Sweet Potato Valentine

What is my Valentine getting today?  I'm making his very favorite treat. . . a sweet potato pie.  He will be so happy when he comes home from work tonight.  I know he will have had a busy day.  So I can't wait to see his face light up when he discovers his gift.

Here's the recipe.  You'll love this pie.




2 c. cooked sweet potato
1 c. milk (I like coconut milk or rice milk for this)
1/4 c. butter
3/4 c. agave nectar (can use cane syrup or honey)
1/4 c. cornstarch
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. allspice


Double wrap a few sweet potatoes in foil and poke some holes in them.  Bake at 350 for about an hour - or until soft.  While those are baking, make your pie crust from the earlier post.  Click here: no-roll pie crust.  When potatoes are done, unwrap them.  Use a spoon to remove the meat from the skins (it should come out easily).  Heat oven to 425.  Combine sweet potatoes with all other filling ingredients and blend in food processor until smooth.  Pour filling into unbaked pie crust and bake at 425 for ten minutes.  Reduce heat to 350 and bake for an additional 50 minutes or until done.

Remove pie and allow to cool a bit.  Then refrigerate for at least six hours or overnight.

Melt In Your Mouth Valentine's Day Cookies

So I had given up cookies for a couple of weeks.  And then I fell off the wagon.  Well - maybe I jumped off the wagon.  I just had a serious need for shortbread cookies.  I found an easy recipe - then adapted it to this.

1.5 c. flour
1 c. butter (softened)
1/2 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

1 c. powdered sugar


Preheat your oven to 350.
Then mix the butter, flour, sugar and vanilla together.  Roll the dough into small, 1" balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet or baking stone.  Bake for 15 minutes.  Put your powdered sugar into a deep bowl and take each cookie - right off the cookie sheet - and roll it in the powdered sugar.  Coat each cookie completely and put them on a plate to cool.  When cooled - roll them in the sugar again.  Be careful to save some for your valentine.  These are addictive.

Tips and notes:

• To make these melt in your mouth even more - take out 2T of the flour and replace it with cornstarch. 
• Use lemon juice, instead of vanilla - if you want a lemony cookie.
• Add a little food coloring to the cookie dough to make these pink for Valentine's Day.

Giveaway Reminder

Just a quick reminder . . .
The drawing for my Grand Opening Giveaway is TUESDAY, February 15th.  All you have to do to enter is become a follower of this site.  There are other ways to get additional entries (listed on the original post).  Anyway - make sure to sign up for your chance to win a jar of my favorite seasoning blend!

Easy Nutty Spicy Thai Dish

So I LOVE Thai food. LOVE IT!.  I love a good Pad Thai.  Here's a very simple dish that combines the flavors of traditional Pad Thai with a peanut sauce and plenty of spice.  Don't be appalled by the ketchup in the ingredient list.  It is just a shortcut for tomato paste, sugar, vinegar & salt.  And, obviously - adjust the spice to your liking.  All the spices are optional - just use the ones you have on hand and improvise.  This is a recipe that is hard to mess up.  Try it.

1/4 c.crunchy Peanut Butter (heaping)
1/4 c. milk (I use Rice Milk or Coconut Milk)
3 Tbsp. organic Ketchup
1 Tbsp. sugar or agave nectar or honey
2 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. garlic powder (or use fresh, minced or crushed garlic)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. turmeric
1/4 tsp. black pepper

Combine all sauce ingredients in a small saucepan over LOW heat, stirring well.  Boil some rice noodles and drain them.  Toss the noodles with butter and a little salt and pepper.  Then combine the noodles and the sauce.  These measurements are just an estimation.  I normally just add a little of this and a little of that until it tastes the way I want it.  If I have lemons on hand, I sometimes add a squeeze of lemon juice.  Tamarind is also a great spice for this if you have some.  Adding cooked chicken, tofu and/or vegetables to this dish is great too.

Flour - Wheat, White and in Between

I've finally found a type of flour that I like using for all my cooking and baking!  It isn't whole wheat - but it is close.  It is an organic, hard, red, winter wheat flour that is sifted to remove most of the bran - but retain the germ.  It is an amazing and versatile flour that I've been using in cookies and anything else that calls for flour.  That wheat germ is oh-so-healthy, and my baked goods don't have the whole-wheat grittiness.
I got the flour from a fantastic natural foods co-op called Azure Standard.  I paid less for this organic product than I would have for regular white flour at my local "big box" grocery store.  Here's a link to the product page:   https://www.azurestandard.com/shop/product/695/
This company is in the pacific northwest, but they ship UPS - as well as freight delivery.  Check them out.  And check out this fantastic flour!

Best Vegan Cookies

These are the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever tasted.  Vegan or not.  I'm not a vegan.  My husband is.  Because of his diet, I've just learned to do most of my baking without eggs.  To replace eggs, in most recipes, you can use a "flax egg".  To make a flax egg, just use about 2T ground flax in 1/4 c. fluid (you can use ricemilk, soy milk, nut milk or water).  Adding flax to your cookies and muffins has other benefits too, like added Omega 3's and dietary fiber.

Okay - here's the recipe.

2 1/4 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. butter (use earth balance to make it vegan)
1/2 c. peanut butter
3/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. brown sugar (I like to use turbinado sugar instead)
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. fluid (I use rice milk) + 1/4 c. ground flax   -   or use 2 beaten eggs
10 oz. chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  If using the "flax egg", mix your ground flax into the fluid and set aside.  If using real eggs - skip this step.  Combine flour, soda, salt and chocolate chips in a large, mixing bowl.  Stir. Then, in another bowl, combine sugars, eggs (or flax mixture), softened butter, softened peanut butter and vanilla - mix well.  Then combine everything together in the large mixing bowl.  If you mix it with your hands, it will be easier.
Roll into one inch balls and press down onto ungreased baking sheets (I use baking stones instead).  Then bake for about ten minutes - being careful not to overbake.  Let these cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack or plate.  

A few notes:

Turbinado sugar (also known by the brand "Sugar in the Raw") is a nice, large granule sugar used in baked goods to enhance sweetness and add a little fun texture.  You can find it at most stores these days - wherever you buy sugar.

You can make these without peanut butter - just use one whole cup of butter, instead of a half cup.

Walnuts are also good in these.

Follow Me - Giveaway!

So this is a new blog for me.  I am planning to make it a public blog about cooking, eating, baking, nutrition, grocery shopping and creative meal planning.  I will, periodically offer giveaways and product samples, also recipe contests and helpful tips.
As a GRAND OPENING for my weblog, I'm going to host a little giveaway.  If you become a follower of my blog, I will enter your name into a drawing and - if you are selected - I will send you a jar of my very favorite spice blend in the mail!  You can follow publicly - or privately.  If you choose the latter, please send me an email to let me know you are following so that i can put your name in the hat.  Following my blog will not cause you to have additional email every time I post.  My blog and posts will just appear on your list if or when you log into Blogger. 
You can, however, subscribe to my posts and receive some other notification when I post.  If you subscribe, I will give you another entry into the sweepstakes.
Another way to get an additional entry is to post a link to this blog on your blog or website.  If you do that, please send me an email - or post a comment to let me know you did it.  

To become a follower, click the "follow" tab on the top right section of this page.  To subscribe to posts, scroll down to the bottom of this page and click on "subscribe to posts."

I'll give you some time to enter.  Then I'll draw a name, randomly, on February 15, 2011.
Best wishes to you.  And thanks for reading my new blog.