Tag Archives: homemade

Homemade Magic Shell

Posted on July 8, 2011 by Veronica

Have you ever had Magic Shell? If you haven’t heard of it, it’s a Smucker’s ice cream topping that comes out liquid, like chocolate syrup, but hardens when it comes in contact with your ice cream, so that you have to tap and break it to take a spoonful of icecream. It’s so cool!

My husband is obsessed with it, but you can rarely find the peppermint kind, his favorite, so I started making it for him last year.

It is super simple to make, and you can add any extracts you like to change the flavor profile. You can also use dairy-free chocolate, such as Ghirardelli semisweet chips, and you have a vegan topping for your vegan one-ingredient ice cream. Since that ice cream is so healthy, I didn’t feel too guilty about adding some of this to the top of it and calling it my breakfast. :)

Homemade Magic Shell

Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

1 1/2 cups (300 grams) semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup (200 grams) refined coconut oil
pinch of salt

Place the chocolate and oil in a microwave-safe dish and microwave for thirty seconds, stir, and microwave another 15 seconds. Repeat, if necessary, stirring well every 15 seconds, until mixture is melted and smooth. This can also be done in a double boiler. Stir in salt and store in an airtight container at room temperature. Mixture will remain liquid during the summer, but might solidify during the winter. If it becomes solid, simply heat it until liquid again.

Peppermint Magic Shell: add 2 teaspoons peppermint extract. I like to divide the batch in half, leaving half plain and adding 1 teaspoon peppermint to the other half.

Makes about 2 cups Magic Shell.

Recipe source: adapted from Brownie Points

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Posted in Condiments & ETC., Sweets, Vegetarian & Vegan and tagged homemade, ice cream, magic shell recipe, peppermint, summer. Bookmark the permalink.

Mediterranean Veggie Sandwich with Pesto Hummus

Posted on May 13, 2011 by Veronica

Another mouth-watering Mediterranean sandwich, bursting with fresh flavor! This recipe comes from the lovely Debbi, who was inspired by a Panera sandwich. I haven’t tried the original, but I know I like this one!

I messed up my bread (only about half my loaves ever come out right–I’m still learning) and it baked up pretty flat and wide instead of round, but if done properly with enough flour (I’m always scared to add too much), you will have a nice sandwich bread.

I know this recipe seems like a lot of work for a sandwich, but if you break down the process into steps, it’s not so bad. Make your bread one day, and make your hummus while you’re roasting the eggplant the next. Plus, it makes lots of sandwiches!

Mediterranean Veggie Sandwich with Pesto Hummus

Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

Tomato Basil Bread
2 1/4 teaspoons (1 package) yeast
3/4 cup warm water (110 – 115 degrees)
1/4 cup minced fresh basil, packed
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 1/4 to 2 1/2 cups bread flour (I used AP)

Pesto Hummus
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained (water reserved)
3 tablespoons lemon juice
3 cloves garlic
1 1/2 tablespoons tahini
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Pepper, to taste
1/2 cup (packed) fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup pine nuts, lightly toasted and cooled

Garlic-Roasted Eggplant (optional)
8 cloves garlic, minced
2 to 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 lb. eggplant (about 2 globe or 4 Italian)
Kosher salt
8 fresh thyme sprigs

Make the bread: In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Stir in basil, Parmesan cheese, tomato paste, sugar, oil, salt, pepper flakes and 2 cups of flour. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a stiff dough. Turn onto a floured surface, knead until smooth and elastic, about 3 – 5 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about an hour. Punch down dough, knead for 1 minute. Shape into a round loaf. Place on a greased baking sheet. Cover and let rise until doubled about 1 hour. With a sharp knife, cut a large X in top of loaf. Bake at 375 for 35 minutes or until golden brown.

Make the hummus: In a food processor, combine all the ingredients. Add in reserved bean water slowly until desired consistency is reached.

Make the eggplant: Mix the minced garlic and oil together in a small bowl and set aside. Slice the eggplant into rings and toss with 1 teaspoon salt. Place in a colander and allow to drain for 30 min. Heat the oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment.
Over the sink, gently squeeze the eggplant to extract the salty juice and wipe them dry with a paper towel. Brush each half thoroughly with the garlic olive oil. Arrange in a single layer on the baking sheet. Roast for 30 minutes-1 hour. The eggplant will collapse and the bottoms will be a deep brown caramel color. Let cool considerably before handling, at least 20 min. Gently turn the cut side up. If serving as a side dish, serve with a lemon wedge for squeezing or drizzle with vinaigrette. If using in other recipes, scoop the flesh from the skin with a spoon.

