Favorite Recipes from the MKWC Staff
With the shorter days and chillier temperatures of an approaching winter, MKWC staff share their favorite seasonal recipes. Whether you’re sharing a meal with a friend, celebrating a holiday, or trying to warm up after a rainy day outside, we hope you’ll find a recipe here that resonates with you. Here are some of our recommendations.
1. Sweet and Salty Chicken, recommended by Carol Earnest
I love this recipe because it only uses one pan, I don’t need to buy any special ingredients, and it’s quick to cook up, making it an easy weeknight meal. It’s also delicious and a great family meal!
2. Mulligatawny Soup, recommended by Luna Latimer
If you like curry and it’s a good mushrooming year, consider making mulligatawny soup. I prefer mine with tanoak mushrooms. You could also remove the chicken from the recipe. Getting the mushrooms is at least half of the fun! This recipe is from the kitchen of Renee Stauffer.
3. Nut-Fudge Chocolate Brownies, recommended by Jodie Pixley
This recipe has no refined sugar, but it's chocolatey, tasty, and surprisingly good!
(From "The Dental Diet" by Dr. Steven Lin)
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 cup mashed sweet potato
½ cup warmed nut butter or alternative nut spread
½ cup cocoa powder ( if you prefer a richer, stronger taste, you can add more cocoa?
1 tsp vanilla extract (make sure there’s no added sugar)
1 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbsp butter
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350F
Coat bread tin or cooking pan with butter.
Place all ingredients in a high-speed blender or food processor. Process until just blended.
Transfer batter to pan and bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Allow the brownies to cool in the pan completely before slicing into bars.
Serve topped with full cream
4. Grilled Rosemary Pork Tenderloin, recommended by Michael Stearns
Super easy, good weeknight dish.
Ingredients
8 oz. pork tenderloin
Salt and pepper
One clove garlic
One tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped
½ cup dry red wine
Preparation
Wash and dry pork tenderloin, cut into ¼ inch thick pieces. Season with salt and pepper. Place in a small bowl.
Crush garlic, rinse and remove leaves from stems and chop. Combine garlic and rosemary with wine and pour over pork. Turn pork to marinate well. Marinate at least 15 minutes.
When ready to cook pork, oil stove top grill and heat. Place pork slices on grill for about 5 minutes total, turning once and basting once or twice with marinade.
5. All-Butter Pie Crust, recommended by Bev Yip
What’s not to like about success and this crust never fails me. It’s great for all kinds of dessert pies and even divided for smaller mince pies.
Everyone has a favorite filler and since I can't leave the crust sitting here alone, here's the usual recipe I use for an apple pie.
6. Asian Eggplant, recommended by Myanna Nielsen
One of my late summer/early fall favorites is Asian eggplant with ground pork. This dish is why I grow a lot of eggplants. I am not always keen on super-HOT so I substitute the hot sriracha sauce with a sweet chili sauce, I have also substituted the shallots with onions, and because “when in the country one must make do”, I have also tried replacing the pork with ground deer or goat or beef, it all works great...Enjoy
7. Siena’s Orange Almond Cake, recommended by Blythe Reis
One of my favorite cakes, and it’s dairy free!
Ingredients
1 cup almonds, lightly toasted
1 cup toasted coconut
2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2/3 cup canola oil
1 cup soy or dairy milk
2/3 cup honey
1 Tablespoon vanilla
½ tsp almond extract or maple
2 teaspoons finely grated orange rind
Orange Syrup Ingredients
1 fresh orange juiced
½ cup sugar
1/3 cup water
Chocolate Icing Ingredients
5 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate broken into small ieces
4 Tbls soy margarine
2 Tbls honey
3 drops vanilla or 1 Tbls Amaretto
Preheat oven to 350. Grease 9-10 inch cake pan with oil. Grind the almonds in a food processor or blender. Transfer the almonds to a large bowl. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix well.
In a smaller bowl, combine the canola oil, soy milk, honey, vanilla, almond or maple extract, and the orange rind. Pour about half of this mixture into the flour mixture, and stir briefly. Add the remaining liquid, and stir until the batter is smooth. Pour it into the prepared pan.
Bake the cake for 40-45 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the cake comes out clean. Let the cake cool in its pan on a rack for 15 minutes, then loosen the cake with a sharp knife. Place a plate on top of the pan, and invert the cake onto the plate. Let the cake cool completely.
Make syrup: Bring ingredients to a boil, simmer for 10 mins or more till concentrated. Poke holes in finished cake layers ¾ of the way through the tops. Drizzle the syrup over the top.
Make the icing: Melt the chocolate in the top of a double boiler or in a bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. Once the chocolate is melted, add the margarine 1 tablespoon at a time, whisking after each addition. Whisk in the honey and vanilla or liqueur.
Ice the cake, using a cake spatula or butter knife. If the cake won’t be eaten within 5 hours, store it in the refrigerator. Also tastes great the next day if refrigerated.
8. Instant Pot Tuscan Soup, recommended by Tanya Chapple
I purchased an instant pot a few years ago when we moved on-grid. I thought a pressure cooker/slow cooker/yogurt maker would be pretty cool, but I didn't realize how helpful a little kitchen robot could be - time saved! meals cooked to perfection with little attention! fresh cooked beans without heating the house! It is a magic machine. We dried a lot of tomatoes this year, and I was browsing for new recipes to use them. Google, in her wisdom, led me to this for Tuscan chicken. It's a good one, one that I'm sure we will be eating more this fall and winter. While it is an instant pot recipe, it would easily be accomplished as a one pot meal. I substitute arugula for the spinach.
9. Pumpkin Cheesecake, recommended by Lesli Dahl
One holiday classic we make at our house is a pumpkin cheesecake with gingersnap crust. It’s a bit of effort, but if cheesecake is your thing, it’s divine.
10. Beef Stew, recommended by Charles Wickman
This is my and my family's favorite cold, wet weather meal. If you're lucky enough, replace the beef with púufich/venison and top with sautéed chanterelle mushrooms.
11. Flour Tortillas, recommended by Nancy Bailey
If I am filling these with something hot, for a wrap or a burrito, I place the filling on the tortilla as it finishes cooking on its second side. Then lift the whole thing out and roll it up. If you are using cheese this helps to melt it.
8 large or 6 small tortillas
Ingredients
3 cups flour (1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 white works well)
1 cup water
1/3 cup oil (sunflower works well, olive makes the tortillas heavier)
Preparation
Place flour in bowl. Optional: Add dry herbs of your choice to the flour.
Add oil and mix with fingers to an even consistency.
Add water and mix with spoon and then hands to make a dough.
Divide dough into eight (or ten) pieces and create smooth balls.
Roll each out with a rolling pin.
Dry fry each side in a hot pan (cast iron works best). Flip when bubbles appear.
These last better as dough than they do as cooked tortillas. Place in sealed container in the fridge for up to several days.
If they fall apart as they are being eaten, they either didn’t have enough water in them or the flour you used did not have enough gluten.