Taking Stock

Bone broths - otherwise known as stocks - are one of the most nutritious and healing substances on the planet, not to mention *delicious* and the foundation of most cuisine. My wonderful cousin provided me with some packages of meaty soup bones from her brother (also my wonderful cousin, natch!) and I made stock from them. The journey of this particular batch of stock seemed noteworthy, so I've written about it.

- One day, I took the soup bone package out of the freezer and put the wrapped package on a plate in the fridge to thaw slowly and safely.

- A couple (few?) days later, I got out the thawed bones & rinsed them off. I oiled the roasting pan with coconut oil, threw in the soup bones and a couple of onions, quartered, and roasted them in the oven for about 30m or so, flipping them over halfway through. I dumped all into a stock pot, covered with water, added a few herbs (thyme, rosemary, ??), and a couple of good splashes of raw apple cider vinegar, and let it all simmer overnight. The vinegar is important to help the stock leach the good minerals from the bones and make them available to your body.

- The next morning, I turned it off & let it cool. Later that day, I strained it through a colander & pulled out the meat pieces and set them aside (in a container in the fridge). I strained the stock through a mesh strainer & put the bowl into the fridge for the fat to congeal. The bones went to the very happy dogs!

- The next day (or so, LOL) I fished the congealed fat off the top, and decanted the stock into pint jars. Labelled, and back into the fridge they went. (I saved the fat & added it to the dogs' food that night.)

- Another day, I put 1 1/2 pints of stock into a pot, added the reserved meat, some salt, and called it soup. However, the meat was way too dry to eat, so I ended up just drinking the stock, and put the meat back into the fridge.

- Another day, I put the meat, broken up into little pieces, into the rice cooker. I added a very small onion, chopped; 3/4 cup short grain brown rice; 2 cups beef broth; 1/4 cup water. Threw in some salt & herbs, and set it to cooking. When it was done, I thawed a couple cups of frozen peas under running water, put them in a bowl, and dumped the rice on top. To this mix I added a few T butter. We had a little bit of this left over, so into the fridge it went.

- Today, I took the little bit of leftover rice, meat, & peas, and put them in a pot with another jar (pint) of the original stock, hotted it up, added ample salt and a couple T of butter, and called it soup. This time, the soup was good!

- I still have two pints of beef stock in the fridge for future use. A long way from just one package of soup bones!

Updated Almond Power Bars

The other day I was rummaging around in my recipe box, and found this recipe for Almond Power Bars, and thought, "Yum! I haven't made those in *ages*!" So, today I made a version of them, and found them good enough to repost the recipe, with today's changes. I didn't have any whole almonds, so I used all almond meal. I'm wary of stevia and won't touch agave nectar anymore, so I used a skosh of palm sugar, but with the chocolate they are really too sweet, so if you use the crystallized ginger, I'd leave out the palm sugar. Or, what I think I'll do next time is do the recipe as I did today, but leave off the chocolate.

I just tried to enter the recipe into Nutrition Data so that I could give you the macronutrient breakdown, but the stupid website didn't have listings for flax seed or shredded coconut, so I gave up. Sorry. I really wanted to see the fat/protein/carb ratios on this. (You know by now that I'm looking for a ratio pretty much opposite of the "recommended" balance.)

Anyway, here is the recipe!

Almond Power Bars

2 1/2 cups almond meal (I used Crispy Almonds that I had put through the Cuisinart.)

1/2 cup flax meal (flax seeds ground just before use in an old coffee grinder that I keep around for spices)

1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

1/2 cup crystallized ginger

2T palm sugar

1/2 tsp unrefined sea salt

1/2 cup coconut oil 

1T vanilla extract (actually I used about 1 tsp almond & 2 tsp vanilla extracts)

1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips, optional (Dagoba is a recommended brand, but what I had on hand were Ghirardelli)

Place almond meal, flax meal, shredded coconut, crystallized ginger, salt, and palm sugar in food processor and process briefly, until uniform. 

Melt coconut oil in a small pan over very low heat. Pour into the almond mixture in the food processor, and add the vanilla and/or almond extracts. (Almond extract is a delicious, but VERY strong flavor, so I recommend using just a tsp of it, whether you use vanilla extract as well, or not.) 

Process this mixture until it forms a paste. Press the paste into either an 8x8 or 9x12 glass baking dish, depending on how thick you want your bars to be. 

Melt the chocolate chips over very low heat in the same pan you used for the coconut oil. Pour melted chocolate over the almond mixture in the baking dish, and spread evenly. 

Pop the whole pan into the refrigerator for 30 minutes to firm up. Remove, and cut into bars. I like to wrap each bar in a piece of waxed paper and store them in the fridge. 

Made in the 9x12 pan, and using the chocolate, they are really like little candy bars. As mentioned above, I'm going to make them again, put them in the 8x8 pan, and skip the chocolate. I may skip the palm sugar as well, as the crystallized ginger has plenty of sugar by itself. 

Enjoy!

Update 3/11/11:
As noted above, I found the last batch to be a little too sweet, so I tweaked it yet again. I did basically the same as above, but I left out the palm sugar, and instead of melting a cup of chocolate chips on top, I put a half cup of chocolate chips in the Cuisinart with the mix and incorporated them into the "batter". I also put it into an 8x8 pan instead of a 9x12. If you want, here are today's measurements:

2 1/2 cups almond meal

1/2 cup flax meal

1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

1/2 cup crystallized ginger

1/2 tsp unrefined sea salt

1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips, optional

1/2 cup coconut oil 

1T vanilla extract

Put the first 5 ingredients in the food processor fitted with metal blade, and whir until incorporated. Add the chocolate chips (if using) and repeat. Add the vanilla extract and coconut oil, and whir until well mixed. Press mixture into 8x8 pan and refrigerate until firm. Cut into squares and enjoy! 

Saturday Adventures!

I had a little adventure yesterday morning.

