Ice Cream and Oatmeal

Here are some latest fruit creations of ours.

I found a quite amazing ONE INGREDIENT ice cream recipe on my friend's blog (heatherbyu.blogspot.com). You know what the ingredient is? Bananas. Yep, genius.

Directions: freeze 2 peeled bananas for every serving you desire. Use food processor to mush bananas, and there you go. It comes out surprisingly creamy and delicious. If you want to switch it up or if you have trouble with the mushing, add a little milk. You can also add a little vanilla for flavor, but really, it doesn't need any of these.

Also, did everyone already know you can make your own fruit oatmeal? I guess I just figured this one out later than most people... Here's a simple recipe, but you can switch it around to practically anything you want.

Apple Oatmeal - 2 servings
- 2 and 1/2 cups water
- 1 cup quick oats
- 1 apple, diced
- 1 TB brown sugar
- dash of cinnamon and/or nutmeg

Bring water to boil. Add the rest of the ingredients. Remove from heat when mixture thickens to an acceptable viscosity.

We've done this with bananas, strawberries, even grapes. If you use softer fruit, add it closer to the end, not as soon as you would the apples. It's very good and probably way more healthy than the packaged fruit oatmeal. Good luck guys!

China Frosting, part I

I could rhapsodize for days on the beauty of cake lady and her creations. The real cake lady is, of course, a Platonian ideal realized only in imperfect forms here on earth, but those imperfect forms made magical cakes. They also used only one kind of frosting for filling, icing, and decorating the cake, and it was at once smooth, thick, creamy, stiff, and pillowy. A few examples:

I identified the frosting in Nanjing as shiny, probably with egg whites and sugar. The Beijing frosting was not as shiny and definitely included cream, but had the same amazing properties. So today I tried my best to recreate that shiny, smooth, delicate frosting. I'm disappointed. I went with egg whites and a sugar syrup, and the shine is right, but it's too soft and sticky, and doesn't hold shape quite as well as it should. I have to wonder if, against my initial thoughts, the frosting might contain butter to stabilize it. I'll update when I try again. You can see here my frosted (and filled) cupcakes as well as my soft snowman and buddha-type man.

I wanted it to get stiffer, but after 10 minutes in the mixer, I decided whipping it wasn't going to make it any thicker or stiffer. It was also too sweet, much like a marshmallow: I wonder if decreasing the ratio of sugar syrup to egg whites would yield better results? Butter? Cream? Must keep looking . . .

Indian Curry

Yup, another crock potter, and you know how I like my curry. This has to be one of my all-time favourite home made recipes. It's meaty, veggie, flavourful, and it's a one-pot meal. Yummm . . .

Indian Curry

adapted from Make it Fast, Cook it Slow by Stephanie O'Dea

2 Tbsp Curry Powder

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 (14-ounce) can coconut milk

1 Tbsp tomato paste

4-6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (mine had bone and skin that I removed later)

1 (15-ounce) gan garbanzo beans (chickpeas)

1 yellow onion, chopped

1 bell pepper, seeded and chopped (I used red)

1/2 an eggplant, chopped

1 sweet potato, peeled and chopped

Combine spices, ginger, garlic, coconut milk, and tomato paste.

**I made mine the day before and marinated my chicken thighs in that mixture overnight. I'd say it was a good call on my part, but totally not necessary**

If you're not making it the day before, pour that sauce into your crockpot. Pop the chicken thighs in to the pot and turn them around a few times to coat them in that bright yellow sauce. Pour in the garbanzo beans. Wash and chop all the vegetables, then add them to the crock. No reason to stir them in, they'll cook great sitting on top. Cover and cook on low 7-9 hours or on high 4-6 hours. When the chicken is cooked through, gently stir it all together to combine. I also used this opportunity to break up the chicken so it was stew-like, but you could leave the thighs whole if ya wanna.

Notes to soothe your worries:

*The eggplant pretty much dissolves so you probably won't get any cries from your children about the weird veggie. If you peel it first, you'll definitely not get complaints.

*My favourite was the garbanzo beans. They were meaty, delicious, and not at all what I expected.

*You could serve this with rice, but you don't have to; we didn't.

*I didn't have quite enough curry powder and I could definitely tell the difference; it was a bit low on flavour, but definitely delicious nonetheless. Don't skimp.

*I learned that tomato paste comes in a tube that you can refrigerate. That makes a tablespoon mighty easy to use without having to store that entire leftover can in your fridge or waste it by throwing it out.

Chipotle Chicken with Sweet Potatoes

We've been eating almost every meal in the crockpot and it has changed our lives. We love it, and on Saturday I even made all the meals for this week and bagged them up ready to be thrown into the crockpot each morning after breakfast. We've had some good meals, we've had some great meals, and we've had some so-so meals. Here's one of my favourites.

Chipotle Chicken with Sweet Potatoes

from Make it Fast, Cook it Slow by Stephanie O'Dea

6-8 chicken thighs; life is easier if you skin and bone them before cooking but I didn't

10 ounces sliced mushrooms

1/2 onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 small sweet potato, peeled and chopped in chunks

2 green onions, chopped

1 red bell pepper, diced

1/2 cup chicken broth

1 tsp Chipotle Chili powder

1 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp black pepper

1 cup sour cream

2 Tbsp flour

Put the chicken in your cooker. Prepare all the veggies and place them on top of the chicken. Mix the broth and spices, then pour over the chicken. Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours or high 4 hours, or until the chicken is completely cooked and shreds easily. 1/2 hour before serving stir the sour cream and flour together, then stir into the crockpot. If you didn't before, this is the time to remove the bone and skin from the chicken. Stir well, breaking up the chicken, then cook on high for 30 minutes. Serve over pasta or brown rice. Yum.