I must admit, there will be some of us, who insisted that making bread needs to be the traditional way, ie. mixing, pounding, kneading the dough to “submission”.  One is for being very therapeutic, secondly – healthier for the maker and the consumer. And last but not least the traditional way and all those hard work would result in great tasting loaves.

For me, having watched and followed avidly bread-baking shows and using recipes to a T, I am proud to say I have put in some time to building a new skill at this direction and have had my share of success and failures.  However, I still feel some intimidation right before making them (ah.. the pressure of churning out good looking and great tasting bread – want yes, waste not!).

I mean, we really need to measure out the ingredients carefully to achieve a good product (a cup of this, a pinch of that would not do) and there are other things to watch out for too when doing this, plus time-consuming – like do the preliminary mixing and kneading first, leave it to rise and come back to work on it again.  I could  have gone on and on, that I wistfully wished that I could somehow put the steps all into automatic mode.  Or at least semi-automatic mode while lessening the compromise on taste and healthy factor.

So I have plodded along, most of the time alone, finding out little ways to perfect the techniques and such, until I finally admitted to something big:  we do not need to possess the professional Baker’s magical hands, or their secrets to bread baking in order to churn out such wonderful and healthy loaves.

None! Really… we can be off to a good start by using the device called the Bread Maker or Bread Machine.

No more trying to find the secret professional chefs and bakers won’t tell you, the secret they guard so jealously.  That even if you look over their shoulder when they are doing it, you still won’t be able to produce fantastic results as theirs.

But from what I experience, a bread maker can assist you to be up to par with the best of them.

From mixing the ingredients to determining when to release the yeast, baking your loaf and how long to keep it warm before we get to them are very big pluses for me.

There is so much more I would like to share with you regarding bread baking using the bread maker, so check out the next post!

So, having searched for something nice and simple, I found one on an article.  Rather than pointing you to the website, I have decided to get it the recipe to this same page.  Save you a click!

The first thing you need to know is how to make your own 100% healthy and natural vanilla extract for your homemade vanilla ice cream. Vanilla extract is a basic ingredient in almost any homemade ice cream, but is essential in homemade vanilla ice cream.

You might buy the vanilla extract from a good quality store if you can find an unadulterated brand. But to make your own you’ll need about a quart of milk, a vanilla bean (available at most health food stores), and a teaspoon of honey.

You pour the milk in a saucepan and heat on high while you slice the vanilla bean lengthwise and in half.

Then put the halves of the vanilla bean into the milk. Boil for around 15 to 20 minutes, then cook on medium heat for a half hour or until the milk has a thin sheet of film on top.

Stir the mixture constantly as it cooks to prevent burning. Cool the extract and freeze in several small plastic bottles or containers.

This extract will last you for quite awhile since recipes call for only a few teaspoons each. You should-if you plan to make the homemade vanilla ice cream anytime soon- save a half cup of the extract in a container in your refrigerator.

Whenever you want to make more homemade vanilla ice cream (or any other kind of homemade ice cream) just get the vanilla extract out of the freezer and thaw in the refrigerator until a few tablespoons or so are thawed, then refreeze the rest of the vanilla extract before it completely thaws out.

Now I’ll give you my homemade vanilla ice cream recipe, follow the instructions carefully and you’ll get wonderful results.

Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

You’ll need: 3 eggs, with the egg whites and yolks separated, 1/2 cup honey, 4 cups light cream, and 2 teaspoons vanilla extract.

1. In a medium size bowl beat the yolks until smooth. Gradually add honey, beating until well-blended and thick. In a different small bowl beat the egg whites until stiff, stir beaten whites in with the yolk and honey.

2. Then add the cream and egg mixture together in a saucepan, cook on medium heat, stirring constantly for 15 minutes.

3. Stir in vanilla extract, and either process in an ice cream maker or just freeze in a bucket container overnight, stirring the vanilla ice cream every few hours at first and then allowing the vanilla ice cream to freeze on its own.

Serve with an ice cream scoop.

This homemade vanilla ice cream is rich, creamy, natural, and very healthy I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.

Because if we believe in throwing all required ingredients together into the Icecream Maker’s bowl and hey presto!  30 minutes later, we would most likely get a slushy, a frappe, or a milkshake instead of the valued icecream we sweated out for.

Apparently, after having tried out myself, I find that there are a few things worth noting and doing diligently to get that perfectly churned ice cream everytime.  Having said that, please do not be discouraged if your first few tries turns out a runny sherbet.  I had a few myself too.  On a slightly funny, yet positive note, let’s look at the failures this way: the Icecream Maker seems to be the miracle machine, buy one and you churn out 2 types of desserts or more.

Some people would stand by the salt rock icecream maker although the work is a bit messy and the machine will be churning noisily.  I find that the modern ice cream maker is awesome to use, as long as I do a few things accordingly.

