Recipe Sharing & Food Talk

it's so easy and cheap , hope you try and i hope you like it !

I'm giving it a go tomorrow!

It does look delicious...I am thinking it would be great over spaghetti squash.....thanks for the recipe....

I found some ginger liquor today . Mmmmm maybe some ginger martinis .

Sounds yummy. You're a one-woman cocktail bar, you are Amaretti!

Damn, my evil plans have been discovered.

Well, if you stand next to me TheMinis, you'll look like Twiggy in her early days!!!!!!!!!! Gimme more cupcakes!!

I just made nutella/choc cupcakes with espresso icing (oh my lord combining my 2 faves (choc and coffee), next time will add Cointreau and all my 3 major food groups will be taken care of in 1 cupcake.

I'll grab George's jet and be right there! DON'T eat them all!!!!!!! And since George has to work, Gio will be coming with me! He likes cupcakes!

Oh if only that were possible - do like me a bit of Gio from time to time and of course I'd share with you Mel (my cupcakes that is)

theminis can you share your recipe for those cupcakes they sound incredible!!

I made these today-

http://hellogiggles.com/healthy-crunchy-crispy-snack-beans#

and brown rice congee, that has become my favorite breakfast to carry to work.

I'll post the congee recipe I use if anyone is interested. I can't believe its been this long since i posted on this thread!

I have missed a lot of WONDERFUL POSTS!!! love the italian rice pie, lentil recipes and all the other posts.

lakin- Dr Andrew Weil has a wonderful page on his web site about the anti-inflammatory diet he proposes. I followed it as closely as I could when i had a massive cervical disk herniation and it helped alot.

http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/ART02012/anti-inflammatory-diet

on that same site he speaks of the leaky gut syndrome which i also think is some great information.

what is a burrata salad?

I love sharing recipes, food healing ideas

tried the roasted beans as a snack *yucko* they were dried up little pieces of sand oh well always wanted to try them I guess!

I would like to try too....

Its Me I need to find a better version of that roasted bean recipe! if anyone has one, one that isn't so DRY please post it. I am looking for portable non perishable cheap home made snack recipes for work.

Make your own muesli bars to snack on, did that once, added honey, not so dry and quite yummy - will see if I can find the recipe I used. Don't know if they were particularly healthy or completely non fattening but will have a look.

Thanks theminis I would like that. in the meantime if I find one too, will post it.

I was just thinking about a black bean recipe I got off the net from Martha Stewart's Brazilian cook , Neecy . The beans are soaked overnight and then cooked with fresh beets , then the last 1/2 hour a garlic paste is added made from sea salt and garlic .

oooooh that sounds wonderful amaretti! I just love fresh beets!

this it?
http://www.marthastewart.com/336942/brazilian-black-beans

Yes thank you.

Tried to look if anyone has posted mussels in white wine + fenouil recipe here.
I need to go and look elsewhere - fast - I know and have all the other ingridients but not sure about fenouil. I know it is not season (for mussels) and all, but this is what I´ll do tonight.

Or should I try to make thai - mussels with Jasmin rice. Decisions decisions.

Fennel sounds great. Try it with a splash of Pernod. Delicious.

I like clams and mussels!

@Carla - try Belgian recipe Moules Mariniere usually with ale or white wine & lots of herbs like rosemary, thyme, continental parsley.  
Very aromatic.

Thanks for the tips!

I didn´t have pernod, but I´ll try it when I have.
Maybe not good idea to mix many recipes, but I just used all I had tonight and noone complaint

Yes, moules mariniere very good, Belgium style. Especially I like the fries and a sourish salad dressing to dip the mussels or fries in.

I got my favorite tiramisu recipe from the Wisconsin Dairy Council, of all places. We're not talking Italy here!

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/23/dining/chicken-with-cardamom-rice-from-jerusalem.html?smid=tw-nytimes

Tonights dinner - (after forgetting the vegies in the oven last night and accidentally caramelising them, anything is an improvement)

That Jerusalem chicken thing sounds good, cardemumma rice is new for me.

So today, what´s for dinner?

Gross or Great? 27 Unexpected Delicacies from Around the World, perhaps something there?

How about a whole sheep´s head, Teriyaki cockroach, Duck embryos, the bull testicles or guinea pig (protein rich) with poisonous snake wine?

http://www.thedailymeal.com/gross-or-great-27-unexpected-delicacies-around-world-slideshow

theminis wrote: (after forgetting the vegies in the oven last night and accidentally caramelising them, anything is an improvement)

"Caramelising", eh? In my house we call that burnt!

