Member's Cookbook : Recipe Inspiration

[Captain Bubbles]

Lord Marvel wrote:

Looks Nom Nomish :D

Only ish?! Hurting my feelings is your favorite hobby!

[Lord Marvel]

Captain Bubbles wrote:

Lord Marvel wrote: Looks Nom Nomish :D Only ish?! Hurting my feelings is your favorite hobby!

I do it so that you would try harder and make even more spectacular Nom Nom food ;) :D

[Hart of Hircine]

for my families favorite bbq sauce cause it's practically instant.
2 cup of ketchup
2 cups of brown sugar
and a little bit of minced onion or/and garlic salt.

in a pan you heat up the ketchup and brown sugar on stove top heat medium. Stir often.
After a while it will look like bbq sauce but thicker just keep on mixing and keeping it heated.
Once it thins out a little you can add your seasons like minced onion, vinegar, or garlic salt, or go for something you normally like.

[Crox Rava]

Key lime Cake
3 parts - Cake, Glaze, and Frosting

Cake
1 Box lemon cake mix
1 Box lime jello (small)
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup orange juice (I squeeze mine fresh. Had to sub in some lime juice because I spilled the first bit and ran out of oranges! >< )
4 eggs

Glaze
12 TBS Confectioners Sugar
1/2 cup lime juice (Again, fresh squeezed is the way to go!)

Frosting
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup Confectioners Sugar (This will provide moderate sweetness. Feel free to use more or less to taste.)

It's pretty straight forward. Be sure to whisk your eggs, then add them to the rest of the cake ingredients. Stir until damp all over, don't overdo it. There will be some small lumps left in there.

If you ask me, layer cakes > all other cakes. Don't settle. I actually bought a pair of 9" pans for this bad boy. Whatever you decide to do, pour your gooey green batter into the pan(s) and bake according to the boxed mix instructions. The Jell-o won't mess it up a bit.

While you wait, go ahead and hand wash your whisk. You'll need it clean for the glaze later.

When the outside of the cake is golden and a knife goes in and comes out clean, it's done!



Go ahead and pop each layer out on a cooling rack. If you don't have cooling racks (like me) a dinner plate will suffice. It will still be delicious. While the cake is cooling, it's time to whip up some mouth-puckering lime glaze!

Take your freshly cleaned whisk (you cleaned the egg yuck off of your whisk, right?) and stick the business end into your lime juice/confectioner's sugar mix. Let 'em have it!



You pretty much don't want to see any colloidal sugar in there. Whisk it good, baby! Now you may be looking at your nice brown cake layers cooling on the racks (er, plates), and you might be thinking to yourself, "Crox, how on earth am I going to get my glaze into there?" I would answer you, "Put some holes in it! Nao!" Grab a wooden spoon and just poke a few holes in the top, not quite all the way through. You don't want to make a puddle if you can help it.



That done, dribble half of your glaze or so over the bottom layer. Make sure to hit each of the holes at least a little bit. If you go nuts at this stage and use up all of your glaze, just squeeze some more limes and mix up some more. No harm done.



At this point, set aside whatever glaze you have left. It's time to make the frosting so we can start stacking this beauty up! All I did was dump the ingredients into a food processor and give it a few good spins, stir a bit with the wooden spoon, then a couple more spins. Slather a nice thick layer onto the bottom cake, then carefully lift the top cake and set it in place. If it threatens to tip over, you may need to put a toothpick or four in there to hold it steady.

Now repeat the glazing steps (punch holes with the spoon, dribble all over and hit each hole) for the top layer. Then spread the rest of the frosting over the top and around the sides. Ain't she a beaut?



Finally, you want to eat this thing chilled. Cover it and place it in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve. Slice and enjoy, friends!

[Captain Bubbles]

zomgs *drools at your kitchen! Also at the cake, I'll see if I can convert it!

[Crox Rava]

Yeah, let me know how it turns out! If I can make it gluten-free, so much the better!

[Captain Bubbles]

Lemon Meringue Pie

Well, key lime cake is on my schedule for next week I don't have the ingredients yet, so I settled for a lemon meringue pie. Yes, this is the second time I make it this week, but that's only because it kicked my butt last time and I needed a rematch with it.

