Coconut Honey Corn Bread

Can you tell I'm obsessed with coconut? I'm pretty happy being lactose intolerant if it means I can drink coconut milk instead! 

This is a sweet bread, but not so sweet you cant dip it in chili (imo). Its creamy and buttery and with honey notes and a soft texture with crunchy bits. Oh how I love crunchy bits!

Coconut-Honey Corn Bread

Makes 1 square pan

1 cup flour 

1 cup cornmeal

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 can coconut milk

1/4 c honey

2 eggs

1/2 stick of cold butter, diced

the fresh corn from 2 ears of corn 

Mix the dry ingredients (flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt) with a whisk to incorporate. In another bowl mix the wet ingredients (milk, honey, and eggs), then stir in the corn and butter.

Dump the dry into the wet and mix gently to combine.

Pour into a greased pan (I use a square brownie pan)

Bake at 350 for 45 mins, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

If the bread is set but the top is a little light, you can let it sit under the broiler for a minute or two to get a nice color. You don't want to over-bake this, the texture is almost like corn pudding. (nobody wants dry cornbread!)

Eat this with chili. Or as dessert, drizzled with hot honey (or use for strawberry shortcake!).
Or just eat it because it's delicious.

 But do wait till it cools before cutting in.

Cheers

Toasted Coconut Hot Cocoa

This is such a simple recipe, technically like 3 ingredients (two if you don't add sugar) so the quality of ingredients and flavors can stand on their own. Get the good stuff!

The coconut: 

Whats better than an obsessive love of coconut? Finding out my favorite coconut milk brand makes coconut powder! Which, when toasted becomes a lovely golden yellow color with a sweet, nuttiness that is unique to toasted coconut. I use Chaokoh brand, sometimes found at the local grocery (comes in a brown can with white lettering), from Thailand, or local Asian grocery. You can order this stuff online too. I've even seen it in big bags, rather than these little cans I've got. If you're making a lot, go for the big bag.

Spread the powder in an even layer on a cookie sheet.
Set your oven's temperature to 300F and a timer for two minutes. (This stuff WILL BURN if you walk away from it. It's dehydrated milk!

)
Stir gently after two minutes and mix (mix outside in, to keep the edges from getting too brown and the middle still raw) and rotate your pan. Trust your nose, too, if it starts smelling really toasty, get in there and stir it.
After a few minutes of babying it, it'll be a lovely golden yellow color with some brown flecks and have the texture of sand. Let cool completely.

The cocoa:

 I love, love, loooove dark chocolate. But trust me that using 100% quality dark chocolate isnt your best option here. Mixing it with another cocoa powder not only makes it go farther (the good stuff is expensive!) but also gives you a better depth of flavor.
I Mix 1:1 - a good dark cocoa with another regular cocoa. For example, I used Hershey's special dark blend along with good ol' Nestle cocoa powder.

The sugar:

I had Turbinado on hand so I used that - similar to Sugar in the Raw.
I've read some people use Powdered Sugar, which may add a nice thickness to your drink, but its extra sweet so you may need to half the amount (personally, I hate the texture. Just me. It's like chalk. Don't judge...)
But, although I have not tested this theory yet, I think using dehydrated honey would add a beautiful luxurious sweetness to your cocoa. It comes in these crispy golden brown granules that melt in your mouth.
Another option may be just skipping the sweetener entirely and let people add their own to taste.
But, by all means, if you like white sugar, use white. It's all you, baby.


Toasted Coconut Hot Cocoa Mix
Makes about three 6oz jars of hot cocoa mix

2 cups cocoa powder (1:1 mixture dark and regular)
3/4 cup turbinado sugar
1 cup toasted coconut powder (see above)
big pinch of salt
tiny pinch of cayenne (trust me, do it!)

Whisk everything together in a big bowl to combine.
Transfer to gift jars.

Instead of getting those heavy glass jam jars, I found plastic freezer-jam jars at my grocery. I like them because the lids won't rust and you can clean them to reuse.
I did a little label on my jars with paint markers. I think its authentic and handmade looking with my terrible penmanship! Litte red bells with bows are so festive!
Add instructions on the back: "2 Tablespoons per 8oz cup of hot water or milk."

For a fancy twist, add a tablespoon of cinnamon and a tablespoon of espresso powder.
 Or go all in and toast some garam masala spices!

Boiled Peanuts... the wrong way

I live in Florida. It's brutally hot and humid this time of year. Ugh. Nasty. I hate summer. I know, I'm in the wrong state.
Not only do I have a tiny (I mean tiny like 3ft x 2ft space) kitchen at the moment, cooking isn't something I'm doing a lot of this season because it's just so damn hot. Sadface. I need something that doesn't take up much space, and something that doesn't generate a ton of heat.
So after much deliberation, I purchased an Instant Pot - an electric pressure cooker. Supposedly the best thing I could spend money on next to electricity or running water (there's a surprisingly huge fan club for these things). As a cook and someone who lives in a tiny space, I'm pretty excited about it's potential.
The very first thing made in this guy - Boiled Peanuts.
I've lived a lot of places but I'm basically a Southern girl. You get a craving for this dish once you've had it the right way once, and it will haunt you for the rest of your life. A wonderful snack, hot or cold, summer or winter and incredibly versatile with seasonings.
Truth is, there are about as many boiled peanut stands on the side of the road around here as churches in Texas (and most convenience stores have a corner with a steaming crock pot full of them) but, like most things, they're so much better if you make them yourself. I find a lot of places these days buy them pre-packaged in cans and heat them up. Eww.
Sometimes, when you're on the hunt for the flavor of your childhood, that good ol' soul food, your best bet is to figure it out yourself.

