1.5-2 inch pieces and allow to dry out. Place in 9 by 13 pan in three rows. Set aside. 

2. In a medium bowl place milk, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla, spices, salt,egg and egg substitute. Whisk ingredients together well, pour evenly over bread. Cover with plastic wrap or foil and let soak in  refrigerator over night.

  
3. Bring baking pan out of refrigerator 30 minutes prior to baking. While waiting for dish to become room tempature prepare the topping. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

4. Mix in a medium bowl flour, brown sugar, spices, and butter. Mix together between your fingers until wet sand like texture. Set aside. 

5. Remove foil from dish. Place sliced apples in layers on top each of the baguette rows. Sprinkle evenly the brown sugar mixture on top the apple slices.  

  
6. Finally add the toasted pecans evenly on the top of the brown sugar mixture. 

7. Bake the dish at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.  Cover with foil and bake for 15 more minute. 

~If necessary lower the tempature to 200 degrees if you are waiting for guests to arrive or family members to wakeup. 

  
 

Ice Box Key Lime Pie

  

This is a tribute to the 2015 Topsail vacation. We were on vacation last week and everyone wanted Key Lime Pie! We didn’t want to spent $18.00 for a pie so we made key lime martinis instead. 

This weekend was Labor Day weekend and we decided to make the pie from scratch. The bonus is everyone that wanted the pie on vacation was at the party (well almost everyone but my sister)! Sorry Jen we didn’t even save you a slice. 

This recipe is a spin off of Ina Garten’s recipe. I changed a few things around including the crust and I tried the milk with fat free since that was the only kind I had at home. 
When we were on vacation we couldn’t find key limes anywhere! The bottled juice you can find in the stores is subpar. When I planned the menu I was nervous we wouldn’t be able to find key limes but low and behold the strip district had them! Yazzie!

Predirections:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Use a food processor to pulse waffers into crumbs. 

Ingredients for the Crust:

1 2/3 cup of crushed reduced fat vanilla wafers

1/4 cup granulated sugar

6 TB unsalted butter melted 

Filling ingredients:

7 large egg yolks (room temperature) look for pasteurized eggs

1/4 cup sugar

1 can (14 oz) fat free sweetened condensed milk

2 TB key lime zest

3/4 cup freshly squeezed key lime juice

Crust Directions: 

1. Place in a bowl wafers crumbs, butter, and sugar combine until butter is incorporated throughout. Press mixture into a 9 inch pie dish. Make sure that the crust is an even consistency throughout the entire dish.

2. Bake for 10 minutes and allow to cool completely on a wire rack. 

Directions for the filling:

1. Beat the egg yolks and sugar on high speed in a electric mixer was fitted attachment for five minutes. I use speed eight and it only took about 4 1/2 minutes. The appearance will be thick and creamy. 

2. Juice speed to medium and Inc. add to the sweetened condensed milk, lime zest, & lime juice.

3. Pour into the cooled prepared pie crust. 

4. Freeze overnight. 

5. Remove from freezer right before slicing into. 

6. Enjoy with a dollop of homemade whipped cream. My go to is on TOH website. The only change I make is I use a whole tsp of pure vanilla extract. 

Jalapeno Corn Bread

I have made this recipe about a half of a dozen times and it never lasts more than a day. We are having a cookout today and my mom is making ribs! I thought this would pair good with some BBQ! All I can say is move over jiffy !

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup cornmeal ( we bought ours from a local farm)

1 1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar

6 TB unsalted room temp butter, chopped into 6 chunks

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp kosher salt

2 TB chopped pickled jalapeño (we pickled ours last year)

1/4 cup fresh chives, chopped

2 scallions, chopped

1 1/2 cup buttermilk

1 1/2 cup cheddar cheese blend

2 eggs

Predirections: preheat oven to 400 degrees and cooking my spray a 9 by 13 baking dish with cooking spray.

Directions:

1. Place flour, cornmeal, salt, baking soda, & sugar in s medium bowl and mix well to incorporate all ingredients. Set aside

2. In a stand mixer bowl place butter in medium speed with paddle attachment. Whip for 2 minute until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and start to add in some of the flour about a 3rd of the total amount. Then add in 1/3 of the buttermilk. Make sure to decrease the speed of the mixer to low while adding in the flour. Continue alternating flour and buttermilk minutes until everything is incorporated.

3. Add in chives, jalapeño, green onions, and cheese. Fold additional ingredients to incorporate.

4. Pour batter into the prepared baking dish. Spread the batter evenly and bake 20 to 25 minutes.

5. Remove from oven and allow to cool on wire rack.

Rhubarb Vanilla Cinnamon Muffins

 
Today we are at the Vintage Grand Prix and I wanted to make a breakfast for the track team. These are very moist and kid friendly.
Pre directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and paper line and spray with cooking spray standard muffin tins.

This recipe yields 17 muffins

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour

2 cup chopped rhurbarb ( frozen will work make sure to measure when frozen) then allow to thaw and place in strainer to remove extra moisture. 

2 TB ground flaxseed 

2 eggs

1/2 cup reduced fat reduced fat sour cream

1/4 canola oil 3/4 tsp ground vietenssee  cinnamon 

1 2/3 cup sugar

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Directions:

1. Place flours, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, & flaxseed in a large bowl and whisk to incorporate.

2. In a separate bowl mix canola oil, sour cream, sugar, vanilla, and eggs into medium bowl. 

3. Add dry ingredients into wet and whisk to incorporate. Once no dry residue remains fold in rhubarb.

4. Scoop batter with ice cream scoop into muffin tin. Bake for 10 minutes and rotate muffins in oven and bake for 13 more minutes. Or until tooth pick comes out clean.