I know I already posted how to make pie crust (see page 2 : quiche recipe, for ingredients), but I've got pictures now, so here they are :

Mix in the dry ingredients, cut in butter, work at it until it looks like coarse corn meal, make a well in the middle, pour in wet ingredients (*note: do water a Tablespoon at a time, I only had to use one) You want the dough to be just the right amount of wet, so that it combines well together and leaves the side of the bowl without sticking. Dust some white rice flour on a sheet of plastic wrap, cover the dough and refrigerate two hours.



........... 2 hours later!

Sprinkle white rice flour on your work surface and rolling pin. Roll the dough. The more flour you add, the easier it will be to add it to the pan. I don't worry too much about it for the bottom crust, only for the top portion if any. So I pretty much put little patches of dough together 'til it's all covered.



For this particular recipe, the pie crust needs to be precooked. Preheat oven to 375F and bake the crust for 11-12 minutes, no more. The bottom will probably rise, it's alright, just poke a hole in it and it will be flat again. Now, put the cooked crust aside and let it cool.

Now for the filling! Here's what you need :

Meringue
4 egg whites
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoon sugar

Lemon filling
4 egg yolks
1/3 cup tapioca starch (corn starch works better, but I don't eat corn)
1 1/2 cup water
1 1/3 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
3 tablespoon melted butter
1/2 cup lemon juice

Keep the oven on 375F.

The meringue needs to be made first because it takes a while, especially without an electric mixer. So first, separate the eggs and keep the yolks for later.

In a bowl, add the apple cider vinegar to the egg whites. Start whisking until it forms soft peaks (first picture). It will take a few minutes. Once there, start adding the sugar slowly and keep whisking. It will take another minute or two before you get hard peaks (second picture). Put the meringue aside for now.



Now for the lemon filling. Whisk the egg yolks in a medium mixing bowl and set aside. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the water, tapioca starch, salt and sugar and mix well. Keep mixing until it boils and let it bubble for one minute, while still mixing. Turn the heat off and gradually add the hot mixture to the egg yolks, little bits at a time, while whisking the yolks. When the saucepan is empty, put the egg mixture back in and heat for one minute over low heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, stir in butter and lemon juice.



Now, it's time for putting everything together. Pour the hot lemon-egg filling into the pie shell. Cover right away with meringue. Spread it nicely to seal the edges of the crust. (*This is important! When you transfer the pie from the counter to the oven, be nice and gentle because the filling is super runny and you don't want to spill anything. Not that I've ever done that and had to spend 2 hours cleaning up sticky meringue and lemon from the kitchen floor or anything... I'm just saying that would not be fun *cough)

Bake in the oven for about 12-13 minutes, until the meringue is nice and golden. Let the pie cool for an hour on the counter, then put it in the fridge for another 3 hours or so before serving (otherwise the filling will be very runny)

[Captain Bubbles]

Making your own flours

I make my own flour every week and have been asked why and how I do this, so here it is! It's pretty long to read, but if that kind of stuff interests you, believe me, it's worth it!

Why?
First of all, if you don't eat gluten like me, you know that gluten free all purpose flour is ridiculously expensive. So it's definitely a way to save money.

Also, making your own flour allows you to soak your grains before hand. It's a ritual that has been lost with mass production and food processing, but it should be crucial for the preparation of any grains, since it neutralizes most of the harmful components, like phytic acid and lectins. Phytic acid has been called an anti-nutrient, meaning it binds with minerals like iron and calcium, preventing the body from absorbing what it needs. Lectins seem to have much the same effect as gluten on the body and has been associated with diseases such as IBS, Crohn's, colitis, thyroiditis, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, arthritis - need I say more?

Soaking grains, seeds and legumes is basically a way to pre-digest your food, since the human digestive system isn't made to deal with these food sources. Humans have been hunters/gatherers and in the scheme of things, have only started eating grains recently and the body just hasn't adjusted.

