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Moroccan Carrot Soup

12/29/2018

"The new year stands before us, like a chapter in a book, waiting to be written."
-Melody Beattie

"The beginning is the most important part of the work."
-Plato

"Boy, this year sure was a long decade."
-Anonymous

Happy New Year!

Here's a deliciously bright carrot soup made with ginger, coconut milk, fresh orange juice and infused with warming spices. Simple as can be, plus-bonus-it's vegan and gluten free. It's even BF approved, so you know it's good. [Ed. note: Can confirm. Also, my primary-care physician called. He said, "More vegetables."]

The BF and I hope you're enjoying a wonderful holiday, and that this soup warms up any cold, wintry days.

Adapted from: Feasting at Home
Number of Servings: 8 cups

Ingredients

2 tablespoons oil
2 fat shallots, or one onion, diced
2 tablespoons ginger, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 lb carrots, peeled, sliced into ½-inch rounds
8 ounces potatoes, rough chopped
1 apple, rough chopped
2 cups veggie or chicken stock
2 cups water
1 can coconut milk
1 cup orange juice (juice form 2 oranges)
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon cayenne, more to taste
Pomegranate seeds (optional)

Directions

Heat oil in a large heavy-bottom pot. Add onions. Sauté over medium-high heat until tender and golden, 3-4 minutes. Turn heat to medium, add ginger and garlic and cook for 2 more minutes, until golden and fragrant. Add the carrots, potatoes, apples, stock and water.
Bring to a boil, turn heat down to low and simmer, covered for 15 minutes or until carrots are fork tender.
Let this cool, then using a blender, blend in batches until very very smooth. Place back in the pot. Add orange juice, coconut milk, salt and spices. Stir to combine, while reheating over low heat.
Taste, adjust salt and heat, adding more salt or cayenne, as desired. Top with pomegranate seeds.

2 Comments

No Bake Sugar Free Peppermint Cheesecake Bars

12/19/2018

4 Comments

'Tis the season for good food and great company. My wonderful cousin and younger sister, traveling from Oregon, paid the BF and I a visit, and we showed them a few of our favorite local spots. Even though I had to work for clients while they were here, we managed to squeeze in much fun.

One day, we visited the Cantor Museum and Rodin Exhibit on the Stanford University campus. On another, we walked up and down Palo Alto's University Avenue and had dinner at a delicious Menlo Park Turkish restaurant.

The last day, we took our choco-lab Marlowe and walked around Bol Park, aka "Donkey Park" (Perry was the model for "Donkey," voiced by Eddie Murphy, in the film Shrek), and ate lunch at Thai Bistro on California Avenue. In the evening we made gingerbread cake topped with eggnog whipped cream along with spiralized celeriac latkes [Ed. note: I don't think we ate it in that order?], and watched a superb documentary called Shanghai Ghetto.

When they left, while cousin and sister went up the long escalator at a local Bart station, Marlowe let out the most woeful cries as they slowly disappeared from view. [Ed. note: We'll forward the therapy bills.]

My cousin is an expert beekeeper and gifted us with the most amazing raw honey, which we can't stop dipping into. She also gave us homemade lemongrass soap and lip balm, as well as some sinfully good Burnside Distillery small-batch bourbon, which kept everybody warm! [Ed. note: Can confirm.]

My sister is very knowledgeable and talented with rocks, stones and gems. She gave us beautiful hand-engraved stones that say "Shalom" and "DZ," which now rest proudly on the kitchen window sill that I work in front of every day. More significantly, she also gave me custody of our mom's engagement ring (we trade off every year), which was was so brilliantly polished and shiny it practically glittered. She is also adept in the landscaping arts, and got to work in the backyard well before unpacking. (She makes up for my black thumb.)

Marlowe is always a happier camper when she has a "pack," and as usual the did the nighttime "rounds," visiting the visitors as they slept.

Life is good when these girls are with us.

And it wouldn't be a family gathering without dessert, so for December: peppermint! It just says winter to me.

This cheesecake is almost too easy. No baking, no sugar, low carb and comes together in about 15 minutes. With a crust that tastes like Oreo cookies, it was the most popular dessert of the visit, even though we had plenty of other desserts with real sugar. There's only a slight change to the original recipe (upped the whipping cream from 2 tablespoons to 4), as I like a fluffier mousse-like cheesecake. Also added a pinch of salt to the crust. Should also note that I used my favorite brand of sugar substitute called Swerve, but you can use whatever you like.

