Manners

Since I will not be here Friday, I will be posting today in a feeble attempt to keep this crazy train going.  I have a lot of fun with this blog and of course I love food so much,  that to stop blogging would be akin to stop breathing, except that sometimes I get distracted and I don't write whereas, mostly, I do not get so distracted I stop breathing.  Actually.....

Anyway!  So today's topic on a food blog, is manners.   I have kids.  I bet you or someone like you (ahem) has kids.   Maybe your neighbor has kids?  I'm sure you must know someone who has kids.  Kids tend to get sick a lot too and sometimes, perhaps this person is a little... unwell? (ahem)   Either way, kids are a great example usually of people who need manners.   However, I'm sure we've all met that ONE person who is genuinely full of himself, thinks he owns the world and doesn't owe anyone anything, especially courtesy.  This person could be compared to a child with his impetuousness, lack of discipline, and general lack of respect for the general public around him.  When everyone else starts to get angry, he tends to get bent over everyone's "irrational" behavior.   You see, we're supposed to be grateful, praising the gods for their hand me down.  Or whatever bone they threw.  So, today's lesson is based in the real world, where us normal folks live.

Begin:

Please:  paired with a request:  Please pass the peas.

I'm sorry / my apologies:  usually following a mistake or misunderstanding:   I'm sorry we didn't post the stipulations of the contract you signed and then proceeded with the business deal anyway.

Thank you:  gratitude for a good deed received:  Thank you for purchasing things from me, when you could go to someone else and be just as overjoyed.

Excuse me:  sometimes coupled with "I'm sorry", continued clarification of error:  Excuse me for my mistake, I will try my best to rectify the situation.

Most situations and misunderstandings can be generally smoothed over by a general use of manners.  Sometimes it takes a little more effort to prevent a downfall, however, the work is totally worth getting everyone back to good.


Tuesday was a little rough for my friend J and I.  She's the one with the awesome pictures of Johnny at the Goo's concerts.  I stole them fair and square right off her camera.  {I'm sorry for stealing your pictures and posting them on my website.  Since you read my website, I'm probably busted.  - I'm using my newly learned manners.}  J is a great understanding friend, so imagine my surprise when Tuesday rolled around and our combined disappointment led to a long day of upset and sadness over a miscommunication.

Let's just say, we ran into an unexpected glitch in our fanatic and frantic race for our beloved past time, only to find out, it wasn't exactly what they said it would be.

We're recovering.  Don't worry!

In the spirit of learning new manners, getting on with life and knowing, we all have our ups and downs, I'll post a very simple recipe that will go great with some onion and chive sour cream and a little movie pick me up.  A nice snack that can be paired with some cheese or would make a great side with a burger.  It's gluten free, but has natural sugars.  I don't usually use potatoes on this site, however, this is very similar.  Sometimes you just have one of those days where you need a simple salty snack, but without the icky additives and worries about,  "what did they put in this."


Snackable Plantain chips

1-2  BARELY yellow plantains (basically - you want them yellow enough that you can still peel them without cutting the peel off like when they are green, but not with brown on them - which makes them sweet)
fine ground sea salt for sprinkling
butter
1 lime, quartered


Heat your grill (I LOVE mine - you can see it HERE - I very much recommend it.) to 300-325f.  Grease the very liberally with butter.  You don't need the plantains to sit in a 1/2 inch pool of it, but not just a simple swipe with butter either, you want to see bubbles.  Slice the plantains anyway you like, but keep them somewhat thin.  Not potato chip thin.  Sprinkle both sides with a bit of salt.   Heat on grill till warm brown on both sides, about 20 minutes.  It takes a WHILE, about 10 min a side.   If you get to 10 min, and yours are not brown - let them be a little bit longer.  If you get to 10 min and they are burned, your heat is TOO high.  Low and slow.  You'll get a wonderfully crunchy on the outside, smooth on the inside, salty, chiplike snack, which everyone can enjoy, with no additives, chemicals or preservatives.  After removing from heat, sqeeze with a little bit of lime and serve with cheese dip or onion chive sour cream.



As for J and I.  Well,  we just look at this whole situation and our attitude now is, "I'll believe you when......"


(again, the blurriness is a little awkward for a food blog, I had to take these with my iPad.  Faith in my camera restored....)

Return of the Blog

Yes!  I'm alive!  For a while, I was pretty sure that the food blog world would mourn my inevitable passing as time went on and everyone realized that there were no more posts to be found from me, however, it's just a short term trend while I got back on my feet from my last excursion.