I've spent most of last month cooking my way through Heston Blumenthal's cook book (super difficult and time consuming) but I can share two really useful bits of advice from him on how to roast the perfect chicken.

how to roast the perfect chicken
The problem with the usual roast chicken is that it's dry and chewy by the time it's served at the table. Two things you can do to avoid this and that's firstly, make sure the chicken is super juicy in the first place (more on that in a minute) and secondly, cook the meat at a temperature that doesn't cause the meat to shrink and squeeze out the juice (more on that in a minute too).

make sure the chicken is super juicy in the first place by soaking it in a fridge overnight (or a couple of hours if using a fresh chicken, not frozen) in an 8% brine solution. How to make an 8% bring solution? Easy: take 1 liter of water and dissolve 8 grams of salt in it. If you need 2 litres, then use 16g salt and so on. The water will be partly absorbed by the chicken (don't expect a dramatic reduction in the water level though) which means it's as juicy as it can get before you cook it.

cook the meat at a temperature that doesn't cause the meat to shrink and squeeze out the juice by cooking at a low temperature. Basically, the flesh of a chicken cooks at 70 degrees which isn't very hot. When the flesh cooks, it starts to tighten and thus squeeze out liquid, which is something you don't want. The hotter it gets, the more it tightens and the more juice is lost. Usually when you roast a chicken, you'll do it in an oven set to about 250-degrees (more than three times hotter than the cooking point). We do this because it takes time for the heat to reach the middle of the chicken and cook (we definitely don't want uncooked chicken!!) but unfortunately at this high temperature the meat on the outside of the chicken will have dried up in the hour before the middle of the chicken is cooked.

What Heston Blumenthal suggests is to roast the chicken at 100-degrees, but for three to four hours (depending on the size of your chicken). That's long enough for the middle of the chicken to heat up and cook, but because it's a low temperature, the meat on the outer parts of the chicken doesn't dry up.

When done, you take it out of the oven to relax for 15 minutes or so, then whack it back in for another 10 minutes, this time at 250-degrees to roast and brown the skin.

Result: a fabulously moist and tender chicken!

The only downside to this is that you have to start early if you're planning lunch at a reasonable time - or, as my mother so charmingly said: "What the fuck are you doing in the kitchen with that chicken at 7am on a Sunday?".

Ha ha.  He he. Sounds delicious .

Caramelising is a fancy word for almost burnt, some bits did look a bit like charcoal!.

As to chicken Ive been in love with my slow cooker throughout Winter - I cheat and put my chicken in there, always comes out very juicy - technically not roasted so at the last minute I throw it under the grill in the oven - so far fooled everyone - tastes yum too.

Another easy recipe for roasted chicken is put the chicken in a baking dish, add a couple of tins of Apricots with the sauce and throw in some rice - yum and the sauce tenderises the chicken at the same time, one of my easy go to cant be bothered cooking recipes.

Ooh, that sounds good too theminis.

Burger with Chimichurri sauce. I grilled the chicken for burgers. Ran out of gas in the middle of grilling last night and had to finish it in a pan. Sauce makes it special, I also used lettuce and red onion.

Chimichurri is perfect on grilled vegetables, steak, fish or chicken. You can refrigerate it until later use.

1 cup parsley leaves
1 cup fresh mint leaves
1/2 dl extra-virgin olive oil
lime juice from 2-3 limes
5 medium cloves chopped garlic
chopped jalapeño
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp rocksalt salt

à demain mes belles!

I can't wait to try it . Thanks .

I think George's  former girlfriend Krista Allan  made  an apricot chicken that  Georgie loves . I think that recipe has apricot preserves .  

Lakin, I don't know your history, but you mention cutting out wheat.  You might look into the GAPS diet.  www.gapsdiet.com.

This diet was developed by a woman doctor with not only a degree in neurology but in nutrition.  Most doctors don't get a lot of instruction in nutrition, believe it or not.  

This diet was designed for gluten intolerant folks.  She designed it to heal the gut.  Gut inflammation is responsible for a lot of diseases that one wouldn't connect together.  Schizophrenia is associated with gluten intolerance!

Anyway, when you mentioned inflammation the first thing I thought of was wheat allergy.  Dairy is also a biggie.  

You might try purified fish oil.  It's a natural anti - inflammatory and will also help heal the gut, if that is the source of your problem.

