The Smiling Onion

Vegetarian and Gluten-free Cooking

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Banana Spice Muffins

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I didn’t plan to bake today. But sometimes, inspiration just strikes and the mixing bowls have to come out. Of course, knowing your baking triggers can be helpful when it comes to acceptance. Here are mine:

-Rain or snow

-The remnants of rain or snow (snow-covered trees, clouds of fog, etc.)

-Waking up early without an alarm

-A clean kitchen

Today, waking up at 7 to a light dusting of very pretty snow and realizing that I had the morning free set my internal baking clock to “Go.” And why fight that? Especially when it resulted in these surprisingly healthy (you wouldn’t know it from the taste) banana spice muffins that happen to be gluten-free, dairy-free, and refined-sugar free. Yum!

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Cranberry Cookies with White Chocolate and Ginger

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Unless you are super Type A or enjoy making shared family spreadsheets (and does anyone really enjoy that?), chances are there will be some oversights or duplications in your Thanksgiving shopping. Especially when multiple people are bringing ingredients/food. Last year, for example, I somehow ended up with four bags of organic cranberries and only eight people to feed. Despite having multiple cranberry sauce fanatics at the table,  nobody is going to eat quite that much of it, especially with all the Thanksgiving standards to load up on. So I decided not to use all four bags.

But then I had a new problem – what could I do with so many cranberries? Cut to a few days post Thanksgiving, when the last slice of pie had been eaten and the glorious array of leftovers was almost gone. I wasn’t ready to give up having a kitchen stocked full of treats just yet, so I decided to make some cookies. (I mean, I needed to use those cranberries, anyway, so this was really the responsible choice, right?) Okay, maybe responsible is a bit of a stretch, but the decisions was definitely a good one. It yielded these cookies! And I’ve been waiting a whole year to share them with you.

Perfect for including at your Thanksgiving table or for munching on after the fact (people with extra cranberries, I’m looking at you!), these cookies have such a holiday flair. The tartness of the cranberries goes perfectly with the sweetness of the white chocolate and the lovely chunks of candied ginger. I’ve used finger millet flour for these, which is a darker variety of millet flour that helps temper all the sugar a bit and lends a lovely earthy quality that is perfect for the cold weather. That said, if you are unable to find finger millet flour (I order it online from Pure India Foods), you can use regular white millet flour (actually pictured above) and the cookies will still turn out. If you go this route, I would suggest cutting the sugar slightly (try a scant ½ cup) as the white variety turned out much sweeter.

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Rugelach Carrots

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Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) begins tonight, and my family has already started celebrating. Our traditional Rosh Hashanah hike happened yesterday; tashlich and apple-picking happened today. When asked which night we wanted to do the “big” dinner, Raf (the youngest of us) responded, “I was hoping both would be a decent size.” And so we’re doing two Rosh Hashanah dinners, both complete with plenty of sweet flavors to encourage sweetness in the year ahead.

Traditionally, I’ve made cake-like desserts for Rosh Hashanah, like this Chocolate-Hazelnut Cake, Apples and Honey Cake, and Apple-Ricotta Tart. However, this year, I wanted something a bit simpler and more veggie centric. I also wanted to embrace the fall theme, since the leaves are just starting to change and some of my happiest moments have been seeing these bits of color floating through the air and landing gracefully on the grass, where I know they will soon be crunched underfoot, raked, and potentially jumped in. Oh, how I love fall!

So carrots it was. Isn’t it always carrots? The lovely yellow, purple, and orange medley of rainbow carrots reminded me of the changing leaves and the luscious foliage that is right around the corner. I roasted them whole, until very tender, and then topped them with what I’ve termed “essence of rugelach” – walnuts, raisins, cinnamon, and brown sugar. (What is rugelach, you ask? It’s a very traditional Jewish cookie often eaten at Rosh Hashanah, with a cream cheese dough rolled around the aforementioned walnut mixture.) While I initially confused my parents quite a bit – they apparently thought I was making rugelach OUT of carrots (maybe next year, guys), they came around in the end and agreed that the dessert did have a rugelach feeling to it. I hope you concur!

