Eggnog - second try

I tried making the eggnog again.

Again I had to sift the eggnog so that it was smooth. I think it was the cinnamon that clotted in/with the milk during the heating process. But I am also wondering if it could be because I used coconut sugar instead of white sugar although I don't see why that would happen.

Next time (for New Year's Eve!) I want to try starting to heat the milk up after I have already started to whisk the egg yolks and sugar, I hope to better control the heating process that way. Also, I want to try adding the cinnamon to the egg mixture so that it is not heated up with the milk. Just in case I bought a proper sieve, though :)

Maple Pecan Pie

This is the first pecan pie that I made. And as I love maple syrup, I couldn't resist to try this Maple Pecan Pie recipe!

I used my usual pie crust recipe and added 1/2 cup of chopped pecan nuts and 1/2 egg (yes, I had 1/2 an egg left over from another recipe). I didn't add extra flour so it was quite moist. I rolled it out between two sheets of cling foil and pre-baked it for 10-12 minutes.

I also only used 1/4 cup of brown sugar instead of 1/2 cup as I assumed that the maple syrup will add enough sweetness. And as I didn't have dried cherries, I used frozen blue berries.

It turned out wonderfully, the right amount of sweetness for me! And the few blueberries give it a nice fruity moisture without changing the taste too much!

Vegetable Stew (with beef)

For this stew I have combined ideas that I found online with what I had in the fridge. This recipe can easily be done without the beef and as a vegan/vegetarian version.

Vegetable Stew

beef for stews (optional)
oil mustard and dressing
4-5 cups of broth
1/2 can of tomato paste
spices: bay leaves, oregano or basil, pepper, salt
3 carrots, sliced
3 big potatoes, diced
5 celery stems, diced
1 onion, chopped
1 leek, sliced
1 apple, diced
3 tomatoes, diced
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
3 tablespoons of flour
3 table spoons of water
In a large pot, fry the beef in oil, mustard and dressing until done on the outside.
Add broth, tomato paste and spices, bring to a boil and then simmer for 30-60 minutes (I used this time to cut the vegetables). Add carrots, potatoes, celery, onion and leek. Cook until potatoes are soft. Add apple, tomatoes and mushrooms and cook for another 10-15 minutes.
Whisk together flour and water and add to the stew, cook for another 3 minutes until the stew thickens.

Outcome:
- I couldn't taste the mustard and dressing at all and I wonder if they are necessary (I think I would have liked a little mustard taste, so I will try to add more mustard next time).
- The stew had a very strong tomato taste which I wasn't expecting since I only used half a can. I want to try to leave that out next time.
- Another thing I wasn't expecting was that I couldn't taste the celery much. I don't like raw celery and for that reason haven't used it in cooking either. Maybe it was masked by the tomato taste, but in the future I will not avoid it anymore.
- I added the apple because some sites say that it goes well will celery or celery root, but I don't think that one apple made much difference. Maybe it was also masked by the tomato taste.
- What I really liked was how the stew thickened slightly with the flour and water mixture that is added in the end.

Maple Apple Tarte - Mapple Tarte

This morning felt like a Maple-Apple-Tarte-morning. So before breakfast I got to work to fulfill what felt like this morning's destiny.

For a pie crust I like to use this recipe. I make only half of it and I can line my pie pan twice or make a covered pie with it.

For the filling I was trying to find a recipe that I used to make some years ago. But I couldn't find it. So here is my approximation of what I remember.

Maple-Apple-Tarte filling: 
4 apples (e.g. Granny Smith)
1/4 stick of butter
1/2 cup apricot jam (preferably one with more fruits than sugar)
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup brown sugar
a little bit of butter and 2 tbsp of maple syrup for the top
Peel and cut 3 apples in little chunks and mix with butter, jam, maple syrup and brown sugar in a pot. Bring to a boil and stir until apples are tender (I like my apple tarte filling very soft).
Fill the apple sauce in the pastry shell. Peel and cut the remaining apple into half, then quarters, core and cut of thin slices to decorate the tarte. Drizzle with a little bit of butter and 2 tbsp of maple syrup.
Bake at 375F for about 30-35 minutes, until apples begin to brown.
Enjoy with whipped cream and/or ice cream!

Fearing that it would end up too sweet (with the jam, brown sugar and maple syrup), I added very little sugar to the whipped cream.
It turned out appropriately sweet for a pie, but I would try this recipe next time with no sugar, or maybe with no jam and more apples as I don't like my desserts / breakfasts too sweet :)

Russian Salad "Olivier"

To go with the leftover Tarte Flambee from yesterday I made:

a Russian salad with the name of "Olivier"
3 big potatoes, cooked and diced
4 eggs, cooked and diced
4 carrots, grated
1 cup of corn
1 cup of peas
1 cucumber, diced
1 pickled cucumber, diced
1/2 onion, chopped in the food processor
quite a bit of mayonnaise
a bit of mustard
salt and pepper
Mix everything together in a big bowl or pot. Enjoy for the next couple of days :)

I used fresh carrots and grated them instead of slicing and dicing them. It seemed like less work, I wonder if I could even chop them in the food processor like I did with the onion.
The mayonnaise turned out to be much saltier than I was used to, so I will need to either not add any salt at all or add it right at the end.

Smoothie (melon, orange)

It baffles me that we live in times where I can make a melon-orange drink in the middle of winter and no one would find it surprising.

That said, it does taste very good and I want more of it!

Melon-Orange Smoothie:
Blend melon
Juice oranges (if desired, sift the pulp)
Mix together 2 cups of melon puree and 1 cup of orange juice.

Tarte Flambee

Strolling through the grocery store I was looking for some quick ready-made dinner but couldn't decide on what to choose. That one was too small, the other one too expensive, the third not appetizing enough.. Then I came to the frozen pizza section and my mood lightened. Not because I chose a pizza, but because I remembered a recipe that I used to make all the time. It's easy, it's fast, it's yummy and it is topped with cheese: Tarte Flambee!

For the dough I prefer the recipes without yeast. Like this one:
2 cups of flower
4 tbsp of olive oil
1 tsp of salt
1/2 cup of water
Mix together and roll out thinly.

For the topping I used the following ingredients:
Mix sour cream and cheese yogurt, add salt and pepper and spread evenly over the dough.
Then top with
red onions (cut into quarter rings)
leek (cut into half rings)
sliced mushrooms
grated cheddar
Bake at 375F for 15-20 minutes.

The tarte flambee turned out very well. The crust was crunchy on the bottom and gooey in the middle. The mushrooms give it a wonderful flavor.

I'm looking forward to getting my rolling pin in the mail so that I can stop using wine bottles to roll out my dough (doesn't work as well..)!

Quinoa Quiche

After making the eggnog I had a lot of egg whites left over. In the past I have made omelets with left over egg whites by just adding one or two whole eggs (and it was surprising to find that it was not possible to taste the difference!).

This time I found a recipe that sounded a little more exiting. Quinoa Egg White Quiches! These crustless mini quiches looked appetizing and easy to make. (of course I couldn't resist making them with the new found potato crust!)

Using ingredients I found in my fridge and around the kitchen I made three fillings:
- Tomatoes and basil
- Frozen vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower and carrots) with cream cheese
- Meat balls with tomatoes

All in all the result was a little less flavorful than I would have liked it and the mini quiches were hard to get out of the pan in one piece. Best tasting (though I didn't try the meat ball version) were the vegetables with cream cheese.

I'm thinking of maybe doing them again and trying more flavorful options (mushroom, red onion) or just add more spices (more basil, more cheese, always more cheese :D )