Boiling beets, picked fresh (well, ‘pulled’) from the garden, prepped baby green beans (ready for dehydration) and reducing salsa verde for an egg white scramble.
food
Bacon-wrapped, stuffed chicken breast
i started with a lemon-garlic marinade, then decided that I wanted to use this bacon I’d gotten and didn’t really love on its own. I made a lazy-quick sauce of tomato paste & basil with a small amount of Parmesan. Normally, I wouldn’t do lemon AND tomato but it was already on.
It smells fantastic!
Baked in my old, old, old Le Creuset 30mm skillet. -clicky for Smell-a-vision
Quick dish between butterflying the chicken, it being breast meat and 260C oven! (500F). 30″, tops!
spaghetti squash
I can’t be bothered to do a proper food prep or recipe post cos there are only 3 people regularly reading here and I think they probably already know how to do spaghetti squash!
I like to microwave mine. For the naysayers, I have a couple of excellent reasons. The biggest deciding factor is my inability to lop one in half, off the vine.
Think chef’s knife versus a redwood tree.
It might happen eventually, especially considering they’re sort of hollow on the inside, but man you’d better have a whetstone handy and be prepared to take a long time, get blisters and hopefully not hack off any of your own parts in the doing.
That said if you want to bake the little fuckers, you need to hack them in half and bake insides-down for about an hour.
To microwave, choose a spaghetti squash of a size to suit your microwave and poke it approximately 300 times. Actually, think tiny stabs about every inch–completely covering the rind with stabby holes.
Nuke on high in 5-6 minute intervals (usually takes 12-18 minutes, depending on size). If you didn’t poke enough holes, don’t worry, the squash will let you know by exploding. Oh, what larks! I’ve only had it happen once and I hope for no repeats!
I flip mine over every 5-6 minutes, checking for softening of the rind. When the whole rind gives to pressure, it’s done.
It should have been hissing for some time now. Mind the steam. It will fuck you up.
Remove squash when it’s safe to handle and lop in half. If you’ve cleaned the guts out of a pumpkin, it’s a bit like that only be aware the squash flesh that you are going to eat will string off with the seeds.
Remove them but retain as much ‘spaghetti’ (squash flesh) as possible. I use two tools: my hands and a fork. Your hands are best at getting the majority out but a fork can scrape out a ton off of the inside of the rind.
Moroccan-y Stew
I’m a big fan of pots of food. I mean pots of food all tossed in together.
I had some extra lean ground beef (96% lean) and some sweet potatoes, some leftover French green beans (can’t handle the actual bean/ seeds to digest but the outer husks, yes) and some fresh spinach from le jardin — I also added 1 tin (10T) of tomato paste and an equal amount of water. Cooked the beef first with spices and then added in the cooked veg except for the spinach, which was raw and cooked down.
I used about 4T cumin, about 2T cinnamon, about 1T chili powder (wasn’t enough, went back and added a few shakes of Tabasco Special Reserve pepper sauce) and that was it.
Pretty easy. I reckoned it would be low on salt with all that food but the green beans and tomato paste came salted, so it’s grand.
It’s not ‘Moroccan’ exactly but it does lean towards that sort of style (per my time in France, where we ate a lot of Moroccan and North African dishes).
Stammer-Sauté
Kale, cabbage, kielbasa and carrots.
Memorial Weekend, Pork Steaks
When locals move away and come back to visit, they always have a story about how the new butcher has no idea what a pork steak is.
Today’s ‘close world’ of internet and cable TV has educated Flatlanders about the much-loved pork steak but it isn’t yet as popular dehors than here. We’ll kill you over pork steaks.
If there’s a BBQ or a summer event of any kind here, you’ll find pork steaks!
My Irish granny baked hers after dredging in flour and served with final topping of ketchup.
My mammy used BBQ sauce and grilled hers. I grew up enjoying them both ways but my favourite is baked-plain on a pan with oven fries, which soaked up some pork fat as they cooked, making them extra delicious, if humble in appearance.