I got up, got my coffee and breakfast, got the laundry started, got dressed, and headed out to the Farmer's Market. My main agenda was to get some meat from the pasture-raised beef people. They are not at our FM every week, so it was important to get there. After the FM, I was going to go to my church knitting group (I started a small project 18 months ago and still haven't finished it!), and then in the afternoon a friend or two were coming over to start some lactoferments.

Occasionally when we put the key into our car's ignition, it just spins, and doesn't "catch" to crank the engine. This is usually fixed by taking the key out, turning it over, reinserting it, and trying again. Yesterday I put the key in, it spun a bit, but then it caught. It was unusual for it to do that, but the car started just fine, and off I went. I was listening to Car Talk as I drove, and when I got to the FM, I stopped the car, but left it running while I put up the window shade (heat index 104 yesterday!), got my cash in my pocket, stowed my purse, and listened to the tail end of Car Talk.

The program ended, and I went to turn off the car, and the key would. not. budge. In either direction! Wait, that's not true, it wouldn't turn. It would move - it easily pulled right out of the ignition!

There I sat, engine running, key in hand - going, "Um, this is NOT good!"

I was pretty close to our mechanic's shop, and I've been using them long enough to know that they are usually there on Saturday mornings, but being officially "closed", they won't answer the telephone. So, I took down the sun shade, put my seatbelt back on, and drove away to the shop. Thankfully, they were in. The mechanic worked on it, but was also unable to get it to turn off, so he drove it into a bay, and disconnected the battery cable. But of course, once the car is running, it's not running off the battery, so it didn't kill the engine. He finally got it to stop by pulling the fuse to the fuel pump, and it petered out. We were all laughing and shaking our heads.

I called The Daughter to come and get me, which she very kindly did, and we went off back to the Farmer's Market and the natural food store, and back to my house. Thank goodness we recently had our truck fixed up, air conditioning and all!

Needless to say, I didn't make it to the knitting group. Which is really too bad, as I'd hoped to *finally* finish the small project in time for the intended recipient's birthday on Wednesday!

However, my friend Justin did come over as planned, and we started 4 quarts/flavors of kombucha, 4 pint jars of pickle spears, and 3 jars of sauerkraut! I also made some cabbage sauteed with bacon and onions.YUM. And managed to feed us a spot of lunch AND dinner in there, and of course cleaned up & got the dishwasher running. I was exhausted and my feet were killing me when we were done, but so happy to get all that done! It's so much more fun cooking with someone else. Justin and I seem to collaborate well, so that was fun. Maybe Justin is used to that, since he works in commercial kitchens. Husband and I cook together all the time - but usually not working on the same recipe. For example, he grills the steaks and I fix the vegetables, or something like that. So working with someone else on the same recipe was a different sort of adventure!

Why I decided to write this post before showering and getting dressed to go to church, I can't tell you (Procrastination Queen, that's me!), but if I don't get that done NOW I'm going to miss church, and that's just not an option! See y'all!

Broiling a Steak

For this, I owe a debt of gratitude to Shreve Stockton's wonderful cookbook Eating Gluten Free. But what really makes the steak great is Husband's recommendations. I followed them today and the steak was just about as good as when he does it!

Get a nice, thick steak, with a good rind of fat on the edge. I'm particularly fond of strip steaks. And I also buy them in the big package, cook several at once, and have them on hand to eat for several days.

Several hours before you want to cook them, take the steaks out of the package and arrange them on a broiler pan. Salt them generously with unrefined sea salt, and sprinkle generously with freshly ground pepper. (We do ours in a molcajete!) Using your fingers, rub the spices into the meat. Turn the steaks over, and repeat on the other side. Then, turn them on their sides, with the fat facing up, and sprinkle generously with Greek seasoning or more unrefined sea salt. Put them back flat, and place them in the cold oven. This is just to protect them from dust, flies, and pets while the spices infuse the meat and the meat comes to room temperature.

Several hours later, take the steaks out of the cold oven, put the rack into the broiling position, and preheat the broiler. When the broiler is hot, put the steaks under it for five minutes only. Be sure to keep the door ajar while broiling! Take them out, flip them over, and put them back in for five more minutes. They will now be cooked perfectly rare, so that when you reheat them later, you will not be left eating shoe leather. (Voice of experience here, trust me.) If you plan to eat one right away, it's okay to put it back under the broiler for another 2 minutes to get it medium rare.

This is important! Take the steaks out of the oven and let them sit for 5 minutes before serving. The meat finishes cooking and the juices "set" in this time.

And there you have it, one delicious, perfect steak! Or, several delicious, perfect steaks! :-)

100% Rye "Biscuits"

So I got this recipe for Soaked Whole Grain Buttermilk Biscuits, and decided to try them. Husband misses such things, and he was on his way home. As with most things I cook, I used the recipe as a starting place, and made a lot of changes.

Friday night I went to the store for buttermilk, but was horrified at what they put in it. I remembered that in the absence of buttermilk, you could "clabber" milk with lemon juice or vinegar, both of which I had at home, so I bought a quart of whole, organic milk. (A so-so choice. Read about healthy milk choices here.) I came home and opened Joy of Cooking, checked substitutions, and found they suggest yogurt as a buttermilk replacement. I guess the clabbered milk substitution was from the previous edition of Joy of Cooking (I have both, LOL). Anyway, I had some homemade raw milk yogurt on hand, so I used that instead of clabbered milk. I also didn't have any whole wheat flour in the freezer, but I did have some stone ground rye flour, so I used that. Since I was using rye flour, I added some caraway seeds and rosemary to the dough. The rest of the method I followed. I did roll the dough out and cut them out with a biscuit cutter that was my Mom's - maybe even my grandmother's. Using that made me happy, but I'm sure the biscuits would be just as good made as drop biscuits, as recommended in the original recipe.

