My Way, No. 8

*If you’re new to my blog, you may want to read this for info on what ‘My Way’ posts are all about. 🙂 *

— Why do people have to tempt you??? I was all set to keep my cheese fast going through Christmas, until I saw these Cranberry-Sage Goat Cheese Crostini. Now, I’m like…um, excuse me, I’m making these! I have been reading this PNW farmer’s blog for a while and really like it. Even though I am a suburbia girl through and through, I have a bit of farm-envy. It’s nice to be able to go the farmer’s markets, get CSA’s, etc., but how awesome must it be if you are the producer and CSA?!

— So, I said in a recent ‘My Way’ post that I was disappointed about not being involved in the joint Jewish Federation-Salvation Army Thanksgiving turkey carving this year. I really missed seeing my cohorts from the past few years. Well, thankfully I was blessed to catch up for the Christmas carving. Many new faces this year including this fab restaurant staff who worked with lightning speed:

This year will be the first year the public meal will be served at the St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church, instead of the Tucson Convention Center. Usually only the Thanksgiving meal is held there, as the church holds a Christmas service. The Convention Center is remodeling their kitchen this year, though.

— I have been really enjoying the bagel recipe I recently posted! I have made a few batches now. I like to get 6 smaller bagels each batch, and I usually add just a touch more honey/palm sugar. I wanted to make sandwich petite baguettes this past week, and then an idea struck me: how about using the bagel recipe and shaping it like baguette? My reasoning for this cheat came because of my love for the brevity of this recipe: you let the yeast activate for a few minutes, give it a good whirl/knead in the food processor, let it rest for 3 minutes, cut your portions, shape it, allow 10 minutes for it to rise, boil 30 seconds on each side, bake 20 minutes, and you’re done. So, in an hour or so (maybe less), you can have fresh bread. Much shorter than my baguette or Italian bread recipes. Well, I tried it and loved it. I cut the dough into 4 portions, shaped it like a log (kind of tapered at the ends), and made a few slits across the top. I boiled them just like a bagel, too. I thought they might take longer, but they were done in the same amount of time. Again, I baked them in a cast iron pan on the top rack. The first one I used right away for a dairy & fried Hanukkah meal of cream of roasted garlic and crimini mushroom soup and fried eggplant sandwich. I had an artichoke heart that needed to be used (I had only eaten the leaves), so I made a spread with it and some light mayo, and added just tomato, lettuce, and red onion. I didn’t toast the bread, just left it as is, and it was fab. SO good! I used skim milk for the soup, but didn’t know if I would like it. It was fine, though, and I couldn’t tell the difference from a higher fat milk. I have thought about making the bagel/baguettes as gifts now, as they’re so easy:

— Animals are so fascinating, aren’t they? Check out this story about birds that ‘Heard Tornadoes Coming and Fled One Day Ahead.’ Amazing. And…take a look at these totally cute cheetah cubs. They are SO precious!

— Are you having any cocktails this Holiday season? If so, check out a few of these simple DIY recipes: Homemade Grenadine, Homemade Tonic Water, 10 Homemade Liqueurs. Also, here’s a few festive drinks that look like they would hit the spot: Blackberry & Sage Champagne Cocktail, Pomegranate Christmas Cocktail, Christmas Grasshopper with Candy Canes, 25 Holiday Cocktails.

— If you are going to be baking up a storm or using your oven much for the Holidays, I thought I would link you to some recipes for Homemade Oven Cleaners.

— Lastly, New Year’s Eve is just around the corner, so here are a couple of Trending Dress ideas. I saw on another site that black and gold is in. Black is a no-go for me, so I guess it’ll have to be gold, lol. Not including the pic at the top, the 6th one down is my fave (even though it’s black 😉 ).

I will probably not post anything else until after Christmas, so I hope you have a lovely Holiday and will see you next time!

Edible Holiday Gifts

Snowy owl Christmas tree biscuits | BBC Good Food.

