Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams and more!

 

Image from Jenis.com

 

This is one of the books that started that itch in my brain about making things from scratch. It has many recipes and beautiful photos of different artisanal foods (ice creams, syrups, even making cones!) If you enjoy the idea of artisanal food, this is definitely a resource to check out.

Profile, Recipies, & Nutrition :

 

Eat Ice Cream:

• In milk shakes, smoothies, or out of the pint. You can take it alone, with flavored syrup, nuts, sprinkles, fruits, candy bars or cookie crumbles.
• On top of pies, brownies, cake, crepes, or waffles.
• In between two cookies or biscuits for an ice cream sandwich.

Make Ice Cream:

A comparative review the best artisanal ice cream cook books out there.

100 Ways to Ruin Ice Cream by Jennifer Reese former book critic for Entertainment Weekly, author of Make the Bread, Buy the Butter, blogs at the Tipsy Baker on slate.com

Recipes:

My first CSA box and what I did with it

 

Fresh apples, oranges, and persimmons.

This was my first time to try persimmons, they were not very sweet but had a berry like quality to them. The apples tasted very fresh and could have gone into a pie if only I didn’t eat them all first.

 

Roasted roots (Sweet potato, Parsnip, Turnip, Carrots) tossed in garlic and rosemary powder. A sort of alternative french fries/ pomme frits dish.

I brought some to a get-together and they were pretty good, this probably has more to do with the freshness though than any particular skill on my part. I made more a couple weeks later for home but the produce was not as fresh and crisp so the flavors became more subtle. They were still as good as I would have gotten from a store, but farm fresh at your door versus a couple weeks down the line after harvest have a massive difference! I think the longer lasting freshness (since it gets to you sooner) is a big factor for getting CSA shares.

Rosemary Garlic Roasted Potato Wedges from Taylor Made Markert

Carrot & Parsnip Fries from oh my veggies

 

Broccoli Pesto.

This was an experiment, one that I enjoyed but you won’t like it if you don’t like broccoli. Basically.. the technique involved in pesto is emulsifying a herb, garlic, and pine nut mixture in olive oil. I didn’t have pine nuts, and I didn’t use much basil. So I wouldn’t really call this a “true” pesto.

Nut Free Broccoli Pesto Pasta from PopSugar

Broccoli Pesto from dizzybusyandhungry.com

Meat loaf.

If you don’t cook, it may come as a surprise that meatloaf has veggies in it. Most mixtures will involve some onion and others can include carrots or something else. Adding this to patties and other meat mixtures helps keep the meat moist as it cooks.

Barbecue Sauced Meatloaf from  Recipe

Meatloaf Miniatures from tasteofhome.com

65 Things To Do With Your Waffle Iron

Waffle Irons are a notoriously clunky one job tool… But is it? Is it really? Here is a round up of some of the most innovative ways to get more use  out of the mighty waffle iron.

Some of these experiments and blog entries show that doughs and thicker or dense batters take best to waffle-ing. While some recipes use the waffle iron to cook in other cases pre-cooked foods are also waffled. It was fun to look at all the ideas! Are you ready to waffle it?

Whats up with all the Flax?

Flax seeds are a great way to get a nutritional punch throughout the day. They seem best suited to breakfasts, salads, or snacks, but you can also add them to soups, stews, and casseroles.

 

Medical Benefits, Nutrition Profile, & Recipies:

Nutribullet Makes What?

Smoothies and green juices have become very popular in the past couple of years especially with the health and nutrition conscious. But what is the fuss about this nutribullet gizmo?

All you need is Kangkong (Water Spinach)

This tropical leafy vegetable is a little-known superfood hero that can solve many modern problems. With promising research in diabetes, liver disease, and alleviating malnutrition this is a veg worth looking at twice. If you need some help with detox, liver repair, and blood sugar regulation or are in the market for some vitamin-rich but quick to eat food and some recipe ideas you might want to keep reading until the end.

I had trouble finding this vegetable in America but it’s very common in South East Asia. It grows in rivers, rice paddies, or home gardens. I finally found some at an Asian Grocery under a different name, apparently this guy has a lot of names: “Kangkong”, “Kangkung”, “Morning Glory”, “Water morning glory”, “Water convolvulus”, “Water Spinach”, “River Spinach”, “Chinese Spinach”, “Chinese convolvulus”, and “Swamp cabbage”. It’s kind of hard to search for something technical with every name, so when digging up medical studies and nutrition profiles I stuck to the scientific name “Ipomea aquatica”.

 

Medical Benefits, Nutrition Profile, & Recipes:

 

Yumi’s Veggie cooking cheat sheet

Cute infograph on some veggie prep

Day 20: Want a strawberry basil smoothie? Its sweet, I promise =)

I estimated the proportions based on how i do it, so just treat this like a guide. Experiment,  and do what you like best =) It’s very simple to make a smoothie, and it can often be frozen into ice cream or sherbet.

How to keep fresh herbs longer

How to keep fresh herbs longer by CHEF AND STEWARD®

 

Weekly Salad Prep. (via Herbivore Meals)

Ah see that’s what I’ve been doing wrong! The secret is in the paper towel =)

I think I’ve mentioned my storage method for lettuce before, but I thought I’d clarify using my newly acquired salad greens as an example. Rather than simply rinsing I prefer to soak the greens in cool water with some Grapefruit seed extract added to it. I use about 9 drops in a salad spinner full of water, it’s not critical. This crisps them up and cleans them quite effectively. Then I lift our the basket, dump the water, and spin the greens dry … Read More

via Herbivore Meals