Shiny Cooking is all about delicious, mostly vegetarian recipes that use whole grains, natural foods, local foods, and fresh food from the garden, with an emphasis on heirloom (non-hybrid) variety seed stock. Check the "about" page for more about me, and subscribe now to the RSS feed to get automatic updates.
June 15, 2009 in desserts, main course, salad, vegan, vegetarian • no comments yet
Ohnoes. A pantry meal — in June!
It may be spring — almost summer — but the garden’s getting a slow start around here. A very wet spring kept us from planting until late May. We’ve already burned past the asparagus and rhubarb, and strawberries are due any day now, but normally at this time we’d [...]
October 21, 2009 in 100 calorie snack, desserts • 2 comments
Here’s a great way to use up Italian prune plums you may have lingering in the fridge. Sweetened just a bit and roasted in the oven, their flavor is intensified, and the plums create a rich, tart sauce. Caramelized Italian plums make a great topping — spoon them on ice cream, pound cake, or rice [...]
August 4, 2009 in PIE, desserts • 2 comments
Oh man. You have to try this. Currant chiffon pie. If you don’t have currants, sub another juice like lemon, orange, or grape or raspberry or…anything. Just make this pie, once in your life. It’s creamy, fluffy, melty, and tart, the perfect foil for a flaky pastry crust or graham cracker crust.
Seriously. Dude. Eat this [...]
July 17, 2009 in 100 calorie snack, desserts, gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian • 2 comments
Check out this awesome bowl Dad found under the house.
Under the house, you say? Why yes, under the house. Why do you ask?
Oh, you didn’t know. My house got a new foundation this spring.
Wow, those plum blossoms in the background sure look pretty.
So yesterday Dad, his cousin, and the guy who works with [...]
January 29, 2010 in 600 calorie death spiral, daring bakers, desserts, vegetarian • no comments yet
The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca. Recipes for whole wheat graham crackers and Nanaimo bars at the end of the post.
Let [...]
February 28, 2010 in daring bakers, desserts • 5 comments
The February 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate About Baking. They chose Tiramisu as the challenge for the month. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washington Post, Cordon Bleu at Home and Baking Obsession.
Boy was I excited earlier this month to find [...]
November 29, 2009 in 24 24 24, desserts, vegetarian • 13 comments
Weddings. Baby showers. Christmas.
These are the some of the family gatherings where miloste, a Bohemian fried pastry, graced the banquet tables and spreads. Don’t bother googling; “miloste” is a phonetic spelling. We have no idea what the “real” name for these treats is. Hell, we usually call them “those fried things with beer in [...]
August 25, 2009 in PIE, desserts, gaming porn, gluten-free, travel porn, vegan, vegetarian • 5 comments
Blueberry pie ranks right up there. Number two after sour cherry pie, for sure. I’d always had blueberry pie that was baked, but the blueberries this year are so fabulous — large, and the perfect sweet-tart combination — that I wanted to do one that was more strawberry pie-style.
In other words, blueberries mixed with [...]
August 13, 2009 in 600 calorie death spiral, cake, desserts, vegetarian • 4 comments
Today is Mom’s birthday. Go Mom! I won’t tell you which birthday it is, since she’s a tad shy about that. I’m just gonna say she had me when she was very very young. Nearly criminally young. Not that she’s a criminal. I don’t think.
Got anything to confess, Mom?
Grandma used to make this, her [...]
September 26, 2009 in 100 calorie snack, appetizers, cookies, desserts, vegetarian • no comments yet
Here’s one amazing thing to do with leftover scraps of puff pastry: make mini palmiers. A good idea for snacks for a crowd. They’ll go fast, though!
Warning: drunken post ahead
My cousin Tone is in town, and he brought a big ass RV and several other modes of transportation with him. I countted five: the RV, [...]
June 18, 2009 in cake, desserts, vegetarian • 2 comments
Strawberry season is full-bore, yay! We don’t grow them in our garden, though my grandma used to. Sis has a patch in her garden, though. The only thing fun about picking strawberries is popping them in your mouth while you do it. Otherwise it’s hunched-over, hunt-and-peck labor.
So we order them from a local grower. How [...]
August 23, 2009 in PIE, desserts, gluten-free, vegetarian • 13 comments
Now there’s a mouthful. Know why? Because it’s so versatile. It works for the gluten-free folks. It works for the pie folks. It works for the tart folks. It works for the don’t-make-me-get-out-the-rolling-pin folks.
Even better, this walnut-oat pie crust recipe is just a prelude to the fresh blueberry pie I made it with, coming up [...]
January 24, 2010 in 24 24 24, appetizers, desserts, vegan, vegetarian • 5 comments
We love seaweed, how about you?
People were confused when I told them my aunt Linda and I would be making sushi for January’s 24, 24, 24 event. “Isn’t that raw fish?” they asked, knowing I’m not a huge fan of animal foods. Technically, sushi is rice that’s been specially prepared with vinegar and a little [...]
July 23, 2009 in breads, desserts, vegetarian • no comments yet
Oh gods. Rotting bananas on the counter again.
I don’t want banana bread. I’ll just put half of it in the freezer and forget it’s there.
Oh! A recipe for banana-chocolate chip muffins. I like chocolate chips, yes I do.
And about 45 minutes later these babies came out of the oven, all gently crisped tops and [...]
