Category Archives: Vegetarian

APPLE CIDER COOKIES

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I always knew my husband was cool, but I didn’t realize just how cool until he showed me his Close Encounters lunchbox, which he found when clearing some stuff out of his parents’ house:

It was in mint condition — even the thermos was intact:

I’m sure this lunchbox earned him a seat at the cool kids’ table in junior high school.  (I didn’t have a cool lunchbox like that, but if I did, it probably would have been a Soylent Green or Stepford Wives one.)

The lunchbox provided the inspiration for these Apple Cider Cookies, from Imperial Sugar, which were a big hit around here.  Although not otherworldly, these soft, chewy cookies are a wonderful autumn treat to tuck in a lunchbox.

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APPLE CIDER COOKIES
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Ingredients
  • 2-1/3 cups flour
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons apple pie spice
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 3 tablespoons instant apple cider mix, divided use
  • 2 sticks butter, softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • ¼ cup apple cider
  • ¼ cup molasses (I prefer to use Steen's cane syrup)
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • 3 tablespoons turbinado sugar
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking soda, apple pie spice, salt, and one tablespoon of the instant apple cider mix.
  3. Place butter and 1 cup sugar in a large bowl, and beat with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add cider, molasses, egg, and vanilla, and continue beating until smooth. Add flour mixture, beating until well combined.
  4. In a small bowl, mix together ¼ cup sugar, two tablespoons instant cider mix, and turbinado sugar.
  5. Using a 1 tablespoon scoop, scoop cookie dough and place on baking sheet. Space approximately 2 inches apart to allow for spreading. Sprinkle tops of cookies with sugar mixture. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes to firm up, then remove to wire rack to cool completely.

Done and dusted

You’ll fall for these cookies

You will not alienate anyone with these delicious cookies

SHISHITO PEPPERS WITH CORN AND QUESO FRESCO

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The use of expert witnesses in litigation is common.  In fact, they can be invaluable when it comes to scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge necessary to assist the court or jury (or lawyers) in understanding the evidence or deciding a fact issue.  But there are expert witnesses who, as the Texas Supreme Court recognized, “are more than willing to proffer opinions of dubious value for the proper fee.”

Not long ago, I wrote about a hearing involving a vigorously disputed legal issue.   One of our opponents hired two expert witnesses — law professors — that in our opinion, were “of dubious value.”  The only thing their expert opinions proved, in my opinion, was that professors’ kids need shoes too.  One of them, who admitted he did not research the law or even read our motion, brazenly declared our legal position “ahistorical and countertextual,” “wholly without merit,” and “contrived and fallacious.”  Mc’Scuse me?  So. Many. Adjectives.

I felt disparaged.  I had researched the issue for months, read scores of cases and legal articles, and carefully crafted our legal arguments on the issue.  So you know what I did?  I moved to strike him.  And you know what the judge did?  He struck him.  So I may be ahistorical, but he is history.

All of which provides the inspiration for today’s recipe, which involves striking while the iron is hot — cast iron, to be specific.  Shishito peppers, those wrinkly little bright green peppers, are popping up on appetizer menus everywhere.  Generally mild, about 1 in every dozen or so is hot — you’ve been warned.  They can be made in a flash at home, and will be gobbled up just as quickly.  You don’t have to add the corn and queso fresco, but I think you’ll find they are wholly with merit if you do.

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SHISHITO PEPPERS WITH CORN AND QUESO FRESCO
Author: 
 
Ingredients
  • 1 ear of corn
  • 2 teaspoons olive oil
  • ½ pound shishito peppers
  • ¼ teaspoon sesame oil
  • ¼ cup crumbled queso fresco
  • 1 lime, halved
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
  1. Using a sharp knife, remove kernels from corn.
  2. Heat olive oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add the shishito peppers, corn kernels, and sesame oil, and cook until shishitos are soft and blistered in spots, stirring occasionally. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to serving platter and sprinkle with queso fresco. Squeeze lime over peppers. Serve hot, with additional lime wedges, if desired.

Can you spot the hot one?

Striking while the cast iron is hot

Don’t blink, or you’ll miss ’em!