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Recipes

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Dough Pockets


Bean Salad


Caramel Popcorn


Oatmeal Bread (with vegan option)


Chickpea Snacks


Semi-Raw Fudge


Burritos
 

Dough Pockets



This is my lifesaver recipe.  Why?  Well, first of all – these are the most delicious little pockets you can imagine. They’re probably the cheapest meal I’ve found thus far to make – only about $.70 for enough pockets to last you at least a week (about 10-15).  The best part is that they freeze really well and they can be cooked right from the freezer in about 6 minutes.  I like to make this recipe to use up any veggies or cheese I have that’s starting to go bad. You can vary it in any way you see fit

What you’ll NEED:
  1. Medium bowl
  2. Frying Pan
  3. Flour – wheat flour is best in my opinion, but you can make these with any kind of flour or meal that will hold together as a dough with water.
  4. Water
  5. Salt
  6. Veggie(s) finely diced -Best in descending order: spinach, onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, carrots, broccoli, kale
  7. Cheese - Feta and Mozzarella are my favorites, but pretty much any kind will do…
Optional, but also good:
  • Quinoa 
  • Garlic, minced
  • Baked potato
  • Butter
  • Chicken
Get Started:

Okay, so for these little lifesavers, all you have to do is mix flour with water and a few pinches of salt until you form a soft - but not-sticky - dough.  Make as much dough as you want – I like to make about a cup’s worth of flour, but if my veggies are gonna go bad soon, I’ll make more so I can freeze them.

Next, sprinkle some flour on a rolling surface (a clean counter is fine) and roll out the flour very thin (think: Chinese dumpling) – if you don’t have a rolling pin (I don’t), just use a round cup/jar.  I’ve tried doing this using just my hands, but I always wind up with too-lumpy pockets that don’t cook well.

Dough:
You can use a wide-mouthed glass or jar to cut out circles, or else just use a knife to make rectangles or circles.  Rectangles make great pockets, but I just kind of prefer circles out of habit.  If you don’t have a knife or any good circle templates, just shape them yourself.  Mine are always REALLY irregular because I’m lazy and usually hungry when I’m making them.

Set them aside (make sure they’re not overlapping so they don’t stick together).

Filling:
Now, grab your veggies and cheese and chop them up finely (I highly recommend you make these with spinach, red onion, and feta).  I’m sad (and kind of proud) to say that I own a Slap Chop – this is one of the few recipes that it is really, really good for. Mix it all together to make a filling, and then plop about a tsp. of it in each of your dough disks.  You want them to be full but not overflowing – they don’t cook well if they’re oozing out filling.

Fold over the dough onto itself, forming a ravioli/pierogie-like pocket.

Seal each one by pressing the sides with a fork to make ridges.  If they’re not sticking well, you can wet the edges before sticking them together.

When you’re done, you can either cook them or freeze them for later. 

To cook:

Heat a frying pan to about medium.  Pop the pockets in and cook on one side for about 3-4 minutes- ‘til the dough is spotted golden-brown (don’t use anything to cook it with – it only needs the heat of the empty pan!).  Flip over and cook the other side.  Make sure you don’t make your pan too hot or you won’t melt the cheese/cook the veggies.  If you’re cooking frozen pockets, just give them a few extra minutes on either side. 

To freeze:

Don’t make my mistake – you need to put wax paper layers in order to freeze these or else they will stick together like crazy.  Flour alone doesn’t work!!!  I didn’t have any, so I separated them with plastic baggies.  Paper towels would probably also work (and way more eco-friendly)
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Bean Salad 


AKA The poor woman's feast

What you’ll NEED:

  1. 1 can garbanzo beans
  2. 1 can black beans
  3. 1 can kidney beans
  4. 1/2 onion, chopped
  5. Balsamic vinaigrette dressing (or oil and vinegar)
  6. Lemons/lemon juice - 1-2 lemon's worth
  7. Sugar - about 3 tbp (optional)
  8. Mustard or mustard powder (1-2tsp, to taste)
  9. Salt
  10. Pepper
  11. Rice

1) Cook the rice according to the directions and set aside (refrigerator is best)
2) Open beans, pour into large bowl
3) Toss in chopped onions, mix
4) Add vinaigrette
5) Mix lemon juice with sugar, add to mixture
6) Add mustard
7) Mix thoroughly.  Serve on rice or refrigerate in separate container

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Caramel popcorn

What you’ll need
  1. ½ cup of popcorn, unpopped
  2. ½ cup organic raw sugar (though any sugar will do)
  3. 1 tbsp salt, to taste

Air poppers are the best – these usually run around $15 and are a great investment since you basically can’t screw up the popcorn.  If you don’t have one, a large pot with a lid will be fine (you’ll need a little olive oil for this, though)

You’ll also need a small saucepan for the sugar, a large bowl for the popcorn, and a long spoon.

First, pop your popcorn:
If you’re using the air popper, just pour kernels in, plug in, set bowl where the popcorn will come out, and start making your caramel

If you are using a pot, cover the bottom of the pot with a very thin layer of olive oil.  Throw in 3-4 kernels and turn on medium heat and cover.  When the kernels pop, add the rest of your popcorn and cover.  Turn off heat when popcorn finishes popping.  You should also shake the pot a bit once the popcorn gets popping to be sure you don’t burn it.

Sugar in Caramel:
Add ½ cup sugar to small saucepan and turn heat to medium.  Let sit for a few minutes, until sugar begins to melt.  Using your long spoon, stir the sugar continuously until it is thoroughly melted (smooth, golden, and not grainy)  It can burn easily if you don’t keep stirring, which makes the popcorn suck a LOT.




