Alpha Cooking Page
To satisfy special requests for Laurie-Ann's recipes from the third Alpha Course at Glen Cairn United Church in Kanata, Ontario (Fall '99), we've set up an Alpha cooking page. We hope that you find the recipes helpful and delicious. Even cooking can be done to the glory of God.
For your added pleasure, this page is programmed in HTMSMELL, enabling those with well-developed olfactory senses to actually smell the finished dishes right off the screen. This process is protected; please do not take the code.
Soups and Appetizers
Main Courses, Vegetables
- Bacon Crackle Corn Bake
- Bread and potato stuffing
- Cheese Puff Pastry Torte
- Curry for a crowd!
- Chicken Broccolli Curry
- L-A's Moroccan meatballs
- Macaroni and cheese
- Mashed potatoes
- L-A's Ratatouille
- Lentil - Orzo Stew
- Low fat chicken loaf
- Moroccan vegetable stew
- Red beans and rice
- Veal meatballs
- Vegetarian chili
- Yam / apple bake
Desserts
- Apple Crisp
- Bread & Butter Pudding
- Cocoa-Nutmeg Snickerdoodles
- Elderberry Grunt
- Elderberry Loaf
- Hawaiian Trifle (non-dairy)
- Honey Apple cake
- Low Fat "Have 2" brownies
- Beta brownies
- Peach Cobbler
- Pumpkin pie
- Pumpkin pie squares
- Ritz® Blitz
- Skor Toffee Chocolate Bars
- Sunny Citrus Pound Cake
- Tiramisu
- Zucchini Bread
Other Links
- Wanda the Happy Cooker
- The Alpha meal
- Sunrise Soya
- Prevention Magazine — Food and nutrition
- The Vegetarian Site
- Vitameal recipes
- Forever Healthy Cooking School — Sheila Morrow, teacher, speaker, 613-723-3333 - Ottawa
Ever wonder what to do with the leftovers and bones of a turkey dinner? Don't throw those bones away! The ingredient amounts depend on the amount of turkey you have. This is an intuitive recipe
I served this on October 6th and everyone had a bowl! It also keeps very well in the fridge and can be frozen for later.
Turkey Barley Soup
HTMSMELL Sense Code: Turkey, Celery, HumidStock
- Left over turkey and turkey bones
- Water - enough to cover meat and bones.
- Celery stalk (use leaves for simmering the stock)
- Salt and pepper
Post-stock soup
- Diced celery
- Barley
- Onions diced to taste
- Salt and pepper
- French herbs (chives, chervil, tarragon, parsley)
- If the stock is a little thin, add a low-fat chicken bouillon cube
Turkey Soup Stock
- Fill a dutch oven with turkey bones (with some meat left on) and left over turkey.
- Add enough water to cover meat and bones, and boil with celery leaves.
- Drain after simmering for approx. one hour and cool meat and bones.
- Use a boning knife to scrape off useable meat and discard fat, grisle and bone.
- Cut up the remaining meat and save.
- Cool the broth and refridgerate for a few hours or over night.
- Skim the fat off the top of the soup.
Soup:
- Empty turkey soup stock into dutch oven.
- You can also add left over gravy if it has been cooled and gelled in the fridge before hand.
- Dice a couple of stalks of celery, and a couple of onions and add to soup mixture.
- Add salt and pepper to taste, and if stalk is too thin, add one cube of chicken bouillion.
- Add french herb mixture (or a Creole mixture if you like spice!) and barley - not too much!
- Boil soup and simmer for at least an hour in a covered dutch oven and serve hot.
Hot Sour Soup — From Patricia Taylor
Hints: I don't like sesame-seed oil so I eliminate it. I cut the salt and
some of the soy sauce because I don't care for a lot of salt. I use extra
vinegar and add hot peppers to obtain the hot and sour taste which we really
like. Adjust to your taste. The pork is absolutely necessary for the right
flavour but I use green onions instead of scallions for no particular reason.
