Hollandaise Sauce Forever!

I love Hollandaise sauce.  It is high in fat and wonderful and my kind of ketogenic food.

It can be a bit of a pain to make.

Also I am lazy about separating eggs and making sure the egg whites get used.  I hate waste though...

I have been making Mayonnaise with my immersion blender, it takes about 60 seconds. I make it with a whole egg (see paragraph above) because it's easy although a less rich. I am willing to take that trade off.

It hit me like a bolt of lightning yesterday, if you can make mayo with a stick blender surely you can make Hollandaise sauce.

Yes you can. 

Melt a stick of good butter. (don't let it burn).
Remove from heat
Pop 2 egg yolks (or if lazy whole egg) in vessel with lemon juice.
Whir egg and lemon juice with blender.
Add melted butter in thin stream while blending.
30 seconds later you have your sauce.
Season as desired. -Pepper, cayenne, salt, 
tarragon (then it's simple Bearnais sauce)

This makes me so happy.  And full - very, very full.

Whole Lemon Mousse

It was a revelation for me when I first made this tart. One uses the entire lemon!  I loved that idea, not only does it save time, it tastes great and using the whole lemon gives you the highest amount of nutrition from the fruit so there is added smugness as a bonus.  :) The only modifications I make to Deb's recipe is replacing the sugar with honey [and less of it], thickening with tapioca instead of corn starch and using a grain free crust.

However what if you do not want to turn on the oven? It is high summer and simply too hot for ovens.

This led me to scouring the internet for a whole lemon mousse or curd. Which I could not find. So I created my own using the above recipe as inspiration. 

Some notes:

Buy an organic lemon if you can, remember you are eating the entire thing. Those with thinner skins [less white pith] will work best.  A food processor or high speed blender is needed to grind up the lemon. When I make my tapioca slurry for thickening I shake it in a jar.

This makes a tart lemon mousse, serve it with berries for extra sweetness if you desire.

Ingredients:

1 organic lemon
I cup of honey
4 large eggs
2 T tapioca flour
pinch of salt

1 cup of heavy cream

Method:

Slice off and discard the two pointed ends of the lemon.
Slice the lemon into thin rounds and remove the seeds.
Process lemon rounds and honey until lemon is pureed.
Add eggs and process until smooth.
Pour this mixture into saucepan except 
Combine 1/4 cup of mixture with the tapioca flour to make a slurry.
Add tapioca slurry back to mixture in saucepan and stir.
Heat over medium heat. Watch carefully - it thickens quickly and scorches easily.
When thick remove mixture from heat, stir then chill through.

You now have a whole lemon version of lemon curd. To make mousse continue on...

Whip the heavy cream until peaks form.
Stir a large spoonful of heavy cream into chilled curd.
Then fold the rest of the heavy cream gently into curd.
Chill [again] until firm.
Serve with strawberries or other fruit as you desire and enjoy.

Sweets without using your oven.

Tuna Salad with Cherries?

We have a abundance of pie cherries again this year and it has been heavenly.  Not only have I given pounds away to family and friends but I am always finding new ways to use them.

This year I perfected a cherry tart with an almond crust which I love. This took quite a bit of work and a lot of tart eating. [poor us!]

Sometimes though the ideas come easily.  Today I put together a tuna salad with -- tuna, mayo, capers, chopped celery and fennel. It tasted good but it tasted fantastic when I threw in a huge handful of pitted pie cherries and ate it with sweet potato chips. The sour salty salad was fabulous with the sweet-ish chips. I meant to take a photo but it is already gone.

Oh well - I must remember for next year.

Shepherd's Pie?

There is no lamb in this dish, so is it cottage pie?  But there is venison in it....so maybe Hunter's Pie?  Hunter's Pie sounds like it is already a thing. A thing I am too tired to google right now.

In the past I never really liked Shepherd/cottage pie as I never really liked mashed potatoes. It wasn't until I started mashing cauliflower with butter and cream that shepherd's pie became a cozy favorite for me. I keep the peas on the side so they don't get mushy. 