I'd share all the lovely pictures but, alas, they were all stolen.  If you ever didn't want to re-learn a lesson in your life that you already knew, then you know exactly where I'm coming from.  It was one of those scenarios that you know is happening right in front of you, but as the clueless tourist I am, did not heed the warning bells in my head.  Always listen to that.  I knew this.  Around and around in circles we go.

Needless to say, there aren't many pictures (the backup plan is a product endorsement I would rather avoid today, but I still bought one of them; and thank you my friend for letting me fill your phone with my frivolities.)  I spent this week pretty much replacing all my stuff.  In the meantime, my blog has suffered greatly from negligence again, BUT on the bright side, we have a new photographer.  For the time being I will post my own (mediocre at best) photos of the food I make but when she contributes, I'll be sure to let everyone know who's work it is (like you won't be able to tell - lol.)

Today we're taking on that continuation of Monday from 3 weeks ago.  I would LOVE to share what I learned on my trip, but they're not so good for the sugar free crowd (fried plantains) but they are my current addiction.  Finally, I found a market today that sells the good ones.  I fried three, ate them all with my version of Costa Rican sour cream (plain yogurt) and then realized that was probably 2 more than I should have eaten.  They were really good though.  So, for the gluten free, sugar free crowd, today we have a nice "salad."  It's more of a classic and surely nothing new or exciting so much, however it IS one of my personal favorites and a great addition to a summer table.  Healthy and colorful, this would be a great salad for your table during tomorrow's festivities.

So, my meal suggestion/recipe for today is a modified Caprese Salad.  The traditional Caprese has mozzarella, basil (or some type of pesto) with nice bright red tomatoes and hearty olive oil.  But today, I'm changing things up a bit, we're going to add some kick and your friends and family are guaranteed to love this salad on a hot summer day as a nice cool, light meal.


Kicked Caprese

2 bright full red tomatoes, chopped
1 medium ball of fresh mozzarella, chopped (a little bigger than one of the tomatoes)
couple handfuls of torn basil
2 medium hardness avocados, chopped and drizzled with lemon or lime juice to slow the browning
salt and pepper to taste
salad worthy olive oil of your choice
clean and bright balsamic vinegar of your choice

The simplicity is part of the fun in this summer salad.  Since everything is chopped, gently toss them together in a bowl.  Crack some fresh pepper over the top - I love to use a multi colored pepper, reds and black and white, all together to give it some snap.  Give a couple twists of fresh ground sea salt over the salad - go easy, the cheese will give it some saltiness.  Drizzle the olive oil and balsamic over in light handed quantities. I do not put exact measurements on this because one person's dressing is another person's swimming pool.  You could even leave a couple nice bottles out of the oil and vinegar separate from the salad so people can add their own, and completely skip the step with adding these dressings.

This fresh salad is a crowd pleaser, easy to make, and visually fun.  Enjoy!

If you're wondering where my beautiful fresh basil leaves are in this picture, well you'd be as sad as I was to realize after I chopped everything, I didn't have any fresh basil.  I did sprinkle with dried, but it's simply not the same.  Make sure you have real, fresh basil before making this salad, you'll be oh-so-not-sad you did!

Have Your Cake!

After a long holiday season, a move and some vacation time, I'm back! For a bit there it was overwhelming with all the things going on and food is always a big chore to figure out but things have settled and I have a new recipe today!

The move went smoothly and we arrived back at the house with little issue. After arriving at the house however, found the washing machine to be broken. Since I was leaving a few days later and needed to do laundry, there was a mad before Christmas dash to try to find a washing machine. I found one, was very happy with it, and left with clean clothes.

Tropical vacation awaited in beautiful Costa Rica. The itenerary was full of amazing things like sightseeing and enough walking to trek across a mountain. Started at Arenal, went across the lake, over to Monteverde, back to the city and then onto Manuel Antonio Beach - which also included a hike through the jungle. It was great fun and as much as I worried about having nothing to eat, I was really surprised at how easy it was to find things I could eat and how generous people were with finding things for me and accommodating my ridiculous diet. I'm completely addicted to plantains now. And yes I know they're bad for me! Plantains happen to be chock full of starch, you might as well eat a white potato, but the first day there, I woke up to some of the best plantains I've ever had. I believe they were roasted in the skin, so they weren't really dry and had a lot of flavor. Served with 'sour cream' (which I'm convinced is the same thing as plain yogurt) and the local white cheese, it was beyond words. My mouth was watering for days after that just thinking about it. I tried it at another place and they unfortunately - were very grand - but their plantains did not quite make the pass as well as the others.

