Cooking stage of Green Tomato Picallilli

From Alice Enevoldsen

• 7 lbs green tomatoes
• 3 tart apples
• 3 sweet onions
• 1 green pepper
• 4 celery stalks
• 3 cups cider vinegar (white vinegar contains wheat or corn, choose a cider vinegar that is safe for you)
• 1.5 cups brown sugar
• 1.5 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1/3 cup canning salt (regular salt makes the mix cloudy)

Pickling Spice

• 7 parts cumin seed
• 1 part black pepper
• 1 part turmeric
• 7 parts coriander (whole)
• 1 part yellow mustard seed
• 1 part brown mustard seed
• 1 part celery seed
• 1 part whole cloves

Directions:

Wash and chop tomatoes. Sprinkle with salt, tie up in cheesecloth and let drain for at least 4 hours. Discard the liquid.

Chop all other vegetables & fruits. Heat the rest of the ingredients, then add chopped tomatoes and vegetables. and fruits.

Cook over low heat until thickened and there is no water left (2-3 hours). The mixture should begin to stick to the bottom of the pan. Spoon into pint-jars (7-9). Wipe clean, add lids, and process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.

Be careful when canning. Follow all canning safety protocols to reduce the risk of exposure to dangerous bacteria.

From Alice Enevoldsen

Green Tomato Pickles!

• dozens and dozens of green tomaotes.

Brine (per quart)

• 1 cup white distilled vinegar (usually contains wheat or corn, choose a light vinegar that is safe for you)
• 1 cup water
• 1 tablespoon canning salt (MUST BE canning salt)

Dill/Garlic Pickle Spice (per quart)

• 1 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds
• 1 teaspoon celery seeds
• 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
• 2 tablespoon dill seeds
• 3 fresh bay leaves
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled

Curry Spice (per quart)

• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1/4 teaspoon fenugreek
• 1/4 teaspoon mustard powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspon turmeric
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• a bunch of ground cayenne to your liking
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 3/4 inch fresh ginger root, sliced into thin coins

Directions:

So I modified the recipe from Garden Betty.

Wash, dry, and slice your green tomatoes. Bring brine ingredients to a boil.

Put the pickling spice mix that you prefer in a hot,clean quart jar. Pack the jar full of the cut tomatoes.

Pour the hot brine over the tomatoes. Cover them completely and leave 1/2-inch headspace. Stir with a sterilized implement to remove any bubbles. Clean the rim, seal with a lid and band, and process in a hot water bath for 15 minutes.

The green tomatoes will be pickled in three weeks.

Please follow good instructions and in-depth safety precautions when home-canning. You want all canning to be perfect or you end up with dangerous bacteria and molds growing in your cans.

Chocolate chip cookies, non-chocolate non-chip cookies, and decorated non-chocolate non-chip cookies! Image © 2013 Jason Enevoldsen

From Alice

• 1 cup (2 sticks) Butter, margarine, or other solid fat
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 “Eggs” (substitute of your choice)
• 1.5 tsp vanilla
• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda

Optional

• 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips/chunks
• red coloring preferred by you
• frosting (mix powdered sugar/a drop of vanilla/drops of water or lemon juice until it is the right thickness.)

Directions:

Preheat to 375 F (190 C)

Mix butter and sugars.

Add “eggs.”

Mix flour and baking soda. Add to butter/sugar/”egg” mixture.

Add chocolate chips if you want chocolate chip cookies. Don’t if you want frosted cookies. (Unless you want both.)

Scoop out half.

Add red coloring to the half in the mixer.

Take one small scoop (about a teaspoon) of the red and one of the uncolored. Roll them together and make a flattened cookie-ish shape on your baking pan. If it is too goopy to do this, chill the dough for a bit.

Bake 10 minutes, they should look a little puffy and not quite finished, this way they turn out soft.

Once cool you can frost and decorate them!

I wanted to make frosted Valentine’s Day cookies (hence the red food coloring) with my daughter, but our regular sugar cookie recipe is a little too crumbly. The chocolate chip cookies are stiff enough for even her, so I just left the chips out.  Examples of all three styles are in the picture above.

From Jason Gift Enevoldsen

• ~6-8 lbs green tomatoes, chopped in 1/4″-1/2″ cubes
• 2 medium shallots, chopped finely
• ~1 lb bacon (preferably smoked, dry-rubbed, thick-cut)
• Fresh cracked pepper
• Thyme
• Pasta of your choice-any shape, wheat-free, gluten-free or bean/rice noodles would all work.

