Lemon Posset

I saw this pretty photo somewhere and thought this dessert looked good.  The appearance reminded me a bit of creme brulee which is my all time favourite super rich dessert, not to be eaten more than once a year.

I found out it was called, Lemon Posset...bonus. I love lemon. Curious to find out what "posset" meant and assuming it was some kind of french culinary term, I searched google translate.

Wow...who knew? Posset, means...posset. That got me nowhere.

So I tried another tact, looked up "posset" and "detect language". Google detected Latin. Seriously? So posset is Latin for the word "could".

Posset this possibly be correct? I doubted it.

Further research was required because I hate not knowing stuff, and now I needed a derivation and definition.

I looked up "posset" in dictionary.com. Thankfully, I didn't do this first because I would have given up my quest. I found this meaning, "a drink made of hot milk curdled with ale, wine, or the like, often sweetened and spiced." Sounded very unappealing.

Alas, wikipedia came to my rescue...or did it? Once again, I found the British hot drink with milk and ale description. 

So after looking at the recipe, I decided to create my own definitions.

Posset - n.  A fancy french pudding with lots of sugar. A diabetic nightmare.

                  Alternate  meaning - A decadent  dessert, insanely expensive at a restaurant.

                                      

I actually found the recipe for this dessert to be very simple and very high in calories. It's just one step away from eating from the sugar bowl.  Dare I try it? Tempting.  I'll report back if I do.

Ingredients

2 cups whipping cream
2/3 cup sugar   
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
lemon zest from 2 lemons

Directions

Bring whipping cream to a gradual boil for 3 minutes. Combine and boil sugar, zest, and lemon juice. Whisk lemon mixture into cream. Remove from heat and strain out zest before pouring into individual dessert bowls. Let cool then put in fridge to chill until firm. Decorate with fruit or flowers

UPDATE

I made it. It's not so simple. I combined a couple of recipes as I always do and noted changes in "ingredients" and "directions" above. If you don't warm the cream slowly, it gets a strange consistency. Also, I heated the sugar and lemon juice to dissolve sugar. Used only 2/3 cups sugar. Then I whisked the sugar, lemon mixture into the cream. Strained the whole thing to remove zest. Poured into dishes and cooled.  Once cooled, I put it in the fridge to solidify. Decorated.

It tasted pretty good but I likely won't make it again.

Pandemic Pancakes - Easy Peasy

I had forgotten about these very simple pancakes. I made them for myself this morning when my breakfast chef was not available.

Many years ago, I belonged to a diet group (Insert name of any diet group here. I've belonged to them all.)   I remember getting this pancake recipe. It's ridiculously simple, delicious, and filling. They're especially great if you don't have, or don't want to use flour, baking powder, or sugar.

The beauty of these is that the content is easily measurable in calories, protein, carbs, and fruit. There's no added sugar.

If you have a blender, it makes a more smooth pancake, but it's not essential. Basically, just toss all these ingredients together.


Ingredients    (makes 2 medium or one large)

1 egg     80 calories
1 slice bread (any kind you like, I used thin sliced) 70 calories
1/2 banana (good use for any that are starting to darken) 45 calories
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
cinnamon if you wish

Total calories for a substantial breakfast 195 . I find these pancakes
to be quite sweet and moist enough on their own, but if you prefer to top them with a bit of syrup, honey, agave, or a dusting of powdered sugar, be sure to consider the extra sugar and calories.

If doubling the recipe, just use another slice of bread and another half banana.  I  have never used a second egg, but have added a splash of milk if the mixture looks too dry.

Directions

If using a blender, put egg and banana into blender and mix. Tear bread into a few pieces and add it along with vanilla. Blend briefly until smooth. Pour onto a pan as in photo.  (I used a tiny amount of spray olive oil to cook).

Recipe as I wrote it made 2 medium sized pancakes or if you prefer, one large.

If  you don't have or don't want to use a blender,  mash the banana and whisk
together with egg and vanilla. Break bread into very small pieces and add to banana and egg . Mix together. Pour into pan. If there are small pieces of undissolved bread, it's not really a problem.

