Getting Eggy Wit It

Well, I finally finished off the 24-count carton of eggs from Costco. Here's a curried egg salad sandwich recipe from Health Magazine that I have really enjoyed. Instead of using super fattening mayonnaise it uses Greek yogurt as a creamy substitute. I made the sandwich with the oat bread I made a couple days ago.Curried Egg Salad

Ingredients
2 hard-cooked eggs, chopped
2 tablespoons plain Greek-style low-fat yogurt
2 tablespoons chopped red bell pepper
1/4 teaspoon curry powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 slices rye bread, toasted
1/2 cup fresh spinach
1 orange
Preparation

1. Combine eggs, yogurt, bell pepper, curry powder, salt, and pepper, in a small bowl; stir well.

2. Place spinach on rye bread, top with egg salad, and serve the orange on the side.

It's Easy Being Green

It's easy to be greener and you save green! These are five things I am doing this year to be more green in the kitchen.

1. Unplugging any appliances that are not in use.Appliances that are plugged in, but not in use still draw energy
More Info: http://awesome.good.is/transparency/008/trans008vampireenergy.html

2. Making baby food.I will only use store bought baby food for travel, that way there is less packaging to recycle/discard.
More Info:http://www.greeniacs.com/GreeniacsGuides/Homemade-Baby-Food.html

3. Packing zero waste lunches for Rick.
I'm still working on this one, getting close though.
More Info:http://planetgreen.discovery.com/food-health/pack-zerowaste-lunch.html

4. Double the use of the Aerogarden light.Since the Aerogarden provides so much light, I planted some more herbs in pots. I am also using water that would have gone down the sink to water the plants.

5. Use table top toaster oven instead of the big oven.I have a GREAT toaster oven that is small, but big enough to fit an entire frozen pizza. Love it!
More Info: http://www.thedailygreen.com/going-green/tips/toasters-energy

Oat Joys!

I tried the Quaker recipe again, this time...SUCCESS! Look at the loaf and all it's wonderful tastiness:

Oat Woes

What do with all these oats? Oat bread! I grabbed the recipe from Quaker's website. The bread looks sad and collapsed with a hard crust because 1. I overproofed the bread and it sank 2. I added steam (forgot it's only if you want a super hard crusty shell, like for French bread). The bread tasted great, I'll try the recipe again without my boo boos.

Quaker's Best Oatmeal Bread - By Hand

Ingredients
5-3/4 to 6-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2-1/2 cups Quaker® Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
Two 1/4-ounce packages (about 4-1/2 teaspoons) quick-rising yeast
2-1/2 teaspoons salt
1-1/2 cups water
1-1/4 cups low-fat milk
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) margarine or butter


Preparation
In large bowl, combine 3 cups flour, oats, sugar, yeast and salt; mix well. In small saucepan, heat water, milk and margarine until very warm (120ºF to 130ºF). Add to flour mixture. Blend on low speed of electric mixer until dry ingredients are moistened. Increase to medium speed; beat 3 minutes. By hand, gradually stir in enough remaining flour to make a stiff dough.

Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface. Knead 5 to 8 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Shape dough into ball; place in greased bowl, turning once. Cover; let rise in warm place 30 minutes or until doubled in size.

Punch down dough. Cover; let rest 10 minutes. Divide dough in half; shape to form loaves. Place in two greased 8 x 4 or 9 x 5-inch loaf pans. Cover; let rise in warm place 15 minutes or until nearly doubled in size.

Heat oven to 375ºF. Bake 45 to 50 minutes or until dark golden brown. Remove from pans to wire rack. Cool completely before slicing.

Cook’s Notes
If desired, brush tops of loaves lightly with melted margerine or butter and spinkle with additional oats after placing in pans.

Yield
2 LOAVES (32 SERVINGS)

Nutrition Information
1/32 of recipe

Synergy

defined as "the interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual". Well my herb Aerogarden was overgrown because we went out of town for a few weeks. Here's the garden post-harvesting:The basil and mint had gotten way out of control and I had a lot of extra heavy cream left over from the chocolate ice cream. Made sense to combine the two and make Basil Mint Ice Cream. I made a few modifications. 1. I used about 20 basil leaves and 10 mint leaves 2. I used an immersion blender instead of a stand blender 3. I added some honey 4. I added a splash of orange juice.

I made a very very sad looking quenelle, so here's a super close up to make up for it. Don't the specks just make it look lovely?
Basil Ice Cream

Yield: Makes about 3 cups
Active Time: 25 min
Total Time: 3 1/2 hr

2 cups whole milk
3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1/2 cup sugar
4 large egg yolks
1/2 cup well-chilled heavy cream

Special equipment: an instant-read thermometer; an ice cream maker

Bring milk, basil, 1/4 cup sugar, and a pinch of salt to a boil in a 2-quart heavy saucepan, stirring, then remove from heat and let steep 30 minutes. Transfer to a blender (reserve saucepan) and blend until basil is finely ground, about 1 minute.
Beat together yolks and remaining 1/4 cup sugar in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until thick and pale, about 1 minute. Add milk mixture in a stream, beating until combined well. Pour mixture into reserved saucepan and cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until mixture coats back of spoon and registers 175°F on thermometer (do not let boil). Immediately remove from heat and pour through a fine-mesh sieve into a metal bowl. Set bowl in a larger bowl of ice water and stir until cold, 10 to 15 minutes.
Stir in cream and freeze in ice cream maker. Transfer ice cream to an airtight container and put in freezer to harden, at least 2 hours.


Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/printerfriendly/Basil-Ice-Cream-230779#ixzz1AAzFHp1S

Dark Chocolatey Goodness

Made my first batch of ice cream in the Kitchen Aid today. It tastes delicious. I didn't strain the ice cream base and I used more heavy cream than Alton Brown's recipe called for, so it is super creamy and delicious. I also used Hershey's dark cocoa instead of the normal cocoa powder. I tried straining the ice cream base after it was chilled overnight (which did NOT work). I think next time, I will do it while the base is warm.

Chocolate Ice Cream

Serves:
1 1/2 quarts

Ingredients
1 1/2 ounces unsweetened cocoa powder, approximately 1/2 cup
3 cups heavy cream
1 cup 2% milk
8 large egg yolks
9 ounces sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Directions
Place the cocoa powder along with 1 cup of the half-and-half into a medium saucepan over medium heat and whisk to combine. Add the remaining half-and-half and the heavy cream. Bring the mixture just to a simmer, stirring occasionally, and remove from the heat.

In a medium mixing bowl whisk the egg yolks until they lighten in color. Gradually add the sugar and whisk to combine. Temper the cream mixture into the eggs and sugar by gradually adding small amounts, until about 1/3 of the cream mixture has been added. Pour in the remainder and return the entire mixture to the saucepan and place over low heat. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the mixture thickens slightly and coats the back of a spoon and reaches 170 to 175 degrees F. Pour the mixture into a container and allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Stir in the vanilla extract. Place the mixture into the refrigerator and once it is cool enough not to form condensation on the lid, cover and store for 4 to 8 hours or until the temperature reaches 40 degrees F or below.

Pour into an ice cream maker and process according to the manufacturer's directions. This should take approximately 25 to 35 minutes. Serve as is for soft serve or freeze for another 3 to 4 hours to allow the ice cream to harden.