Iron Chef Challenge: Apples and Peanutbutter

apple peanutbutter brownies
Originally uploaded by jomarb

This ones a little late but to be perfectly honest I nearly didn't participate in this week's challenge. First, my daughter is allergic to peanutbutter so I don't use it often because she couldn't eat the food. Also it was my 12th wedding anniversary yesterday so my husband was discouraging me from cooking. But then inspiration struck I thought..well these brownies are incredibly easy and will be nice to eat later on tonight. So here you have it Apple Peanutbutter Brownies. I basically souped up my go to Brownie Recipe and it goes something like this:

Apple Peanut Butter Brownies

What you need:
1/2 cup Earth Balance Margarine
3 1 oz squares unsweetened baking chocolate
1 cup of Brown Sugar
1/2 tsp of Vanilla extract
1/2 cup Silken Tofu
1/2 cup Smooth Peanut Butter
1/2 Cup Flour
1/2 cup peeled, finely chopped Apples

What you do:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and oil an 8 or 9 inch square pan
In a large sauce pan, melt Earth Balance and Chocolate
When melted remove from heat and add Brown Sugar and Vanilla mixing well.
Using an electric mixer, beat in Silken Tofu until completely combined and no white spots showing.
Beat in Peanut Butter until well blended
Add flour and mix in well.
Fold in apples.
Using a rubber spatula so you get everything out of the pan...scrape/pour batter into prepared baking pan.
Bake for 20 minutes or until edges pull from sides of pan.
These are very fudgey gooey brownies so..let them cool completely before cutting. 
Enjoy!

Iron Chef Challenge Week Two: Lemon and Ginger

This week's Iron Chef Challenge hosted on MyZoestrope featured the ingredients Lemon and Ginger.  You would think this would make for a much easier challenge, only there were so many possiblities it was a little hard to narrow down.  But C is for cookie and that's good enough for me!  These Glazed Lemon Drop Cookies contain chunks of crystallized ginger and were pure vegan gold according to my kids.  The recipe is a twist on a VegWeb recipe and goes something like this:

Glazed Lemon Drop Cookies with Crystallized Ginger

What You Need:

1 cup sugar

1 stick Earth Balance, softened

1/2 cup vegan sour cream

1/2 cup vanilla soy yogurt

Juice and zest of 1 Lemon

2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/3-1/2 cup of chopped crystallized ginger

Glaze Ingredients:

1 cup Powdered Sugar

1/2 tsp ground ginger

Juice and zest of 1 lemon

What You Do:

Preheat Oven to 350F.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Beat margarine and sugar until creamy.

Beat in sour cream, yogurt, lemon zest and lemon juice

Sift in flour, baking powder and salt.

Mix until well blended.

Fold in chopped Ginger pieces.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls on to prepared cookie sheets.

Bake 10-12 minutes until the edges are lightly browned.  Cool completey before glazing.

To Make Glaze: 

Mix together powdered sugar, ginger and lemon zest until thoroughly combined. 

Add lemon juice until desired consistency is reached. 

Drizzle over cooled cookies.

 Allow glaze to set before eating.

A couple of notes:  I don't emphasize it but use organic ingredients whenever possible.  I would never recommend eating the zest of a non-organic fruit.  Also I used 1/3 cup of ginger for my cookies because my kids prefer the more heavily lemon flavor.  If you are cooking for a more sophisticated palate, I would recommend using the full 1/2 cup.

 Happy Mofoing!

Iron Chef Challenge Week 1: Beer Batter Fried Stuffed Okra with BlueCheeze Horseradish Dipping Sauce

Beer Batter Fried Stuffed Okra with Blue Cheeze Horseradish Dipping Sauce
Originally uploaded by jomarb

Some Mofoers and I have decided to make it interesting by participating in a little Iron Chef Weekly Challenge. Michelle over at My Zoetrope is hosting the shennanigans on her blog located here http://my-zoetrope.blogspot.com/. For this first week our two ingredients...chosen at random....were Okra and Horseradish. Now I have only ever had okra in gumbo or other stews and there was no way I could imagine getting horseradish in there. The lovely Kittee of Cakemaker to the Stars mentioned a New Orlean's bar that serves Bloody Maries garnished with pickled okra which struck me as about the perfect way to combine these two. The problem is that technically involves no cooking...so rather than wus out completley I went with the only other Okra prep I could think of that could stand up to horseradish....deep frying. And heck if you are frying why not stuff, use a beer batter and dip it in something funky. The result is the following recipe:

Beer Batter Fried Stuffed Okra with Horseradish Blue Cheeze Dipping Sauce:Take one pound of Fresh Okra and do the following to it:
Stuff It:
Sautee "The Trinity": 1/4 cup chopped onion, 1/8 cup green pepper and 1/8 cup celery until softened and onions are translucent
Add 1/2 cup Chopped Baby Portobello Mushrooms and continue to saute. After mushrooms have released their liquid add 1/2 cup of Whole Wheat Bread crumbs and Salt Free Creole Seasoning to taste. Saute about 3 more minutes
Remove from heat, allow to cool until you can handle the stuffing easily.
Stuff your okra by making a slit in the side and removing any seeds, And replacing with stuffing mixture. Amount of stuffing will depend on the size of your okra. You may have a little stuffing mixture left over depending on your okra's size.

Batter It:
I used a basic beer batter such as found in Vegan Brunch by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. I used her recipe subbing Wheat for Dark Beer and adding 1 Tablespoon of salt free Creole Seasoning.

Fry It:
Deep Fry in a about 1 inch of hot vegetable oil 2-3 minutes per side or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels or brown paper bags. You can keep it warm in a 200 degree oven until ready to serve.
Dip It:
I added Horseradish and Veganaise to my basic Blue Cheeze Dressing recipe resulting the following:
6 oz Silken Tofu
1/8 cup Almond Milk
1/8 Cup Rice Wine Vinegar
Small Clove of Garlic Minced
2 Tbs Preserved Bean curd
1/8 cup Vegan Mayo
2 Tbs Prepared Horseradish (or to taste)
1/4 tsp salt
Pinch of white Pepper
Blend all ingredients until smooth. Taste for Horseradish amount as prepared horseradish strength can vary greatly by brand. I use Gold's which is wonderfully bitey. Serve Along side your fried okra.

Eat and Enjoy!

I found this challenge fun and the results pretty good for snacking during the ball games. Next week our ingredients are Lemon and Ginger. The wheels are starting to turn...