Ingredients:
2 ½ cups stone-ground rye flour
½ cup cold butter
1 T caraway seeds
1 T dried rosemary
1 cup buttermilk or yogurt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon unrefined sea salt

Method:
Measure the whole grain flour into a bowl or better, into the bowl of a food processor or mixer. Add the cold butter, cut into chunks. Cut the butter into the flour, using two knives, or mix with the food processor or mixer  until the mixture resembles the texture of cornmeal. Mix in the caraway seeds and rosemary. Stir in the buttermilk or yogurt to form a thick dough. Cover with a towel or plastic wrap, and allow to sit on your counter overnight.

In the morning, preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
Once the oven is preheated, knead baking soda and unrefined sea salt into the dough.

Flour your hands and gently form the biscuits either by rolling them out and cutting them out with a biscuit cutter, or drop them straight from the mixing bowl onto a baking sheet or preheated baking stone.

Bake the biscuits at 450 degrees Fahrenheit for about fifteen minutes, or until they puff up and become a golden brown color. I used a Pampered Chef baking stone, and I think I baked the rye biscuits for 20 minutes. They didn't really puff up, but I don't know if that is the heaviness of the rye, or if I should have used more baking soda. I will try using a skosh more baking soda next time.

Use a spatula to transfer the biscuits to a rack to cool slightly, then slather with pastured butter, and enjoy!

Meringue Mushrooms

Or rather, 

"How To Make 100 Adorable Meringue Mushrooms a Whole Lot More Difficult Than They Needed To Be". 

First, realize at 8:15 at night that it's going to rain tomorrow, so those meringues really should have been made today when it was clear and dry. Decide that it's not too late to make them & dig out the recipe. Get out the two jellyroll pans and line them with parchment. Do a really bad job of trimming the parchment, so that the paper is not particularly straight in the pans. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Farenheit. 

Crack 6 eggs and separate the whites & yolks. Be sure they are Jumbo eggs because your Sweet Husband didn't notice the difference when he bought the last 2 dozen. 

Get out the wonderful KitchenAid mixer & whisk attachment. Wipe it down to be sure there is no residue, dust, or crumbs. Pour the six jumbo egg whites into the mixer bowl, attach the whisk, put the bowl up into mixing position, and see a tiny fragment of eggshell in the whites. Put the bowl back down, remove the whisk, detach the bowl, fish out the shell fragment, wash hands, put bowl back into position, reattach whisk, put the bowl up, and start the motor. Get the egg whites to just almost a nice soft peak stage, then realize that you forgot to add the Cream of Tartar with the egg whites. Add some, being sure not to measure it, and run the mixer some more to mix it in. Stop the mixer, & lower the bowl. 

Get out the sugar, measure 1 1/2 cups plus a little, maybe 1 3/4 cups, to account for the Jumbo eggs. Read, "Add sugar slowly". Start the mixer running, and pour the sugar in in a stream. Wonder why it doesn't seem to be getting to the stiff peaks stage. Get out the Joy of Cooking, look up "Meringues, About", and find out that you were supposed to add the sugar a Tablespoon at a time. Oops. Don't find any information about how to fix a meringue if something goes wrong. Keep running the mixer and finally realize that you have, in fact, achieved stiff peaks stage. Take the bowl off the mixer and put the whisk attachment in the sink to soak. 

Go get the stepstool and climb up to get the pastry bag supplies off the top of the refrigerator. Wonder, once again, how they ended up there inside the roasting pan in the first place? Open the supplies up and remember that the large pastry bag blew a seam the last time you used it. Get out a gallon Ziplock baggie to stand in for it. Don't find the large round tip. Decide to use the smaller pastry bag and a medium fluted tip. Put the gallon Ziploc away. Spend some time figuring out how to assemble the bag, tip, and plastic attachment thingy. Get it situated, open it up & start spooning meringue into it. Pause to wonder when the pastry bag had been washed last. Decide that it's been inside a sealed Ziploc ever since, so it's fine. 

Pipe the mushroom tops, complete with lines from the fluted tip, haphazardly onto the parchment-lined pans. Be sure not to have any symmetry or organization in the process. Get to the end of the first bit of meringue in the pastry bag. 

Get a bigger spoon and spoon too much meringue into the pastry bag, so that it won't close off completely. Now when you go to squeeze it through the tip, the meringue takes the easier exit out the top and onto your hand. Squish the excess out the top & decide if it goes back into the bowl or down the sink. Rinse your hand off & cursorily dry it, all while holding the overfull pastry bag in your other hand. 

Get back to piping. Fill the first pan with tops, and count them. Count them again to be sure, since there is no rhyme or reason to their layout on the pan. Start piping stems onto the other parchment-lined pan. Fill the rest of the space with tops. Refill the pastry bag with the rest of the meringue. Pipe more stems, to have an equal number, in between the odd gaps in the first pan. Completely fill both pans, and realize that you have a fair bit of meringue still in your pastry bag. Using one hand, while holding the half full pastry bag in your other hand, open the drawer, get out the parchment paper, pull a sheet off onto the counter, and resume piping tops & stems. Realize you've got 93 of each now, but think there is no way you can get 7 more out of the amount of meringue left. Decide to do 2 more, to have 95. Keep piping to 100. Have a bit of meringue left in the pastry bag. Decide it's going down the drain! 

Toss the pastry bag & mixer bowl into the sink & run some hot water in them. Blow the seam of the smaller pastry bag, in exactly the same way that you now remember that you blew the seam of the larger pastry bag. 

Get a spoon & start trying to smooth the mushroom tops. About 2/3 of the way through, glance at the Joy of Cooking page about making meringue mushrooms & see that they recommend using a finger to do this. Decide this is a better plan, and do so. Go into a bit of a trance while doing this detailed task. 

Get another cookie sheet down and slide it under the third parchment of meringues on the counter. Add a third rack to the oven, and slide the pans in. As it's now 9:30 and you want to go to bed before 11:30 when the oven should be turned off, dig out the oven manual and figure out how to set it to go off in two hours. 

