Slow Cooker Crusty Bread Loaf

Ever thought you could make a crusty bread loaf in a slow cooker? Me either! It's actually exceedingly simple. You can either choose to make your own dough or purchase pre-made dough (even easier). Here is how I made my loaf. Oh, also excuse the photos. They are from my cellphone because this loaf did not last enough time for a photo op.

---

Slow Cooker Crusty Bread Loaf

---

3 C warm water 1 T rapid rise yeast* 6 C all purpose flour 1 T salt or to taste Parchment paper 6-quart slow cooker** *Or regular, it will just take longer to rise **You might need to vary loaf size for a smaller cooker so there is room to rise and expand

In a very large bowl, add warm water and stir in yeast. Water should be warm enough to activate the yeast but not hot enough to kill it... read the yeast packet if you have doubts. Thoroughly mix in flour and salt. This will take a lot of muscle so you might want to use a stand mixer. Cover dough and let rise until doubled in size (a couple hours). Form a one pound loaf of bread on parchment paper and place into your slow cooker. Cook on high for 1 to 2 1/2 hours (depending on your cooker).  You can also check the internal temperature and remove when it is between 190-200°F. Mine took around two hours. You can check after the first hour to see if the bottom of the loaf is burning. I had no issues here. Pop into a pre-heated broiler for 2-5 minutes for a gorgeous browned top. Consume!

---

Why don't you try...

• Buying pre-made dough and just popping it into the cooker on some parchment paper
• Adding herbs and cheese such as rosemary and cheddar to the dough
• Making dinner rolls instead of a loaf

This bread was awesome! I can't wait to try it with other types of dough. The one provided was just a basic loaf so go wild. Also, if you didn't know, you can make quick loafs in a slow cooker too like pumpkin and banana bread. You can bake them right in a loaf pan! 

Happy setting and forgetting!

Zucchini Bread: An Updated Take

Zucchini bread always sounds amazing to me in theory. It seems to fall into the same category as banana bread (my favorite) and pumpkin bread (a seasonal must). Zucchini is also one of my favorites. Grilled, baked, raw, you can't really mess it up... with the exception of zucchini bread. Every recipe I've had is always overly greasy, sugary and seems to have very little to do with zucchini itself with the exception of making a fattening lard-loaf sound healthy.

The over abundance of zucchini out there right now has finally pushed me to make a better (for my taste buds) zucchini bread. I don't claim this bread to be slimming but it's certainly less greasy and sugary than most.

---

Zucchini Bread: An Updated Take

---

Preheat oven to 350°F 2 eggs 3/8 C olive oil 1/4 C brown sugar 3 t cinnamon 1/2 t salt 1 t baking soda 1 t baking powder 1 1/2 C flour 2 C zucchini grated, squeezed 1 C sweet apple, grated

This recipe yield about 8 to 9 muffins and I baked them in my toaster oven because of the heat! They came out perfectly. Note: C denotes cup, t denotes teaspoon, T denotes tablespoon. In a large bowl beat the eggs. Add olive oil or oil of choice and cinnamon and continue to beat. Grate the apple and add it to the mix. Grate the zucchini (about 2 medium zucchinis) and squeeze to remove as much liquid as possible. Sift the dry ingredients together, add to the bowl, and mix until smooth. Pour the batter into greased muffin pans and bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and the top is golden. Serve with butter, honey, and cinnamon.

---

Like Queen of Mayhem on Facebook!

Challah at Me

Challah (pronounced: 'holla') is a type of bread that is very dear to my heart. While I might be quite far from technically being a Jew, I love my matzo ball soup, challah bread, and holy hell, never let me into a Jewish deli with a wad of cash. My level of self control around these types of foods is low. Being that I am half Chinese, a quarter German, and the remainder Slovak you might wonder where my love of Jewish food came from. To sum it up quite simply, I'm just a good New Yorker. I come from the land where you ask for schmear* on your hollowed out, toasted bagel and you get a bagel that's been dug out with the deli guys thumb, toasted, and loaded with cream cheese (schmear). Basically, life is pretty fantastic. There's matzo ball soup to cure your hangover, gefilte fish if you're secretly a Jewish grandmother, and unlimited amounts of pickles.