I marinated mine in apple cidre vinegar, a mélange of spices, and Himalayan pink salt. I baked them on a roasting rack above asparagus cut today and some store-bought yellow tomatoes. Mangez-bien!
Warning: Oh, Boy! Oberto
I eat a lot of jerky because it’s so shelf-safe and if you get the right kind, it’s gluten-free (beware many DO contain gluten). I also like that it’s a big protein punch!
I opened a brand-new, big-arsed, Costco-sized package last week and started nomming. Thankfully, I looked down.
In all my years of eating jerky from a plastic envelope, I’ve never seen bits of shiny metal. If they were going to make me a prize-winner, I wish it had been a white gold diamond ring. But it wasn’t.
I went to their website and filled out the contact form. I was a little dismayed that they didn’t replay at all, not even auto-reply. Today, I spent my break time and found their corporate office’s main number from the Yellow Pages. The receptionist was extremely polite. She said that nobody minds that site contact thing (I suggested they pull it down or start minding it). She said that she’d contact their IT man and see about that. I told her my story of the Giant Costco Bag and nomming and then getting the bejeebers scared out of me, finding that.
She said they’d need the product returned to test. Since it took days for me to contact a person there, I’d had time to run this by the owner of my company who said they’d want the product and went further to say that I should save a piece with the metal bits on it as Proof. Interesting! You have to talk to people who conduct Business to know about the hanky panky business they’re up to (I’m too honest to even think about that, in other words).
I ran that by the receptionist. She said to expect a signature confirmation pre-paid package in the post, which I’ll use to return their product to them for testing. In the meantime, she said they’d send a $20 Costco gift card for replacement of the product I couldn’t eat.
I think that’s a nice good will gesture but I don’t think I’ll be eating their jerky for a while. I’ll DEFINITELY be looking at it well before nomming!
In addition to the lurgy I’ve had, I’ve also had (sorry) diarrhea, which I’m hoping isn’t because there’s a tiny shard of metal in my gut. I’m not bleeding or anything, so I hope it’s completely unrelated. Obviously, if I started bleeding, I’d go to doctor! In the meantime, I’m posting this warning:
Look at your jerky REALLY, REALLY WELL!
ps: I sent the photos to the receptionist via email. She said they looked like white dots. When she said it, I looked and can see what she means BUT I assure you, in person they are mirror-like, shiny steel-like bits. They’re small, as you can see but nothing anybody wants to ingest!
2 pounds of cranberries: booze, muffins & compote
I’m not sure what I was thinking other than, ‘Three dollars for 2 pounds of cranberrries? Get in my TROLLEY!’
Two pounds of cranberries is about 4 times the normal bag of cranberries people buy for a nuclear family dinner. If you’re serving 30 or more people (like we always did), sure, you need more.
I didn’t buy it to serve at a dinner. I bought it to experiment!
First, I tried a sort of compote — or what I’d call the cooked fruit and nut stuff that looks like it ought to be inside a pie but people often eat with breakfast, often atop pancakes or crepes. While I was making it, I thought about making a sort of paleo pie-crust topping for it, just to see if that worked, like a sweet pot pie, almost. Mmmmmnah. I ended up stirring the topping into the bottom and liked it much better. The only difference between what would’ve been quite normal as to this mess (which is delicious but ugly; a common theme in my cooking) is a LOT of fat, since I’d attempted it as a crust / top. Also, the pieces of walnut were rather smooth instead of obviously ‘gibbled’ as Gram said.
Second, I was going to infuse some mandarin vodka with cranberries but at the last moment, decided to try something Different. I hurry-up-quick made a simple syrup (thin, 1:1) and tossed them in to blanch. 
I didn’t want to cook them (pop, like in cranberry sauce), just hit ’em with the heat and prep them for melding with the syrup and booze. I transferred them to the Hillbilly equivalent to fancy glassware (a quart canning jar) and poured the vodka over.
My guess for use?
atop ice cream, hello?- inside chocolate (using mini-cupcake or candy moulds, pour some melted chocolate, then fill, then top with melted chocolate
- mix with some Sprite / 7 Up / Fresca and drink, heck, maybe coke with lime?
