Sexy valentine's day cinnamon bun WIN!

Happy Valentine's Day/V-Day/Lunar New Year/President's Day Weekend from Lefty Cooks!

OK, they're not that sexy or particularly groundbreaking, but I came in to this "reuse pizza dough" recipe with low expectations. I mean, if amazing and talented Cathy Erway had a pizza dough cinnamon bun fail, I was aware that I would likely also face challenges.
First the bad: they didn't stick together so well, and the cast iron skillet was a bitch the clean, and I ate too many.
Then the good: crispy on the outside, soft on the outside. Just the right amount of sweet that you can control. I used ingredients already on hand. And partly whole wheat, so it's practically good for you.

I used the remaining 1/3 of the pizza dough from last night. There was one bit I took that seemed have a bit of garlic in it, but that didn't detract from tastiness at all.

Leftover pizza dough cinnamon swirls

better than Little Debbie

Ingredients:
1/3 of the pizza/bread recipe (day old)
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar
2 Tbs of butter, melted

Soymilk glaze
1 c of soymilk
3 tables of sugar (or more if you'd like)
splash of vanilla extract

Rolls:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
Roll out the dough fairly thin, but not translucent thin, into a rectangle. You'll want to shape it so one length will get rolled up and the other length (longer one) will get cut into rolls.
Mix the cinnamon, sugar and melted butter. Spread onto the dough, fairly evenly. Leave some space between the edges, as it will spill out.
Carefully up the dough, from the long end.
Slice into pinwheels. Place on a cast iron skillet or a pie plate/10" cake pan.
Bake for about 10-12 minutes (until golden brown).

Pre-baking

But before putting them into the oven:
Warm up soymilk until almost boiling in small saucepan, medium heat. Add the sugar and vanilla. Add more sugar if you'd like (taste it first). Stir and watch the pot, you'll want it to reduce and simmer to a thick sauce.

Take the buns out of the oven. Spoon the vanilla glaze on top of each roll. Pop back in the oven for a final 2 minutes (careful that you don't scorch). If you have any left over glaze, add some more to tops after you take them out.

Oh noes (and other blog news)

Lefty Cooks has been a bad ole' blogger. A series of major/minor events have derailed my already spotty posting. While I must admit to drawing on the cooking skills of my neighborhood businesses, such as a vegan African cafe, an old-skool "since 1968" Italian owned pizzeria (the only time I felt like that I was going to be robbed in my neighborhood was the day I walked home with a piping hot, 14" pie. I would rob me), and the 24 Jamaican jerk chicken/curry place. But I have been doing some cooking, but in bits an pieces. Alot of repeats: Frankfurter gruene soss (for all those potatoes from the farm share), lentil salads, sauteed cabbage, etc.

Mr. LC and I have been stuck in my parents' sprawling suburban house for the past week. On Tuesday, we made an Indian feast for my mother's birthday. Thursday, we made scrambled eggs with lox. On Christmas, there were delicious Korean hot sauce noodles. Peppermint bark was attempted (minor fail). Today, I made the much requested pancakes for my parents, who eat fruit and veggie smoothies for breakfast everyday. I used Heidi Swanson's best pancake recipe, which some adjustments. This recipe is great because it uses my favorite King Arthur's white whole wheat flour, which is great because it's nutrient dense, full of fiber, but finer and more delicate than a traditional whole wheat. I also love the buttermilk, but I added more water so the batter would spread better. Finally, the vanilla is just my preference. If you feel like going restaurant style, switch out most of the sugar for malted milk (drool).
Heidi Swanson's Favorite Pancake Recipe (minus blueberry syrup), from 101cookbooks.com, with Lefty Cook adjustments
Makes enough to feed my hungry father, uncle, boyfriend, and self
ingredients:
2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
3/4 teas. baking soda
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups buttermilk -or- make your own*
1/2 c. water (or however much you want to thin out the batter, which is thick)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons butter, melted (melt in the pan skillet you are going to use)

*I used 2 c. whole milk, with one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar for each cup, or lemon juice, and about 1/4 c. of yogurt, all mixed together, let sit for about 10 minutes until thick and curdly

Method
1) Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl.
2) Mix all the wet ingredients together in a bigger bowl. Slowly add the dry ingredients, but don't overmix or worry about making it perfectly lump free.
3) Warm up some butter (I use the stick directly on the pan and then wipe it up with a paper towel, because I'm classy) on the skillet over medium-high heat. When water sprayed on the skillet starts to dance, you're in business. Ladle 1/4 c. out at a time. Cook until the edges start to get dry and flip. Repeat until done. Batter can be refridgerated for a day (but not more). You can also keep the pancakes warm by heating up the oven to 200 degrees, and putting them in a pan.
Serve with real maple syrup (the kind that stores in the fridge), berries, apple butter, or banana slices.