For the sandwich: Spread two slices of tomato-basil bread with Pesto Hummus, then top with lettuce, red onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, feta, and Garlic-Roasted Eggplant (if using).

Recipe source: adapted from Debbi Does Dinner and Fine Cooking

18 Comments

Posted in Burgers & Sandwiches, Lighter Fare, Mediterranean, My Favorites, Vegetarian & Vegan and tagged homemade, light, Mediterranean Veggie Sandwich recipe, Panera, Pesto Hummus, tomato basil bread, vegetarian. Bookmark the permalink.

Vegan White Chocolate

Posted on March 30, 2011 by Veronica

I have a confession to make. I didn’t use vegan white chocolate on my Cinnabon Caramel Corn, despite my recipe calling for it. It was my practice batch and since I was making it with things I had on hand, I used regular white baking chips. I assumed finding vegan white chocolate would be simple and I could go out and buy it when it was time to make the real batch to ship to the winner. Well, a friend of mine asked me where I got my vegan white chocolate because she had not been able to find any in Wichita so I called all the health food stores and none of them sold it. I was shocked! Apparently this stuff is harder to find than I assumed.

To remedy the situation and make sure I had some vegan white chocolate on hand when I needed it for the 100% vegan batch of Cinnabon Caramel Corn next week, I set out to make it from scratch. And I’m happy to report that it is a smashing success. Yowza, this stuff is good! The cost of the coca butter makes it a little pricey, but when you need some vegan white chocolate, you need some vegan white chocolate, and we’re not going to let a $8 jar of cocoa butter hold us back, now are we?

Vegan White Chocolate

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1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
2 teaspoons soy milk powder (I used raw coconut flour with good results)
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 1/4 ounces food grade cocoa butter
1 vanilla bean (optional)

Measure the powdered sugar, soy milk powder, and salt into a sifter and sift into a bowl; set aside. Measure the cocoa butter into a large microwave-safe bowl and microwave for one minute; stir. Continue microwaving in 30-second intervals, stirring very well in between, until the cocoa butter is melted. If using the vanilla bean, scrape the seeds from the pod and whisk into the melted cocoa butter. Next, quickly whisk the dry ingredients into the cocoa butter until completely smooth. Pour into a chocolate mold (I used an 8-ounce candy bar mold). If you don’t have a mold, paper cups or silicon bakeware will do in a pinch. Gently tap the mold on the counter top a few times to release any excess air bubbles. Allow to sit at room temperature for half an hour before placing in refrigerator to fully harden. Pop the chocolate out of the mold and enjoy. Store any leftovers (yeah, right!) in an airtight container.

Veronica’s notes: I read many first-hand reports of vanilla extract causing homemade white chocolate to curdle and become a vile consistency, so I chose to play it safe with vanilla bean seeds instead. If you would like to try using extract or vanilla bean paste, consider yourself warned. And please let me know if you try it and have success! UPDATE: I have now tried adding vanilla extract and have confirmed that it does indeed ruin the texture. Please do not try it.

Makes 8 ounces.

Recipe source: barely tweaked from It’s a Greyt Vegan Life

16 Comments

Posted in Candy, Vegetarian & Vegan and tagged dairy-free, homemade, recipe, vanilla bean, vegan, white chocolate. Bookmark the permalink.

Oatmeal Sandwich Bread

Posted on February 14, 2011 by Veronica

This isn’t my favorite bread, but it does have a great, wholesome & hearty flavor. It is an excellent loaf for slicing and making sandwiches. My favorite use for it is making grilled cheese sandwiches, and I also made some yummy ham and cheese melts (with apricot preserves spread on the insides) that this bread was wonderful with. This makes a very large, tall loaf, so if you prefer you can make two smaller, shorter loaves with the dough as I chose to, which makes the bread go further, although your sandwiches will be smaller. I’m on a mission to lose these last 15 pounds so the smaller sandwiches totally fits in with my plan! I love it when I can eat real food (read: non-“free” stuff. Free is good as long as it’s not associated with fat or sugar!) and stay within my calorie budget.

Be sure to check out the recipe source at the end–this gal has tons of healthy, delicious recipes! I won her low-fat cinnamon rolls in an online bake sale auction and I have to say they are crazy good. I never thought to replace butter in the filling with applesauce–brilliant!

