Posts from Michelle

Adventures in the Kitchen with Michelle, Coconut Sticks

October 9, 2013 by KTgreen

We’re all trying to be healthy here these days, right? That means lots of weird health foodie ingredients. My freezer door is filled with little sealed bags of various types of flours – oh, yes everything from oat flour to spelt and back to good old buckwheat. I’ve also got a multitude of choices in fats. Cooking oils and shortenings to be exact. One of my faves is coconut oil. Even though it’s not really good to use with everything, I still find new and somewhat weird things to do with it (my Mom puts it in her tea…yuck). I have a problem though. In my house, most of the year (that would be the 9 hot months here in FL) the thermostat is set at 78-79 degrees….yes, I have have high ceilings and many fans. It’s quite comfy – especially when the power bill arrives. Coconut oil does not find this as pleasant as I do. In fact it’s a liquid oil at that temp. See, this is what it looks like in the cabinet.

And, no, I can’t just use it like that. Then I put it in the fridge and it becomes so hard I can’t use it. You can’t even chisel it out of the jar. So, I have to plan hours and even the night before to use it so I can set the huge jar out to slowly become useable. I’ve think I’ve demonstrated before, I am not a patient woman. So I got to thinking. It’s too bad it doesn’t come in sticks like butter or shortening…wait, maybe it can!?

Need to find a mold:

Most of the time I’m pretty frugal, but I confess to splurging on those silly shortening sticks. Yes, the huge can is cheaper, but by the time I use it all, it smells old. The little cans are almost as much as the sticks, so ok, I admit it – I like ’em. They have a handy little recyclable plastic box to store them in (I love that too) if you only need a half stick or so. Perfect – I want a cup of coconut oil in a stick that I can ‘warm’ faster than the giant jar! Yay!

Fill the mold:

Fill the Mold

So, I marked the 1/2 cup mark and lined the ‘mold’ with plastic wrap. (Note to self: next time mark the plastic liner and line up with the marks on the mold)

Then I filled the mold. I’d sat the jar out the evening before so it was still at about 70 deg or so, which made it just a bit more loose than shortening, and easy to scoop. Then I put it’s little plastic lid on and popped it in the fridge.

There, now I have refrigerated coconut oil in a more manageable and pre-measured stick. If I need a half cup, a warm knife slices it so easy. And since it’s a smaller volume, it warms so much quicker.

Finale, Coconut Oil Sticks

Ugh, why didn’t I think of this before?!

( I’m sure my cold-weather friends are laughing “We don’t have that problem up here…” ok, ok )

Michelle

Adventures in the Kitchen with Michelle, “Everybody Loves Parfait!”

October 2, 2013October 2, 2013 by Michelle

Donkey says, “Everybody loves parfait!” No doubt! Who could resist ice cream layered with, well,…anything!? I can’t. A few days ago I did up an lovely raspberry salad dressing and I had some berries left over. What? You missed that one? Well, you’d better check it out. Anyway, here’s part two to that blog post.

After I made the dressing, and snacked on more than a few berries, I had about a cup leftover. I really am not sure where my mind was that day, but I decided to macerate (soak) them in a liquor,…not just any liquor mind you,…Grand Mariner. I keep it stocked in The Bar for the occasional margarita (if I’m out of Triple sec) , at times to top off a fabulous Saturday morning coffee treat, or to accompany anything chocolate. What, you’ve never eaten a chocolate cup filled with it’s golden dizziness?!

Ooooo, that luscious orange scented nectar was just what the Dr. ordered. This is shockingly simple.

“Everybody Loves Parfait”

Step 1: Get berries. About a cup.

Step 2: Soak berries in about 2 Tbl Grand Mariner, and drizzle in about 3 Tbl Honey. This ‘macerating’ will make the berries break down a bit and render a fabulous sauce out of the juice, without completely dissolving them. Be sure to leave them in the fridge for a while – days if you care – hours if you’re hungry.

Step 3: Get them out and spoon over your favorite vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt.

O M G !!

I didn’t bother to count the calories on this one. I will say, though, that using the wine glass was more than just pretty for photos. Yes, it made it an actual, parfait, also it certainly kept me at only dishing out a 1/2 cup serving, and I may have drizzled over 3 Tbl. of the Heavenly Red Sauce. Hmm, formerly fresh fruit, honey, frozen yogurt…a little booziness? Well, it at least sounds healthy.