Nervous Prof's Begining of semester healthier banana bread

(I wasn't able to wait to take a picture before tucking in)

I was gonna post the new no-knead, barely measure Danish style "health" bread (whole meal, low yeast, honey, nuts, muesli, etc) based on the lovely Ganda of Eat Drink One Woman recipe, but I never photographed the bread before Blokey ate it all! gah!!
So instead, I present to you what Lefty Cooks does when nervous, especially about the start of a new semester: cooking and baking galore. I am documenting my dinner, which consisted of me throwing EVERYthing left over from the CSA share (turnips, kohlrabi, summer squash, potatoes, cilantro, chinese broccoli) and made it all Indian flavored mess: Bombay potatoes, Indian spiced chinese broccoli with squash, oven roasted (well, burned) kohlrabi and turnips fries, with Indian seasoning, and an interesting, tomato free chana masala (I substituted low fat yogurt for the tomatoes, and it turned into a kind of cheese); plus brown basmati and fake chapati/naans.
This morning, when I found out that Blokey finished off the health bread, I was hungry like a hippo, but tired and desiring more sleep. But the semester deems that I can't wait up at 10 (or 11, or noon) anymore, so I bleary eyed searched for a recipe to modify (make vaguely more healthy). This is adapted from the much abused Betty Crocker book. Luckily, it is relatively cool in Brooklyn and I found 3 really brown bananas and got to work.

Professah of Love's Banana Health Bread
Preheat oven to 350 F
Cream together:
1 stick (1/2 c.) of softened butter (or if you're impatient, cut it into small squares and it will soften faster. Please for the love of all things good, do not microwave. Earth Balance works too)
1/2 c. natural sugar (or any sweetner, i used some honey too)
Beat until well incorporated. Next add 2 eggs, 1 teas of vanilla extract, and 3 mashed up, very squishy bananas.
Continue to mix. Then add 1/2 c of butter milk (or add about 1 Tablespoon of natural vinegar or lemon juice to milk/soymilk)
Add 2 1/2 c. of whole grain flour, 1 teas of salt and baking soda. Mix together until just wet.
Add 1/2 of chopped nuts (I used almonds- for omega 3s)

Add to a 9" greased pan (or muffin tins), bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes (I went 1 hour 15, and it was slightly burnt). In a muffin, i think its about 20 minutes, but it should crack on top.

Because I used whole grain (I used Hodgson Mill's organic whole wheat, but spelt would be yummy too), it was a little drier and crumblier than usual. And I maybe over cooked it a bit. My photog skillz are still rushed, but here is a picture for you:

workers' granola

This is Sampson, whom I am kitty-sitting for another professor this week. I call him Henry, George, and sometimes Thomas because I like colonial English style names. S/h/G/T's a magnificent beast. He lives uptown and has been slowly taking in the sights of Eastern Parkway, and he likes to supervise me on my cooking projects. He seemed pleased with yesterday's breakfast project.

I love granola but I can't find natural style granola (minus high fructose corn syrup or soybean oils) anywhere in this town for less than $5.50 for a little bag that barely lasts a week. But granola is so simple, I tried my hand yesterday morning.

"There's a bleeding financial crisis going on" Granola recipe

Ingredients:
5 cups of old fashioned oats (not the steel cut kind)
1 cup of raw almonds
1 cup of raisins
1/2 cup of wheat germ (didn't use, but this stuff is amazing for you)
1/4 cup of honey (or brown rice syrup or agave nectar)
1/3 cup of orange juice
1/4 scant of neutral oil (safflower oil would be good)
cinnamon (or any other spices you might like: cloves, cardamom, ground ginger)
brown sugar (to taste)
other add-ins: pumpkin seeds, flax seed (ground or whole)

Preheat oven to 350. Measure oats in a large bowl. Warm the honey over low heat in a small sauce pan (for pourability), add juice and oil. Drizzle over the oats while mixing slowly, until well coated. Add cinnamon and spices (maybe 1 teaspoon total). If it doesn't seem sweet enough, you can add a bit of brown sugar (but it will likely be quite sweet, but that's OK. It gets less sweet in the baking procers).
Arrange on baking sheet and cook about 20-25 minutes, opening every 5 minutes to stir. Take out when golden and crispy.

granola after five minutes

The end result is a well toasted, not too sweet granola that's perfect for eating with plain yogurt and fruit in the morning. Beats the $5.50 Bear Naked business I've been buying.