Biscuits means ‘cookies’ (or crackers) if you’re in America, haha. It took me the longest time to figure that out. A 2-for-1 edible ornament. Adorable! *Sidenote: In case you saw my ‘Test Post,’ I figured out the problem. This post was too long, as I suspected. I removed a few unneeded spaces.*

I’ve been thinking about edible Holiday gifts for a bit, so I thought I would share a few I’ve come across. As I mentioned in my post about that decadent Cheesecake Martini, food can be a fab gift option for a variety of reasons. I know there are a ton of ideas out there, but I tend to try to find recipes that are fairly simple or have few ingredients. Elaborate cakes and cookies are not really my gifting (literally), but I can handle quick breads, log/freezer cookies, and fudge pretty well. I have a collection of ‘soup cans’ that I will be using to bake a few yeast breads and/or quick breads in. My food processor is a blessing these days and really speeds up mixing and kneading time. I rarely knead anything by hand unless it’s a very small quantity. I would like to finally get over my aversion to fruitcake, so perhaps I will scout a decent recipe soon. My memories are still so scarred and haunted with neon-colored glacéed fruit-filled “cake” resembling a brick (in taste and texture, lol).

If I had time, I would list even more ideas. I am running a little late with my Christmas preparations, though. So, I need to get a move on! As always, please check out some of the wonderful recipes from food blogs on my blogroll for more inspiration. I also have a category for ‘Recipes, Food, and Drink’ on my blog menu, so you might glance at that or my ‘My Way’ posts, as well. I think most of these recipes could translate to just about any holiday or celebratory occasion.

Homemade Extracts
Homemade Chili Oil
Coconut Bauble Truffles
Chocolate-Peanut Butter Quinoa Crispies Treats
87 Calorie Brownies
Just Beet It 5-Ingredient Red Velvet Fudge
Homemade Chocolate
Soft Pretzels
Gluten-Free Cranberry Orange Muffins with Rosemary
Cake Batter Popcorn
Raw Chocolate Pomegranate Bark
Pumpkin Cheesecake Snickerdoodles
Spicy Blue Cheese Shortbread Cookies
Gemma’s Homemade Chocolate Fudge (watch the vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IB9j8e8KWJo) I have made fudge before, but I have never thought to cut it into anything but squares. Cute!
Whole Wheat Pumpkin Chocolate Chunk Bread
Eggnog Truffles
Vegan Seeded Banana Bread w/ Dried Figs and Turkish Apricots
Salted Caramel Bars
Homemade Orange Liqueur
Mini Cream Scones (a jar of homemade jam and/or cream would be a nice addition!
10 Mason Jar Gift Ideas (several edible gifts, plus a few extras)

I hope you are having a marvelous Holiday season, and I wish you and yours the best!

Kathy

My Way, No. 6

*If you’re new to my blog, you may want to read this for info on what ‘My Way’ posts are all about. 🙂 *

— After posting so much about the waffle sandwich I had at the Viva La Local Festival, I thought I would link you to a resource for mesquite flour. I figured it may not be available in many places outside of the Southwest. You can purchase it at Native Seeds/SEARCH’s online store (see my pics from our local Tucson store here). It’s organic and Kosher, and a great alternative if you cannot have wheat.

— I know it’s winter time, but I had to share these totally adorable DIY Fall Boot Cuffs. One of the easiest projects I’ve seen, and you could certainly carry them into these winter months.

— Hanukkah, Chanukah, however you spell it…will soon be upon us. This blog post had different intentions, but I think this twig star is a perfect DIY project for the occasion (I also see by a couple of the comments that others agree). And, check out this website for modern decorations and edibles (the modern bite cookies are stunners!)

— Read about Brazil’s biggest mass wedding. Awesome! It was held in Rio de Janeiro and involved nearly 2,000 couples!

— I had a little disappointment this Thanksgiving…for the past few years, my mom and I have been working with the Jewish Federation and the Salvation Army to carve turkeys for Thanksgiving and Christmas meals served to the public. This year, we didn’t get a call and found out too late that the SA had a new director take over the program. I look forward to seeing the same folks each Holiday, so I was kind of bummed. Some of them have been carving the turkeys for 15 – 20 years, so I can imagine they were also disappointed. Hopefully, we’ll get to participate in some way for the Christmas meal.