So, I get home and am bent on trying to replicate these plantains, but good luck on the cheese. I have seen it in the store and it makes me cringe. I'm not sure what they think it's supposed to taste like but I want the real thing!

Up next, I found a recipe on about.com for a sugar free gluten free cheesecake. I usually take things like that with a grain of salt knowing that for the most part they are either disgusting or so odd they don't quite taste the same. After reading the ingredients and figuring I had nothing to lose I gave it a shot. OH. MY. GOODNESS. If you haven't been off sugar for a while, you will be able to taste the sugar substitute. If you have not had sugar for a long time, you're going to take one bite and realize this is the dream cheesecake you've always wanted! I find the flavor to be almost identical to a New York cheesecake. Very rich and flavorful, made from a base of nuts and cheese, how could you go wrong? I have this one for breakfast! Just like the coconut cream pie... that's another story for another day.

I do love cheesecake very much and finding this recipe was a God send. However. When was the last time I got a recipe and DIDN'T upgrade it just a bit? I changed the sweetener in the crust, converted it all to ounces (WHERE ARE YOUR SCALES!?) and basically got some nice tips to keep your cheesecake looking pro!

On my soapbox of using a scale I will say this: I ruined a cheesecake yesterday. How? Well, I had the ingredients perfect but I overbeat it and then overbaked it. Two of the worst mistakes you can make. I will admit I was using a new pan, but the laws of physics don't change. Usually. Ok, mostly in this case! Imagine had I not had a scale and perhaps only overbeat it. I would have had a very hard time figuring out what had gone wrong. From knowing my measurements might be slightly off to if my oven is running high... which still could be a possibility. This way at least I know I was spot on with my ingredients, that was not the cause of the downfall. By the way, it's really painful to throw an entire cheesecake into the trash.

The picture was the only one I had, with my igadget. If I get a better one, I'll be sure to post it here.

Enjoy!!

Gluten free, sugar free, New York Cheesecake

You can use a springform pan. I use an 8x8 square stone baking dish. The heat distributes more evenly and seems to make a great texture. If you want to be able to release the cake, simply line the pan with parchment and have someone help you lift it from the pan to the serving dish, I have NO guarantees this will work as the crust is fragile. However, baking it in the stoneware makes for pretty presentation and no one will mind at all.

Ingredients:

Filling:

3 packages of cream cheese 1.5lbs (softened)

4 large eggs (room temp)

1/2 oz of vanilla

1/4 oz of lemon juice

2 oz of sour cream

1/2 to 1/3 oz of NuNaturals stevia (ONLY this brand!! It does NOT get bitter but using too much can cause a bit of an aftertaste)

Crust:

8 oz almond flour

3/4 oz flax seeds

3 oz melted butter

2 oz of sugar free maple syrup

Heat oven to 375 (place an unglazed paving stone on the bottom rack of the oven while it preheats.)

Mix ingredients for the crust in a bowl and press into the bottom of your springform pan or baking dish moving it up the sides a bit, until it's evenly distributed.

Prick the bottom with a fork. Place in oven for 10-12 minutes or until slightly browning on the edges.

Meanwhile, take softened cream cheese and beat in a mixer for a few minutes to make sure it is smooth. Mix in sour cream, then add eggs, vanilla and lemon juice. Do NOT overbeat. Once the eggs are in, they will continue to fluff as you beat the mixture. Overbeating will cause dryness and cracks. If you'd like to eat a cheesecake with a spongecake texture - go ahead, keep beating until it's super fluffy. For the rest of us that akin cheesecake to a fine type of créme brulée, well this cheesecake is going for that kind of texture - don't over beat it. Smooth, creamy, almost pudding, but not.

Put your cheesecake in the oven and drop the temperature to 200. What you're doing now is basically simulating a water bath, without all the hot water. The heat should start out fairly warm, around 350 but drop to 200 over the next 25 minutes or so. Watch it carefully, the cheesecake is done when the center still wiggles when you shake the pan. If it's solid, you've overbaked it. You may get a few cracks coming out of the oven. Sometimes it's helpful to cover it with a towel so it doesn't take the shock of the cold air and shrink - resulting in cracks. If you do not care if your cake is cracked as long as it tastes good, well wait a second. It will continue to cook as it sits on your counter. Allow it to finish setting and then when it reaches room temp, put it in your fridge overnight.

The next day you should pull out a beautiful, delicious, rich and creamy, New York sugar free, gluten free cheesecake!