Oatmeal Sandwich Bread

Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon yeast
3 tablespoon molasses
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons vital wheat gluten
1 cup rolled oats
4 tablespoon butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 tablespoon salt

For optional topping
1 egg, beaten with a teaspoon of water
2 tablespoons rolled oats

Butter a large bowl and a 9″ loaf pan and set aside. In a large mixing bowl or food processor fitted with a dough hook, mix together water, yeast and molasses. Allow the yeast to stand for 5 minutes until it begins to bubble. Add the whole wheat and bread flour, the oats and the melted butter. Stir to combine. Cover with towel and let rise for 30 minutes. Add in salt and then mix until dough pulls away from sides and becomes a ball. You can add a tablespoon or two of flour or water if necessary. Scrape dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead 5-10 times. Place into the large, buttered bowl. For the first rise, scrape the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead it a few times. Put the dough into the buttered bowl, cover with a towel, and leave it to rise for about 1 hour or until it doubles in size. Turn dough out onto floured surface after first rise. Shape by folding into a square, folding top down towards center and bottom up towards the center. Pinch the new top and bottom together to seal, roll to shape and place in the loaf pan, seam side down. Allow to rise in a warm place, covered with a towel for one hour or until dough rises an additional half its size. Preheat oven to 400° F. Right before placing in oven, brush egg wash over the top of the loaf and sprinkle on the rolled oats. Bake for 40 minutes or until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. Remove from pan and cool on wire rack. The loaf slices best when at room temperature.

Veronica’s notes: I substituted rapid-acting yeast as usual, so I mixed it in with the dry ingredients and then added the wet–no proofing necessary. You don’t technically have to do two rises when you use rapid-acting/instant yeast, so you can just shape it into a loaf and let it rise once before baking, but I usually go ahead and do two rises anyway to develop a more yeasty flavor.

I calculated the nutritional information based on making two loaves and dividing each into 14 slices. Per slice: 111 calories; 2.7 g fat; 21 g carbohydrate; 2.2 g fiber; 3.4 g protein

Recipe source: From Apples to Zucchini

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Posted in Bread, Lighter Fare and tagged Bread, diet, healthy, homemade, low calorie, nutritious, oatmeal, oatmeal sandwich bread recipe, wholesome, yeast. Bookmark the permalink.

One Minute Mayonnaise

Posted on May 12, 2010 by Veronica

In the past, making homemade mayonnaise was quite a chore that involved a lot of whisking and slowly, slowly pouring oil into an egg & vinegar mixture. Thanks to my friend, Dewey, who introduced me to the joy of homemade mayonnaise, I’ve discovered that using a food processor makes the task much faster. Less than a minute, in fact. Here, I’ll prove it:

See that? 40 seconds and it’s ready to use. And it’s even better than the best name brand mayonnaise you can purchase. So what are you waiting for? You have nothing to lose!

One Minute Mayonnaise
Printable recipe

1 egg
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups canola oil

Place the first three ingredients in food processor bowl. Measure the oil and have it ready. Turn the processor on and once the egg is mixed, begin pouring the oil through the feed tube while it’s still running. Start with a thin stream and increase the flow until all the oil is incorporated. The mayonnaise should be done by the time all the oil is in, but run it a few more seconds if it’s not thick enough. Store in refrigerator for up to ten days.

Veronica’s Notes: You can use any oil you wish, but you must make sure that it has ZERO bittnerness to it. Any hint of bitterness is magnified 100-fold when you turn it into mayonnaise. Dewey warned me but I discovered it the hard way by making my first batch with just a half cup of the olive oil I had in my pantry. I liked the taste on it’s own, but it was slightly bitter and when turned into mayonnaise, it was terrible. You can also use any type of acid you wish, like lemon juice or apple cider vinegar, but I like the taste of it best with white vinegar.

Recipe source: adapted from Dewey B.

I added 2 tablespoons fresh chopped chives to make this chive mayonnaise. 2 teaspoons dried chives could be substituted.

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Posted in Condiments & ETC. and tagged easy, homemade, mayonnaise, quick. Bookmark the permalink.