Start cleaning things up. Seal up the bag of unused pastry bag parts. Look up at the top of the fridge where they were found, and wonder why there seems to be another gallon Ziploc up there? Get it down, and find the large round tip that you needed at the outset. Roll your eyes, sigh loudly, put it into the bag with the other supplies, and store them in the drawer they should have been in instead of on top of the refrigerator. 

Finish cleaning up, turn on the dishwasher, get a cup of tea, and go plop on the couch with netbook to share your idiocy with the world! 

Gigi's Famous, Award-Winning, Triple Ginger Cookies!

Yes, here it is, for you to have. THE recipe! I've never been secretive about it, actually. Below are the measurements for a single batch. I almost always make a triple batch, but I've got the larger KitchenAid stand mixer, so it can handle it. Note that these are NOT Ginger "Snaps", because while they are "snappy" with ginger and spice, they are *soft* cookies, not thin, hard ones. Those have their place, but they are not these!

Triple Ginger Cookies

2 ¼ c. unbleached flour
1 c. dark brown sugar
1 ½ sticks real butter (Kerrygold or Falfurrias is best)
1/4 c. molasses
1 egg
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon (freshly ground is best)
1 tsp fresh ginger, peeled, and grated or chopped
1 tsp ginger preserve or chopped crystallized ginger
½ tsp ground cloves (freshly ground is best)
½ c. granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 350° F.  In a large mixing bowl, combine half the flour, and the brown sugar, butter, molasses, egg, soda, gingers, cinnamon, and cloves.  Beat with electric mixer until thoroughly combined.  Beat in remaining flour.  Shape dough into 1" balls.  Roll each in granulated sugar and place 2" apart on ungreased cookie sheets.  Bake at 350° on top rack for 7-10 minutes or until set and tops are crackled.  Cool on racks.

Makes about 3 dozen.

This recipe doubles/triples easily, if your mixer can handle it! Every year at the holidays, I make four triple batches: about 40 dozen.

BE SURE TO SEE THE PHOTOS OF THE PROCESS HERE.
And specifically note the size of my "tablespoon" measurements.
There are also photos of grinding cloves & cinnamon. Makes a huge difference!

ENJOY!

Candied Citrus Peel

This is also something I make every year at Christmas time. I've done everything from pomelos to grapefruits to oranges to lemons and limes. What I've found is that smallish, thin-skinned citrus works best. So this year, I bought two five-pound bags of clementines. What follows isn't a recipe, exactly, just a method, which I've found to work over the last few years. I'm following the method outlined in the 1997 edition of The Joy of Cooking, with my own tweaks. If you can get organic fruit, so much the better, since you will be eating the peels. This is a several-day process, so be sure to start about a week before you need them.

Photos of the entire process can be seen here.

Wash all the fruit in soapy water and rinse well. Be sure to remove any labels.
Cut them in half and juice them (an inexpensive citrus juicer is recommended!)
Cut the empty halves in half again, pulling out as much of the flesh as possible.
Put the quarters into a large stockpot and cover with water.
Place on medium-high heat and bring to a boil.
Lower heat and simmer until the peels are starting to soften, 30-60 minutes. Don't overdo it.
Drain the peels in a large colander and allow to cool.
When they are cool, use an eating spoon to gently scrape the remaining white pith off the peels.
Make enough sugar syrup to cover the peels you now have. Here's how:

Mix 1 cup white sugar, 3/4 cup water, and 3T light corn syrup in a large pot over medium heat. Stir until all the sugar is dissolved. Is it enough to cover your peels? If not, add the same quantities again & stir to dissolve, until you have enough. For my 10lbs of clementines, I used 4 cups sugar, 3 cups water, and about 6T corn syrup, and it was just about perfect.

Add your peels to the sugar syrup, bring to boil, lower heat and simmer until the peels start to look translucent and the syrup is starting to be absorbed, an hour or two.
Turn off the heat, cover, and allow to stand overnight.
In the morning, drain the peels. If they are very sticky, you can put them back on the heat for a few minutes until the syrup liquifies again and you can drain them.
Spread the peels out on a rack or large quantity of parchment paper and allow them to dry for a while, but not completely. You want them moist, but not drippy. Don't leave them more than a day or they run the risk of getting moldy
Spread a couple of cups of white sugar in a 9x12 pan, dredge each piece of peel in the sugar, and place in a single layer on parchment to dry. If your weather is humid like mine, this can take several days.

Between the sugar syrup and sugar to dredge the peels, I used an entire 4 lb bag of white sugar for the 10 lbs of clementines.

Finally, the peels are ready to eat! You can eat them like candy, or chop and use in recipes, or dip them in chocolate and allow to harden for an even more elegant treat!

CocoChews - Koo Koo Ka Choo!

This is an entirely original recipe. I made it up based on my annual Deadly Caramels recipe, after smelling some coconut-scented lotion! I've tweaked it a couple of years now (I only do stuff like this at Christmas time) and I *think* I've got it. Because of the shredded coconut, they are not as chewy as the caramels, but more crumbly.

You can see instructive photos of the process here.

Line a 9x12 pan with 2 layers of Reynold's Heavy Duty aluminum foil. Trust me, don't use regular. Get the heavy stuff, and the store brand is *not* sufficient. Grease it thoroughly with coconut oil. Set aside. Do this ahead of time, you will not have the chance to do it after you start the recipe.

1 cup coconut oil
1 lb turbinado sugar (white sugar will also work)
1 cup light agave nectar* light corn syrup or mild honey
15oz cream of coconut (sweetened coconut milk, like you'd use for a pina colada)
1 tsp vanilla or coconut extract
4 cups unsweetened flaked coconut

In a large pot over medium heat, melt the coconut oil. Add the turbinado sugar and stir until mostly dissolved. Add the agave and cream of coconut. Bring to a boil. Clip the candy thermometer to the pan (not touching the bottom of the pan) and stir constantly for 15 minutes or so, until it reads between 148 and 152 degrees Farenheit. Turn off the heat, and stir in the vanilla, then the coconut. Mix thoroughly, then pour into the prepared 9x12 pan.