SUAN-LA-T'ANG
HTMSMELL Sense Code: Sugar, Hot Pickle, PorkIngredients
- 4 dried Chinese mushrooms, 1 - 1½ inches in diameter
- 2 squares, 3 inches each, fresh Chinese bean curd, about ½ inch thick
- ½ cup canned bamboo shoots
- ¼ pound boneless pork
- 1 quart chicken stock
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- ¼ teaspoon grd white pepper
- 2 tablespoons white vinegar
- 2 tablespoons cold water, mixed with 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 egg lightly beaten
- 1 scallion, finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons sesame-seed oil
Preparation
- In a small bowl cover the mushrooms with ½ cup warm water and let them soak for 30 min. Discard the water. With a cleaver or knife, cut away and discard the tough stems of the mushrooms, and shred the caps into horizontal paper-thin slices and then into thin strips.
- Drain the pieces of bamboo shoot and bean curd, and rinse them in cold water. Shred as fine as the mushrooms.
- With a cleaver or sharp knife, trim the pork of all fat. Then shred it as above into thin strips about 1½ - 2 inches long.
- Have the above ingredients, stock, salt, soy sauce, pepper, vinegar, cornstarch mixture, egg, sesame-seed oil and scallions within easy reach.
Cooking
- Combine in a heavy 3 quart saucepan the stock, salt, soy sauce, mushrooms, bamboo shoots and pork. Bring to a boil over high heat, then immediately reduce the heat to low, cover the pan and simmer for 3 minutes.
- Drop in the bean curd, pepper and vinegar. Bring to a boil again. Give the cornstarch mixture a stir to recombine it and pour it into the soup. Stir for a few seconds until the soup thickens, then slowly pour in the beaten egg, stirring gently all the while.
- Remove the soup from the heat and ladle it into a tureen or serving bowl. Stir in the sesame-seed oil and sprinkle the top with scallions.
- Serve at once.
From Stewart House, Pakenham
Pumpkin Pie squares
HTMSMELL Sense Code: Pumpkin pie, cinnamon, ginger, clove, sugar, nuts350°F/180°C
Crust
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- ½ cup quick cooking oats
- ½ cup packed brown sugar
- ½ cup butter or margarine
Filling
- 2 cans (15 oz each) pumpkin
- 2 cans (12 oz each) evaporated milk
- 4 eggs
- 1 - 1½ cups sugar
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- ½ tsp ground cloves
- 1 tsp salt
Topping
- ½ cup packed brown sugar
- ½ cup chopped pecans (I would use ground pecans)
- 2 tbsp butter or margarine, softened
Directions
- Combine the crust ingredients until crumbly.
- Press into a greased 13" by 9" by 2" baking pan.
- Bake at 350°F/180°C, for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
- Meanwhile, beat filling ingredients in a mixing bowl until smooth.
- Pour over crust.
- Bake for 45 minutes.
- Combine brown sugar, pecans ,and butter
- Sprinkle over top.
- Bake 15-20 minutes longer or until a knife inserted near the centre comes out clean.
- Cool.
- Store in the refrigerator.
Many favour curry with a ruler
[Proverbs 19, 6] - NIV
From Nancy Robertson, Kanata, Ontario
Curry for a crowd!
HTMSMELL Sense Code: Medium Curry Spice, Humid, ChickenIngredients
- 28 chicken legs (I use 2 pieces of chicken per person plus a couple extra)
- 3 or 4 cloves garlic
- big roasting pan
- 1/4 cup Mr. Goudas curry; more if you want a stronger taste (brand is important; don't use cheap stuff)
- 1 green pepper
- 1 or 2 onions
- black pepper
- salt
- hot sauce to taste
- coconut cream
- water
- 1 tomato
- 1 medium potato
- 2 teaspoons dry thyme; 3 or 4 sprigs fresh
Directions
- Skin and wash the chicken, season generously with black pepper, thyme, cut up onion and green pepper, and chopped garlic.
- Let sit for a few hours covered in the fridge.
- Put chicken in big roaster with enough to cover meat half way.
- Sprinkle with curry and a bit of salt, add about 1 BIG teaspoon coconut cream, a few shots of hot sauce in the water.
