Food for Thought (and Discussion)

[The Rose-Tree Dryad]

I've been going on a couple of new food-related adventures lately!

One was with Vietnamese egg coffee; I haven't tried the all-yolk version yet, but I did try one with a whole egg inspired by a recipe that I saw on a primal diet website. The whole egg version is a little tricky to make because you want to make sure that the coffee is hot enough to kill any potential bacteria without being so hot that you end up with scrambled eggs floating in your coffee cup, but so far I've found it to be really good! A pinch of salt and some sweetener really sets it off. Some say that Vietnamese egg coffee is like liquid tiramisu, and based on my whole egg version, I'm inclined to agree.

I've also been experimenting with making my own kefir, which is a cultured drink from the Caucasus Mountains that supposedly makes people live to be about a million years old. I bought some powdered kefir starter a few months ago on a whim and only recently used it to make kefir out of goat milk. (I'm using goat milk partly because a) it's the only kind I have that isn't pasteurized with very high heat, which makes culturing kefir more difficult, and b) I've been avoiding the kind of casein found in cow milk for a while now because of mystery allergies.)

I tasted it today and it's delicious! Nice and tart with a little bit of carbonated kick. I'm hoping to get proper kefir grains soon and try making kefir with those; they have more complex stains of bacteria in them compared to the powdered, laboratory-created starter. They also can be used indefinitely to make new batches of kefir. (As you can see, I've been reading a lot about this sort of thing recently. )

And lastly, I'm also planning on trying to "catch" my own sourdough starter soon! Sourdough is supposed to be a super-digestible and healthy way to eat bread, so I've been wanting to try to make my own for a while now. It's so neat to dabble in food preparation/preservation techniques that humans have literally been using for thousands of years.

(Hmm, I think the cold weather has made me want to go crazy in the kitchen since I can't go crazy running around outside. )

[Lady Haleth]

The marmalade roll sounds delicious. Is it anything like a jelly roll? I've made those before, they're one of my favorite desserts.
Today I spent all morning making Cinnamon Swirl bread with vanilla icing drizzled on the top. It turned out to be very good.

[fantasia]

Pi(e) Day has started to become a tradition in my house. Hey, it's a great excuse to make a pie! LOL
Yesterday we made Chicken Pot Pie and Blueberry Pie. The irony is that I had a bachelorette party to go to last night so I didn't get to eat either one until about 10pm. LOL I'll make up for it today.

[Puddleglum]

First time posting here about food. My wife just fried up some asparagus, and chicken with coconut oil, and honey for supper tonight. With Acorn SquashHMMMMMMM
Meanwhile I have to prepare for a Christian Sportsmen's Retreat next weekend. They have an annual wild game feed, and the Offspring, and I will be donating some squirrel. I need to boil, and de-bone them in advance, but it will be worth it. Just so long as they don't overdo the onions, and peppers when they cook them up.

[Melian_Maia]

Rose, I read the post about the egg coffee before seeing who wrote it and immediately knew that it was you. I'm not a huge egg person at all, but I'm sort of tempted to try it tonight while I'm home for spring break (and while I have access to a kitchen and eggs).

Speaking of spring break, I'm finally home and eating normal food instead of cafeteria food. I've missed having the ability to cook/bake so much over these past few months and have done quite a bit of it this week as a result. My mom and I experimented last night and made banh mi sandwiches on toasted ciabatta rolls with pickled carrots and radishes for dinner. They were delicious, but definitely could have used a little more spiciness. Next time we're thinking about putting mayonnaise on the rolls before toasting them since they were a bit dry as well, but as a whole it was pretty good! Not looking forward to heading back up to school tomorrow morning and losing my kitchen at all...

[ValiantArcher]

Melian_Maia, what goes into a banh mi sandwich? I don't think I've ever heard of it before. I'm glad you got to do a lot of cooking and baking over spring break!

I managed to fit in two baking projects this weekend: waffles on Friday night, and a lamb cake for our church potluck lunch today. Waffles were for a small gathering Summer and I had in "honour" of the Swedish Waffle Day (I really just wanted to make waffles and thought it a good excuse ); I made a regular batch of waffles and a batch of Liege Belgian waffles. The latter were a huge hit, though there were only enough for about one each (next time will have to double the recipe!) and they made quite a mess of the iron.
The lamb cake is my traditional Easter project. It's not hard (cake batter into a lamb form cake, and then decorate it after baking) and it's not really that pretty (...I haven't mastered putting buttercream frosting on chocolate cake without catching some crumbs), but it tasted fine and people at church always like seeing it every year. I used large chocolate chips for the eyes, a regular chocolate chip for the nose, and a split cranberry for the mouth. I'm pretty sure I saw my mom slice off the face for my brother-in-law...

