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This is the final recipe that I am posting from the Zen Meditation Camp. They were having a little party following an ordination service and wanted some sweet nut bread. We made Banana Bread and then this recipe. I really liked this one. I don’t usually care for bread with dates in it but this was so good! Enjoy!
Also, just need to give credit where credit is do. These three recipes from the Zen Meditation Camp were given to me by the head cook for the camp. Her name is Laura Fish. I enjoy the experience whenever I get a chance to cook with her and her husband, Jim.
Date Orange Bread
Ingredients:
1 Egg
2 Tablespoons Butter, softened
1 Cup Granulated Sugar
2 Orange Rinds, grated
1 Cup of the Juice from the 2 Oranges (add water to make it the full cup)
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
¾ Teaspoon Salt
½ Cup Walnuts, chopped
1 Cup Dates, chopped
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350-degrees F.
Beat egg slightly.
Add butter and sugar and beat until smooth.
Add rind, juice, and vanilla and stir.
Mix the flour, baking powder, soda, and salt in a separate bowl.
Stir in nuts and dates.
Pour flour mixture over batter and stir to moisten.
Spoon into a greased 9×5x3-inch loaf pan.
Put in the oven and bake for 1 hour.
Bread is done when an inserted knife comes out clean.
Pull out of oven and cool for 10 minutes
Remove from pan and finishing cooling and then wrap.
Makes 1 Loaf.
This is another recipe that we use at the Zen Meditation Camp. I love hummus! It is really good on flatbread! This is a great recipe to make for a party!!! Enjoy!
Hummus
Ingredients:
15 Cups Garbanzo Beans
5 Cups Garbanzo Bean Liquid (reserved from garbanzo bean can)
5 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
2 ½ Cups Tahini
15 Garlic Cloves
5 Teaspoons Salt
Bread or Crackers to serve on
Directions:
In food processor, process garlic until minced.
Add the rest of the ingredients, using only about half or so of the reserved liquid at first, then adding more as needed until a smooth and thick but spreadable consistency.
Hummus stores well and may be made a few days in advance.
Serves 30.
I am spending the week at Samish Island Community of Christ Campgrounds cooking for a Zen Meditation Camp. All food for the week is vegetarian. I wanted to post some of my favorite things we made this week. This is a salad dressing recipe and is wonderful!
Tahini-Garlic Dressing
Ingredients:
1 ½ Cups Tahini
6 T Canola Oil
¾ Cup Lemon Juice
¾ Cup Water
3 Tsp. Apple Cider Vinegar
6 Tsp. Tamari
3 Garlic Cloves, pressed
¼ Tsp Black Pepper
Directions:
Thoroughly blend all ingredients in a food processor.
Refrigerate.
Makes 30 Servings.
I know this isn’t a recipe but it is food related. I tried some new jelly this week that is absolutely wonderful and I just had to recommend it to y’all. It is an Organic Pomegranate Jelly from Crofter’s. This is the best jelly I have ever had! If you find it in your local store, you must buy it! 
I grew up with my grandma Lillie baking Rhubarb Custard Pies every Spring/Summer. It quickly became my favorite pie and now that my grandma is gone, eating rhubarb is a very nostalgic experience for me. She shared a house with us and when she passed away I got her studio apartment that we had converted the garage into. This also included a garden out the front door of the apartment that has three rhubarb plants in it. She passed away 2 and half years ago but this is the first Spring that I have harvested the rhubarb.
We are having a potluck at church this Sunday and I wanted to make something that involved the rhubarb. I didn’t want to make a pie as it won’t go as far as other items. So I did a search on www.allrecipes.com. I use this website a lot when looking for recipes. It has a conversion option so you can make something for as many or as few people as you want. It also lets other people make comments on recipes so you can see how it turned out for them. Anyways, while searching I came across this recipe for Rhubarb Dream Bars. They looked good. I decided to do two batches of them for Sunday’s potluck. I made the first batch last night and tried some this morning. THEY ARE WONDERFUL! The second batch is in the oven.
The recipe that I got from All Recipes is below. Just a few notes though. Because I didn’t have enough butter at home I used a ½ Cup Butter and ½ Cup Shortening. Of course, that turned out just fine. For the topping, I used all 3 cups of sugar the first time but it was really sweet. For the second batch I am only using 2 ½ Cups. I ended up having to bake it for 55 minutes because at 35 minutes it was still really runny. So set it for 35 minutes and then check on it every 5 minutes. Also I cut it into 21 (3×7) bars instead of 15 (3×5). Enjoy!
Rhubarb Dream Bars
Ingredients:
CRUST-
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 cup butter, softened
TOPPING-
3 cups white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
4 eggs, beaten
4 1/2 cups chopped fresh rhubarb
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a medium bowl, mix together 2 cups of flour, confectioners’ sugar and butter until it forms a dough, or at least the butter is in small crumbs.
Press into the bottom of a 9×13 inch baking dish. (Spray the dish with PAM before putting the crust in)
Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven.
While this bakes, whisk together the white sugar, salt, flour and eggs in a large bowl.
Stir in rhubarb to coat.
Spread evenly over the baked crust when it comes out of the oven.
Bake for another 35 minutes in the preheated oven, or until rhubarb is tender.