I hope you enjoy them. I did.

Free, Cheap, Coupons, or Sale

As the title says, I rarely purchase anything that isn't free, cheap, on sale, or for which I have a coupon. I'm referring specifically to food. That's not to say I won't splurge on a specialty item from time to time, but for day to day consumption, that's my philosophy.

On January 12th, I wrote a blog, Dipping Dollar Does Not Mean Deteriorating Diet. Since that time, I have seen and heard innumerable complaints from people about how terrible food prices are and how they can't afford to feed their families. That was inevitable.

I won't turn this into any kind of judgemental commentary. It's far too easy to resort to saying, why don't those same people give up smoking, liquor, their trips to the dollar store for useless junk, or whatever their source of enjoyment might be. It's not about those things, and I don't think it's not necessary to give up much of anything. To me, as I mentioned before, it's all about effort and planning. There are many parts of this country and other countries where people would love to have our options and prices, when it comes to groceries.

Today, I gathered my coupons (clipped while watching people complain about food prices on t.v.) In my opinion, you should always do something valuable in addition to watching t.v. (another topic...I digress). I flicked through to check expiry dates and off I went to Walmart and Metro. Foodland has been erradicated from my list since they are a bit far and have also jumped their discounted produce prices to $1.49....who are they kidding? That's $1.50 in real money. Outrageous.

First stop as always, the discounted produce shelves. Saturday morning, the shelves were stocked. People ambled by, cursory glance, then pushed their carts past rapidly as if they'd just seen a toxic substance. In fact, they were snubbing their noses at the bargains as if they were frequenting an establishment other than Walmart. This isn't Whole Foods or some trendy juice bar in the Beaches people! (I don't care, I still call it the Beaches)

I was most excited to find a $1 package which included not only a very nice tomato, but also an English cucumber, a whole stem of fresh garlic, and a package of pearl onions. Once again, I also espied a $1 cauliflower and four green peppers for  $1.  Jackpot! After this essential first stop, I moved on through the aisles....bread $1 off coupon; rice...buy one get one free; dish soap, large size on sale for $3 and I had a $2 off coupon. And so it went until I was satisfied that I had retrieved the best bargains.

At Metro I did just as well....on a Saturday morning no less!  Mushrooms (the exotic kinds) for $1. Avocadoes (always available) 5 for $1. Woohoo....guacamole. (Not to be confused with whack a mole). The many packs of grapes were tempting but I decided they contain too much sugar and I'm not good with eating just a half dozen delicious, red, juicy, grapes. There were also the ever available, never ending carrots and potatoes...didn't need any today.

Sooooo.....my produce purchases for today look like this. Why not try my shopping method? As they say, "The Thrill Is In The Hunt". Now I'm off to create some meals for the week.

Here's a yummy sweet potato recipe I thought I'd share. Got it from a lady at a meeting I attend and it's amazing and simple. Sweet potatoes are often on the discounted shelves but even if not, they are kind of cheap and of acceptable nutritiousness...nutritiosity...nutriosis....er....vitamins content.

Zingy Baked Sweet Potato Fries for 2 people

Preheat oven to 425.

Wash sweet potato, cut off tails (the pointy parts on the ends) and cut into wedges. I use one sweet potato for two of us and I leave the skin on.  Feel free to use more (increase spice amounts) if you're super hungry or have people lurking around your house for dinner.

Get a baggie, Glad bag, produce plastic, or reasonable facsimile. Put in a tablespoon of olive oil, 1/4 tsp. cumin, 1/4 tsp. cinammon, a pinch of cayenne (or more if you like a burned throat), salt. Drop in your potato wedges and shake, shake, shake (the more you shake, the more calories you burn).

Place wedges upright on Pam sprayed baking sheet and place in oven for 20 minutes or so. Remove from oven and enjoy.

Kale - The Superfood

Although I love vegetables above all other foods, I didn't grow up eating a lot of different varieties. I feel as though there are many more types of these nutritious foods available to us nowadays. In the grocery store produce aisle you can find local and exotic imports from pretty much every corner of the globe.