This dish could be made in many different ways and still be yummy but here is the way I made it this week.

Hunter's Pie

Filling:

ingredients
2 lbs ground meat [mix of venison and grass-fed beef]
1/2 onion, chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1/2 jar, about 9 oz, of crushed tomatoes
1/2 cup red wine
1 T coconut flour
pinch of thyme and rosemary
salt and pepper to taste

method
Brown meat in large skillet.
When meat is almost done and fat has been released, add onion, celery and herbs to center of pan.
Cook all together until celery and onions are soft, stir occasionally.
Sprinkle coconut flour on top and stir.
Add wine and tomatoes and simmer for 5 minutes.
Add salt and pepper as needed.

Topping:

ingredients
Topping:
1 head of cauliflower, cored and chopped
2T butter
2-3T cream
pinch of nutmeg and paprika
salt and pepper to taste
handful of shredded hard cheese [such as Parmesan]

method
Steam cauliflower until tender.
Process cauliflower in food processor with butter, cream and spices until smooth and spreadable.

Create and Bake Pie:

Spoon filling into 13x9 pan
Spread layer of mashed cauliflower on top and sprinkle with cheese.
Bake at 375 for 20 minutes.

Good served with peas and squash on the side along with a glass of the wine you used.

Replacing potato salad

I grew up with my mother's potato salad and I enjoyed it. It was a typical blend of cooked potato chunks, chopped celery, hard boiled eggs and diced onion with a mayo/mustard dressing. Paprika sprinkled on top.  We had it on summer picnics with chicken.

Once I went off sugars and most starches in 2002 I simply replaced the potatoes with steamed, cauliflower chunks and never looked back.

But this week a friend asked me for my salad recipe at our 4th of July cook out and I realized that I make my salad different every single time I do it.  In fact this year's was quite different since all of my celery was bad and I didn't add eggs because there would be yummy deviled eggs on the same table.  I also let the ingredients I had in the garden lead me.

So here for my writing partner is how I remember making my  

2013 Cauliflower Salad.

Combine in a large bowl --
Steam a large cauliflower, cool and chop. Chill in fridge.
3 mild white radishes, chopped.
3 green onions, chopped small.
large handful of garlic chives minced.
large handful of tarragon de-stemmed.
salt and pepper to taste.

Mix together for dressing --
1c homemade mayo [I know made this with olive oil but can't remember the seasonings]
1 tsp coleman's mustard
1 tsp paprika 

Dress salad and chill it in the fridge all afternoon for dinner. Invite a few friends over to enjoy a truly beautiful 4th of July summer night with good food and laughter. I think the occasion and the people added to the taste of the salad. But you may be able to duplicate it.

As for me I am grateful for the normal summer we have had thus far. It has been hot and sometimes muggy but not unusually so. The garden is doing well and strawberries are bearing and the birds are singing along with the waterfall.

Wishing all some summertime joy! xox


 

Mid January Freeze

We are in the middle of a cold snap and I find myself wanting to huddle by a hot oven bake everything.

With that as my motivation I finally got around to playing with my recipe for chestnut flour cookies. I call it 'my' recipe because I could not find a grain free version of chestnut cookies anywhere. So I made one up based on an old biscotti recipe I got somewhere, perhaps that Italian cookbook translation...

Chestnut flour is great for grain free baking if you like the taste. This is one of the few flours I do store in the freezer, I find that the flour can go off quickly.

As always there are many ways to tweak this recipe, I know I am not done with it. You may need to adjust the dry ingredients if your eggs are smaller. It's possible to swap the butter out with coconut oil, switch the maple syrup to honey, add nuts or chocolate or stevia to make them sweeter... but please enjoy them however you make them.

