just fyi

Things that often astonish people about those with "tree nut" allergies include:

1. That peanuts are not nuts. They are in the legume (think peas and beans) family and grow in the ground.

2. Almonds are also not nuts. They are in fact the seed of a "drupe," which is a kind of fruit. Almonds are in fact related to plums and cherries.

The more you know!

pumpkin pie

It's Halloween, which is pretty much the start of pumpkin pie season. I of course cannot personally eat pumpkin pie (all the eggless pumpkin pie recipes seem to be "no cook," meaning they are clammy and weirdly textured), but when carving pumpkins it always seems like such a waste to just throw all the gunk inside away. Plus, pumpkin pie makes people very happy, and then for awhile I am their favorite person.

A few years ago I hit upon a very simple and easy pumpkin pie recipe. I used about half fresh pumpkin (there wasn't much goo inside mine this year) and half canned pumpkin, but all canned or all fresh is fine too.

INGREDIENTS:
9" pie shell (I bought one, because I am lazy and have not yet mastered the art of pie shells)
15 ounces pumpkin
14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
2 eggs
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tablespoon maple syrup

I added the vanilla and the maple to the original recipe for the first time today, and they seem to be a hit. Anyway.

INSTRUCTIONS:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Beat all ingredients together and pour into the pie crust. Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake 35-45 minutes more.

This recipe has gotten rave reviews every time I've made it, and I hope it does the same for you! If anyone has a recipe for an eggless, bakeable pumpkin pie, I'd love to hear about it.

Eggless French Toast

This will be a work in progress, because I've found a lot of tips online for making eggless french toast and just didn't have the ingredients for half of them. Who has tapioca powder lying around?

Didn't take any pictures, because I'm an idiot. I'll have to be better about that.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup1% lowfat milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon flour
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter, halved
1 slice french bread

Mix the milk, vanilla, flour, sugar and cinnamon together. Coat the bread with the mixture, and melt 1/2 tablespoon butter. Fry the bread in the butter until it's golden brown, then add the rest of the butter and flip the bread over. Serve with maple syrup!

Now, I have no idea what real french toast tastes like. I know what it smells like and looks like, but I knew early on that I couldn't eat it because of the eggs. So, given that, I have to say that this version was pretty decent. I think I let the milk mixture soak into the bread a little too much, because it was kind of mushy on the inside. The outside, though, was frickin' awesome. I'll keep experimenting and let you all know how each version turns out.

Here's to making lots of new recipes for things I couldn't previously eat!

oh, hello

I should probably state right up front that I am not a chef. I'm barely even a cook, but I do enjoy cooking, and I am slowly but surely learning how to do it. I'm a much better baker than I am a cook, but on this blog I'm going to try to branch out a bit into things that don't make me fatter.

But don't worry, there will be ample things that make one fatter as well.

A bit about my cooking habits: I am a freelance filmmaker, sort of, so when I'm on set I don't really have time to make anything beyond macaroni n' cheese or turkey sandwiches, which generally suits me fine because a good turkey sandwich can be like crack*. Another part of being a freelance filmmaker is that I'm not always working, and I have a ton of student loan debt, so I'm pretty broke, which means I can't always buy things like meat. But who needs meat?

Oh yes, I do. I love meat. I love animals more than meat, which by all accounts means I should be a vegetarian, but I'm not. The main reason for that is salami. Anyway, when I get to make meat-filled recipes, I will do so, otherwise I'll have to be crafty with less-pricey ingredients.

I also go through cooking phases, but you'll just have to deal with that.

So, things I know how to cook really well as of now include:

Dad's guacamole
Mom's scalloped potatoes
apple pie
blueberry pie
tac-tac (I'll do an entry on it so no need to explain just yet)
minestrone soup
English Toffee Bars

The rest will just have to be an adventure. Thanks for reading and I hope you keep coming back!


*Also like crack: Trader Joe's Maple Leaf Sandwich Cookies. HOLY CRAP.  Why are maple-flavored things only distributed in the fall? Perhaps I should come up with some sort of awesome maple recipe of my own so that I can have them all the time. Perhaps I should also do this for Girl Scout Cookies.