Flying Off the Handle: Coconut Macaroons

I like turtles.  I like the saying, "Behold the turtle.  He only makes progress when he sticks his neck out." 

This turtle is in my garden.  It isn't real, but in the Spring, we sometimes see painted turtles when we go for a walk.   The females come up from the water to lay eggs somewhere.  This year I was driving my car home from grocery shopping when I spotted a fairly large turtle crossing the road.  It was not a major road, and there were no cars behind me, so I stopped, put on the emergency flashers, and scooted the turtle off, into the grass.  My good deed for that day. 

When we first needed to have gluten free treats, I thought about what things are naturally gluten free.  I investigated a bunch of coconut macaroon recipes and tweaked/combined them to make my own.  Go ahead and stick your neck out on this one.....coconut has never been my favorite food; it rather ranked with cauliflower and celery as things that I don't love but don't hate, either.  Until I tried these.  These are moist and chewy.  I think my technique keeps them from being too crumbly.  I have since tried coconut macaroons from the store and there is no comparison, even if you don't need to have them gluten free. 

HH's Coconut Macaroons

Preheat oven to 350.

Take one 14-oz pkg plus one 7-oz pkg of Baker's Angel Flake coconut.

Mix it with one 14-oz can of Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk,

and 1 tsp vanilla.

You need a nice sturdy spoon for this!  (Remember....slow and steady wins the race!)

Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper.  Yes, do it.  You will be glad you did!

Use a spoon to pull out 1" glops of mixture.  Mold it with wet fingers and put it on your parchment.  I tend to get 46 cookies.  They look like little wooly white turtles, all lined up. 

It's fun to get creative here and sprinkle some of the macaroons with cinnamon or cocoa powder.  The cocoa powder adds a nice touch!  Some recipes suggest putting mini chocolate chips in the mixture; I topped a few with a single Baker's semi-sweet chocolate chunk piece. 

Bake 11 minutes.  Allow to cool on parchment in pan.  Consume.  Store remainder covered in the refrigerator.  John says they also taste good frozen.....

 

Kielbasa and Veggies

Last night Peter and I went to another car show.  It was a beautiful evening with a nice breeze.  Perfect!

Personal touches are important everywhere.  Peter's 1935 Ford Pickup has my personal touch, which is a hand-knitted sweater on the greyhound hood ornament.  Here it is:

Pretty snazzy looking vehicle, too!

The other day I put my personal touch on Kielbasa in the 10" skillet.  Here's what I did:

Kielbasa and Veggies

Heat up 2 Tbs. olive oil in the 10" skillet.

Add 2 potatoes, cut into small chunks.

Cook for 5 minutes, stirring every once in a while.

Turn to low and cover with a lid.  (Any lid will do.  Look around the kitchen for one that fits from your other pots and pans.)  Turn the heat to low and cook 10 min. more.

Increase the heat to medium low.  

Add 1 pepper, cut up, and 10 oz Baby Bella mushrooms, sliced.

Sprinkle on 1-1/2 tsp. garlic pepper seasoning.

Cover and cook 10 min. more.

Add 1 14-oz Hillshire Farms Turkey Kielbasa, sliced into 3/4-inch slices.

Pour on 1/4 cup red wine mixed with 1 Tbs gluten free Worstershire Sauce

(Lea and Perrins is good).

Cover and simmer 10 min.

Uncover, stir, and simmer 10 min more.

Serve!  (Total of 45 min. cooking time.)

 

FYI, it went over pretty well.  There were no leftovers....

Round-Like-the-Moon Sour Cream Coffee Cake

On Saturday night Peter and I went to my cousin Nancy's birthday party.  It was on Sheffield Island, which is a 30-minute ferry ride from Norwalk, CT.  They had clams and mussels, then your entree of chicken or beef or whatever, with grilled vegetables.  It was a fun evening.

We took a tour of the historic light house there.  The sun was setting and the moon was rising.  The full moon was actually yesterday, but Saturday's moon seemed full enough!  I was overtaken by the beauty of the moonlight sparkling on the water.  I took lots of photos.  Here is the best one, I think:

I find the moon to be fascinating.  I mark my calendar with the dates of the full moon, but I don't necessarily pay attention to it until the moon is out in all its glory and making me breathless. 

