Food, family and a long weekend

post from CASA Veneracion on 09 April 2012 11:20:48 PM. © CASA Veneracion

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Limoncello "Biscotti Truffle" Balls

post from What Smells So Good? on 09 April 2012 10:21:46 PM. © What Smells So Good?

Well now that the Easter to-dos are squared away for another year, and the dinner leftovers have been frozen for later or given away to guests, the fun part of the Easter clean-up can start. I`m talking of course about the task of powering through all the goodies Mr. Cottontail dropped around the house on Saturday night! For the kids (at least to my recollection), it really doesn't seem to matter if the chocolate is the $2,600 / lb Knipschildt or the dollar store milk bunnies - like on Halloween, accessible and universally liked sugar rushes are the order of the day.

For those of us with older, more discerming palates, the pleasures of simple sugar and cheap fat overload quickly lose their charm. The appreciation of more "adult" flavour combinations and textures (think fruit, nuts, crisps and liqueurs) comes into bloom, and with it a world of possibilities in the home kitchen. For the final round of Easter goody-making I undertook (after the marshmallows and the eggs) I went back to the tried and true "cake ball" style of candymaking, but this time in place of dried out cake crumbs I used crushed biscotti and leftover buttercream filling from the walnut meringues. Given that the biscotti was somewhat drier than cake would be, it took a couple extra glugs of Limoncello to supplement the rehydration into a scoopable dough. Coated in rich, high quality white chocolate (and the debate regarding it's status as "real chocolate" notwithstanding), the bright yellow hearts radiate the glow of great flavours to come. The kids will likely turn their noses up at them (a good thing if you're overly concerned about the whole 3 tbsp of alcohol in the batch) but really, that just means more for you! Who ever said the Easter bunny ignored Mom and Dad?

Limoncello Biscotti Truffle Balls
Makes 25
200 g almond biscotti, crushed finely
165 g lemon frosting (such as Limoncello Buttercream)
3 tablespoons Limoncello
Good quality white chocolate , for dipping

In a bowl, combine the biscotti crumbs, frosting and Limoncello until the mixture clumps together into a formable "dough".
Roll into teaspoon-sized balls and place on a plate.
Freeze 1 hour.
Dip balls in melted white chocolate and allow to set completely on waxed paper.

Amount Per Serving Calories: 70.6
Total Fat: 3.2 g
Cholesterol: 6.7 mg
Sodium: 15.6 mg
Total Carbs: 7.7 g
Dietary Fiber: 0.0 g
Protein: 0.9 g

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http://yummysmells.blogspot.com/2012/04/limoncello-biscotti-truffle-balls.html

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Passover, Matzahbrei and Family

post from famfriendsfood on 09 April 2012 10:21:44 PM. © famfriendsfood

We had another wonderful family gathering for Passover Seder last Friday night. We always look forward to the holidays that bring us all together. It's a set time that we know we'll all make sure to put on our calendars... I'm hoping to schedule more gatherings throughout the year, because I know how much Our Boys enjoy it and I want them to have lots of memories of everyone in our family.

As we continue through our week of matzah-love and saying no to bread and pasta (to name only a couple items not allowed during Passover), it's a time for my My Husband making Matzahbrei for us!

He makes the savory version which is hard to resist... the sauteed onions mixed with the softened matzah and eggs... all cooked up to a delicious meal, how could we not ask for seconds when offerred?

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Most Americans Do Get Enough Vitamins

post from Nutrition, Healthy Recipes and Fitness | Blisstree » EAT on 09 April 2012 03:42:47 PM. © Nutrition, Healthy Recipes and Fitness | Blisstree » EAT

We're relentlessly bombarded with how poor the standard American diet is, so it may come as a bit of a surprise that most Americans do get enough vitamins and nutrients. A report published this week by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found only about 10% of the population have nutritional deficiencies. More »

Post from: Nutrition, Healthy Recipes and Fitness | Blisstree

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Brown Rice Uthappam With Sundried Tomato Chutney

post from Holy Cow! Vegan Recipe on 09 April 2012 01:20:36 PM. © Holy Cow! Vegan Recipe

A reader requested a recipe for uthappam and this past weekend I decided to do one better: I tried out a healthier version of this already waist-friendly snack. A Brown Rice Uthappam.

If you've never run into an uthappam before, think of it as a chubby, onion-flecked dosa crossed with an idly. The basic ingredients in all three recipes are the same-- rice and udad dal-- but the technique makes a world of difference to their final textures and even flavor. While a dosa is spread out into a thin crepe on the griddle using the back of a rounded ladle and an idly is steamed, the batter for an uthappam is poured on much as you would pour on a pancake batter and then left alone. The hot griddle browns the outside and steams the inside and what you end up with is a pancake that has a pleasantly chewy mouth feel.

Best of all, you can sprinkle all sorts of veggies and herbs on the uthappam as it's cooking, the most popular choice being onions and coriander leaves. The veggies sink cozily into the batter and cook up into a deliciously toothy texture.

I don't make uthappam very often because Desi loves his dosas crepey (I even make my Adais -- another kind of thick dosa-- paper-thin). But the brown rice was definitely an incentive for him because he's a bigger health nut than I am, and so was the Sundried Tomato Chutney I served up alongside. I also varied the thickness of the uthappams by making a few of them traditionally fat and then spreading a few others more thinly, as you can see in the picture above.

For my Brown Rice Uthappam I made parboiled brown rice exactly as I did when I created my Brown Rice Dosas. It is a technique that works like a charm and cuts down soaking time by several hours.

