Toffee Almond Sandies

A lot of guests have been asking for this recipe.  You can find it here at Taste of Home. 

Toffee Almond Sandies

Scottish Shortbread

Easy to make and ready in no time. This is a go-to cookie for busy days with many guests.

Makes enough batter to fill a large baking sheet (approximately12"x16")

5 cups white flour
3/4 cup cornstarch or potato starch
1 cup sugar
2 cups cold butter (4 sticks)
(1-2 cups ground almonds -optional)  If using 2 cups ground almonds decrease flour by about 1 cup.

Cut butter into pads.  Put half the ingredients in a food processor - blend until chunks of butter are no larger than the size of a pea. Pour on cookie tray.  Repeat with remaining ingredients.

Press mixture into pan firmly with hands or other flat object.  Lightly score with a fork.  Bake at 350º for 20 - 30 minutes until golden brown.  Remove from oven and sprinkle with 3 tablespoons sugar.  Cut into squares while still hot.  If you forget to cut while hot, put the pan back into a hot oven until warm.  Then cut into squares.

Vegan Oatmeal Cookies

This recipe I copied directly from the PBS link below.  The only thing I changed for the Guest House was the cashews.  I substituted raw sunflower seeds instead. I believe the raw cashews would have made a sweeter cookie.  But we are a long way from town and there was no chance to make the trek to Redway.   Next time I will try cashews.

Use very ripe bananas in this healthy, gluten-free recipe to get the right moisture and sweetness without having to add sugar or fat.

(Recipe Courtesy: Marc Matsumoto from the Fresh Tastes Blog) Continue
Yield: 12 cookies

• 10.6 ounces (300 grams or about 2 large bananas) very ripe banana

• 2.7 ounces (75 grams or about 1/2 cup) raw cashews

• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast

• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1/8 teaspoon salt

• 6.7 ounces (190 grams or about 2 cups) rolled oats

• 2.3 ounces (65 grams or about 1/2 cup) dried fruit

Put the oven rack in the middle position, and preheat to 300 degrees F (150 C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Put the bananas, cashews, nutritional yeast, cinnamon and salt in a food processor or blender, and puree until smooth.

Measure out the rolled oats and dried fruit, and place them in a bowl. Stir in the banana mixture.

Use your hands to roll out balls of dough, and flatten them onto the cookie sheet. Because they contain no leavening they will not rise, so you can put them pretty close together.

Bake for 20-30 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned and the cookies are chewy.

These are best served warm, so if you have leftovers, just heat them up in the microwave for a few seconds.

Produced by:

Original URL: http://www.pbs.org/food/fresh-tastes/vegan-oatmeal-cookies/Ingredients

Directions

Cottage Cheese Noodles

An easy to prepare casserole that is a monastery standby during our Guest House Openings.  We prepare Cottage Cheese Noodles using all non gluten ingredients.  You can of course use white flour as a thickener for the sauce instead of rice flour and opt for wheat egg noodles.


6 oz noodles (Your choice - medium width flat noodles are best.  We use rice vermicelli noodles)
2 TBSP butter
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
2 TBSP white rice flour or other thickener
1/2 tsp dry mustard
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 1/4 cup milk
1 TBSP fresh lemon juice
1 TBSP gluten free tamari or gluten free soy sauce
1 cup grated cheddar cheese (We use white raw cheddar cheese)

Cook noodles as directed until just tender.  (If using rice vermicelli noodles make sure you do not over cook them.  They will cook more in the casserole.)

Melt butter in a saucepan over low heat.  Add onion and cook until tender but not browned.  Blend in flour, mustard, salt and pepper.  Cook until the flour bubbles but not brown.  Add the milk and cook, stirring constantly until thickened. Beat in lemon juice and soy sauce.

Generously oil a 2 qt. casserole dish. (We use a long rectangular glass baking dish.) Put in the cooked noodles.  Pour the sauce over the top of the noodles.  Sprinkle grated cheese over the top.

Bake at 350º for 25-30 minutes.  Brown cheese under broiler a little longer if necessary. 

Serves 6

Some notes:  I use olive oil for the casserole bottom.  You may need to add a little liquid depending how done the rice noodles are.

White Bean Soup with Butternut Squash

This is a variation of the the following recipe from Twelve Months of Monastery Soups by Br. Victor-Antoine d'Avila-Latourette, 1996,  Triumph Books, Liguori, Missouri, page 163.