Any ideas? I reckon it should marry 1-2 weeks, since heat was used on the fruit.
Third, muffins! These, like all else, are grain free, dairy free, full fat and sweetened with maple syrup or honey. It’s a fairly standard muffin, ya know, factoring in the above, and then I put 7 cranberries on top (there was at least 2C of cranberries processed within) and a little ground pecans with honey, coconut oil and cinnamon sprinkled on top. The cranberries burst and melted in with the heat.
#paleo #gf Delicious Cookie/ Biscuit ‘base’
I made these this weekend, only one batch -I never make a single batch! cos I didn’t feel great.
I used store bought –boughten, as we say in the Ozarks orange marmalade, lemon curd and strawberry preserves but made date filling. I almost made fig filling, too, but I was getting tired. -again, just wanted to curl up in a crampy ball instead of doing anything
-are the new readers gone yet?
Mix wet with wet, dry with dry and incorporate, like any recipe. Bake at 375F / 190C for about 30 minutes or just starting to brown.
You can see the single serving nutritional data at bottom. This makes 32 cookies. I used a tablespoon to pick some up batter and roll into a ball then smoosh with my hands in either a Tom Thumb style for filling or flat for not-filled.
Oh! And I decided at the last second to toss in crushed pecans for the flat biscuits. It came away with a Pecan Sandie-like flavour but not texture. -so don’t come crying to me that it wasn’t crumbly enough!
Red, white and blue Gelatin Mould
Two Vets at work wanted a little recognition, so I made each a jelly mould (from antique copper moulds, by the way, Mum’s Collection).
Jelly is easy to make. Setting, then pouring new layers is less easy. One mould popped right out, the other was stubborn, but it all got done in a little over 6 hours:)
Spaghetti Squash, that’s all there is to it!
Easy peasy!
Bake/roast/microwave/nuke. I do mine in 6 minute intervals (microwave), turning at least once–more if larger.
The smallest I’ll get is 8×5 inches (realise, it’s not a block; work with me here).
When I’ve grown them, they’re smaller and you have to cook 2.
this video shows how to scrape out spaghetti squash flesh
Carrots à l’orange (and chicken!)
I rarely drink juice -unless it’s tomato, in a Bloody Mary but I’ve been sick for so long, I opted for the orange juice (100% natural, no other ingredients).
I drank about half of the carton and now have the remainders.
Being ill, I’ve been eating whatever’s handy (avocado and tinned salmon, gluten-free microwave quesadilla, frozen chicken thighs that I tossed on the George Foreman, chocolate bars –shut up!).
I’ve still been good about freggies, not so much because I was being health conscious but because my poor body wanted kale and apples!
I put lime juice and salt on the chicken and grilled it while putting a platter of baby carrots in the microwave -shut up! to steam with 1t coconut oil and light salt.
Whipping out the Ninja (food processor), I put our cooked carrots (cooled) in with 1C orange juice and puréed.
The chicken thighs make a nice pairing, if I do say so myself.
ingredients:
-as usual, I’m fibbing about quantities since I don’t measure when cooking – but I did measure the oil!
• 1 1/2C baby carrots
• 1C orange juice (no funny stuff)
• 1t coconut oil
• salt
___
• 2 chicken thighs
• juice from 1/2 lime
• salt
The carrot à l’orange purée made enough that I’m calling it 10 servings (only because I’m not mad about carrots).
kiwi, not Kiwi
Nah, I’m not talking about most of the cast of Spartacus. -aren’t they New Zealanders? Somebody told me they were
You know how amusing it is to read what searches brought people to your blog? I don’t think that I’ve done ‘a’ post on kiwis (short for kiwifruit) before but I recall posting recipes that used kiwis.
Kiwis are frequently teamed (at least in the US) with strawberries. I get that they’re beautiful on their own and especially lovely with their bright green next to red but it’s also a popular flavouring for things like seltzer and candy. I don’t get that part.