— I did make the berry and pom Antioxidant Detox Smoothie I posted after Turkey Day, and it was delish! I used my homemade yogurt and whey along with some fermented beets. As I said, it made me a little chilly, so I had a cup of hot tea afterwards: turmeric, ginger, cayenne, cinnamon, and lemon. Really a warm and soothing blend.

— I also sipped on hot tea all day yesterday, as it was rainy and cold (like mid-50’s, low 60’s, which is cold for Tucson). I had a ‘bread bowl’ from Beyond Bread (a local bread and pastry shop), so I decided a hot bowl of soup was in order. I didn’t know if I would use the bowl for a dip or soup when I purchased it, but the weather made my decision for me. They only have sourdough white bread bowls (I usually buy whole grain breads), but I really wanted it at the time. I figured it would be a treat meal. I started to make a cream of asparagus soup, but eventually made a curried chunky tomato. It’s such a comfort food for me:

The bread was SO good! I had to force myself to not eat the entire bowl in one sitting. I usually try to buy whole grains (as they are healthier), but I still love refined bread and flours…and white rice, OMGoodness…I really have to restrain myself if I start eating white rice, lol. I’ll try to post a few pics from Beyond Bread soon.

— Just saw these DIY Mint Julep Favors on the Curbly site. Too cute! More DIY here: 101 Homemade Holiday Gifts. All sorts of fun ideas from food to beauty to fashion and more.

— Yummy-Looking Food & Bev: Ficelle Picarde, Kimchi Ssambap, Butternut and Sweet Potato Lasagne with Sage Toasted Pine Nuts and Nutmeg, Berry Entremets (Beautiful! If you don’t speak Russian, you’ll have to translate), Homemade Gingerbread Syrup, Vegan Whole Wheat Maple-Oatmeal Bread.

See you next time!

Same Ingredients, Different Dish, # two

We had a very low-key Thanksgiving this year, and we actually celebrated on Friday. No big family production this year. Nothing went as I had planned a month ago, but it went well. I am still fasting from a number of things (like butter), so that gave me limited options as far as traditional foods go. It was very difficult not to eat dressing, as it’s one of my favorite Thanksgiving treats. It looked so yummy! I decided to break my cheese fast for the Holiday, though. I went back to my tradition of pasta instead of a turkey dinner. I didn’t prepare sweet potato gnocchi as I thought I might (it has a butter sauce). I just made a simple dish of spaghettini with an extra-virgin olive oil vinaigrette, kalamata, feta, tomatoes, asparagus, and red onion. Really simple, but after fasting from cheese for a while…it was heavenly!

I also made this Red Fruit and Feta Salad with Red Fruit-Red Onion Dressing:

Easy salad with feta, raspberries, pomegranate, apples, dried cranberries, and salted roasted almonds. I made the dressing ahead of time (so the flavors could meld) with the raspberries and pomegranate (juiced, then strained), dried cranberries, oil and fruit vinegar, herbs, garlic, honey, s&p, a little bit of grain mustard, and minced red onion. This was also a very simple prep, but again, having cheese made it delightful.

You know that I am La Cashionista, so of course I am going to find a way to use these ingredients again. The cheesecake in a jar from my local food co-op started me thinking about making something similar. At first, I was going to mix cream cheese with yogurt to lighten it up a bit. I made a batch of homemade cream cheese for my mom, so I was going to use that. Then I thought, I really didn’t need it. Just yogurt would be fine and would satisfy me. “Eggnog” Yogurt Parfait with Brandied Fruits:

I usually associate eggnog with Christmas, but this is what I felt like having. This pic isn’t the greatest, but hopefully you get the gist. I didn’t actually use eggs for this parfait. The flavors are reminiscent, though. I sweetened my homemade Greek-style yogurt with a little brown palm sugar, nutmeg, and vanilla. I let the fruits steep in simple syrup with brandy, then layered them in with the yogurt. I used the same fruits from the salad (dried cranberries, pom, apples), but also added a layer of dried figs and raisins. I reduced the syrup a bit and drizzled that over the raspberries and almonds. This was very filling, and I was challenged to finish it all. I had a couple of bites leftover.

