Sunday, May 31, 2009

A Cool Strawberry treat. Ooh Ah.




When I think of Frozen Yogurt, it reminds me of all those times in high school where we jumped in the convertible bug and headed to the Yogurt Stop. I think my diet at the time consisted of frozen yogurt, rice with soy sauce, Diet Coke, cookies from SAGA (the cafeteria) and bagels from Bagelworks (best place ever). Ah, Carbs.

Frozen Yogurt was such a fad back then, and now it has made its resurgence more than ever with the NEW wave of frozen yogurt. This time, it is being made with REAL yogurt. Go figure.

I have been itching to make ice cream since it has been over a year since I was creating many of the flavors for Poco Carretto. Spinning gelatos was one of my favorite things to do, and oh how I miss my daily spoonfuls. Now that Seattle is having some summerlike weather, I decided to celebrate it by churning up some frozen yogurt for myself. Funny, I have the best intentions when I set out to cook or bake anything these days. It is difficult to follow through when a 10 month old is threatening to pull down your gaucho pants. This week, that same 10 month old had his first cold. So, what started out as the beginnings of a lovely strawberry frozen yogurt during his lengthy morning nap, ended up as a yogurt ice by evening when I decided to speed up the process..chilling the liquid mixture for “just a few minutes,” in the freezer, while I put him to bed. What started as "a few minutes" turned into an hour, and when I came to rescue my yogurt, it was no longer liquid, but a nice sold mass.

Ah, Crap.

I would have thawed and respun it to try to recreate the texture that I wanted and that it was supposed to be, but the yogurt was already in that metal core. This would have meant that I needed to thaw the whole core, then refreeze it..further delaying the time in which the frozen yogurt would actually reach my mouth. Yikes. So, I threw in the towel, sucked it up, got a spoon and dug in anyway. What I discovered was that even though this wasn’t the frozen yogurt I had in mind, it was a nice refreshing and icy treat, especially nice on a muggy Seattle night.


Strawberry Frozen Yogurt or Frozen Yogurt Ice (whichever you choose, or whichever chooses you..)

Adapted from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

1 pound fresh Strawberries (good ones)
2/3 cups sugar
1 cup plain whole fat yogurt. (I used the European Style yogurt from Trader Joes)
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt

Quarter and macerate the Strawberries with the sugar ans salt. Let sit for an hour. Puree berries and mix in with yogurt and lemon juice. Chill in fridge for an hour. heh, or throw in the freezer if you want an icy texture. To make it like a granita, give it a stir every 30 minutes to create a jagged snow cone-like texture. You can even pour it into popsicle molds. But, if you want more of an actual ice cream texture, consult your ice cream maker.

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Sunday, May 17, 2009

Hummus at homeus.




It has been a fun and messy road, introducing solid foods to Baby Z. A few weeks back, I introduced hummus. He loves it, like most things so far, to my delight.
I started with a basic chickpea hummus and since then I have gotten quite creative…white bean, mixed bean, lentil…all with pleasing results. Making it at home results in a far superior product than any store will carry. For some reason, I am always disappointed with store bought hummus (with the exception of one), and now I will never go back to buying it again.

A basic Hummus consists of cooked beans, tahini, garlic, lemon and salt. I noticed that a lot of recipes add a bunch of oil, but I think the tahini lends the fat to the dip, so all it really needs is a little drizzle of good oil over the top. I add a little water when I puree sometimes, especially for Z who needs things a little less sticcccccky.

Lentil Hummus.

2 cups cooked lentils
½ cup tahini
3 cloves garlic
¼-1/3 cup lemon juice
1-2 teaspoons salt
2-4 Tablespoons water
Drizzle of olive oil over the top..

I included a range for most of the ingredients, as everyone has different tastes, and hummus is extremely versatile. Just stick everything but the water in the Cuisinart and whiz. Add water as needed. This is a good basic recipe that you can try using different beans, and adding more herbs to as well.
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Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Super Low Maintenance Ginger Biscotti...









My life as of late doesn’t feel super low maintenance, so it’s nice to a have a biscotti recipe that is. I am talking, one bowl, no mixer required. They are actually low fat too, something that I usually don’t seek, (as I look down at my left over baby belly), even though maybe I should. I happened across a version of this recipe when I was in Kauai with my parents and Z in February. I enjoy baking for my parents, and in particular, they like my biscotti, so I decided to plop babe down to watch some Sesame Street and whip these up super quick. And super quick, they are. I had some challenges there, in the humidity that is Kauai, and my dough was super wet. But, in my haste and being all caught up in the moment of being low maintenance, I just plopped the dough on the cookie sheet and threw it, not too literally, into the oven. What emerged was a surprise. I thought that without butter or oil, these things would not be too edible. Hey, what do I know? I just love fat in my baked goods. I was so pleasantly surprised with the flavor of the ginger and the lovely crunchy texture. Perfect for dunking in that cup of Kona coffee. Sigh. Today, in grey Seattle, as I made these same cookies…(a late Mothers Day gift, Mom!)...I wasn’t at all surprised that the dough was much less wet, yet they yielded the same crisp and lightly fragranced cookie…and, once again, I am transported to the lanai, sipping my Kona coffee, biscotti in hand.

SLMG Biscotti.

½ cup crystallized ginger, chopped
1 cup flour
½ cup sugar
2 teaspoons fresh grated ginger
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 egg
1 egg white


Combine dry ingredients in a bowl with whisk. Set aside. Mix eggs together separately to combine then pour into flour mixture. Fold eggs into flour, using hands if you knead to help incorporate it. take care not to overmix. Add crystallized ginger just to combine. Lightly flour counter and roll dough into a log. Place on nonstick cookie sheet, or silpat and bake at 350, for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, let cool slightly, then cut into biscotti into ½ cookies. Bake again, for about 10 minutes more, until nicely golden. Makes about 1 ½ dozen.