Apples to Apples

There's an abundance of apples at my house, and thus I go to great lengths into trying to incorporate apples into every meal. So far... I've been (or meaning to start) indulging in the following:

• apples with yogurt, cereal, cinnamon, flax seeds, walnuts, peanut butter, coconut, oatmeal for breakfast (anything you can find)
• baking apples, put some sugar and cinnamon on it, stick it in the oven
  
• apple crisp/crumble:
• mix oatmeal, butter, sugar (brown and white), flour, cinnamon
• slice or cut apples, and pour mixture on top
  
• stick in a greased pan
• eat with whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, or something yummy like that
• I used to have a craving for the ACDC spinach, sunflower seed, lemon dressing salad with apples and cranberries. So mix all of this together, and there you go. Add cheese for some more substance and protein.
  
• instead of pb and jelly, try pb and apple
• melt butter in a saucepan, add sugar if you like things sweet, put cut up apples into the saucepan (season with cinnamon or curry)
• vegetable curry (mix apples into your curry)
• I'm sure that going without Gossip Girl for a week is almost impossible for you as well, so maybe some Blair Waldorf salad will help alleviate the wait? (Yes I've been dying to say this for a long time)
• apple scones
• apple pie
• apple butter
• apple jelly
• apples with cheese is also great - eat on crackers (I know grapes and pears are more standard choice, but hey, whatever)
  

Spinach Artichoke Dip

Last night I came to the realization that:

1. the spinach I bought a week ago was about to go bad
2. there was a can of artichoke hearts deep into the cupboard that I had forgotten about
3. the yogurt I bought some time ago is also going bad
4. I have an immense amount of cheese

First I started out steaming the spinach, thinking I'd just steam it so it would keep for however long, and the "almost bad" flavor would hide behind garlic, onion and potentially soy sauce or whatnot. Then I remembered the artichoke hearts and thought: hey! I'll just make a dip. So here goes.

Ingredients:

• half a bag of spinach or as much as you like
  
• 1 can of artichoke hearts
• yogurt, sour cream or cream
  
• 1/2 onion, chopped
  
• oil
  
• cheese (I used mostly Muenster and Parmesan, cheddar might be good too but didn't suit my palate in this case)
  
• optional: tabasco, garlic or garlic powder
  

Directions:

1. Fry the onions in oil on medium heat
2. Add the spinach, and stir until soft
3. Add the can of artichoke hearts (I used half of the "juice", if you prefer water, add some water)
4. Let the artichoke hearts and the spinach cook together for a while, making a "thicker" mixture by letting the water or "juice" evaporate
5. Once it's relatively thick, add yogurt or other liquid dairy, and cook
6. Add cheese (in chunks, it will melt) and stir
7. Add optional spices/seasoning!
8. Let cook to a thick, dip-like substance

If you want this to be a less chunky dip, you can always combine all the ingredients in a food processor before hand and then cook them that way.

Submitted by vefehrm

Butternut Squash

They're pretty fabulous. If you don't like the way they taste, at least they make an appropriate kitchen table decoration now that it's officially fall. If you do like the taste of them... then here are a couple of suggestions:

• Peel, slice in half, take out the seeds with a spoon or a fork, and then...
  
• ...cut in cubes and use in your stir-fry with curry powder or cinnamon
• ...make butternut squash soup (note: if you have a large blender, or a hand held one, it's much much easier than trying to puree the squash in turns)
• ...bake in the oven at 350 degrees, with some yummy butter, salt, pepper, curry or cinnamon mixture. If you have a sweet tooth: add some brown sugar!

Submitted by vefehrm

Substitutes when baking

Some substitutes that may be worth knowing, when the grocery store is just too far away (or closed...):

Self-rising flour: (for each cup you need)

• 1 cup all purpose flour
  
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt

Eggs: (for each egg you need)

• 1 tbsp ground flax seed
  
• 3 tbsp water, mix together and let stand for a few minutes

Buttermilk: (for each cup you need)

• 1 tbsp vinegar or lemon juice
• 1 cup milk, mix together and let stand for a few minutes

Oil: (for each cup you need)

• 1 cup of applesauce
  

Apple Honey Breadcake!

Sonia Robert's Rosh Hashanah-themed recipe: Apple Honey Breadcake!

"I have deemed it a breadcake because it has the sugar levels of a bread but I put a crumbly top on it. Also, my measurements are not exact because, well, that's not how I cook."