I knew kale was one of the superfoods even before Dr. Oz began to preach same.  I first tried cooking it and found the taste unpleasant, bitter as it were. Then I would throw raw kale into the blender with some type of liquid, close my eyes and gulp green slime in an attempt to down this vegetable...disgusting and also not recommended.

Hubby has had other kale experiences. While visiting relatives in northern Germany, he often enjoyed a dish called Grünkohl and Pinkelwurst. He speaks of it often,  reminisces and drools each time he sees a bunch of kale. Since I'm not a wurst kind of person and since I hail from southern Germany, the land of spätzle and schnitzel, I can't quite imagine the aforementioned delicacy,

In my search for alternate kale options, I have created kale chips...not bad but nothing special, especially if you burn them. More recently, I have come across an amazing recipe. It's a salad unlike any other. It can be put into the fridge and eaten over the course of several days without becoming soggy. In fact, it becomes tastier.

I'm afraid I don't know the origin of this recipe since it came to me from a firend, so I regret that I am unable to give credit to the source.

Lemon Kale Salad

Ingredients

1 tblsp lemon zest (that's when you use a grater and scrape off some lemon peel)
juice of one lemon (you can also use 3 tblsp of the liquid lemon)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
8 cups chopped kale ribs removed (wash and completely dry first)
1/2 cup shaved parmesan cheese
1/3 cup toasted blanched hazelnuts, coarsely chopped
Sea salt and ground pepper to taste

Directions

In a large bowl mix together the first three ingredients. Add the kale and toss to coat. Add parmesan and hazelnuts. Toss before serving.

As I said, this will last for days in the fridge. I hope you enjoy it. I do.

Two-Bite Sized Potato Zucchini Latkes

I've been going through old recipes and watching in particular for anything that is vegetarian and can be created stove top. Although I've never been a huge fan of potato pancakes or zucchini pancakes, I came across this combo recipe which I remember making years ago. I believe it came from a Canadian Living magazine since their recipes are usually quite good and reasonably foolproof.

I thought the latkes might go well along side a particular soup I had made. They did...yum. They are also a good way to get extra veggies into the meat and potato eaters of the world. Serve with applesauce, sour cream or on their own, whatever you prefer. Combining the zucchini with the potato cuts down somewhat on carbs and calories. At a mere 36 calories a piece, eating three of these delicious morsels will not break the caloric bank.

This is a bit of a process, but they don't have many ingredients and they're totally worth it. I used some basic and ancient tools to help me and created the latkes start to finish in less than 40 minutes.

Ingredients

2 small zucchinis
3 medium potatoes (peeled)
1/2 tsp salt
half an onion (I like Spanish so I use about 1/4 if it's big)
1 egg
3 tbsp flour
Oil for frying (I used Canola)

Use a grater to grate zucchini and potatoes coarsely. I used this manual old fashioned kind  (on this larger hole side shown here) but I suppose if you have one of those new fangled food processor thingies, and like washing a lot of contraption parts, it'd work too and would save getting fingernail fibre in your food. Stop going ewwwwww...that was a joke.

Put grated zucchini and potatoes in a strainer or bowl and sprinkle with 1/4 tsp salt. Let stand for a few minutes while you finely grate the onion. Add to mixture. Drain, strain, squeeze or stomp out the liquid any way you know how.

It sounds weird but I have an old juicer...the manual kind and I just put scoops of the potato/zucchini/onion in here and squeezed. Good arm/batwing exercise and you'd be amazed how much liquid comes out. Dispose of the liquid and put mixture back in a clean, dry bowl. Repeat.

Stir in onion, egg, flour and remaining salt. Mix. Put oil in the bottom of a pan...don't be too cheap but you also don't want to drown your mini latkes. They don't need to be covered in oil...about a third. I used a couple of tablespoons, I'm guessing. I also used a wok like pan and it was narrower at the bottom so the oil seemed a bit fuller and not so spread out...less waste

Heat the oil. Using a tablespoon, scoop the mixture into the oil. Depending on the size of your pan, you might be able to make 4 or 5 at a time. They shouldn't touch or you won't get the nice crispy potato edges. After about 2 minutes, flip them over for another couple of minutes. Cook them hot and fast. Remove and place on a layer of paper towels to drain off excess oil. These really aren't greasy, I promise.

