Sun Tea

It's time to make history...the first (and probably last) calorie free Birchwood recipe.  I've been living off this stuff ever since the heat wave hit.  One jar barely lasts two days.

Growing up, my mother made endless jars of sun tea with mint.  At the end of an endless stream of  99° days, we'd haul in the pitcher and watch the steam rise as it hit the ice in our glasses.  For some reason, sun tea just fell out of my life.  Until now.

Start early in the morning with a trip to the Birchwood Mint Gardens.  A few years ago I planted one tiny mint plant next to one measly sprig of oregano and walked away, never even troubling to water them.  Of course I knew that mint is extremely hardy, but had no idea that oregano was just as vicious.  The two have been at war ever since.

Pick a handful of mint leaves, no stems.

About this much.

Rinse the leaves, and put in a jar with tea bags.  Three tea bags is about right for a 2 quart jar.

Fill with cold water and seal it up.

Set it out in the sun and walk away.  (What do you do if it's raining or cloudy?  You still set it out and walk away.  The magic just won't happen if you leave it indoors)

Come back at the end of the day...remove leaves and tea bags.  Get home early?  No problem.  Get home late? No problem.  Brewing times between 4 hours and 12 hours are acceptable.  Just pour into a glass of ice and forget about the heat for a while.

Buttermilk Pancakes

What better way to start a lazy weekend morning than with a stack of pipping hot pancakes?  For maximum effort, get dressed and head to the corner diner.  Or throw on your sweatpants and head to the nearest drive-through. Next option is to stir up a mix at home.  But why not go for easiest and tastiest?  Just make 'em from scratch.  All of the required ingredients are most likely sitting in your pantry.

Recipe
(from Betty Crocker's New Picture Cookbook, ©1961)

• ½ C plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• ½ tablespoon sugar
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ egg, beaten (1 ½ tablespoons)
• ½ C plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Yield: 6 medium pancakes, 2-3 servings.  To store leftovers, wrap in waxed paper and freeze.

Method

Let's start by talking about buttermilk, which is absolutely a required ingredient.  If you happen to have some fresh buttermilk on hand, by all means use it.  Most of you can make your own using the ratio of 1 tablespoon white vinegar with enough milk to make one cup, and let sit for 5-10 minutes until it clots.  But I don't even keep milk on hand.  For people like me and those who don't feel that the vinegar/milk option is quite as good as buttermilk, there's a better option.  Due to bad experiences with powdered milk, I hesitated to try powdered buttermilk until recently.  Turns out that I had nothing to fear because powdered buttermilk is excellent for baking.  Unlike powdered milk, you don't mix it in advance.  Just add the required amount of powder to the dry ingredients (to get ½ C plus 2 tablespoons milk, use 2 ½ tablespoons powder) and  ½ C plus 2 tablespoons water to the wet ingredients.

The next challenge is adding ½ an egg.  No big deal, the average large egg yields 3 tablespoons of liquid.  Just measure out  1 ½ tablespoons of beaten egg, either discard the rest or make a side of  ½ a scrambled egg.

Mix the dry ingredients in a small bowl and the wet ingredients in a larger bowl

Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredient and whisk together.  Don't over mix, but be sure to break up all of the flour clumps.

Heat a skillet to the point where a few drops of water sprinkled on the surface sizzles.  Oh wait, that's for those of you who didn't just impulsively buy a new toy.  It's time to meet Gertie the Griddle.  Set the temperature to 375° for hotcakes.

 I'm a little conflicted about Gertie: first of all, who names their kitchen equipment?  And also, all that you should need to run a first rate home kitchen is a sharp knife and a cast iron skillet. But Gertie was the daily special on a certain discount site last week for a price that made me involuntarily click the buy button.

Regardless of whether you're using a stove top skillet or a cool new toy, lightly spray the surface with oil and measure out ¼ cup batter for each hotcake.  Gertie has no problem handling four at a time, but don't try to compete if you're using a skillet.  Really, even the largest skillet can only fit one hotcake at one time.

When the hotcakes are ready to turn, bubbles will form and the edges will thicken.  On Gertie, this takes about 3 minutes, a bit longer on a skillet.  You also can't really see the edges on a skillet.

Cook the 2nd side a few minutes more.

Shoot, I haven't made pancakes that looked this good since I worked at McDonald's in high school. 

 Add butter and syrup, and you're good to go.

Quick French Toast

During the week, the Birchwood kitchen serves excruciatingly healthy breakfasts.  On weekends...it's time for a treat.

Recipe
(Heavily adapted from Devin Alexander's The Most Decadent Diet Ever!)

• 2 slices sourdough bread
• ¼ cup half & half
• 2 tablespoons egg
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• cinnamon and vanilla to taste
• bourbon or other spirits (optional but highly recommended)
• butter and syrup

Method

Brew a large cup of strong coffee while you gather the ingredients

Beat egg and measure out 2 tablespoons, discard the remainder (1 large egg contains approx 3 tablespoons liquid, FYI)

Mix egg with half & half, sugar, a sprinkle of cinnamon, a few drops of vanilla, and the shortest pour of the optional-but-recommended bourbon.

Pour mixture over bread.  If the bread is especially thirsty, as mine was, the mixture will be almost totally absorbed.  Turn bread and make sure it's uniformly covered with the mixture.