1 pound dry white beans
12 cups water
2 onions
1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut in small cubes.
2 leeks
1 celery stalk
a few leaves of garden greens (spinach, chard, etc)
4 garlic cloves
6 tablespoon olive oil
2 vegetable bouillon cubes (or to taste)
finely minced thyme leaves

Soak the dry beans in cold water for at least 10 hours.  Rinse them well and put them into a large soup pot with water.

Cut the onions, leeks, and celery into thin pieces.  Cut greens into wide strips.  Mince garlic.  Add to soup with chopped squash, along with oil and bouillon cubes.

Cook soup, covered, over medium heat for about 1 hour, stirring occasionally.  Let the soup sit for about 10 minutes with the lid on. 

Add salt, pepper, and thyme.  Reheat for another 5 minutes and serve hot.

Butternut Squash Soup Portuguese Style

This recipe is from Twelve Months of Monastery Soups by Br. Victor-Antoine d'Avila-Latourette, 1996,  Triumph Books, Liguori, Missouri, page 51.

6 servings (we usually make this about 3-4 times.)

6 TBS olive oil
3 onions, chopped
5 garlic gloves, minced
2 butternut squash, peeled, halved, seeded, and cut in chunks
1 potato, peeled and cubed
1 carrot, peeled and sliced
7 cups vegetable stock (we usually use 1 vegetable bouillon cube for a large pot of soup)
salt and peper to taste
1/3 cup freshly minced parsley
fresh thyme leaves as garnish

Pour the olive oil into a large soup pot and sauté onions and garlic over low heat for 3 -5 minutes. Turn off heat, covert the pot and let the onion-garlic mixture steam for 15 minutes.

Add squash, potato, and carrot and stir the mixtue well.  Pour the stock andbring the soup to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover the pot, and let simmer for 45 minutes.

Add the seasonings and parsley, stir well, cover the pot and simmer for another 15 minutes.

Blend soup with a hand blender or in a food processor or blender.  Serve garnished with fresh thyme leaves.

Macaroni and Cheese

Cook 2 cups of elbow macaroni in boiling salted water till tender; drain.  In saucepan, melt 3 TBS butter; blend in 2 TBS all purpose flour, 1/2 tsp salt, and dash pepper.

Add 2 cups milk; cook and still till thick and bubbly.  Add 1/4 cup finely chopped onion and 8 ounces cheddar cheese or mixed cheeses, cubed.  (This is the secret... we use only really good flavorful cheeses). Stir till melted.

Mix cheese sauce with macaroni. Turn into 1 1/2 quart casserole.  Sprinkle 1 sliced tomato with salt; arrange on top.  Bake at 350° for 35 to 40 minutes or until heated through.  Makes 4 servings.

We triple this recipe and put in a long baking dish.  You can spice this up if you wish with red pepper and more onions.)

Green Goddess Salad Dressing

Put all the following ingredients in a blender:

1/3 cup mayo
2/3 cups plain yogurt
2 TBS Olive Oil
1 TBS Lemon Juice with a splash of cider vinegar
1 smashed or cut clove of garlic
1 medium handful of chives or green onions (about 3 medium size with the white bulb)
1 handful of fresh basil leaves
1 handful parsley without the stems
1/2 tsp salt

Blend on medium - taste and adjust herbs and seasoning.

Chard Rice Casserole

Adapted from "Spinach Rice Casserole" in Mollie Katzen's Moosewood Cookbook,  1977, published by Ten Speed Press, Berkeley, CA


This casserole takes about 1 1/4 hour to prepare and serves 6 +.

Prepare ahead of time:  2 cups raw brown rice cooked in 4 cups of water

2 pounds raw, chopped chard
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
2 or more cloves of garlic.  (We always use more)
3 TBS butter
4 beaten eggs
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cups grated mozzarella or cheddar cheese
1/4 cup chopped parsley
2 TBS tamari
1/2 tsp salt (more to taste)
a few dashes each - nutmeg, cayenne
1/4 cup sunflower seeds (optional)
paprika

Sauté onions and garlic with salt in butter.  When onions are soft, add chard.  Cook 2 minutes.

Combine with all ingredients except sunflower seeds and paprika.  Spread into buttered casserole and sprinkle with sunflower seeds and paprika

Bake covered 35 minutes at 350°F.