Ingredients:

• 2 2/3c. flour~1/3c. flax seed meal (for nutty flavor)
• 1c. honey
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• Lots of cinnamon. Seriously, open that baby up and pour.
• 1 tsp ground cloves (or thereabouts, depending on how much you like cloves).
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg (optional)
• 1/2 tsp ginger (optional)
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 4 eggs
• ~1/3c. vegetable oil (big splash)
• 5 small chopped apples (I used green ones)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven at 325.
   
2. Mix this all up and pour it into a greased casserole dish, or two loaf pans, or what have you. As long as it fits.
3. Put it in the oven for 10 minutes. During this time, mix up a crumbly top from butter, flour, cinnamon and sugar, with a dash of cloves: about a tablespoon each of flour and butter should work, with maybe two tablespoons of sugar. Mix it around til it's crumbly.
4. After it's been in for 10 minutes, take it out and put the crumbly top on. Then stick it back in and bake it for 40-50 minutes at 325 degrees. HOORAY! You are done!
   

Submitted by soroberts

Improving that cookie mix

Some of you don't have the time, or enough confidence in your baking skills to bake your cookies from scratch. A recently graduated friend once told me how she used a basic oatmeal cookie mix, followed the directions (add water), and then proceeded to add nuts, cinnamon, chocolate chips, etc. Her friends devoured the cookies and were so impressed with her baking skills. Also, you can simply make a giant chocolate chip cookie cake in a pan as well. Always delicious with a dollop of ice cream, and maybe some hot fudge...!

Ingredients:

• cookie mix of some sort
• cinnamon, nuts, chocolate chips
• crystallized ginger
• roasted espresso beans
• green tea powder
• wheat bran
• gummibears... maybe
• sprinkles, M&Ms or other chopped up candies
• cereal
  

Directions:

1. Follow the directions on package, but add in whatever ingredients.
2. You can most likely freeze these cookies if you want to save them for another time.

Submitted by vefehrm, inspired by KMix

You found a can of beer

...that's leftover from the beerpong you played with those kids you half-know the other night? Put it to good use, make a quick, easy, delicious soda bread.

This recipe is adapted from "Country Wisdom Almanac".

Quick Beer Soda Bread (Note: This is not sweet bread, this is bread. Don't let the sugar fool you.)

Ingredients:

• 3 cups of flour
• 3 teaspoons of baking powder
  
• 1½ tsp of salt
• 1 can of beer (12 fl oz)
• 3 tbsp of sugar
• 4 tbsp of butter, melted (put 3 tbsp of butter in a mug, and heat it for a few seconds in the microwave)

Directions:

1. Put oven on 375 degrees.
2. Grease a bread pan (or 1-quart souffle dish).
   
3. Combine all the ingredients, apart from the butter. Do not overmix.
4. Put in the breadpan, and put the pan in the oven.
5. Bake fo 50 minutes. Take out the pan, pour the melted butter on top.
6. Put it back in the oven for another 10 minutes and a delicious crust will develop!

Variations:

• In the book they mention adding 1 tbsp of cinnamon, ½ tsp of nutmeg, ½ cup of chopped walnuts, and using 3 tbsp of brown sugar instead of 3tbsp of white sugar - it tastes amazing, but it is still not "sweet"
  
• You can also substitute some of the white flour to whole wheat flour (for instance, 2 cups whole wheat, and 1 cup regular and maybe some oats. If you only use whole wheat the bread becomes very dense). This will make it healthier.
• Feel free to be creative!

Submitted by vefehrm

Herbs feature: Parsley

So using parsley can be beneficial because it's got this pretty awesome taste to it. It's also a very good source of iron. You know what they say... A bushel of parsley a day will keep the nosebleed doctor away... Anyway.

Parsley can be bought fresh, or dried. Dried parsley, to me, does not taste anything like the fresh kind you can get a small bushel for less than a dollar at say Stop N Shop. So,

Now, you may not want to use it all at once so how can you store this?

Keeping it for 2 weeks:
- I found this nifty little tip right here.

Keeping it in the freezer for longer:
- cut off the leafy parts (you can easily tear it with your fingers), throw away the stalks, keep the leafy parts in a tupperware container
- put in the freezer and take out whenever you want some (there are some of these boxes available in the freezer department at grocery stores but they are usually double or triple the price)

And now some suggestions as to using it:
- on bread with hard-boiled sliced eggs, tomatoes, salt and pepper and sprinkle parsley on top
- sardines or mackerel and parsley go well together
- potatoes any style
- rice (risotto)
- soups

Submitted by vefehrm

Baked Avocado

Avocados are delicious. So's cheese. So are walnuts.