- Bake covered in 300°F oven.
- Check frequently making sure to keep meat at least half covered in juice, either basting or gently moving pan to keep curry wet, forming gravy.
- After about 1 hour, add chopped tomato and finely chopped potato.
- Put back in oven for another hour or so.
- Serve with rice and veggies.
- Keep basting, gently stirring to thicken gravy and make sure it doesn't dry down. Add more water as needed.
This recipe has been done many ways. My grandmother used tomato soup. My mother used paprika over the casserole. I use layers of chopped sauteed onions and top with Italian seasoning! You may come up with a different wrinkle. The one thing my family does have in common here, is that we use small (or baby) shells and not the traditional elbow macaroni.
Macaroni and Cheese
300°F
Ingredients
- 1 bag of small shells, cooked and drained according to package
- Margarine to taste
- 1 large onion, chopped and sautéed
- Approx. 12 or more cheese slices
- Approx. 1 cup skim milk (or more)
- Dashes of Italian seasoning
Directions
- Preheat oven to 300°F.
- Cook and drain shells according to package directions.
- Add spray or margarine to shells so they don't stick.
- Spray a 4 L casserole dish with non fat cooking spray.
- Place one layer of shells in dish, add torn - up cheese slices and some onions, repeat process.
- After you have the top layer, add approx. 1 cup of skim milk (to keep casserole moist) and add dashes of Italian seasoning on top.
- Bake for approx. 35-40 minutes at 300°F.
Peach Cobbler
For Alpha, double recipe
325°F
Crust
- 2 cups flour, sifted
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/3 cup sugar
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ cup butter/marg.
- 1/3 cup shortening
- ¾ cup skim condensed milk
Filling
- 7 cups (or two 28 oz cans) sliced peaches, preferably canned (in pear juice)
- ¼ cup sugar (add 1/3 cup more to make sugar syrup if peaches are fresh)
- ½ tsp. nutmeg
- ½ tsp. cinnamon
- ½ cup butter or margarine
Directions
- Preheat oven to 325°F.
- Spray an 8 inch baking dish.
- To prepare crust, sift the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt into large bowl.
- Using a wooden spoon, and in small pieces, alternately cut the butter and shortening into the flour mixture, until it resembles cornmeal in consistency.
- Slowly add the milk, mashing the mixture with a fork and using only enough liquid to make the dough soft.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and with your hands, knead for 30-45 seconds.
- Separate the dough into two portions, making one portion slightly larger than the other (by 10 - 15%).
- Set aside.
- Drain peaches completely, and reserve ¼ cup of the juice/syrup.
- Place the peaches in a large bowl and sift sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon over them.
- Mix well.
- Pour half the peach mixture into a prepared baking dish and dot with half of the butter.
- Roll out the smaller portion of dough and place over the peaches.
- Pour the second half of the peaches on top of the dough.
- Lightly drizzle the peach syrup over the peaches.
- Dot with remaining butter.
- Roll out the remaining piece of dough so that it is large enough to slightly overlap the baking dish (I then slightly tuck the dough under).
- Place a large dish or bowl on the rack below under the baking dish to catch the drips that will drop from the cobbler. Bake for 1-1/2 hours or until the top crust is lightly browned all over.
- Serve with vanilla ice cream.
Potato and Dill Soup
Ingredients
- 6 cups water
- 2 low-fat vegetable bouillion cubes
- 4 celery stalks, diced
- 6-8 large or medium potatoes
- 2 onions
- 2 leeks - optional
- 1 tsp dill
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 4 cups skim milk
Directions
- Bring water to boil and add cubes, dill and pepper.
- Chop onion, leeks, celery and peeled potatoes and add to the stock.
- Turn heat down and simmer for 20 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
- Puree soup with a hand blender in the pot.
- Prior to serving, add skim milk and reheat, but do not boil.
- Garnish lightly with a sprig of dill, or if you used leeks, a bit of chopped leek.