New York aside, while living in Pittsburgh I ironically settled in one of Pennsylvania's largest Jewish communities: Squirrel Hill. Yes, it has over 20 synagogues. And yay, for Jewish delis, I don't think I could have gotten out of university alive without them... nasty hangovers are nasty. Now I live in a Jewish neighborhood in Los Angeles. It's crazy, I didn't even plan it! This means I can stop by the bakery and pick up some hamentashen to go with my morning coffee and drool over the fresh challah coming out of the oven.

I'm living a pretty awesome kosher-foodie life at the moment, but when I lived in Charlotte, North Carolina, there was not a loaf of challah to be seen for miles. Actually, it was a 35 minute drive to some sketchy place that over charged for matzo balls. Lame. It was during this time that I discovered the ease of making your own challah. Yes, fresh, hot out of your oven challah. This weekend I decided to try my hand at it again and I must say, the tasty outcome did not disappoint.

I followed Smitten Kitchen's recipe for Apple Honey Challah and skipped the apples and sugar. The challah itself is really fun to make and the braiding is surprisingly simple for the amount that it will fascinate your friends. My only tip is it make sure that your yeast is not expired! I had a faulty yeast packet for the first loaf I made... luckily dense, unleavened challah makes awesome bread pudding. One other thing to keep in mind is that challah actually makes the world's best french toast. Hands down. The key is to slice it thick and let it soak up all the egg/vanilla. Yum.

*Schmear is Yiddish for spread. If you look at a map of the distribution of Yiddish speakers in the United States, you'll see the New York state has the highest density. I thank Wikipedia for that fun fact.

Banana Date Bread

I was browsing through my blog archives and stumbled upon a recipe for banana bread I posted back in March 2011. Perfect timing because I was having a banana bread craving and had completely forgotten about it. So, today I bring you banana bread that is made from pulling things from my pantry.

It's a healthier spin on typical banana bread with no sugar and 1/3 the amount of butter... but don't worry, it indulges in dates and a small amount of chocolate chips! The secret in not having to add sugar lies in using overripe bananas. Yes, the type that are so black on the outside they're actually a little horrifying to look at.

---

Banana Date Bread

---

Preheat oven to 350°F 4 overripe bananas (black on the outside) 1 C all purpose flour 1/2 C corn flour (or all purpose) 1 tsp baking soda 1 tsp cinnamon 1 large egg 1/3 C melted butter 1 tsp vanilla extract 1/2 C dried dates, cubed 1/4 C chocolate chips

In a large bowl, mash peeled overripe bananas. It's important that the bananas are overripe. If they are not, you may want to add 2/3 C sugar. Beat in the egg and add the butter and vanilla. Sift the dry ingredients together add to the bowl, and mix until smooth. Add the dates and chocolate chips. Pour the batter into a greased bread pan and bake for about an hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and the top is golden. Alternatively, use muffin pans and bake for about 25 minutes.

---

Remember to follow me on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram to see what projects I'm up to!

Apple Oat Muffins

Muffins are great but I always find that store bought muffins are way too sweet. I was originally setting out to make apple bran muffins but scratched that idea all together and started from the ground up on this recipe. It was a total shot in the dark (that started with one large egg and some makeshift buttermilk) but it turned out great!

The key to this recipe is using tart apples. I like baking with granny smith, but feel free to use whichever type of apple you'd like. Try adding walnuts or cranberries.

---

Apple Oat Muffins

---

Preheat oven to 350°F 3/4 C white or whole wheat flour 3/4 C brown rice flour 3/4 C rolled oats 1 tsp baking soda 1 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 3 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp vanilla extract 1 large egg 1 C buttermilk* 3-4 Tbsp butter, melted 3/8 C honey 2 medium granny smith apples, diced

In a large bowl, beat the egg. Add the buttermilk. If you are using a buttermilk substitute, make sure it is sufficiently curdled before adding. Mix in the honey and melted butter until completely combined. Sift and add the dry ingredients and mix until smooth. Add the apples. In a greased muffin pan or a non-stick pan, spoon the ingredients to the brim. Bake for 18-20 minutes or if using a convection oven, bake for about 10 or until the tops are golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. *Milk curdled with lemon juice or white vinegar works as a great buttermilk substitute. For one cup of buttermilk use one cup of milk and enough acid to curdle the milk.

