The Sunday Recipe: Fresh Cherry Clafoutis

July 18, 2021 at 6:00 am (Recipes)
Tags: , ,

Fresh Cherry Clafoutis

I wanted to offer a recipe that used fruit at its peak right now. Unfortunately, the bag I got at the store was so “at its peak” that there were mushed cherries in the center and it was leaking juice by the time I got it home. I picked through them, cleaned the cherries with vinegar water, and there was more than enough to make the clafoutis.

Fresh Cherry Clafoutis

Ingredients

  • 2 cups sweet cherries, pitted and sliced in half
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 can full fat coconut milk
  • ¼ cup maple syrup
  • ¼ cup almond flour (or flour of your choice)
  • 2 tablespoons coconut oil or unsalted butter
  • 1 teaspoon tapioca or cornstarch
  • 1 teaspoon almond extract
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/8 teaspoon sea salt

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 375.
  2. Clean, pit, and slice cherries in half.
  3. Place butter in a glass dish and microwave to melt then spread.
  4. Pour the cherries into the buttered pie plate and spread out.
  5. Whisk or blend the remaining ingredients until smooth.
  6. Pour over cherries.
  7. Back at 375 for 40 minutes.
  8. Cool and chill for 4 hours or overnight.
  9. Enjoy!

Leave a Comment

The Sunday Recipe: Simple Waldorf Salad

May 23, 2021 at 6:00 am (Recipes)
Tags: , ,

Simple Waldorf Salad

This is a basic recipe based on the old Betty Crocker one. I remember having Waldorf salad as a side dish on special occasions as a kid. It was one of my favorites. It has probably gone out of fashion but I think it’s time to revive it in my house. The Betty Crocker recipe calls for serving it on lettuce, but I like to just use it as a fruit side dish or snack.

The basis for this dish is simply apples, celery, and pecans with a dressing of prepared mayo, lemon, and milk. I was going to use Granny Smith apples because we used tart Northern Spy apples when I was growing up, but it called for red apples and I happened to have some Snapdragon on hand so I used that. I almost added two chopped Granny Smith because I tend to like things lightly dressed and this made a lot of dressing, but I just went with it for this time.

I toast my pecans for things like this in the toaster oven. I use the lightest setting and make sure the pecans are whole and ridges up. You can also toast them in a hot pan on the stove for just a few minutes, moving them around with a spoon to keep them from burning. Or, you could just use them as is.

Ingredients

  • ½ cup mayonnaise (I prefer Hellman’s vegan mayonnaise or Just Mayo, which are both egg free.)
  • 1 tablespoon almond milk (or whatever milk you prefer.)
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1/3 cup pecan halves (I measured 1 ½ ounces or 44 grams, then toasted them.)
  • 2 stalks of celery, cleaned and diced
  • 2 red apples

Directions

  1. Toast your pecans however you like then set aside to cool.
  2. Mix together the mayonnaise, milk, and lemon juice in a small dish.
  3. Dice the celery and place in a medium bowl.
  4. Break or chop the pecan halves. I like to have fairly large chunks so I usually break or chop a pecan down the middle then each half into 3 pieces. Dump in with the celery.
  5. Stir in the dressing.
  6. Core, and dice apples. I like to cut the apple in half down the middle, notch each end to take out a little triangle and then use the tip of my knife to take the very center, where the seeds are, out. Lay the cut side down on the cutting board and cut from top to bottom down the center. Then cut each of those quarters you created in half lengthwise. Now you can slice across all four sections, making nice quarter inch bite size pieces. Mix the apple into the dressing as you finish each half apple, to prevent browning.
  7. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Leave a Comment

The Sunday Recipe: Chocolate Coconut Cake

May 16, 2021 at 6:00 am (Recipes)
Tags: , , , ,

Chocolate Coconut Cake

Ingredients

  • ¾ cup maple syrup
  • ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons coconut flour (105 grams)
  • 6 tablespoons or 30 grams cocoa powder (I used Hershey’s)
  • ¾ teaspoon baking powder
  • ¾ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • 2 large eggs (I used 1 jumbo and 1 small from our hens)
  • ½ cup coconut milk (I used full fat but the fat had congealed and I didn’t blend it so it would be the equivalent of light, I imagine)
  • ¼ cup coconut oil, in it’s liquid state
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ cup boiling coffee (Hot water works fine too.)

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prep a 9 by 9 baking pan. (I prefer a glass dish.)
  2. When working with coconut, it seems to be particularly important to make sure everything is warmed up to room temp. This is easy enough to do with the aid of a little tap water and the microwave. Put the eggs in hot tap water for just 10 minutes. Warm the coconut oil on 30% power for 2 minutes. If you keep your maple syrup in the fridge, as we do, you can also warm that on 30% power for 2 minutes.
  3. Sift together the coconut flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
  4. Whisk the eggs in a bowl.
  5. Beat in the coconut milk.
  6. Mix in the maple syrup.
  7. Mix in the coconut oil.
  8. Add the vanilla extract.
  9. Mix in the dry ingredients. (This will get very thick, very quickly.)
  10. Stir in the hot coffee or water.
  11. Pour into the prepared baking pan.
  12. Bake for 30 minutes or until a sharp knife or tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean.
  13. Cool and enjoy. (Some whipped coconut cream is perfect with this.)

