Just in case you AREN’T dieting this New Year

Posted by Pussycat in Sweets | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment
18January2021

I know we’re all feeling a little overwhelmed with all these lockdowns this last year. And depending on where you live, you might just be locked down again…. as we are. It’s so hard right now to think of healthy eating and healthy lifestyle and all that nonsense… sometimes you just need a cheat! And if that’s the case for you right now, boy have I got the thing for you.

Marshmallows! But not just any marshmallows, I’m talking about the ones you make from scratch with just a few ingredients and OMGoodness are they amazing. They are so much less sweet than store bought and so easy to make you’ll be making them EVERY weekend!

Butterscotch with SKOR bar bits

They melt faster and softer and they are… well…. they are extremely edible… one. after. the. other.

sweaty cinnamon

I know, they aren’t the most photogenic and the cinnamon ones actually started to sweat a little, unlike all the other flavours so they look a little wet, but trust me when I say they were still delicious. I think it was the spiciness of the cinnamon that made them this way… so there was a little extra sugar…. it was so tough to handle... :0 just had to lick my fingers more.

Butterscotch and SKOR and Mint, sweaty cinnamon and plain at the top

Seriously though, in an afternoon you can have several batches of these whipped up and they stay so well in the freezer or just in a container on a shelf. They are after all basically sugar. I made these before and so just followed my previous recipe I’ll repost here to make it easy. This time I had some cool flavours. Peppermint, if you overdo it with that flavour like I did they’ll taste like scotch mints and be amazing when roasted. Sweaty cinnamon ones — delicious! I also made some butterscotch ones where I smashed a SKOR bar into bits and blended it in…. so absolutely amazing…. and finally plain with a little vanilla added.

We kept talking about how off the charts these would be as S’mores and YUP that’s next on the list. But I digress….. just make them, enjoy a bit of sugar and never buy these again!

Marshmallows

  • 1/2 Cold water
  • 3 Tablespoons plain gelatine
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt (pinch)

Place these ingredients in a mixing bowl and let bloom while you cook the following in a saucepan.

  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 Cup corn syrup
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar

Various flavours can include but aren’t limited to…. peppermint, Anais, butterscotch, chocolate, cinnamon, coconut, raspberry. Just keep in mind that things like cocoa powder will weigh down and impact the fluffiness of the marshmallows. Using flavouring will help them to maintain their fluffy texture. The list is pretty much endless.

Place all ingredients into a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Attach a candy thermometer and let it bubble until it reaches 245 degrees F.

While this is all boiling and blooming spray a 9 x 11 cake pan and dust liberally with icing sugar.

Once the sugar mixture comes to temperature pour slowly into the mixer and start on low initially making sure it doesn’t splatter. This is where you can add any flavourings. Then bring to high speed and let it mix until the marshmallow is pulling from the sides of the bowl and cooled.

Using a greased spatula pour into the prepared pan, level out the mixture and place in freezer for at least an hour or overnight to make cutting them easier.

Liberally sprinkle icing sure on the top of the marshmallow and pull onto a sheet of parchment paper. You can cut these with a sharp knife (greased) or simply with a pizza cutter. Make sure that you dredge the sticky edges in the icing sure to help keep them from sticking together.

Store in sealed containers in refrigerator or freezer. Honestly they won’t last long.

STOP… Here is your new favourite keto food for 2021

Posted by Pussycat in Main Dishes | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment
6January2021

If you are still looking for some foods to help you ease out of the last crazy and comfort food filled year you’re in the right place. Today I’m giving you two foods for 2021. One food that I’ve been eating for the last week which actually comes from my Czech childhood and another that I discovered some time back when I was trying to get off processed carbs, Dukan Bread. Both are delicious and coincidentally go very well together to create a healthy and low carb meal.

This first food goes by a name that would make most people turn up their nose and I honestly wouldn’t blame them. Headcheese, seriously, who came up with this? Sounds like something disgusting getting squeezed out of a decaying orifice… YUK! If someone were to offer me up headcheese I wouldn’t be so eager to try it either. But how about if we called it Pork Terrine? Sounds a little more Martha Stewart or fancy French cookbook doesn’t it? And though it seems fancy it’s actually really easy to make. Nothing like the gelatinous, overly salty stuff you find in grocery stores. Make it for yourself, you won’t be disappointed.

This is really just a different way to get a good healthy bone broth into your system. One that you actually get to chew and has all the health benefits of a really good bone broth, filled with loads of collagen add to that some vinegar (apple cider or otherwise) it knocks the bone broth game out of the park with it’s health benefits.

