Coconut Ice Cream!

I love coconut, and I love Ice Cream! So I made.... lasagna! jokes! I made coconut Ice Cream!
The recipe called for saffron, of which I had none, so my ice cream was probably not as interesting as it could have been, or as yellow, but as long as is tasted like coconut, I was happy.
But I did find it a bit toooooo creamy. It kind of tasted like coconut moisturizer, delicious, just a little much. So I think next time, instead of using heavy cream, I will make a lighter version, using lighter cream or maybe even milk! That sounds preferable... But would it work with milk? I don't know the science.. We'll see.


So in that case, it would go --
2/3 cup of cream or milk
1 cup of coconut milk
1/4 cup of loose cane sugar

bring them to a boil, then simmer, stirring for 10 minutes and remove from heat.
when cooled, put in your ice cream machine (or freezer and stir every 2o minutes..), and follow your machines guidelines...

Chicken Noodle Soup

The other week, my beau was feeling ill and I decided to make him some Chicken noodle soup..
But I like things spicy, and I figured it would clear his sinuses a bit if I had a little fun with it.
So I invented this, not that it's very inventive, but we really enjoyed it and made it three more times that weekend.


Not that you care, and not that anybody reads this except my sister - But she's sick now too and so maybe her husband will make it for her and the kids! So here's the recipe:

Sauté 1 small onion, chopped coarsely
add 2 celery stalks, chopped coarsely
once the onions and the celery are nice and sweaty, add
2 cups boiling water (with 1 chicken broth cube - or veg cube, or both)
and 1 cup of medium seashell noodles, PRE boiled and strained (10 minutes)

then add: (my pinches are fairly generous)
1 pinch ground coriander
1 pinch ground cayenne pepper
2 pinches of sea salt
2 grinds of pepper
1 pinch chili peppers (I put quite a bit.. spicy)
1 pinch oregano
1 bay leaf (remove before serving)

Gently stir everything all together, let it simmer a bit,
then pour into bowls and serve with crackers (or not, if sore throats are involved).

Blondies

There's a lovely little bakery, Le Fournil, down the street from where I grew up and a few years ago their recipe for Blondies was published in the newspaper and honestly, they are some of the most wonderful things that will ever cross your lips. Covered in raspberries, cooked so that the inside remains nice and moist, lots of brown sugar.. mmmmmmmmm


I made them for my pal and my boyfriend the other night and they are my boyfriends favourite food now! Adding fruit, especially berries.. especially raspberries to things - gives them such a wonderful new dimension.

Crackers and Goodness

I made some tasty crackers a few weeks ago, the recipe called for semolina flour, but I never have any of that around - and I always forget to buy any - so I used part whole wheat flour and part cornmeal. They ended up tasting kind of like wheat thins - I was satisfied!


You just combine 1 cup cornmeal with 2 cups whole wheat flour, a large pinch of salt, 1 cup of warm water and 1/3 cup of olive oil - mix and knead that until its a bit tacky (adding more flour or water as needed) and then divide it into eight or so fist sized balls, coat them in olive oil, and set aside for an hour, covered.

Then, roll 'em out, I cut mine with one of those little pizza cutters for making the jagged edges on pie tops? you know? But you can use a knife - cut them into whatever shapes you want - you could even use cookie cutters if you want! and you can cover them in whatever you want, but I find the toppings fall off, so I use a rolling pin, gently, just to push the salt, or herbs, or whatever a little into the surface.

Put the pieces on a pizza stone, or a baking sheet with parchment paper -- and bake them at 450 until they're nice and golden, if they're thin, it doesn't take long - about ten minutes, keep an eye on them. I usually burn a batch or two.


Anyways, the reason I made these crackers is so that I could have something to go with some salmon mouse I made! And they went very well ensemble.

Green Tea Ice cream

I bought an ice cream maker attachment for my kitchen-aid mixer..


I bought it so that I could make green tea ice cream, which is not readily available...
When I went for sushi with my family over Christmas, my nephew, four years old, ordered this ice cream and I tried some and wanted it ever since.

Making ice cream without a machine is a pain in the neck..

Anyways, the recipe for the Green tea ice cream is simple:
just 2 egg yolks mixed with 5 tablespoons of sugar in a pan
then pour 3/4 of a cup of milk in and mix...
turn the heat on low and heat it until it thickens stirring constantly...
at this point, you should have already (haha) um, mixed a tablespoon of matcha tea (green tea powder) with three tablespoons of boiling water and mix well.

so when the egg mixture has cooled, immerse the bottom of the pot in ice water, (i used snow, haha) and when its cooled, ad the matcha mixture, still with the pot in the ice.. When that's cool, then fold in 3/4 heavy cream, whipped...

then you just put it in your machine and follow their directions-- it took me 20 minutes, then i put it in the freezer in a tupperwear to get nice and hard.

You can also make any ice cream really without a machine, you just have to take it out of the freezer and stir it like every half hour... like I said, its a pain in the neck.


Oh, but this ice cream is divine. Not too sweet, not too heavy, leaves you wanting more.
mmm.. you'd better make a double batch if you go through with it.

Pecan Pie

My brother and I had pie night.



He made a tourtière and I made this pecan pie!
The crust was one frozen, leftover from pumpkin pie at Christmas... And a little tough.
But other than that, I think it worked.

I served it with whipped cream. I'm learning.

21

Well, it's been a while since my last post, but just so you know, I DID bake over Christmas break.. These are some pictures from my birthday party in December..



Shrimp Cocktail is always nice at parties.. but you usually end up with someone like me who winds up eating all of the shrimp. An excellent dip is simply mayonnaise mixed with a few dollops of Chili Sauce... its simple and delicious! dip dip.


These be pecan fingers.. A classic Christmas cookie in my family.


And these are shortbread, another classic and Ginger snaps, which I started making last year and are very easy to make and snappy and delicious.

The table is missing something key... punch. A great punch recipe, which I serve at all my gatherings is a bottle of sprite, a bottle of cheap, unsweetened sparkling wine.. I mean, you can use the good stuff if you want, but its not necessary. Then however much Gin you want.. Its nice when you get enough to give the punch a good kick, but not enough to make it taste very boozy...
Then top it off with a bag of frozen raspberries.. its a hit. try it.