When it cools, lift it out of the pan using the foil, and cut into 1 inch squares. Wrap them in waxed paper squares. Bribe Invite your friends to help!

Update: Rather than a 15oz can of Coco Lopez, I got something called Coco Real that came in a 21oz bottle. Since that is about a half a cup more than the can of Coco Lopez, and I was going to have to supplement my agave nectar* with corn syrup, I just used the whole bottle and a half cup of agave nectar*. They came out just fine.

IMPORTANT FURTHER UPDATE: (2/13/10) Use honey, or maybe maple syrup, but not the agave nectar. I have since found out that agave nectar has more of the processed sort of fructose (versus the good stuff in fresh fruit) than the evil High Fructose Corn Syrup. Stay FAR FAR AWAY from it.

Deadly Caramels

I make these every year for Christmas - some people call them "Toffees" because of the butter. And because sometimes I overcook them, so instead of being chewy they are harder, LOL.

You can see instructive photos of the process here.

2 cups butter (1lb)
2 lbs dark brown sugar (1 sack)
2 14-oz cans sweetened condensed milk
2 cups dark corn syrup (1 bottle)
2 tsp vanilla or almond extract
Reynold's brand heavy duty foil (DO NOT SKIMP. YOU WILL BE SORRY.)
waxed paper

Line a jelly roll pan (large, rimmed baking sheet) with heavy-duty foil, extending the foil over the edges of the pan. Butter foil the foil and set aside. Do this first, you will not have time to do it once the recipe has begun.

In a heavy 6 quart pot, melt butter over medium-low heat then add  the brown sugar, condensed milk, and corn syrup; mix well.

Cook and stir over medium heat to boiling.

Clip candy thermometer to side of pan. Be absolutely sure the thermometer is not touching the bottom of the pan.  Cook and stir very frequently over low heat to 248°, firm-ball stage.

This may take an hour or more of frequent stirring.  (Heather at Home Ec 101 says, "Books on tape, talk radio, or even a tv in the kitchen are nice for this type of project." Quite true!)

Remove saucepan from heat, remove the thermometer, and stir in the extract(s). Immediately pour the mixture into prepared pan.

Allow to cool completely.

When the caramel is firm, use foil to lift out of pan. Cut the caramel into 1-inch squares with a sharp, buttered knife. Wrap each piece in a 3×3″ square of waxed paper. Bribe Invite friends to help, it goes much faster!

Makes about 4 lbs (128 caramels.)

The recipe makes a zillion, so the friends you bribed who offered to help can eat all they want as you wrap, and there will still be PLENTY for Christmas presents!

Fearless Friday: Muffins

Based on the success of the cupcakes made from the gluten-free cake recipe, I decided to try an experiment to decrease the sugar even more. So based on that recipe, I made up the following one. If it works, I'll have a snack that is free of grain, gluten, dairy, sugar, and fake sugar. The only major allergen it contains is egg. I do have at least one friend who will not be able to eat them because of that. And I guess nuts, but those are quite easily left out.

Carrot Apple Raisin Muffins
(Free of gluten, grain, dairy, sugar, & sugar substitutes)

3/8 cup coconut flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon celtic sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons flax seed, ground
(1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ginger, 1/4 tsp allspice - suggestions*)
5 eggs
1/2 cup coconut oil
3/4 cup applesauce
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1/2 cup raisins (used 1/4 cup golden & 1/4 cup regular)
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts**

In a small bowl combine flour, salt, baking soda, ground flax, & spices.
In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, oil, and applesauce.
Add carrots, raisins, and pecans and mix.
Add dry ingredients into large bowl and mix.
Grease 12 cup muffin tin and dust with coconut flour, or line with muffin papers.
Pour batter into cups 2/3 full and bake at 325° for 20-25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center of muffin comes out clean.
Remove from oven, allow to cool 10 minutes in pan, then remove from pans & cool completely.

*My applesauce was homemade, and was very spicy with ginger, cinnamon, & anise seeds, so I didn't add any extra spices. Therefore these measurements are just suggestions.
**If you know me at all, you know I used pecans. I always say, "A walnut is a Yankee's poor excuse for a pecan!" That being said, I concede that walnuts would work just fine in such a recipe.

I transferred them to a cooling rack, and we each grabbed a warm one on our way out the door - Husband was halfway through his before I bit into mine, so I asked him for an assessment. He said it was, "like cornbread with fruit in it," and he liked it. I bit into mine and found the texture to be fantastic! It was pretty much not sweet at all, except for the raisins. When we got home, we each had a room-temperature one, and found it much sweeter than the warm ones had been. I refrigerated them overnight, and in the morning found them *plenty* sweet for breakfast.

There are a couple of things I will do differently next time:
- I will grease & flour the muffin cups instead of using papers, because I didn't like how much muffin stuck to the papers.
- I will try using 1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut in place of the flax seed, just to see how it affects the taste & texture. Perhaps I'll try using both as well.

But all in all, I declare this Fearless Friday a success! I will *definitely* be making it again.

**Update** I made a second batch, and it did not come out anything like as well as the first. They were edible, but soggy. There were a few changes contributing to this: 
1. I used a less-expensive brand of coconut flour, which was milled less finely and had a higher fat content than the Bob's Red Mill that I used before. I now recommend *only* Bob's Red Mill Coconut Flour. It's around $7/lb, but you only use tablespoons of it at a time. My first bag lasted me an entire year.  
2. I eliminated the flax seed, and added 1/4 cup unsweetened, flaked coconut. I loved the flavor of the coconut added, so next time I will try adding both.
3. My applesauce had sort of separated and was a bit runny, and
4. I didn't measure the carrot shreds, but just grated 2 carrots into the bowl. I don't know that this threw it off, but with baking, measuring is usually a good idea.

I'll make a third batch and let you know how they come out!

Cupcakes!

Tomorrow is Husband's birthday! Time to bake!

