Cheesy Cauliflower

Many of you are aware of the fact that my husband and my daughter are vegetarians. As a result, I've been eating less meat myself. It's a good thing I'm a fan of veggies, no? My biggest worry for the two of them, is that they get enough nutrients in their diet. My daughter is on her own these days, so I will have to trust that she's eating sensibly. And my husband? Well, he's subscribed to Vegetarian Times Magazine. Now I'm getting suggestions as what to try. How cool is that?

The first issue of Vegetarian Times came just the other day with a glorious looking cauliflower casserole, Mac-And-Cheese Style Cauliflower, gracing the cover. Hubby and I were both drooling over it. I had to make it.

The hardest part was getting the cauliflower into pieces.

The recipe calls for 1/2 cup nutritional yeast. What? Yeast? I had to look it up. Apparently, the yeast is there to provide nutrition--it's different than the yeast you use to make bread. Here's a link to some info on it: Nutritional Yeast. After a little searching, I found it at Whole Foods in the bulk food area. I will say that if the smell of yeast is offensive to you, you can skip this addition (maybe use a little less of the liquid that is called for in the recipe), but I found that the smell totally bakes out and if it adds some nutrition, why not?

The recipe also calls for homemade bread crumbs. While you can sub some Panko crumbs, the homemade ones are really easy. I like to keep a bag in the freezer---whenever I have a day-old baguette, I just swirl the dried out leftovers in my food processor and add it to the bag.

Just spray the bread crumbs with a little cooking spray. I like the olive oil spray. Is it just me or do those fake butter sprays smell funny?

Bake it until it's nicely browned and bubbly.

 A couple of observations: to prevent the moisture from the cooked cauliflower from making the sauce too watery, just keep it in the pan after you drain it, and put it back over the heat for a few minutes to dry it out. Thanks to Chris DeNicolo, for that sage advice. I'm also going to saute some chopped onions with the butter the next time I make it. Other than that, the recipe is perfect. It will be made again.

Kettle Corn Cookies

Who  puts popcorn in their cookies? Apparently, Trader Joe's does, because I saw a box of Kettle Corn Cookies when I was rushing through the store just the other day. I didn't have time to stop and look at them, but I was intrigued. Sweet and salty? The combo has to be good.  So, I made my own version.

Kettle Corn Cookies
Printable Recipe

2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 cups Kettle Corn
1/2 cup salted peanuts, optional

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, shortening and sugars. Beat in the eggs and the vanilla. Gradually, add the flour mixture, beating well. Stir in the Kettle Corn and the peanuts.

Drop by rounded teaspoons (I used a cookie scoop) onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cool slightly before removing to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Verdict? I like them. Hubby likes them. I'm bringing them all to work tomorrow, so we don't eat them.



Pretzel Buns

Have you discovered Pinterest? Oh boy---is it addicting or what? I keep pinning pictures of great looking food to my boards. Besides my own stuff, though, I hadn't made any of the things that I fully intended to. Until today. Today, I made the Pretzel Rolls.

I've been eyeing these little devils for weeks, all the while buying pretzel buns at Trader Joe's. Want to see how I made them? Here you go:

Pretzel Rolls (adapted from [Une Bonne Vie])

Printable Recipe

1 3/4 cups milk, warmed to 110 degrees F. (bathwater warm)

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

3-3 1/2 cups bread flour

1 teaspoon salt

Coarse salt for sprinkling

Water Bath

7-8 cups water

1 tablespoon salt

4 tablespoons baking soda

Place the warmed milk in a large mixing bowl. Stir in the olive oil and the yeast. Let this mixture stand for about 5 minutes or until it starts to foam (this way you know the yeast is working). Add three cups of the flour and the salt.

Attach the dough hook and knead the dough for about 5 minutes, adding additional flour, if needed. The dough should nearly clean the sides of the bowl, but still be a little tacky. Remove the dough from the bowl and place on a lightly floured surface. Knead lightly, by hand, for about a minute until the dough is smooth and elastic.

When measuring the flour, lightly spoon it into the measuring cup and level it off with a knife. If you have to add flour, add it a tablespoon at a time.

Place the dough in a well oiled bowl and turn it over so that both sides are oiled. Cover the bowl with a clean towel and let the dough rise in a draft-free area until it's doubled, about 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.; Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

Punch the dough down and plop it on a floured surface ( I prefer my Silpat), then divide it into 8 pieces. Form each piece of dough into a ball, slightly flattened. Place the dough balls on the lined baking pan, cover and allow to rise for an additional 20 minutes.

While the buns are rising, prepare the water bath. In a large pot, combine the water, salt, and baking soda; bring to a rolling boil. Gently drop the dough buns into the boiling water, two at a time, and let them "poach" for about 30 seconds on each side. Remove them with a slotted spoon and place them back on the lined baking pan. Using a serrated knife, cut 2-3 lines across each bun and sprinkle with course salt. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the buns are a deep brown. Transfer to a rack to cool.

I found the dough balls to be a little sticky when I was putting them into the boiling water, so I dipped my fingers in a little flour first. The water does foam up, so make sure your pot is large enough. A crinkly appearance is normal--this disappears during baking.

As you can see, I was a little stingy with the salt--I usually scrape salt off of my pretzels, but I found that I did like a little on these.

If you aren't going to use all of these right away, go ahead and pop some in the freezer. They thaw quickly and stay fresh much longer if frozen.

I may never buy another hamburger bun again.