Chocolate

"All you need is love.  But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt."  Charles M. Schulz 

Made five servings this size

Here is my favorite chocolate dessert recipe.  I don't remember where or who I stole it from but it's become a favorite of my guests who are generally starved for dessert whenever they dine at my humble abode.  Reasons for this deprivation can be found in the various sized pants that haunt my closet.  Yes, if it's in the house and it's not nailed down I am most likely to eat it.  Therefore, I tend to only keep on hand foods that won't nudge me toward my larger sizes.

So here we go with a chocolate dessert recipe that will fool some of the people most of the time into believing that they are eating a dairy rich mousse.  Because this dessert contains no dairy and is sweetened with agave nectar, a food product with a low glycemic index, it's almost good for you.  What tips it over the top on the goodness scale is the addition of cocoa powder.  We all know, or can rationalize, the health benefits of chocolate.

Ingredients:
2 avocados
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup agave nectar
2 t vanilla

Whip everything together in a blender.  Place into a bowl or container, cover, and cool in the fridge for four to twenty-four hours (yes, you can make it ahead of time) or in the freezer for about an hour (yes, you can make it at the last minute).  Serve with strawberries or any fruit you think would go great with chocolate.

True confession:  I'm not sure that this dessert is all that it can be.  I'm going to experiment with other extracts besides vanilla, such as a cherry extract or some such flavors and report back. 

Loveya
The Mom

Altered Lemonade

 "We are living in a world today where lemonade is made from artificial flavors and furniture polish is made from real lemons."  Anna Katharine Green

Basil Lemonade

This is a simple recipe for a refreshing summer drink.  It's basically lemonade with fresh basil added.  Now, you ask, who in the world would want to add fresh basil to lemonade.  How about someone who's planted way too much basil and their freezer is already bursting with little frozen cubes of pesto.

Other reasons for adding fresh basil to lemonade is because the drink is delicious, basil is so darn good for you, and because somebody planted way too much basil.

To substantiate my claim of the nutritional goodness of basil I quote that source of infinite wisdom and knowledge, the Internet.  Simply Google, basil nutritional benefits, and learn, among other things, that basil is a great source of vitamin K, which is good for your bones, vitamin A, which is a great anti-oxidant, and iron, which helps with the oxygen carrying capacity of your blood.  All this just for getting rid of too much basil!

So there are two recipes for this drink.  One is to purchase frozen lemonade and whip it up in a blender with some fresh basil.  Option number two is a recipe for people who are trying to omit sugar from their diets.  The distructions follow.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup agave nectar, more or less according to taste
Fresh basil, according to taste
Additional sprig of basil for garnish if you're trying to impress someone, or if you just have too much basil. 

Whip up in blender.  Pour over a glass filled with ice.  Let it sit a bit to allow the ice to melt down.  Add more ice.  Enjoy!

Loveya
The Mom

Gazpach No

"In Mexico we have a word for sushi: bait."  Jose' Simons

Summertime is a great time for a get-together with family and friends.  It's also a great time to consume light and cool food.  A summer favorite is gazpacho, which is served by every host or hostess in the world who happens to own a soup tureen or a large bowl that can double as such.  And because you belong to that elite group that does not want to be like every other host or hostess in the world you are longing to serve something just a bit different.  I'm here for you!

Although this cold soup has a tomato base along with some onion and peppers, the similarity to gazpacho ends there.  This cold soup is a medley of delicious, intricate flavors that will have your guests asking, "Where did you buy this stuff?"  OK.  That's what my friends ask because of a few kitchen mishaps.  They're convinced that my culinary skills shine best at the drive-up window or deli.  Oh, ye of little faith!

But back to this delicious soup.  It's got to be made in two steps just to keep track of all of the ingredients.  And even though there's a rather long list of ingredients it's all pretty common stuff.  Best of all, this soup keeps for days in the fridge so you can make it a day or two ahead of time.  Finally, it makes a lot.  That means that you could even make it for your very own self and have enough delicious soup for a week's worth of lunches.

Step One:
In a blender combine:
6 Roma tomatoes cut into chunks
1/2 sweet onion cut into chunks
1 large red pepper, seeded and cut into chunks
3 cloves garlic, peeled
Fresh dill and basil to taste
2 T lemon juice
2 T olive oil
1/4 cup raisins
2 slices pickled jalapeno pepper
1/2 t salt

Whip this up until everything is chopped pretty fine and then turn the blender speed to low and slowly add:
1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes, finely chopped

When all of this is wonderfully blended but not liquefied, stop and have a glass of red wine or a nice cold beer.  For goodness sakes, it's summer and it's hot.  And yes, the jalapenos are optional as is just about everything else except death and taxes. 

Step Two:
Place into a large, ceramic bowl or 1/2 gallon jar:
5 Roma tomatoes, diced
1/3 cup sun dried tomatoes, finely chopped
1 small, sweet yellow pepper, diced
1 avocado, diced
1 small can sweet corn, drained

Mix all these ingredients together and then pour the contents of the blender on top.  Mix.  Chill,  Serve with a little minced parsley on top for garnish.   If you've made this in a glass jar you can just twist the lid on and store it that way in the fridge.  

Total time to make this delicious soup should be about 30 minutes if you have any kind of skills with a knife.  You could probably knock the time down to 20 minutes if you're not especially attached to all of your fingers or you don't mind a few finger nails in your food.  Your choice.