---

1 comment:

Chewy Ginger Cookies

Can you guys tell that I have a baking problem yet? I really do. After not having a kitchen to really use for over a year I tell myself that I'm making up for it now. Anyway, this will be a short and not-too-sweet post about some delicious ginger cookies. They stay chewy and aren't overly sweet. I'd recommend them for the holidays... or if you're a spiced cookie fiend.

---

Chewy Ginger Cookies

---

Preheat oven to 350°F 3/4 C butter, softened 1/4 C granulated white sugar 1 large egg 1/2 C molasses 2 1/4 C flour 2-3 Tbsp ground ginger 2-3 Tbsp cinnamon 1 tsp ground cloves 1 tsp cayenne pepper 1 tsp cracked black pepper 1 tsp baking powder

Cream the butter with the sugar in a large bowl. Beat in the egg and then the molasses. Sift the dry ingredients into the butter mixture. I would taste the dough at this point and probably add more spice than I listed here because I actually like spicy cookies. Note that you can also add more granulated sugar into the butter. I don't like overly sweet cookies and I felt like the molasses did the trick. Everyone agreed they were perfect but it's up to you! :) In your palms, roll balls just smaller than a ping pong and slightly flatten (about 1/2 to 1/3 inch thickness) onto an ungreased cookie sheet. You can sprinkle the cookies with coconut or even roll in sugar and cinnamon like a snickerdoodle. Pop in the oven for 10 minutes and consume hot with milk or the next day with whipped cream and ice cream. I'm already salivating.

---

If you want to try rolling these cookies out and using cookie cutters, I suggest you chill the dough for an hour or so because it's quite soft.

Quick Apple Turnovers

I bet you guys are tired of seeing recipes for triangle shaped carbohydrates at this point but I swear this one is stupidly fast, cheap, and amazing with all things considered. It's just a little bit past 1 AM as a write this and a big plate of apple turnover dumpling things are hovering in my vision just over the laptop screen. This will ultimately mean disaster, but presently means I've been good enough to resist eating all of them already. I'm so ready to pop one of those babies in the toaster tomorrow morning. Sinful.

Earlier this evening I came home craving apple pie. Pies are sort of messy to make, plus I didn't want to be tempted to eat the whole pie so I reluctantly vetoed that idea and moved onto apple dumplings. Apple dumplings are awesome but as I started rummaging through the fridge looking for ingredients I spotted a roll of crescent rolls. Yep, that's right, those delicious, fattening, fake doughy air things. Bingo! The light went off in my head, instead of making full on apple dumpling dough, I'd wrap the apples in crescent roll dough. Wrong.

What I ultimately ended up doing was going to be way faster to bake: dice an apple, add some stuff, make a crescent roll dumpling sandwich thing. Bake. Amazing. I might be a genius... or I might just be a gigantic food whore.

---

Quick Apple Turnovers

---

Yields 4 turnovers Preheat oven to 375°F 1 crescent roll package 1 medium apple 1 tsp cinnamon 1 Tbsp honey

Dice apple into 1/4 inch cubes. In a bowl, combine apples, cinnamon, and honey. On an ungreased baking sheet, lay out four of the eight triangles of the crescent roll dough. Scoop the apple mixture onto the triangles, place a remaining triangle on top of each of the prepared triangles. Seal the sides by pressing them together with your fingers and stamping with a fork. Place in the oven on a center rack for 11 minutes or until golden brown. Serve hot or toast tomorrow.

---

Fun fact: the grand total price of these was about $3. And the time they took to make from start to consumption was about 20 minutes. There's a hash tag for that and it's "#winning".





I'm really still unsure of what to call these apple delights. Maybe just apple delight but I've definitely run though the gamut:

Apple ______

1. Hot Pocket
2. Turnover
3. Ghetto Dumpling
4. Dough Triangle
5. Wedges
6. Poptart Triangle
7. Delight
8. Sandwich

Yeah, I clearly did not stop while I was ahead. Call them what you want.

