Homemade Barbeque Sauce

One evening recently, I was listening to NPR's "The Story" and became enthralled during a segment about a woman who had taken over the family tradition of competing in barbeque contests (generally a male-dominated type of cooking contest). I was especially fascinated by the super secret sauce recipe, which had been passed down through the generations and had won many a competition. I wondered what exactly went into an award winning recipe - or into barbeque sauce in general - and so I started to do a little internet searching.

The internet search yielded some good tips on how to make general barbeque sauce, but nothing along the lines of coveted family secrets. Interestingly, I did learn that there are many different varieties of barbeque sauce. North Carolina is known for a more vinegar based sauce, South Carolina for a mustard-based sauce, Texas for spicy recipes, and Kansas City for tomato-based sauce recipes. Alabama even has a mayonnaise version. I found a website that had basic recipes for three of the main sauce types. I decided that since I'm more of a tomato lover, I'd focus on creating my own version of a Kansas City style sauce.

Lucky for me, soon after deciding that I wanted to try to make my own barbeque sauce, the hubby and I actually visited Kansas City, Missouri. I was amazed when we visited a grocery store and I saw just how many different types of barbeque sauce were available. Our selection in the North is pitiful by comparison. I looked at many ingredient lists and was somewhat shocked and saddened that for many the second ingredient was high fructose corn syrup. Boo to that. Others were a little more wholesome, though; some even hinted at special ingredients like pineapple juice. So, I took some mental notes to try in my own sauce.

This past week I finally got the time to settle in and work on the recipe. We decided to have friends over for Barbeque Beef Sandwiches, and I wanted to use my own sauce for the beef. I dabbled around and finally got the flavorings to come together nicely. This recipe is somewhat sweet, somewhat zesty, somewhat spicy. It has that nice tomato based flavor, but many subtleties to it as well. I really like this version and hope that you will, too!

Kansas City Style Barbeque Sauce

A Fabulous and Delicious Original!

1 yellow onion, sliced

5 cloves garlic, sliced

3 Tablespoons olive oil

1/4 cup hot water

2 Tablespoons + 1 teaspoon raw sugar or brown sugar

3 dried chipotle chiles, chopped into small pieces

2 Tablespoons dark molasses

20 ounces organic ketchup

1 can tomato paste

1 1/2 cup tomato puree (fresh tomatoes blended or from a can)

3 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon balsalmic vinegar

1 teaspoon tumeric

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cumin powder

1 teaspoon ginger powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 Tablespoon freshly ground pepper

3-4 Tablespoons fresh lime juice

1 Tablespoon chili powder

2 Tablespoon paprika

2 Tablespoons dry mustard or fresh mustard

1/4 cup dark beer

1.) In a large pot, saute the onions and garlic in the olive oil over low heat until the onions are cooked (translucent but not brown). Meanwhile, in a small bowl, dissolve the sugar in the hot water.

2.) When the onions are done, put in the chipotle chiles and allow them to cook a little in the oil - no more than a minute. Then, pour in the sugar water mixture. Stir. Then, add all the other ingredients, stirring as you add them.

3.) Allow all the ingredients to simmer over low heat for 20-30 minutes. If you'd like, you can then use an immersion blender or place the sauce in a regular blender to smooth out the consistency. Use immediately in cooking or store in your fridge for up to 7 to 10 days.

Gaspacho

Hello blog readers! Fear not; I haven't forgotten about you. Life has just been busy in our household. Last week we moved into a super cute house - with a real sized kitchen! Our first evening was spent unpacking all of our kitchen supplies. Boy, do we have a lot of them! We've taken over every cupboard, our hutch, and then had to put up a bookshelf to house the actual food! We have not-so-often used kitchen gadgets (e.g. the waffle maker and slow cooker) in the coat closet; cookbooks are currently housed in the den. I guess that's what happens when you have a husband and wife pair that like to cook and bake. :)

In addition to our lovely new kitchen, our garden is thriving. We have so many cherry tomatoes ripening every day, cucumbers constantly begging to be picked, and beautiful peppers lounging from their branches. So, what does this all this mean? That it's *finally* gaspacho season!!!!!! I started craving gaspacho in April, but alas it is one of those foods that you can enjoy only when the vegetables are seasonally ripe. Otherwise, the soup just a pitiful mirage of its former self. Similarly, using poor quality olive oils or vinegar will not yield the same exceptional taste.

