One Frugal Foodie

We all have a favorite comfort food (or two) and my husband’s is wonton soup.  Originally from the cold and rainy Northwest, his cravings start kicking in just as the post-Labor Day chill sets in.  Yes, it does get cold in Vegas, wide temperature swings are a part of desert living.  While we are fairly new to this vibrant town, we lived in the high desert of Lake Tahoe for many years, and have grown accustomed to quickly shifting from swim suits to hats and gloves, all within the same day. 

Anywho, I thought I would surprise him with my first attempt at Wonton Soup.  I altered the recipe from Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee.  She calls for 1 packet of oriental sesame dressiing mix. While we eat a ton of Asian-inspired food, this isn’t a regularly stocked item in our house, so I simply omitted it with no sacrafice.  Also, while I usually have oyster sauce on hand, I was out, so I used tamari (soy sauce) instead.  Also, the original recipe was for steamed wontons.  A quick boil in some basic broth is all that is needed for your basic wonton soup, no bamboo steamer required.  Okay, one last thing, the recipe calls for pork, certainly the best meat for wontons, but they do not sell any antibiotic-free pork in my area, so I use ground turkey instead.  It is a fair substitute.

While this recipe can easily be prepared in a veggie broth, I am very curious on any ideas to veganize wontons.  The egg can easily be omitted from this recipe.  My husband had never used egg in any wontons he had made before, but I wanted to try this recipe.  However, really, what can you fill these little wrappers with to sort of keep that wonton soup like experience?  I would be curious to give it a whirl for fun if anyone has an idea. 

Just in case you were wondering, it was good.  Not as salty as the restaurant types, no msg of course, but a nice soothing meal nonetheless.  If you like a saltier hit, add a bit of tamari/soy sauce to the broth. 

Wonton Soup

• 1 pound ground turkey (the lean kind) or pork
• 1 (5-ounce) can water chestnuts, drained and finely chopped
• 1/2 cup scallions (green onions), finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon jarred minced ginger
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 egg beaten
• 2 tablespoon oyster sauce or soy sauce or tamari
• 1 (16-ounce) pack wonton wrappers
• 1 quart chicken or veggie broth (I like the organic ones from Pacific Foods)

In a large bowl mix pork/turkey, water chestnuts, scallions, garlic, ginger, sesame oil, egg, and oyster sauce or soy sauce/tamari. Fill center of each wonton wrapper with 1 teaspoon of meat filling. Gather wrapper up and twist to secure sides. Brush the edges of the wontons with water to help seal. Fill a pot with 1 quart of chicken broth and an additional cup of water.  Add the wontons and boil until the wonton skins are tender (like pasta).  If desired, add other seasoning, vegetables (cabbage sliced up and cooked in works well), etc for variations on the basic broth.  We like it simple.

To Steam: Arrange cabbage leaves on the bottom of a bamboo steamer. Place dumplings about 1-inch apart and steam until the filling is cooked through, about 20 minutes. 

Following the lead of those ginger-spiked chocolate chip cookies, I snuck some crystalized ginger into a Molasses Cookie recipe I was trialing out.  The recipe was amazingly vegan (dairy-free, egg-free) and didn’t call for any ginger.  Knowing how well ginger goes with molasses, I thought this would be the perfect recipe for some more ginger-spiking (note the little pieces of ginger peaking out in the picture below).

Whoa!  My first bite of the cookies while still warm was like a flavor slap in the face.  Granted, I loved it.  Sugar, cinnamon, molasses, and ginger each competing for a single spot on my taste buds.  Seriously, overpoweringly, yummy!  This flavor concoction is not for those ultra-sensitive taste buds, but for ginger lovers like myself, it is definitely worth a trial.

Alas, I can not divulge the actual recipe I used, since it is coming out in a new food allergy cookbook.  However, it isn’t too far off from this one for Egg-Free Dairy-Free Molasses Cookies.  To avoid a ginger overload, try substituting cinnamon for the ginger in this recipe (the recipe I used had cinnamon as the main spice) and add diced crystalized ginger bits to your hearts content!

