Add-ins

My daughter has returned to work and the girls and I hung out today. The plan was to bake cake, cookies and stepping stones. We finished with cupcakes and a cake.

I love chocolate! Love it! To make up for my affection, I use healthy add-ins. We were too busy for step by step pictures so imagine...

One cup of baked sweet potato. One egg. Four ounces of dairy - yogurt, sour cream, half and half. Whatever you have on hand. Some cinnamon and allspice. Sprinkle of cayenne. (That's a secret. Shh! No telling.) Mix until smooth. Add half the package of a boxed cake mix. If the batter is way too thick, add a bit of water - half a cup to start.

Add in chocolate chips, walnuts, coconut, chia seeds, dried fruit or anything else you love and that will turn this into a healthy delicacy.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or so depending on pan size or cupcakes, which take less time - 12 - 18 minutes. Frost if you like or enjoy warm from the pan. It's food!

As a child my mother used to add mashed potatoes to her homemade chocolate cakes. Long before there was pudding in the mix we had moist dense desserts. I have also read black bean chocolate cake recipes. Fall is coming. What a wonderful addition to the specialty choices.

YUM!

Know the Symptoms!

http://www.womenshealth.gov/heartattack/

I have noticed many people are still unclear of the symptoms of a heart attack. Please review the symptoms and if you or someone you know has the symptoms of a heart attack, Call 9-1-1.

The symptoms of a heart attack include:

• Pain of discomfort feeling in the chest
• Unusual pain in the back or chest area
• Shortness of breath
• Breaking out in a cold sweat
• Unusual or unexplained fatigue or tiredness
• Lightheadedness or sudden dizziness
• Nausea

 Here are the signs of a stroke. Early intervention yields the best recovery.

• Sudden numbness or weakness of face, arm, or leg (mainly on one side of the body)
• Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
• Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, or loss of balance
• Sudden confusion or trouble talking or understanding speech
• Sudden bad headache with no known cause 

There are some unique signs to women:

• Sudden face and arm or leg pain
• Sudden hiccups
• Sudden nausea (feeling sick to your stomach)
• Sudden tiredness
• Sudden chest pain
• Sudden shortness of breath (feeling like you can’t get enough air)
• Sudden pounding or racing heartbeat

If you have any of these symptoms, call 911.

 
 

Surprisingly Edible

I am queen of invention in the kitchen. My basic rule for what works is if I know the ingredients and I like them separately, surely they will be great together - especially if there are eggs, cheese, and spinach. Or beans.

However, now I have refrigerator full of "inventions." Edible, yes. Interesting, yes. Delightful, not so much. The chocolate cookies turned out great. I had planned on baking oatmeal carrot cookies, but I couldn't find any oatmeal, which is strange since I use it for all baking (or not, since I use it all the time).

With no cookies on the horizon, I gathered the ingredients I had and went to work.

I crumbled the phyllo dough I found drying out in the freezer in the bottom of an oiled pan, then spritzed a bit more oil on top. I was saving that carrot raspberry pulp for the not happening cookies so added that to the thawed spinach. Beat three eggs with a splash of half and half. Toss in the spinach and pulp and some cheese.

Was this the best plan? No. But there it is. Add some seasoning, crumple phyllo on top, spritz with more EVOO and I sprinkled Parmesan cheese over the "crust". Don't do it!  Parmesan cheese gets dark and crusty. As a matter of fact, There are some better ways to combine these ingredients all the way around.

On the other hand, the pie was completely edible. Served with Greek yogurt it became almost delightful. Almost. Still, the point is, it is completely edible. YUM!

Now to sort out recipes for all those fermented green tomatoes. I may have gone overboard, just a bit.

Summer Salad

Squash for oven grill and salad

This week I bought some zucchini, yellow squash, yellow peppers and tomatoes. Today, I sliced and diced them into grilled veggies and salad.

To the diced veggies I added one and a half cups of cooked shelled pasta and fresh pressed garlic.
I used one and a half cups of dried pasta and there are two cups of diced veggies before the tomatoes.

Added some sliced hard cooked eggs and dressed with Kraft Bruschetta dressing, cracked pepper and paprika. I think this would easily serve four for a light brunch.

YUM!

Fermented Green Tomatoes

Fermenting Green Tomatoes

I love posting recipes in a single collage. (I need to find the double click that makes pictures large and larger.)

Let me know how that works for you. It is small so I will include the individual photos below. We already know I have a love of fermenting everything. It has been so hot that my plants are blossoming but not fruiting, or fruiting but not growing. When we were back in the 90's last week, my pepper plants bloomed and set fruit. They are not as big as they were in moderate heat, but will work fine for ferments.

In a clean glass jar stuff green tomatoes, peppers, garlic (and herbs, if you choose - dill, celery...). My jalapeno  ripened to a crimson red and adds a bit of color.

I save the whey from the top of my yogurt and here it looks a bit milky (on the far left). In the center is filtered water with salt. My last ferments have been one teaspoon sea salt to about ten ounces of water. I would like to reduce the sodium, so this batch has only half the salt. To the far right is my starter. I save some brine from each batch to start the next - just like yogurt.

I fill the jars from right to left - starter, water, whey - then top off each jar with a few wine "corks". The veggies must stay under the fluid to avoid ruin. Make extra water as needed to fill completely.

I carry the jars to the sink and force the lids on. Then I shake them to get a good mixing. Finally, loosen the lids so that the gas can escape during processing. Place on a plate or tray to catch overflow. I allow three days before checking, but feel free to check at two. When fermented to your liking, seal and place in cool storage. For me that is the frig. A cellar would be so nice.

Enjoy!

When these are ready, I'll update this post with serving suggestions.

YUM!

Incredible Chocolate Cookies

These fab cookies are made from leftover bits of other food projects.

I cook with butter if I use oil at all. This is a blend of equal amounts of butter and nut butter (in this case almond).

From the milk liqueur I have the ginger puree. It is sweet and spicy. There are no exact ingredients or measurements because when you make the cookies it will be your special offering.

I like nuts (and prefer pecans, but always have walnuts on hand), chocolate chips, coconut, and chia seeds. I add chia seeds to everything. They are my justification for indulgence.

I save the pulp from juicing and generally have carrots remains. This week I added raspberries to the juice and strained out the seeds.

I keep cake or muffin mix on hand, but oat flour with 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder per cup will work as well. (Add cocoa powder if more chocolate is desired.) Mix.


Without the eggs, the cookies were crumbly. These will be great mixed with yogurt or vanilla ice cream. They reminded me of Seattle Chocolates - my favorite candies. Instead of one flavor, it was a taste explosion in my mouth!

Yum!

More Milk Liqueur

The pictures and the process - Milk Liqueur

A couple of weeks ago I started the process again - equal parts milk, sugar, and vodka. Add a whole piece of citrus. I add ginger as well. Yesterday, (more than ten days later of shaking nightly), I started the straining process. It takes several hours and in the top frame I have my lunch of new potatoes and spinach.

Bottom right - it looks pretty clear but I strained it one more time. It is very sweet. I had a shot last night - on the rocks. I bottled and refrigerated the nectar to rest for the next four months. My last batch tasted best in that time, so I will save it until November.

Wasting nothing. I added the ginger puree to a cookie mix. Recipe in the next post.

Yum!