Cool and cut into squares to serve.
Serves 15.
Every Spring there is a Fine Arts Retreat at Samish Island Campgrounds. I have attended the past 7 out of 8 of them with plans to go to my 8th one in April. Occasionally, the retreat offers a cooking class. At one of the earlier Fine Arts Retreats that I attended the cooking class was focused on soups. The teacher showed us all the available ingredients and then all the class participants were able to make a soup of their choice using whatever available ingredients we wanted to use. The soup was to be served that night to the campers for dinner. Well, this soup was my creation! Enjoy!
Ingredients:
4 Chicken Breasts
20 Baby Red Potatoes
10 Cups Chicken Broth
1/8 Cups fresh dill, chopped
2 Carrots
4 Cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese
Olive Oil
Black Pepper
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Salt
Directions:
Shred the potatoes.
Put broth in pan on medium heat and add the potatoes.
Cut chicken in cubes and sautee them in butter until no longer pink in the middle and then add the chicken to the soup.
Slice the carrots into slices and sautee in oil and crushed garlic and then add to soup.
Add the spices (except the dill) to the soup.
20 minutes before serving add the cheddar cheese and dill.
Serves about 10.
The great thing about soup is that it is so easy to take any recipe and make it your own. Looking back, I definitely would have added mushrooms to this. You can choose to dice instead of shred the potatoes. You can choose to peel all the skin off the potatoes, only off half of the potato (my preference), or peel it all off. You can also choose to use shredded chicken instead of cubed. You can take a leftover roasted chicken and use it for the soup. You can add as much or as little of the spices you wish as well as omitting some and/or adding your own!
Let the experimenting begin!!!
If you like Blue Cheese Dressing then you will love this! I even know some who abhor blue cheese but actually ended up liking this. I make this dish all the time for potlucks and it is a hit!
Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon Vegetable Oil
1 lb. Chicken Breast Tenders (cut into bite size pieces)
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
1 Clove Garlic, finely chopped
1/3 Cup Blue Cheese Dressing
Hot Cooked Farfalle (bow-tie) pasta
Crumbled Blue Cheese, if desired
Directions:
Heat oil in a 10-inch skiller over medium-high heat
Cook chicken, lemon juice, and garlic in oil for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until chicken is no longer pink in center.
Stir in dressing.
Cook 2-4 minutes, stirring frequently, until hot.
Served over farfalle.
Sprinkle the blue cheese over the dish, if desired.
Makes 4 Servings.
Note: I usually always end up using more dressing than it calls for. Furthermore, I always sprinkle it with blue cheese.
Before this past weekend I had never successfully made a cake from scratch. I had planned on serving Strawberry Shortcake at a retreat this past weekend but didn’t want to use the usual white cake or the nasty sponge cake. I thought a pound cake sounded like a good alternative. Well, I made it and it was a big hit! So, I thought I would share the recipe with you!
Ingredients:
2 ½ Cups Sugar
1 Cup Butter, softened
1 Teaspoon Almond Extract
5 Large Eggs
3 Cups All-Purpose Flour
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
¼ Teaspoon Salt
1 Cup Evaporated Milk
Directions:
Heat oven to 350-degrees. Grease bottom and side of 2 loaf pans, 9×5x3 inches, with shortening and then lightly flour.
Beat sugar, butter, vanilla, and eggs in large bowl with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Beat on high speed for 5 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally.
Mix flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl.
Beat flour mixture into sugar mixture alternately with the milk on low speed, beating just until smooth after each addition. Pour into pans.
Bake for 55 to 60 minutes. You will know it is done by inserting a toothpick and having it come out clean.
Cool 20 minutes and then remove from pan and place on wire rack. Cool completely, about 2 hours.
Now, you can serve this with strawberries and cool whip like I did. Another option is to sprinkle powdered sugar on it and serve just as it is.
Cooking Tip (a.k.a. Confession Time): I always completely read the directions. It was only until now that I see that I was supposed to use two loaf pans and not one. Now I know why it got so high in the pan and took longer to bake! Oh well!
The first recipe that I will post here is one that I posted on my personal blog back in October. The recipe is for an Oriental Salad Dressing. I love salads but am very picky when it comes to dressings. If I don’t love the dressing then I won’t eat the salad. Luckily, I love this dressing.
I originally had this dressing at a church potluck several years ago. I, along with several others, asked the lady who brought it for the recipe. Ever since I got the recipe I have used it many times for personal use as well as for large groups of people. More recently I cooked for a retreat at my church campgrounds this past weekend and made an oriental salad with this dressing to accompany dinner. It was a hit!
I hope you enjoy the dressing as much as I do!
Ingredients:
1 Cup Sugar
4 teaspoons Salt
2 heaping teaspoon Black Pepper
3/4 Cup Canola Oil
1/2 Cup Sesame Oil
3/4 Cup Balsamic Vinegar (warmed)
Directions:
First add sugar and salt to warm vinegar and shake until dissolved.
Then add peppers and oils.
Shake & Refrigerate.
Shake well before each use.
For the salad I usually use romaine lettuce, shredded carrots, and slivered almonds. Can also add shredded teriyaki chicken. Some other options are green onions, peppers, mandarin oranges, and ramen noodles.