I like my kiwis on their own, best. They differ in size but most that make it to the Midwest, where I live, are about 2 inches in length, oval (-ish, I mean they’re spherically oval, somebody correct me on terminology here) and hairy. It’s sort of a wispy bark.
I have tried eating it (the skin/ bark) and it’s fine but I prefer not to do. This is sort of funny since I know people who would NEVER eat peach skin and I always eat peach skin (it’s fuzzy, too, but in a slightly different way). Why one not the other? Dunno. I’m fickle.
Where were we? Kiwis!
-Manu Bennett works very hard for this body and I appreciate it. Thanks, Mr. Bennett!
I’ve lost my place again. What were we talking about?
kiwi nutrition
Kiwis are sweet with a teensy tiny tang. They should be eaten ripe (where you can VERY gently smoosh into them like a ripe peach or avocado — you don’t want them really smooshy, that’s overripe) or they have less taste and who wants that when you can just let them ripen a bit longer?
Kiwis can be cut in half and eaten with a spoon (leaving their husk/ skin/ bark as ‘bowl’) or you can peel them and nom. You can also slice them (skin on or off) to make lovely additions to plates or fruit salads.
There’s my informal, unplanned coverage for whomever searched here for info on kiwis. Hope it helps. I got to look at Mr. Bennett, so I’m fairly happy.
Buttermilk (gluten free or conventional) biscuits
Was it last week? I can’t recall but our cha0tic has been baking up a storm of biscuits. By biscuits, I mean American biscuits and by American biscuits, I don’t mean these.
-are the new readers gone yet?
I haven’t even made scratch biscuits in over 2 years, possibly more. The Celiac diagnosis is one reason, obviously, but also, I just don’t make them. I grew up on a working ranch -regular readers love to hear this repeated and took care of cooking for the household from a very young age. My ‘very young’ means I was making simple things like jam at age 4 (unsupervised, which sounds like BS but it’s not — I mean, I suppose somebody watched at first but I didn’t set the house ablaze, so I was on my own). By 8 or 9, it was all me — except for a few things that my father alone cooked (like steaks; it was his pleasure and I have an odd notion that they didn’t want to risk my destroying steaks in the learning process — cos it’s all practice, which brings me to reassuring you trial and error is what it’s about — if you really want to nail a recipe, make it a few times a week! And by ‘few times,’ I mean altering proportions and ingredients til it’s the way you like).
I made some kind of quick bread (including biscuits) daily for years. I never measured or followed ‘a recipe.’ I watched something being made (by people who also didn’t measure) and then I began trials. I didn’t think of it that way as a kid but I knew you had to work at it!
Anybody who knows me, knows that I’m certainly not ciphering, so this is all eye-balled.
I’ve got this gluten-free flour mix that I don’t really like but seems to do mediocre in the mediocre lane of gluten-free flour mixes. In other words, I don’t think that I’ll buy it again — and none are wonderful. I went the route of buying my own artisan gluten-free single flours and mixing them in different ways. That’s shite, too. I’ve tried several prepared flour blends and while this is mediocre, there have been a couple that are wildly-popular that I found horrible. I suppose it depends on what you’re trying to make and your personal sense of taste.
I haven’t cared much for any gluten-free ‘replacement’ but if you want to try, here’s what I did.
If you are not Celiac, use normal flour (not self-rising or skip the baking powder, if you use self-rising).
add baking powder to flour
add oleo
Again, this isn’t measured. I guess that’s about 2.5-3C flour? More than 2C, anyway. I used about that much baking powder. Cha0tic mentioned he uses baking soda as well — but he’s not happy with his recipe. I wasn’t raised using baking soda in mine but it probably won’t hurt. When I bake cookies, I use both. Add some fat. Any will do, whether lard (that’ll be harder to work in) or butter. I used a butter replacement as even grass-fed butter makes my face explode. Cut it in. If it doesn’t seem to look right, add more. As with anything else, start small and add. You can’t take away (but you could add more flour at this point if you over-did the oleo–oleo is an old-fashioned term for ‘whatever fat you’re using’).