Namely, the bowl of the icecream maker and the chilling canister needed to be in the freezer for at least 24 hours.  And the freezer temperature must be really low, some people would describe it as “blowing” cold, or a blizzard.  If it’s not “blowing” cold, then you may need to check the coils of your refrigerator, any refrigerant leakage etcetera.  Other suggestions would be to use cold packs all over the canister or bowl in order to ensure the freezing temperature requirement is met.

The mixed ingredients are also needed to be chilled in the freezer for about an hour before “making” icecream in the icecream maker.

Someone asked me the other day, how much ice cream could I make with my small icecream maker, which serves 1-1/2 quart, and I told her with a sheepish grin – 2 adults and 1 company.  So buy bigger if you are expecting multiple companies.

There will be more tips and discussions on making homemade ice cream coming in the next installment, next week!

When I say switched-up, I am literally referring to Anna Olson’s Sugar TV series where she bakes something, for example cookies and later on devise ways to upgrade the plain cookies to a nice looking and great tasting dessert fit for guests.  She calls it a ’switch-up’ concoction.  Hope you get the idea, ya?

Lately, I have been having more and more of the switched-up Ice Cream moment and felt that I have done so much switching up for the plain Vanilla Ice Cream, (frankly speaking, bored!).  I need to revamp the idea of Ice Cream as dessert.

The brilliant idea should not include having multiple flavored ice creams in my freezer either.  I’m thinking more of making Ice Creams with the flavors which are in season.  I read somewhere about how Ben and Jerry’s started.  Seems that if strawberries are in season, then they will have strawberry ice cream available all day, running a special sale, until it runs out.  So, if I were to take the idea, and I am lucky to have a few mango trees that fruit abundantly at the backyard,(we practically had to give some away to neighbours, friends and family when in season), I would need to have a good icecream maker and hopefully churn some good desserts regularly.

The first thing you need to know in order to make your own 100% healthy and natural  homemade ice cream is this: Use fresh ingredients whenever possible. The second important thing to know is how to use the IceCream maker to produce top desserts everytime.

Tips on using the IceCream Maker will be discussed in the next post.

Recently I looked into the subject of green tea and got so bored with reading all things about drinking the green tea, it’s health benefits and so on.  And I started wondering how else could one use green tea apart from having it in ice cream, cake and so on.

Immediately I thought of Cooking with Green Tea and discovered to my pleasant surprise that there is actually a book by the same name, authored by Ying Chang Compestine.

So, I just went off and practically devoured the information in the book.  It really was a great way of learning how to treat (for a better

Green Tea Anyone?

word compared to ‘use’) this ingredient called tea, be it for drinking or cooking.

If I were to choose the one information that makes the most impact to cooking green tea from this book, it would be the tips imparted regarding the way we brew the tea; ie. the optimal temperatures required for different types of tea to draw the best flavor out of every cup for drinking or cooking.  Knowing different types and forms of green tea is also important so that we know which would be best for cooking.

Next would be the wholesome tas-tea recipes.  I love the fact that I could use green tea in cooking as a seasoning (just like salt, pepper or paprika) or something like a base stock.  My favorite menu incorporating green tea is in soup form and the green tea rice, not forgetting the spring roll.

So to start our culinary journey using Green Tea, we should get them out of the bag so to speak, and into bottles as you would with other seasoning ingredients.

Eversince then, there were chef/artist Paco Contres who was Adria’s apprentice/technical partner, and an Japanese American young chef working at Mandarin Oriental Tokyo.

We could be mistaken to think that this type of food style just started quite recently, whereas in truth, we could find some elements of it from early 19th century.  Such as Georges Auguste Escoffier (1846-1935).

Author Escoffier in the book Le Guide Culinaire encourages new style of cooking.  In the last few years,

leading chefs all over the world has begun to incorporate such technique.  Like using N2O or nitrous oxide to foam up liquids.  Good idea, because when you volumise the liquid you stretch the amount you pour for yourself and guests. Saves money for restauranteurs too.

Another scientific way to thicken liquid without heating is usage of Xanthan gum powder.  Just whisk the liquid in a jar or bowl and pour in xanthan gum, all this without altering the taste of the liquid.

Chef Michael Smith of the show “Chef at Home” also dedicated an episode to shed a little light on this type of food preparation.  Here’s what he demo-ed on the show: Poach salmon in olive oil infused with herbs like rosemary and lemon zest and this must be done so in precisely 200 deg Celcius which is just below boiling water. Use a remote thermometer to check the exact temperature.

Chef Smith also showed a bottle, quite like your spray pump, where you can foam up any liquid for desserts.  Wonder where we all could get one so we could save time instead of whipping up mousses.

Somebody submitted a question to me a couple of days ago for advice on what is a good gravy and side dish to go with her baked chicken and here is my answer.

