Tonight's fare at my house is crab, scallops, shrimp and summer vegetables in a light Parmesan and vodka sauce served over whole grain angel hair pasta. Baby greens, feta cheese, walnuts and pepper salad with homemade olive oil and blue cheese dressing. Homemade coffee ice cream and blueberry-necarine pie for dessert.
Sound like a lot of work? It isn't. I do only the easy stuff, and I try to keep it as good for you as possible and still taste like something you want to eat! Otherwise, what's the point? Health is a huge issue and and investment in the body now (whenever now is) is a great step towards living forever, and if your life is as good as mine is, you'll want to make that investment now.
Today I wanted to translate my new olive oil mayonnaise biscuit recipe into a pie crust recipe, so while I was shopping today, I bought the blueberries. They were $$$$, but they are very good for you, so it was a trade off. I made the dough in my Cuisinart using whole wheat Pastry flour and a heaping tablespoon of mayonnaise and cold water. It needs more mayo.
I bought "fake" crab to go with my frozen scallops and shrimp. Fish prep time - 3 minutes tops. If I use a little of each fish, it lasts a lot longer and is much more economical.
I'll boil the pasta and make the sauce. I'll use mushrooms and onions, crookneck and zucchini squash sauted in butter with a little chicken bouillon and add just a hint of 1/2 and 1/2. I'll cut basil, savory and dill from the garden and add some Parmesan cheese to thicken the sauce. I'll put the fish in at the last minute and serve over noodles - actual time? 10 minutes plus boiling time for the pasta.
Salad is made a little at a time starting with a big bowl of baby greens. The more time I have in the kitchen, the more stuff that gets thrown into the salad.
The ice cream is something I've been wanting to do for a long time. I found this very proper English ice cream book, and today I followed directions to a t, and I think the coffee ice cream is going to be delicious. I want to take the idea to school. This ice cream is full of eggs and milk and a little cream, so it's good for the kids.
Speaking of good for the kids, lots of parents have asked about our chocolate chip cookies. The healthy ones you can eat for breakfast.
I start with canola oil. Canola oil is one of those good-for-you oils.
I use about 2/3 rds to 1 cup for every batch, and normally, I make at least two batches.
For two batches of cookies, I use three eggs. For one batch, I'd use two.
I use 1.5 cups white sugar and 1.5 cups brown sugar for a double batch. Normally cookie dough has 2 cups of sugar for one batch or 4 for two, but I've cut the sugar, so when you weigh it all out, a child is getting 2 grams of sugar per cookie which is half a teaspoon. If a child eats two big cookies, he's getting half the sugar he would get if he ate a container of yogurt!
I use 1 teaspoon of baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon of salt per batch.
Mix this goop together and add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice per batch. Cinnamon is very very good for you.
Add 1/2 cup of bran and 1/2 cup of whole oats to each batch. 1/2 cup of freshly ground flax is good for some, but it can make your cookies a bit bitter.
Now is the fun part: I use whole wheat PASTRY flour in combination with unbleached white flour. About half and half. The more whole wheat flour you use, the better because this is an everything-is-good-food. You will need 2.5 cups of flour for each batch. Without the bran, flax and oats, you can add another .5 cup per batch.
60% cocoa chips by Gheradelli chocolate is the best chocolate available, and the dark chocolate is an antioxidant.
Mix the flour into the goop a little at a time. Add the chocolate chips last. Pull chunks of dough out of the bowl with an ice cream scoop. The dough will not be elastic like most cookie dough because of the oil, so you have to form large one scoop cookie balls.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes until top has crackled and there is a faint light brown ring around each cookie.
I'm going to make up recipe cards for parents and leave them at the front of the school to take home. Might take me a week or so.
Next time: the new biscuit - a lively thing of wonder that can be used for breakfast, as a bun for hamburgers, and a soup floater while it's actually good for you.
And don't let me forget the ginger cookie recipe either!
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