Cooking Club

Made my first tart a few weeks back for Cooking Club- without the proper pan, making it EXTREMELY difficult. It was good though!!

BTW:Cooking Club is a group of women who try new recipes with a theme. It meets every few weeks and is by NO MEANS vegetarian or vegan friendly. I don't even know why I go- I usually drink the drinks and eat my dish. It's kind of fun.

I found these recipes for savory tarts at Tartlette and sort of combined the two. I could not find arugula, so I used spinach. The goat cheese I used was on sale and already formed into cubes-weird and kind of dry. Trying to make classy dishes on a TIGHT budget is oh so tricky..

Tomato, Goat Cheese and Spinach Tart

Serves 6-8

For the crust:
1 sheet of store bought puff pastry. I used Pillsbury. It is cheap, dairy-free, but still pumped full of crap.  Living on a budget can be tough..

Filling:
1 egg
3/4 cup Almond Milk (original flavor)
salt and pepper to taste (don't really know how to taste this- It is raw egg. Blech!)
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 cup heirloom tomatoes, halved ( I sliced Roma tomatoes, placed them on a paper towel to absorb some moisture-Thanks Mom!)
2 cups raw baby spinach
3/4 cup goat cheese, crumbled
2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup vinaigrette (depends how soaked you like your salad)

Prepare the crust:
Preheat oven to 350F.

On a lightly floured board, roll out the dough to 1/4-inch thick and line it into a 9 or 10-inch round tart pan or rectangular, etc... Place the tart on a baking sheet and line it with a piece of parchment paper on top and fill with dried beans or ceramic weights. Bake for 15 minutes. Let cool.

Lay pastry sheet on small cookie sheet. If you have a pastry pan, USE IT! It will be ssoooo much easier. (I had to press the dough into a rectangle inside the pastry so that there was sort of a crust. I then placed dried beans into the center and placed it in the oven. Bake for about 15 minute.)Hopefully, the pastry will puff around the beans leaving a spot for the filling. Try it! It worked for me.

For the filling:
In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg and the milk until well combined. Add the salt, pepper and mustard and whisk to incorporate. Pour the filling inside the shell and bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool completely.

Mom says to test the tart with a fork near the edges. I can't remember why, but there was a good reason!

Mix all the tomatoes, greens and goat cheese in a large bowl. Toss with as little or as much vinaigrette as you like and spoon the salad on top of the tart. 

It's ready! 

Slice it up and serve it on a classy looking plate.

Do not McGyver a lid, wrap layers of plastic and towels, put it in a Trader Joe's bag, ride the train an hour, and get lost in a blizzard with sub-zero temperature just to serve it at Cooking Club. Kind of makes it soggy... 

<3

 

Creative Pestoooos

I've been experimenting with pesto sauces lately. I love parsley and walnuts and can't wait to try cilantro and something or other!

Spinach/Almond Pesto= SOOOOOOOOOO good and creamy!!!

Got some spinach, garlic pasta for Christmas and thought about making a light olive oil sauce for it.  Upon cleaning the refrigerator, the sauce turned into something amazing..
I was going to wilt the spinach and eat it with my pasta, but the blender tempted me. I put a handful in with olive oil and it was so beautiful. I tasted it. Not bad. Added some garlic. Even better.  Made a sauce. WOW.


1-2 cups of raw spinach
1/2 cup slivered almonds
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves of garlic
Nutritional Yeast
Red pepper flakes
Salt
Pepper
Dash of paprika

Blended in Blender.
Divided in half.
Tossed pasta in half.
Put other half in freezer.

YUM.


Totally ready for 2nd dinner.
Fried Chickpeas anyone?

Birthday Love!

(

This sums up my 26th Birthday.

MM MMmm good!

(photo by Jacob Yeung)

Bored with a cold, as the snow starts to fall.

Almost Allergy-Free Chocolate-Chip Peanut-Butter Oatmeal Cookies

Preheat oven 350 degrees

Cream
1 Cup Smart Balance
1 1/4 C. Brown Sugar
3/4 C. white sugar or sugar sub (agave nectar)
1 tsp. vanilla

Add
1 banana- mashed
1/2 C.  Peanut Butter w/flax seeds

Then..

1 1/2 C. Flour  (I used Bob's Redmill gluten free flour mixture)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
3 Cups of Oats
1 package of dairy-free chocolate chips

Makes 2-3 dozen depending on what size you make your cookies.

Bake about 15 minutes.

They bake up nice and fluffy! Look and taste like the real deal!
Mat has been crawling to the counter from the couch on his hands and knees and sneaking cookies behind my back while I type this.. They must be pretty good!!


This recipe was made up by me. =)