Chestnut Biscotti

Mix together

1/4 c soft butter
1/4 c maple syrup
2T almond extract
2 eggs [I used 'jumbo' ones]

Stir in 

1 1/2 c chestnut flour
1/2 c almond flour
1t baking soda
1t salt

Chill the dough if it is too soft for you to handle.
Divide dough in half and make two flattened logs of dough, ten to twelve inches long, on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. 
Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.

Remove dough logs to rack to cool and turn over down to 300.

Fifteen minutes later slice logs up into short slices and lay them down on parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Bake about ten minutes then flip slices over and bake about another ten minutes. 
They should be dry and crunchy. Typical biscotti. 

If needed immediately hide half of them so that the people you live with do not eat them all the first day. Cozy wishes out to all.

Party like it's 12-21-12

Happy Yule all!!

December thus far as been very full of bronchitis, traveling and planning for the solstice bash that we threw on Friday. You know before the world ended. Except it didn't.  

Good thing really, it gives me more time to enjoy these grain and dairy free Almendrados and hopefully you will as well as soon as you make them.

These are very easy to whip up. Some might say too easy...


Almendrados 

preheat your oven to 350 degrees

Mix together ~

2.5 cups almond flour
1 t cinnamon
4 t lemon zest
1/2 cup honey [add two more tablespoons if you want them sweeter]
1 egg
sprinkle of salt

This forms a soft sticky dough. If needed chill it so that you can handle it with ease.

Form dough into walnut shaped blobs, dust with more cinnamon, and press an almond down in the center of the cookie. This movement will flatten the cookie into a disc.

Bake these on a parchment paper lined baking sheet for 15 minutes or until the edges are golden.
These freeze well and are heavenly with coffee.

makes 2 dozen


Wishing everyone a very happy, peaceful and sweet end to December. xox

what to do with basil flowers

One of the benefits of neglecting the garden all July is that I have 6 more basil plants than I planted. They were seeded from the year before with no effort on my part.  [I have self seeded aster plants all over the garden and I am delighted about this as well]

Most years I have basil in my garden and most years I can't 'keep up' with it. I eat huge amounts of caprese salad and so does my wife but still the basil starts to flower and I snip the flowers off [and off and off] so that it keeps producing until I either make pesto or we have a hard freeze.

I end up with tons of basil flowers snips. I tried them in salads and did not enjoy them. So they kept getting tossed into the compost with some regret. Until I had a brain flash thanks to one of the vendors [Gai Gai Thai] at the Kingfield Farmers Market. Lemon Basil Water!

I take my handful of basil tops/flowers put them into a pitcher with water and let them steep in the sun all day or overnight on my counter. Then I remove the plant matter, pour the water over a glass of ice, add a small spoonful of lemon juice and a few drops of stevia and stir. 

If you are me you drink this while sitting by the waterfall trying to decide what of a million possible things you could do next and it makes the decision making a tiny bit easier.

when blazing new trails

chocolate chip cookies are helpful mandatory!

So to support my friends who are currently on a grain free journey here is one of my 'go to' grain free recipes. It is based on about a million recipes you can find on the internet. This one has my own tweaks since I enthusiastically use both butter and eggs.

Chocolate Chip Cookies [about 20 cookies but your size may vary]

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheet with parchement paper

Combine in a bowl--

1.5 cups almond flour
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t sea salt


Break up dark chocolate [80% or higher cocoa solids] bar to make a 1/2 cup of chunks, set aside.

In another bowl combine--

1 egg
1/4 c butter [you can use coconut oil]
1T vanilla extract
2T coconut nectar [you could use honey or maple syrup]

mix the dry with the wet ingredients
stir in 1/2 c chocolate chunks.

drop balls of dough onto baking sheet, bake for about 8 minutes depending on size.
do not let them get too brown, cool on rack.


Enjoy!

Strawberry Basil Sorbet

It's hot.

Summer arrived ten days ago but the heat has been here much longer. July starts tomorrow and the heat has settled in like a scratchy, buggy blanket. Since I have not [yet] figured out how to spend all day and night immersed in water I need other ways to deal with the heat. One has involved my ice cream maker and other frozen things. This week after thinking about it for years I have finally gotten around to making sugar free sorbet.

