Breakfast with Chips!

No, it wasn't with Ponch or John from the California Highway Patrol.... and it wasn't breakfast with a bag of Doritos either.

Today we had a healthy breakfast thanks to CHIPS, the Coronary Health Improvement Project in Itasca County. Five folks from CHIPS showed up in our kitchen and served us with not only a healthy meal, but a tasty meal!

We had Biscuits and Gravy, Joyce and Arthur's bread, fruit & Rice Pudding. And best of all, we created a little community in our kitchen and in our conference room, people talking about changing eating habits, feeling better - both physically and mentally. Here's some of the recipes from the feast today. Look here for more!

Biscuits and Gravy

"Buttermilk" Drop Biscuits 3/4 cup plain soymilk or rice milk 2 tsp fresh lemon juice 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour 2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 3 Tb canola oil 1 Tb frozen apple juice concentrate (or other liquid sweetener) Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Pour soymilk into small cup or bowl and stir in lemon juice. Let it sit for 10 minutes to sour. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl. Place oil and juice concentrate in small cup and beat with fork to combine well. Add this to flour mixture and cut it in with fork until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Add soymilk and stir batter with wooden spoon. The batter will be thick. Mist the baking sheet with nonstick spray and then drop dough onto it by larkge rounded spoonfuls to make 10 biscuits. Bake in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes until golden. Transfer to a cooling rack. Best served hot or warm. (From Vegan Vittles) "Sausage" Gravy 1 cup water ½ cup raw cashews 2 cups water 1/3 cup flour ½ tsp salt 1 tsp chicken or beef-style season (vegetarian options include McKay's and Bill's Best) 1 tsp soy sauce 1 Tb nutritional yeast flakes ½ bag Morningstar Farms Sausage or Griller Crumbles (vegetarian soy product) In a saucepan, bring 1 cup of water to boil. Blend the remaining ingredients, except sausage crumbles, until creamy (best to add flour at the end of the blending). Take blended mixture and add it slowly to boiling water, stirring with a whisk until the pot returns to a boil. Stir in crumbles and serve hot over biscuits. Alternate Biscuit Recipe 1 cup whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour 1 cup all-purpose flour 1 Tb baking powder 3 Tb Smart Balance or Earth Balance, cold 1 cup soy, rice, or skim milk Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix flours and baking powder. Quickly cut in Smart or Earth Balance while cold. Add milk and mix lightly with a fork. Do not overmix. When mixture has almost come together, pour out on a floured board. Gently press about ½" thick (may need to flour the top a little if it's sticky). Take a cup dipped in flour and cutout biscuit rounds. Reshape scraps to get another biscuit or two out of the dough. Spray a shot of Pam where each biscuit will sit on a baking tray, and put in hot oven for about 15 minutes. Best served hot out of the oven. Makes about 10 biscuits. Rice Pudding 3 cups cooked brown rice 3 cups soy, almond, or rice milk 4-6 oz. coconut milk (optional) 1 Tb cornstarch 1½ Tb maple syrup Zest of ½ lemon Zest of ½ orange 2 tsp vanilla (less if you use vanilla soymilk) ¼ tsp nutmeg ¼ tsp cardamom ¼ tsp cinnamon 1/3 cup raisins 3 Tb sliced almonds 1 tsp sugar Combine everything in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes. Sprinkle the top with almonds and sugar. You may then, if you wish, broil the mixture for about 8 minutes to toast almond and sugar topping. This step may be skipped. Best if chilled thoroughly before serving.

Lemon Curd - What is it Good For?

On NPR's Morning Edition this morning they talked with foodie and domestic goddess Nigella Lawson. She talked about cooking vegetables and the beautiful array of colors this time of year....she even had a vegetable dessert - a zucchini cake with lime curd between slices and cream cheese frosting on top.

That got us thinking, what the heck IS lime curd? Or lemon curd for that matter? So we posed it to listeners and sure enough, Joan from Boy River called in and told us about a recipe for lemon curd that she found online.

Here it is (from www.joyofbaking.com)

Lemon Curd Recipe:

3 large eggs
1/3 cup (80 ml) fresh lemon juice (2-3 lemons) (do not use the bottled lemon juice)
1 tablespoon (4 grams) finely shredded lemon zest
3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated white sugar
4 tablespoons (56 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into small pieces

In a stainless steel bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water, whisk together the eggs, sugar, and lemon juice until blended. Cook, stirring constantly (to prevent it from curdling), until the mixture becomes thick (like sour cream or a hollandaise sauce) (160 degrees F or 71 degrees C). This will take approximately 10 minutes. Remove from heat and immediately pour through a fine strainer to remove any lumps. Cut the butter into small pieces and whisk into the mixture until the butter has melted. Add the lemon zest and let cool. The lemon curd will continue to thicken as it cools. Cover immediately (so a skin doesn't form) and refrigerate for up to a week.

Makes 1 1/2 cups (360 ml).

Note: Room temperature lemons provide more juice. After squeezing, strain the juice to remove any pulp. Zest is the yellow, sweet-flavored outer rind of the lemon. A zester or fine grater can be used to remove the rind. Cold lemons are much easier to grate. Grate lemons just before using as the zest will lose moisture if it sits too long.

I also mentioned a website I had seen that lets you enter in the contents of your pantry/refrigerator/freezer and it will give you a recipe. One of those sites is called RecipeMatcher... you can also check here or here

What online food sites do you frequent? Post them here!

Maggie and Greta's Marvelous Morel Meal Recipe

1. Saute one finely chopped onion and three garlic cloves in a little olive oil

2. Add two cups of morels

3. Saute for a couple of minutes

4. Add cooked chicken or shrimp (optional)

5. Add one and a half cups of cream and chopped chives

6. Add garlic salt and stir over low heat

7. Serve over pasta or rice

The Big Questions in Life

When a recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups of egg whites, what do you do with the yolks? Throw 'em? Drink 'em? Make creme brulee?

John and I just got done making a angelfood birthday cake in the KAXE kitchen for his daughter's birthday party tonight. If you had been there, this is what you would have heard:

What are stiff peaks?

What the hell does "cut through batter twice with a knife" mean?

Are you going to wash the dime?

Surely you're not going to throw away 11 egg yolks?

I put the cake upside down on a pop bottle?

John's mom, my inspiration in baking, always baked a dime for good luck in her cakes, so John will be doing the same for his daughter Meg.

Here's the recipe we used:

EASY ANGEL FOOD CAKE
Printed from COOKS.COM
1 1/2 c. egg whites

1 1/4 c. sifted cake flour

1 1/2 c. sugar

1/4 tbsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

1 tsp. vanilla

1/4 tsp. almond extract

In large mixing bowl put egg whites and let set to room temperature about 1 hour.
Sift flour with 3/4 cup sugar, sift 3 times and set aside. Beat egg whites, medium speed with salt and cream of tartar until forms soft peaks. Gradually beat in remaining sugar, 3 tablespoons at a time. Beat after each addition. Beat at high speed until it forms peaks. Then at low speed add extracts. Sift in flour mixture 1/4 at a time, mixing at low speed 3 seconds after each addition or until mixture is completely blended.

With rubber scraper gently push batter into ungreased 10" tube pan. Cut through batter twice with a knife. Bake on lower rack in oven 35 to 40 minutes at 375 degrees, or until cake tests done. Let cool completely, about 2 hours. Invert tube pan over bottle to cool.

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEGAN!

P.P.S MT "nothing goes to waste" Head took the 11 egg
yolks. No worries.