As I said, I have a new pan that makes rosette-shaped cupcakes. Since last year's cake was the first that really turned out for me, I decided to use the same recipe this year. Husband requested chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. Since I don't intend to frost the cupcakes & obscure their shape, I added a cup of Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips to the batter, to make it extra chocolatey for him. I checked with Joy of Cooking that any cake batter can be made into cupcakes; bake for 20-25 minutes. This agreed with the instructions that came with the pan. I had also asked the fabulous Heather Solos over at Home Ec 101 for advice on how to grease/flour the cups so that I didn't have flour globs on the rosettes. She advised me to use a bit of the flour/cocoa mix. Since this recipe uses such a *tiny* amount of flour (3/4c coconut flour/1/4c cocoa powder), I made 1/4 cup extra & reserved it for this purpose. The recipe uses coconut oil, which I have vast quantities of, but yesterday I happened upon a can of spray coconut oil, on sale, and decided to splurge on it. Hey, it's a birthday cake! And this isn't an inexpensive recipe, no matter how you slice it. (haha)

First batch seemed perfectly done at 20m. They spent 10m cooling in the pan, then I gave them a gentle massage to be sure they were loose from the sides, inverted a platter on the pan, turned the whole shebang over, and POP!! PERFECT CHOCOLATE ROSE CUPCAKES. I overfilled the second batch's cups because the batter was *almost* done, so it took the extra 5m.

While the first batch were cooling, I tried a couple of decorations, but I think I like them plain best. What do you think?

L-R: Plain; cocoa powder; flaked coconut mixed with powdered sugar; powdered sugar.

It's all I can do to keep from wolfing one down!!! (And then I did. It was DELISH!)

Fearless Friday: Meatloaf!

What's frightening about meatloaf, you ask? Well, I think I made it once 15 years ago, and it didn't turn out so well. So it's an entirely new endeavor for me. Also, since we are on a largely grain-free diet, I can't use flour or oatmeal to bind it. So I did a bit of research and made up my own recipe. And promptly used five whole pounds of ground beef to make it. So if it *doesn't* turn out, it will be a pretty big disaster.

Here is what I did:

5 lbs ground chuck (20% fat)

4 eggs, beaten

1 small sweet onion, diced

2 carrots, peeled & diced

1 orange bell pepper, diced (I'd have used red, but I happened to have orange)

1 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp smoked salt

1 tsp mustard powder

2 tsp dried oregano

2 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 350F. Mix the meat, vegetables, spices, & herbs in a large bowl, using your hands. Make a well in the center, and pour in the beaten eggs. Mix again with hands, until evenly mixed. Halve the mixture and press into two 5x9 loaf pans. Place both loaf pans on a rimmed baking sheet (to catch spillovers) & put into preheated oven. Bake 1 hour 15 minutes or until instant-read thermometer inserted into middle reads 165F. Drain fat, and let rest 10 minutes before slicing.

I just put them in the oven, so I'll update with how long they actually cook, and how they come out...

Update: OMGYUM!!! I love it! They took just over an hour & 15, certainly no more than an hour and a half. I turned off the oven and let them sit while my neighbor and I walked the dogs. I poured a bit of the fat into the dogs' food when we got back, and boy were they happy campers! I poured the rest of the fat/drippings into a container so we have quite a few more happy dog meals, LOL. So I transferred the loaves to a plate, cut a slice, and tried it out. I declare it a success! It could use a bit of gravy (or ketchup, Husband will say, LOL) because it's just a tad dry, but that really means that it held together well and is yummy!

I'm calling this one a success!

Lentils!

Yesterday began Week Nine of The McCombs Plan, so I'm allowed to have legumes again. Last week there was a great post over at Home Ec 101 about a Lentil Pilaf, and in the comments someone suggested cooking lentils in the rice cooker. My little rice cooker that I bought specifically for The McCombs Plan is my new favorite gadget, and I'm so excited to try it out on lentils! I did not make the Home Ec 101 lentil pilaf recipe, I just did what I've been doing with rice, only with lentils. And I added spinach, because I absolutely love lentils with spinach. In case you are interested, here is what I did:

Lentils with Spinach

1 cup lentils

2 cups water

2 carrots, large dice

1/2 yellow bell pepper, large dice

1 rib celery, large dice

1/4 cup coconut oil

3-4 T Tone's Rosemary Garlic Seasoning*

2 big handfuls fresh spinach (um, 2 cups maybe?)

Put all in Fabulous Magical Rice Cooker, and hit "Cook"!

*We buy this at Sam's, and it has just the right amount of salt, and no yucky stuff like "hydrolyzed yeast", MSG, or sugar of any sort. It makes fantastic rice "pilaf". You could, of course, use whatever seasoning you like/have on hand.

Update: The spinach cooked down way too far. I put another couple of handfuls in a large bowl, dumped the hot lentils on top, stirred, and put a plate on top to keep the heat in & wilt the new spinach. Tasting now: Yum! The seasoning is great coupled with the natural pepperiness of lentils. I'd call it a success!

Update Two: Hm. Further into the bowl, I find there is a tiny hard kernel at the center of some of the lentils. I think next time I'll put just a skosh more water in, and leave it on "Keep Warm" for a little while to be sure they are cooked through. Also, these lentils were pretty old, so they may have been even dryer than most. Still tasty! ;-)

Delicious!

**THIS**

is my new favorite thing!!!

If you are too lazy to follow the link, okay fine. Here is the description:

Salish Smoked Salt is organic Pacific Sea salt that is cool smoked over red alderwood. No artificial coloring or flavoring is added. Salish gives food a delicious smoke flavor both on and off the BBQ. Try on Salmon, red meat, creamy pasta dishes & baked potatoes!

I say, try it on slices of tart/sweet apples. Try it on steak. Try it on your finger! Just try it!

I received mine as a gift. I just looked at the price and went, whoa! But oh my gosh, it's SO worth it. And the flavor is intense, you only need a little bit of it for a LOT of flavor, so it will go a long way.