You don't need an ice cream maker for this one since the fruit is already frozen, a decent food processor or blender should work just fine. Whip it up whenever you need to chill, your amounts may vary by your taste and like all my recipes the variations are endless. Any way you make it, if the temp is above 90, it is sure to be wonderful.

Strawberry Basil Sorbet

1 1/2 cup frozen strawberries, whole or crushed
1 tablespoon fresh minced basil [trust me]
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup water stevia to taste, if your strawberries are really sweet you may not want it.

Blend the above in a blender or processor until smooth. Do not liquify, keep an eye on it.

Serve and enjoy!

This could be stored in an air tight container in the freezer if for some reason you had leftovers. That doesn't seem likely but it could happen. Perhaps you were full from dinner?

Easy Buckwheat Pancakes

I have always loved buckwheat pancakes and during this grain free experiment I can eat them all the time. These are both easy to make and easy on your tummy,
and adapted from many, many sources. 

Pre work -- start heating your greased pan. Usually just under medium heat.

Dry Ingredients

3/4 c buckwheat flour, heaping
3/4 c almond flour
1/8 c tapioca flour
3/4 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
pinch of salt

Whisk these together. 

Wet Ingredients

1 egg
1 c milk, any kind
2 T oil or melted butter
1 T agave nectar or other sweetener [optional]

Stir, combining the wet with the dry, forming batter.
Use a 1/4 c to measure batter out onto pan.
Flip when the bubbles have stopped popping, 60-90 seconds.

Serve with syrup, fruit, jam, or use for a savory base.

Enjoy  xox

Notes:
Grease pan between pancakes as needed.
Makes about 12 three inch pancakes.
The pan should never smoke.
I am using my cast iron skillet for these. 

cherries are coming

The cherry harvest has started. It seems late but July is a traditional time for cherries after all. The weather is being sweet for a couple of days, low dew points, lower temps and now I have a reason to turn on my oven...Clafoutis! This year my goddaughter will be around to try it so that means I'll be pitting my cherries.

We have also been scurrying around in the garden getting ready for my wife's party and taking advantage of the cooler temps we have right now. The paths in the new herb garden are all done. The flowers, vegetables and weeds are all growing like weeds. The food thanks to our favorite restaurant and my two sisters in law is all planned. The cakes are ordered. Hopefully the waterfall can be fixed by the party, though I wonder if anyone will brave the heat to go look at it.

Tomorrow we may get flooding rains and then the tropics come back so we are firmly living in the moment!

I hope you can find something sweet about July to help increase your joy. Peace out.

Artichoke Dip

It has been pointed out to me that I have never posted my recipe for my artichoke dip and that people would like it please.

So here it is quick and eay. I created it back in 2006, I wanted something lighter than the normal run of dips. It's also very simple, so use the highest quality ingredients you can find/afford. You will taste the difference. I find it goes better with beer than wine...

It can be made a day ahead and baked when you need it.

EB's Artichoke Dip

Mix together:

~3/4 c high quality Mayo
~3/4 c plain Greek yogurt
~3/4 c shredded Parmesan or Romano cheese [not from a can please!]
~2t lemon juice
~salt and red pepper to taste

[It's your call how spicy you want this, you'll have to taste it]

Coarsely and quickly chop up
~2 cans of artichoke hearts [not marinated] and add to the above.

Bake in an oven proof dish in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

Serve with whole wheat baguette slices or crackers and enjoy with friends.
You know, unless you want it all which is understandable.

belated holiday gift

Not for me, but for you all. [that is if you like to cook sweets]

My recipe for Pecan Tassies [Tarts]

Backstory: While planning for xmas eve dinner I puzzled over what to serve for dessert. We were having a large crowd over, some who try to eat healthier and some who just like food to taste good. I was also trying to guess what people would be bringing. I guessed that people would bring cookies and sweets so I didn't want to overload on the dessert side. I was wrong by the way, people brought savories this year. It all worked out though, I had made tassies. These with cookies struck the dessert balance well I think.