Leave a Comment

The Sunday Recipe: Vanilla Coconut Milk Ice Cream

May 9, 2021 at 6:00 am (Recipes)
Tags: , , ,

Vanilla Coconut Milk Ice Cream

Last summer I made coconut milk ice cream but the recipe called for using raw eggs. Well, my daughter and I both got very sick with what seemed like Salmonella poisoning. I decided to try again but follow the directions for a cooked custard vanilla ice cream.

Ingredients

  • 2 cans coconut milk
  • 4 egg yolks
  • ½ cup maple syrup
  • 4 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions

  1. In a medium saucepan, on medium heat, stir the coconut milk gently but continuously until all solids have dissolved and the mixture is steaming, but not boiling.
  2. Remove from heat and set aside.
  3. Separate the eggs and refrigerate the egg whites for another recipe.
  4. Whisk or stir the egg yolks and maple syrup together.
  5. Drizzle the warm coconut milk into the egg yolk and maple mixture while stirring vigorously to temper the eggs.
  6. Return the mixture to the saucepan and heat over medium heat, stirring continuously, until steaming.
  7. Continue to heat for another five minutes, stirring to prevent scorching on the bottom. (If you start to seeing boiling, remove from heat immediately.)
  8. (If you have a candy thermometer, you can check to make sure the mixture reaches 160, but if you keep stirring for five minutes after it starts to steam, you’re pretty safe.)
  9. Remove from heat and mix in the vanilla and salt.
  10. Cool then refrigerate for about 8 hours.
  11. Freeze according to ice cream freezer directions or place into a shallow dish and into the freezer for several hours, stirring once an hour until it firms up.
  12. I found two containers from take out food worked pretty well for this and were easy to scoop out of when the ice cream was frozen.

Leave a Comment

The Sunday Recipe: Chocolate Raspberry Coconut Milk Custard

April 25, 2021 at 6:00 am (Recipes)
Tags: , , , , , ,

Chocolate Raspberry Coconut Milk Custard

This is one I make often, mostly for myself but my family doesn’t seem to mind. It’s gluten and dairy free, plus refined sugar free.

This time I don’t think I put enough water in around the ramekins, but no matter how poofed it gets, once it’s chilled, it is still delightful creamy goodness.

I use full fat coconut milk in this but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work with light. Just don’t try it with the cartons of coconut milk, I don’t think that would be the same.

I don’t mind the seeds in the raspberries but if they bother you, try frozen cherries.

This recipe is also easy to cut in half and I often do that to make it easier because then I can just use a square tin and four ramekins. I even bake it in the toaster oven on the front porch in the hot weather.

If you give it a try, let me know how you like it.

Ingredients

  • 1 can (approximately 13.5 ounces) canned coconut milk
  • 4 eggs
  • ¼ cup maple syrup
  • 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
  • 1 tablespoon tapioca flour/starch
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 8 ounces frozen raspberries (about 3 tablespoons per ramekin)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  2. Place the 8 ramekins into a roasting pan or baking dishes.
  3. Put a layer of raspberries in the bottom of the dishes.
  4. Heat 4 cups of water for a water bath. You may need more if the pan is big.
  5. Place the rest of the ingredients in a blender or bowl and mix thoroughly. (I used an immersion blender.)
  6. Pour batter slowly over fruit.
  7. Pour hot water into pan around ramekins. (Be careful, the pan can now become quite hot.)
  8. Bake for 40 minutes.
  9. Remove from oven and remove ramekins from pan to a towel using tongs.
  10. Allow to cool then refrigerate for several hours.
  11. Enjoy!

Leave a Comment

The Sunday Recipe: Vanilla and Peach Coconut Custard

April 11, 2021 at 6:00 am (Recipes)
Tags: , , ,

Vanilla and Peach Coconut Custard

This is a simple custard with just a few ingredients that comes together quickly and is gentle on the stomach.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup of full fat canned coconut milk
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 tablespoons maple syrup
  • 2 tablespoons tapioca flour
  • 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 peach slices, frozen or canned, for each ramekin, diced

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  2. Place the four ramekins in a square baking dish, metal or glass work.
  3. Put one layer of chopped peaches in the bottom of the dishes.
  4. Heat 2 cups of water for a water bath.
  5. Place the rest of the ingredients in a blender or bowl and mix thoroughly. (I used a bullet blender.)
  6. Pour batter slowly over fruit.
  7. Pour hot water into pan around ramekins. (Be careful, the pan can now become quite hot.)
  8. Bake for 40 minutes.
  9. Remove from oven and remove ramekins from pan to a towel using tongs.
  10. Allow to cool then refrigerate for several hours.
  11. Enjoy!

Leave a Comment