Here is the recipe, it's so easy you don't need to measure:
*Plug in your Instant Pot and open up a 1.5 pound (24oz) bag of roasted, salted peanuts in the shell.**See below
*Pour peanuts into the pot.
*Add water to cover peanuts and weight with something to keep them submerged. (I used the metal steam rack the Instant Pot comes with and a can of tomato sauce with the label removed). 
*Put the lid on, make sure the steamer nozzle is set to Sealing. 
*Set to the Manual mode and the timer for 90 minutes. 

That's it. No salt - these are already salted! As the liquid cooks down, it gets saltier. Don't add salt until they're completely done, and have a taste first. Add other seasonings if you like (again, watch the salt content) but that's the basics.
Store in an airtight container in the 'fridge for a week or as long as they last. Can be Canned and stored indefinitely (but they're better fresh). Serve cold or hot.

Tip: These are great on top of Chinese food!

**Ok now, before anyone freaks out... I do realize that 99.9% of all Southerners and recipes out there insist that you cannot under any circumstances use any other peanuts than Raw Green Peanuts.
I get it. But I couldn't find them at my local grocery and I wasn't about to go on a witch hunt for these things in this heat. I know it probably upsets a lot of folks. By all means, if you can find them, use the Raw Green ones - they're certainly superior.
But here I did it with the Roasted, and they were delicious.
Seriously, it works just fine. Get back in your grave, gramma.

I'm sure there are as many ways to make Boiled Peanuts as stars in the sky, but here are a few
Fun flavor combinations:
Traditional - Fresh garlic + garlic & onion powders + red pepper flakes
Cajun - Cajun Seasoning (such as Zataran's) + Crab Boil Seasoning (+ sliced fresh Jalapenos if  you want to die)
Curry - Curry Powder (or garam masala)

Beer Boiled - 1 bottle of beer per pound of peanuts + water to cover
Chili & Lime - Chili powder + lime juice + lime zest (or use Lucas if you can find it)
Porky - toss in cured/smoked ham products like ham hock

Banana Jam and Cold Noodles

Instagram makes me lazy. It's been way too long since I've written a post and way too much delicious food has gone unexplained! Instead of trying to backtrack and post everything I've missed... I'm just going to post what I did today.

Today I made Banana Jam!! Its so good! Basically it's bananas cooked up with some sugar and an acid (to keep them from getting brown). Simple. I roast my bananas, just as I like to do for banana bread. Brings out that flavor. You dont have to... but its tastier.

With two bananas I made enough for one person for a week, considering you eat toast every morning. Double, triple, etc this recipe to make enough for you. Totally not actually measuring anything but what I made is probably about 4 oz by volume, if that helps.

2 large bananas, roasted

1 Tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon citric acid (or lemon/lime juice)

pinch of salt

Smash up roasted bananas in a small pot over med-high heat. Add in remaning ingredients and, stirring constantly, cook down until its thick, about 15-20m. 

Place into an airtight container to keep for up to a week.

You can also can this  stuff if you know how to do all that, and it lasts quite alot longer.

Here is a picture of my banana jam spread onto german dark wheat wholegrain toast with coconut-peanut butter spread.

Cheers

Oh yeah and my Cold Buckwheat noodles with Fresh and Pickled Cucumbers:

There's not a recipe to this, really, I found this Instant Noodle mix at my local Korean grocery in the refrigerated section... neat new stuff. So I had to try it! I added in the cucumbers and the egg.

This instant noodle has a mustardy-vinegary-sweet-salty kind of thing going on that is super refreshing in the hot summer. The actual serving suggestion on the package mentions not only cucumber but also thinly sliced cold cooked beef and thinly sliced pear. 

The proper name for these is Mul-naengmyeon <-- click for a recipe

Orange Curry

Orange Curry
serves 4-6

1 cornish hen - cut into 8 peices
4 skinless chicken thighs - cut in 1/2
2 small or 1 large sweet potato, chopped
1 shallot or 1/2 onion, chopped
2 small or 1 large carrot, chopped
1/2 head cauliflower, chopped
6 cloves garlic, chopped

1 T curry powder (I use S&B)
1 T tomato paste
1 5.6 oz can coconut milk
2 t salt
zest and juice of 1 orange

1/2 gal water

In a pot big enough to hold about a gallon of liquid, heat over medium flame. Add curry powder and dry toast for about a minute, stirring often. Add in tomato paste and orange zest. Toast, stirring constantly, for another minute. Burns quickly, keep an eye on it!
Add chicken, garlic and onion, and coat with spice mixture, stirring constantly for 1-2 minutes.
Pour water and orange juice over chicken to cover. Bring to boil, then turn the heat down to simmer on low for about 30 minutes until chicken is tender.
Add in veg and cook another 10-15m until veg are tender.
Turn off heat, stir in coconut milk, season with salt to taste.