If you want more information about the health side, may I suggest these three amazing resources :

http://www.greenmedinfo.com/page/dark-side-wheat-new-perspectives-celiac-disease-wheat-intolerance-sayer-ji
http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/lectins/


How
I make flour once a week. I plan all my meals and desserts ahead so I know how much milling I need to do, so I don't waste anything. When you soak grains and mill them, they will not last nearly as long as plain old flour and should be kept refregirated, so it's important to plan ahead.
*note : When I made flour this week, I made sure to measure all my quantities. 3 cups of millet yielded 4 cups of flour, same with rice. 3 cups of chickpeas yielded 6 cups of flour.

The first step should be to choose what kind of flour to make. For all my baking, I use a mix of tapioca and potato starch (which you can just buy at the store, no need to soak, they are roots), and I use chickpea flour, brown rice flour and millet flour. I only use millet because it's what I can find here, but amaranth, buckwheat (not related to wheat, is delicious and gluten free) or sorghum would work great, too.

Now, to soak them. Whatever your choices of grains, legumes or seeds, they should be soaked 24 hours before you do anything with them, in an acid medium. For every cup of grains, use 2 Tablespoons of an acid (I use lemon juice). I'm not exactly sure on the amount of water needed, but I fill up my containers with enough water to cover and then some.



24 hours later, get rid of the soaking water and rinse the grains thoroughly. Turn your oven on the lowest setting - 170C, lay the grains on a cookie sheet and stick them in the oven to dry. It takes a while... 5 hours or so. Stir every once in a while so all grains get exposed to as much heat as possible. It is extremely important that they be dry before milling, or you will destroy your mill grinder.



*Warning! If you're doing chickpea flour, there's an extra step before sticking them in the oven. Chickpeas almost double in size when soaked and they will not fit through most mills.



Pulse them in a blender or food processor a few times to break them down in small chunks, then lay them down on a cookie sheet to dry in the oven.



Once the grains are dry, it's time to mill. For this, you will need an actual grain mill grinder. You can't use a coffee grinder. Mine is the Nutrimill because I've heard good things about it and it can grind legumes too, but you can certainly do your own research. It's a pretty pricy kitchen appliance, but I figure it's worth every penny for eating healthier.



Whichever mill grinder you choose, make sure to follow manufacturer's instructions. At this point, it's pretty simple. I dump the grains in the feeder and push the on button. I believe most electric mill grinder are ridiculously loud. You and your neighbors may wonder why there is an aircraft getting ready for take off in your kitchen.



You're done! Again, just make sure to store your flour in the fridge in an air tight container.

[Captain Bubbles]

Key Lime Cake

Crox... I baked you a cake, but I eated it... o.O

I gluten-freed your recipe. It's now liberated! Look how happy it is!



Here are the ingredients you will need for the batter :
*I put an asterisk next to the ones you may have trouble finding. For the all the flours and starches I use, you can substitute Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Gluten Free flour (2.5 cups), you can find it at any Whole Foods.
Guar gum (it's a powder, don't expect sticky gum!) is used in gluten free flours to help thicken and bind batter better. You can also find it at Whole Foods. Xantham gum may be easier to find, but a lot of people who don't eat gluten also stay away from corn, and xantham is derived from corn, so guar gum is better.
You probably can't find red palm oil at the store. I have to order mine online. It's a super healthy oil. Whatever you do, just don't use vegetable oil! You can use olive oil, coconut oil or high oleic safflower oil.

- 1 cup brown rice flour
- 1/4 cup chickpea flour
- 1/4 cup millet flour
- 2/3 cup potato starch
- 1/3 cup tapioca starch*
- 1 Tablespoon guar gum*
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
----------------------
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 cup red palm oil*
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 Tablespoon lemon zest
----------------------
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups sugar
----------------------
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon tapioca starch
- 1 small packet of lime jello

Start by greasing your cake pans, lining them with wax paper and brush oil on top of that too.



Preheat the oven to 350F. You'll need 3 mixing bowls.
In the first bowl, mix in all the flours, starches, salt and guar gum.
In the second bowl, mix in the milk, palm oil, vanilla and lemon zest.
In the third (biggest) bowl, whisk the eggs and slowly add sugar.



Now, slowly add some of the flour mixture to the eggs and sugar, mix well, add some of the oil mixture, mix well. Repeat until all the flour and oil has been incorporated to the eggs and sugar.