Of course I did not create this recipe from scratch, the earliest one I know of is from Better Homes & Gardens magazine, some time in the '50s and they may be older, perhaps as old as pecan pie?

So then what makes mine different? The usual. Alternate flours, other sweeteners, and an overall sweetness level suited to those who can no longer handle hostess products and a 'more the merrier' attitude to fats and richness as opposed to sweetness. I also changed the proportions quite a bit in my version.

I have given two variations below and if you like playing with recipes these should spark about a million more possible variations. Instead of whole wheat flour or teff or spelt you could experiment with your own favorite flour. You could flavor it with bourbon. You could use walnuts instead of pecans. You could also make a one large tart in a pie pan. I remember doing that years ago. Or perhaps you do not have a standard size muffin pan, the recipe may then make more or less tarts for you. It's quite time consuming [especially if you only have one 12 muffin pan like yours truly] but it's not a hard recipe.

If you have some filling left over put it in an ramkin and bake it as an individual pecan pudding.

All your ingredients should be room temperature. Preheat your oven to 325. This makes 24 tassies using a common muffin tin.

Variation #1, a traditional version. [Variation #2, rustic version]

Mix together
-1/2 cup of softened butter
-3 ounces of cream cheese
-1 cup whole wheat pastry flour [or 1/2 cup each, teff flour and ww pastry flour]

Chill for at least an hour so that you can handle the dough.

For the filling mix together thoroughly [I used my mixer]
-2 eggs
-1 T softened butter
-3/4 cup agave nectar
-1/2 cup dark maple syrup [or 1-2T molasses]
-1 t vanilla extract
-pinch of sea salt

Then add 1 cup coarsely chopped pecans and stir. You should also have a small bowl of pecan pieces handy for topping.

Divide your chilled dough into the number of tassies you will be making. Press the dough into the muffin cup making a little tart shell fill with the filling and top with more pecans.

Bake for 25 minutes, turn pan once, until filling is set and tarts are a lovely brown.

Cool in pan before removing carefully to rack. Kept in a tin and cool [and hidden] they will last over a week]

Enjoy!

near perfect cookies, phones and trees

I am not fond of the word perfect. I don't use it, I don't even believe in it's existence. Is it possible to be a word-atheist, a 'watheist'? But it's ok that others do, we all have our things after all. This weekend I made a version of my Rustic Salted Pecan Cookies. They were deemed perfect by the people I live with, 'damn fine' even with the nuts by my favorite nut avoider, and excellent by two other testers. So I figured I should share my recipe. I had thought that I had shared an earlier version but hell if I can find it.

EB's Rustic Salted Pecan Cookies

sift together:
1 c whole wheat pastry flour
1 c unbleached all purpose flour
1 t baking soda

cream together:
3/4 c butter
1 c palm sugar

Add to the butter-sugar mixture:
2 eggs, room temperature
1 t vanilla

Stir in by hand sifted dry ingredients and
1 t sea salt [I used a vanilla infused sea salt with added to the yummy I think]
1 c crushed pecans

chill and bake rounded teaspoonfuls of dough for 9 minutes at 350 degrees,
remove and cool on rack.
If anyone tries them please let me know how they turn out for you.

In other news I think I may have killed my phone, it's sitting on the buffet drying out and it doesn't look good. *sob*

On the brighter side we got our tree today at the fabulous Mother Earth. The night air was brisk, there was a little snow drifting down, the women there were fabulous as well as my friends, the shop cat friendly and now my home smells like a forest in heaven. Add to this a great writing session with my partner, and a few more cards getting sent out and it was mostly a grand Monday.

