Oatmeal Raisin and Walnut Cookies

It's the most requested oatmeal cookie recipe at the office. These cookies are good for any occasion. The walnut give them just enough crunch to make them fancy.

Ingredients
¼ cup butter softened or margarine
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1.5 cup oatmeal
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
A pinch of salt
¼ cup raisins
½ cup chopped walnuts
2 tablespoons water


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Soak the raisins in the water. Cover and microwave for 20 seconds.
3. In a large bowl or in the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla until creamy.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda and salt. Add to the creamy mixture.
5. Stir in the oats, raisins and walnuts and mix well.
6. Drop teaspoons of dough onto ungreased cookie sheet (or parchemin lined) around 2 inches apart.
7. Use a wet napkin to flatten slightly.
8. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the cookies are golden.
9. Let cool around 2 minutes on the cookie sheet then transfer to wire racks to cool.

Potato-stuffed tomatoes

During summer, I love to cook without meat. Stuffed vegetables are my favorite: tomatoes, peppers, zucchinis, eggplants. Usually I make stuffed tomatoes at least twice during the season. Most of the people would bake them  for 30-45 minutes, but I like them well cooked, slightly caramelized, so they are not acidic. Sometimes I let them bake for more than 3 hours.  The day after the taste is even better. Like most vegetarian dishes the more they are re-heated the better they taste. This is my mother’s recipe and all my family loves it! I hope you will love it too.

Ingredients
9 medium ripe tomatoes
4 medium hashed potatoes (around 4 cups)
1 egg
2 garlic cloves crushed
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon parsley ciseled

1/8 cup butter (1 ounce or 2 tablespoons)
2 tablespoons olive oil + extra for drizzling
4 cups shredded cheese (gruyere, emmenthal or Jarlsberg)
5-6 basil leaves

Directions
Preparing the tomatoes and the sauce

1. Cut the top of the tomatoes leaving an inch. Scoop out the pulp and put in a pan over medium heat. Try to remove most of the seeds. Salt and invert the tomatoes on a large plate and let it drain.
2. Cook the pulp over medium heat to make a sauce (around 20 minutes). Season with salt and pepper.
3. Pass the sauce through a moulinette or a sieve to remove the seeds add the basil leaves and set aside.

Preparing the stuffing

1. While the tomatoes are draining and the sauce is cooking, shred the potatoes in a food processor, and cook in the microwave for 3-4 minutes or until just tender.
2. Remove and transfer to a large bowl. Add the salt, pepper, garlice and butter and stir to melt.
3. Add the cheese, egg and parsley. Mix well.

Putting everything together

1. Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Stuff the tomatoes, cover with the top and place in a shallow baking dish generously oiled.
3. Sizzle more olive oil on the tomatoes.
4. Bake 80-90 minutes or until most of the liquid is evaporated and the tomatoes start to caramelize. Lower the oven to 350 degrees F.
5. Add 2 cups of the tomato sauce and cook another 30-45 minutes.

Note: if the liquid is evaporating too fast, lower the oven earlier and add the tomato sauce.

Kamut Bread

Kamut is an ancient grain that has been rediscovered not a long time ago. Its exact origin is unknown. One story says the grain was found in the tombs of the ancient Egyptian Pharaohs, hence the nickname "King Tut's Wheat ». Another hint is that "Kamut," or rather, "K-M-T" (pronounced with vowels elided) was the hieroglyphic designation for ancient Egypt.There are many other stories surrounding the name and the origin of the kamut wheat.

Some nutrition facts :
The grain itself is very high in protein. It also contains a high mineral concentration especially in selenium, zinc, and magnesium. This grain variety is considered a high energy wheat, and provides the body with more energy in the form of complex carbohydrates. Because of its low oxidation levels it loses little nutritional content when being ground and processed. Even though this wheat variety contains gluten, it has been found to be more easily digestible by people who may have slight allergic tendencies : Wikipedia. 

 For my first try, I wanted to make just one loaf with 50% kamut flour and 50% all purpose flour, but I made a mistake. I put twice as much liquid than I should have in the dough (frankly I don’t know where my head was). The dough ended up looking like a cake batter! I added around 1/3 cup all purpose flour, but it was still too soft to handle so I literally poured it in a bread pan like a cake. The bread turned out beautiful and very good! As you can see it has a creamy color.  My photographer couldn't resists tasting it before taking the picture!
 I used a stand mixer to prepare the dough. Here are the ingredients.

Ingredients
Starter
½ cup all purpose flour
½ cup kamut flour
1 teaspoon instant yeast
2/3 cup water

Dough
½ cup all purpose flour
½ cup kamut flour
1 tsp instant yeast
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp margarine
1/4 cup warm milk

Directions

1. Mix all the starter ingredients. Let the starter rise until it doubles volume (around 2 hours).
2. Put all the dough ingredients, except the milk, in the dough machine.
3. Add the starter.
4. Turn the machine on.
5. Add the milk if necessary, little by little. The dough should be moist.
6. Knead for 10 minutes.
7. Cover and let it rise for 1 hour.
8. Punch it down to release air.
9. Shape it and let rise for another 45 minutes.
10. Bake 30 minutes in a 400F oven

Cheesy Zucchini Gratin

What I like about this dish is its simplicity. It’s perfect as a side dish for meat and a good way to get kids to eat more vegetables! The trick is to put more cheese on top and there you go.
I have zucchinis in the garden in summer time, so they are on the menu every other day. The zucchinis are light, high fibre and they are available all year long at a very good price.
This dish is ideal for weekday’s menu: it's ready in no time.
The zucchinis contain a lot of liquid so draining them is not enough. You have to dry them to avoid having a soggy dish. I usually put them in a pan on medium heat for around 10 minutes, but you can get around this step by adding 1 tablespoon of flour to the cream to absorb the excess liquid. In this case you do not have to dry them and therefore you save 10 minutes! Personally, I rather dry them.

Ingredients
2 lb zucchinis sliced
1.5 cup heavy cream
3 eggs
3 cups shredded cheese (gruyere or emmenthal or Jarslberg)
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400F
2. Steam the zucchinis until cooked to taste.
3. Drain and put in skillet on medium heat to dry.Don’t forget to watch them, you don’t want them burnt. You want to eliminate as much liquid as possible to avoid having a soggy dish.
4. In the meantime, beat the eggs in a bowl.
5. Add the cream and cheese. Mix well.
6. Add seasoning.
7. Transfer the zucchinis to an 8x10-inch baking dish.
8. Pour ¾ of the cream mixture on zucchinis and combine.
9. Spread the remaining ¼ cream evenly on top to make up the gratin crust.
10. Bake 20-30 minutes or until golden brown.