Direction Connection

I made this up when I was single and used to make too much rice for dinner so that I wouldn’t have to throw away the leftover rice. All measures are very approximate.

• 3 eggs, beaten
• 3 cups cooked rice
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 1-1/2 cups milk (I think soy milk is OK)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• Cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place all ingredients except the cinnamon in a large bread loaf pan and stir well. Sprinkle the top with cinnamon and bake for one hour or until custard “gels” and is not runny on the top.

• 1 cup flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 6 tbsp baking cocoa, divided
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1-3/4 cup hot water

In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, 2 tbsp cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Stir in the milk, oil, and vanilla until smooth. Spread in an ungreased 9-inch baking pan. Combine brown sugar and remaining 4 tbsp of cocoa; mix well. Sprinkle over batter. Here’s the weird part: Pour hot water over all and do not stir. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes. Serve warm. Top with whipped cream or ice cream.

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 large bananas (very ripe)
• 1-1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup walnuts (only if you’re a weird-o; putting nuts in baked goods is just not right)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour one loaf pan. Cream butter, sugar, salt, and egg. Mash bananas and add to mixture. Sift flour and baking soda; add to egg mixture. Add vanilla and (gasp!) nuts; blend well. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for about 1 hour. Cool for 10 minutes, then remove from pan. Cool on wire rack.

OK, this is a hummus recipe I’ve tried (which I got from www.allrecipes.com), but I’m not convinced it’s the best that’s out there. If you have a better one, please send it to me and I’ll try it! We now have 9 cans of chick peas on our windowsill-pantry. Oops.

• 2 cups canned chick peas/garbanzo beans, drained
• 1/3 cup tahini
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 cloves garlic, halved
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 pinch paprika
• 1 tsp minced fresh parsley

Place the chick peas, tahini, lemon juice, salt, and garlic in a blender or food processor (I used a food processor when I made this). Blend until smooth. Transfer mixture to a serving bowl. Drizzle olive oil over the mixture and sprinkle with paprika and parsley.

I’m pretty sure the parsley is completely unnecessary. I also don’t recall using the paprika. My notes say I used 2-15 oz cans of chick peas (instead of 2-16 oz cans). I also used 2-3 tsp of cumin (based on other recipes I found online), which was quite an improvement, I recall. It also looks like I used about 1/4 cup of olive oil instead of the 1 tbsp recommended in the recipe.

I stole this recipe from a former roommate, but I’ve changed it so much now that I think i can claim it as my own! If your crockpot is the same size as ours, you probably won’t be able to fit all of the frozen vegetables in it along with everything else, so plan to leave some out.

• 2 large baking potatoes, cut in 1″ pieces
• 2 cans fresh-cut diced tomatoes (preferably garlic and onion)
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 1 16-oz can of tomato sauce
• 1 16-oz package frozen vegetables
• 1 10-oz package cut green beans
• 2 lbs. lean steak (sirloin) cut into pieces

Cook and season steak in frying pan until cooked through. Combine all ingredients in crock pot and cook for 4+ hours. Serve with barbecue bread.

Blatantly plagiarized from Mike and Ange’s website. I admit I haven’t tried it yet, but I did recently get a pizza peel, so I hope to try it soon! 

• 3 cups bread flour
• 2 teaspoons coarse salt
• 1 teaspoon yeast
• Eyeball fresh ground pepper
• About 1 to 1 ¼ cups water
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Combine the dry ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to blend.

Turn on food processor and add the water and oil, running the machine until the dough forms a ball. Add more water as needed if the dough doesn’t form a ball after 15 seconds or so.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and kneed for a few moments, until dough is nice and satiny. Place dough in oiled bowl, turning the dough around to coat in oil. Let rise for a really long time. I like to start the dough in the morning and let it rise all day. You could also prepare the dough the night before and let it rise in the refrigerator.

When you are ready for pizza, preheat your oven to 500°. Turn dough out onto lightly floured work surface and press into a disk. Let it sit and think for a while before you start working it. About five minutes should do. When the dough is nice and compliant, begin to press it into a disk. I usually do this by hand as a rolling pin rolls out all the air pockets. Transfer to a pizza stone or pan and top with your favorite toppings. Bake for about 10 minutes, but check on it occasionally until it’s brown, bubbly and delicious.

From Anna Olivier

This recipe makes a lot, for sharing or saving for later.

• olive oil
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• garlic to taste (3+ cloves), chopped
• 2 big cans of black beans, partially drained
• 1-1/2 c boullion or broth
• sundried tomatoes (a handful, re-hydrated and chopped — you can rehydrate them in the boullion/broth before you add it to the soup, if you want)
• 1/2 c salsa
• salt, coriander, cumin, pepper and cayenne pepper to taste
• plain yogurt
• cilantro

Sautee the garlic and onions in olive oil. Add the black beans and the broth/boullion and stir, then add the tomatoes, salsa and spices and stir some more. Cook for a little while on medium-low heat, then put 2/3 of the soup into a blender and blend til there aren’t any big chunks left. Add the blended soup back to the rest of the soup and cook until it’s the consistency that you want.

Serve with plain yogurt and cilantro garnish.

I just made this and it was yummy. I added some extra black beans because it seemed more watery than it should be.

Cupcake recipe:

• 1-1/2 cups flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup cocoa
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup water with 1/3 cup oil mixed in
• 1 tsp vanilla

Mix all ingredients together and fill cupcake papers about 1/3 full.

Filling recipe:

• 1 8-ounce package of cream cheese
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/8 tsp salt

Put on top of batter in each cupcake paper, then add chocolate chips to taste.

Bake at 350 ° for 15 to 18 minutes.

• 1 can chick peas
• 1/4 cup oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• 1-1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp powdered ginger
• 1/4 tsp dried powdered mint (optional)
• 1/2 tsp dried hot red pepper flakes (optional)
• 2 tomatoes, seeded and chopped
• 1 can chicken or vegetable broth

In a skillet, heat the oil, add the onion, and cook until transparent. Add the seasonings and tomatoes and cook 10 minutes. Add the chick peas. Add the broth to cover. Cover and simmer 20 minutes. Serve over rice. Makes 3 to 4 servings.

• 1 ts Yeast
• 3/4 c Warm water
• 3 tb Extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 c Chopped basil
• 1/2 ts Salt
• 1 tb Minced garlic
• 2 tb Chopped fresh rosemary
• 2 1/4 c All-purpose flour
• 1 ts Kosher salt

In a small bowl dissolve yeast in water; stir in 3 tablespoons of oil, basil, salt, garlic and 2 1/4 cups of flour. Work dough with your hands until it comes together in a ball; set aside in a small oiled bowl, loosely covered, 1 hour.

Heat a stovetop grill over high heat. Or heat oven to 350 degrees and grease 2 baking sheets with 1 tablespoon oil each. Turn out dough on a well-floured surface and flatten. Cut into 8 wedges and pull each until dough is very thin and nearly transparent. Brush grill lightly with oil. Grill, turning several times with tongs, about 8 minutes in all, until crisp and browned. Brush with oil and sprinkle with kosher salt.

Alternatively, place flatbreads on baking sheets. Brush with remaining oiland sprinkle with kosher salt. Bake until brown and crisp, 20 to 25 minutes.