Homemade Taco Seasoning Mix

Posted on May 10, 2010 by Veronica

I’ve seen recipes like this floating around the blog world, most recently on Brown Eyed Baker, but there was a glaring problem with them. They had no salt! Tell me you’d eat taco meat that had no salt in it. So I made my own mix that included salt and it came out perfect–almost exactly like the packaged mix but with no scary ingredients. I used the meat from my first batch to make that wonderful white trash taco salad stuff with Doritos & a whole bottle of French dressing in it, but the meat can obviously be used in tacos, nachos, or whatever else your creative little mind desires.

Homemade Taco Seasoning Mix

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¼ cup chili powder
¼ cup paprika
3 tablespoons cumin
2 tablespoons onion powder
2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Whisk together all ingredients in a small bowl.

Over medium heat, brown 1 lb ground beef and drain. Stir in 2 ½ tablespoons taco mix & ½ cup water. Continue cooking over medium heat until the sauce thickens and coats the meat and there is not much liquid left. Store remaining seasoning mix in an airtight container at room temperature.

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Posted in Condiments & ETC., Mexican and tagged homemade, mix, seasoning, spice, taco. Bookmark the permalink.

Cherry Cordials (Chocolate Covered Cherries)

Posted on February 11, 2010 by Veronica

Ninety percent of the gifts I give are food gifts, so it should come as no surprise that this Valentine’s Day, my hubby will be getting some homemade treats. He is a huge cherry cordials fanatic, his favorite being Cellas, and I decided to try my hand at making them for him myself.

I made these exactly two weeks to the day before Valentine’s Day, but would have made them a month in advance if I had planned it better. The centers should liquefy after two weeks of storage, but I would have liked to give them extra time just to make sure. The picture below was taken after a week of storage and I’m not sure they will liquefy in time but I have to say they are just as good, if not better, than store-bought in their current state.

Cherry Cordials

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2 (10-oz) jars maraschino cherries (you’ll need 40-50)
¼ cup butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1-2 tablespoons reserved cherry juice
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon almond extract
1 (12-oz) bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
¼ cake paraffin wax, shredded OR 1 tablespoon vegetable shortening

Reserve two tablespoons of juice from one of the jars of cherries, then empty them into a colander set over the sink and allow them to drain while you prepare the fondant.

Cream the butter with 1 cup of the powdered sugar, then add 1 tablespoon of the reserved cherry juice, the extracts and beat until mixed. Add the remaining sugar and, using your hands, knead it into the butter mixture until a smooth, soft dough forms. If your dough is too firm, add additional cherry juice (or milk if you don’t want the mixture too pink) and knead it in until it’s a soft dough. Place inside a Ziploc bag to keep it from drying out.

Line a baking sheet with foil. Take small pieces of fondant, about 1 or 2 teaspoons, and press them flat on your palm. Wrap around the cherries, pinching off the excess before rolling them smooth and placing on the wax paper. Repeat until all the fondant is used up. Set fondant-covered cherries in the freezer until well chilled, at least one hour and up to overnight.

Melt the chocolate chips and shredded paraffin or shortening until smooth. Dip each cherry in the chocolate using a fork, drawing fork across rim of pan to remove excess coating. Drop coated cherry upside down onto waxed paper, swirling a thread of coating from fork across top for a decorative touch (after a while, I used my finger instead to swirl the chocolate on top). Once all are coated, place in the refrigerator until the chocolate is set; check bottoms and reseal with additional melted coating, if necessary. You want every part of the center covered or it will start to leak out as it liquefies. Store in a cool place (do not refrigerate) for 2 weeks to form cordial.

Notes: Using the cherry juice makes a pink center. If you want it to be white, just use milk instead of the juice. If you like, you can soak the cherries in alcohol, such as rum, brandy, Kirsch, port, cognac, amaretto etc., to give them an extra flavor kick! Just drain the cherries and soak them overnight , then drain them again before proceeding with the recipe. I recommend leaving your tray of fondant-covered cherries in the freezer and taking them out one by one to dip them. The longer they are at room temperature, the softer the fondant will become and the more it will stick to your fork.

Recipe source: adapted from cooks.com and this recipe

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Posted in Candy and tagged cherry cordials, chocolate covered cherries, homemade. Bookmark the permalink.

Honey Oatmeal Bread

Posted on September 8, 2009 by Veronica

**Note: This post is an eyesore but I don’t want to change the content because I’m keepin’ it real. This is how the original post looked and read, and I want to be able to read it again ten years from now and cringe as much as I’m cringing now. :) (Although I am adding a new photo of this in rolls-form, and plan to add more next time I make this into bread again.)

