CantaloupeAlone

Babaghanoush (I say baba, more fun to say ) is a roasted eggplant dip. You are supposed to roast a whole eggplant over open flame, wait for it to cool, then peel and mash/process it with lemon, garlic, and tahini . The roasting a whole eggplant step can lead to burned fingers from molten juices, bits of bitter uncooperative skin that sticks to the eggplant flesh, and an hour or two. I say off with the skin before roasting, and slice the eggplant for faster cooking. Another cheat, I add a can of chickpeas to extend the volume. More baba , more party. My Babaghanoush 2 medium eggplants 2 tblsp olive oil salt & pepper 1 tblsp tahini (sesame seed paste) juice of 1-2 medium lemons 3 cloves of garlic pinch of cayenne pepper 1 can of chickpeas, strained 1/4 tsp salt, more to taste 1/2 cup olive oil, more to taste Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Peel eggplants with a knife or sturdy vegetable peeler. Cut slices 1/2 inch thick. Spread in one layer over a large rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle...

If computers could mix, chill, roll, decorate, and bake cookies. Adobe Photoshop Cook from Lait Noir on Vimeo .

Creamier and richer than the standard thanks to coconut milk I'm lactose intolerant so I thought I would put together some dairy-free rice pudding with leftover brown/wild rice crowding my cupboard. Just dairy free? Why not vegan? I'll tell you why, because there are not many thick and creamy vegan rice pudding recipes online, only watery and sad vegan rice pudding recipes. If you have a good one, send it my way. Until then I am proud to present my own invented recipe using tofu to thicken and coconut to cream it up. Creamy Vegan Brown Rice Pudding 1 cup brown rice (I used a mix of wild and brown rice mix that comes in a pouch) 2 cups vanilla soy or rice milk 1 teaspoon vegetable oil 1/8 tsp salt 1 teaspoon vanilla 2 cinnamon sticks 6 oz firm tofu 1 tblsp flour 2 tblsp vanilla soy or rice milk 1/2 can (6-8 oz approx.) coconut milk, the unsweetened variety 2 tblsp maple syrup or more to taste 1/2 cup raisins (optional) 1 cup vanilla soy or rice milk Mix the first 6 ingredients t...

one thumb on the camera and one thumb up Sometimes the invisible cola fairy visits and tells me I crave a soda. Its not common, but I've wanted to crack a can for all of 2010. Day tripping to Jackson Heights in Queens I spotted a bottle of Thums Up Cola in a battered glass bottle. I slid open the cooler door without hesitation or recognizing the optimistic name. Imported sodas often contain cane sugar (e.g. Mexican Coca-Cola) instead of high fructose corn syrup, offering a more neutral sweet flavor, rather than the sharp exaggerated sugar flavor of corn syrup. The battered bottle told the story of reused (rather than recycled) glass, an uncommon practice in America. I sensed there was special reason the soda was in Queens. Score. Its India's betel nut flavored answer to Coca-Cola. Introduced in 1977 after Coke stopped distributing in India. Later Thums up, with almost a third of the soda market, was bought by Coke to help defeat nemesis Pepsi. Its flavor is more pronounced and...

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Its what's inside that counts, right? It involves some elbow grease to crack open a winter squash (acorn, spaghetti, butternut, kabocha, hubbard, the list goes on) or pumpkin. After you've skinned and cubed up the squash, save some effort for the seeds. A good source of protein, fiber, calcium, iron, and a whole bucket of other vitamins and minerals. The seeds double the value of your gourd. If the seeds are plump or have a thickness, they can be roasted. Skinny thin seeds have less meat and are chewy and fiberous rather then crunchy when roasted. The average pumkin or winter squash has anywhere between 1/4 to 1 cup of seeds, or 100 to 700 seeds. Their sizes vary based on variety and the ripeness of the harvested gourd. Toasted Squash Seeds the seeds of one squash (1/4 - 1 cup) 1 tblsp vegetable oil 1/8 tsp salt, or more to taste 1/2 tsp chili powder Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Scoop seeds out of halved squash or pumpkin with a spoon and place in a a collander. The seeds will ...