You don’t have to been a fancy chef and no precise measuring is needed to ensure a no fail terrine to have ready the next morning. Just boil up all the ingredients, strain, simmer down the liquid while going through and chopping up all the meat, adding everything together, season, pour into a loaf pan and let sit overnight. Simple. Serve this with a diced onion, some vinegar and a couple of slices of bread, to keep it low carb make this low carb Dukan Bread from a previous post.

I ended the last couple months of 2020 focusing on low starch foods and fasting. I know my last posts didn’t really reflect that but I suppose I don’t really omit anything either. I think it’s all about balance, and for me it’s lately been a balance of not eating and eating foods I love. This pork terrine is really one of my all time favourite foods.

I grew up eating this pork terrine or headcheese and I love the bite of the vinegar and the onions. The stuff you buy at a store is so over salted and lacking in meat that it’s much better to make your own. So the next time you’re out shopping for bone broth, pick up a couple of pork hocks and feet and take on the challenge, go for it! Your body will thank you for it.

Recipe for Pork Terrine

  • 2-4 pork hocks
  • 1-2 pork feet
  • 1-2 carrots
  • 1 -2 celery stalks
  • 1 whole onion
  • 1 whole garlic bulb
  • 1-2 bay leaves
  • 5- 10 whole peppercorns
  • splash (or 2-3 tablespoons) apple cider vinegar
  • salt
  • pepper
  • 3-4 minced garlic cloves
  • marjoram

Put first 9 ingredients into a stock pot, large pot or pressure cooker. Add enough water to fill or to the top max level in the pressure cooker. Pressure cook for an hour or simmer for 2 – 3 hours adding water to the pot as it evaporates to ensure the meat is always under water. At this point you don’t need to add the salt pepper minced garlic or marjoram, this seasoning is best left to the end when you have reduced the liquid content or you will risk over salting the terrine.

When done, strain the liquid into a pot and set on stove to simmer. Allow to simmer down to about half. Once cooled throw out the vegetables and go through the meat, separating out all the meat and chopping into small bit sized pieces. You can throw the rest away or if you have a dog, you can give the cooled leftover pork and bones to your furry friend…. Ours LOVES this.

Once the broth is reduced, turn off the heat and season to taste with salt, pepper, marjoram (rub the marjoram leaves gently between your hands as your putting them into the mixture), and fresh minced garlic, mix all ingredients together and pour into glass dish. Make sure there is enough liquid to cover all the meat. Sometimes I let the liquid simmer down too much and then have to add some water, generally it’s been fine and it firms up nicely. If for some reason it doesn’t firm up for you by the next day, put the whole thing back in a pot and boil (simmer) for 5 – 10 minutes to reduce some more… I find this isn’t an EXACT science and is pretty forgiving.

You can slice the terrine and pull out of the pan and make sure you scrape off the fine layer of fat that will settle on top, dice and serve with finely diced onions and vinegar and a couple of slices of bread.

Hope you all have a Happy and Healthy New Year….. and Enjoy!

Proper Czech Sweet Buns with Plums

Posted by Pussycat in About Me, Sweets | Leave a comment
5December2020

I saw a picture of these on Instagram in the last couple of days and it reminded me that my mom used to make these sweet buns filled with a delicious tart plum butter filling. It’s been years since I’ve had them and I don’t think I’ve made them ever. I moved out of my parent’s home about 35 years ago and so, though it may not be, it sure does feel as though it’s been at least that long since I’ve had them. Clearly it’s time they made their way to these pages and of course my kitchen.

These days we don’t go out much, damn Covid, really at all, except on the weekends when we take the dog, drive a half hour to spend some time at a property that our daughter and son-in-law bought in the spring. It’s literally 90 some acres of sandy hilled property filled with trails and a lovely pond, which is frozen right now. The dogs love it there and we can hike the trails without having to worry about where the dogs are, are there any people around and are the pooches going to run off. If the crazy puppies scare someone that’s fine, no one else should be wandering there.

This also gives me the opportunity to make something like this because you can’t really make just four of these and it wouldn’t be good to eat sixteen of them, much better to make sure you can share with a few people. Drop some off at a neighbour’s or two? I’m making two pans, one with a small number of buns that I’m baking in the evening for us to enjoy and another whole pan that sits ready in the fridge to be baked first thing in the morning. Nothing like fresh sweet buns.

When I asked my mom for the recipe she literally sent me three Czech video links found here, here and here. And then she called me and said, ” a good little trick is to grate a cooked potato into the dough. That helps keep them soft longer.” No measurements, no instructions, no clear plan, just a few places for inspiration. I watched parts of a couple of the videos and put a couple potatoes on to boil. You’ll see if you watch the videos that I didn’t follow any one of them specifically and if you can’t understand Czech, don’t worry, just follow the recipe below.