In a glass, mix in the baking soda and tapioca starch. Add the orange juice and mix well so it's bubbling. Add that to the batter and fold it in (baking soda, starch and an acid is what I use instead of baking powder since that is made with corn starch)



Finally, add the lime jello packet. Pour the batter in two cake pans and bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes. At around 35 minutes, you can take the cakes out of the oven and poke a few small holes so the inside bakes well too.



I think you know what to do from here! Just a note, powdered sugar contains corn starch. There's a brand called 365 Organic that makes it with tapioca starch instead, also sold at Whole Foods.

By the way, that cake was really yummy and the icing was a winner. Thanks for sharing =)

[Captain Bubbles]

Guess what?! I made fish and chips last night. Healthy ones I mean! It was sooo delicious. I was a bit sad when I read that the secret to perfect batter was beer - being gluten free and all. BUT I found a way around it with hard apple cider! Here's what I did.

- 1lb cod
- 1 cup white rice flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- 1/2 bottle hard cider (I used Woodchucks)
- Oil for frying (red palm oil is the bestest healthiest)

Mix in flour, baking soda and salt. Add hard cider. Add seasonings. Wash the fish, season it with salt and pepper, coat it in white rice flour, dip in batter and fry it. It was ready after about 8 minutes in my fryer. Check this out!



Okay well, presentation isn't really a skill of mine, I just kind of pile things on my plate. The fries are homemade too by the way. Can you believe I ate the whole thing by myself!? It was so good!

[Sticx45]

This sounds funky, and isn't pretty on the plate. But it is completely delicious.

Apple Cinnamon Sausage Kielbasa

2 to 3 red apples, cored and chopped
¼ cup apple juice
½ cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup roughly diced carrots
16 ounce package Kielbasa, coarsely chopped


Directions:

1. Place apples, juice, brown sugar, carrots, and cinnamon in a large saucepan. Add Kielbasa.

2. Cook over medium heat for about 20 minutes. Makes 4 servings.

3. Serve with baked potato or sweat potato.

[Sticx45]

Captain Bubbles wrote:

Key Lime Cake Crox... I baked you a cake, but I eated it... o.O I gluten-freed your recipe. It's now liberated! Look how happy it is!

I must try this, it looks delicious. Do you have the with gluten version? lol

[Captain Bubbles]

Sticx45 wrote:

Captain Bubbles wrote: Key Lime Cake Crox... I baked you a cake, but I eated it... o.O I gluten-freed your recipe. It's now liberated! Look how happy it is! I must try this, it looks delicious. Do you have the with gluten version? lol

The what with gluten free version? The gluten free key lime cake recipe is in that post you quoted. It's also on my blog http://glutenfreequest.wordpress.com/2011/09/26/gluten-free-key-lime-cake/

[Sticx45]

I've been making this for a few years now, it's an adapted recipe from my grandmother's cook book. The closest thing bread I've ever found to relate to it is the bread from Macaroni Grill.

Rosemary bread

Total time required:3 hrs

Ingredients

1 cup water
3 tablespoons olive oil
1.5 teaspoons white shugar
1.5 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon tarragon
1 tablespoon dried rosemary
2.5 cups bread flower
1.5 teaspoon dry yeast

1. add yeast & 1/4 c. warm water, wait 10 min

2. add flour, salt, sugar, oil & let sit for 20min to autolyse if using a stand mixer

3. knead by hand or in stand mixer until dough is smooth any playable

4. add herbs and pepper & knead a bit more to mix well

5. let rise for 1 hour in an oiled & well covered bowl (use a wet towel), in a warm (not
hot) place

6. punch down, let rise for another hour

7. bake at 375 until a nice golden brown

8. remove from oven and brush with olive oil. Sprinkle with course salt

[Sticx45]

Captain Bubbles wrote:

Sticx45 wrote: Captain Bubbles wrote: Key Lime Cake Crox... I baked you a cake, but I eated it... o.O I gluten-freed your recipe. It's now liberated! Look how happy it is! I must try this, it looks delicious. Do you have the with gluten version? lol The what with gluten free version? The gluten free key lime cake recipe is in that post you quoted. It's also on my blog http://glutenfreequest.wordpress.com/2011/09/26/gluten-free-key-lime-cake/

Lol i totally did not see that your cake recipe was an adaption of Crox's. Was too excited for new things to try out!!!