Sunday, May 31, 2009

Kroeger's Chocolate-Hazelnut Spread

I love me some Nutella, but it has soy, darn it.

The other day, Elder Daughter and I were out of town and went to a Kroeger's supermarket. They have their own brand of Chocolate-Hazelnut spread and there on the ingredients label, instead of "soy lecithin," it said:

"sunflower lecithin"

Wow.

Of course we bought it. It is delicious.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Chocolate Bundt Cake from Cook's Illustrated

I won't publish the recipe here, but if you subscribe to Cook's Illustrated online, you can find the best chocolate bundt cake I've ever had. It has semisweet chocolate and cocoa in it (and butter and sour cream*), and gets better with time. I made one for work the other day. My husband and I tried a cupcake we had made just for tasting purposes the night I made it, and it was good. The next day at work, the cake was better. And one of my colleagues took a bite in the morning, then saved the rest for after lunch, and he told me after lunch it was even better.

Cooks Illustrated will give you a 14-day free trial before you have to pay for the content. The recipe is called "Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake."

Cook's also tested a number of Bundt pans. I asked for, and got, a Nordicware Bundt pan for Christmas, and it is awsome. The cake came out of the pan looking perfect.

*note: I didn't have any sour cream on hand so I used yogurt. It came out fine.

SOY-FREE CONSIDERATIONS:
Lecithin-free semi-sweet chocolate or bittersweet chocolate bars (two 3-oz bars)

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Random Thoughts and Dill Meatballs

Blog Hiatus: sorry about that. Haven't been cooking much because I had pneumonia the end of February and have been sleeping a lot, sometimes through supper.

***Lecithin in tea: Look out for tea bags that include lemon flavor. This week I came across two different lemon-flavored teas, from two different brands, that had soy lecithin in them! Who would be looking for soy in tea?!?!

Fish Tacos: recommend that you check out the New York Times site this week because there is a great-looking recipe in the Magazine today (Sunday) for fish tacos. I intend to try it this week.

Kosher for Passover: scored some kosher-for-Passover chocolate chips this week at our local Giant grocery store, so we made Congo Bars to celebrate.

Saint Patrick's Day: of course required Corned Beef and Cabbage (and carrots and potatoes) which is inherently soy-free.

Each of my kids has a favorite meal, and this one is Younger Daughter's:

Dill Meatballs with Noodles

1 1/2 lbs ground beef
2 cups fresh bread crumbs (from 4 or 5 slices), whole wheat preferred but not mandatory
1 Tbsp dried onion flakes *
3/4 cup water
2 Tbsp grainy mustard
2 tsp fresh dill or 1 tsp dried
1/2 tsp salt

3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
2 1/4 cups reduced-sodium soy-free beef broth
1 Tbsp grainy mustard
1 Tbsp chopped fresh dill or 1 tsp dried
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 cup fat-free or light sour cream

Hot cooked noodles or bow ties

1. Preheat the oven to 375F. Greast a rimmed baking sheet.

2. Put the bread crumbs and dried onions in a bowl and let soak for a few minutes in the water. Add the mustard, dill, and salt, and combine. Add the meat and combine. Shape into meatballs about 1" in diameter. Arrange 1/2" apart on the baking sheet. Bake 20 minutes.

3. Near the end of the meatballs' cooking time, heat 1 3/4 cup of the beef broth in a large saucepan or dutch oven. Add the mustard, dill, and pepper and bring to a simmer. Mix the flour and the remaining beef broth in a cup until you have a slurry. Slowly add slurry to the hot beef broth, stirring constantly. Heat until the mixture bubbles and thickens, about 2 minutes. Take off the heat and stir in the sour cream. Add meatballs to sauce. Serve over noodles.

*Note: you can use a finely chopped onion, but this is tedious and sometimes the onion doesn't cook all the way, so I used to end up sauteeing the onion first, which adds some extra oil to the recipe and makes this recipe take W-A-Y too long for a weeknight.

SOY-FREE CONSIDERATIONS:
Make sure the beef broth is soy-free.
Otherwise, none.