If you're not familiar with gaspacho, it is a cold summer soup that originated in Spain. Personal recipes vary, but basically it tastes like the soup form of a perfect tomato sandwich. (Quite literally as the recipe includes bread.) If you're familiar with gaspacho and hate it, well, then you haven't tried *this* gaspacho, which is delicious!!!

Similar to all perfect summer recipes, it doesn't require turning on your oven (unless you're going to use that to make bread). We've been eating it at least twice a week while we can. My hope is to eat so much of it that I'm satisfied until next Spring when I'll start to crave gaspacho again! Enjoy!

Gaspacho

The hubby's recipe, adapted from a segment heard on NPR

1 thick slice of fresh homemade bread (the Wonder Bread varieties really won't work...)

1 1/2 cups fresh tomatoes from the garden

1/4 large sweet yellow onion

1/4 large cucumber

1 green bell pepper

1/4 cup Spanish olive oil (or high quality version of your liking. We use a brand from California)

scant Tablespoon raspberry wine vinegar (or high quality balsalmic if you're desperate)

salt and pepper to taste

1.) Wash and rinse all veggies.

2.) Put everything into a hearty blender. (We use a Vitamix.)

3.) Turn on the blender to medium-high and blend until there is a creamy texture and everything is pink. Salt and pepper to taste.

4.) Serve immediately and enjoy.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Semi-Sweet Chocolate Frosting

I cannot believe that I only got one post accomplished in all of July. It's just been such a busy summer. We travelled, worked, and now are in the process of moving - to a house - with a real kitchen! It's a galley kitchen, which isn't as ideal as a kitchen set up for true entertaining, but it's better than the corner of a room that houses our current straight-out-of-1940s kitchen. I'll have more windows to try out new photography techniques, too.

The idea of moving into a bigger place is so exciting, but packing up everything is awful. My husband has so many memories of our current apartment, too, that it's hard to say goodbye -even though we really do need a bigger place. Even our small kitchen is filled with memories. I remember making brownies for our friends who lived down the hall when I would come and visit from New York. It's where Chris and I mastered Indian Samosas, along with many other delightful dishes. We've created delicious meals - whole Easter feasts - all from a tiny tiny kitchen with literally no counter space. It's taught us to be efficient in our cooking / baking, and it's definitely taught me to clean as I cook, but I'm excited to have a dishwasher in which to plop all those dirty dishes after entertaining!

A good friend had a belated birthday BBQ tonight, and I offered to bring dessert. I deliberated a lot about what to make, and I was somewhat limited because 99% of my cooking supplies are in boxes. So, when I was searching through the recipes I collected from magazines, and came across a huge delicious-looking piece of chocolate cake with the words "one bowl cake" as the title, I was sold. It was delightfully easy. The frosting only required one bowl, too, but I unfortunately had packed my hand-mixer. So, I whipped up this frosting using my immersion blender, and it turned out just great.

This all just goes to show you that no matter what your limitations - small kitchen, poor counter space, limited utensils - you can still make fabulous desserts.

One Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes

Adapted slightly from Martha Stewart Living Magazine

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

3/4 cup buttermilk

3/4 cup warm water

3 Tablespoons canola oil

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1.) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together (or sift if you're into that) cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl until combined. Add in eggs, buttermilk, water, oil, and vanilla, and stir until smooth (about 3-4 minutes).

2.) Line cupcake pan with paper liners. Fill the paper liners with cake batter until about two-thirds full. Bake until set and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Remove the cupcakes from the oven. Let them cool slightly for 10 minutes, then remove them from the pan and place them on a cooling rack. Allow them to cool completely before frosting.

(You can also make cake by buttering 8-inch round cake pans (2 inches deep) and then coating with cocoa. Cook cake for 35 minutes. Allow it to cool for 15 minutes before attempting to remove it from the pan.)

Semi-Sweet Chocolate Frosting

Adapted slightly from Martha Stewart Living Magazine

2 cups confectioners' sugar

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Pinch of salt

6 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

6 ounces dark chocolate (I bought my favorite chocolate bar), melted and cooled slightly (I just put it in a pan over the lowest heat possible and let it melt)

3/4 cup creme fraiche or sour cream

1.) In a small bowl, sift together sugar, cocoa and salt.

2.) In a separate large bowl, beat cream cheese and butter with a mixer (or immersion blender!!) at a medium-high speed until smooth and well incorporated. Add the cocoa/sugar/salt mixture slowly, beating after each addition. Pour in chocolate and add creme fraiche or sour cream. Mix until well combined.