[fantasia]

My mom and I experimented last night and made banh mi sandwiches on toasted ciabatta rolls with pickled carrots and radishes for dinner. They were delicious, but definitely could have used a little more spiciness.

I've had them twice, once in NYC and once where I live now. Both were quite authentic as the owners of both places could barely speak English. But on the spiciness note, my cousin warned me away from the spice in NYC but I forgot about it the second time I had it. Raw jalapeno slices can kind of burn you out if you're not expecting it. I had to pull the rest of the jalapenos off the sandwich.

Valia, a bahn mi is a French/Vietnam hybrid sandwich. Just like our hoagie-type sandwiches can mix and match toppings here, bahn mi sandwiches can too, and some have some very erm, interesting toppings that you wouldn't normally eat here in the States. Here's one example i found a picture of online.

[The Rose-Tree Dryad]

Mmm, that iced cinnamon swirl bread sounds so good, Lady Haleth! Seems like a delicious alternative to cinnamon buns.

Making pies completely slipped my mind this past Pi(e) Day, but I did burn a cherry pie on Washington's birthday last month, so I guess that counts for something...?

That dinner sounds really tasty and healthy, Puddleglum! I've never eaten squirrel before, though. Is it reminiscent of any other kind of meat?

Lia, I remember thinking when I wrote that post that doing something like putting an egg in coffee is so quintessentially "Rose"-ish. Still being adventurous in the kitchen after all these years. That banh mi sounds SO good! I bet the pickled carrots and radishes really set it off. I hope you have a safe trip back to school! (And I hope that the cafeteria food improves. )

Any excuse is a good excuse for waffles, ValiantArcher. Your lamb cake sounds really cute—crumbs and all! I was curious about how to prevent that problem, though, and googling led me to this Wilton article. I've never done a lot of cake decorating in my life, but I'll have to try that trick the next time I'm icing anything.

Thanks for posting that graphic, fantasia! Putting cucumbers on a sandwich seems like such a good idea... very refreshing!

Well, I'm still on a major cultured dairy kick, so I'm off to make another batch of kefir so it will be ready to put in the refrigerator tomorrow night. I've also got some powdered kefir grains coming in the mail (Cutting Edge Cultures sells them, for the curious peeps), which will have a more diverse combination of healthy bacteria without the trouble of straining and maintaining whole kefir grains. After that, I'm hoping to try my hand at mesophilic yogurt-making... unlike thermophilic yogurt (the kind you usually buy in the store), mesophilic "yogurts" like filmjölk culture at room temperature. Super easy. (Plus, I've read that filmjölk tastes a lot like cream cheese... I've got to get me some of that. )

[Puddleglum]

My dear Dryad; I would say that they taste like chicken, but I am not really familiar with wild chicken. The "gamyness" of the "tree rat" as they are often called here-abouts is truly a novel taste to my experience.
like most game, or any animal for that matter, I think a lot depends upon what they have been eating.
One rule to follow though is to always pick any hairs out if you do not like to floss while eating

[The Rose-Tree Dryad]

Thanks for the tip, Puddleglum! I'm not sure when I'll have occasion to sample squirrel, but I'll keep that in mind if I ever do.

Lately I've been reading labels on leftover Easter candy (bad idea ), and all of the additives and unhealthy oils have inspired me to try making my own candies and chocolates the next time a holiday rolls around. There are so many cute chocolate molds available, too! Does anyone have any favorite homemade candy recipes?

[SnowAngel]

Pi(e) Day has started to become a tradition in my house. Hey, it's a great excuse to make a pie! LOL
Yesterday we made Chicken Pot Pie and Blueberry Pie.

We had Beef Pot Pie and Chocolate Pudding Pie with Reddi Whip for Pi(e) Day this year. I agree an excuse to have pie.

My sisters and I are planning a When Calls The Heart meal for Sunday. Little sister picked Shepherd's Pie for lunch, inspired by Jack and Elizabeth's conversation in episode 5. We are having a hard time picking a dessert. We can't decide if it should be heart shaped or something from the show. I'm leaning forwards heart shaped.

Has anyone made Peanut Butter Whipped Cream? I found a recipe for it on Pinterest and I'm going to try making some later this month for a special day.

SnowAngel

[fantasia]

Does anyone have any favorite homemade candy recipes.

I'm not much of a candy maker myself. I know I've made several candies for past holiday seasons, but the only one I remember is cinnamon candy.
Just make sure you have a good candy thermometer that you test prior to making stuff. Otherwise things can get really exciting in a hurry.

There is a new hydroponics place that has opened in my hometown that's selling exceptionally tasty leafy greens. So far I've only purchased the Butter Leaf Lettuce, which is one of my favorite kinds of lettuce ever, and used it to make a couple fairly healthy recipes, and i thought I'd share them.