(At the monastery we double or triple this recipe and cook in a long baking dish.  Our notes read "bake uncovered 55 minutes at 325°F.)

White Bean Soup

This recipe is from Twelve Months of Monastery Soups by Br. Victor-Antoine d'Avila-Latourette, 1996,  Triumph Books, Liguori, Missouri.

Served at Redwoods for Supper at Guest House Opening evening and several guests asked for the recipe.  Enjoy!

Makes 6 servings

Ingredients
1 pound dry white beans
12 cups water
2 onions
2 carrots
2 leeks
1 celery stalk
some garden greens (spinach, chard)
4 cloves garlic
6 TBS olive oil
2 bouillon cubes (we use vegetable bouillon)
salt and pepper to taste
finely chopped and minced thyme leaves

1.  Soak the dry beans in cold water for at least 10 hours.  Rinse then well and put them into a large soup pot with water.

2.  Cut the onions, carrots, leeks, celery, and garden greens into thin pieces.  Mince the garlic well.  Add then all to the soup, along with the oil and the bouillon cubes.

3.  Cook the soup, covered, over medium heat for about 60 minutes, stirring from time to time.

4.  Add salt, pepper, and thyme.  Reheat for another 5 minutes and serve hot.

Balsamic Honey Orange Dressing

This recipe post is dedicated to libbiali.

Today in the kitchen, we needed to make a quick salad dressing for our guests.  Here's what the Spirit cooked up for us.

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1 cup total salad oil. ( I used half olive oil and half canola oil)*
1/4 tsp salt or more to taste
1 clove garlic pressed
1 dollop** of orange creamed honey 
Whisk until all the ingredients are blended together.  Pour on lettuce.  You might try with cooked vegetables.
Enjoy!

*If you want to lower calories, add a little water to the oil to make 1 cup.

**I use a sugar spoon for a dollop measure of honey.

A Simple Breakfast

One of my all time favorite ways of using Creamed Honey is with peanut butter on toast. Sometimes if I have 2 pieces of toast, I put peanut butter on one and honey on the other and put them together to mix and warm each other. Then pull apart and eat each piece separately. The honey oozes into the peanut butter and the result is simply fabulous. Make sure the toast is warm and you use crunchy peanut butter.

HONEY CHIPOLTE PECANS

These nuts are simply wonderful. Sweet and spicy. They will be a welcome addition to any holiday buffet. This recipe was developed especially for Honeycooks by Bob, a friend of the monastery and a retired caterer.


1.c Original creamed honey

¼ c sugar

1 tsp ground chipolte chiles (or powder)

2 c pecan halves

course kosher salt


• In a heavy frying pan, bring honey sugar & chipolte to a boil (med-high), stirring until sugar dissolves.

• Add pecan – stir to coat (6 min)

• pour out on foil lines pans and separate with a fork.

• sprinkle with course salt

• cool and break apart.


Store in air tight container at room temperature.

Mello Miso Dressing

This dressing is very easy to prepare and can be used as a salad dressing as well as a sauce or dip for vegetables. Great for Miso lovers.

1/4 cup olive oil (can substiture canola oil)
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup Mellow White Miso
1 1/2 TBS brown rice vinegar or lemon juice
2 level TBS Original Creamed Honey
1 TBS green onion or shallot

Blend together in a blender until dressing is smooth

Honey Glaze for Beets

This is a modification of a recipe found on the packaging of a pack of butter from Organic Valley. We use Monastery Creamed Honey instead of maple syrup and our own home grown herbs. Although the original recipe uses this glaze only for beets, I think it would be a nice glaze on winter squashes as well.

Mix together in a large skillet:

2 TBS balsamic vinegar
2 heaping TBS Orange flavored Creamed Honey
2 TBS Salted Butter
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp chopped marjoram
1 tsp chopped thyme
(You can use dried herbs as well - modify amount to taste)

Heat on medium
Add 3 lbs cooked, peeled, and cubed beets. Cook until heated through. Season with salt and pepper.

Applesauce

Now that it's Autumn, it's time to start cooking again at the monastery. Sr Veronique always produces wonderful preserves and applesauce. A great way to use Cinnamon Creamed Honey is as a topping on hot tart applesauce. Just put a dollop of honey on top and let it melt into the applesauce. Delicious!