You can read about it HERE, and they have a link to order it online.

Watermelon Sorbet

So I wanted to do something with this enormous watermelon I got, besides eating it in chunks and/or juicing it. There is only so much watermelon you can eat, or drink. I've always thought it would be nice to freeze watermelon pulp in the ice cream freezer, but I wasn't sure how it would come out. Actually, as I'm typing this, I'm still not sure how it will come out, but I'll let you know! I went over to Epicurious and researched some recipes, and as usual, came up with my own version. So here's what I did:

Put about 1/4 cup water in a small bowl, and sprinkle 1 envelope unflavored gelatin over it. Leave to soften.

Put 1/3 cup water and 1/3 cup sugar in a small saucepan and heat over low heat, stirring occasionally, until all the sugar is dissolved. Pour the sugar syrup into the softened gelatin and stir for a while to be sure all the gelatin is dissolved. Leave on counter to cool.

Put your watermelon in the sink, rinse it off, and cut it in half (mine didn't actually fit in the sink, but the halves did. You can cut it lengthwise or the short way to get the pulp, it doesn't matter. Put your blender right next to the sink, and scoop watermelon flesh, seeds and all, into the blender. Whirl the flesh, on low speed, until it's all pulp and seeds. On low speed, it won't cut up the seeds. Strain the pulp through a colander (not a strainer - a colander with round holes is best) to remove the seeds.

Measure 4 cups watermelon puree into a half-gallon pitcher. Mix in 2 tablespoons limoncello liqueur, and then the cooled gelatin mixture. Place the pitcher in the refrigerator to chill. If you don't have limoncello, you can use fresh lemon juice and perhaps some vodka. The alcohol is intended to keep it from freezing solid once the sorbet is made, but it's optional.

When the mixture is cold, process in your ice cream freezer, according to the manufacturer's instructions.

You will likely have a lot more watermelon puree than you'll need. I like to strain the rest through a strainer (a fine sieve for this second straining), and keep the juice. It's sweet, an AMAZING red color (like Hawaiian Punch, seriously, but all natural!), and it mixes very nicely with vodka! I'm sure that like all juices, the sugar is way too isolated to be healthy, but hey, it's a once-a-summer indulgence.

Now, I'm currently at the "chilling the mixture" stage. It tasted pretty good, but the big question is, how will it freeze up? Last time I used my little ice cream freezer (eggless gelatin ice cream), I didn't get the gelatin all the way dissolved (cream wasn't hot enough) and I didn't chill the mixture before putting it into the ice cream freezer. So I'm hoping these two steps will help. Since watermelon is so sweet to begin with, I added the gelatin, to help with the texture without overdoing the sugar.

Once it's frozen, I'll update with results!

Update One: Once the ice cream freezer had pretty much done its job, I scooped the sorbet into a container and put it in the freezer. Later that night, I mixed it up a little - the inside was still soft, outsides beginning to get hard. Scooped some out and ate it - the texture was silky, the color deep pinkish red, and the flavor was wonderful - sweet, with a limoncello aftertaste. I think the silky texture is from the gelatin, so I was pleased with this addition.

Update Two: The next day, it was frozen pretty much solid. I tried to scoop some, and ended up scraping it up into the ice cream scoop, which has a very useful thin aluminum edge. I found myself wishing I'd smoothed the top of the sorbet before I put it back into the freezer the night before; it would have made the scraping easier. Since it was icier, from being frozen and scraped like a granita, it came out a much lighter color, a lovely lighter pink. It was still sweet and delicious, and actually the limoncello overtones had calmed down, which was good.

Conclusion: I declare the watermelon-limoncello sorbet a rousing success! Something I've always wanted to try, and it came out great. Go me! ;-)

Gluten-Free CAKE!!

Husband's birthday is today! To celebrate, I wanted to bake him a gluten-free cake, so that I could enjoy it with him. I found this fantastic recipe at Elana's Pantry, which is a wonderful organic, gluten-free recipe and information source!
Now, I did adapt the recipe in several ways, to use what I had on hand, and to make it "German Chocolate"-ish. The more coconut, the better!! Here is my version:

Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Frosting

¾ cup coconut flour, sifted
¼ cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon celtic sea salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
10 eggs
1 cup coconut oil
1 ½ cups agave nectar*
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

In a small bowl combine flour, cocoa, salt and baking soda.
In a large bowl of mixer, using the balloon whisk attachment, blend eggs, oil, agave nectar*, and vanilla.
Add dry ingredients into large bowl and continue to blend.
Oil (2) 9 inch round cake pans and dust with coconut flour.
Pour batter into pans and bake at 325° for 35-40 minutes.
Remove from oven, allow to cool completely then remove from pans.
Frost and serve.

"German" Chocolate Frosting
1 cup flaked (unsweetened) coconut soaked overnight in apple juice
1 cup Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips
½ cup coconut oil
2 tablespoons agave nectar*
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
pinch celtic sea salt

In a small saucepan over very low heat, melt chocolate chips and coconut oil.
Stir in agave, vanilla, salt, and soaked coconut.
Place frosting in freezer for 15-25 minutes to cool.
Remove from freezer and whip frosting in the mixer with the whisk attachment until it is thick and fluffy.
Frost over cake.
Serve!

Photos can be seen at my Picasa site!

IMPORTANT FURTHER UPDATE: (2/13/10) Use turbinado sugar, honey, or maybe maple syrup, but not the agave nectar. I have since found out that agave nectar has more of the processed sort of fructose (versus the good stuff in fresh fruit) than the evil High Fructose Corn Syrup. Stay FAR FAR AWAY from it.

Almond Power Bars

I found a photo, description, and link to this recipe on my new favorite blog/website, The Nourishing Gourmet. She posts recipes and tips for making delicious foods made with traditional, natural ingredients. Her philosophy is based on the Nourishing Traditions book, and she's really living it and spreading the word. I'm grateful for the help, as I want to live into this philosophy as much as I can, but the book is a bit daunting.