An Uthappam batter typically contains udad dal, or black gram dal, but I also added a couple of tablespoons of tuvar dal to my recipe although this is not a traditional ingredient. That's because even as I was soaking the dal I could hear in my head the voice of my sister-in-law Lalitha Manni, a fabulous cook, reminding me that tuvar dal adds crispness to any kind of dosa. So in it went.

She was right. My Uthappams had a lovely golden finish and crispy edges that were a delicious complement to the chewy middle.

I came up with the Sundried Tomato Chutney out of necessity-- I didn't have any coriander on hand for my chutney. And although I knew I was on to something good I had no idea how good it was until I tasted it. Although sundried tomatoes are not by any means an ingredient used in Indian cooking, their rich, deep, tangy flavor complemented the sweetness of the coconut and the spice of the garlic and chilies just beautifully. This one's a keeper.

Brown Rice Uthappam

Ingredients:

1 cup brown rice. Cover with an inch of water in a microwave-safe bowl and zap for five minutes. Let the rice and water stand for another 30 minutes.

1/2 cup udad dal (black gram dal)

2 tbsp tuvar dal (pigeon peas)

2 dry red chillies

Salt to taste

1 onion, finely minced (you can also add tomatoes, bell peppers, spinach, or green chillies-- any vegetable that would taste good when steamed lightly would work fine here).

2 tbsp chopped curry leaves or coriander leaves or both

Mix the parboiled brown rice and the two dals, cover with at least 2 inches of water, and let them soak for 5-6 hours.

Drain the soaked dals and rice and place in a blender along with the remaining ingredients. Add water and blend into a smooth batter that should be about the consistency of a pancake batter.

Heat a cast-iron or nonstick griddle on a medium flame until a drop of water flicked on the surface skitters and evaporates.

Pour about 1/2 cup of the uthappam batter in the center and, if needed, coax a little with the ladle to form a circle about 5-6 inches in diameter. You can make your uthappam thicker if you like. Either use more batter or shape it into a smaller circle.

Sprinkle on some of the chopped onions and any other veggies or herbs you're using.

Drizzle a few drops of oil along the edges of the uthappam. This makes for a crisper edge and also makes it easier to flip the uthappam.

Place a lid on top of the pan and let the uthappam cook about two minutes. It is important to cover the pan because if you don't you might end up with semi-cooked batter on the inside and that wouldn't taste any good. You want the uthappam to steam thoroughly on the inside.

Flip the uthappam once it is golden brown on the bottom and cook for about a minute more.

Serve hot with some Sundried Tomato Chutney (recipe follows) or with a traditional coriander-coconut chutney.

Sundried Tomato Chutney

Ingredients:

1/2 cup thick coconut milk

6 sundried tomatoes (I used ones that are packed in olive oil and they are really moist. If you are using dry sundried tomatoes, soak them in a little water for at least half an hour to soften them)

1 large clove of garlic, chopped

2 green chilies (adjust to your taste)

Salt to taste

Place all the ingredients in a blender and blend into a smooth paste. Serve with the Brown Rice Uthappam.(C) All recipes and photographs copyright of Holy Cow! Vegan Recipes.

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ith-sundried.html

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Coffee trader's mobile phone ban

post from Brotherhood of the Bean on 09 April 2012 01:00:24 PM. © Brotherhood of the Bean

A coffee trader is hailed for performing a "public service" by refusing to serve customers talking on a mobile phone.

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Coffee made in the shade

post from Brotherhood of the Bean on 09 April 2012 01:00:19 PM. © Brotherhood of the Bean

What do bird lovers and coffee lovers have in common? An opportunity to support habitat for migratory birds! All we need to do is ask, wherever coffee is sold, if it is ?shade-grown? (or even better yet, ask if it is shade-grown, organic and fair-trade!).

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Meatless Monday: 10 Vegetarian Pack-and-Go Lunch
Recipes

This morning we posted about how to eat better at work?which is always easier said than done, especially if you're trying to keep it vegetarian for Meatless Monday. Salads devoid of protein or carbo-loading on meat-free pizza and pasta is more likely to lead to an energy crash (and subsequent graze on vending machine snacks), so we culled our favorite food blogs for some easy pack-and-go options that don't contain meat, and won't leave you starving. More »

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The Everything In Moderation Rule Is Making You
Fat

Last week, our friends at Well+Good NYC gave us a peek at the refrigerator of triple board-certified nutritionist Dana C James?and when they asked her about her dual stock of coffee and chlorophyll, they joked that she must be following the rule of moderation. Her response? Hell, no. "I'm actually not one for moderation but more about balance on both sides." This stopped us in our tracks: How could a nutritionist (who stocks wine and coffee in her fridge) not love the classic health rule, 'everything in moderation'? We called her up to ask. More »

Post from: Blisstree

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Why I Plan To Eat My Own Placenta

The Mad Men season premiere was big news, but new mom January Jones made headlines of her own by announcing her decision to have her placenta encapsulated and the benefits she's seen from taking the pills. ?Your placenta gets dehydrated and made into vitamins,? she explained. ?It?s something I was very hesitant about, but we?re the only mammals who don?t ingest our own placentas.?The revelation was largely met with an online chorus of "Ew, gross!" from reporters and online commenters, combined with a few attempts to explain the practice, along the lines of "Well, cats do it..." Personally, I did a little fist shake of victory when I read about it: I plan to encapsulate and consume my placenta, too, and every prominent women who talks about doing it makes my own decision seems a bit less extreme. And a bit less, well, disgusting. More »

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