Pina Colada & Orange Mango Ginger Sorbets

Taking pictures of food in the evening always produces photos that are hard to manage and don't look so great. We just got a new camera, so that has been a big learning curve for me, too. Anyways, sorry for the flashy picture!

Besides that though, I made 2 fabulous sorbets with a friend at a Memorial Day gathering, and everyone loved them! To come clean here, both recipes called for making a simple syrup, and I ended up just throwing the water and sugar in the blender to dissolve, because frankly, I was feeling lazy and wanted to get these recipes in the ice cream makers ASAP. The recipes worked fine this way, although I am curious to see how they turn if I take the time to make a simple syrup. I am posting below how to make it the original way by heating the sugar and water, but if you want to throw everything in the blender, it works!

Another thing is that I thought these turned out VERY sweet, so I might try decreasing the sugar and see if that turns out with a good consistency. I don't think anyone else thought they were too sweet, that was just my personal preference.

When you make these, put them in the freezer to harden up a bit. They did not get firm enough just in the ice cream maker.


Pina Colada Sorbet
-adapted from allrecipes

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 (20 ounce) can canned crushed pineapple, drained
• 1 (13.5 ounce) can coconut milk
• 1/4 cup lime juice

Directions

1. Make a syrup by bringing the sugar and water to a boil in a small saucepan over high heat, stir and boil until the liquid becomes clear, about 1 minute. Set aside to cool.
2. In blender, blend the remaining ingredients until frothy.
   
3. Refrigerate all ingredients until chilled - about 3hrs. (or if you are like me, skip this)
   
4. Freeze in the freezer canister of an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's directions. When sorbet is mostly firm, put in freezer to finish hardening.

Note: If you're wanting to skip step 1, you can throw the water and sugar in blender and blend until sugar is dissolved.


Orange, Mango and Ginger Sorbet
-adapted from allrecipes

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 (2 inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced, or 2Tbs crystallized ginger
  
• 1 pinch sea salt
• 1 teaspoon lime zest
• 2 cups orange juice
• 1 cup mango juice
• 1/3 cup lemon juice

Directions

1. Combine the water, sugar, ginger, salt, and lime zest in a saucepan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer 5 minutes. Allow mixture to cool; strain. Stir in the orange juice, mango juice, and lemon juice. Cover and chill 3 hours. (see note)
   
2. Fill an ice cream maker with the mixture, and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Alternate Blender Directions:

1. Blend water, sugar, (omit ginger) salt and lime zest in the blender.
   
2. Pour sugar mixture and remaining ingredients into ice cream maker and add a couple tablespoons of crystallized ginger.
3. Freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions. When firm, place in freezer to reach desired thickness.
   

Snickerdoodle French Toast

Wow, this was GOOD! Essentially, this is a regular recipe for french toast, but then you sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on it before cooking. I'll definitely be making this again! Who needs regular french toast when you can have something this fantastic?

By the way, I got this recipe from Baking Bites, and everything I have made from her blog is over-the-top AMAZING. Especially her Pecan Pie Cheesecake...this recipe make me speechless and all drooley.


Snickerdoodle French Toast
-from Baking Bites

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup milk
• 3 large eggs
• pinch salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 4-6 slices bread
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon

Directions

1. In shallow dish for dipping bread, whisk together milk, eggs, salt and vanilla.
2. In small bowl, mix together sugar and cinnamon.
3. Heat skillet to medium heat, and butter or spary with non-stick spray.
   
4. Poke holes in bread with a fork, for maximum egg absorption, and dip both sides of bread into egg mixture.
5. While bread is in egg mixture, after both sides are moist, sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar mixture, and then put into skillet, cinnamon side down. Sprinkle other side with cinnamon-sugar mixture.
6. When bottom is browned, flip and cook until other side is brown and bread is cooked through. Serve immediately or keep warm in oven.