3.) Frost cooled cupcakes.

Green Beans with Shallots and Homemade Breadcrumbs

Life is plugging along here in Minnesota. The summer weather has been perfect: warm temperatures without being too hot, light breezes, and sunshine. There have been so many thunderstorms at night, though. I'm slowly getting used to the Midwest thunderstorms; they are very different from the Northeast. Firstly, they seem to be much more dangerous with really damaging winds (blowing away all sorts of outdoor furniture and bringing down tree branches), un-ending dramatic lightening, and more frequently than I'm comfortable with, tornadoes. I'm starting to not go into panic mode every time the radio breaks to say that there is a tornado warning for a part of Minnesota, but I still do close a lot of the doors to keep the cat near me in case I hear that the warning has spread to our county. That way, I figure I can grab the cat and head down to the basement. Thunderstorms in the Northeast were much louder, though. I miss the thunder that makes the windows shake. Here, there seems to be more lightening, less thunder.

Since coming back from vacation, the hubby and I have been trying to eat as many vegetables from our garden as possible. This week the green beans and shallots were ready. I found this recipe online almost a year ago on Martha Stewart for green beans, shallots, and bread crumbs. I had wanted to make it for Thanksgiving, but ended up not and opting instead for the classic Campbell's green bean casserole. The Martha Stewart recipe has many of the fabulous flavors of the Campbell's recipe, but without the creaminess (and calories) from the cream of mushroom soup. The Martha recipe is overall nicer because it's healthier, hightling olive oil instead of cream, and easier to make. Plus, you don't have to turn on your oven - which, if you're like me and don't own an air conditioner, is a big plus in the summertime.


So, we'll continue to enjoy this recipe until our green beans stop producing, which will all this nice daytime sunshine and nighttime rain, will hopefully be months away!



Green Beans with Shallots and Homemade Breadcrumbs
Adapted from Martha Stewart

2 pounds green beans
1/4 cup olive oil
2 shallots, thinly sliced
1/2 cup homemade or store-bought breadcrumbs (see below for homemade ingredients)
salt and pepper to taste

For homemade breadcrumbs
3 medium slices of homemade bread (your recipe of choice - I use a bread machine)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning (combination of oregano, marjoram, thyme, rosemary, and sweet basil)

1.) To make breadcrumbs, pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. In the meantime, take the 3 slices of bread and toast them in a toaster or toaster oven until golden (medium). Then, cut them into 1/2 inch squares. Place the breadcrumbs on a baking sheet. Drizzle lightly the olive oil and add the garlic powder and Italian seasoning. Once the oven is heated, place the breadcrumbs in the oven for about 5 minutes (to dry them out further). Avoid letting them burn in the oven.
2.) Blanch the beans: Rinse the beans well. Fill a medium-sized pot halfway with water, place it on the stove over medium-high heat. Once the water is boiling, toss in the beans and cook for 2 minutes (no more than 2.5 minutes). The beans should be bright green. Immediately, drain the beans and run them under cold water. The cold water stops the beans from cooking and prevents them from becoming mushy. (Alternatively, you could prepare an ice bath and then place the drained beans in that instead of running them under cold water). Drain again and pat the beans dry.
3.) Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the shallots and cook, stirring occassionally, until they are golden (about 5 minutes). Add in the green beans and breadcrumbs. Stir. Cook a couple minutes more just to heat the green beans a little.
4.) Season with salt and pepper to your liking. Serve.

Blueberry Smush

Hello blog readers! Sorry for the long dry spell! I've been traveling extensively all over the east coast visiting family and eating my little heart out. (Hello potato chips and Hoffman hot dogs - how I missed you!!). There were lots of delicious drinks enjoyed, including pomegranate martinis (and margaritas), lemon drop martinis, mojitos, monarchs, and copious wine. It was lovely.

I couldn't completely take a break from cooking, though. One morning on the lake, I baked up some Pannekoekens to everyone's delight. Also, one night I opted to provide dessert for a family dinner. After a day of hiking in the sun through water-filled gorges and a dinner filled with tender grilled steaks, I thought we could use something light(ish) for dessert. I wanted something summery, but didn't want to go the classic Strawberry Shortcake route. So, settled on my grandmother's Blueberry Smush.