I guess I like round things.  I like the moon and hand-made pottery bowls and cast iron skillets.  

I have a new 6" skillet and have been thinking how nice it would be to have an array of recipes for making smaller-sized gluten free cakes in it.  Small cakes that I don't need to push on people to eat it up so it doesn't go bad.  A nice dessert for 3 or 4 people, with a couple of pieces left over for the next day.  (My family doesn't tend to eat big servings of dessert.)

I played around with it a few times, and although I am still working on it, I had success with this recipe.  It came up a little high in the pan, so sprinkling a topping on it was rather tricky, but it was moist and not crumbly, even two days later.  Here is what I did:

  Round-Like-the-Moon Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease a 6" cast iron skillet.

Mix 3/4 cup gluten free pancake mix (I used Cherrybrook Kitchen Gluten free Dreams),

1/2 tsp. cinnamon, and

1/4 cup sugar.

Add 1 Tbs. oil,

1 tsp vanilla,

1 egg, and

1/2 cup sour cream.

Bake 20 min.

Meanwhile, mix until crumbly: 

3 Tbs sugar,

1 Tbs. Earth Balance margarine, and

3 Tbs. mini chocolate chips.

Top the cake with your mixture.

Turn on the broiler and broil a few minutes to set the topping.  (My cake was probably at least 6 inches from the broiler.)

Let it cool, and serve.  If you have any left over, do not store it in your pan; instead, transfer it to a plate and cover with plastic wrap. 

Flying Off the Handle: Key Lime Pie

Today it is so humid out that this is what all the windows in my house look like:

You would think we are living in Florida!

I was in Florida in late March.  We were in the Clearwater area.  We had a really nice time learning about sea turtles and manatees.  We saw manatees in the wild and took pictures.  We watched dolphins gracefully jumping in the bay.  It was fascinating to a northerner like me!

At dinner one evening and I ordered key lime pie for dessert.  As I enjoyed it, I could only think, "I can make this for John."  So I went home and tried a recipe.  It was okay, but not exactly what I had been looking for.  Then I found a different type of filling.  I combined that with my own pie crust and WOW.  This was it!  I have since made this key lime pie 3 or 4 times.  It is not low calorie or low fat, so make your servings on the smaller side.  Before we begin, however, I have found these cookies to be wonderful for the crumb crust!

HH's Key Lime Pie

Preheat your oven to 350.

Take one 8-oz package of GF cinnamon cookies,

and whirl them in a food processor until they are little crumbs.

Add 6 Tbs of melted butter and whirl again.

Press into a pie dish and bake for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, use a whisk to blend:

2 14-oz cans of sweetened condensed milk,

3/4 cup of key lime juice (this can be hard to find.....in my local market they had it hiding with the mixers!), and

1/2 cup sour cream

Pour this into the hot crust and pop it back in the oven for 6-7 minutes.  Seriously. 

That's it.

Chill.  Serve with whipped cream on top. 

Summertime Sausage Frittata

On Monday I took a fun class on making pinch pots.  We learned about the art form of "wabi-sabi," which involves an appreciation of things that are imperfect.  Like me. 

I made three little pinch pots as we listened to a story about wabi-sabi with our eyes closed.  I was pretty happy with the way they came out, asymmetry and all: 

They will get fired, and next week I can paint them.

It is another busy week.  Today I took off from the onions and peppers idea in my last post, and I created another quick dinner from leftovers!  Knowing it doesn't have to be "perfect" is quite a relief sometimes....

Summertime Sausage Frittata  (serves 3-4) 

Heat a 10" skillet on medium.

Add 1-2 Tbs olive oil.

Add 1/2 onion, chopped;

1 pepper, chopped; and

some garlic pepper seasoning (to taste).

Cook and stir for a while, until the colors of the pepper look bright and shiny. 

Add 2 cooked sausages, sliced.

Simmer it all together a little. 

Meanwhile, beat four eggs.

Pour the eggs over the mixture in the skillet.