Green Spinach Pasta

A few days ago I posted a recipe for fresh pasta. I decided to go back and revisit the recipe because I wasn't feeling great about how it rolled out. This time around I added some pizazz to the basic dough and added some spinach to make green or spinach pasta. I can say with 100 percent confidence that this recipe worked like a charm. The dough was so easy to roll out and the pasta was completely awesome.

I think the big difference was that I rolled out room temperature dough as opposed to last time where I did not wait for the dough to warm up from being in the refrigerator. The spinach pasta needs to be rolled a little thicker than plain pasta dough and is typically made into tagliatelle and served with bolognese sauce. Find the recipe below, or just add one cup of cooked, finely chopped spinach to the fresh pasta recipe. You may find that you will need to work extra flour into the dough if your spinach is particularly wet.

---

Green Spinach Pasta

---

2 C all purpose flour 1 eggs, beaten 1 C spinach, cooked and chopped salt, just a pinch

On a board or the counter top, sift the flour and a pinch of salt into a mound. Make a well in the center, pour in the eggs and add the spinach. With your fingers, slowly work the egg and spinach into the dry mixture. Knead for a few minutes. If the mixture is too wet/soft, add some flour. If too dry/firm, add some water. Let the dough rest for about 15 minutes. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface or use a pasta machine to make a thin sheet. The dough should be a little thicker than basic pasta dough and is traditionally cut into tagliatelle.

---

Just in case you are wondering, the last photo is of cut tagliatelle hanging to dry before cooked. Hanging long pasta over a chair back or some dowels before cooking helps prevent the pasta from shrinking back to its former size and thickness. :)

Gluten Free Scones: Revisted

Last week I blogged about gluten free scones. I became obsessed and had to make them again two days later. The second time around I tried out a couple new variations and decided I'd actually make the effort to pull my camera out and semi-document the process. The last round of scones were lemon-currant, the two most recent variations were equally as good as the last. I tested out one savoury-spicy-sweet combination: cheddar, cayenne, and date. I also tested out a fall favourite: apple-cinnamon, which would have been wonderful with some chopped walnuts or cheddar. I'm salivating as I type this.

---

Apple-Cinnamon Scones

---

gluten free scone base 1/2 large apple 1 tsp cinnamon

Using the gluten free scone recipe base (don't add the currants or lemon zest), substitute in the ingredients on the left for apple-cinnamon scones. Make sure the apples are diced to about 1/4 inch cubes and stir into the mixture with the buttermilk. Try adding 1/3 C cubed cheddar. Serve with honey.

---

---

Cheddar, Cayenne & Date Scones

---

gluten free scone base 1/2 C extra sharp cheddar 1/4 C dates 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Using the gluten free scone recipe base (don't add the currants or lemon zest), substitute in the ingredients on the left for apple-cinnamon scones. Make sure the cheese and dates are diced to about 1/4 inch cubes and stir into the mixture with the buttermilk along with the cayenne pepper.

---

Munch, munch, munch... crunch.

Fresh Pasta

Pasta! I eat it. I buy it. And I probably have an unhealthy relationship with it. You know, I love it more than it loves me. So, I decided to make it. I've made pasta from scratch before but this time I decided I would try making some and seeing if I could store the dough without it going bad. It worked with the aid of some plastic wrap, olive oil, and a refrigerator. The down side was the dough had to warm up a bit before use to regain some of its elasticity, but that's a pretty easy problem to solve.

I rolled out the dough by hand and therefore got an arm workout that I probably really needed. Yes, it's sad that rolling out dough for 30 minutes is something I consider a workout but I swear it was really hard on a high counter with very cold, stiff dough that I refused to let warm up because I was impatient. Anyway, the pasta tasted great and if you are fortunate enough to own a pasta roller/maker, I'd use it in a heartbeat! The thinner the dough the better. ;)

---

Fresh Pasta Dough

---

1 3/4 C all purpose flour 1 eggs, beaten salt, just a pinch

On a board or the counter top, sift the flour and a pinch of salt into a mound. Make a well in the center and pour in the eggs. With your fingers, slowly work the egg into the dry mixture. Knead until smooth (about ten minutes). If the mixture is too wet/soft, add some flour. If too dry/firm, add some water. Let the dough rest for about 15 minutes. You can also choose to save your dough for later in the day by wrapping it in plastic wrap lightly coated with olive oil and setting it aside. Otherwise, roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface or use a pasta machine to make a thin sheet.