Oh, and here's a gluten free snack:

1/4 c. gluten free organic cocoa
1/4 c. raw honey (or to taste)
enough softened organic butter or coconut oil to desired consistency (I start out with a 1/4 c. and work up from there)

When butter is softened, stir cocoa and honey until completely mixed.  Taste for desired result.  

Drop by teaspoonfuls on wax paper on 8 x 8 cake pan.  You can always increase amounts to make more for a 9 x 12 pan.

Put in fridge to harden.

amaretti wrote:I think George's  former girlfriend Krista Allan  made  an apricot chicken that  Georgie loves . I think that recipe has apricot preserves .  

Well there you go, if ever I have the chance to feed George, I will feed him my apricot chicken HA

I have to try the apricot chicken. Sounds very promising and I love apricots.

Gazpacho, perfect for hot summer days (today was not hot, but I made it anyway).

4 tomatoes, skinned and diced
1 cucumber, skinned, seeded, and diced
4 chopped scallions
1 red and 1 green pepper, seeded and diced
5 dl tomato juice
1 habanero pepper
1/2 dl extra virgin olive oil
1/2 dl sherry vinegar
Salt and pepper

I wanted to use asparagus as a side dish. Recommended! But went for chill briefly and serve over avocado and crème fraiche.

If you don´t want usual crotons, make Mediterranean Crackers. Really good and healthy.

Et voilà!

LOVING the recipes- thank you for that roast chicken recipe! I LOVE roast chicken i never would have thought of 100 degree oven.

Love the chimmichurri recipe- trader joes has a chimichurri rice recipe i absolutely love just can't get often so can't wait to try this.

I love all the recipes everyone posted thank you!

I'm making brown rice congee from my bone broth I made, will try to post recipe soon.

Yes me too. Thanks 

Peanut butter/chocolate slices

So I have just melted good quality white, dark, normal chocolate in separate bowls, slightly softened peanut butter (crunchy) and then put a huge dollop of each in a baking paper lined pan. Grab one of those skewer thingies and marble it all together, pop in the fridge to set. cut it up into slices and makes a yummy delicious non healthy snack for kids.

Desert for tonight is marscapone cheese cup cakes.

Melt dark chocolate and using a little paint brush, brush the insides of as many patty cup cakes as you can. Put in the fridge to set, doesn't take long to set so you have to work real quick with melted chocolate. Then when set peel away the paper and fill the chocolate patty cakes with mascarpone cheese (or custard if you prefer), top with tiny pieces of strawberries, blueberries and pop back into the fridge, dust with icing sugar before serving. Did this for some friends and though real simple looks quite stunning.

That sounds like it would be delicious . Mmmmm

It was, we almost finished all the slices and choc/cheese cupcakes, a bit of chocolate overload

I want those marscapone cheese cup cakes NOW! I´m hungry, but tomorrow I´ll cook something nice... don´t know yet what. Maybe I read cook books tonight

What to do with all the left over pumpkins?
A soup, of course  

2 small (or one big about 750 g) pumpkins (peeled of course and cut to little cubes)
6 cups of water
1 vegetable stock cube or vegetable fondue
3 carrots
2 potatos
2 to 3 onions
4 cloves of garlic (not necessary, but I used)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
4 tbsp sweet, mild chili sauce
3 fresh squeezed oranges
1/2 box mango cream cheese

Bon appétit

Thanks Carla - pumpkin soup is the best, I also like the use leftover pumpkin pieces to make a sauce to drizzle over gnocchi.

pumpkin gnocchi!!! oh my ! I want some!!!

I got to taste gyro for the first time tonight. I´ve been to Greece many times but never had this before.

She had made pita bread herself and tsatziki, but I only got the recipe for the meat mix. I loaded mine with onion. Really good. (But I hadn´t had lunch today, so I was VERY hungry) and after two glasses of wine I felt like I was sailing... 

1/2 kg lamb (or beef) she had local lamb, not rare at this time of the year.
1/4 cup red onion
2 cloves garlic
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
1 1/2 tsp. cumin
1/4 tsp. muscade
1 tsp. dried oregano
2 tsp. fresh lemon juice

I tried to google and look up here
one recipe (always should write it down)

I have invited 4 women to come over tonight (never met them before, but I wanted to meet before this semester is over as their sons have become very close friends to mine.) So they are coming and I said I´ll have some christmas type apero... guess do I have? Sparkling wine & wines ok, but maybe port (with cheese)?

I made mini root vegetable cakes (served with horseradish cream and parsley leaf on top) yesterday. What else? Help! I can´t buy all, it has to be at least half homemade. Time is running out. Foie gras? Pâté , roastbeef bruschettas?