Yogurt Herb Bread

I took this bread to our homeschool/unschool group, and everyone LOVED it! This is a savory quick bread recipe that I got from Coconut & Lime, and I'm adding this to my "Keepers" recipe folder. I made a few changes to make it whole-grain and utilize all dried herbs, since that is what I had on hand. I also used goat yogurt, but next time I will try soymilk with a little lemon juice to make it dairy-free.

Yogurt Herb Bread
-adapted from Coconut & Lime

Ingredients

• 2 cups whole spelt flour (can substitute wheat flour)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup plain nonfat yogurt
  
• 2 eggs
• 4 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled slightly (I used Earth Balance)
• 1 tsp dried dill
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried tarragon
• 1 tsp dried thyme
  
• 1/2 tsp dried rosemary
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour one loaf pan.
   
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, salt, baking soda and baking powder.
   
3. In a medium bowl or large measuring cup, whisk together the melted butter, yogurt, eggs, dill, tarragon, thyme, rosemary and oregano.
   
4. Pour into flour mixture and mix until well combined and it forms a fairly thick dough, about 2 minutes.
   
5. Pour into prepare pan and bake about 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean and dry. Allow to cool in pan about 5 minutes before removing from pan. Slice and serve.

Peppermint Patty Ice Cream

Coconut & Lime has a recipe for Peppermint Stick Ice Cream that I thought looked really good. Again, since Zoe is sensitive to dairy, I had to get creative in how I was going to make this dairy- free.

Sidenote: I thought that Zoe was handling goat products well, but she has been waking up with itchy, swollen eyes, and then about 15 minutes after eating some goat yogurt at breakfast, she broke out in hives. So, no more adventures in goat products for us. Although being able to use goat products adds simplicity to modifying recipes, goat milk, yogurt, and cheeses taste very...goaty.

So, a long time ago, I found a recipe that said for a dairy-free cream to add to things like chowders and pasta sauces, blend equal parts silken tofu and soymilk. This has worked great for putting in heated sauces and soups, but when I tried to freeze and defrost a chicken and wild rice soup, it separated and was clumpy. Yuck. I thought I would venture out and try this in an ice cream recipe, and it turned out fantastic! The mixture was thick and creamy, just like real ice cream! I thought the texture actually tasted better than other non-dairy ice creams that we have bought at health food stores. I'm so excited to be able to use this with many other ice cream recipes this summer!

Another modification that I made to the recipe was to use peppermint patties instead of crushed peppermint sticks, since we had plenty left over from our Burger Bite Cookies that we made last weekend. Peppermint patties are one of those things that get really hard and chewy when frozen. If I make this recipe again, I will either cut the peppermint patties smaller, or try it out with crushed peppermint candies. I think I will also reduce the amount of peppermint extract used. It might have been using the soy products versus whole milk and cream that did it, but it was a VERY pepperminty ice cream. Overall though, we loved this recipe and thought it turned out awesome!!

Peppermint Patty Ice Cream
-adapted from Coconut & Lime

Ingredients

• 1 block silken soft tofu (10 - 12oz)
• unsweetened soymilk
  
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon peppermint extract (can decrease amount)
  
• 5 peppermint patties, chopped
  

Directions

1. In a blender, place block of tofu. Pour in soymilk until the measure on the side of the blender reaches 3 cups.
2. Add sugar, vanilla and peppermint extract. Blend until smooth.
   
3. Add ingredients to ice cream machine, per machine instructions, and run for about 25-30 minutes, until firm. Add peppermint patties during last 5 minutes of mixing. Eat or place in freezer 2 hours to "ripen".

