KG is moving!

Hey everyone - just a quick announcement, that - just as in real life - I'm moving!

I'm over at Wordpress now, at http://kamutflakegirl.wordpress.com , hope to see you there. :)

(and as soon as I can figure out how to redirect RSS feeds, hopefully you won't have to do that manually, either)

cornmeal cooking

Ah, remember the hearts? (now why can I never seem to keep from smiling at the thought of little cookie cutters?)

I made them to adorn a roasted eggplant & chestnut bisque (with blood orange and mint), but the trick is that I made them spicy!  It's pretty simple to do, and I learned a new method for making polenta thanks to Mark Bittman - instead of boiling the water and then adding the cornmeal, you first whisk the cold water with the grain so there's no lumps at all.  Granted, I've never had huge lump problems with polenta, but I do think this was easier.  It even accommodated my using a hand mixer attachment instead of a real whisk because, uh.... it was closer!  It's SO almost the same thing.

Spicy Ras-el-Hanout Polenta Croutons

1 cup coarse cornmeal

3 cups water

1 tsp salt

2 tsp Ras el Hanout spice

1 tbsp olive oil

- In a medium saucepan, whisk together the cornmeal, salt, spices and water completely.  Then, jack up the heat to boil and as soon as it does boil, reduce the heat to a very low bubble and stir every minute or so until the grain is completely cooked through and the porridge is thick.  It'll be about 12-15 minutes.  

- Then, whisk in the oil and spread the polenta on a baking sheet lined with greased plastic wrap and refridgerate for at least 2 hours to firm everything up.

- When it's firm - cut it up!  Cookie cutterized, or into little crouton-cubes, either way.  

- Heat a heavy skillet over medium high heat and coat the bottom in olive oil.  Fry them up, about 5 minutes a side, until they're nicely browned and slightly firm when you poke them.  Top onto salads or soups or just snack on them, they're really nice.

Mmmm, speaking of cornmeal and how utterly delicious it is, I made some mini fluffy cornbreads from the Vegetarian Epicure by Anna Thomas.  I've had this book since I was a little girl, or at least my mother always kept it's dry-bound oft-used pages up on the bookshelf for as long as I can remember.  Granted it's chock full of dairy and eggs, but what is viable for a vegan is really lovely, and the cornbread is no exception.

I replaced the egg with some flaxseed and added chopped thai chili and diced red onions, and they came out just barely sweet and nutty tasting!  This isn't a big-ol sopping up chili with a hunk of hefty corncake kinda cornbread, but light and refined kind of puff of mais-muffin that' got a crisp crust and is pretty low fat too.  Almost alarmingly charming.  ^.^

200th post -- KG cookzine vers. 1, heart-shapes, unicorns and brownies

Chocolate Midget Cake with Tiny Ganache (pg. 24)

Happy birthday to KG!  It's a 200th poststravaganza of um... well...

... that I finally made that cookzine!  Actually, a while back, I made this in the space of one week, entirely handwritten (legibly) and full of the same recipes I've used since high school to absolutely perfect results, plus some extra new concoctions and no shortage of adorable drawings of FOODS all over thar place!  I'm gonna put it up on my Etsy sometime tonight, so if you want a copy, it'll be real easy.

There's some from the blog, and some new inventions, as well as some from my friends.  Some are veganized versions of comfort food I grew up with (Coconut Peanut Noodles - although growing up we had it on oh-so N. American tri-coloured rotini).  There's the Raw Rosewater Cheesecake in all it's dreamy creamy glory!  My sister added in this amazing Quinoa Salad that relies on copious, copious amount of poppyseeds, and it totally transcends anything I thought it could be.

Hi Satchmo.  =^-^=

(maybe next zine I'll make-a-up some kitty treats?  Catnip nori bites?)

I could also totally get behind a totally-soup zine.  But anyway, the ones in here are good.

Oh yeah!  Speaking of soup, I made a whole million of polenta croutons in twee shapes for a soup yesterday! 

But that's next post.  :D

Like a ghost cookie from the land that posting forgot, K IS BACK!

*crunch munch crisp lunch.... *

A-so... it appears.....

Pomme's homestyle totally awesome-for-you date-sweetened rice-flour cocoa-banana-kamut crispies, just TRY and eat just one, it's impossible

Hiatus finito!  K is back on the keyboard!  And in the meantime, some things have, of course, changed.

 I moved, finally, back in with my best soul-mate P (or Pomme, for those who remember), which has been a wonderful and learning and growing experience like it always is.  I always think it's the path of challenge that is the one worth taking, and the challenge of love is really no arduous thing, especially when it means I can come home and breathe a sigh of relief for being around people who, perhaps more than most, understand me.  It's no small treasure, and I count my lucky stars daily.

It also means that I'm privy to her baking skills again, and since her cookies, bars, scones, and cakes are so different from mine I really really pounce on them.  It's funny how one's own cooking can never surprise and so is somehow less enticing.  She's all about the whole-grain, natural sugars, low-gluten and high-end organic ingredients, always done without a recipe and always tasting very massive and wholesome in the best possible way.  Think... deep cocoa and heavy vanilla use, too.  Anyway, it's been nice to trade off baking again, and though neither of us are very rich right now and have been rationing sugar and oil with a careful eye, it hasn't taken much to feel rich in other respects.  Like getting valuable practice filling the table with a peasant's panache - the kind that gets one to make homemade momo dumplings for a special chinese dinner without spending more than enough to get a set of sparklers.  (... because you need sparklers ! )

On that note - we're looking into starting a small personal chef endeavour.  It's a lot simpler than I realized at first, and fate (among other things - um, the recommendation of countless friends) has steered my excitement in this direction nonstop for the past week or so.  I'll update with any progress on that, of course, and in the meantime, there is finally access to a camera in the house!  With any luck, P herself may even start posting some of her own food thoughts, and there may be her own or a joint recipe blog coming up in the future.  

And with that - happy camera having!  And happy reading week to all y'all in university (my heart and blurry textbook-ridden eyes are totally, totally with you).  Namaste. ~_~