Directions:

This recipe is a great way to consume large numbers of green tomatoes.  Most of the flavor comes from the tomatoes and the bacon, so flavorful bacon is a plus (e.g. heavily smoked, dry-rubbed bacon).  The idea is to cook the shallots and tomatoes hard enough that they start to carmelize a bit – that slight sweetness combined with the bacon fat balances the acidity of the green tomatoes.  Sometimes I’ll skip the thyme if the tomatoes are particularly fragrant varieties (e.g. black krim).  The amounts above are all my best guess – I never measure anything for this recipe since it’s always to use up leftover tomatoes that just won’t ripen.

1. Cut the bacon into small pieces and fry it in a large pan
2. Remove the bacon pieces, keep the fat in the pan (if it was very fatty bacon, you may want to drain off some of the fat)
3. Over medium heat, add shallots and fry them until lightly brown on the edges
4. Turn heat up to high, add tomatoes
5. Add a touch of pepper (maybe 1/4tsp at most), a sprinkle of thyme (again, not much – perhaps also 1/4tsp at most)
6. Stir nearly constantly to keep the tomatoes from sticking to the bottom of the pan, keep frying until the liquid between the tomato pieces thickens up and some of the tomatoes start to turn light brown on the edges
7. Add the bacon pieces back in.
8. Serve over noodles.

To lower fat content (if not a fan of bacon fat), either cook the bacon and substitute olive oil for the bacon fat, or skip the bacon altogether and just use olive oil.

This and Green Tomato Bacon Sauce are similar but different.

From Alice Enevoldsen (this recipe is undergoing testing)

• 1 Cup brown sugar
• 1/2 Cup your favorite milk substitute
• 1/4 Cup Lyle’s Golden Syrup (Cane Sugar)

Directions:

Combine in a saucepan, stir well. Cook at medium/medium-low heat until simmering. Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring to keep from boiling over. The last drips off the spoon should stay separate from each other.

Pour into heatsafe bowl to cool. Serve or refrigerate and serve.

(cut down milk and cook longer for a thicker sauce… but don’t forget it will thicken as it cools!)

From Alice Enevoldsen

• 2 cups pureed pumpkin (you can use canned)
• 1 cup oat milk
• ½+ cup honey
• ¼ cup cornstarch
• ½ Tablespoon molasses (to taste)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger (I never actually measure spices other than ginger, clove, and cardamom)

Directions:

Mix all ingredients until smooth. Pour into crust.

Bake 10 minutes at 425F, 50 minutes at 350F (until filling is set). Cool.

IMPORTANT: Refrigerate overnight before serving. This is how you get that firm pumpkin pie without egg or milk.

From Alice Enevoldsen

Chicken Nuggets
Image © 2011 Jason Gift Enevoldsen

• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
• 2 egg substitutes (to make the breading stick)
• 1 Tablespoon water (in addition to any water you used making your egg substitute)
• ½ cup bread crumbs (run 2-3 slices of your favorite safe bread through a blender or food processor)
• ½ cup wheat germ
• 1 teaspoon fresh parsley, chopped fine
• ½ teaspoon fresh thyme
• 1 teaspoon fresh basil, chopped fine
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 Tablepoon canola oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425F, and prep a (nonstick) cookie sheet. Cut chicken into nugget-sized pieces.

Mix fake eggs with water, and add the chicken. Let it sit.

Chop up the spices, mix with bread crumbs and wheat germ. Mix in the oil well.  Dip each chicken piece in the seasoning and coat well.  Spread out on the baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Turn and bake for 5 more minutes.

I have also made the seasoning ahead of time and refrigerated it or frozen it so all I have to do is chop the chicken and coat it. If you do this I would add the oil at the time of coating, not before you freeze or fridge the topping.

I always thought chicken nuggets were an insanely processed, always cross-contaminated product of the fast-food industry. The above recipe is for whole pieces of chicken, baked, and a super-yummy mode of transport for your favorite dipping sauces. So I suppose they’re just as healthy as your dipping sauces.

Earth’s Best Kidz Baked Chicken Nuggets

I have also just found that (as of April 2011) Earth’s Best Kidz Baked Chicken Nuggets are safe for us, though they contain wheat and soy. And they’re not as healthy as the above home-baked ones which you have complete control over the ingredients for. But they’re frozen, cook up quick, and are a healthier vehicle for dipping sauces than french fries.