I will be making detox smoothies and fruit waters to keep that fruit love going and use up my leftovers (see my previous post for recipes).

7 Detox Smoothies With Added Health Benefits

7 Detox Smoothies With Added Health Benefits.

I hope you all are having a marvelous Thanksgiving weekend (if you’re in the States celebrating). I thought I would again post a sort of detox/cleanse option for post-Holiday eats. Please check my previous posts for Hydrating Vitamin Refreshers and DIY Sprouts. I chose lighter fare this year and have an abundance of fruit leftover. So, I thought fruit smoothie detox recipes would be nice. I searched for recipes with pomegranate and raspberries and found this easy Antioxidant Smoothie recipe. There are several recipes listed on this site, but I plan on whipping up that one first.

I try not to get too hung up on certain diets or what the new latest thing we should be eating or should not be eating is…but, I do like to eat a little more “clean” if I’ve had a few heavier meals. That’s what these post-Holiday posts are about. I just use them as a guideline and use the foods I have available at the time. When I was younger, I would listen to everything anyone who ever wrote a book about food said. These days, I listen to what my body says and try to eat as many things as close to their natural state as I can. I do like unhealthy foods, too (as I unfortunately grew up with them), but I figure if I can eat for the most part what God told us to eat or not eat…I’ll be OK, lol. I try not to over think it. Even though I didn’t indulge too much this Holiday, I still think smoothies are a good idea. They are always a good idea, right? They can make me a bit chilly this time of year, though, so I usually follow them up with a hot cup of tea. I steep all kinds of goodies I have in the house for a nice, cleansing tea. Very soothing.

Hope you enjoy the recipes!

Recipes: Dessert Smoothies

While the temps were in the 100s here in Tucson, I probably only made smoothies a couple of times. Now, after my pomegranate brunch, I have been making them every day. I have actually made that same combo of pom, lime, apple, and banana several times. My ‘normal’ routine is to eat whole fruit for breakfast, then whatever strikes my fancy for the rest of the day. Most days, at least one banana is included in that routine. So, they have made up the base for many of my smoothies. I previously did not care for the flavor of banana in smoothies, but my tastes have changed. Sometimes, I use my homemade yogurt for a little pro-pro boost.

I usually freestyle my smoothies with what I have on hand, but I thought I would round up a few recipes to post. Even if you don’t use the exact ingredients, you can keep them in the back of your mind (for when you feel like whipping one up). Sometimes, I use smoothies to cover the flavor of supplements like meal replacements, etc. I did that for this one:

It was made with banana, coconut butter, apple, lime, carrots, pom, vanilla, mint, beet, and a vegan meal replacement powder. I could still taste the ‘powdery-ness’ of the powder, but the overall flavor was yummy.

If you are having a brunch, you can make up a few different flavors and put them in shot glasses kept on ice. I took a pic of this one in a shot glass:

I was craving peanut butter & banana, but I didn’t have any peanut butter. So, I subbed roasted tahini, and added flax, vanilla, raw agave, and a pinch of vitamin powder. I just added the agave because I have a sweet tooth, but I’m sure it would have been fine without it. It was delish! (I usually don’t garnish my smoothies for my everyday drinks. I just did for these because I decided to take pics 😉 ).

As I do indeed have that sweet tooth, I thought smoothie recipes based on popular desserts would be fun. Hope you enjoy these!

Carrot Cake Smoothie

One more Carrot Cake Smoothie

Eggnog Smoothie

Apple Pie Smoothie

Red Velvet Smoothie

Key Lime Pie Smoothie

Banana Cream Pie Smoothie

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake Smoothie

Cinnamon Bun Smoothie

Strawberry Shortcake Smoothie

Another Strawberry Shortcake Smoothie

Caramel Apple Protein Smoothie

 

 

Pomegranate Brunch

I wanted to share a few pics from a pomegranate-themed brunch I had. It wasn’t super fancy or super casual — kind of in between.