---

Single-Pan Apple 'Popover'

I'm used to making popovers in a popover pan, which, for those that are unfamiliar, looks much like a muffin pan but has much deeper wells so the popovers can rise. The popovers I know are much like Yorkshire pudding, or hollow rolls that are muffin shaped and are primarily egg based. They take quite a while to cook and bake at two different temperatures that results in an amazing crisp outside and a doughy yet hollow inside. Yum.

When I saw a recipe for a single popover cooked in a pan I thought to myself, that's too easy! I decided to take the recipe for a spin and of course had to adapt it a bit. The result was something unlike the Yorkshire pudding-like popovers I am used to and are more like a breakfast dish I call German pancakes (which are in fact, not German at all). The single-pan apple popover still rose but was more dense than its traditional counterpart. Don't get me wrong, it's still scrumptious and satisfies a sweet tooth, just completely different than a traditional popover!

---

Single-Pan Apple 'Popover'

---

Preheat oven to 425°F Fruit Mix 3 medium-large apples 1/2 C blueberries 1 Tbsp butter 1 Tbsp honey 1 tsp cinnamon Egg Mix 3 large eggs 1/2 C milk 2 Tbsp butter, melted 1 tsp vanilla extract 2 Tbsp honey 1/2 C all-purpose flour

Slice the apples into 1/4 inch slices. On a stove top, heat the butter in an 8-9 inch oven-safe pan and add the apples, blueberries, honey, and cinnamon. Mix well and cook until the apples are just soft and remove from heat. In a bowl, beat the eggs and add the milk, butter, vanilla, and honey. Add the flour and mix until completely smooth. Pour over the fruit mixture in the pan and place on a middle rack in the oven. Bake for about 20 minutes. Do not open the oven at any point in baking as the popover may collapse. You should see parts of the egg mixture begin to rise and turn golden. If the fruits are particularly watery, this may not happen, however, the mixture may begin to pull away from the sides of the pan and at this point, your popover will be near done. Remove the pan from the oven and serve immediately. The popover is great with some dusted confectioners sugar, whipped cream, or yogurt. Note: If the butter you use is unsalted, you may choose to add a pinch of salt. You can substitute the honey for sugar or any other sweetener you'd like.

---

Whoops! This is totally a camera phone photo. When making a gigantic popover at 10 PM, there really isn't anything left in you to go pull out the DSLR.

Jicama Cilantro Salad

It definitely feels like autumn here in New York. Some serious rain washed away the last bits of summer on Thursday, so much so that I woke up this morning to blog and find myself sitting in my kitchen wrapped up in a polar fleece. Burr! So in honour of kissing summer goodbye some salmon was thrown on the grill last night (hey, it's not snowing yet!) and I made a simple, yet fresh salad to go along with the mix.

Jicama is one of my favourite things to add to salad. It is a root vegetable with a great refreshing crunch. When looking for jicama in your grocery, be sure to get a firm, dry one. I am really not a huge fan of salt, as you may have noticed. So just be aware that where there would usually be salt in most recipes, I have omitted it. Feel free to add a dash!

---

Jicama Cilantro Salad

---

1 medium jicama 1 granny smith apple 4 tablespoons cilantro, chopped 3 tablespoons citrus olive oil* 1 medium jalapeno cracked black pepper

Wash and peel the jicama and apple. Slice into 1/4" thick slices and place in a bowl. Finely chop the cilantro and jalapeno and add. Drizzle with the citrus olive oil. This is what really makes the salad fresh. Season with cracked black pepper. Toss. *The citrus infused olive oil is what really makes the dish. If you don't have any on hand, I would suggest going out and buying some or ordering some online. I buy mine from the Temecula Olive Oil Company along with a bunch of great balsamic vinegars. If that's not an option, I'd experiment with grating some lime peels.