Bread and Butter Pudding
Double or triple recipe for Alpha
325°F
Ingredients
- 4 slices of white bread (more if the dish is big)
- 2 oz (60 g) butter or margarine
- 2 tbsp castor sugar or fruit sugar (fine texture)
- 3 tbsp. currants and or sultana raisins
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups skim or 1 per cent milk
- 1 tbsp. granulated sugar
- pinch of nutmeg
- pinch of salt
Directions
- Preheat oven to 325°F.
- Cut bread crusts off.
- Spead butter on both sides of the bread.
- Divide each slice into four squares.
- Spray pie dish or baking pan with a non-stick cooking spray.
- Place a layer of bread at the bottom of the pan and sprinkle with currants/raisins and fruit sugar.
- Add a layer of bread and repeat the process.
- In another bowl, beat the eggs, add in the granulated sugar and stir until dissolved.
- Add milk and stir.
- Pour this mixture over the bread slowly and soak for one hour.
- Sprinkle nutmeg and a pinch of granulated sugar on top.
- Bake for approx. 70-80 minutes.
Tiramisu
Ingredients
- 8 oz/225 g Non-fat spreadable cream cheese
- ½ cup plain skim yoghurt, previously drained through a sieve
- ¾ cup icing sifted icing sugar
- One envelope dessert topping (Weight Watchers or Dream Whip)
- ½ cup skim milk
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 3 tbsp water
- 2 large egg whites
- 38-40 small lady finger biscuits
- ¾ cup Hot double-strength prepared coffee
- 1 tbsp. granulated sugar
- 3 tbsp Kahlua liqueur (or similar non-alcoholic flavouring)
- 1-2 tsp. Cocoa
Directions
- Beat cream cheese, yoghurt and icing sugar together in a large bowl until smooth.
- Beat dessert topping and skim milk together according to package directions.
- Fold ½ dessert topping into cheese mixture.
- Combine granulated sugar, water and egg whites in the top of a double boiler over simmering water.
- Beat on high, over simmering water, until stiff peaks form.
- Gently fold egg white mixture into cheese mixture. Set aside.
- Lay ½ of the lady fingers in a single layer in the bottom of a 9 x 9 inch pan.
- Combine coffee with sugar and Kahlua.
- Drizzle ½ coffee mixture over lady fingers.
- Spread with ½ cheese mixture.
- Repeat with another layer of ladyfingers, coffee mixture and cheese mixture.
- Top with a thin layer of remaining ½ dessert topping.
- Lightly sprinkle with cocoa.
- Freeze for about 2 hours.
I served this separately with vegetarian chili for 16 people. They were all eaten with no left-overs!
Veal Meatballs
300°F
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. of lean ground veal
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp. worchestershire sauce
- 2 tsp. (or more to taste) paprika
- 2 tsp. (or more) poultry seasoning
- 1 tsp. ground white or black pepper
- 2 onions, diced very finely
- 2 garlic cloves, minced finely
- 1 cup bread crumbs
- 1 tsp. Salt
Directions
- Heat oven to 300°F.
- Prepare 2 large baking sheets to place meatballs on by spraying with a non-stick spray.
- Combine ingredients in a large bowl and knead with your fingers.
- Create small balls of meat by rolling meat in your hands.
- Space the balls apart from each other on the baking sheets.
- Bake for approx. 20 minutes (depending on how fast your oven is).
- Carefully take meat balls off pan and store in a large 4 qt. casserole dish with cover.
- When dinner is almost ready to be served, microwave the meatballs for 4 minutes. Enjoy!
Laurie-Ann's Vegetarian Chili
Ingredients
- One jar of mild salsa
- 1 19 oz can of red kidney beans
- 1 19 oz can of white kidney beans
- 1 large can of plum tomatoes (crushed)
- 3 large diced onions
- 1½ cups of chopped celery
- 2 diced green peppers
- 1 diced red pepper
- 1 small diced zucchini
- 2 minced garlic cloves
- 2 chopped fresh tomatoes
- chili powder to taste
- cumin to taste
- oregano to taste
- 3 cups cooked white rice
- Garnish: fat free sour cream and mild grated cheese
Directions
- Use a large dutch oven and combine salsa, kidney beans and canned tomatoes.