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Cold Cucumber Soup

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My goal was to get at least one summer post out before September. I failed, of course. But at least it’s still summer for another eighteen days. I’m gonna call that a win.

If the humidity is getting to you, I highly suggest this cucumber soup. It hits all the right notes: fresh, sweet, tangy, spicy, nutty, and creamy. If you’re a fan of the green chutney often served in Indian restaurants, you’ll love this. The flavor profile is quite similar…but presented in a less intense, drinkable form, with some gazpacho-y notes thrown in. In fact, I guess you could say this soup is kind of a cross between gazpacho and green chutney. Except that doesn’t sound very good. And it’s actually incredibly delicious! Oh, and also there’s no mint.  Hm. I may be a bit out of practice with this whole blogging thing. Let me just get right to the point: Make. This. Soup.

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Brussels Sprouts Tacos

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This is one of those recipes where the ingredients are surprisingly simple – there’s no magic spice mix, exotic herbs, special vinegars, or complex sauce. But the flavors and textures are unreal. So what’s the secret?  I’d say it’s probably the cooking method for the brussels sprouts, which actually happens to be easier than most – no blanching – but which yields an EXTREMELY flavorful result. You’ll be shocked that the only added seasonings are sea salt and chives! Of course, once you have your flavor-packed, browned, crispy brussels, it doesn’t hurt to pile them on top of a corn tortilla, add some toasted pumpkin seeds, a simple crema, a light sprinkle of feta, and a squeeze of lime. The flavors jive so well you’ll want to eat these every day.

I actually created this recipe way back in January, but thought it would be a perfect Cinco de Mayo post. (Yay for planning ahead!) What I didn’t count on, however, was that every time I came across these photos sitting in my Google Drive, I’d want to eat these tacos immediately. So be warned: they are addictive!

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Giant Veggie Turnover (Grain-Free and Kosher for Passover!)

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I swear that the photos do not do this recipe justice. It wasn’t very photogenic (or needed a better photographer) but it looked strikingly beautiful in real life. So much so that I kept grabbing my phone and taking more pictures of it even after I was technically “done” with the shoot. But there’s much more to this recipe than good looks.

If you are a vegetarian (like me), Passover can be a bit tough. Potato kugels are usually the center piece and then come lots and lots of sides. Not that there is anything wrong with that – I love sides – but sometimes you want something a bit more forward at the center of your seder.

Enter this giant veggie turnover. It’s stuffed to the brim with potatoes, kale, and cabbage seasoned with lots of paprika and dill. The turnover crust is satisfyingly savory, sweet, and bready with a knish-like quality that will surprise you. There’s plenty of extra filling to pile on top or style individual plates with, and it’s super fun to cut off slices for all your guests. And – to add some extra Passover flair – a horseradish-lemon dressing gets drizzled on top.

When I tasted it, I was pretty ecstatic. Who knew plantains could taste so Jewish? And the filling – yum! And the horseradish…oh, man. This was going to be a seder to remember.

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“Pots of Gold” Baked Potatoes with Herbed Sour Cream & Leeks

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Happy St. Paddy’s Day, everyone! If you are wondering how to commemorate the holiday, look no further. I’ve got a simple, St. Paddy’s Day recipe that should fit the bill and would also go great with some Irish beer. Because really, what could be more Irish than potatoes and beer? (Actually, perhaps whiskey, but you can have that for dessert.)

Anyway, for this St. Paddy’s Day, I decided to do a twist on baked potatoes with sour cream. I wanted to keep the simplicity of the dish but also add a lot more fun for your taste buds and a little sprinkle of fancy schmancy just because.  Enter mustard crust, an ooey gooey flavor-packed outside to our little pots of gold. Blending the cream with some parsley and chives also gives the dish a nice brightness of flavor and adds a lovely, St. Paddy’s Day-appropriate green color. Finally, a sweet mustard drizzle (made with your leftover mustard crust mixture) and some sautéed leek greens complete the dish. Think: a lovely rainbow of flavors spiraling out of a little golden nugget, bringing good fortune to your taste buds every time you take a bite. Yum!

