Other Waffles

Imagine my surprise to realize I'd already posted the same waffle recipe! Sorry guys!
Here instead is the recipe for silver dollar pancakes, which I haven't made in awhile but are also delicious.
Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 large eggs
• 8 oz sour cream

Equipment

• 2 bowls
• griddle
• turner

Procedure

• Mix dry ingredients.
  
• Mix wet ingredients.
• Mix together.
• Cook. If you don't know how to cook pancakes, you should find a cooking for beginners blog.
  

Joy of Cooking Waffles

If you're a longtime subscriber, you know I love the Joy of Cooking. If you don't own it, trot over to Amazon right now and buy it.
Here is a recipe for simple, delicious waffles. I like to halve it, because its just two of us, but you might need to make all six.
Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 to 1 cup butter, melted (I use oil instead, for the sake of unsaturatated fats)
• 1 1/2 cups milk

Equipment

• 2 mixing bowls
• whisk
• waffle iron

Procedure

1. Mix all dry ingredients.
2. Mix all wet ingredients.
3. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients.
4. Cook on waffle iron.
   

Yum!

Sweet Potato Tacos

My boyfriend's ex-girlfriend gave him a slow-cooker cookbook (and Indiana Jones!!!) for his birthday.
This recipe is one of my favorites. Who would have thought that sweet potatoes are deliciously fantastic in tacos?
Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp chili powder
• 2 tsp dried oregano leaves
• 1 1/2 tsps ground cumin
• 1 large sweet pototo, peeled and diced
• 1 can black beans or pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 cup frozen corn, thawed and drained
• Shredded monteray jack cheese
• Flour tortillas

Equipment

• 4-6 quart slow cooker
• Prep bowls

Procedure

1. Combine spices in a small bowl.
   
2. Layer ingredients in the slow cooker in the following order: sweet potato, beans, half of spice mix, garlic, onion, pepper, remaining spice mix, corn.
   
3. Cover and cook on Low for 5 hours or until delicious.
   
4. Pile into tacos, add cheese, eat.
   

Judging.

It never fails to amaze me how judged some people can feel by other people's choices. I'll preface this by saying that I am guilty of it as well.
But when I tell people I'm a vegetarian, the reactions are one of three:
1) "I used to be a vegetarian, but then X happened and now I'm not."
2) "I would be a vegetarian, but I think it's too hard/meat is delicious/I hate vegetables."
3) "You shouldn't be a vegetarian - you won't get enough protein/meat is delicious"
I don't care why you're a vegetarian, and you shouldn't care why I am. It's okay to ask why. It's not okay to tell me that I'm going to die sooner because I don't eat enough protein or that humans are meant to eat meat. You are actually the one who will die sooner, because you eat too much protein and humans aren't meant to eat meat. But I don't tell you that when you order a hamburger so let me eat my veggie burger in peace.

Light Zucchini Cream for Pasta

I haven't tried making this yet, but it looks delicious!
Recipe is from VegWeb, I'll edit/update once I've actually tried it. I think this might be really good with some ricotta cheese (because I'm not a vegan).
Ingredients:

• 1 medium zucchini
• 1 medium carrot
• 1 medium onion
• 2 garlic cloves
  salt, pepper, any seasonings you prefer
  olive oil or cooking spray
• pasta, any type
  

Procedure:
Bring water to boil and start cooking pasta. (This amount of sauce is enough for about 10oz of pasta.)

Roughly grate zucchini and carrot. I like to leave the skin on zucs because those tiny green pieces of it look very pretty.

Chop onion and mince garlic.

In a skillet fry onion and carrot in some olive oil (or use cooking spray) until onion is clear. Add grated zucchini and garlic and saute for 5 minutes until it's done.

Transfer into blender and run it until the sauce gets all creamy. Salt and pepper to taste.

Your pasta should be done by now. Drain it. Return sauce to a skillet, add pasta and heat a minute or so.

Yellow Tofu Curry

I made a delicious dish last night. It's a yellow curry, which is the least spicy of the thai curries, and was made using a yellow curry sauce from my local gourmet food store (read - Trader Joe's).
Ingredients:
1 yellow pepper
2 red peppers
1 onion
1/2 block tofu
flour
Frozen or canned pineapple (or fresh)
Vegetable oil
1/2 bottle Trader Joe's Yellow Thai Curry Sauce

Equipment:
Vidalia Chop Wizard (or vegetable knife)
knife and cutting board
paper towels or dishtowel
frying pan
wok
shallow plastic dish to hold flour to coat tofu

Procedure:

1. Chop vegetables.
   
2. Cut tofu into 1 inch cubes.
   
3. Coat tofu lightly with flour.
   
4. Heat approx. 2-3 tablespoons vegetable oil in frying pan.
   
5. Fry tofu until cripsy and brown on all sides.
   
6. Drain on paper towels/dish towel. Set aside.
   
7. Heat small amount of oil (1tbsp) in wok.
   
8. Add onions. Cook until transparent.
   
9. Add peppers. Cook until light red instead of bright red.
10. Add sauce.
    
11. Add tofu.
    
12. Stir until coated and heated.
    

Can be served over rice or noodles.

Cupcake fat replacement

Last night I made applesauce cupcakes - that is cupcakes with applesauce instead of oil. I made a half batch, so just twelve, which is too many as it is. But they came out delicious and fluffy, which has been a problem in the past.
This time, I replaced the full amount of oil with an equal amount of applesauce. I had read somewhere to only use half as much applesauce, but that's not going to work as well. So I was making a half batch, so I used a half of a third of a cup (I love my OXO measuring cups that have half markings on them!) of applesauce. I also used egg whites, two egg whites instead of one and a half eggs. I whipped them up with the mixer for about a minute until they were at that almost ready to fluff stage, but not peaking or anything. I think this contributed to the fact that the cupcakes were not as dense as they were the last time.
I used the full half-cup of water. They say sometimes to reduce the water when using applesauce, but I didn't and it was fine.
Using unsweetened applesauce and egg whites takes out most of the fat from the recipe, and they taste just like normal cupcakes that you might make from mix. I was using white cake mix, and you really can't taste the difference.