Add salt. I went ahead and counted how many dashes I used but that was to share with readers as I go by sight. I ended up using 16. A normal person would probably want more. I tend to under-salt or not salt at all but baking needs it and salt will help ‘sweeten’ the biscuits (as Gram would say).
cut oleo into flour
add about that much buttermilk — I added more after this
Sorry for blurry buttermilk photo. I didn’t notice it was blurry when I took it. You can see there’s some light pilling going on in that shot, though. At this point, I stir til it balls.
only 3 months past expiration date buttermilk
The buttermilk I used was 3 months past its expiration date. HAR! Proving once again, hillbillies abhor waste and we aren’t likely to scare easily. 🙂
ball o bisuits
biscuits smooshed
Here’s the rough ball o biscuits dough. You are not aiming for ‘batter.’ Flop it on a dusted board. Smoosh it out. Don’t roll unless you’re quick about it and don’t press too hard. Basically, smooshing is enough and don’t do too much. Then, cut into rounds. I used a whiskey glass.
cut rounds
biscuits in pan
Have your pan heated in the oven with plenty of oleo in bottom of pan (which will be liquid from heat). I grew up always using bacon grease for this. We kept a crock of it on the cooker top. I used coconut oil here. When your biscuit rounds are ready, pull the pan from the oven (I used a cast iron pan but grew up using an old cornbread pan that was made of god-knows-what but it was heavy-ish but not cast iron-heavy). Take the round in your hand (don’t burn yourself on the 400+degree F pan, obviously) and scrape it on grease in bottom of pan, then flop the ungreased side down (therefore, both sides are greased). Bake til done. Don’t over-bake or they turn into hockey pucks.
Serve. I put a dollop of Seville Orange, Lemon Curd and Strawberry Preserves (one per biscuit) on and served to my elderly toddlers. They loved them but they’ve also grown accustomed to my dire warnings that this is gluten free and do not expect it to taste or feel like traditional foods!
Stuffed Frenched Pork Chops
I got some ‘frenched‘ pork chops at Trader Joe’s the last time I was there.
It’s like a 120 mile trip, so I try to get there about once a month but if I’m anywhere ‘near’ (as in horseshoes or hand grenades), I make an effort!
Unfortunately, the brilliant colors the ingredients once held all turn rather brown once cooked but boy, was it pretty at first!
I took the inch-thick chops and sort of sliced them open like a pita.
I baked the sweet potatoes (also from TJs, they were TINY, which I loved as they cooked in like 25 minutes!) and allowed them to cool before de-jacketing them.
In a skillet, I put some EVOO (usually use coconut oil to cook with but felt I wanted the EVOO flavor, so I made sure to cook this over LOW heat) in the pan and tossed in pearl onions (left whole to pick out later, for my belly — I’ve been trying to get flavor without forcing my body to try to digest stuff it cannot). I put the chard (rainbow, also from TJs!) in and shredded cabbage and then sliced up two, small, peeled gala apples. I salted it some with sea salt and ground some black pepper, added about 3/4t ground cloves and an equal amount of ground cinnamon. I believe that’s all…
I was working with the idea of sweet potato and apple with pork, then offsetting the sweetness with chard and cabbage. I tasted it and it was a bit too bitter (than what I wanted; I love bitter!), so I added a tad more salt (probably 3/4t total, which is not a lot!) and some cherries!
It tastes just about perfect, although had I realized how freaking awesome the cherries were going to taste, I’d have put in more!
This made 4 servings for me — you may be keeping track with all that veg? It cooks down. Plus, the remainder of ‘stuffing’ is in another container; the photo only shows the bit that I stuffed before cooling the chops in the skillet after a quick rinse! I’m going to say it’s probably 6C of cooked veg, total.
hypersalinity: kraut, day…what was it?