Cottage Cheese Bread

Sr. Kay, friend, guest, and frequent contributor to Honeycooks, gave us this recipe. She in turn received it from Rev. Glenda Hope, Presbyterian minister and founder of San Francisco Network Ministries which serves the people of the Tenderloin District providing affordable housing, vocational training, and a safe house for women as well as HIV/AIDS pastoral care. You can find out more about Rev. Glenda’s ministries at http://www.sfnetworkministries.org

Cottage Cheese Bread

In a large bowl beat together until fluffy:
2 TBS canola oil
2 TBS sugar.
(1 Tablespoon orange creamed honey is a nice addition to this mixture)
Beat in:
2 eggs
1 cup cottage cheese
½ cup raisins
Set aside.

In another bowl mix together:
2 cups unbleached flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon caraway seeds

Add the flour mixture to the egg/oil/etc mixture alternately with ½ cup milk.

Turn into sprayed 8 inch pan and bake for in a 375º for 10 minutes, then reduce heat and bake at 350º for another 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Turn out to cool on racks after sitting for 10 minutes.

Slice and serve with butter and Monastery Creamed Honey

Tofu Meat Loaf

Tofu meat loaf is a favorite with our guests. It is another of Sr Annette's culinary specialties. A great vegetarian recipe that satisfies a hungry crowd.

Preheat oven to 350º F

Mix together:
1 ½ lbs tofu, mashed
1/3 cup ketchup
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
½ cup parsley, chopped
½ tsp black pepper
1 medium onion, chopped fine
¼ tsp garlic powder
1 cup whole grain bread crumbs, rolled oats, or corn flakes, crushed

Mix all ingredients together. Put ¼ cup oil in a loaf pan, then press the mixture into the pan. Bake for about 1 hour. Let cook 10-15 minutes before trying to remove from pan. Garnish with ketchup and parsley. Also good sliced and fried for sandwiches the next day.

Makes one loaf that serves 6-8.

A Visit to the Monastery

In January my husband came home from the supermarket with a surprise jar of lemon flavored Monastery Creamed Honey that he had spied on the shelf. A delicate hint of lemon in the honey gives it a twist of subtle perfection that makes morning toast and tea pure pleasure! I have raved about its delights to all who would listen.
My husband, a quiet observer to my great joy of spreading honey on my toast or using it to add a gentle touch of lemon to my tea, clearly understood my deep appreciation for this wonderful creation and suggested we take a trip to the Redwoods Monastery some time to pick up the honey directly from the nuns.
Once that jar was finished, and not wanting to wait for a trip, I went to New Seasons (a Portland, Oregon grocery chain that tries to buy local products and contributes a percentage of profits to community causes) to see if they had or might be willing to sell this wonderful product in our city. The store called me back to explain that they had looked into buying the honey but suggested I go online and buy it directly from the Monastery.
What to do? My husband and I decided to get in our Honda and head south to Whitethorn, California where the Redwoods Monastery is nestled among ancient Redwood trees and surrounded by a peace that only nature seems able to impart in today’s fast-paced World. The location of this quiet and remote spot is breathtaking and the serenity of the monastery and the surrounding environment touches every cell of one’s being! I also think it touches the honey in a special way too!
I purchased a case of the lemon honey, two jars of the orange and one of the ginger honeys. We have had the honey less than a week and already one jar of the orange is halfway gone!
If I could only organize my words so that others could fully understand how fabulously wonderful this honey tastes, the Cistercian Nuns would not be able to keep up with the volume of daily orders! The nuns’ honey can be creatively used in multiple ways from making homemade granola to adding a dollop of its sweetness in a soup or stir-fry or to injecting depth to cooking and baking. I encourage everyone to enjoy this honey for it beautiful simplicity and divine properties!
Jill M.

Spiced Chai Tea with Creamed Honey

This delicious drink is the creation of Sr Kay, a faithful monastery guest.

Chai Tea

It's important to get the right Spiced Chai tea bag. It can be either black or green, spiced but without additional flavoring. Recommended brands Peet's or Stash tea.

Brew tea bag with 8 oz of boiling water in a tall mug
Add 1/2 cup hot mild
Stir in 1-2 teaspoons Monastery Creamed Honey - Orange honey shines!

For a non caffeine afternoon or evening energizer use Trader Joe's Rubey Red Chai. This is made with rooibas, a South African herb tea.