The simplest gravy to go with the baked chicken is as follows.  The most Basic 3 items – Chicken broth, cream and corn starch.  Prepare roughly equal parts of broth and cream to make a good gravy.  For every 2 cups of gravy, you need a spoonful of corn starch to thicken it up in the pot.

Next, think of flavoring.  Base the taste, on what you are serving with.  For baked chicken affair, you may add olive, capers, horse radish; herbs such as oregano, rosemary, thyme or even curry paste.

As a side dish, have a go of white beans and bacon.  Later on you could add baby spinach for greater color and healthy goodness.

Side Dish instruction: Saute chopped onions with bacon and sliced garlic.  Add the rehydrated beans (soaked overnight) and water, plus throw in the herb of your choice.  Cook until the beans are tender.  Don’t forget the spinach. Wilt the spinach right before taking the pot off the heat.

Quick note: For the beans, you need to soak them, often overnight and when cooking, do add water to a couple of inches above the bean in the pot.

Note, adding fresh herbs like basil and rosemary will give you a fresh flavor to the end product.

Fancy serving chocolates throughout your party?

When we mention chocolates, we immediately think of the sweet treats that comes in individual pieces like the image here, or the bar.  And most of the time it would be the cocoa brown color, not the white chocolate variety.

So, chocolates for events? Or even the main course of the party? Does that mean we need to serve only the ready-made, high-sugar, unhealthy variety?

You could, if you want to.  Take caution, however that the sweet chocolatey things we serve to guests can only go as far.  Besides the other reason – people tend to get bored having the same thing in one sitting and would not be able to appreciate the beauty of chocolates.  Just like the handful of boys and girls invited into Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory.

The point I am trying to impress upon you is, we could use chocolate or cacao products in other ways.

Speaking of which, I recently watched a TV show on Willy’s Wonky Chocolate Factory.  And the show focused on his thousand-acre cocoa farm in Venezuela, how he cooked lunches for the workers during harvesting season using, yes – grated pure chocolate or cocoa bar – as if it were curry paste.

Later on, when his chocolate factory was set up, he was shown fete-ing his family and friends with baked chicken doused with cocoa or chocolate sauce / gravy.  His product is available in England and online Williescacao.com .

I took cue from this idea and experimented with some of the recipes he has in his cookbook.  Anyone may access a few select recipes from the book online at Williescacao.com/cookbook/ .

I tried the vegetarian Porcini and Chocolate Risotto.  Not bad at all.  Never knew mushrooms go with chocolate.

Dried or Fresh? That is the (first) question.  Herbs like basil, sage, cilantro and peppermint tend to lose their flavor undergoing the drying process, therefore, needed to be bought and used in fresh condition.  Others such as dill, oregano, rosemary and thyme are able to retain their flavor, albeit in higher concentration.  So remember to use half the amount of dried herbs you would normally use for fresh ones.

Some herbs go really well when placed with certain meat or vegetables.  Rosemary, for instance, flavors lamb and beef rather beautifully.  As for fish and seafood, dill should be chosen.  Dill also goes very well with cucumber salad as enhancement to the dressing.

Here’s a quick cucumber salad recipe:

In a bowl, place sliced cucumber and freshly chopped dill.  Add on honey, cider vinegar, ground black pepper and a pinch of salt.  Mix together. Voila! Instant cucumber salad.

Another way to take herbs is as a salad.  Mix fresh ones like peppermint, basil and cilantro into readily-packaged salad to add that extra taste and bite.  When taking herbs as salad, it is best to have fresh uncut leaves, or roughly chopped.

Talking about that extra bite of flavor, we could also throw in as much chopped dill, or any other desired dried herbs as we can take into our bread-baking ingredients.  And what about adding herbs into our favorite cheesecakes? That can be done too.

There are many ways of adding herbs into our dishes, we just need to start slowly and test with them as we go along.

Now why is that so?  Perhaps due to the thoughts of its huge whole size and longer time of preparation and cooking, held back many of us from making it a regular on the menu.

But the truth is, turkey is a healthy meat, and we should use it more often, albeit in different forms, perhaps, so we would not get bored having the same menu.

Let’s think of the many ways we could use turkey meat, apart from using the whole turkey.
a) Minced for meatballs, or even pies and chilli con carne
b) In slices or medallions ie. from the breast part of the meat
c) Cut into pieces eg. Drumsticks and Wings
d) Use the carcass and bones for stock and leftover meats in soups

As for the part of  being a healthy meat, I also read an article recently and here’s what was mentioned:

“1 oz of turkey contains between 15 mg and 24 mg cholesterol
while 1 oz of beef contains 20 and 30mg of cholesterol. It all adds up to a large difference in artery clogging cholesterol between beef and turkey.”

This is good news to me.

Finally, among the many roasted turkey recipes available in YouTube, I found one that we could use for daily meals.