Proper Czech Sweet Buns with Plum Butter Filling

  • 500 grams flour
  • 20 grams fresh yeast (or 2 teaspoons dry active yeast)
  • 250 ml milk
  • 60 grams butter melted
  • 120 grams sugar
  • 1 whole egg and 1 yolk
  • 1 cooked potato (preferable boiled whole and let cool)
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1 Cup Plum Butter
    • 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon cloves and sugar to taste
  • 2 tablespoons butter (melted) for the topping prior to baking

Warm up milk so that it’s hot to the touch, add a spoon of the sugar, mix and add yeast, let it bloom undisturbed for 5 – 10 minutes

Put flour, rest of sugar, grated potato and salt into electric mixer. Once the yeast has bloomed add to the flour along with the eggs and melted butter. Mix until a nice soft dough forms.

Knead with your hands adding just enough flour to make a nice ball then place bake into bowl dusting the dough with a little flour and covering with a clean tea towel. Set somewhere warm for 1 – 1 1/2 hours to rise.

Get your filling ready by mixing the plum butter with some cinnamon and cloves and a bit of sugar to taste so that it is still tart but delicious. Set aside.

Once the dough has doubled in size roll it out and cut into 16 sections. Place a good tablespoon of plum butter into each section and pinch the dough so that the plum butter is in the middle and it is closed from each side. Roll into a nice ball and place into the pan. You can place these pretty close to each other. Once all are in the pan brush each one liberally with melted butter.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until nicely golden brown.

Toppings

  • 2 – 3 tablespoons butter
  • 1 tablespoon rum
  • 2-3 tablespoons icing sugar

Melt butter and add rum, then brush freshly baked buns with the mixture. After they have cooled a bit dust them with icing sugar then devour with glee. I dare you to eat just one…. OMG…. Sorry… I know it’s probably not the best thing to be eating while quarantining but now would be a good time (before you’ve eaten them all) to set some aside to share with a neighbour.

Chocolate Ganache Key Lime Pie

Posted by Pussycat in Sweets | Leave a comment
4November2020

I’m doing something today I don’t normally do…. I’m sitting in front of the television all day today, as I did for about six hours last night. I don’t normally watch so much tv, in fact I hate turning it on at all during the day but today we are watching the seemingly Divided States as their election results are counted. It shouldn’t be shocking to me, I see the same kind of division about desserts every time we have a family dinner; half love the Banana Split Cheesecake and the other half love this Chocolate Ganache Key Lime Pie and so both have become staples in this house. Yet lately the country down south doesn’t seem to be able to make a similar concession based on the angry and concerning comments coming out of some people.

I’m not going to share what side I’m on, I don’t think it matters, what matters to me primarily is that there is room for both. And in this situation in my kitchen, you can have a bite of each. I’ve posted a couple of times, two different versions of the Banana Split Cheesecake Pie. It was finally time I posted this one.

I have to admit that I’ve tried to post this at least three times before, what has happened is that I’ve had issues getting to take the shots. I know, definitely a first world problem, struggling to get to the shots as people are taking the plates and eating the food. Unlike a professional food photo shoot, we don’t just set the food up for photos, we set the food up for eating too.

This dessert disappears so fast because the layers in this are absolutely luscious. A little sweet and a little tart, both wonderfully creamy. I know it looks like a bit of a production but with a bit of time over two or three days this is easily doable and well worth thinking ahead.

Chocolate Ganache Key Lime Pie

Day One: Crust and Ganache

Make a Oreo Cookie crust in a nice deep dish pie plate following the box instructions and bake for 10 minutes. Allow to cool for a bit while you make the ganache filling.

  • 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
  • 2/3 cup heavy cream

To make the ganache filling heat 1 1/2 Cups of Semisweet chocolate chips, I generally do this in the microwave, on level 5 or 6 power over a couple minutes, making sure to check often. Once all are melted add in the 2/3 cup of heavy cream and mix until completely blended. Pour the ganache filling into chocolate crust and refrigerate until cooled. This can be left a few hours or overnight, just make sure it is cool before you add the lime topping.

Day Two: Make Lime filling and top and decorate with whipping cream

  • 250 grams cream cheese
  • 300 ml condensed milk (small can)
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup fresh lime juice

Mix all filling ingredients in a stand mixer and blend until smooth and slightly fluffy. Pour the filling on top of the pie. Set aside and cool until ready to decorate again this can be a few hours or overnight. I often have this ready a day or two before I’m planning to decorate with lime zest, sliced limes and whipping cream and then serve.