I will let you in on the people I’m identifying here. This was back in my MySpace days, where I originally posted this, when I was friends with a couple gals who went by Red (Kim) and Kitchen Bitch (Krista). Red’s white bread was the first yeast bread that required kneading that I’d ever made. This was the second one and it is still my favorite after three years of baking with yeast. It has the best, softest, texture and an incredible taste. I hope you overlook the bad photos and delirious writing and make it!**

Well I’ve made Red’s bread which got me over my fear of making it, so I decided to tackle the Bitch’s bread…Kitchen Bitch, that is! :) Kim can have “Red’s Bread” and Krista can have “Bitchin’ Bread”–am I a great marketing schemer or what? If you guys ever do open bread shops, I want 10% of your profits. Ha!

(It’s after 1 AM and I’m sleep-deprived. In case you didn’t notice.)

OK, so Krista sent me this recipe quite a while back, but since the directions called for a stand mixer with dough hooks (which I don’t have) and I was scared to make bread in the first place, let alone try to modify a recipe to suit my lack of kitchen apparatus, I saved it for a later date.

The date came today. Emboldened by my most recent success with the white bread, I decided I was going to go for the Honey Oatmeal Bread, despite my lack of dough hooks and despite the fact that it was nearly 11 PM. It was a huge success and totally worth staying up for–even better than my first bread attempt! The taste is unbelievable and the texture is crazy soft. I’m in love. I wish I had a good camera to show off the beauty of these loaves, but you can get a general idea from the back-up camera that I’m using.

Honey Oatmeal Bread
from KitchenAid

1 1/2 c water
1/2 c honey
1/3 c butter or margarine
5 1/2 to 6 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1 c quick cooking oats (Krista says rolled oats work fine too)
2 t salt
2 pkgs active dry yeast or 4 1/2 tsp jarred yeast
2 eggs
1 egg white
1 T water
Additional oatmeal for decoration (optional)

Place water, honey, and butter in small saucepan. Heat over low heat until mixture is very warm. (120-130 F)

First place oats, then 5 c flour, salt, and yeast in mixer bowl. Attach bowl and dough hook to mixer. Turn to Speed 2 and mix about 15 seconds.

Continuing on Speed 2, gradually add warm mixture to flour mixture and mix about 1 minute. Add whole eggs and mix about 1 minute longer.

Continuing on Speed 2, add remaining flour, 1/2 c at a time, and mix about 2 minutes or until dough starts to clean the sides of bowl. Knead on Speed 2 about 2 minutes longer.

Place dough in greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover (I use plastic wrap) and let rise in a warm, non-drafty place (I use my oven with the light on) about 1 hour or until doubled in bulk. Sometimes this takes longer than 1 hour. Let it go until it has doubled.

Punch dough down and divide in half. Shape each half into a loaf and place in greased bread baking pans. Cover (I use a clean dish cloth for this) and let rise again in a warm, draft free place (oven again) until doubled in bulk…usually an hour, sometimes a bit more.

Beat the egg white and water and brush the tops of loaves GENTLY. Sprinkle with oatmeal if desired. Bake at 375 F (preheat the oven so it is up to temp) for 30-40 minutes. Remove from pans immediately and cool on wire racks.

Krista recommends brushing the crust with butter or margarine after removing from pans and so do I.

Yields 32 servings (16 slices per loaf). Nutritional info per slice: 134 cal, 4 g pro, 24 g carb, 3 g fat, 13 mg chol, 162 mg sod

Veronica’s Notes: To make this by hand, mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Beat the eggs in a small bowl. Pour in warm liquid and mix with a spoon until blended, then dump in the beaten eggs and fold the dough over and over until all the egg is incorporated and you’ve got a ridiculously sticky mass attached to your hand. Add the remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time, kneading it in. I just knead my bread dough in the bowl to keep from dirtying another surface. Once you have kneaded in all the flour and continued to knead for a few minutes, follow the instructions on the recipe. I used instant yeast so I was able to skip the first rising and go straight to shaping the halves into loaves and sticking them in the pans. Krista wouldn’t recommend this and she’s probably right that using regular yeast and allowing the bread to rise longer develops a fuller flavor, but I seriously can’t imagine bread getting any better than this. If it’s better her way, the taste would probably give me a heart attack so it’s partly in the interest of my own health that I’m sticking to my own method.