---

Happy munching!

Blue Corn Pancakes (Gluten Free)

Blue corn is amazing. I personally love the nutty, wholesome taste of cornbread; but am also a sucker for fluffy breakfast pancakes. When you combine the two and use blue corn flour, the ultimate breakfast food is created. Yum! I decided to start making this pancake batter at 1 AM on three hours of sleep over two days (no joke). I cooked these suckers up in the morning and the result was out-of-this-world. If I can make these pancakes in the state I did, I'm pretty sure the recipe is fool-proof.

One thing to note is that the batter (yes, I am a total batter whore when it comes to cooking) tasted pretty bitter. But the result once cooked was outstanding. So have no fear! I made these pancakes gluten free by using brown rice flour but you can easily substitute the brown rice flour for all purpose flour. Some of the flours could be hard to find in smaller grocery stores so I've linked the flours in the recipe. I also doubled the recipe and modified it because I knew I'd be eating way too many and feeding a few hungry bellies.

---

Blue Corn Pancakes (Gluten Free)

---

2 1/4 cups blue cornmeal 1 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons white sugar* 2 cups boiling water 2 large eggs, beaten 1 cup milk 4 tablespoons butter, melted 3/4 cup brown rice flour 4 teaspoons baking powder

In a bowl, mix the blue corn flour, salt, and sugar. Stir in the boiling water and let mixture sit for a few minutes. Stir until free of clumps. In another bowl, combine the eggs, milk, and melted butter. Add to the blue corn mixture and combine. Add the brown rice flour and baking powder and stir until smooth. At this point I decided to get some sleep and covered my batter and refrigerated over night. If you don't want to save your batter, you can go ahead and heat up a skillet with butter cook until golden on each side. Yum! *You can substitute the white sugar for maple syrup or honey. Learn how to substitute for sugar here.

---

If you decide to make these pancakes, and I suggest you do because they are simply amazing, you will have to let me know how they turn out! I ended up eating these later in the day with a sunny side egg on top and it was delicious!

Shashouka for Breakfast

I have a confession that is probably not news to you: I'm a serious food whore. I grew up in a family that ate and cooked everything from your standard American meatloaf to chicken feet. Yep, chicken feet. I blame all of this on my half-Asian upbringing but really know that I just have a problem. So here comes the touche topic of the amazing combination of meat and cheese. I'm talking German sausage with a side of cheesy spaetzle, ham and Gruyere on a baguette... I digress, and it goes on. While I love my meat and cheese, it's not exactly Kosher. Which obviously presents a problem for all food things of Israeli origin, except the food is so good that I honestly don't care there is no meat and cheese hand-holding.

There is an amazing Israeli cafe in my town called the Art Cafe that makes all sorts of desirable baked goods, has delicious coffee, and Israeli staples such as malawach, shashouka, and borekas. I could literally eat at the Art Cafe every day but my bank account would cry, so this morning I decided to make my own shashouka (poached eggs in a spicy tomato sauce) for breakfast. It turned out wonderfully and was surprisingly easy to make!

---

Shashouka

---

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen 1/4 cup olive oil 3 jalapeños, stemmed, seeded, and finely chopped (you really need to test the spiciness of the peppers to know how many you will need) 1 medium purple, chopped 5 cloves garlic, minced 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1 tablespoon paprika 6-8 medium tomatoes (you can use a big can of tomatoes too, but I prefer the fresh stuff) 6 eggs 1/3 cup feta cheese, crumbled 1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley

Heat oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add chiles and onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and golden brown. Add garlic, cumin, and paprika, and cook, stirring frequently, until garlic is soft. Slice up the tomatoes and crush them into the skillet. Be sure to add their juice too! Add 1/2 cup water to the pan, reduce heat to medium, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, about 15 minutes or so. Crack eggs over sauce so that eggs are evenly distributed across sauce’s surface. Cover skillet and cook until yolks are just set, about 5 minutes. Using a spoon, baste the whites of the eggs with tomato mixture, being careful not to disturb the yolk. Sprinkle shakshouka with feta and parsley.

