Law School Dinner Party with Vegan Menu :o)

My good friend, Cody Kees, is in law school with me, and last year, I hosted a dinner for him and my other baby 1Ls with the famous Lippert Lasagna. It was such a hit that earlier this semester he asked if I'd do it for his mentees this year, and I was happy to oblige. This was one of the largest groups I've cooked for with 14 guests, and I was also surprised when I learned that I would have vegan guests, so that threw me for a bit of a loop at first, but I did some online recipe research and found some yummy choices for our guests with special tastes. :o)

Menu

Fruit Tray with Fluff Fruit Dip

Lasagna

French Garlic Bread

Baby Spinach Salad

Sundried Tomato Basil Artichoke Vegan Pasta

Lemon Bundt Cake

Happy Vegan Carob Cookies

See my previous posts for recipes for my Fruit Fluff, Lasagna, French Garlic Bread, & Baby Spinach Salad.

Sundried Tomato Basil Artichoke Vegan Pasta

http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=7775.0

Ingredients:

1/2-1 lb of pasta, depending on how much you eat (be sure to buy vegan friendly!)

2 tablespoon olive oil

2 cloves of garlic

1/4 small onion, diced

1/2 red pepper, chopped

1 bunch fresh spinach, chopped

1 jar sun-dried tomatoes (preferably the dry kind and not the kind packed in oil)

1 jar of marinated artichoke hearts (or fresh, if you have them)

Lots of basil (either freshly chopped or dried)

Mushrooms (optional if you like them)

Directions:

In a medium-sized frying pan, heat olive oil, garlic and onions until onions start to brown (about 3-4 minutes). Add peppers, basil and spinach until spinach starts to looks wilted (another 4 minutes or so). Stir in the tomatoes, artichoke hearts and mushrooms, or any other veggies that sound good at the time. Let the mixture simmer for a while until everything starts to take on each others flavors. Oh yeah--don't forget to make the pasta!! Mix the pasta into the vegetables and eat.

Serves: 2

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Lemon Bundt Cake

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/glazed-lemon-bundt-cake/Detail.aspx

Ingredients:

1 cup butter or margarine, softened

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons lemon extract

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup milk

1 tablespoon grated lemon peel

Glaze:

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 tablespoon water

1/2 teaspoon lemon extract

3/4 cup sugar

Directions:

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in extracts. Combine flour, baking powder and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with milk. Stir in lemon peel. Pour into a greased and floured 10-in. fluted tube pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes; invert onto a wire rack. Cool 10 minutes longer. Place rack on waxed paper. Combine glaze ingredients; drizzle over the warm cake. Cool completely before serving.

Happy Vegan Carob Cookies

http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=6391.0

Ingredients:

2 cups unbleached flour

2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
cinnamon, to taste, optional
vegan chocolate or carob chips, put in as many as you like
1 cup raw sugar (turbinado #1; sucanat works too, but sucks up a lot of the moisture)
1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup water

Directions:

Very important-make sure all ingredients are at room temperature. It will work if they're not at room temp but it works much better if they are. Also while your oven is pre-heating put the cookie sheets you are going to use on top of the oven so they get preheated as well.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Stir in chips. Make a well in the center and set aside.
2. In a medium size bowl, add together sugar and oil; mix well. Add the vanilla and then add the water; mix well. Add the wet to the well in the dry. Mix it well but be careful not to overwork it. Add more chips if you need to.
3. Spoon onto ungreased cookie sheets. Put them in the oven. Bake for 5 minutes and then flip and rotate the sheets (top to bottom & 180 degree rotation). Bake another 4 minutes and check them. The cookies are done when they seem a little bit softer then you want them to be. They will harden up some as they cool. I usually go in two minute increments from here until they get to where I like them.
4. Take them out when they are done and move them to wire cooling racks. If they split or come apart when you try to remove them let them sit on the pan for 2 minutes before transferring them to the racks.

Serves: almost 2 dozen; Preparation Time: 10 minutes; Cooking Time: 10 to 12 minutes

Granny's Pecan Pie

My Granny always made Pecan Pie for Thanksgiving, so when the Traveler decided to host a Pot-Luck Thanksgiving Dinner, I was eager to pick up the family tradition. I'm excited about sharing this classic dessert tomorrow. :o)

Ingredients:

1 cup Karo Corn Syrup (Dark or Light or 1/2 of each kind)
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring
1 1/2 cups (6 oz) pecans (whole or chips whichever you prefer)
1 unbaked 9" deep dish pie crust

Directions:
Melt butter and add sugar, beaten eggs, karo syrup, & vanilla. Mix well with spoon and add pecans. Pour into unbaked pie crust. Bake in pre-heated 350 degree oven on center rack for 55 to 60 minutes or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cool for 2 hours.

Granny used to make hers with the Dark Karo Corn Syrup. But my mom likes using 1/2 of each, but says she has done it all ways depending on what she had in the pantry. I made mine with 1/2 dark and 1/2 light.