Wasabi Deviled Eggs

I have been reading the blog Coconut & Lime for several months, and have bookmarked many of her recipes, but never tried any. Well, Coconut & Lime is celebrating it's 4 year blogiversary and is having a little contest, so I am taking that as motivation to finally try some of her recipes! Yesterday I went browsing through C & L's recipes with Zoe, and she picked out this deviled egg recipe for us to try. We love deviled eggs and have tried variations like adding curry powder, with great results. For this recipe, I substituted goat yogurt for the sour cream, since Zoe is sensitive to dairy. Overall, I really liked these wasabi eggs, and the rest of my family did, too! I think this recipe is great to make if you are serving a variety of deviled eggs, but it doesn't take the place of the classic mayo, mustard and paprika recipe.

Wasabi Deviled Eggs
-from Coconut & Lime

Ingredients

• 6 hard boiled eggs, sliced lengthwise, yolks removed
• 1/4 cup sour cream (reduced fat okay)
• 1 teaspoon wasabi paste
• 1 teaspoon minced green onion
• 1/8 teaspoon mustard powder
• salt
• pepper
• toasted sesame seeds

Directions

1. In small bowl, mix together sour cream, mustard powder, wasabi, salt, pepper and egg yolk to form a paste. Pipe or spoon into the egg whites. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve.
   

Sesame Chicken

I love stir-fry, but my family isn't too keen on tons of veggies. They love going to the Chinese buffet and getting meat that has been battered, fried and covered in sweet sauce. So, I have been on the lookout for healthier recipes that mimic these battered and fried dishes. I found this recipe on allrecipes, and we all really liked it! Per the reviews on the site, I made more sauce than it called for (recipe below reflects this), and if I were to make this again I might try to sneak in more onions and peppers. Also, since the recipe calls for so much honey, I wondered if I could substitute brown rice syrup or another natural sugar substitute and get the same effect. This recipe was deceivingly spicy, so if you like stuff mild cut back or omit the red pepper flakes. I loved the spice, though!

Sesame Chicken
-adapted from allrecipes

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole spelt flour (can sub other flour)
  
• 1/2 cup toasted sesame seeds, divided
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
• 5 (6 ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into chunks
• 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  
• 1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
  
• 1 bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup teriyaki sauce
• 1/2 cup honey

Directions

1. In a large resealable plastic bag or covered container, combine flour, 1/4 cup sesame seeds, black pepper, five-spice powder, and red pepper flakes. Place a few pieces of chicken at a time into the bag, and shake to coat. Remove to a platter.
2. Heat oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Place chicken into skillet, and brown on both sides, about 5 minutes. Remove chicken, and set aside. Stir onion wedges and bell pepper slices into skillet; cook until slightly browned, about 2 minutes.
   
3. Return chicken to skillet. Mix in teriyaki sauce, 1/4 cup sesame seeds, and honey; stir until sauce is thick and heated through. Serve over rice.
   

Burger Bites Cookies

I have had the Cookies For Kids Cookbook from Better Homes and Gardens since I was a child. My favorite recipe was the Burger Bites, and when Zoe looked through this cookbook, that was the first one to catch her eye. This recipe is fun to do, very easy to reduce or multiply as needed, and tastes awesome! We decided that we would make these for a Karaoke Extravaganza at a good friend's house. The cookies were gone within an hour, and Zoe rocked singing Code Monkey!

Burger Bites
-from Cookies for Kids by Better Homes and Gardens

Ingredients

• few drops water
• 1 drop green food coloring
• 1/4 cup flaked coconut
• 48 vanilla wafers
• 24 chocolate covered peppermint patties
• water
• sesame seeds or poppy seeds

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350degrees. In ziploc baggie or lidded container, combine the few drops of water, food coloring, and coconut. Shake until coconut is all about the same shade of green.
   
2. Place half of vanilla wafers, flat side up, on ungreased cookie sheet. Top each with a peppermint patty. Place in the oven for about 1 minute or just until chocolate begins to soften.
3. Sprinkle each with a little coconut and top with another vanilla wafer. Press gently.
4. With clean paintbrush or finger, brush the top of each vanilla wafer with water and sprinkle sesame seeds.
   