Let it cook a little while.  Turn on the broiler.

Turn off the stove (that's the part I forgot to do today....).

Place your cast iron skillet under the broiler (not too close!) until the top looks "done."

Take two pieces of sliced Cabot cheddar cheese.

Break it into little pieces.

Scatter the pieces on top of the egg mixture.

Broil a little more....watching closely so it doesn't burn.

Remove.  Cut into four pieces.  Remember to turn off your broiler.  Serve!

 

One nice bonus of the cast iron skillet is that it is perfect for under the broiler.  :)

Skillet Onions and Peppers

We have a birdhouse.  Peter got it for me last year as an anniversary gift.  We were happy when house wrens moved in.  They are cute and have a pleasant song.  Here is a house wren:  http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/House_Wren/id 

About a month after the house wrens established their home, we heard a big ruckus outside.  After a brief fight, house sparrows moved in.  Here is a house sparrow:  http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/House_Sparrow/id 

The house sparrows tend to be those birds you find everywhere, like at McDonald's, or living above store entrances.  They have an annoying "cheep."  No song.  But I am biased at this point.....

I didn't like the way they just took over. 

John and I tried to drive them away by spraying them with water (using a super soaker), but we soon found that these guys are *very* persistent.  When I saw them procreating in my tomato plants, I decided that was too much.  On the fourth of July, 2009, we took down the house and made a smaller hole (exactly one inch in diameter) of metal, so they couldn't enlarge it.  Here is the house:

The house sparrows could not get in, but they don't give up easily.  It took weeks before they finally left.  The wrens were back in business.

This year, a similar situation ensued, although the sparrows attempted to set up house earlier.  Beats me why they continue like this.  They positively can't get in.   On the day in early July that we visited Old Sturbridge Village, a full battle was raging.  The wrens were dive-bombing the sparrows, who sat on the house like it was their own.  Sometimes they were fighting on the ground.  It wasn't pretty.  I came home and looked outside for any carcasses.  Thankfully, none were found. 

The wrens won.  They have been nesting peacefully for a number of weeks now.  The cool thing is that the babies are hatched.  If you sit outside and listen, every so often you will hear a lot of noise coming from the house.  When you look up, you will see a parent at the door, bringing food to their cherubs.  It makes me happy. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Here is a recipe that makes us happy.  It's easy to cook up some onions and peppers in the 8-inch cast iron skillet, then throw them on pasta.  Yum!  Eat and smile!

Skillet Onions and Peppers

Heat 1-2 Tbs Oil in a skillet on medium-low.

Add:  1 cut up green pepper, and one cut up onion.

Increase heat to medium.

Add salt-free garlic and pepper blend to taste (I used McCormick).

Cook and stir every so often, about 15 min. total.

Top your cooked pasta with these veggies, then put on some sauce and cheese.  Smile!

Flying Off the Handle: Blueberry Sauce

John went to an open mic night last night.  He played guitar while his friend, Steph, sang.  After them, another friend of his, Laura, played keyboard and sang.  For one of these songs, John joined her, playing his new melodica.  Here is what a melodica looks like:

Tonight my parents will be coming over for pizza.  We often invite them for this.  It's a nice way to see each other, and they enjoy it. 

Remember the blueberries?  My Dad loves blueberries.  Mom doesn't.  I can't figure out how anyone can not love blueberries, but there is no accounting for taste....

So for dessert, I made this lemon cake, purchased from my local Whole Foods Market.

I know Mom likes lemon cake. 

I will top this cake with a blueberry sauce, from a recipe that I have been using for years.  We put it on pancakes, ice cream, or cake.  Mom can skip the sauce if she chooses.  This cake is delicious without it.  To me, the blueberries will harmonize with the lemon in the cake.   Here is the recipe for.....

Blueberry Sauce

In a small saucepan, combine

1/4 cup sugar

1Tbs cornstarch

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1tsp lemon juice

Gradually stir in 1/2 c. water

Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and comes to a boil.  Add:

2 cups blueberries, rinsed  (either fresh or frozen)

Continue stirring until sauce reaches a boil again. 

Reduce heat; simmer 5 min.

Serve warm.