My mom said that my grandmother used to make Blueberry Smush all the time when she was a kid. They would often camp in the Adirondacks during the summer, where there were bushes filled with wild blueberries. My grandmother would cook them with some water and sugar in a pot over a campfire. Once the blueberries burst and a sauce was created, she would drop in the biscuits, let them cook, and voila! Delicious camp dessert. My mom has many happy memories of having her face and teeth stained from eating blueberry smush.

Despite these happy memories, my mom never made us this dessert until about two years ago!! My sister and I ate every bite and couldn't believe that she hadn't made it for us sooner.

In any case, I thought with blueberries being ripe in the northeast, it was fitting to highlight them for dessert and introduce my dad's family to this deliciousness. The soft drop biscuits smothered in a sweet blueberry sauce are just to die for.

Oh, and another plus of this summer dessert: it doesn't involve turning on the oven! It's all done on the stove top.

Enjoy!

Blueberry Smush

From Grandma (via Mom)

For blueberry sauce:

1 quart fresh blueberries

1 cup sugar (more if you'd like)

2 cups water

2-3 Tablespoons cornstarch

For biscuits:

2 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup rice milk (or for non-vegan, buttermilk)

4 Tablespoons coconut oil (or for non-vegan, butter)

1 Tablespoon sugar

1.) In a large, wide pan, cook (without rapidly boiling) the blueberries, water, and sugar over medium-high heat. Stir occasionally. Continue to cook until the blueberries burst and you have a thin sauce. Turn heat to medium-low. Add the cornstarch and stir until the sauce thickens to coat a spoon (not quite to the thickness of a gravy).

2.) While the blueberries are cooking, in a small bowl, mix together all the ingredients for the biscuits.

3.) Once the sauce is ready, drop the biscuit batter in Tablespoon amounts into the sauce. Once all the biscuit batter has been added, cover the pan and allow the biscuits to cook for roughly 10 minutes.

4.) Plate the biscuits and cover in blueberry sauce. Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Zucchini Curry and Basmati Rice

Sunday was an Indian food day here in our household. We had promised a friend that we would have him over for dinner, and he could pick the menu theme. He settled on Indian, which we were delighted about.

Indian food is probably one of our favorite foods to make. It was challenging in the beginning because the combinations of spices are so different from what we are used to in Western cooking. Fortunately, the hubby found a classic Indian cookbook for $1 at a garage sale a few years back, and that has been a great guide to the foundations of Indian cooking. Luckily, my husband has an amazing palatte and sense for spices, so he can adjust recipes to mimic those we've had in restaurants. I love it.

The internet is also an amazing source of delicious (and free!) recipes. In addition to our fabulous and delicious samosas, we decided to highlight the zucchini we've been harvesting from the garden farmette everyday, and decided to try to make a zucchini curry. We found an awesome tutorial on YouTube by Currysutra on how to make Ghiya (zucchini curry), and copied it almost exactly. The tutorial is really easy to follow and would be great for beginner Indian home chefs. I've included all the ingredients and directions (with our changes) below, but definitely check out the tutorial as well. Enjoy!

Ghiya - Zucchini Curry

Adapted from Currysutra

Yield: Feeds roughly 4 people

2 medium to large zucchini, cubed

1 Tablespoon canola or sunflower oil

1 small can tomato paste (6 ounces)

1 1/4 cup potato water*

2 teaspoons cumin seeds

6 cloves garlic, sliced

1 onion, sliced

1 cube salted veggie bouillon (we use the Rapunzel brand)

1 teaspoon tumeric

1 teaspoon ground cumin

2 Tablespoons curry powder

1/2 teaspoon corriander

1/2 teaspoon ground chili powder

1/2 teaspoon garam masala

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1.) Heat oil in a pressure cooker over medium-low heat, add cumin, garlic, and onion and saute until the onions begin to cook (look translucent). Try to avoid having the veggies brown by keeping the heat low.

2.) Add in 1/4 cup of potato water* and spices: veggie bouillon, tumeric, ground cumin, curry powder, corriander, chili powder, garam masala, crushed red pepper.

3.) Add in tomato paste. Stir.

4.) Add in zucchini & stir. You may taste now to see if spices are alright. Then, add 1 cup of potato water*

5.) Put lid on pressure cooker and being to cook, according to your pressure cooker's directions, to max pressure (about 5-8 minutes).

6.) Then turn off heat and let the pressure cooker slowly let go to room pressure (about 20 minutes).

7.) Carefully, open pressure cooker (read manufacturer's instructions), and the curry is ready to serve over basmati rice (see rice recipe below).