Add a little cayenne or fresh chilis or jalapeno if you'd like it spicy, depending on the spiciness of your curry powder or garam masala mix.

Serve with rice or garlic naan

Semi-Homemade Trader Joes Dinner

Promise I'm not being sponsored by anyone. This is how I eat and how I cook.
Got the chance to go to Trader Joe's the other day, which, I always take if I can since I live a good hour or so from the nearest one. That place always inspires me, and its typically pretty inexpensive.
I don't cook with recipes and I don't have a lot of time today, so todays' post is going to be train-of-thought, the way I do it when I actually cook. Leave a note if you'd like a proper recipe or have any questions, and Ill key one in later.

You'll need:
Precut butternut squash
Premade three cheese ravioli
chicken-and-apple sausage
leeks
garlic
vegetable oil
butter
salt to taste










Heat your handy-dandy nonstick saute pan over medium heat. Add in a teaspoon or so of vegetable oil. When it's hot, lines will form in it when its tipped (also when you add things in, it goes 'ssssss!').
Add in a handful of chopped leeks, garlic, and couple of sliced chicken-and-apple sausages. Saute until browned, stirring every few minutes with your (handy-dandy) silicone covered tongs (wins my best tool EVER! award). Remove from pan.
Put pan back on heat and toss in a small chunk of butter. Add in your TJ's pre-made ravioli and the chopped butternut squash. Splash in a little water. Cover and let steam until squash is soft (5 minutes ish). If water runs out before the squash is soft enough, add in a little more and deglaze (gently lift ravioli from bottom of pan if they get stuck).
Add sausage mixture back in and toss to coat.
Serve ona paper plate. Be sure and take a picture before you eat.
...But don't be a perfectionist, your food is getting cold!

*Tip: If you want to get real fancy - do a brown butter and cream sauce with a little sage or thyme. 

Brown butter= cook butter until its browned but not burnt. Add in herbs, splash of cream, pinch of salt.

Crispy beef with garlic

Another easy boat meal. My current kitchen setup on the boat is:

one butane portable camp stove

one large pot with lid

one small pot with lid

one nonstick saute pan with lid

Possibilities=endless. I actually have a lot of kitchen equipment, considering I live in a tiny space. I also own a small electric griddle and a small toaster oven as well. However, one could easily get by with just a small pot or saute pan.

Crispy Beef with Garlic

serves 2

1/4 # ribeye, cubed

1/2 onion, sliced

1 cup chopped pickled veg (See below)

1/4 c sliced mushrooms

4-6 garlic cloves, sliced thinly

1 TB brown sugar

2 TB soy sauce

1/4 c Cornstarch

ziplock baggie

1/2 t Salt

2-3 TB vegetable oil

1. Place cubed steak into ziplock baggie (or a lidded container, whathaveyou), add in cornstarch and salt. Seal and shake to coat meat with starch mixture.

2. Heat a saute pan over medium heat. Add oil. When oil runs in lines when pan is tipped, its hot enough (also it goes 'sssst!' when you add the meat). Shake excess starch off of meat and add to oil. Cook until browned and crispy on all sides, about 5-8 minutes. Remove from pan.

3. Add in all vegetables to pan. Saute for 5-8 minutes. If using harder vegetables such as carrots or broccoli stems, add in about 2 TB of water and cover to steam for 3-4 minutes to soften. 

4. There should be a little liquid left in the pan (if not add a little splash of water). Toss in the brown sugar and stir a few minutes till the sugar melts, then stir in the soy sauce. If sauce is too watery, let it cook down another 3-5 minutes until it gets the consistency youd like.

5. Add the beef back in and stir to coat with sauce.



*optional: Serve with rice or noodles

Pickled Veg

In a glass jar with a tight fittind lid... --> this is mine

1. Stuff in as many veggies as you can. 

2. Pour over a solution of 2:1 vinegar to water, plus salt to taste.

For example: 1 cup vinegar, 1/2 c water, 1 teaspoon salt.

***Secret ingredient! Add in a splash of kombucha.

3. Seal with lid and refrigerate about 3 days. 

EAT!

I use whatever veg I have on hand or is cheap at the store. Some I have used include a mixture of: broccoli (stems are vegetables too! chop them up), carrots, cucumber, cauliflower, onion, cabbage, radish, sweet potato (yep! let it sit a few days longer), beets (it will turn everything pink. everything!).

The great thing about these pickled veg is... not only are they incredibly easy and cheap but they're super healthy for you. Active cultures from the kombucha go to work immediately, making these taste great and do wonders for your body. Even if you can't find kombucha, no worries, vinegar is good for you too!

Reuse the pickling solution over and over and it will develop its own excellent flavor and health properties.