Here's a suggestion for baking avocados. Instead of just eating them raw with balsamic dressing, sometimes a hot baked avocado is just all that amazing. It's easy too!

Ingredients:

• An avocado
• Cheese (blue cheese, feta, anything you think would be good with it), grated
  
• Optional: 1 tbsp of sour cream
• Optional: chopped walnuts
• Salt, pepper
  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Halve the avocado, take out the giant seed.
   
3. Mix sour cream, cheese and walnuts. Salt and pepper to taste.
   
4. Put the mix in the avocado. Bake until cheese or avocado is brown.
   

Bacon would probably be lovely in this as well!

Submitted by vefehrm

Brian Kim's (2010) Mother Says: Clean the stove!

Brian Kim's mom does this. It'll make cleaning your stove so much easier.

What you need:

• aluminium foil

Directions:

1. Put it under the coil as a "collector" of grease, tomato sauce, etc.
   

Result: We won't be fined by ResLife for a messy stove!

Cheesy Potato Soup

Cheesy Potato Soup from CT Class of 2011

Ingredients:

• 6 Golden Potatoes, washed, scrubbed, peeled, and chopped to half-dollar-sized pieces
• 1 cup of baby carrots, medium chopped
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 cup half-and-half
• 1 can of chicken broth
• 1/4 cup onions, finely chopped
• 2-3 teaspoons of garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon celery seed
• 4 tablespoons salt
• 4 tablespoons pepper
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Preparation:

1. In a small pot, boil water with chopped carrots until soft. At the same time in a large sauce pot, boil water with chopped potatoes. In each case, when boiling point is reached, lower to medium high heat. When carrots are soft, strain and put on the side. Add the water from cooking carrots to boiling potatoes.
2. In a saucepan, sauté onions and garlic in oil on low heat until golden brown. Add 1/8 of can of chicken broth to onions and garlic, still on low heat. Let sit for 5 minutes then add half-and-half. Stir. Add celery seed, salt, and pepper to onion broth mixture. Stir.
3. When potatoes are soft and break easily when punctured with a fork, strain them. Save the remaining potato broth! Remove some smaller potato slices and join them with the set-aside carrots. Mash the majority of the potato slices until mostly smooth.
4. Combine onion broth mixture with mashed potatoes. Alternate adding potato broth and chicken broth to the potato-onion mixture as needed until creamy. Stir after each addition.
5. Mix in the carrots and potato slices to the potato soup. Add cheddar and mozzarella cheese. Stir.
6. Add extra salt, pepper, celery seed, and cheese to taste.

Note: Best served when freshly made. You can refrigerate leftover soup in a corning dish and reheat it in a pot for the new few days. If you have excess potato broth or soup broth, add 1/2 a cup or so when reheating.

Submitted by CT Class of 2011

Professor Bradley's Edamame Hummus

Professor David Bradley kindly submitted the following recipe, claiming that it is "usually a fan favorite"!

Ingredients:

• 1 bag frozen shelled edamame (boiled for 3 minutes, drained and rinsed with cold water)
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice
• 2 clove garlic
• 2 tbsp cream cheese
• 2 tbsp water
• 2 Tbsp. sesame oil
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil (more/less for consistency)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp white pepper
• 1 tbsp soy sauce (for topping)

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients but the oil in the bowl, in a food processor.
2. Turn on, and slowly drizzle in oil as the ingredients are being processed to a creamy consistency.
3. (use half the edamame for the hummus, the other half for topping)

Submitted by dabradley

Salmon Spread

This spread is ideal for baked potatoes or toast. Spice up your weekday with some smoked salmon (lox?)!

Ingredients:

• 7/8 cup sour cream (original recipe calls for creme fraiche)
• 2 hard-boiled eggs, and cut into small pieces
• 1½tsp French mustard (Dijon)
• 2tbsp fresh basil or dill, chopped
• ½ red onion, chopped
• 100g smoked salmon (cut up in thin strips)
  

Directions:
Mix together in a bowl, salt and pepper and serve with toast or baked potatoes. Add a little lemon juice if you want!