---

You can choose to add salt, however, I tend to shy away from salt especially when there is super salty feta in the dish already. You can serve this dish with warm pita too!

I'm really amazed that I let myself five seconds to photograph this dish. I was so eager to dig in because it smelled AMAZING. Apologies for the crappy photography, my stomach knows no restraint. Let me know what you think of this dish. :)

Modern Cave Woman: Spicy Soutzoukakia

A couple years ago I used to frequent my Greek friend's house. He would always cook fabulous soutzoukakia (meatballs, if you will). They were so yummy I had to procure the recipe! While I typically ate this dish with rice or potatoes that were cooked in the pan with the meatballs, I've ditched the carbs and starches for an acorn squash and doctored the recipe to be paleo. Find the paleo recipe below!




Spicy Soutzoukakia
Preheat oven to 380°F

* 1 lb ground beef * 1 lb ground pork * 1 egg * 2 large onions * 4 garlic cloves * 4 tsp ground cumin * 2 Tbsp fine ground black pepper * salt (I used 1 tspn) * 1/2 C almond flour * 1/4 C red wine vinegar * 3 Tbsp olive oil * 1 large can crushed tomatoes, for sauce

In a large bowl whisk your egg. Use a food processor to blend the onion and garlic cloves until completely pureed and add to the egg. Add the spices, almond flour, vinegar, and olive oil. Mix and then add the meat. Mix with your hands until thoroughly mixed. At this point you can choose to let the mix sit in the fridge for a couple hours, or, if you're starving you can go ahead to the next steps. Form the meatballs with your hands and put them into a large pyrex or large dish you can bake in. I made about 12 HUGE meatballs so that the moisture would be retained, also, I was starving. Once the meatballs are in the dish, pour the crushed tomatoes over the meatballs-- make sure they are submerged at least half way in sauce. You might need to get some more sauce. Cover the pyrex with foil and bake at 380°F for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and reduce the heat to 325°F and bake for 50 minutes. Add water if the tray becomes dry (it probably won't). Cool and enjoy!

I ate my meatballs with half an acorn squash but go ahead and get creative! If you like this recipe I urge you to check out some more food popping out of a Greek kitchen stationed in Barcelona!

Modern Cave Woman: Paleo Muffins

I actually made these on day three of my Paleo exploration. They were supposed to turn into pancakes but after a day of experimenting I decided I had no patience when it came to watching food cook in a pan on very, very low heat. I ended up "scrambling" all four pancakes into something that looked like grits. Yes, it looked disgusting, so I needed to find a better way to take the same ingredients and turn them into something presentable. Thus, the Paleo muffin was born!

Ha ha, that exclamation point was so dramatic.

Paleo Muffins

1 cup almond flour
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 eggs
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp cinnamon, or the more the merrier
1/4 tsp sea salt
muffin liners and pan

I used the Paleo pancake recipe found here and slightly altered it.

Preheat your oven (or toaster oven if you're super lazy like me) to 350°F. Mix all of your ingredients together in a bowl. Yeah, that was easy. Take your muffin pan liners and line your muffin pan. Carefully scoop in about 1/3 cup of batter. You can be more zealous in your scooping, but just know your batter won't really rise that much and that your muffins may require longer cooking time. Obvious. Anyway, pop those babies in the oven for about 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown on top. You probably want to make sure the inside is cooked to your liking too by taking a peak. :)

I slathered on some applesauce and blueberries. Yum!

Hunting for more recipes? Look no further.

Modern Cave Woman

I will spare my reasons for another post because I do not feel ready to put them down in e-ink yet. Nevertheless, it's been an interesting past seven months, and while the journey has just begun, I am about to start a new 21 day journey into the Paleo world. Yes, that's right, I'm going to eat like a man from the Paleolithic era for 21 days. Go ahead, denounce it and call me crazy.

It's going to a a crazy and probably emotionally laced journey in which I try to resist all the things I've grown to love (maybe too much). Those things would be all common carbs, legumes, sugar, and dairy products. What does that leave me with? Lots of meat, seafood, eggs, and green things. Goodbye delicious Thai food and Dim Sum (which I have ironically set up a mass group meeting for tomorrow morning-- to torture myself), hello bacon.