A little hint too, I didn’t actually have any regular/dark molasses on hand, but did have blackstrap molasses.  Obviously this is a bit too bitter for a 1:1 sub, but after looking around at substitution ideas, I settled on a 50/50 mix of the blackstrap molasses and maple syrup.  It turned out to be a winner!

Yesterday as I pondered over what ginger-inspired dessert I might concoct for my own birthday treat, I kept coming back to my favorite pair, ginger and chocolate.  That being said, cookies really are the unanimous sweet of choice in our house.  While it may not be an extremely daring venture, I must say that a dairy-free version of those good old tollhouse cookies, with a generous amount of gooey chocolate chip morsels and spiked with bits of sugary ginger is a winner! 

My typical chocolate chip cookie version uses oil, but since it was my birthday, I splurged and used Earth Balance buttery sticks.  You can use any dairy-free margarine you like.

Now, I can’t say exactly how much ginger to use in the whole batch, as I divided up the batch leaving some ginger-free for my cookie-loving, ginger-averse husband. 

Chocolate Chip Cookies with a Ginger Surprise

• 2-1/4 Cups Flour (All-Purpose, White-Wheat, or a Gluten-Free blend with xanthan gum - I successfully tried one from Authentic Foods in this recipe)
• 1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
• 3/4 Cup White Sugar
• 3/4 Cup Light Brown Sugar or Evaporated Cane Juice
• 3/4 Cup Margarine (Really, those Earth Balance Buttery Sticks are the best… and no trans fat!)
• 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 2 Eggs
• 12 Ounces Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (I love the ones from Trader Joe’s that are rather generous in size, but those are subject to cross-contamination.  Check with the Enjoy Life or Tropical Source brands for severe allergies)
• 1/4 to 1/2 Cup Finely Diced Ginger (I diced it very fine to keep the ginger from overpowering the cookies, see the picture below of a whole cube next to a diced one.  However, I love ginger, so I may double the size of my bits next time).

Preheat oven to 350º

Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl, and set aside.  In a mixing bowl, cream together the margarine, sugars, and vanilla.  Add the eggs, and mix them in to make a nice creamy dough.  Slowly incorporate the flour mixture until everything is well combined.  Fold in the chocolate chips and as many ginger bits as you would like, by hand.  [If you have some ginger-averse taste buds in your house, just divide up the dough and make a ginger loaded batch for yourself.]  Drop globs of the dough by the tablespoonful onto a cookie sheet.

 Bake for 9 to 10 minutes, or until they are no longer doughy in the center and are just turning golden around the edges.  Remove to a wire rack to cool.

Inhale while warm as the gooey melting chocolate coats the ginger bits with each bite… yum!

I have some Ginger-Spiked Molasses Cookie Dough chilling in the fridge, to be baked up tomorrow. That one is even vegan (egg-free), we shall see how it works out!  I will keep you posted.

Yeah, it’s my birthday!  Or should I say birthday week? 

Saturday, my husband and I went for a great hike with lots of fun rock scrambling just a few miles from our house.  Sunday, we met up with family and friends for dinner and to see a singer my parents know perfrom at a bistro off-strip.  She is the star of the show Menopause (I haven’t seen it yet) here in Vegas, but it seems many of the live performers sing at local establishments for fun and practice.  There were actually dozens of other performers from the Vegas shows sitting and dining in the audience, and each was passed the mic at random times to sing.  So much talent in that room it was amazing!  [Side note: feel free to ask me anytime on cool places to go if you are visiting Vegas.  There is more than I ever imagined]

Yesterday, my dad stopped by to wish me a happy birthday and drop off some cool presents that my stepmom picked out.  It is still fun to get presents : ) 

Today, hmmm, well there will definitely be some time off the computer to do things I enjoy.  That must include baking!  I am not a cake fan, so I am leaning toward perhaps some birthday cookies or birthday crisp, whatever it is, it will have some crystalized ginger in it.  I have a craving, and some of these awesome organic ginger bits from the Ginger People on hand.  Anywho, I shall report back with the dessert of choice and any other birthday ventures!