  

Oatmeal Raisin bars


  

We had our monthly NST meeting today. I decided to make some whole grain oatmeal bars for the meeting since these are super quick and easy. They are also perfect for an after lunch snack! They remind me of an oatmeal raisin cookie but without the butter !

Yields 20 bars

Ingredients

2 TB Ground flaxseed 

2/3 cup raw sugar 

1 TB pure maple syrup

1/2 tsp allspice

1 tsp baking soda 

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 cup 100% quick oats

1 cup 100% old fashioned oats

1/4 c canola oil

1/2 c unsweetened applesauce

1 c  whole wheat pastry flour

1/2  cup of raisins

9 by 13 baking dish 

Parchment paper

Cooking spray
Directions

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees and parchment line a 9 x 13″ baking pan. Spray with cooking spray and set aside.

2. In a large bowl mix together with whisk both oats, flour, flaxseed, sugar, allspice, baking soda, & salt . Add applesauce, maple syrup, canola oil, and mix to incorporate. 

3. Lastly fold in raisins. Pour batter into 9 x 13 pan and press the batter into the pan evenly. It helps to spray a spatula with cooking spray to prevent sticking and smooth the bars prior to placing in the oven.

4. Bake 15 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool on wire rack. Allow to cool completely before cutting.

   
   

Enjoy! I know my husband and the team did!

Grammy Ulam’s Spaghetti Sauce


My husband’s grandma aka Grammy Ulam makes one of the best spaghetti sauce recipes ever. It is suppose to be a local restaurant back homes authentic sauce. Let me just say it is not a Ulam Family gathering without her sensational sauce. The sauce pairs best with Warren Bakery Bread and some brummle and brown butter spread slathered on the top. The sauce also goes well with homemade pizza or chicken parm…just about anything really.

Please note we have made this recipe several times and may have altered her original recipe slightly to accommodate our kitchen pantry.

Recipe yields 6-7 Quarts

Ingredients:

3 Cans of Tomato Puree (Quart Size)

3 (28 ounce) Cans of San Marzano Tomatoes in Sauce (DOP)

2 TB Italian Seasoning or Penzey’s Pasta Sprinkle

3 TB Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 TB Hot Pepper oil (From home canning)

6 Fresh Garlic Cloves

1 TB garlic powder

1 Tsp Kosher Salt

1 Tsp Fresh Ground Pepper

2-3 TB of granulated sugar

12 QT Stock Pot

Directions:

1. On medium low heat, saute fresh garlic in olive oil and hot pepper oil until effervescent in stock pot. Add remaining ingredients into stock pot keep heat on medium low until it simmers for at least an hour and then decrease the temperature to low  and cook for at least one more hour but maximum of 4 hours. If you feel the sauce is becoming too thick add some water to the mix.

2. Can the sauce according or freeze in quart size freezer safe bags (grammy freezers hers).

3. Enjoy!

 

Ginger Oatmeal Raisin Bars

  
These are a sample of whole grain goodness. My kitchen smells amazing while these are baking in the oven! 

Ingredients:

3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/3 cup raisins

1/3 cup chopped toasted pecans or slivered almonds (I used a combo since I had some roasted pecans leftover from another baked good)

1/4 cup canola oil

1/2 cup raw sugar

1 egg 

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp kosher salt

2 TB crystallized ginger

1/4 cup ground flaxseed

1 1/3 cup 100% old fashioned oats

1 TB honey

1 tsp good quality vanilla extract 

1/4 tsp almond extract

8 by 8 glass baking dish

Parchment paper

This recipe yields 8 bars or 9 squares

Directions: 

1. Whisk together oil, honey, sugar, flaxseed,egg,extracts in a large bowl. Mix well to incorporate. Add in flour, salt, soda, and oats.  Use spatula to incorporate the dry ingredients throughout. Fold in raisins and nuts. 

2. Place parchment paper into baking vessel. Pour batter evenly (it will be thick pasty like) into dish press with spatula. 

  
3. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven allow to cool for 10 to 15 minutes befor cutting into bars. 

4. Enjoy! 

Green Goddess Egg Salad


I am a vegetarian and everyone always asks me “how do you get enough protein in your diet”. I love eggs, cottage cheese, peanut butter, beans, and greek yogurt to name a few  of my favorites.

Eggs are an excellent, inexpensive source of protein. They are my go to when I am talking with my patients about protein.

One way to eat eggs is on a sandwich and I love egg salad but egg salad for years has had a bad reputation. You don’t have to avoid it any longer. Try this makeover recipe on a classic.

I have been making this recipe for years and we even use a version of it at the hospital I work at for our room service menu.

Ingredients:

2 TB Fat free mayo

2 TB reduced fat miracle whip

1 tsp prepared mustard

4 large hard boiled egg whites, chopped

2 large hard boiled whole eggs, chopped

3/4 cup green pepper chopped

1 TB fresh parsley, chopped well

2 TB fresh chives, chopped

1/4 tsp kosher salt

Fresh ground pepper (I like it heavy)

1/2 tsp Mrs. Dash spicy
yields 4-8 servings (1/4 cup or 1/2 cup)

Directions:

1. Mix mayo, miracle whip, mustard, and seasonings in 3 cups vessel with air tight lid. Set aside.

2. Add eggs, green pepper, and fresh herbs and mix well.

3. Dig in!

4. Enjoy on lettuce as a wrap or have on whole wheat bread with a slice of tomato and lettuce from the garden! That’s my favorite way.