Adapted from: All Day I Dream About Food
Number of servings: 16

Ingredients
Crust

1 ¼ cups almond flour (Bob's Red Mill Super Fine was used here)
¼ cup cocoa powder
Sweetener equivalent to ¼ cup sugar (Swerve brand was used here)
4 ½ tablespoons butter, melted
¼ teaspoon salt

Peppermint Cheesecake

Two 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened
Sweetener equivalent to ¾ to 1 cup sugar (I used ¾ cup)
½ cup sour cream, room temperature
4 tablespoons whipping cream, room temperature
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Red food coloring to taste (use natural food coloring if possible)

Topping

1 cup whipping cream
Sweetener equivalent to 2 tablespoons sugar (powdered or liquid sweetener works best)
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 ounce dark chocolate, melted (optional)
4 sugar-free peppermints, crushed (optional)

Directions
Crust

In a medium bowl, whisk together almond flour, cocoa powder, sweetener, melted butter and salt until well combined. Press firmly into the bottom of a 9×9-(or 8×8)-inch square pan.

Peppermint Cheesecake

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese with the sweetener until smooth. Beat in sour cream, whipping cream, and extracts until combined.
Add red food coloring and beat until desired color is achieved.
Carefully spread filling over crust.

Topping

In a medium bowl, beat whipping cream with sweetener and vanilla until it holds stiff peaks. Spread over filling.
Chill cheesecake for at least 3 hours, until set.
Drizzle with melted chocolate and crushed candies, if desired.
Cut into 16 bars. Or cut into smaller bites for a holiday dessert tray.

NOTE: I found it worked best if you placed individual squares of cheesecake on plates and then drizzle with chocolate right before serving. This cheesecake keeps well for three days in the fridge.

4 Comments

Baked Spiralized Parsnip Latkes

12/4/2018

4 Comments

Happy Hanukkah! One of my favorite holidays to celebrate with my BF and family. It's also latke time!

I love this method for making latkes, mainly because it's baked and not fried. You use oil, but it won't splatter all over the stove.

And yes, it's parsnips instead of potatoes. Parsnips taste nutty and sweet, so to complement that sweetness you can top the latkes with tangy creme fraiche or sour cream, hot pepper jelly and chives (as shown in the photos above and below). Smoked fish or poached eggs are also delicious as a topper. The BF and I love them with mashed avocado and a poached egg, drizzled with chimichurri sauce (bottom photo).

If you don't have a Spiralizer, don't worry, the large grate on your hand grater will work fine. The bones of the original recipe are from Inspiralized, I just changed the quantities to my liking.

Closing on a different note, my cousins in Chicago recently sent me this amazing "Bohemian Chanukah" by Six 13 (see below), and this, along with the fact the BF and I loved the film Bohemian Rhapsody [Ed. note: if Rami Malek doesn't get a best-actor Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Freddie Mercury, the offending non-voters should be studied in a lab], reminded me that Queen is one of my favorite bands of all time.

How favorite? I actually "gave" a Queen documentary DVD to the BF as a Hanukkah gift, and he kindly reminded me that he'd actually received a press-review copy of the same film years ago when he was working as a music journalist. He offered it to me, and for some reason at the time I said no.

Sometimes you need to be reminded.

Reminding you that we hope you are enjoying a wonderful holiday with family and friends.

Shalom.

Adapted from: Inspiralized
Number of servings: makes 5-6 large latkes or 10-12 mini latkes

Ingredients

3 large eggs, beaten
4 tablespoons matzo meal
Salt and pepper, to taste
3 large parsnips, peeled, Blade C, noodles roughly trimmed (or use large grate on hand grater)
1 onion, peeled, Blade A, noodles roughly trimmed (or use large grate on hand grater)
4 tablespoons (divided) extra virgin olive oil

Optional Toppings

sour cream, creme fraiche, chives or scallions
applesauce, hot pepper jelly
smoked trout, sturgeon or salmon, poached egg

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 °F. Line one rimmed baking sheet with foil.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the eggs, matzoh meal, and season generously with salt and pepper. Add in the parsnip and onion. and combine.
Pour 2 tablespoons of olive oil onto the baking sheet and place in the oven for 5-7 minutes to heat the oil. Remove from the oven and place parsnip mixture in handfuls onto the oil. Flatten mixture with a spatula.
Bake for 15 minutes or until the bottoms are golden and crisp. Remove from oven, flip latkes over and bake for another 10 minutes or until crisp and golden on both sides.
When done, transfer latkes to a paper-towel-lined baking rack to drain.
Wipe off baking sheet with a paper towel to remove old oil and bits and pieces. Repeat 2-5.

4 Comments

Feast Mode

Moroccan Carrot Soup

No Bake Sugar Free Peppermint Cheesecake Bars

Baked Spiralized Parsnip Latkes

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