Loveya
The Mom

A Really Good Broth

"I don't even butter my bread.  I consider that cooking."   Katherine Cebrian

Have you ever read one of those wonderful recipes for a really good broth?  The recipe generally instructs the would-be gourmand (wbg) to roast vegetables, usually onions, carrots and celery.  It goes on to instruct the aforementioned to perhaps roast some bones or carcasses.   And finally, when the veggies and the animal matter have taken on a lovely shade of deep brown everything is placed into a large kettle of water and simmered for three to seven days while the wbg makes sacrifices to the broth god, perhaps the offering or promise of a first born and a goat thrown in for good measure, unless the goat is already in the pot.  Also, just to make life more interesting, the directions suggest you use a pot that is larger than those used for prison populations.  But you soldier on because you've always wanted to make a really good broth.

Well, relax.  I have a broth recipe that is so easy you're going to want to send me cards of thanks in which you've enclosed various denominations of paper money, which is so much easier to mail than coins.  OK.  Maybe there won't be that money thing going on but you're going to love this recipe for its ease, its taste, and for the amount of lying you'll be able to do claiming that you slaved all day over the broth pot to bring this taste treasure to your family and friends.

Best of all, this puppy is vegetarian and inexpensive but has the aroma and taste of a delightful beef broth.  Can life get any better than this?  Let's hope so.

Ingredients

3 T soy sauce or tamari
2 t Kitchen Bouquet
2 T nutritional yeast flakes
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/3 t rubbed sage
2 cups water
1 t oil - now don't get all bent out of shape about what kind of oil.  Use whatever you have on hand unless it has a really strong taste, like roasted yak oil, or if it's something that dripped off the bottom of your car.

Now listen carefully to the distructions, which is a combination of the words directions and instructions and was coined by my two-year-old son who is now in his thirties and hasn't said one cute thing that is appropriate for a G-rated blog in a long while.  But he's still as cute as a button.

Distructions:
Combine all of the ingredients in a saucepan and simmer for 5 minutes.  That means you're going to have to bring the liquid up to a simmer and let it continue to simmer for 5 minutes, which will make this whole project, if you include chopping the onion, take about 10 minutes.

OPTIONS:  Don't you just love choices!  You could add sliced mushrooms and make a mushroom broth.  You will have to cook it just a few extra minutes to accomplish this little miracle.  I've actually served this as a beefy mushroom soup, liar that I am, and got high praises.

Other options include adding veggies to make a vegetable soup.  You could thicken the broth with cornstarch or arrowroot and make a gravy.  The excitement never ends!

One last thing because a bunch of you are out there asking, "WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE NUTRITIONAL YEAST FLAKES?"  Nutritional yeast flakes are rich in minerals and a complete protein, which makes them a plus for this vegetarian broth.  Google them to find out all the other exciting details about this wonderful food item.  You can purchase nutritional yeast flakes on Amazon, of course, or at any health food store that's worthy of the title.  Just make sure you get the flakes and not the powder.  It makes a difference in this recipe.  Ask me how I know.

In subsequent blogs we'll explore other wonderful soups and also what to do with all of that nutritional yeast because you're probably going to buy way too much.  Who knew that it weighed so little and you'd get so much in that package you ordered.  Hang in there!

Loveya
The Mom

The Most Important Meal

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try a gun."   Dad

I've often heard it said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  When questioning speakers who are emoting such platitudes about the importance of eating breakfast the best they can come up with is that breakfast is important because it gets a person off to a good start.  In my book, finding out that I have a winning lottery ticket followed by an hour massage would be a good start.  But being a fair person I decided to do some "research" about the importance of eating a good breakfast.  My research consisted of Googling "breakfast most important meal of the day".  After all, if it's on the Internet, it's got to be true!

According to an impeccable source, breakfast is important because it lowers BMI, reduces fatigue, and improves cognition.  BMI, not to be confused with BM, is the body mass index which is calculated by figuring out a ratio between a person's weight and height.  A "good" number would be right around 22.  A BMI over 25 indicates overweight.  A BMI over 40 indicates that the person is shaped like a concrete bunker, which is not known, like such unfortunates, for its mobility.

So how did we get from breakfast to concrete bunkers, you might ask.  Obviously, I haven't had my breakfast and my cognitive skills are slipping.  In order to get cognition up to par, which, according to Google is the Pennsylvania Association of Realtors, I'm going to skip off to the kitchen a whip up my favorite breakfast.  Actually, my favorite breakfast is one that somebody else whips up, but that's not going to happen anytime soon.

My Almost Favorite Breakfast

Apple juice
Ginger, optional
Dash of lemon juice 
Strawberries
Blueberries
Ground flax seed, if it's handy
Yogurt, unless on I'm on dairy free kick
Banana, if there's one in the freezer
Any other fruit for the good of the order

I begin by running an apple or two along with a half of a lemon (peeled) and a small piece of ginger through my juicer.  Next I put the juice into my Vita-Mix along with additional fresh or frozen fruit and any handy ground flax seed and maybe yogurt.  Then I'll whip it into a drink.  Today I happen to have a quarter of a fresh pineapple sitting around so that's going to go into the juicer too.

As you can see, this is a very precise recipe, or as my father used to say, "Put away that micrometer and get a life!"  As you can also see I own a juicer and a Vita-Mix.  A juicer is a good way to get a heap of fresh fruits and veggies into a glass.  It saves a lot of chewing time.  A Vita-Mix, because of its 2 horsepower motor which runs like a dervish on speed, is also a good way to turn fruits and vegetables into liquids with the added bonus of the pulp, which is great fiber and brings us back to BM's, which has nothing to do with BMI's or BMW's  Or does it?  Inquiring minds!

If you're still following this you've probably had your breakfast and your cognitive skills rank right up there with Einstein's.  Your BMI is about to take a dive and you're full of energy.  Hang on.  I'll be there in a minute.

Loveya
The Mom