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!

Easter Sunday Brunch Pt.3

Two eggs, over easy. Charoset, over pureed. Potato Pancakes, just right.

Bigger view.

The Nerd and I each had 2 eggs over easy, 2 potato pancakes, and some charoset. His mother had 2 eggs scrambled (not dry), 2 potato pancakes, and charoset.

The charoset was still good despite being pureed within an inch of its being. I tossed in a few broken up walnuts and some golden raisins to help with the texture. The walnuts gave it a bit of a metallic tang in my mouth, but I would eat it again. I might try it with pecans in the future, or maybe almonds. I'd add them last to help keep the crunch more pronounced.

The potato pancakes were the hit of the day. Ketchup was offered, but was not necessary. They were terrific plain. I switched the dill for fresh rosemary from the back yard, and I used grape seed oil in them and to cook them in instead of vegetable oil. I accidentally overheated the oil and it smoked and sputtered for a few seconds, but I removed the pan from the heat immediately. I am still getting comfortable with how quickly the cast iron heats up, and how well it holds heat.

Breakfast was yummy, and I was very tired right afterward, but now I have a cup of genmaicha (green tea with toasted brown rice) and all is well.

My mom just called, so I'm going to go talk to her. Hoppy Easter to you all!

Easter Sunday Brunch Pt.2

The potato pancakes are in the skillet, and some are already done and waiting on a platter. I'll place them into a low temperature oven to keep them warm while I make up the eggs to order.

The charoset is finished and in the refrigerator. Unfortunately it turned into more of a baby food consistency puree. I was relying on the food processor attachment that came with my Oster 12 speed blender, and since it was stated in the recipe that I should place all of the ingredients into the container, I did. I now know that I should do things like that in batches in that food processor. It took too long for the top layer items to get sucked down to the blades, and I had to provide a lot of assistance. I don't recommend people buy this blender plus food processor attachment. I liked it when I saw it because it has a glass carafe and the metal drive system, but now I loathe this blender set. My future blender is to be the Blendtec blender, and I am hoping dearly that I love it a lot more than this one. It's ten times the price of the Oster, so it had better be worth it.

Pictures of the foods will be up as soon as they are all plated.

Oh, I forgot to mention that the Easter Bunny (the Nerd's mom) left a heart shaped container of Dove Easter Chocolates. Before I ate them I looked up wether or not they are gluten-free. According to Gluten Free Mom, Dove has a prerecorded message stating that these chocolates are gluten-free. So, I've had 2 already. Haha! Come on, I've been up since 9am, and it's nearly noon. I needed something in my stomach, and it might as well be chocolate.

Here's something I hate about coil burner electric stoves: the coils often sit unevenly, so the oil slides to one side of the pan. Ugh. What I'd do for a gas range.

Easter Sunday Brunch

Today I will, hopefully, be blogging my brunch as I go. Right now I have the potatoes boiling for:

Gluten-Free Bay: Non-Gebrokts Passover Potato Pancakes with Dill

I was hoping to have brunch ready by 11am, but it's looking like it will be more like 11:30 or noon. I forgot that I have to cool the dough in the refrigerator for an hour. Whoops.

Later on I will be making:

Elana's Pantry: Charoset

and eggs, however the Nerd and his mother would like them. I'll be making over easy eggs for myself. I know a lot of people fear the over easy egg because of salmonella and because they can be difficult to make if you aren't patient. But, I've never been made sick by an over easy egg and I've been eating them my whole life. Over easy is how my dad always made me eggs, and I always ordered eggs that way at restaurants. Often times when people make scrambled eggs they undercook or overcook them, so it's difficult to get good scrambled eggs. Hard fried eggs tend to be too try for me, and quite boring. Hard fried eggs require a lot of ketchup or other sauces. I do have a love for a poached egg, but that's something I have yet to master. I'm getting pretty good at making an omelette, and I'm okay at making a frittata that doesn't fall apart when I flip it.

Last Easter I think I still ate gluten, but I had limited it quite a bit. I made eggs, bacon, and strawberry apple tartlets. Those tartlets were so good, but I just didn't have the time or money to make them this year. Apples are very expensive here, and I prefer to buy organic apples now which jacks up that price even more.

I hope this year's brunch is as delicious as last years, or better. With some great recipes and some patience, the experience will be delightful.

After I finish brunch, it'll be time for clean up and then back to more school work. I spent 8 hours yesterday on Chemistry studying, and I didn't finish. I have at least 4 hours of studying left today, and then I have to write up an integrative approach to solving the climate crisis issue.

If you don't hear back from me for a while, you'll now know why. At least my belly and soul will be quite satisfied.

Gluten-Free Bay: Potato Kneidlach: Another Gluten-Free Matzo Ball Alternative

Gluten-Free Bay: Potato Kneidlach: Another Gluten-Free Matzo Ball Alternative

I had these matzoh balls with a homemade veggie stock, and sauteed celery, onion, and carrot.

Absolutely fabulous, great for anyone who is Jewish. What I especially liked about them was that I just bought two 5 pound bags of russet potatoes, and potato starch is very cheap here in the islands. Almond meal for making matzoh balls is nearly 13 dollars here on Maui.