Chocolate Dipped Sugar Cookies

This is the time of year where many of us blog about Valentine's day treats. I work at a flower shop during the holidays, so I had not intended to post a blog this year. However, I realized that I needed to whip something up for the kids to take to school for their Valentine's parties. I make these sugar cookies all the time for snacking on and the fact that they freeze so well makes it easy to have a batch in the freezer for those after school munchies. I normally don't top them with anything due to the fact that I've not found the perfect corn free frosting. However, my kids don't seem to mind and my oldest will request that I top them with peanut butter on the rare occasion that he wants something different.

I had seen a recipe on the Enjoy Life web sight that had just melted chocolate as a frosting recipe and since chocolate goes hand-in-hand with Valentine's, I decided to top my cookies and take this simple snack to the next decadent level. I apparently lost my heart shaped cookie cutter at some point, but these would be super cute cut into hear shapes instead of the simple circles pictured here. I admit, I've had a hard time keeping out of this batch of cookies and they will disappear quickly once the kids get their hands on them. May you have a hard time not eating them in one sitting like I have.


Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup Brown Rice-milled into flour using a coffee grinder
1 cup Potato Starch (not potato flour)
½ tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Cream of Tartar
3 teaspoons Gaur Gum
1 teaspoon Fine Sea Salt
1 cup Golden Brown Cane Sugar
½ cup Unsweetened Apple Sauce
½ cup Kroger Vegetable oil
1 Tablespoon Flax Seed –milled in a coffee grinder and 3 Tablespoons hot water-set aside for 10 minutes
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
Extra Potato Starch, for kneading

Mix dry ingredients first, including brown sugar. Pulse in the food processor then move to a large mixing bowl. Mix oil and water and whip for 1-3 minutes in the food processor until it is well blended and has a creamy appearance. Add flour mixture back into the food processor, as well as flax mixture and vanilla. Blend until too thick for beaters then knead with hands.

Move to the table dusted with potato starch. Knead about 2 T to 1/2 cup of potato starch (depending on the moisture of the dough) into the ball of dough until it is workable and doesn’t stick. The texture should be similar to wheat flour based sugar cookies by the time you are finished kneading. With some potato starch on your hands, make the dough into a ball and roll out onto a potato starched surface. Roll to 1/4″ thickness. Cut into shapes using your favorite cookie cutters. Place on greased cookie sheet at bake at 350F for 15-20 minutes at high altitude (12-15 for lower altitude). Cool on rack. Decorate and enjoy! These freeze very nicely.

For the Dipping:

1/2 cup Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or a ceramic mixing bowl placed over top a sauce pan filled with water. Heat the water until hot enough to produce steam, but not boiling. Place your chocolate chips in the top bowl and stir slowly until they are all melted. Remove the bowl from the saucepan (or top portion of the double boiler). The bowl should remain warm enough for you to finish dipping all the cookies, but you can put it back on the saucepan if it gets too cool.

Hold the cookies so that you can dip the top portion of the cookie in the chocolate. Be careful, the chocolate is very hot. Make sure the entire top is coated then place it right side up on a cookie sheet lined with parchment or wax paper. Once all the cookies are coated, place them in the freezer to set the chocolate. You're done. The chocolate melts easily, so it is recommended that you store them in either the freezer or the refrigerator. I store these in a tin in the freezer and it only takes a few minutes sitting out before they are thawed enough to eat.

Real Food from The Whole Gang

Hey all. I just wanted to to share one of my favorite foodie blogs with you. The Whole Gang is putting out a weekly listing of recipes by people just like you and me who care about what goes in their food from beginning to end. Check out this weeks Real Food Weekly for great food made by fellow foodies who made their recipes with little or no processed ingredients. There are some great inspirational recipes on here. Yep, my tofu recipe is on there too.

Kelly

Sushi 101

Now that my oldest son is in school all day, I've had to learn the art of making a lunches for him that, hopefully, doesn't come back home in his lunchbox or end up in the trashcan. The kid isn't real big on the standard American sandwich and he has never been much of a meat eater. What is a mother to do with a picky eater away from home?

Fortunately, I have a cook book that had how to make basic sushi. I first dabbled with making sushi just for fun when he was still a baby. It was more for a take along lunch to the local Cherry Blossom Festival. (Which happens in July long after the Cherry trees are done. I really have no idea why they scheduled it this way.) He loves to eat sushi for lunch which is really nothing more than nori, steamed rice, and bonito flakes, but he feels like a king when I send it with him.