Seriously, this is the coolest blog EVER! Let me blather on about rotting cabbage, will ya! (it’s not rotting…)
Previous editions:
Cooking up Plans: from Kraut to CO
I’ve mentioned the extra saltiness of my brine. This may seem like an oxymoron but assure you, there’s only one of those here. Well, half! Ha! I’m so droll.
I tested the kraut and it’s still salty but it was time to add water, so I hoped that would be the solution to my solution! Again, I just can’t help myself. Do you see how annoying this would be in person?
Right!
I tasted it and it was a) finally starting to taste sauer and b) less salty but I worried it was still too much. I had Dad try it. He disagreed wholeheartedly: it is not too salty.
Then, I remembered: I tend to under salt things and Dad tends to over salt things, so we’re probably in the perfect place (as brine is meant to be ‘salty’ — that’s its definition). I know that I should take photos but it’s such a mess, digging around, that I can’t be bothered. It should be done by next weekend, maybe earlier!
I’m baking cookies today (don’t tell) and the kitchen-river has returned. Our house doesn’t exactly flood…it’s when the rain comes so hard that it enters through the door. We have sump pump and drainage tiling around the house. It’s just my kitchen (where I have a drain because this happens). It’s still a bit ridiculous. Bobby thinks it’s bullshit.
Oh, for Kraut’s Sake!
I grew up making sauerkraut (along with everything else). Regular readers can’t be disappointed: I grew up on a working ranch where we raised or hunted everything we ate. It has easily been since the mid-80s since I’ve made it! What I mostly recall is endless bowls of chopped cabbage and sneaking the plate off the crock, checking how the sauerkraut progressed.
I don’t remember anything helpful.
(Speaking of helpful, one of the great things about homemade sauerkraut is it’s FABULOUSLY healing due to probiotics for people with gut issues — it’s also FABULOUSLY healing for normals! Best of all, it’s delicious. You can also buy something like Flanagans. Remember, if it’s tinned, the probiotics are dead. Here’s what Flanagans parent company lists as health benefits of raw sauerkraut like theirs or your homemade kraut!)
Crock salvaged from barn
First, I had to find a crock. Mum uses the 2 gallon crock as her utensil holder. I think the 1 gallon stores salt someplace. I believe the 5 gallon was broken — used as a planter and the 3 gallon’s gone missing (probably borrowed by the Hoods, real name, who are much like Pa Kettle when it comes to borrowing*). I had to settle for the 4 gallon, which was sitting in one of the barns. I washed it with a hose and dish soap outside first. Obviously.
Crock rewashed inside
Then, I took it inside for more washingses. I let it drain upside down whilst chopping over 4lb of cabbage. I’m not good with knives, so that meant 90 minutes of chopping (I passed the time by listening to old Star Talk podcasts).
As I’d forgotten, I asked mum what the ratio was for sauerkraut and salt. ‘1lb salt for 40lb cabbage.’
Crock with layers of salt and cabbage
Right. I had 4lb cabbage, so I ciphered (always a shaky premise) that was 1/10 of 40, therefore I needed 1/10 of a lb of salt. I used Celtic Sea Salt because it’s what I have. Growing up, I’d have used kosher salt. As I’d drop another layer of cabbage shreds, I’d scatter a table spoon of salt, mix and sort of tamp down.
Bobby regularly got up to look at what I was doing, without getting too close. This 4 gallon crock is about half my height! It was hard to wrangle empty but as I filled it, I barely managed to place it in its resting spot.
topped with cabbage leaves
plated sauerkraut crock
I topped it was we did when I was a kid (with cabbage leaves and a plate — more on that later). And finally, a tea towel because bugs will get interested.
Crock topped with tea towel
A few hours later, I went to go check it. Here’s the ‘later.’ All the king’s horses and all the king’s men, could hardly get that mfing plate back off it again!
O.M.G. My plates as an adult are a different style and size than those used as a kid. I finally got it off and NO I don’t have other plates to use. I have dessert plates, which are way too small, but I only have one set of ‘china’ (a ‘cafe’ style set of 12 pieces or so that cost about $20, about 20 years ago).