Here's too a good rest of the week for us all!

samhain 2010 and walnut cake

Samhain is here already. [And my computer thinks we went into daylight savings time over night, even though here in the states it's not until next week]

For my practice new year starts tomorrow. I love having many new years to celebrate and I am really looking forward to the day. There will be a ritual remembering our dead this afternoon with sisters and later a festive dinner with my wife. Life is good. Tomorrow starts nanowrimo and the new year. Are you signed up yet? It's not too late. I'll be prepping my ideas in my head for the big start!

This weekend I have been trying to cook out of my pantry as part of my plan to waste less food. I wanted to bake so this is what I ended up with; a small walnut cake with frosting. Not too big, rather hearty and like all of my baking not too sweet.

Walnut Cake based on a recipe from Great British Cooking by Jane Garmey

Heat oven to 350 degrees and butter a 8" round cake pan.

1/2 c butter softened
1/3 c agave nectar
2 eggs, room temp
1 1/4 c whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 c ground walnuts


-cream the butter and agave nectar together
-add the eggs one at time and mix
-sift the flour and baking powder together
-add to the butter mixture
-stir in the ground walnuts
-spread in the greased cake pan
-and bake 20-25 minutes until a knife to the center comes out clean

Remove from oven to a wire rack and remove from pan after 5 minutes. Cool completely then frost. The frosting I used was a cooked 7 minute frosting with palm sugar instead of white sugar. Half of a typical recipe is enough for this small cake. But I could also see a cream cheese frosting being yummy on this or perhaps a chocolate frosting.

I hope everyone has a glorious Samhain and enjoys some cake if that's your thing.
Samhain Mhaith!

a tale of apple dumplings

Remember my fabulous visit to the orchard last month? I brought many apples home with me. Both Cortland and Haralson, two of my favorites. This week I decided to do cook something new [for me] and made apple dumplings. In the past I have always talked myself out of making these for some reason and certainly I had issues. But if you are looking for something low sugar, scrumptious, rich and seasonal they will be perfect.

The first issue was my pastry. The last two times I made pastry it was oddly wet, so determined to not have it be too wet, yep you guessed it, it was very dry and crumbly. I basically had to mold the dough all around the apple. I think that this is the reason why the cooked apples expanded through the crust in a very fluffy fashion. Although as soon as they were removed from the oven the apple sank back in a very disarming way.

I indulged myself by making a larded WW flour, pie crust as my pastry, but these work with any type of pastry. Make your favorite and don't tell me if it's pre made or made with shortening, we all have our illusions we try to maintain.

All taste testers said they were yummy, which I guess is the most important part. Perhaps I'll do bird's nest pudding next time and not have any pastry worries.

EB's Apple Dumplings

-4 peeled, cored apples
-1/8 c of palm sugar [perhaps more to taste]
-1/2 c softened butter [you may not use it all]
-1/2 c agave nectar
-1/2 c water
cinnamon and nutmeg

-Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

-Heat the agave nectar, water, dash of cinnamon and 2T of butter to a simmer for 2 minutes.
-Remove syrup from heat.

-Roll out pastry into a circle big enough to fold up and cover the apple
-Place apple upright in the center of the pastry
-Place a small spoonful of butter and a spoonful of palm sugar into the center of your apple.
-Sprinkle apple with cinnamon and nutmeg.
-Lift edges of pastry and cover your apple, use water as needed to make pastry seal
-Place in an oven safe dish and brush dumpling with the syrup.
-Make the other dumplings in the same manner.
-Bake 10 minutes then brush all dumplings with syrup again.
-Turn down oven to 325 degrees and keep baking dumplings.
-Every 10 minutes brush dumplings with syrup

-Remove from oven after 30 minutes of baking at 325 degrees.

-Serve with heavy cream, whipped cream, creme fraiche, ice cream [maybe cinnamon]
-Make a tasty breakfast the next morning, you know I saved one for that.

Enjoy even if they burst.

kitchen distraction

When you start thinking 'if I chop my leg off maybe it won't itch anymore' then you know it's time for some serious distraction.