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Mesquite Caramel

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Have you heard of mesquite powder? It’s made from the ground pods of mesquite trees and has a wonderfully sweet – yet complex – flavor that is somewhere between vanilla, caramel, and malted milk balls. Delicious in smoothies, hot drinks, ice-creams, and baked goods, mesquite powder is great to have on hand!

A few years back, I decided to try making a caramel using just mesquite and water. The results were exciting. While it wasn’t as sticky as a typical caramel, it was thick and syrupy enough to hit the “caramel neurons” in my brain. (By the way, this is yet to be confirmed by an MRI, but I may have more “caramel neurons” than average.) Plus, this mesquite caramel had two advantages: it was both simpler to make and healthier to eat than a butter and sugar-laden variety.

Before we get too excited, let me just clarify that – while there is no added sugar in mesquite powder since it’s literally just ground up mesquite pods – chemical analysis of the powder does show it to be about 40 percent sucrose. As such, I probably can’t say that this caramel is entirely “sugar-free.” I can say that it is definitely significantly lower in sucrose than your typical table-sugar caramels, however, and has a more unique flavor, to boot. Its high fiber content may also be helpful in preventing blood sugar spikes, though – according to the website linked earlier – more research is needed.

This is the easiest caramel you’ll ever make. You just need mesquite powder, water, a small saucepan, and a spoon. Once the mixture starts to bubble, it’ll be ready in about five minutes. Drizzle it over ice-cream (I know, kind of negates the low sugar aspect), over your morning porridge (one of my favorite ways to eat oatmeal) or enjoy with stewed or baked apples. It’s also a wonderful way to dress up a bowl of cold cereal! Plus, it’ll keep for several days in the fridge and doesn’t harden or solidify, meaning it’s always drizzle-ready.

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Easiest, Fluffiest Gluten-Free Pancakes

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Out of all the gluten-free pancakes I’ve eaten (and I’ve eaten my fair share), these probably have a texture closest to your standard white-flour variety. They are neither bready nor gummy, which is a hard balance to get right in the gluten-free pancake world. At the risk of sounding like I’m describing coffee, I would call them “medium-bodied,” by which I mean that they are in the just-right category between very thin and very thick. Best of all, they come together in your blender, contain no sugar or sweetener, and brown up beautifully.

So what’s the secret? A very ripe plantain. This lends the batter a delicious, sweet flavor that makes these beauties enjoyable even without any syrup on top. (For those of you who eat pancakes for the syrup, don’t worry: slathering these with butter and syrup is also a win.) You’ll be blending up your ripe plantain with some whole-grain gluten-free flours (oat and sorghum), baking powder, a bit of oil, a non-dairy milk of your choice (I like almond), and a couple eggs. And that’s all it takes!

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Swiss Chard & Feta Hearts with Spicy Marinara

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While I typically go the sweet route for Valentine’s Day (check out my matcha custard, red velvet pancakes, and chocolate-whiskey sandwich cookies from years past), I decided a savory treat was in order this year. Something elegant – yet hearty – with plenty of Valentine’s Day symbolism. That meant breaking out the heart molds, whipping up a spicy marinara, and choosing red chard over green.

In addition to possessing beautiful, Valentine’s Day-appropriate stems, red chard happens to pair beautifully with feta, lemon, dill, and the other Mediterranean flavors at play here. In fact, these hearts are kind of like a Greek twist on risotto cakes, but made with millet instead of rice, and much easier to put together. (No need to actually make risotto!)  They are quite nice on their own and even more romantic with the marinara.

No heart mold? No problem. Just use your hands to make round cakes (patties) instead. If you find yourself missing the heart element, you can always dip your finger into the marinara and finger paint a heart or two on your serving plate. Perhaps your special someone will want to help decorate too!

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