Here’s the beauty of this – the simplicity. You see, there are raspberry liquors out there and raspberry swirl ice creams, etc. But there’s something special in the light orange flavor of the Grand Mariner. It plays so well with honey, and that in turn makes the berries sing! And even though much of the alcohol has evaporated while it sat, this is still a grown-ups only delight. The vanilla treat is just a platform for the real star of this show, the raspberries. You can top each with a frozen single raspberry and drizzle a tad more honey, just for looks.

The Best Part: I had to share this with you – this is the best part to blogging food. You don’t think I was just going to put that dessert down the disposer after it’s photos?!!! Oh, nay, nay…come here my little friend, you’re melting. Om, nom, nom, nom…..

The best part, eating "Everyone Loves Parfait"

Michelle

Adventures in the Kitchen with Michelle, A Real Raspberry Dressing

September 25, 2013 by Michelle

Summer’s almost over and the stores are starting to change over what’s in season. Yes, I am really looking forward to all things apple and pumpkin! But until then, I’m using up the last remnants of the days of heat and humidity (oh, yeah that was yesterday!). At my local warehouse club I ran across a good deal on some raspberries. So for a whopping $2.50 I picked up one of those flat, oversized packages marked down before they went ‘bad’. I need to use them quick or freeze them. That said, the things I used them for could easily be done all season with frozen berries. But I digress, one of my favorite things is a salad with a good raspberry vinaigrette. I picked up a Panera Bread Dressing at Target some time ago – I didn’t know they even sold their dressings. I was thrilled to try it. It was good, but still had seeds, which were still like tiny rocks stuck in my teeth! Not to mention, it was really expensive for what it was. After I finished off the bottle I kept it in the back of my mind to re-create. Now’s the perfect time!

I surfed the Net to see if anyone else had done the same and, naturally, there were lots of variations on a ‘raspberry vinaigrette’…almost all of them used a simple mix of raspberry jam and raspberry vinegar and some salt and pepper…”whisk and serve” they said. Uh, no thank you. I want a real salad dressing. Something that adds to the flavor of the veggies, not an overly sweet drizzle with a little pickle-after-bite. So, after some experimenting, I came up with something I really like and I hope you do too.

A Real Raspberry Dressing

Step 1:

Get those berries washed. We’ll only need about a cup, so find something to do with the rest. You can freeze them on a cookie sheet and then put them in a freezer bag and add to wine glasses when the girls come over and be all Martha-like! Or, you can check the next blog and see what I did with the remaining berries. (Spoiler Alert: Donkey says, “Everybody loves parfait!”)

Step 2:

Get together the cast. When making a dressing I use the best quality ingredients I can get my hands on. Of course, that pricey bottle of balsamic needs to be under lock & key! (it’s soooo worth it though!) Anyway… Here’s what you’ll need:

1 Cup Fresh (or frozen/thawed) Raspberries

1/8 Cup Water

1 clove Garlic (chopped or pressed*)

1 tsp Dijon Mustard (or a spicy brown – which I like too)

2 Tbl Honey

1 Tbl Balsamic Vinegar (oh, yea – the good stuff)

1 Tbl Olive Oil

1/8 tsp Pepper

1/4 tsp Salt

*1/8 tsp Xantham Gum (optional)

Step 3:

Mash those berries thru a somewhat fine sieve. I didn’t use the tea strainer that you see in the photo (but it looked good). Although, if your strainer has bigger holes than the seeds then you may need to. Or use a cheesecloth.

Step 4:

You should have about 1/2 cup of raspberry puree to use. Now get out that mini-blender. Note: using a blender is what gives this dressing the ‘pink frothy’ look. If you want the darker red, smooth fancy bottle style, then just use a whisk. The mustard is a wonderful emulsifier and will hold it for you. But if you whisk, you’ll want to ‘press’ the garlic. Blenders are great, but as they emulsify they incorporate air into many things. In this case, those tiny bubbles never go away. But you can’t taste them either.

Step 5:

Get all the goodies into the blender and give it a whirl.

Step 6:

I opted to add in a tiny bit of xanthan gum to make sure the dressing would never separate.

Finale:

There it is ! A real raspberry dressing. Get some greens, and carrots, add some walnuts and even a couple of whole berries and enjoy! You can go all out and top it with a sliced thin grilled chicken breast – just like the restaurant. Did I mention that this is good for you? Only a tablespoon of olive oil is all…in the whole bottle! Feel free to adjust it to your liking. It’s ok to add more honey, or maybe you don’t like the garlic bite. That’s ok – have fun with it – and enjoy, summer’s almost gone (here)!

Michelle