Puffed Pancakes with Apples

I have made puffed pancakes before, but stumbled upon the idea from Make and Takes to do them in muffin tins! She recommends mixing ingredients in a blender, but I thought I would use my Kitchenaid with the whisk attachment. It go the batter fairly smooth, but I will probably use the blender next time, for ultimate smoothness. You can fill top these pancakes with just about anything, so I filled these with a warm apple filling, and it really didn't need any syrup.

Puffed Pancakes (makes 12)
-from Make and Takes

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup flour
• 3 eggs
• 2 Tbs melted butter
• dash salt

Directions

1. Blend all ingredients in blender
2. Pour in muffin tins
3. Bake in 400degree oven for 15 minutes
4. Top as desired

Apple Topping

Ingredients

• 2-3 granny smith apples
• 2 Tbs butter
  
• cinnamon
• brown sugar
• water

Directions

1. Peel and chop apples
2. Melt butter in skillet on med-high
3. Put apples and cinnamon in pan and saute for a few minutes
4. Add some brown sugar, and if you like a little water if needed to make syrupy
5. Serve warm with puffed pancakes!
   

Enjoy this Wagon Full of Pancakes!

Chicken Tandoori and Palak Paneer

I love Indian food, but found out that many recipes use dairy, which Zoe is allergic to. So, I have been experimenting with goat yogurt and tofu with fantastic results! The chicken tandoori recipe says to skin the chicken, and I found that to be difficult and slippery, so I pulled the skin up and just cut it off, rather than trying to tear it off all the way. That seemed to work well!

For the palak paneer, I was looking for a recipe to use some spinach that I had, but noticed that the Americanized recipes used ricotta, and the more authentic recipes used paneer, which I am guessing is a mild Indian cheese. I had some soft tofu on hand, so I crumbled that up. I don't think I used enough, though, because the flavor was strong.

We all liked the chicken, but Ben and Zoe wouldn't touch the palak paneer. I like it with some rice to cut the flavor a little. One more thing, I made a really good simple sauce for the chicken and the rice by mixing some goat yogurt with a little bit of curry powder and salt. We all like that!


Chicken Tandoori
- adapted from Recipes Live

Ingredients

• 1 tsp mustard pwd
• 2" ginger root, peeled and minced
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp grnd coriander
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp cayenne
• 2 tsp tomato paste
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 2/3 cup plain yogurt (I used goat yogurt)
• salt to taste

Directions

1. In a bowl, mix mustard, ginger, cumin, coriander, turmeric, lemon juice and cayenne.
2. Add tomato paste and oil, a little at a time, mixing well to form a smooth sauce. Add remaining oil and stir in yogurt and salt. Prick drumsticks several times and place in a shallow glass dish. Pour marinade over drumsticks and turn drumsticks in mixture. Cover and marinate in refrigerator.
3. Preheat broiler. Arrange drumsticks in a broiler pan and pour marinade over chicken and cook 30-35 minutes or until cooked through, turning and basting frequently to ensure even browning and cooking.
   

Palak Paneer
-adapted from allrecipes

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup olive oil or butter substitute (I used a combo of Earth Balance and EVOO)
  
• 1 clove garlic, minced
  
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin seed
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste (I used remainder of can from chicken tandoori)
  
• 1 (3 inch) piece ginger, peeled and minced
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 cup water, or as needed
• 1 (10 ounce) box frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
• 1 pound tofu, cut into 1/2 inch cubes (I believe you can sub ricotta or paneer for this)
  

Directions

1. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir in garlic and cumin seed; cook until the garlic softens, about 3 minutes. Add tomato paste, ginger, 1 teaspoon garam masala, salt, onion, and water. Increase heat to medium, and stir until the tomato paste dissolves. Simmer slowly for 1 hour, adding water as needed to maintain a sauce-like consistency.
2. Stir in spinach and cook until hot, about 5 minutes. Add paneer, and allow to cook an additional 5 minutes, or until hot.