Pour it On:
Once your sugar is melted and your popcorn popped, simply pour the caramel over the popcorn and stir it up.  Remember, the caramel is extremely hot.  Like, insanely hot.  Make sure you tell your silly boyfriend not to put his hands in it for about 5 minutes after you’ve poured it.  Top with salt while the caramel is still malleable and stir some more.  Once it’s hardened, break up the popcorn with your hands or a spoon and serve.  You’ll probably eat the whole thing in one sitting, FYI.

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Oatmeal Bread







This amazing bread is SO easy to make.  The only thing that could possibly deter anyone from making it is that it needs to rise for about 2 1/2 hours - but PLEASE don't let this scare you - you just mix the ingredients, knead the dough, cover it, and go off to do your thing!  After an hour and a half, simply form the dough into a log, put in your bread pan, and let sit for another hour.  Once it's finished rising, pop in the over and you're all set.


  • 3 cups flour (bread flour is always recommended, but I use whatever I have)3 packs plain instant oatmeal OR 1 cup instant oatmeal (but if you have maple and brown sugar or anything else that sounds like it might be good in bread, just use it.
  • 2 tbsp butter (I use olive oil if I'm making this vegan)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1/3 cup honey (or brown sugar)
  • 1 packet active dry yeast (this is like $.40 in ANY baking aisle of ANY supermarket. Easier to get than flour. Don't be a yeast-o-phobe.
  • 1 1/4 cups lukewarm milk (I've always use almond or soy milk, but your bread will be very dense. If you use regular milk, it will rise better)

1) Make sure your milk is lukewarm, and dissolve the yeast in it (this will take a minute of stirring)

2) Mix ALL ingredients in a bowl, then KNEAD for 10 minutes.


3) Put the dough back in your original bowl (make sure there's not a bunch of crap on the sides), cover and let sit for an hour or so in a warmish place.


4) After an hour, form into a log and place in your bread pan (I got mine, which is aluminum, for $.50, or 2 for $1, at the home store on 42nd and 9th.  Cover and let sit for another hour and a half.


5) Once dough is nice and puffy, preheat oven to 350 degrees.

6) When oven is ready, uncover dough and bake for 35-40 minutes.  It's done when it's golden brown (real bakers say to use a thermometer and it's done when it reaches 190 degrees internal, but no one I know has a baking thermometer and this has never been an issue for me).   If it looks too brown too early, you can make a little aluminum foil tent to place over top of it.

 Vegan oatmeal bread - not quite as puffy but really dense and yummy

7) Serve warm with butter or honey if you can, and save the rest for breakfast (topped with a little almond butter or peanut butter and jelly!)

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Chickpea Snacks



 
These are so good, so cheap, so good for you, and so easy to make!

What you'll NEED:

  • 1 can garbanzo beans (chickpeas)
  • 1-2 tbsp. olive oil
  • Salt
  • Garlic powder (and/or fresh garlic)
Plus a cookie sheet, spoon, and small pot

Also good:
  •  Pepper
  • Cayenne pepper
  • Onion powder
  • Rosemary
  • Your favorite spices
1) Preheat oven to 400.

2) Drain, rinse, and dry your chickpeas.  Then lay them out on a cookie sheet.

3) Add olive oil and spices to your pot and cook until it smells good (mine got nice and bubbly).  I used minced garlic, garlic Season-All, salt, cayenne pepper, and rosemary.

4) Pour mixture over chickpeas and coat thoroughly.

5) Bake for 40 minutes (approx) and stir (or shake) every 10 minutes.  The chickpeas are done when they're crunchy.  Though Mike liked them a little soft, so we took them out a little early. 



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Semi-Raw Fudge

What You'll NEED:



Also good:


Mix almond butter, cocoa powder, and agave nectar in a bowl. Once incorporated, add coarse salt and knead (it won’t stick to your hands because of the almond butter)

Spread on a cookie sheet, using hands. Put in freezer (you can eat it warm but it’s nice to firm it up a bit). Use knife or pizza cutter to cut into small squares. Enjoy with almond milk.

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Burritos
So far, this is my favorite lunch recipe.  My co-workers were loving the yummy smell coming from the oven, and asked for the recipe.  They were amazed at how easy it is.  The only thing that takes a little time is the rice, but if you have pre-cooked rice, you'll have perfect burritos in less than 7 minutes.

What You'll Need:


Also good:


First, cook your rice.  I used about a cup (and had lots of leftovers).  Remember, brown basmati cooks in a 1:2 rice-water ratio, but it's good to add just a bit more water so your rice isn't too dry.  It takes about 25-40 minutes to cook rice. Add a little salt!






Next, saute your peppers, onion, and garlic in a medium frying pan with a bit of olive oil.  Cook them until they are JUST tender, and then add the beans.  Simmer for about 5-7 minutes until beans are warm throughout.

 Red and yellow peppers, chile pepper, onion, and garlic
 Beans added to frying pan

When rice and beans are cooked, assemble your burrito.   Layer rice, beans, and cheese on tortilla and wrap tightly (roll from bottom until rice, beans, and cheese are covered, then tuck in sides and roll the rest of the way)  I added a little garlic Season-All to the rice when I put it on.  Make sure you season your rice with at least some salt or it can be a little bland.



M
My photography sucks, but you get the idea...



Either enjoy fresh or wrap in a paper towel and put in sandwich bag to freeze.  To reheat, place on cookie sheet and cook on 350 degrees for 20 minutes, or microwave on high wrapped in paper towel for 3-5 minutes.  And don't burn yourself, fool.  These things are hot as hell when they come out.
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