Submitted by vefehrm

Peanut Sauce

This may not be the most authentic "peanut sauce" but it's still delicious. I add it to rice, bean mixes, stews, chicken, etc.

Adapted from this recipe that also has measurements.

Ingredients:

• peanut butter (smooth unless you like chunky)
• soy sauce
• lemon juice or a little vinegar
• garlic powder or pressed garlic
  
• coconut milk but regular milk works great too
• a little bit of brown sugar unless your peanut butter contains sugar
• water
• optional: cayenne/chilli pepper, curry
  

Directions:

1. Melt the peanut butter in a saucepan. Try not to boil it because sometimes it curdles weirdly.
2. Add soysauce and the other ingredients.
   
3. Keep on low heat and add more of the ingredients to taste.
   

Submitted by vefehrm

Facebook Status = Yummy Sandwich

Rebecca Katz' Facebook status the other day was:
"well toast whole wheat bread. spread mayo on one side and pesto on the other. put on red onion, smoked turkey, and yellow heirloom tomato. eat and be satisfied"

Vassar Cooks Facebook-stalkedly (yes that's a word) asked her whether she would be willing to share this on this blog and she said yes.

So here go the ingredients:

• Whole wheat bread (two slices)
  
• Mayonnaise
• Pesto
• Red onion
• Smoked turkey
• Yellow heirloom tomato

Directions:

1. Toast the bread
2. Spread the mayonnaise on one slice
3. Spread the pesto on the other
4. Put the red onion, turkey and the tomato on one slice
5. Put the other slice on top
6. "Eat and be satisfied"

Parmesan Chicken

Submitted by Ayse:
I wanted to send in this recipe because it's pretty darn easy to make, and is so delicious. It's not that healthy (what with a stick of butter), and obviously not vegetarian, but it's an awesome comfort food. Also, it makes more than what one person can eat in a sitting so you can use it for a small gathering, or if you make it for just yourself, it lasts a while, and you can just reheat it and have delicious chicken for a while.

This recipe was adapted from this site.

Ingredients:

• 1 clove garlic, minced ( or a bit of garlic powder, or if you don't like garlic, you don't have to put in any)
• 1 stick unsalted butter (1/2 cup or 1/4 pound), melted
• 1 cup dried bread crumbs
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese (I like more cheese than bread crumbs, so I put in more like 1 1/4 cup cheese, and a little bit of bread crumbs)
• 2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley (it still tastes good if you don't add this)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt; 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• A large pinch of Italian seasoning (don't put in too much or the flavor can be overwhelming)
• 2 lbs of skinless, boneless, chicken meat, cut into pieces no larger than 2x2 inches

Materials Needed:

• bowl for melted butter to dip chicken in
• bowl for dredging the chicken in bread crumbs, cheese, etc...
• a pyrex pan or shallow baking pan for baking the chicken ( the recipe recommends a 9x13 dish)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 450°F.
2. In a bowl, combine the minced garlic (if using fresh garlic) with the melted butter. In another bowl mix together the bread crumbs, Parmesan, parsley, salt, garlic powder (if you're not using fresh garlic), Italian seasoning, and pepper. Dip chicken pieces into garlic butter, then into crumb mixture to coat.
3. Place coated chicken pieces on to a 9x13 baking dish. Try to leave a little room between each piece. Drizzle with remaining garlic butter and bake uncovered 15 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and juices run clear. Note that the chicken will get much more browned on the bottom side than on the top.

Serves 4-6.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

A while back I made a batch of Paula Deen's Red Velvet Cupcakes (without knowing the extent of her fame and her love for butter). With suggestions from reviewers, I altered the recipe a little bit and they turned out... great! Make sure you have an electric mixer for the frosting though... it took me 2 hours to make it non-lumpy by hand.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup applesauce (unsweetened)
• 1/2 cup butter (melted)
  
• 1 cup buttermilk (or 1 tbsp white vinegar mixed with enough milk to make 1 cup)
  
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 tablespoons red food coloring
• 1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Cream Cheese Frosting: (this makes a LOT of frosting)

• 1 pound cream cheese, softened
• 2 sticks butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (the recipe called for 4 cups, but 3's enough)

Directions:

1. "Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 (12-cup) muffin pans with cupcake papers.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder.
   
3. In a large bowl gently beat together the oil, applesauce, butter, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla with a handheld electric mixer.
   
4. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth and thoroughly combined.
5. Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake tins about 2/3 filled. Bake in oven for about 20 to 22 minutes, turning the pans once, half way through. Test the cupcakes with a toothpick for doneness.
   
6. Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.

For the cream cheese frosting:

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until smooth. Add the sugar and on low speed, beat until incorporated. Increase the speed to high and mix until very light and fluffy.
2. Garnish with chopped pecans and a fresh raspberry or strawberry."

Submitted by vefehrm

Tomato Sauce with Capers

This is my favourite tomato sauce of all time. Maybe because I grew up with it, invented by my mother. There's a story behind it, but that's for another time.

If there are any leftovers... you can freeze this in a plastic bag (flatten it out), break off a piece whenever you need some, reheat it and there you go.

Ingredients:

• A big can of canned tomatoes
• ½ cup of olive oil
• 2-3 garlic cloves
• pickled capers (the small ones)
  
• bouillon cube (optional - use a 1/2 of a cube if you're not into salty sauces)
  
• 1-1½ tbsp dried oregano
• 1-1½ tbsp dried or fresh basil
• salt, pepper

Directions:

1. Heat the olive oil in a medium sized saucepan. Put it on medium.
   
2. Use a garlic press and press the cloves into the saucepan. (Note: Don't burn the garlic - it may take less time than you'd think. Alternatively, take the saucepan away from the stove when you put in the garlic)
   
3. Put in as many capers as you want.
4. Open the can of tomatoes (or fresh ones if you'd rather use that), and pour it into the saucepan.
5. Optional: Crumb the bouillon cube into the mixture for more flavour.
6. Put in all the spices to taste and mix. Let boil for a few minutes.
   
7. Done!

Submitted by vefehrm

Eggs

Sometimes you just forget that there are easy things out there. Easy, yet delicious. Eggs is one of them. Eggs on toast is another. Eggs with spinach and feta is even more delicious.

All you really need is:

• eggs
• tbsp milk, water
• tbsp of oil or butter
  
• something you want to mix in with it.
  

NOTE: are you using frozen things and putting them in the omelette/scrambled eggs? Fry or thaw them before you put the eggs in otherwise they may not cook properly and be too watery.

Suggestions of things to mix in:
Chickpeas, spinach, broccoli, sundried tomatoes, peppers, onions... peanuts?

Submitted by vefehrm

Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Muffins

Adapted from a recipe of "Country Wisdom Almanac"

Makes: 18 muffins.
Time: 15-20 prep, 20-25 min baking

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 2 tbsp apple sauce, 1 tbsp vegetable oil (alternatively: 3 tbsp veg. oil)
• 1/2 cup sugar (where 1-2 tbsp of that is brown sugar)
• 1½ cups plain yogurt
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1½ cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 3/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat to 400 Fahrenheit.
   
2. Crease the muffin pan with PAM, or use muffin paper cups to line the muffin pan.
3. Beat eggs, applesauce, veg. oil, and sugar in a bowl.
   
4. Stir in the yogurt.
   
5. Pour in both flours, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon into the bowl with the eggs, applesauce, veg. oil and sugar.
   
6. Mix together until a moist batter develops.
   
7. Stir in the chocolate chips.
   
8. Distribute the batter into the muffin pans.
9. Bake for 20-25 minutes (TA oven: 23 minutes)
10. YUM!

Submitted by vefehrm

Welcome!

Dear Vassar Students,

This blog is an attempt to collect and share all of your favourite recipes in one place. As it is in its beginning stages, we are aiming the collection towards those in senior housing (TAs, SoCos, THs) as well as Town Students. Of course you can also use these recipes if you are living in a dorm, but hey... the kitchens can be pretty limited in terms of appliances/measuring cups, etc.

Please contact vassarcooks@gmail.com for submissions, questions, requests and/or concerns. Please submit a source (book or website) if it's not your own recipe. We do not want any copyright issues!

ENJOY!

The "sections" (tags) are currently:
- quick: quick and easy
- few: few ingredients
- subs: substitutes (for situations like: "OH! I forgot vegetable oil... my cupcakes will be a disaster!" but don't worry... there's always applesauce!)
- basics: basics of cooking (boiling water, frying an egg)
- frozen: foods that can be frozen for a longer time (tomato sauce, meatballs)
- healthy: healthy/well-rounded meals
- desserts: desserts
- veg: vegan/vegetarian