I-Scream, U-Scream...You Know the Rest!

You may recall that one of my goals for this year was to get an ice cream maker and make my own homemade ice cream. I was lucky enough to get the machine for my birthday, and since then I've made two different ice creams. One of them was a chocolate ice cream, and the other was a honey one.

The chocolate one was a custard-based ice cream, which was a little more involved and had actual eggs in it (the eggs are cooked, so no fear of salmonella). The honey one was much simpler, but it was equally delicious.

I love being able to make homemade ice cream, it's great being able to control the ingredients you're consuming!

The chocolate recipe is from The Perfect Scoop Cookbook, so unfortunately I can't post the recipe. Here are a couple pictures from making the recipe:


Honey Ice Cream

Ingredients:
Vanilla Extract (or bean)
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup honey

Directions:

• Gently heat the vanilla, cream, milk, and honey in a pan over medium heat. Remove from the heat and let steep for one hour.

• Thoroughly chill in the refrigerator, then pour all ingredients into your ice cream maker and follow the directions in your instruction manual.

Curried Couscous

I tried another recipe from Quick-Fix Vegetarian, and usually I love the recipes from this book. This one, however, wasn't very good. It started out looking delicious, but after adding the couscous it became drier than the Sahara. I think this would be better with a) more liquid, and b) as a side dish for something with lots of sauce.

Curried Couscous and Vegetables (pg 103)

Ingredients:1 tbsp olive oil
4 green onions, chopped
2 small zucchini, halved and sliced
1 1/2 tbsp curry powder
1/2 cup peas
16oz can chickpeas
2 cups water or broth
1 1/2 cups couscous
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup parsley

Directions:

• Heat the oil in a pan, add the onions and cook for 1 minute. Add the zucchini and cook for 2 minutes, then stir in the curry powder.

• Add the peas, chickpeas, and water and bring to a boil. Stir in the couscous, add the spices, and let sit for 5 minutes, and serve.

Buttermilk Cookies

It feels like I have a never-ending supply of recipes using buttermilk, and it's all because I wanted to make that creme fraiche recipe. Buttermilk was really fun to bake with, and everything I made turned out so well!

These cookies were light and fluffy, and they weren't overly sweet so they paired really well with a super sweet frosting. I took these to work and everyone loved them. I think my boss had 4. :)

Buttermilk Cookies

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup buttermilk

Directions:

• In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla.

• Combine flour, baking soda and salt; add to the creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk and mix well

• Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls 2-inches apart onto greased baking sheets.

• Bake at 375° for 10-12 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool before frosting.

Notes: You can use any frosting for these cookies. I went with the standard powder sugar/milk/vanilla mixture. The frosting wasn't thick but it still completely covered the top of each cookie.

Pindi Chana (aka Spicy Chickpea Curry)

During last month's vegetarian week, I gave this curry recipe a try. I've got to admit, it was fantastic! We especially loved the naan bread that I served it with, which isn't too surprising because the bread is fairly high in calories and is of course, delicious. You could also serve this with rice, and it would be just as good.

Pindi Chana (from Cheap Healthy Good)

Ingredients:2 15-oz cans chickpeas
1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 large can diced tomatoes
2 green chilies, finely chopped
1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste (or 4 cloves garlic, minced and 1 1/2 inch piece ginger, grated)
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp red chili powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp garam masala
salt, to taste
cilantro, chopped for garnish (about 1/4 cup)
water, as needed

Directions:
1) In a deep pan or wok, heat oil. Add cumin seeds. Cook 'til they begin to pop.

2) Reduce heat to medium-low, and add in onions, green chilies, garlic, and ginger. Cook a few minutes, until veggies are lightly browned.3) Add salt and spices. Stir. Cook a few more seconds.

4) Add tomatoes and tomato paste. Stir. Cook a few more minutes, until well incorporated.

5) Add chickpeas and 1 cup of water. Drop heat to low. Cook 8 to 10 minutes.6) Top with cilantro. Serve warm.

Goal Revision

I've been doing some deep thinking, soul searching, stomach consulting ... and I've come to the conclusion that my vegetarian weeks have to go. So far we've had 2 different vegetarian weeks, one in March and one in April - and I found both to not really work for me.

For one thing, I find that instead of being encouraged to eat more veggie meals, I'm actually eating less. When I find a good vegetarian recipe I've started setting them aside for "Veg Week", instead of incorporating them into my regular weeks. In turn, I'm eating more meals with meat in anticipation of not being able to have any during my non-meat weeks. So it really just isn't working out the way I thought it would.

Instead of making one week a month a completely veg week, I'm just going to work on increasing the number of vegetarian meals I have OVERALL. No required eat-x-number-of-veg-meals-a-week, no completely veg weeks, just eat more veggies in general!

I feel a little bad about not meeting my initial goal, but I'm also a little bit pleased with myself for realizing this wasn't working for me and being willing to revise it.

Fish can be good!

I used to hate fish, and all through my childhood I would refuse to eat all fish (unless it was from Skippers restaurant, and at that point it's so breaded and deep-fried that I'm not sure it still qualifies as fish). I've slowly tried to incorporate it into my diet, since it's so healthy and has those great omega-3s and all that good stuff. I still don't love the taste, but I'm trying to learn to like it more.

My coworker told me about this super-easy way to make salmon, and it really is so simple and tasty that even a non-fish lover like me can make it and enjoy it.

Ingredients:1 Salmon Fillet
1 onion
Lemon juice

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Put the salmon on foil and add chopped onions and lemon juice to the fillet. Fold the aluminum foil up until it forms a pouch. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes.I served the fish with wild rice and snap peas, and we also enjoyed a special macaron from a local store, Marie&Freres. It was beyond decadent, and I plan on going back for more macarons. I'm calling it "research" for making my own. :)

Spaghetti Sauce from the Crockpot

I love a good homemade spaghetti sauce, and what's easier than throwing all the ingredients in the slow cooker for the day? I liked this recipe, but I was surprised the house didn't smell better when I first came home. It has a slightly strange aroma (probably from the herb combination), but it still tasted good so I'd probably make it again. Serve over pasta, with garlic bread and a green salad.

Meat Lover's Slow Cooker Spaghetti Sauce

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 small onions, chopped

1/4 pound bulk Italian sausage

1 pound ground beef

1 teaspoon dried Italian herb seasoning

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram

1 (29 ounce) can tomato sauce

1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste

1 (14.5 ounce) can Italian-style diced tomatoes

1 (14.5 ounce) can Italian-style stewed tomatoes

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

1/4 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

2 teaspoons garlic powder

1 tablespoon white sugar (I omitted)

Directions:

• Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat; cook and stir onions and Italian sausage until the sausage is browned, about 10 minutes. Transfer the sausage and onions to a slow cooker. In the same skillet, cook and stir the ground beef, Italian seasoning, 1 teaspoon of garlic powder, and marjoram, breaking the meat up as it cooks, until the meat is browned, about 10 minutes. Transfer the ground beef into the slow cooker.

• Stir in the tomato sauce, tomato paste, diced tomatoes, stewed tomatoes, thyme, basil, oregano, and 2 teaspoons of garlic powder. Set the cooker on Low, and cook the sauce for 8 hours. About 15 minutes before serving, stir in the sugar. Serve hot.