Now I'm not talking about the raw fish type of sushi mind you. We live rather land locked and getting good sushi fish isn't cheap. This is really just your basic sushi roll. You can add any ingredients you like. I personally make mine with whatever I have on hand, asparagus, cucumber, carrot, bonito (cured and shaved tuna), anything really as long as you can cut it long and narrow so that it will fit inside your nori and rice roll. Now my son doesn't really like true sushi rice, but I am including the sushi rice recipe that I use when I make it for just me and my husband. All you will need is a sheet of nori (preferably toasted and labeled for sushi), steamed medium grain rice (you need it to be sticky), your filler, a very sharp knife, and some way to roll it. I use an old bamboo place mat that I picked up from either Target or Pier One. You can find sushi mats, but you could get away with just using wax paper or plastic wrap as long as you get a good and even press to your roll.

Lay your sushi mat out on a flat surface and line with either plastic wrap or wax paper. I prefer unbleached wax paper. Lay a sheet of nori on top with the rough side facing up. This sheet just happened to be half size because it was for my son's lunch. One sheet of nori will make up to 10 rolls, depending on how you cut it.

Spread out your rice onto the nori, remembering to leave a little space at the far end so that you can seal it.

Position your filler. Today's choice was bonito flakes. Don't get carried away here, as too much filler will make it hard to roll, causing the roll to fall apart when you pick it up.
Begin to roll your sushi. I use a combination of rolling the mat and pulling out the wax paper as I push forward. This takes the most practice. Believe me, it use to take me half an hour to make a sushi lunch. Now I can make it in five minutes.

This is what your mat looks like while you are rolling. Make sure to press firmly over the whole roll. It is also a good idea to let it set a minute before cutting. This allows the moisture from the rice to soften the nori which helps it to stick everything together.

The above picture is after I let it set for about a minute. I take it out of my place mat and set it on a cutting board. You need a very sharp knife for this part. The rice is very sticky and the faster you cut through it, the cleaner your edges and your knife will be.
Cut through the paper, this helps to make for a clean cut.


Unroll the sushi from your paper and serve. We like to use only wheat free tamari, but traditionally you add wasabi. Be careful when adding wasabi to your tamari as a little goes a long way. Enjoy.

Su-Meshi aka Sushi Rice
originally from 'Japanese Cooking' by Emi Kazuko

3 cups of cooked medium grain rice-I prefer Calrose
40 ml or 8 teaspoons unseasoned brown rice vinegar
20 ml or 4 teaspoons sugar (I use light brown cane-but it gives the rice color. Also, I never pack my brown sugar.)
5 ml or 1 teaspoon sea salt

1. In a small bowl, mix the vinegar, sugar, and salt until well dissolved.
   
2. Add to the rice and mix using a wet spatula. Do not smash the rice.
3. If you have a fan, use it to cool off the rice for a glossy sheen. Otherwise, let it cool enough to work with.

Niku Jaga

Winter has finally hit were I live and as I sit here thinking about what to write, my thoughts turn toward comfort foods. At our house, one of the comfort foods happens to be Niku Jaga. Really, this is just Japanese for simmered beef and veggies. Much like beef stew here in the US, in Japan everyone makes it with a personal flair.

My favorite version is based on the recipe I got from Gaku Homma's book. This version only uses ingredients that are readily available at you local grocery store. If you want an even more authentic taste, add some yam cake noodles, shiritake, which you can find at some health-food stores packed in water in the refrigerator section, usually next to the tofu. My version doesn't have them due to a personal preference, but you don't have to change the sauce part of the recipe if you do add a package.

Another trick I learned when preparing potatoes for these simmered dishes is to soak them in cold water before adding them into the recipe. It helps to remove some of the starchiness and removes some of the aku. In Japanese, aku is something that is tied into their religious beliefs. To make a long story short, it is the name for the foam that appears during the cooking process. It is bitter and if it isn't removed it will mess with the flavor of your meal. So when removing the aku, you just skim the foam off.