- Do not drain the beans or tomatoes beforehand.
- Crush tomatoes (if not done already) and gently stir mixture.
- Chop onions, celery, green peppers, red pepper, zucchini and garlic in small pieces.
- Stir into the bean-tomato mixture and heat to a boil, constantly stirring to prevent burning on the bottom of the pan.
- Add chopped fresh tomatoes.
- Turn down heat and add seasonings.
- Stir, and add the white rice.
- Simmer over low heat for at least two hours to ensure that the vegetables have softened and the rice has absorbed much of the liquid.
- Serve hot and fold in fat free sour cream and grated cheese over each chili bowl.
This dessert goes very well with vanilla ice cream.
Apple Crisp
Recipe doubled for Alpha
350°F/180°C
Ingredients
- 6-7 cups apple slices (Mackintosh or tart apples are good)
- ¾ cup of white sugar
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 egg
- 1/3 cup solid shortening (like Crisco)
- ½ tsp. cinnamon
- Optional: ¼ tsp. cardamom
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C.
- Use non stick cooking spray on an 8 x10 baking dish (or in a doubled recipe, use a glass lasagna pan.)
- Fill the dish with apple slices.
- Mix together with a fork until crumbly the sugar, flour, baking powder, salt and egg.
- Sprinkle this mixture over apples.
- Melt the shortening (in a microwave), cool slightly and pour over apple-flour mixture.
- Sprinkle with cinnamon.
- Bake for 30 - 40 minutes at 350°F/180°C.
I used this recipe on October 6, 1999 and served it with vanilla ice cream and hot fudge sauce.
Variations: You can add ½ cup of coconut or sliced almonds to the batter after egg whites have been folded in.
Low Fat "Have 2" Brownies
Recipe doubled for Alpha
350°F/180°C
Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ cup all purpose flour
- ½ cup cocoa
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 1/3 cup canola oil
- 1 tsp. real vanilla extract
- ½ cup Egg Whites (or three egg whites)
Directions
- Preheat over to 350°F (180°C).
- Measure the dry ingredients into a bowl and stir to combine.
- Add the oil and vanilla, mix well.
- In another bowl, whip the egg whites, and then pour into batter.
- Gently blend, but don’t over-mix.
- Transfer the batter into a greased 8 inch square pan (or for double recipe, use a 13 x 9 pan).
- Bake for 20 - 25 minutes or until the edges are firm to the touch.
- Cool for at least one hour before cutting and serving.
I have served this at a follow-up to
Alpha (A Life Worth Living).
Hence the name Beta Brownies.
Beta Brownies
HTMSMELL Sense Code: Chocolate, Sugar, Baked Cookies, HumidIngredients
- Use the same recipe as the Low Fat "Have 2" brownies, but add these ingredients:
- ½ cup coconut
- ½ cup milk chocolate chips (or semi-sweet if you prefer)
- ½ cup chopped walnuts or pecans
- 1 can of whipped chocolate frosting
Directions
- After you have mixed the dry ingredients (sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt), blend in coconut, chocolate chips and nuts.
- Follow the other recipe’s instructions and cool brownies.
- Once brownies are fully cooled, ice them with whichever kind of chocolate frosting you prefer.
You can vary this recipe in size using the general rule: have one potato per person and 'one for the pot.' When I cooked potatoes for our intro dinner in September 1999, I cooked 35 for 30 people.
Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients
- 5 medium sized potatoes
- Skim milk to taste (don't add too much!)
- Margarine or butter to taste
- 1 egg white (or two tsp. of 'egg whites')
- 4-5 tbsp. fat free sour cream
- Optional: grated parmesan cheese to taste
- Some garden chives for garnish (or dill if you prefer)
Directions
- Peel potatoes and chop into quarters (or eighths if you have large potatoes) in a saucepan.
- Cover potatoes with water, drop in a pinch of salt into water.
- Bring to a boil and turn down burner to simmer.
- Cover the pot at this point.
- Cook for approximately 20 minutes.
- Test how the potatoes are done by piercing a fork through the potato sections.
- If you are able to do this without difficulty, the potatoes are done.