I thought a homemade granola would be nice, as it’s one of my favorite breakfast treats. Far too often I grab granola or snack bars at the store because they are convenient. Many times I don’t even really care for the ones I choose. I just grab whatever in a hurry. I picked up some that were on sale one day and found they had peanut butter flavoring. How hard is it to have real peanut butter? I remember the first time I made my own granola — it was with a raw honey from a beekeeper in New York State. I went with a couple of friends to a very rural part of Upstate (no electricity, etc.) to meet the beekeeper. He only charged $10 for a gallon of the deliciously sweet nectar. My only problem once we arrived was…the bees. I was SO scared. They were everywhere, and I finally had to jump back in the car for terror. I had never been stung, and I (thankfully) still haven’t. One of my friends thought it was so cool, though, and played with the ones without stingers. Stinger or not, I wasn’t taking any chances, lol! Anyways…this granola included: dried pomegranate and peaches, raisins, oats, home puffed spelt, coconut, flax seeds, pepitas, cashews, and spicy dark chocolate chunks. I coated it with a mixture of roasted tahini, cinnamon, vanilla, and raw agave. I still use honey a lot, but I have mucho agave right now. I melted the chocolate and added chile, let it cool, then broke it into chunks. I have craved spicy chocolate ever since a co-worker gave me some spicy truffles from a local resort. This granola is great with yogurt, milk, or just plain by the handfuls.

This was a non-alcoholic brunch, so I made smoothies and DIY tea. The smoothie was simply pom, lime, apple (skins on), and banana. Very light and refreshing. Make your own tea: herbs from a local farmer, dried fruit, and dried zest. I would like to get really creative with the DIY Tea Bar one day, but it was a last minute idea. The main part of the brunch was the pancakes, which were delish: sourdough cornmeal/whole/heirloom wheat cakes with fresh pom syrup and pom seeds. Very filling!

So many things you can do with poms, sweet and savory! I want to try my hand at this cake soon: Turkish Pom, Pistachio, and Cardamom Cake. I posted it on my previous blog, but missed re-posting it here. I am not great at baking cakes from scratch, but I might take a stab at it. I am really not good at cake decorating, so this rustic-looking recipe is doubly appealing. I think it would be perfect for brunch.

WhirlwinDISH 24

I didn’t go too wild with my WhirlwinDISHes this time — just a few updates to some of my fave comfort foods. As I said in my last post, I have not been feeling my best this week. So, I thought a bit of rice pudding for Rosh HaShanah would cheer me up! I made it with cow’s milk sweetened with honey and traditional flavors like nutmeg and vanilla. I decided to use forbidden rice instead of my usual white or brown, then topped it with unsweetened whipped cream, fresh pom syrup, and pom seeds. The finished pudding was actually a little more purplish than the black that the pic shows (and sorry, I didn’t realize the pudding smudged a bit of the glass, making it harder to see). It was SO good and just the thing I needed. A perfect Rosh HaShanah treat!

I figured I would include a couple more fairly simple dishes (nothing fancy!) with forbidden rice this posting. I made a baked soup/casserole, as the weather has finally cooled off here in Tucson (80s & 90s vs. 100+ degrees 😀 ) — yellow split pea and forbidden rice flavored with garlic, onion, smoked paprika, s&p, and lots of cilantro. Cilantro is one of my favorite things, so I find ways to (over)use it for tons of different meals. I actually hated it when I first tried it, but it grew on me. Good thing, too — living in the Southwest, it’s in many a dish. I haven’t made a baked soup with split peas before, but I kind of think of it as a version of my typical beans and rice. The pic doesn’t look all that great, but it was pretty tasty and satisfied my need for comfort cooking (and cilantro). More cilantro: other pic is a tortilla made from whole and heirloom wheat flour with beetroot powder & juice, forbidden rice, and a fried egg. Super easy!