Niku Jaga

1/2 lb. sliced beef in bite sized pieces or ground beef
1 onion
2-3 carrots, chopped
2-3 potatoes
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced

2-3 tablespoons sesame oil (not toasted!)
6 tablespoons Wheat Free Tamari
2 tablespoons sake
2 1/2 tablespoons light brown sugar

1. Preheat your dutch oven or large cooking pot over medium heat and coat the bottom with oil. Add the meat and saute until it changes color.
2. Add the onion and carrots and stir to coat them with oil and cook until the onions begin to appear translucent.
3. Add the potatoes, also stirring them until they are coated with oil.
4. Add 4 cups of water to the pot, enough to cover all the ingredients.
5. Reduce the heat to medium low and cook until the aku is released (the foam I was talking about). Skim the foam off the top using a slotted spoon or fine mesh strainer.
6. Add in garlic, tamari, sake, and sugar. Cover. Continue to cook 10-15 minutes until the potatoes are soft and the meat is cooked through. Serve with rice.

Mitarashi Dango

Mitarashi Dango is a favorite among many in Japan. It has also gained popularity here in the US due to it appearing in Anime (Japanese animation) that is viewed here by some members of the younger population. This simple rice dumpling is served on a wooden skewer and topped with a sweet sauce. I learned how to make this while at my mother-in-law's house in Japan and I soon fell in love with this little bit of heaven. There are many variations of this recipe and I usually make it with a mix that my in-laws send us. However, you can make it with glutenous rice flour that can be found in local oriental markets (Mochiko) or even the kind found in health-food stores (Ener-G Sweet Rice Flour is one brand).

I prefer Mitarashi sauce, which is a mix of sugar and soy sauce, but there are also other types such as Anko (adzuki bean) and green tea dango. Kids tend to like this flavor better than some of the others, I am told, and it disappears fast when I make it at my house. The following is an adaptation of my mother-in-laws recipe, so I'll have it with both the metric and standard measurements.

Mitarashi Dango

Dango Dough

2 cups/200 grams by weight glutenous rice flour or Mochiko (the flour should not poured into the measuring cup, not packed in)
2/3 cups/160 ml warm tap water

Step 1: Mix 200 grams, by weight, of sweet rice flour (Mochiko or Ener G sweet rice flour) with 160 cc of warm water. Add water while mixing little by little. Mix by hand until you reach the consistency that feels like an ear lobe, kind of like Play-Doh that is a little on the dry side. Add more water only if it absolutely feels too dry. The dough will pick up some water while steaming, so be careful.

Step 2: Divide the dough into 5 or 6 balls. Then steam it for about 25 minutes. Bamboo steamers work the best if lined with unbleached wax paper with enough room around the edges to let the steam through.

Step 3: Once it is done steaming, put the dough in the bowl then knead the dough until it gets sticky. You can wait a few minutes if it is too hot to touch. The dough kneads best when still hot and a good tip is to wet your hands with a little cold water, making sure to have your hands mostly dry before going back to your kneading. The dough is done when it is smooth and sticks, but releases from your hand if you pull away.

Step 4: Make a ball between the size of a large marble or a ping pong ball-bite. Place on a bamboo skewer. This recipe makes about 6 skewers with four balls each.

Step 5: Grill on a grill pan until the outside turns to a lighter color. – Grilling is optional.

Mitarashi Sauce

3 Tablespoons/ 45 ml Water
1 Tablespoon/15 ml Wheat Free Tamari
2 Tablespoons/30 ml light brown cane sugar

1 teaspoon/5 ml warm water
1 teaspoon/5 ml potato starch (not flour)

Step 1: Mix water, tamari, and sugar together in a pan over medium heat.

Step 2: Once the sugar is dissolved, mix the 1 tsp warm water with the potato starch in a separate bowl and stir until dissolved.

Step 3: Pour the mixture in the pan into the bowl holding the water/potato starch mix and mix well, making sure that there are not lumps.

Step 4: Return this to the pan and continue to stir over medium heat until the color changes from cloudy to clear and bubbly. Remove from heat once it begins to bubble well and allow it to set up slightly. The sauce should be thick and have a sheen to it. Spread it over the dango balls and enjoy.

Homemade Tofu and Okara

Homemade Tofu

This recipe is much simpler than one might think when making tofu. Tofu is relatively inexpensive to buy in any modern grocery store and you might not think that learning how to make your own tofu is cost effective. I make organic tofu from the soy beans I pick up at the local health-food store for about $2.00 a bag and I make 5 full blocks of tofu. Where as, one block of store-bought organic tofu was about $1.76 the last time I bought one.