- Drain the potatoes, and mash (in the pot) over an even counter.
- You can use a traditional masher, or a hand mixer.
- Add skim milk and margarine to taste, add egg white and sour cream and mix with a large spoon.
- Cover until ready to serve and top with chives (or mix them in if you prefer).
Bread and Potato Stuffing
350°F/180°C
Ingredients
- 3 - 4 onions (depending on personal preference)
- 1 10 - 14 oz. can of potatoes, drained
- ½ loaf of picked bread (white is useful, but you can use any type)
- 1 cup (8-10 oz) chicken broth — Vegetarians can use veg. cubes with chicken flavouring
- Generous dashes of sage and summer savoury
Directions
- Pick bread in a large bowl and generously season with spices.
- You may store the prepared bread in the freezer for up to 4 months to cut time in later preparation.
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Dice onions (a food chopper is very useful here) and saute in a skillet with non-stick cooking spray until onions are tender.
- Dice the drained potatoes.
- Spray a 2 quart/litre baking dish (that has a cover) with cooking spray.
- Arrange half of the onions in bottom of dish, followed by half of the potatoes, and half the bread.
- Gently toss by hand to ensure even distribution.
- Repeat process with the rest of bread, onions and potatoes.
- Gently sprinkle the chicken broth onto stuffing to give even moisture.
- Bake for approx. 40 minutes. If you don't have a cover to your baking dish, you can use a cover of aluminum foil.
Yam/Apple Bake
350°F/180°C
Ingredients
- 3½ lbs. sweet potatoes or yams (6 medium size)
- 3 small cooking apples (I use Mackintosh for tartness)
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ tsp. salt
- ½ tsp. cinnamon
- ¼ cup butter or margarine
Directions
- Preheat over to 350°F/180°C.
- Use non-stick spray on baking dish(es).
- Peel the yams, cut into ½ inch thick slices.
- Put into saucepan, cover with water, and bring to boil.
- Boil covered until partially cooked (about 5 -6 minutes).
- Peel and core apples, slice into ¼ inch thick wedges.
- Mix sugar, salt and cinnamon in a small bowl.
- When yams are cooked, drain well.
- Arrange half the yam slices in the bottom of pan, top with half of the apple slices and sprinkle with half of the sugar mixture.
- Dot with butter/margarine and repeat.
- Bake uncovered in centre of oven for ½ hour or until potatoes are tender.
Pick elderberries from a tree by snipping off the whole bunches at once. Once you have a fair amount, pick each berry off of the stems. Wash and pour in a bowl.
Elderberry Grunt
350°F/180°C
Crumble (Grunt)
- ¾ cup sugar (for crumble)
- 1 cup flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- ¾ tsp. salt
- 1 egg
- 1/3 cup solid shortening (Crisco blue package)
- ¼ tsp. dried lemon peel
- ¼ tsp. dried orange peel
Berries
- 3½ cups of washed elderberries, with stems removed
- ¼ cup - ½ cup sugar (for berries) to taste
- 1½ tsp. cornstarch
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- ¼ tsp. dried lemon peel
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C.
- In a bowl, mix cornstarch with lemon juice and sugar.
- Pour berries in the bowl and stir in the dried lemon peel. Set aside.
- In another bowl, mix together with a fork until crumbly the sugar, flour, baking power, salt and egg ingredients.
- Make sure that the texture is like pebbles and sand.
- Place the shortening in a small bowl in the microwave.
- Melt the shortening at high medium setting for 1½ minutes.
- Let it cool slightly and set aside.
- Lightly spray oil or Pam on a square 9" x 9" glass or teflon baking pan.
- Pour berries into pan and spread evenly (carefully so you don’t break the berries).
- Sprinkle crumble mixture over berries and spread relatively evenly.
- Pour the melted shortening evenly over crumble mixture.
- Sprinkle with the remaining lemon and orange peel.
- Place a larger pan under this one since the berries may bubble up while baking.
- Bake for 30-40 minutes at 350°F/180°C.
- Serve with vanilla frozen yogurt or ice cream.