Amish Friendship Bread

Amish Friendship Bread is delicious. It is also the worst chain letter ever. You are supposed to give a ziploc bag of starter to somebody else. I'm not sure how to make starter. Once you get the starter, you will eventually create four cups of starter - three to give away. The problem is if you don't have three friends, or when you show up at a friend's house with a bag of goo and they look at you. So if you are in that situation, keep reading.
So once you get the starter from somebody, you follow the steps below.
Day 1 -6/9 - Do nothing
Day 2 - 6/10- Mush the bag
Day 3 - 6/11- Mush the bag
Day 4 - 6/12 - Mush the bag
Day 5 - 6/13 - Mush the bag
Day 6 - 6/14 - Add 1 cup each flour, sugar, milk. Mush the bag
Day 7 - 6/15 - Mush the bag
Day 8 - 6/16 - Mush the bag
Day 9 - 6/17 - Mush the bag
Day 10 - 6/18 - Follow directions below

Pour the entire contents into a non-metallic bowl.
Add 1.5 cups each flour, sugar, milk.
Measure out 4 separate batters of 1 cup each into 4 one-gallon ziplock bags

For the remaining batter:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Add:
3 eggs
1 cup oil
.5 cup milk
1 cup sugar
2 tsp cinnamom
.5 tsp vanilla
1.5 tsp baking powder
.5 tsp baking soda
.5 tsp salt
2 cups flour
1 5.1oz box of instant vanilla pudding

Grease a pan. Mix .5cup sugar and 1.5 tsp cinnamon. Dust pan with half the mixture. Pour the batter into the pan and dust with remaining mixture.
Bake 1 hour, cool 10 minutes.

What to do with the extra batter:
If you have four ziploc bags of batter, follow the steps again. If you know you won't give them away, put two cups in each bag and only use two bags.
Then - use the two sets of starter and follow the remaining directions, without adding the 1.5 cups of flour, sugar, and milk.

I also tried substituting the oil with applesauce and used sugar/fat free pudding. It came out tasting more like applesauce cake, and might be great with a little nutmeg and allspice.

Review

I tried the Light Zucchini Cream for Pasta the other night. Pretty good, except I added some cream cheese to make it creamier. I ate it with whole-wheat pasta, and green beans on the side. Delicious.

Meal planning

Mark and I are striving to do two things: Lead a more sustainable/environmental existence and meal-plan. Fortunately, the two work out well together. We have a farmer's market here in Columbia that is open on Sundays. It is in a parking lot of a grocery store. We pick up fresh produce, and then get whatever else we need from the grocery store. Everything (usually) goes in reusable blue giant bags.
Today we got zucchinis, fresh basil, asparagus, tomatoes, and yellow squash. I also got some cucumbers because I like them.
I'm starting to find recipes for this week - here is tomorrow's, courtesy of Giada De Laurentis

Broiled Zucchini and Potatoes with Parmesean Crust
Ingredients:
4 small new potatoes (red or white, about 1 1/2 inches in diameter)
2 tablespoons butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary leaves
2 small zucchini, cut in 1/2 lengthwise (about 1-inch wide by 5 inches long)
Pinch kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmesan

Procedure:
Bring a medium pot of water to a boil over high heat. Add the potatoes and cook until just tender, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain the potatoes and let cool. When cool, cut the potatoes in half.

Place a medium saute pan over medium heat. Add the butter, garlic, thyme and rosemary and let cook until the butter melts, about 2 minutes. Meanwhile, season the cut sides of the zucchini and potatoes with salt and pepper. Carefully place the zucchini and potatoes cut side down in the melted butter. Let them cook until golden brown, about 12 to 15 minutes.

Preheat the broiler. Line a baking sheet with foil. Place the browned zucchini and potatoes on the baking sheet cut side up. Sprinkle the tops with the Parmesan. Place in the broiler until the cheese is golden brown, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a plate and serve.

I'll let you know how it is!

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.