Personally, I prefer the organic soybeans over the regular ones. Organic beans taste much better. There is also the whole issue of GMO vs. non-GMO as all non-organic soybeans are now genetically modified. I personally go for non-GMO whenever I can, but it really comes down to taste. If you want your tofu to taste better than the tofu you can buy at the local grocery store, go with organic beans.

The equipment is important for this recipe. I use an 8 quart multi-cooker pot (the kind you use for spaghetti) with a strainer, a bowl large enough to hold about 6 quarts, a wooden long-handled spoon or long cooking chopsticks, 1 large cotton flour-sack style towel (I found mine at Wal-Mart), A blender, and a tofu press. Now if you don't have a tofu press (they are sometimes available at oriental markets) you can take an old tofu container and poke holes in it and line it with a second towel cut down to about 3-4 times the size of the container. You want enough fabric hanging over the sides to be able to cover the top of the container when pressing the excess moisture out of the block.

Note: Any equipment you use will have a small effect on the flavor of the tofu. Pre-wash the towels before using them for making tofu. Use only oil that will not add flavor, such as sunflower or a lite cooking oil when making this recipe.

1. Wash the dried beans well and soak them overnight, making sure to remove any hard debris or damaged beans. 1 cup of dried beans will make one block of tofu. I generally soak two cups of dried beans so that I can make two batches at a time. I also wash them in hot tap water to give them a good head start and put them out to soak in hot water overnight. I want the softest beans I can possibly get so that I can pull all the goodness out the next day. (That doesn't mean keep the water hot all night, however.)

2. Time to grind your beans. For one batch, I take 3 cup of soaked beans (1 cup dried beans makes 3 cups of soaked beans) and 3 cup of water and blend it in the blender until it is as smooth as possible. This will look a little frothy and that is what you want. I prefer to do this early in the morning and put them in an air tight container; placing it in the refrigerator until I have time to work on it later in the afternoon. I also seem to get better tasting and firmer blocks when I do this. However, it is traditional for the Japanese farm-wife to do this all before the rest of the family woke up in the morning, so it's really up to you.




3. Bring 4 quarts of hot tap water to a boil. Add about 2 Tablespoons of cooking oil to the pot. The oil is to help prevent the mixture from boiling over as it is quite foamy.

4. Have your wooden spoon ready and pour in the ground tofu/ water mixture into the boiling water. Make sure to turn the heat down to medium high (about 6 on my stove). Stir constantly and cook for 15 minutes. Bring it to a boil at the current temperature and make sure to keep an eye on it as it will boil over quickly while it still has foam on the surface of the mixture. A good tip is to keep the oven vent on high and remove it from the heat if it gets too close to the top and stir until it settles down; placing it back you your heat source when it does.



5. Once it reaches boiling, cook it for an additional 10 minutes or until all the foam has cooked down into the liquid. You do not need to stir it constantly in this step once it has passed the danger of over-boiling. Below are two images of different foam levels. The one on the left is about 15-minutes into the cooking process and the one on the right is ready for separation as it has almost no foam left.



6. Cover your large bowl with the towel and slowly poor step 5. into the lined bowl.



7. You have now separated the soybean milk (tonyu) from the soybean mash (okara). You can skip the first 6 steps if you are trying this with store-bought unflavored soy milk. Wring out the mash to get out all the excess liquid by twisting the towel. Be careful, this is very hot. I use the cleaned off chopsticks that I cook with to hold the towel while I twist the ends. Make sure that no mash gets into your milk as this will make for lumpy tofu. You can save the mash (okara) and use it in the recipe below. There are also recipes online for breads and vegan burgers using okara.



8. Place the soy milk in the cleaned pot and reheat it back to almost boiling. In a separate bowl or measuring cup, mix together 1 1/2 cups of very hot water and one rounded tablespoon of Epsom salt and blend until the salt has dissolved. Nigari is traditionally used and I only found it recently at the oriental market, but Epsom salt is the same thing (Magnesium Chloride) and it is easier to find. The picture on the right is showing you (the spoon is right above the bag of salt) how much of a rounded tablespoon I use. The more salt you add, the firmer the tofu. This recipe can be firm to extra firm, depending on the quality of the soybeans. If you want silken tofu, add less than what you see here.