Before you totally decide I'm off my rocker, let me leave you with an awesome paleo recipe for Brussels sprouts.





Brussels Sprouts & Bacon

1 lb Brussels sprouts
1/2 large onion (white is what I used)
4 strips thick cut smoked bacon
1-2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
salt & pepper

Take your sprouts and cut the large ones in half and leave the small ones in tact. Steam your sprouts lightly. Take a pan and cook your bacon in it. Once it has turned brow but is not yet crispy, remove it from the pan (do NOT discard the oil) and cut it into small pieces. Finely chop the onion and add it to the bacon oil pan. Cook on medium heat until the onions turn translucent. Add the sprouts, salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes. When the sprouts are warm and slightly golden add the bacon, stir, and you're done!

Yum. One thing Paleo does is let you eat tons of animal fat. It sounds counter intuitive but you'll just have to read up on it to discover why it works!

Perfect Banana Bread

Banana bread is one of my not-so-guilty pleasures (there are much worse things that I consume). I love it hot with a lick of homemade orange marmalade and a cup of tea. It's perfect on a cool day and quick to make!

Perfect Banana Bread

3 to 4 overripe bananas*
2/3 C granulated sugar
1/3 C safflower oil, or your oil of choice (you can also use butter)
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla (optional)
1 1/8 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 C all purpose flour
1/2 C whole wheat flour
3/4 C chocolate chips, you can add walnuts too, but I seem to have some strong aversion to them in my banana bread. ;)

Directions: Mash up the bananas with a fork or go wild and use your hands. This should obviously be done in a bowl. Add the ingredients in order and stir before you add the chocolate morsels. Then stir in the chocolate or disgusting walnuts. Pour into a greased bread pan. Cook for about an hour at 350°F. Insert a toothpick into the middle of the bread, if it comes out clean your bread is done. Dig in and burn yourself, or let it cool and enjoy.

Notes: *A note about the bananas, they really should be overripe (black on the outside) because otherwise your bread will not tastes banana-y and will probably need a LOT of sugar to make it sweet. Sometimes my bananas are so sweet that I don't have to add sugar! You can add the sugar last if you prefer to see if you need any at all. :)

You may ask why 1 1/8 teaspoons of baking soda. It's not 100% necessary but I find that when working with whole wheat flour I need a bit more rising agent.

Cherry & Peach Cobbler

I know it's not quite the right season for cherries or peaches, but I felt that I should share a recipe to welcome The Silver Mandolin to Queen of Mayhem. Some of you may know that The Silver Mandoline is my poorly maintained cooking blog. I started on it a few years ago but quickly got fixated on Queen of Mayhem. While The Silver Mandoline has somewhat gone to ruins, I still find people posting comments on it. Thus, I've decided to post recipes and foodie delights on Queen of Mayhem. I'm not going to take down The Silver Mandoline all together, so you can still look at old recipes on there. Feel free to browse, and be sure to enjoy the recipe below!









Cherry & Peach Cobbler

Yummm... This recipe is SO easy and SO good! You can also substitute the 3 pounds of cherries with 3 pints of blueberries. Don't forget to wash your fruit. To anyone who needs metric units, I have the units converted so you can simply email me for them. :)

3 pounds cherries
2 T lemon zest
2 lbs peaches, peeled & sliced into ¼ inch wedges
¼ C brown Sugar

1 ½ sticks sweet butter, cold
¾ t salt
¾ C sugar
1 ½ C flour
2 t baking powder
½ C buttermilk
1 egg

Preheat oven to 400° F.

Combine pitted and halved with lemon zest & set aside. Sprinkle peaches with brown sugar and set aside.

Slice butter into ¼” pats and place in large bowl. Add salt, sugar, flour, baking pwder. Using pastry knife, combine ingredients until mixture resembles course corn meal. Make well in middle of flour and butter mixture and add buttermilk & egg. Stir.

In 9x13” baking dish, spread layer of about half of the cherries. Cover with peaches. Top with remaining cherries. Using a rubber spatula, dab the cobbler dough on top, smoothing as much as possible. Bake 40 minutes until fruit is bubbling and crust in gold.