Heat a skillet on medium.  Spray skillet lightly with oil or a small amount of butter.  Cook bread approx 4 minutes per side, discarding any excess mixture.  While cooking, prepare bacon and heat a small amount (2-3 tablespoons) of syrup.  Feel free to add the smallest amount of optional-but-recommended bourbon to the syrup.

Pour syrup over toast, top with a pat of butter, and bliss out.

Notes

This recipe started life as the "french toast with sauteed banana" recipe in Devin Alexander's The Most Decadent Diet Ever!, a genius cookbook of very basic, very delicious recipes.  The original recipe calls for fat free milk and egg substitute, approx 35 calories total.  I use half & half and real egg because I always have those ingredients on hand--but by doing so I'm boosting the calories by about 100.

Lunchbox Enchiladas & Rice

There is nothing in this world that I love more than a good home cooked meal.

There is nothing in this world that I have less time for than cooking a good home cooked meal.  40+ hours of my week are spent locked inside an office, I sleep a good seven hours every night, get in those runs that allow me to eat baked goods most days of the week, and occasionally do laundry and light housekeeping.  And yet I eat three home cooked meals everyday.

A long time ago I adopted the bulk cooking method: make a entree with 8-12 servings, portion it into containers, and freeze until needed.  The special requirements are: must be so awesome that you'll never get tired of eating it and must freeze well.  This reduces the effort of  "cooking" to remembering to pull a container out of the freezer on my way out in the morning.

Let's take a closer look at one of my favorite lunchbox entrees

Ingredients
(Enchilada recipe from Jeanne Lemlin's Vegetarian Classics, rice recipe from the Simple Dollar)

• Enchiladas
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large onion
• 1 large zucchini
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 15 oz can pinto beans
• 4 oz can green chilies
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 tablespoons cilantro
• 1 ½ cups salsa
• ½ cup heavy cream
• ¼ cup milk
• 2 cups Monterrey Jack cheese
• 12 flour tortillas, 6"

• Spanish Rice
• 1 ½ cups dry rice
• ¾ cup salsa

Method

Prepare rice, substituting the salsa for part of the water.  My preferred method for cooking rice is the microwave.  Set aside.

Dice n' slice the onion and zucchini.  The original recipe calls for a medium zucchini--not for me.  I always grab the largest I can find.

Saute the onion for 10 minutes on medium heat.  Add zucchini and cook 8 minutes more.  Add corn, beans, chilies, oregano, cilantro, and salt & pepper to taste.  Cook a few minutes more, and then remove from heat.  If the filling doesn't sound like anything special, you're wrong.  I'll forgive you if you munch on a few bites before continuing with the recipe.

Combine salsa, cream, and milk.  Spread a thin layer of sauce on the bottom of a greased 9"x13" pan.  The picture is not deceiving: a sauce made of red salsa and milk can only be pink.  But don't worry, it will cook into a macho tan.

Preheat the oven to 350°.  Mix one cup of the cheese into the filling.  Place a few tablespoons of filling into each tortilla.

Roll the tortillas and place in the baking dish.

Pour the rest of the sauce over the rolled tortillas and sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top.

Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.

Divide the rice among the serving dishes

Add a tortilla to each dish

Look at it--eleven home cooked lunches (plus the 12th serving eaten right away for dinner) in less than an hour!

Notes

• Although I eat a lot of calories, I don't intentionally seek them out.  Like many of you may be thinking, I've tried to eliminate the heavy cream in favor of all milk or for half and half.  Don't do it.  Yes, there are 400 calories in the ½ cup of cream, but that's divided over 12 servings.  Forget it.  Go real or go to another recipe.
• Another mistake I've made is using one of those fresh herb "tubes" of cilantro, which had a strong citrus back taste.  It didn't ruin the recipe, but it didn't help it either.  Go fresh or skip it.
• How long can you leave these in the freezer?  I'd say six months.  But they're so good they'll never go uneaten that long.

Vidalia Onion Quiche

A few years ago around Easter time, I saw a picture on a blog of a caramelized onion quiche...with NO RECIPE!  The blogger made us look at it, but gave us no means to make our own quiche.  How heartless can a person be?

This led to the Quiche Crusade of 2009 where I went in search of the world's best quiche recipes and honed my pastry making skills.  Unexpectedly, the winner was a non-caramelized onion quiche.  Sweet Vidalias sauteed in butter and baked with Swiss and tarragon.


Ingredients
(Recipe adapted from Carol Gelles's 1000 Vegetarian Recipes)

• Single crust for 9" pie (I used my favorite pie crust recipe, and you should use yours)
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3 cups sliced Vidalia onions (approx 1 large onion)
• 1 cup grated Swiss cheese
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
• ¼ teaspoon dried tarragon
• ⅛ teaspoon pepper

Method

Prepare pie crust.  I used this recipe, eliminating the sugar for ½ teaspoon salt, and using lemon juice as the acid.  After rolling out the dough, place in fridge to keep cold until needed.

Slice onions thin.  One large Vidalia onion will easily yield 3 cups of slices.

Melt 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat.  Toss onions in the melted butter and cover pot.  Reduce heat to medium low.

Stir onions occasionally and let cook for 20 minutes.  They will get soft and a little golden.

Prepare the quiche filling.  Whisk eggs, milk, and spices together.

Place cheese in pie shell

Add onions and stir together

Pour filling on top

Bake at 350° (or 325° if using a mini oven like me) for 50 minutes or until it passes the toothpick test.

Let sit 5 minutes...and enjoy!