Leftoversfor Tomorrow's Vegan Apple Brownies

I am generally a bit hesitant to try "vegan" snacks. I figure, since I'm not a vegan, what's the point? Well, I guess it never hurts to add healthy food to the diet, but I'm not going to worry about going vegan until I stop eating chicken and steak. And that may not happen in this lifetime, but you never know.

Mimi, one of my yoga teachers, made this recipe (that is credited to Missi D'Arcy) for an Open House. I took a very small one, because I expected I would not like it. It was, to my amazement, really tasty, I'm talking go-back-for-more-tasty. I have not yet tried to make this recipe myself, but since this card has been sitting on my desk for over a year - I'm going to add the recipe to the blog to make at a later date. (Photo Coming Soon - How Soon? No Idea.)

VEGAN APPLE BROWNIES

1/2 cup non-hydrogenated margarine (like earth balance)

1 cup natural sugar (turbinado can be used)

1/4 cup unsweetened organic applesauce

2 medium apples, pared, cored, and chopped fine (Macs or Granny Smith suggested)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup all purpose unbleached flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350.

Cream margarine. Gradually stir in sugar, then add applesauce. Mix until creamy.

Mix in apples and walnuts.

In separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, & cinnamon.

Stir dry ingredients lightly into apple mixture.

Turn into greased 7" x 11" pan and bake for 40 minutes.

Place on wire rack to cool, cut into bars.

***Suggestion*** Double recipe and use 13" x 9" pan. Baking time usually about the same.

Kim's Country Cookies

I believe this recipe came from a book of paper dolls that my friend Kim had when she was a little girl; the girl in the book was also named Kim. These are some of my favorite cookies. They are pretty easy to make; the hardest part is stirring the thick batter, as my little hand mixer would start smoking and then die if it tried to help me out with such a thick mixture. So you get a mini workout as a bonus... I am particularly proud of how circular & even in size my latest batch came out. I had to take a picture. Then I remembered my long neglected food blog... So hopefully you'll start seeing new recipes on leftovers4tomorrow with some frequency in the weeks to come. I did warn you that my cooking & baking happens in spurts!

Beat together:

• 3/4 cup vegetable oil


• 1/4 cup molasses


• 1 cup sugar


• 1 egg

Add & Mix Well:

• 2 cups flour


• 2 cups flour


• 2 tsp baking soda


• 1/2 tsp salt


• 1/2 tsp cloves


• 1/2 tsp ginger


• 1 tsp cinnamon

You may also add raisins, which was in the original recipe, but I like the cookies without the raisins. If you do not have cloves, the cookies will still taste great, but they'll have a little less personality & bite to them. I usually add just a bit less than 1/2 tsp cloves, but add a little extra cinnamon to compensate. Also, I do sift the flour I use. Not sure if that makes any difference, but I enjoy sifting. :)

• Chill in the Refrigerator. (I have to admit I always skip this part & it does not seem to make a difference. Maybe the chilling makes the dough easier to roll into balls? I'm too impatient.)


• Grease Baking Sheet (I used country crock)


• Roll into 1" balls and dip into sugar. (The sugar on the bottom seems to help prevent the cookies from getting burnt bottoms - the downfall of some cookies I have made. Moving the cookies off the cookie sheet to cooling rack - about 1-2 minutes after they are out of the oven also helps the bottoms of the cookies stay nice and golden.) I am realy proud of this batch.


• Place on Greased Cookie Sheet


• Bake 8 minutes at 350º

Leftovers For Tomorrow's Strawberry Grand Marnier Trifle

After I made the chocolate trifle, I wanted to do some sort of a strawberry version. This is what I came up with... it's enough to make one large & one mini trifle. (I learned this the hard way when my trifle got a little too tall too fast! I had to do some reconstructive surgery for the photo op...)

Strawberry Cake Mix
Grand Marnier
Strawberries
Pineapple chunks
Vanilla pudding (2 boxes)
Mini Nilla Wafers
Cool Whip
Ghiridelli white chocolate chips
Large Ghiridelli white chocolate bar (To use for shavings for the top, as well as breaking into small pieces.)

I layered the strawberry cake at the bottom, and poured 1/3 cup Grand Marnier on it. The next layer is strawberry and pineapple chunks, with some white chocolate chips and mini Nilla wafers. Next is a layer of pudding; each box of pudding is made with 1/3 Grand Marnier and 2/3 cup light cream. (You can use heavy cream, but it is not necessary; I haev tried it both ways.) Next is a layer of Cool Whip, and back to another layer of cake with Grand Marnier, etc. At the very top, I shaved most of a Ghiridelli white chocolate bar & broke up the rest into chunks for a garnish.

I'll be adding more photos as soon as possible of two trifles I made for a holiday party in December. The Strawberry version was the same as this recipe & for the Chocolate version, I added one layer of white chocolate pudding (I don't like more than one layer of Cool Whip, I have decided) & I also mixed some strawberries into the chocolate pudding & garnished the top with a circle of strawberries around the perimieter. I just have to wait for a friend to email the pics to me.

Leftovers For Tomorrow's Chocolate Trifle

Okay, no I didn't invent this Trifle, but it is so beautiful that I had to put it up here! (This photo shows a trifle made by Kimberly Ray for my birthday!) I plan to make a strawberry version with Nilla Wafers and vanilla pudding, but I'm having a hard time figuring out what alcohol to incorporate. Any suggestions?