So here's how the photo looks that comes with my original recipe. I think my zucchini was shredded a bit finer but that's personal preference. Also, my tablespoon didn't create perfect muffin tin shapes like these.  ***Note to self - Consider making these in a muffin pan next time, or not.

Here's how mine looked. I served 3 latkes for each of us. There are many left which I have frozen for re-heating in the microwave another time. The recipe makes around 3 dozen. Enjoy. We did.

Daring to Make Dampfnudeln

I remember several meals that my family ate when I was young. My parents didn't have a lot of money, so some of our dinners consisted of cream of wheat and fruit; boiled potatoes and cottage cheese; rice and canned meatballs; salad, eggs and pan fried potatoes; pasta and weinschaum; soup and bread and finally, dampfnudeln with sauce. Sometimes, meals were variations or combinations of the above. Dampfnudeln with weinschaum (wine sauce) were by far my favourite.

"Dampfnudel" (pl. dumpfnudeln) is translated literally as "steamed noodle". It is not a noodle, but rather a type of white bun with a crusty bottom, eaten as a meal or as a dessert in southern Germany. It is cooked in a pan using steam on top of the stove. Then, it is supposed to look like this...with emphasis on "supposed to". These photos were taken at a German bakery just before I consumed their potato soup, dampfnudel and wine special of the day.







                                             

                                                                                        

Mom did not make the dampfnudeln often. Once or twice a year when she did, they were a special treat. I got the impression that they were a lot of effort, because there seemed to be frequent moans eminating from the kitchen. Besides that, when mom would appear, dampfnudeln in hand, her hair was always curlier than usual and beads of perspiration were visible on her forehead. I learned to cook many things from mom, but I never learned to make dampfnudeln.

While in Germany, I had the opportunity to spend some time with my Tante, mom's sister. I asked her to show me. I wanted to learn how to make both dampfnudeln and the wine sauce although, as an adult, I can't imagine why anyone would want to eat those things together.

It took me half a day to make dampfnudeln. Now I realize why my mother made them infrequently. In fact, she made them about once or twice a year more often than I probably would have. It has also become more clear why she didn't seem interested in teaching me.

First, I needed to translate Tante's recipe from ye olde German. Fortunately, she was able to tell me everything and I wrote down steps in English. I also photographed the stages.  Although the ingredients are few, it all required much patience, separate bowls, yeast rising moments, helpful hints and stressful anticipation. When we finally completed the shaped dampfnudeln, they were placed on a floured pan. Then, they were covered yet again and left to rise before putting them in a large pot with some oil, some salt and some water, covered with a lid and left to their own devices for a full 30 minutes.

Several people have told me that the most difficult part is to resist the temptation to lift the lid before the time is up. I was not tempted because by this time, Tante had moved on to demonstrating Weinschaum or as we used to call it "Woi soß ". When she insisted that she did not need my help with this sauce, I began to develop some concern about my dampfnudel making efforts. Oh well, they looked good to me thus far. What could possibly have gone wrong?

Tante made the wine sauce, cornstarch, sugar, wine, cooked until thickened. Put in bowl, mix in two egg yolks. Egg whites whipped until stiff peaks formed then added to and stirred into wine mixture. It was finished in no time. Yummy. Perhaps I should have started with something simpler...like this?

It was finally time. Thirty minutes were up. The grand unveiling of my dumpfnudeln. Despite the fact that making these had never been added to my bucket list, I was excited. I now had another thing to add to my life's accomplishments. I could now brag to my family and friends that I know how to make this delicacy. In fact, I could go back home and make dampfnudeln for company. Yes friends, I did it. Here are my dampfnudeln. I'm proud to say that they look almost exactly like the bakery dampfnudel photos above. Well, almost.