Vegetarian migas with Chipotle-tomato sauce

This weekend, I attend the Brooklyn Food Conference which was pretty cool. I am quite familiar with lot of the policy and educational stuff I already knew, but it was great to hear about the activities local NY activists, especially in low income neighborhoods. I especially enjoyed the Young Culinary Masters, a program that teaches local NYC students how to cook, the NY Coalition for Healthy School Food (dunno why Heather Mills is a spokesperson) and the Q&A session with state representatives. It ties in nicely with what I've been trying to teach my students about trade, international relations, and inequality in regards to food production and agricultural subsidies.
Most exciting was meeting the lovely and sweet local celebrity blogger Cathy Erway, who lives in Crown Heights with me! Her equally adorable blog Not Eating Out in New York is both political, anti-consumerist, green and health/fun oriented. She asked me during a cooking demonstration if I had a blog, and I was embarrassed to say, "yes, but it's spotty." Since I cook more second semester, have joined the Crown Heights CSA, and have a flexible and hopefully productive summer in front of me, I think its time to resurrect this blog.
I decided to try a modified recipe from one of my favorite other NY food bloggers, Smitten Kitchen. Deb has gorgeous photos, but her recipes are usually meatier than I like. Plus, that anti-obesity panel I attended made me realize I send eat more greens, I tried to make it some what more heart healthy (although I used eggs, added guacamole, etc.) Her original recipe, with uses tradition chorizo, can be found here.

Vaguely more healthy Vegetarian Migas with Tomato-Chipotle sauce (she calls it a choltis, but I don't know what that is).

Serves 2 (although I cut down on the eggs and saved the rest for tomorrow)

oven chips: (if you don't want to buy tortilla chips)
6 corn tortilla cut into 1/6 wedges
Heat oven to about 400 degrees. Arrange wedges in a single layer (I had some lean against the tray "walls"). Cook about 15 minutes, opening around 1/2 way to flip, until gold brown (you can spray or brush with oil).

Before:

After:
(feel free to add salt or seasoning, but this works better if you've brushed with oil)

Sauce:
4-5 chipotle peppers (from a can with adobo sauce)
4 plum tomotos, roughly chopped
1/3 white onion
2-4 cloves garlic
Place on the above into a blender and pulse until incorporated. Add to saucepan and heat until bubbling; simmer for 15 minutes (to remove excess water) (I had to use a spoon as its quite thick). This business is spicy, even for maschocist Korean-American girls. You can cut it with yogurt/sour cream during the eating stage.

(apologies, I need to 409 that wall)

Migas:
3-4 eggs (or 5-6, cholesterol is good for the brain and moods), beaten
a bit of chopped onion
2 handfuls of bagged spinach (or any green or veggie that complements black beans- carrots, summer squash, etc.)
a little more than 1/2 can of black beans, drained (maybe just less than 1/4 cup dried and cooked?)
optional garnishes: shredded cheese (Deb recommends feta, but I like queso fresco or boring cheddar), a simple guacamole
olive oil

In a larger frying pan, warm up oil on medium heat and add onions. After they brown a bit, add spinach until it begins to wilt, and then add black beans. Push the spinach and black beans to side and scramble the eggs, adding the oven chips, until just a little wet (one of Mark Bittman's tips for perfect scrambled eggs) and incorporate with the other ingredients in the pan.
At this point, you can add cheese, as much sauce as you'd like, move to your plate, and eat (with leftover chips as garnish).
For a vegan alternative, stir fry 1/2 container of firm tofu that (with most of the liquid squeezed out with a cheese cloth, a process that makes the tofu look eggy) and add 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric, 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt, 1 Tablespoon of nutritional yeast flakes, and a pinch of cayenne. maybe some prepared mustard. Cook this with the spinach/beans a few minutes, and then add the chips and sauce on top (to soften chips)
This doesn't look anything like Deb's dish at Smitten Kitchen, but damn it was pretty delicious.



(apologies for the blurriness, as I was really excited to eat it)