Here's the recipe for the Chocolate Trifle:

1 box chocolate cake
2 boxes chocolate pudding
Heavy cream
Kahlua
2 containers of Cool Whip
2 Scor bars (Some people use Heath bars, but Scor is better)
2 Symphony with almonds & toffee chips (This is my own addition to a pretty classic recipe)

Make chocloate cake. When preparing pudding, use heavy cream in place of milk & reduce amount by 1/3 cup for each box. (Use 1/3 cup Kahlua in its place.) It helps to make each box of pudding in its own bowl.

After making the cake, put half of it in the bottom of the trifle bowl. Sprinkle 1/3 cup Kahlua on top of the cake. Pudding goes on next (first box), then cool whip, then candy. Then you do another layer of the same: more cake with Kahlua; more pudding (second box); more cool whip; more candy. And look how pretty it is!!!! It's always an impressive dessert to bring to someone else's party - or to serve at your own!

Leftovers For Tomorrow's Chili

Hello fellow foodies! I have really been neglecting my food blogging lately... so hopefully this wonderful chili recipe will make up for that. I've also got a great dessert to post next, a chocolate trifle.

I went heavier on the beans than I usually do. I was going to make the chili in my crock pot, but I used so many ingredients that I had to move it over to a stock pot on the stove. (I cooked on a low temperature for about 4-5 hours.) My favorite thing about chili is that it's delicious & really easy to make.

1 can Hunt's fire roasted tomatoes

1 can corn

1 can black beans

1 can dark kidney beans

1 can light kidney beans

1 can refried beans

1 diced onion

1 diced green pepper

1 jar Newman's Own Garden Variety salsa

Handful of shredded Cabot habanero cheddar cheese

Just under 2lbs ground beef

McCormick chili mix

4 minced cloves of garlic

chili powder to taste

paprika to taste

garlic powder

onion powder

pinch of oregano

ground black pepper
Splash of leftover pasta sauce

Sprinkle of parmesan/romano cheese

I mixed the ground beef with the McCormick chili mix, some minced garlic, the onions, green peppers, and fire-roasted tomato sauce in a skillet. I then added the cooked ground beef, to the stock pot with all the other ingredients above. The longer it simmers, the yummier it will taste. This chili had a good kick to it. (Thanks to the extra chili powder I added & the habanero cheddar cheese.) I brought it in to work, and it was a hit with my co-workers.

Leftovers For Tomorrow's Zucchini Bread

This one is actually pretty easy & oh so tasty! **A great tip** When you are grating your zucchini - use a fork when you get to the end so you don't cut your fingers; you'll also have the added benefit of using as much of the zucchini as possible. You can also use more than two cups, if you are feeling wild. The last time I made this, I reduced the cinnamon, and added a tiny bit of nutmeg and allspice in its place. This recipe does make two loaves, so you should have leftovers for tomorrow! Freeze any bread you won't eat right away.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup applesauce
2 cups white sugar
3 teaspoons real vanilla extract
2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup chopped walnuts (I use my food processor to chop up really fine, but that's just a personal preference.)

Grease and flour two 8" x 4" pans. Preheat oven to 325° F. Mix sifted flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl.

Beat eggs, oil, applesauce, vanilla extract, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add dry ingredients to the wet mixture, and beat well. Stir in zucchini and nuts until well combined. Pour batter into prepared bread pans.

Bake for 40 to 60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool* in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan.

*Well, you should let it cool, but I prefer it right out of the oven, steaming, with (you guessed it) country crock. :)

Leftovers For Tomorrow's Popovers*

*Disclaimer: If you make them correctly, you won't have any leftover popovers for tomorrow! These are best right out of the oven, with some country crock...

These popovers are meant to accompany my beef stew recipe, but they are yummy anytime!

I will warn you that if you (like me) have a hard time following directions... your popovers may not pop as prettily as the three in the photo above.

I enlisted the help of my neighbor and best friend Kim (who you will see mentioned again and again as this food blog continues - Look forward to some of her cookie recipes for the holidays & something called "Delicious Squares," as soon as I learn to stiffen egg whites properly...)

Kim has a knack for following directions, where I just want to throw everything in a bowl, in the oven or crock pot, and be done with it... I make great chili (tomorrow's project) and meatloaf, but my technique makes really pathetic popovers, like eggy little lump muffins, rather than the beautiful hollow creations popovers should be... they still taste okay, but not really the way they should. When it comes to popovers, dense is bad, and light and airy is good. So how do you do it correctly?

Follow the directions... as annoying as they are... and you will have pretty popovers...

2 large eggs

1 cup all-purpose flour (do not use self-rising flour)

1 cup milk

1/2 tsp salt

Heat oven to 450°. Grease 6-cup popover pan with shortening. Heat popover pan for 5 minutes.

In medium bowl, beat eggs slightly with a fork or wire whisk. Beat in remaining ingradients just until smooth (do not over-beat or popovers may not puff as high). Fill cups 1/2 full.

Bake 20 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 325°. Bake 10 - 15 minutes longer, until deep, golden brown.

Serve hot (with country crock...)

Good luck!