She found the recipe itself on the website Elena's Pantry, and Elena, in turn, modified it from Melissa Diane Smith’s recipe for Amaretto Protein Bars in her book Going Against the Grain.

So! Without further ado, here is my own version:

2 cups almonds (raw)
½ cup flax meal (flax seeds ground in a blender)
½ cup shredded coconut (unsweetened)
½ cup unsalted almond butter (roasted tastes better)
½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
½ cup coconut oil
2 to 4 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

Place almonds, flax meal, shredded coconut, almond butter and salt in a food processor and pulse briefly, about 10 seconds.
In a small sauce pan, melt coconut oil over very low heat. [I actually just put the jar into hot water until I could pour out what I needed] Remove coconut oil from stove, stir honey and vanilla into oil. Add coconut oil mixture to food processor and pulse until ingredients form a coarse paste.
Press mixture into an 8 x 8 glass baking dish.
Chill in refrigerator for 1 hour, until mixture hardens.
In a small saucepan, melt chocolate chips over very low heat, stirring continuously.
Spread melted chocolate over bars; return to refrigerator for 30 minutes, until chocolate hardens.
Remove from refrigerator, cut into bars and serve.
Makes 20 bars

[Tuesday Update: We each had one or two of these today midday, and did not need to eat lunch. They are DELICIOUS, not too sweet, and very satisfying. Awesome!! Next time I will add dried cherries to the bars... yum! John had the idea to put pistachios in, that would be good, too. The post at Elena's Pantry has a macadamia version too... So yummy and fun! Easy too, once you have the ingredients on hand. I've been eating flaxmeal with my yogurt, so I had to buy roasted almond butter, coconut, and coconut oil. Now that I have them on hand, super easy to make more!]

One more Update: I did make it with the dried cherries, and added a bit of almond extract too. I also found the agave nectar called for in the original recipe and used 2 Tablespoons of that in place of the honey. These additions made these a bit sweeter than the last batch, but also tasty! I'm not sure about the agave nectar, things I've read say it's "low-glycemic", and it's a more neutral sweet than the flavor of honey or maple syrup. I may try maple syrup next time. Oh, one thing I noticed about the agave nectar, I tasted a drop of it by itself, and I think it tastes of marshmallows. Weird!

IMPORTANT FURTHER UPDATE: (2/13/10) Use the honey, or maybe maple syrup, but not the agave nectar. I have since found out that agave nectar has more of the processed sort of fructose (versus the good stuff in fresh fruit) than the evil High Fructose Corn Syrup. Stay FAR FAR AWAY from it.

HOLY TOLEDO!! Coconut Ice Cream

This is currently freezing in my ice cream maker but the first taste was SO FREAKING AWESOME that I just had to run in here and post the recipe!!

From Epicurious but with substantial changes:

1/8 cup ginger preserves
2 13.5- to 14-ounce cans chilled unsweetened coconut milk (NOT LOW FAT)
3/4 cup turbinado sugar
1 cup chilled heavy cream
5 tablespoons fresh lime juice*
1 tablespoon grated lime peel/zest
Pinch of salt

Whisk coconut milk, sugar, half and half, lime juice, lime peel, salt, and ginger preserve in medium bowl until sugar dissolves.

Transfer mixture to ice cream maker. Process according to manufacturer's instructions.

Transfer ice cream to container; cover and freeze until firm, about 3 hours.

*I only had one small lime, so I used its juice, however much that turned out to be.

I reduced the specified amount of sugar from 1 cup plus 2T to a little less than a cup, and would like it even better with a skosh less, hence the 3/4 cup measurement. I think it will be a bit icy, several of the reviewers mentioned theirs was, but using heavy cream should help that some. One reviewer made hers with egg yolks for an even richer version. Making a custard in a double boiler was beyond my patience tonight, so I didn' t try that variation!

But oh my GOSH. The coconut flavor is strong and delicious, and it's just sweet enough. Seriously, I cannot tell you how delicious this is!!

Yay Cooking!!

Man, I love throwing parties, because they give me the chance to play with new food ideas!

I'm trying to be gluten-free these days, so I planned the party food around that. I doubt that anyone will notice that anything is missing. Yes, except for those of you who read this and that I've mentioned it to. But you know what I mean.

Last week we went to The Mother Ship, and among all the other stuff we got, I bought a small exotic soda from Italy. It was grapefruit/strawberry. It was WAY too sweet for my taste, but it was an interesting combination. The way I make sodas these days is to take fruit juice and mix it with fizzy water (like Perrier.) So I thought, what if I make grapefruit and strawberry purees and mix with the fizzy? I also bought raspberries for the same purpose. I'll let you know how they come out!

I love apples and cheese, so I bought a log of goat cheese and some Pink Lady apples for that purpose. I'll make hummus and offer tortilla chips and veggies to dip it. I'm also straining some fabulous bulgarian yogurt. I'll mix fresh mint into it, and either mix in cucumber, or offer slices to dip it with. I got some of those great hothouse/english cukes for that. The big job today is to make gazpacho! I've been lamenting the lack of raw veggies in my diet (the enzymes they contain aid digestion) and gazpacho is a great way to get them! It's a lot of work to make, but then you have several days worth of veggies to "drink". I've also got two cantaloupes that should be fabulous, as they are sitting there smelling up my kitchen (in a good way!)

So anyway, it's a lot of light, cold, summery snacks for all the guests at Suki's party tomorrow!

Oh, yeah, I'm not sure who all reads this, but it's possible that someone would read it that wouldn't know - Sunday is Suki's first birthday, so I'm throwing her a party tomorrow evening! There will be something like 14 dogs running around my back yard... Crazy! I have two baby pools and two sprinklers for them to play in, almost 20 tennis balls, and a new HUGE rope toy for them to play with! So, of course all the food I'm making is for the humans who bring the dogs...

Okay. I have to go get in the shower and go to the chiropractor and run errands and get back here and start cooking. Happy Weekend!!