As my poison ivy rash runs rampant on my left leg and I grow thick headed from the antihistamine I am so grateful for the cool turn in the weather. Not only does the cool weather lessen the itching a bit but it gave me a bit of space to bake with some fabulous summer fruit.

Nectarine Galette [I'll be playing more with this one]

Filling:
Gently toss together.
4 ripe nectarines, thickly sliced
1/4 c coconut sugar
1 T WW pastry flour

Crust:
[ very much a work in progress, you may want to choose your favorite crust recipe instead]
sift together and chill:
3/4 c whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 c all purpose flour
1/4 t salt

rub 8 T cold butter into dry mix above
until it resembles crumbly meal

combine:
1/4 c sour cream
1 t lemon juice
4 T ice water

with you hands toss this liquid with the flour/butter mixture, form into a flattened ball, cover with waxed paper and chill at least an hour.

After chilling roll out a crust 15" in diameter. Place crust in tart pan or on pizza stone, fill center with fruit slices, then bring the edges haphazardly up and over the filling to form a rustic tart i.e. a galette.

Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 40-55 minutes until bubbly, brown and nectarines slightly caramelized.

Cool on a rack. If you care for glaze, brush on some peach or apricot jam over the warm tart when it comes out of the oven.

Serve with ice cream, whipped cream, barely sweetened greek yogurt, nothing....

Notes:
-even though it's cooler today I baked this in my toaster oven instead of turning on the big oven. This worked well.
-the dough as it is written was yummy but very soft, another chilling stage might have been needed [or roll faster]
-This could be tweaked for any stone fruit, I can't wait until plums are ready for it.

Enjoy!

ice cream makers are dangerous

Combine them with hot sticky weather and you don't have a chance.

It was a lovely weekend, I got to hang out with 2 friends that I don't see very often, one on Saturday and one on Sunday . We huddled in the air conditioning feeling grateful for coolness and talked and talked. Very different from the weekend before, this time the talking went both ways.

On Saturday as I visited with the co-creator of IMAD, we made ice cream and as a nod to IMAD had side by side home pedicures.

An ice cream maker, especially if you have the freezer space to store the 'bowl', means home made ice cream is only an hour or so away at all times. I'm sure not having it every night during a heat wave helps me grow as a person. Or perhaps the heat affects my brain so that I don't realize I could be making ice cream. Anyway this weekend we made chocolate coconut ice cream.

EB's Chocolate Coconut ice cream ..based on many recipes

Whisk together or use your stick blender

2 cans coconut milk don't bother using 'Lite', you're making a treat!
1/3 c of agave nectar
2/3 c of cocoa
2 t of vanilla extract
1/2 t of sea salt

Place this in your ice cream maker and process 20 minutes or so until it is starting to set up then add

1/2 c of unsweetened flaked coconut

Finish processing and ripen in freezer while giving yourself a pedicure. Then enjoy. See if you still have some left 3 days later.

Stay cool all.

CSA = brilliant box

The early spring in these parts has resulted in our CSA being even more fabulous this year. I am so glad we went down to every other week, because even with house guests and parties it's still a challenge to not let anything go to waste.

Last week our box had: cucumbers, green beans, carrots, beets, fresh garlic, summer squash, cabbage, lettuce, cilantro, basil, snow peas, sugar snap peas, green onions. It was all fantastic.

I made my first attempt at a blue cheese dip to go with a lot of those fresh veggies and people at the party seem to like it pretty well.

EB's blue cheese dip

1/4 c blue cheese [as strong as you like]
1/4 c mayo [could be part sour cream]
1/2 c plain yogurt
chopped cilantro [or any herb you have handy]

whirl in food processor for smooth or mash with fork for chunky and enjoy.

The yogurt gave this a nice lightness and tangy-ness that people seemed to like.

We didn't quite get all the lettuce eaten before it died. Oh well, I hate throwing food away. I have a goal to not let any of it go to waste we'll see if I succeed some box. I hope everyone is getting a chance to enjoy fun local stuff this month. Stay cool.