The first was a lettuce wrap using the modified Chicken Waldorf Salad recipe from Food Network.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/chic ... ecipe.html
I left out the walnuts because I just don't like them, and I used juice from a bottle instead of squeezing it out of fruit. I also used chicken from a precooked rotesserie chicken from the store. Wrapped the filling up in two layers of lettuce and ate it like a taco. Sooo yummy, and nice and fresh and springy too.
The other was a salad that my husband and I made up using leftover ingredients laying around the house. We threw together a lettuce, spinach, blueberry, and toasted pecan salad, and then I made a poppyseed-less dressing to go over it. (We were apparently out of poppyseeds.) It was a hit!

[Lady Haleth]

If anyone wants a simple homemade candy recipe that doesn't involve heating anything on a stovetop, try cream cheese mints. They're just cream cheese mixed with peppermint flavoring and powdered sugar, and rolled in granulated sugar before being flattened out with a fork and put in the fridge to chill. You can add a couple drops of food coloring--red or green--to make pink or green mints, but it gets all over your fingers. Just don't try to mix together red and blue food coloring, because that turns them gray.

[Pattertwigs Pal]

My sisters and I are planning a When Calls The Heart meal for Sunday. Little sister picked Shepherd's Pie for lunch, inspired by Jack and Elizabeth's conversation in episode 5.

Did you add lard?

My only attempt at making something like candy was making Turkish Delight. It was edible but not amazing. I actually saw some Turkish Delight in a local grocery store. I didn't buy any though because it was pistachio and I have a nut allergy.

[SnowAngel]

My sisters and I are planning a When Calls The Heart meal for Sunday. Little sister picked Shepherd's Pie for lunch, inspired by Jack and Elizabeth's conversation in episode 5.

Did you add lard?

Haha! No lard here. But the Shepherd's Pie was a hit with the whole family. We altered Alton Brown's recipe and cooked the meat/veggies in the crockpot. We served the mash potatoes separately. We used beef roast in place of lamb, beef broth in place of chicken, and added carrots. We have family coming to visit this summer, Shepherd's Pie is definitely going to be on the menu during their visit.

(Off topic, but, Twigs, are you a Heartie? )

I couldn't find a heart shaped dessert that I wanted to make, so I tried a new cookie recipe instead. I made Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies, I had pink food coloring that needed to use and halved the cocoa in the recipe because we only had special dark cocoa. I loved the texture, but since I wanted to use up the food coloring I added too much and it gave the cookies a funny after taste. Next time I plan to use less food coloring and regular cocoa.

I tried the Peanut Butter Whipped Cream...it's was so good! Big brother said "it was too rich", but everyone else enjoyed it. I am definitely going to make it again when big brother isn't home, more for me. We topped Chocolate Pudding Pie with cream, it was Reese's candy inspired for my Dad.

SnowAngel

[The Rose-Tree Dryad]

Thanks for the candy recipe suggestions, guys!

fk, I'll make a note about calibrating the thermometer. I love lettuce wraps! They're so crunchy and fresh. I saw butter leaf lettuce the other day in the store; I'll have to make a point to pick up some soon!

Those no-cook cream cheese mints sound really good, Lady Haleth. I actually have a couple of bricks of cream cheese in the refrigerator that are going out of date next month and I was thinking about making a cheesecake, but I may have to try out that recipe instead!

Ooh, Turkish Delight! That's a good suggestion, Twigs. I feel like it's the duty to every Narnia fan to try to sample some at least once in their life. There's a similar American confection called aplets and cotlets that I've always wanted to try as well. (Love those names!)

That peanut butter whipped cream sounds so tasty, SA! Especially combined with chocolate. I wonder if you could cut down on the richness by using something like PB2 (essentially defatted powdered peanuts, popular with dieting peanut butter addicts) instead. I did see a recipe the other day for greek yogurt whipped cream, but I haven't had a chance to try that yet.

Speaking of yogurt, I've been eating so much cultured dairy lately that I've been trying to make more and more of it at home to cut down on costs and plastic recyclables. On Sunday I made my first batch of homemade yogurt using this method, which uses a small cooler and hot water to keep the yogurt warm during the incubation period. I had to add hot water a couple of times because the water I put in originally wasn't hot enough, but the yogurt turned out fine. Much better than having to spend forty bucks on an electric yogurt maker that might go on the fritz, and now I can make yogurt for half the price of what I'd pay for it at the store! Woot.

Does anyone else like browsing The Impulsive Buy? I like looking at their "spotted on the shelves" section. I know I'll probably never buy 95% of what is featured there, but it's neat to see what the market is producing and sometimes I get ideas for homemade stuff as well.