* Potato water refers to the leftover water from boiling potatoes. Because we were also making samosas, we had boiled potatoes on the stove, and therefore saved the water to use in this dish. The potato water adds a bit more flavor and also can help thicken with the starch. If you're not making potatoes, just substitute regular water.

Basmati Rice

Yield: 4-6 cups rice

4 cups water

2 cups basmati rice

2 Tablespoons olive oil

2 bay leaves

1/4 teaspoon black peppercorns

1/4 teaspoon whole cloves

1.) Place water, olive oil, bay leaves, peppercorns, and cloves in a medium sized pot on the stove over high heat. Bring to a boil.

2.) Place rice in the boiling water, stir a bit. Cover the pot and reduce heat to low. Allow rice to cook for 15-20 minutes until soft.

3.) Stir rice and serve.

4.) Note that rice will double to triple in amount. So, if place one cup of dried rice in a pot, you'll end up with 2-3 cups of cooked rice. Therefore, adjust the recipe above to your needs by halving (or doubling!) it if necessary.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

I've been in a funk today, and I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because after months of practicing yoga, my little 'bird' poses still will not 'fly.' Probably has to something do with my chicken arms, and everyone knows that despite everything delicious chickens offer us, they are flightless birds. Or maybe it's the fact that a vast number of unknowns that are swiftly approaching, mostly related to where the hubster is going to get a job and my upcoming residency applications. Ah, change - it's scary one of the only guaranteed things in life. And, as my yoga teacher is constantly reminding us, life does not come with a set instruction manual, so I should embrace all the fun possibilities that lay ahead!

So, today to de-stress, I decided to tackle one of my baking quests: to find the perfect red velvet cake recipe. I actually only tasted my first red velvet cake a few months ago during a visit to Buffalo, but I was instantly hooked. It was moist, delicious, not overly chocolately. I'm not a huge intensely sweet frosting person, either, and this cake was refreshingly served with a tangier cream cheese frosting. Anyway, after that, I decided to do some research and create that lovely cake for myself. I read dozens of recipes online, and decided to settle with one that used canola oil instead of butter, since I personally find that oil makes a moister cake crumble. The first batch I tried were waaaaay to oily and sank in the middle as soon as I took them out of the oven. (Fail...). So, I found a second recipe that used more eggs and flour and decided to adapt that. I kicked up the amount of cocoa powder from 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup, and halved the amount of red food coloring - my cupcakes turned out just as red and without that chemical taste that you can get from coloring.

The overall results is awesome. A super moist, flavorful red cake that bakes up to a perfect dome. The cake is not overly sweet or chocolately, but is so delicious that I ate a whole cupcake before even making the frosting. I cannot wait to make this cake again. You can add on the cream cheese frosting or your favorite frosting of choice! Enjoy!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Adapted from Leslie Sarna: The Dainty Vegetarian

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1 cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs, room temperature

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups buttermilk, room temperature

1 Tablespoon red food coloring

1 teaspoon white distilled or apple cider vinegar

Classic Cream Cheese Frosting:

8 ounces (1 package) cream cheese, softened

8 Tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 pound confectioners' (powdered) sugar

1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line your cupcake/muffin tins with paper liners.

2.) If you need to make your own buttermilk, do that now.

3.) In a large bowl (or stand mixer with whisk attachment), whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, soda, salt, cocoa powder.

4.) Add vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla extract to dry ingredients. Stir. Then, add in buttermilk. Stir again.

5.) Carefully, measure and add the red food coloring. Be careful not to stir/whisk/mix too vigorously or you can end up whipping food coloring all over your kitchen and self!! Then, add in the vinegar and stir a few more times.

7.) Pour batter into prepared pans, filling the cupcake liners roughly 2/3 full.

8.) Place in oven and bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

9.) Remove cupcakes from pan and allow them to cool on a wire rack.

Frosting directions:

1.) In a large bowl, beat (preferably with an electric stand or hand mixer) the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until smooth. Then, add in the sugar and beat until fluffy.

2.) Frost cupcakes when cool.

P.S. - I used my KitchenAid Mixer for this whole recipe, which made it super easy. I also tried out my birthday gift, the beater blade, for the first time, and it is AMAZING!!! It scrapes the side of my mixing bowl while it's mixing. So, no need to stop the mixer and scrapes the sides down myself anymore. I'm a convert. Seriously. Thanks, BFF!!