Pictures:

Blogging Break

Hello Faithful Blogger Followers!

I just wanted to give y'all an update and apologize for the lack of yummy food posts lately. Unfortunately, my third year of law school has proven much busier than I had hoped, so despite having my new large kitchen, I haven't had quite the time I'd like to have to spend cooking in it! All the same, I promise to resume my blog posts as soon as I find some spare time. Again, please forgive, and thanks for sticking around!

Tammy :o)

Chocolate Butterscotch Cafe Cookies

Our friend Alana just recently moved into a town house with a full size kitchen so she's been a baking machine! And she surprised us with these amazing cookies the other day. They are inherently crunchy and really great with a glass of cold milk. Yum!

Chocolate Butterscotch Cafe Cookies

1 roll sugar cookies
1/3 c. brown sugar
1 t vanilla
3/4 c. oats
1/2 c. butterscotch chips
1/2 c. chocolate chips (3 oz. chopped chocolate bars)

Pre-heat oven to 350.

Break up cookie dough. Add brown sugar and vanilla - mix well. Add remaining ingredients. (Or, if you're feeling crazy, just mash everything together all at once). Drop 1/4 cup scoops of dough onto a cookie sheet and flatten to about 1/2 inch thick.

Bake 13-18 min, cool 1 min on baking sheet. Transfer to cooling rack.

Chocolate Rice Pudding

The other day, I was craving something chocolately, but I didn't have much to work with, so I decided to get creative. I started digging through the pantry and determined that I wanted to make chocolate rice because I've been experimenting with rice a lot lately with great success - cinnamon & sugar rice, Tony Chachere's rice, etc. So I went in search of chocolate rice... Unfortunately to no avail, haha. BUT! I did locate the following recipe for a chocolate rice pudding. I do have to add the following disclaimer: I really enjoyed this delightful treat, but the rest of my audience didn't seem to think much of it. Alana liked it, but Megan didn't eat much of it. Also, Danny and Jamie both declined to really indulge based off of their predisposition to disliking rice pudding. Anyhow, I guess the lesson here is: find out if people like rice pudding before you go to the trouble to make it to share with them, haha. :o)

Chocolate Rice Pudding Recipe

Ingredients:

1/4 c. cocoa powder

1/2 c. brown sugar

1/8 tsp. salt

1 1/4 c. milk

1/2 tsp. vanilla

3 eggs

2 c. cooked rice

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine cocoa, brown sugar, and salt in large mixing bowl. Add 1/4 c. of the milk and whisk until smooth. Add eggs, vanilla, and milk. Whisk to combine. Stir in rice. Transfer to a baking dish or ramekins. Bake for 30 minutes for large dish (smaller dishes will take less time). When you take the dish out of the oven, it should still jiggle a little in the middle - but it will firm up as it cools. Let cool for 5 minutes.

Old Fashioned Yellow Cupcakes with Homemade Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Tonight some of my best friends and I are house-sitting for another friend and we were so excited to have access to an actual full kitchen that we made ourselves a lovely little dinner and dessert. My contribution was the dessert and I made Old Fashioned Yellow Cupcakes with Homemade Chocolate Buttercream Frosting. I must admit, there wasn't much to them as I used a box mix, but I did the dishes too to make up for it, haha. I am calling them "Old Fashioned" because we didn't have any muffin cups, lol. Also, I also just adapted my Vanilla Buttercream Frosting recipe to become chocolate, so it's super easy. And I didn't bring my decorating kit, so they didn't look as pretty as my last batch, but they sure were yummy!

Homemade Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:

3 c. powdered sugar
1/3 c. cocoa powder

1 c. butter (softened)
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tbsp. heavy whipping cream

Directions:

Combine the butter, cocoa powder, and powdered sugar together in a large bowl and mix using an electric mixer with a whisk attachment on low speed until well blended. Then continue to mix on medium for another 3 minutes, give or take. Then add the vanilla and heavy cream. Beat on medium for another minute more, adding more cream as necessary to reach the desired consistency.

British Cookies

When I have a rough day, I like to bake to take my mind off things and to give me an opportunity to succeed at something - even if it is as small as in a cookie. So today, I made British Cookies. Admittedly, there really isn't a whole lot of "British" to them other than it's on my mind since a new friend of mine is moving to England in a couple of weeks and they have English Toffee in them, haha. But anyhow, I've really gotten into the swing of using packaged mixes for baked goods and then adding something special to perk them up! Kind of a Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade type deal. So, here is my newest creation. :o)

Ingredients:

1 pkg. Betty Crocker Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix

1 stick Butter (softened)

1 Egg

2 tsp. Vanilla

1/4 c. Chopped Walnuts

1/4 c. English Toffee Bits

Directions:

Follow directions on the package mix (which is basically combine the mix, butter, and egg). Then add the other ingredients. Bake on 375 for 10-12 minutes.

Enjoy! I like to eat all cookies with milk. These are good with it too, haha. :o)