Raspberry Almond Coffeecake

This is one of our favorite desserts, very light, easy to make, and not very sweet. If you like cakes more on the sweet side you may want to add more sugar. You can use any kind of berry in it (or probably other fruit as well), we often use blueberries. Original recipe here.

Raspberry Almond Coffeecake

Ingredients

• 1 cup fresh raspberries, or other berries
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray, or butter pan.
2. Combine berries and brown sugar in a bowl. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Combine sour cream, butter or margarine, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and egg, and add to flour mixture. Stir just until moist. Spoon 1/2 of the batter into the prepared pan. Spread raspberry mixture evenly over the batter. Spoon remaining batter over raspberry mixture. Top with almonds.
4. Bake for 40 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack.

Tofu barbecue sandwiches

One day I had a hankering for a pulled pork sandwich, the kind that comes with cole slaw in it. The only problem is that I hardly ever cook meat at home, and when I do, pulled pork is just not one of those things I would ever make. Plus Mahesh can't eat it. So I came up with this tofu version which provides some of the same flavors, but is much easier to make, and healthier too. Mahesh loves it, there aren't too many vegetarian sandwiches that taste this good. I am pretty proud of myself that I made up this recipe.

This is a good recipe when you have mixed meat and vegetarian guests over because you can make the cole slaw and marinate some flattened chicken breast and some tofu in the bbq sauce ahead of time (in separate containers please!). Then, it all cooks fairly quickly on the grill, and the sandwiches are fast to make up after that.

Tofu barbecue sandwiches
Makes 4

Ingredients:

-- 1 recipe homemade bbq sauce, or just buy your favorite bottled sauce (check the ingredients to make sure it is vegetarian if you are serving it to vegetarians though)
-- 1 recipe southern-style cole slaw
-- 1 package extra-firm tofu
-- 4 buns

Instructions:

1. Cut tofu down the middle to make two square chunks, then cut each chunk sideways into 4 slabs, making a total of 8 slabs
2. Put the tofu and bbq sauce in a tupperware container and let marinade 24 hours or as long as you can wait (I am not good at planning ahead so I often skip the marinating part, it is fine)
3. Heat up the bbq, or some oil in a frying pan. Fry tofu on each side until heated through and barbecue sauce is toasty and caramelized. Be careful not to burn though!
4. While the tofu is frying, toast your buns
5. Layer the cooked tofu on the buns, adding on 2-3 Tablespoons extra bbq sauce from the marinading container (it's okay because it's not meat!) and then a big handful of cole slaw, squeezed to remove excess liquid.
6. enjoy!!

homemade barbecue sauce

Homemade Barbeque sauce

I just made this and now I can't find the link so I want to write it down while I still remember what I did because it tastes pretty good.

BBQ SAUCE

-- 1 cup ketchup
-- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
-- 1 Tablespoon Worchestire sauce
-- 2 T. minced onion (the original recipe called for fresh, but I used dried fried onion)
-- 2 cloves garlic, minced, or 2 t. dried fried garlic
-- 2 T. molasses
-- 1/4 t. cayenne pepper, or to taste

1. mix all ingredients in bowl
2. microwave for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly, until thick and fragrant. You can also boil it on the stove.

Portabella Burgers with goat cheese and basil

I have made a lot of portabella burgers in my life but this method works the best I think. There are millions of ways you can flavor them but this is what we did tonight and it was delicious so I will blog this one.

Portabella Burgers with goat cheese and basil

Makes 2

Ingredients

2 large portabella mushrooms, stems removed
2 large cloves garlic, minced
2 t. soy sauce (approx)
2 t. olive oil (approx)
black pepper
spicy sauce to taste (I used like 3 splashes of habanero sauce)

4 Tablespoons goat cheese
2 large hamburger buns
mayonnaise
1 tomato, sliced
salt and pepper
some lettuce or spring mix
sliced onion
6 large basil leaves, minced (maybe 2 teaspoons minced)
1 tablespoon minced parsley

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Lay portabellas gill side up in oven-safe baking pan.
3. Mix together the garlic, soy sauce, olive oil, black pepper, and spicy sauce in a small bowl. Pour over the gills of the mushrooms evenly.
4. Bake portabellas in the oven for 30 minutes
5. When portabellas are done, turn off oven, break goat cheese into chunks and spread evenly over portabellas, and put back in warm oven to melt while you prepare the buns.
6. Toast the buns, prepare one half with: mayo, tomato slices, salt and pepper, lettuce, and onion.
7. Take the portabella mushrooms (with softened cheese) out of the oven and put on the topped bun. Sprinkle basil and parsley over the cheese. Top with other bun.
8. Enjoy!