From Alice Enevoldsen

Mix Together

• ¼ Cup Flour
• 1 tsp Dark Brown Sugar
• a couple shakes of cinnamon

Stir Together

• 1 Tbsp Vegetable Oil, Melted Margarine, or Other Butter Substitute
• 1 tsp Cornstarch
• ½ Cup Oat/Soy/Rice Milk
• a dash of vanilla extract

Cut into Strips (if you want strips, I haven’t tried this with whole slices)

• 4 slices sandwich-sized bread

Directions:

Mix liquid and dry ingredients in a plate. Coat (do not soak) only as many strips of bread at a time as will fit into your skillet. In cooking words I would say “dredge” the bread strips in the goop.

Place immediately into low-heat lightly-greased skillet, cook till done – a couple minutes on each side. Hopefully you can get to a point on side 1 where the bread seems to be drying a little on the top before you flip, and then the bottom side that you flip up will be golden-brown.

I’ve been searching for a good, functional egg-free French Toast recipe for years. Thank goodness for Jennifer and Alyce on the WA-FEAST listserv who turned me on to the idea of making a very thin pancake batter, and using that. It is very close to exactly what I need. There’s one more recipe through them that I need to try – it relies on Xanthan Gum. The recipes on the vegan websites that use bananas, egg-replacer, or cornstarch never turn out for me. I wonder if I’m using the wrong bread.

This recipe is also shared with other allergy-friendly recipes at Cybele Pascal’s website.

From Alice Enevoldsen (modified from Kitty Gift)

Shoo-fly pie
Image © 2011 Jason Gift Enevoldsen

Bottom:

• ½ cup dark Karo syrup
• ½ cup maple syrup
• ½ cup boiling water
• ½ tsp baking soda

Top (you can make a little less than this):

• 1 ½ cups flour
• ½ cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup palm oil (or your favorite Butter substitute)

Directions:

Make pie crust, put in pie dish. Place pie dish on a non-stick cookie sheet (you’ll thank me later).

Make top crumbs by mixing flour and brown sugar, then cutting in palm oil until it loosely clumps together.

Measure Karo and maple syrup in 2 cup glass measuring cup (to get a more barrel molasses-y flavor put in more Karo, less maple syrup, and a tablespoon or so of Grandma’s molasses. Do not use blackstrap molasses).  In 1 cup measuring cup, boil water.  Add baking soda to hot water.  Add water to molasses measuring cup and mix thoroughly.

Assemble pie by alternating layers of the liquid and the top crumbs – about 3 layers of each.

Bake at 375F for 35 minutes. (Don’t forget to have that non-stick cookie sheet under your pie, it will save you from any boil-over burning on the oven elements)

Shoo-fly pie
Image © 2011 Jason Gift Enevoldsen

I’ve taken up the Gift family torch to pass on the cult of loving shoo-fly pie to as many as possible. So far I have at least a dozen converts.

When it is described to you – “pie made with innards of brown sugar and molasses” – you have no idea what this will be like. You picture some sort of candy in a pie crust. Tasty sure, but how do you eat it? You’re completely wrong. It is a bit like cake in a pie-crust. But that doesn’t do it justice.

A note on ingredients:

This should be made with barrel molasses instead of Karo and maple syrup. Sometimes this is called Dutch barrel syrup (as in Pennsylvania Dutch – i.e. German). If you have access to this ingredient, first send me some, then make the pie with it instead. For the rest of us, the last sighting of barrel molasses was at a little Mom & Pop style general store in New Jersey. You had to bring your own containers.

You’d think molasses would be a better substitute than corn syrup, but after many, many trials I’ve determined that the closest flavor is dark Karo. There is no bite to barrel molasses, though it has a depth of flavor lacking in Karo, which is why I put in half maple syrup also. The barrel molasses is aged in barrels – giving it the name and the flavor.

Clockwise from top: Gingersnaps, Star Shortbread, Powdered-Sugar Lemon, Oatmeal, Oatmeal with Craisins, and (middle) Lemon-Flower Tarts
Image ©2010 Jason Gift Enevoldsen

Cookies for the Holidays

I baked 5 batches of cookies this week. Yum!

If you think holiday baking is harder with allergies, well, I don’t think it is. What’s hard is store-bought safe food. Here are some of my favorite recipes for the holidays.

Above

Gingersnaps
Shortbread
Powdered-Sugar Lemon Cookies
Oatmeal Cookies (add craisins for festivity)
Lemon-Flower Tarts

Not Pictured

Julekake
Sugar Cookies
Joulupiparkakut – Gingerbread
Powdered-Sugar Mints (wheat free!)
Blondies
Pumpkin Bread
And don’t forget about pie with the filling of your choice

Have a safe and yummy holiday season!