Let's Catch Up

Mothers Day Rhymes with Parfait

I think it's about time for us to catch up, considering it's been a few days since I've posted.

Thursday night we had our weekly dinner, and that went quite nicely. We had the Hawaiian Style Chili. It contained both local beef, and local portuguese sausage. We really have to be careful when buying sausages as they often contain some sort of gluten as a filler, and if dairy is an issue too then that's something else to watch out for in the ingredients list as well. If you're still unsure, try contacting the company. The brand I've been eating without any problems is Gouveas, but I've received no response to the e-mail I sent to the company in which I asked about whether or not their sausage contains gluten. This may be a company I need to call. As I said though, I've experienced no symptoms after eating the product, but this is something I need to get better about. I admit it. Sometimes I do take small risks, but I would never cheat purposely.

I read over at Gluten Free in Georgia and Florida that in her book "The G-Free Diet" Elisabeth Hasselback takes cheating very lightly, and in no way do I want to be associated with that kind of thinking.

Channa Masala

Friday night the Nerd and I dined at home on some delicious chickpea curry. It's based on a recipe for Channa Masala on Seriouseats.com. I couldn't find Garam Masala at Foodland or Pukalani Superette, but I do know that it is available in the bulk spices at Mana Foods. However, I think this dish is quite delicious with Madras Curry powder. This dish has a very spicy, comfort food quality that I can't get enough of. Because there is a little lemon juice, the dish also has just a hint of sourness that enhances all of the spices coating every inch of the chickpeas and that have soaked into the rice. Served alongside a nice salad, or some steamed vegetables, this is a delicious and healthy well balanced meal. I do suggest bringing a large pitcher of water to the table, you might need it.

A Delicious Hot Breakfast for Mother's Day

Sunday was Mother's Day. My moms aren't here with me, but I was able to honor the Nerd's mother by getting up early to make a big, beautiful, and scrumptious brunch. I really only needed 2 hours to prepare everything for this breakfast. The Nerd's brother, the Hunter, and his wife CJ came over for brunch as well. CJ brought me a beautiful jade plant, and they presented his mother with a lovely bouquet.

The Hunter said that he normally needs to put ketchup on his scrambled eggs, partly because of how bland and dry they are, but he felt no need to do that with the eggs I whipped up. I made scrambled eggs that I found the recipe for through Food.com and the recipe is from Foodandwine.com. I had never made scrambled eggs over a double boiler, but I think it is now the only way I will do it. I left out the truffle oil and brioche rolls(of course).

Whisk your eggs up in a bowl with some water while bringing a pot of water up to a simmer. Once the water reachers a good simmer, place a metal bowl on top of the pot and add in a little butter or margarine. Let the butter melt and then add the whisked eggs. Drop the temperature just a bit, and use a heat resistant rubber spatula to scrape the bottom of the bowl as the eggs cook. Just before they are completely set up, add some more butter. Keep scraping and stirring. The eggs should come together in a curd like consistency. Cook the eggs to the firmness you like, and then remove the bowl from the pot and turn off the heat. Add in your seasonings at this point.

Roasted zucchini, onions, and garlic were also a delicious hit. With a little salt and pepper, they were a nice addition to a savory hot breakfast.

I followed a recipe for buttermilk biscuits from Bobsredmill.com, but they didn't turn out as they should have. I may have rolled the dough too thin, but if I hadn't then I don't believe the recipe would have yielded as many biscuits as it says it will. Despite being thin, I think they worked well with the amount of food served. We topped these biscuits with Poha jam. Pohas are berries that are also known as Cape Gooseberries, Goldenberries, and some other names. I found out from CJ that she's been eating some berries called Incan Goldenberries, and they are highly nutritious and full of antioxidants. She was excited to learn that they are also Poha berries and grow wild here on the island. The jam slightly reminds me of very sweet gold cherry tomatoes with sugar. I will happily eat some more.

It was worth a second shot!

Finally, we had a breakfast "dessert" of strawberry, blueberry, and banana yogurt parfaits. These caused some "Oo's" and "Ah's" from the family. Deliciousness was inspired by the local fruits available at the farm stand. The strawberries, bananas, and blueberries were all local. The yogurt was organic. Mary, at Kula Country Farms, let me run in and buy 2 boxes of berries on Saturday while they were closing up. Thank you for the berries Mary!

To make these tasty treats:

Hooray for Parfait!

AmandaonMaui

• 3-4 small bananas, sliced
• 1lb of strawberries, rinsed and diced
• 1 pint of blueberries, rinsed
• Nonfat vanilla yogurt

Layer 4 slices of banana on the bottom of the glass, top with a few tablespoons of yogurt, add in a couple tablespoons of strawberries, add more yogurt, add blueberries, add more yogurt, top with more strawberries and banana slices.

In fact, here's a list of the food in this breakfast that was local:

Eggs

Zucchini

Onions

Strawberries

Blueberries

Bananas

Poha Jam

Here's what was organic:

Butter

Soy Milk

Yogurt

Sugar

If not for the biscuits, then everything would have been local or organic. That's amazing, and inspiring!

Go out to your farmers market or farm stand and get inspired too!