Out came the google. It seems a lot of folks use a water-filled baggie, of course, they’re using MASON jars en lieu de crock. I had a big-arsed baggie, so I’m trying that. It has totally effed with my program and now I’m verklempt about the whole fakakta mess.
At any rate, it’s very close to how I grew up making it with most of the memories gone and too large of a plate. Oh, and of course the amount of cabbage is 1/10 what I’d have gone as a kid!
EDIT: I forgot to mention, in addition to all the pickled items we made (we pickled almost anything, much like frying…think pig’s feet, eggs, okra, etc.), we also made ‘Salty Brine Pickles.‘ I realize saying ‘salty brine’ is redundant. You’re getting a Family Heirloom Stupid Name. Those were also raw/fermented/full of probiotics.
* I didn’t test it for Rick-rolling but it began with the full length film ‘Ma and Pa Kettle,’ which was made in the 40s but was day-to-day life similar to my life, if I were Ma…only my kids were the adults and whoever was there.
Deconstructed candy bar
•Young coconut (20g)
•Dried cherries (20g)
•Dried blueberries (20g)
•Raw Almonds (8 count)
It’s SOOOOO sweet and delicious! Of course it’s very high in natural sugars, so if that’s a problem for you, treat it like you would any candy bar.
Dairy-free Hard Sauce
Who doesn’t like sweet things and who doesn’t like whiskey? Did somebody say HARD SAUCE?
I was looking for something else when I ran across this recipe. It’s too weird and interesting to not share! I try to avoid citrus and nightshades as auto-immune triggers but I try to avoid DAIRY as well. Choose your poison.
Sugar and whiskey aren’t good for me but my reactions aren’t any worse than other peoples’ which is saying something for me, the Canary in a Coal mine. (for links and reference, not content of that post)
Adapted From More Great Good Dairy-Free Desserts Naturally: Sin-Sational Sumptuous Treats By Fran Costigan
- 2C apple or pear juice
- 1/2C soya milk
- 1-2T whiskey
- 2T arrowroot powder
- 2T orange juice
- 2t vanilla extract
- 1t almond extract
- 1/2t orange extract
Please note the differences between T and t.
Bring juice to a boil over medium heat. Reduce to 1C. Lower heat, add soya. Simmer additional 2-3 minutes.
Mix arrowroot (thickener) in orange juice (you’ll remember this has to be done cold). Add, stirring constantly to simmering juice/ soya til it comes to a boil.
Immediately remove from heat upon boil and add extracts and whiskey, stirring only once and STOP (think making boxed Jello Pudding dessert if you’re unfamiliar with making gravies, etc.).
Allow to cool several hours and give a stir before pouring over whatever dessert.
Pretty interesting, isn’t it?
Zippity Doo Da Smoothie
This started as an iced coffee that went astray…
I made a couple cups of coffee and froze it in an ice cube tray, then put the coffee cubes in a ziploc baggy for future use.
I poured 2 cups of unsweetened, plain-arsed coconut milk over about 6 cubes and processed. It was very thin.
I also had a pint of frozen sliced banana (about 2 medium) in the freezer. ‘Can I mix banana and coffee?’
It seemed reasonable that chocolate and banana are delicious and chocolate and coffee are mochalicious, so I added 4 tablespoons of Chocolate Hemp Protein Powder. It was STILL thin…which was unexpected, so I added chia seeds (they turn gelatinous when soaked).
It was still thin. ::sigh:: I decided to taste it. The mixture was pretty bitter. I don’t mind bitter but meh. I added one scoop (they’re TINY) of stevia extract (not cut with fillers) and that made it tolerable. It was so tolerable that I downed 3/4 of the mixture even though it was about 20 ounces. As expected by hemp protein users and those who’re aware of chia seeds, it was quite grainy. Since I’m used to both, it was fine. If I ever do it again, I think the coconut milk could be totally skipped!
This sucker is full of banana (sweetness), chia and coconut healthy fats, hemp protein and CAFFEINE-Y coffee.
opinions expressed may be incorrect 