9. Add half of the water/salt mixture to the soy milk and stir until it starts to separate. Set the temperature to medium-low and cover while you wait a couple of minutes before adding the second half of the water/salt mixture to the soy milk. It will take about 5 minutes from the first addition til the tofu is completely separated. If it isn't separating, add more water/salt mixture and wait a few minutes. The picture on the right was taken 30-seconds after I added the first half of the water/salt mixture.



10. Once the mixture is coagulated (it will look much like cheese if you've ever seen it made), take a large slotted spoon and spoon it evenly into your lined container or tofu press. Wrap the ends of your lining over top the tofu and press out the excess liquid using a weight (I use the pan I put the okara in or a bowl filled with water); allowing it to set for 5 minutes.



11. Gently remove the cloth wrapped tofu from the container and immerse it in cold water. Gently remove the cloth and allow it to float in the water, making sure that it is completely immersed in the water. That's it. You are done. Make sure to change your water at least every other day and keep a lid or cover the container with plastic wrap until you are ready to use.




Breakfast Sweetened Okara

2 batches worth of okara from above recipe
1 tsp of salt
6 tablespoons of either honey, maple syrup or brown rice syrup

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Spray the sides and bottom of your pan with cooking spray. Place the okara in the pan and sprinkle with salt and pour over the sweetener of choice (I like maple syrup or brown rice syrup). Mix well with a fork until the salt and syrup are evenly distributed.


Place in the oven for 20 minutes and stir. Continue this process until it is golden brown and much drier than it's original form. I usually bake it for 1 1/2 hours depending on how well I squeeze the soy milk out of it in the above recipe. Okara holds a lot of moisture, so be aware of the hot steam as you stir. Allow it to cool before putting it into a container. I place it in either the refrigerator or freezer, depending on how soon I'm going to use it. Okara is as perishable as tofu and should be treated as such.

I like to eat one cup of okara with raisins and or chocolate chips with hemp milk. It is filling enough for a small breakfast or snack. Follow this link if you are interested in it's nutritional value. It is great if you need a boost in Iron, Calcium, or fiber and it tastes good too.

Ground Beef Rice Bowl

You may have gone to your local Japanese restaurant and seen Donburimono recipes listed on their menu. They may include beef, chicken, pork, or eel (unagi) mixed with fried vegetables in a soy based sauce either served on top of or with white rice. Now if you're gluten free, these tasty Japanese fast food restaurant standby's are not part of your menu, at least not made commercially.

This version is a quick and easy version that works great for busy lives or just one of those nights when you're craving a trip to Kokoro's like in old times. I've made this version with ground beef, but you can substitute sliced beef, chicken, or pork. Traditionally this dish is served over rice, but you can also eat it on the side like we do at my house. Happy cooking.

Sukiyaki Don


1/2 to 3/4 pound ground beef
1/2 oz (about 1/2 inch) peeled and grated fresh ginger
1 onion, thinly sliced
2-3 carrots, peeled and slivered using a grater
4 dried shiitake mushrooms reconstituted in 1 cup of very hot water, sliced thinly
1 cup additional vegetable: broccoli, zucchini, snow peas, bell peppers, or green beans in 1/2 cup amounts depending on your taste and color preference. (I used peppers and snow peas.)
1/2 block tofu

1 Tablespoon sesame oil, not toasted
1 cup of mushroom water from above mushrooms
4 Tablespoons sake*
2 Tablespoons light brown sugar*
4 Tablespoons Wheat Free Tamari

*If you don't want sake, use 4 Tablespoons of mirin and 1 Tablespoon sugar instead.


In a preheated 12 inch heavy skillet (I use cast iron), add oil and ground beef and saute on medium heat until it changes color. Add the onions, carrots, shiitake mushrooms, and saute until the onions begin to change color.

Add the water from the mushrooms, sake, sugar, tamari, ginger, the rest of the vegetables, and tofu cut into bite sized pieces and cook over medium-low heat for 5-6 minutes.

Divide into individual servings and top with shredded nori if so desired.

Serves 4

op. Can also top with 4 beaten eggs (cook covered for 1 minute) at the last minute before serving. This variation is called tanin don.