FOOD – Page 6 – Lucy L Jones PhD LLC

Spicy Apricot-Orange Marmalade

Have you ever wondered about the precise difference between jelly, jam, preserves and marmalade? I checked with Google.

An answer came up with the following:
• Jelly is made from fruit juice
• Jam is made from pureed fruit
• Preserves are made from whole fruit
• Spreads are made from whole fruit and/or pureed fruit
• Marmalade uses the zest and pulp, and the juice, however not the whole fruit.

I honestly don’t know which one this is, but because I used slivers of orange peel, and because it looks like marmalade, that’s what I call it. Actually, it’s more a combination of preserves and a marmalade, which probably makes it a spread, according to Wiki. It’s definitely not jelly, but whatever you want to call it, it’s delicious!

Spicy Apricot-Orange Marmalade

4 ½ cups apricots, pitted and sliced (leave the peel on)
2 navel oranges
1 ½ cup sugar
1 ½ cup Splenda
¾ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg, freshly grated is best
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon fresh lime juice (I added mine as soon as I took it off the heat)

Cut the oranges to remove the segments (try not to get any of the membrane). Thinly slice the orange peel (like what you normally see in orange marmalade). Combine everything in a large pot. Bring to a boil over medium heat.

Maintain a slow rolling boil for 15 minutes while mashing up the apricots against the side and stirring constantly.

Add your lime juice (lemon would work, too) and stir in. Put into sterilized jars, then cover with sterilized lids and rings. Turn upside down until you hear them pop, which means you have a good seal.

I got a little more than six 6-ounce jars out of this batch. If I’d filled them a bit more, it would have been an even six jars.

I love this sort of thing over ice cream, with homemade biscuits, or on a thick slice of toasted hearty whole wheat bread (homemade if possible)!

A hui hou!

Slow Cooker African Peanut Chicken

I made this today to have on hand for a few meals. This dish may not look very pretty, but it’s low in carbohydrates, high in protein, and an absolute treat for your taste buds. You can use smooth peanut butter, but I love the crunchiness of the chunky style. You can use any hot pepper sauce you wish. I had a bottle of “Cajun Sunshine” that my brother put in my stocking at Christmas.

Ingredients:

1 (14.5 oz.) can organic diced tomatoes
¼ onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
3 tablespoons chunky peanut butter
3 tablespoons hot pepper sauce
1 ½ teaspoons ground cumin
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup each of veggies like broccoli florets, Brussels sprouts (halved).
6 large skinless chicken breast tenders (or your favorite cut)
If you aren’t counting carbs too closely, you can add a few baby carrots

Combine everything except the chicken in a 5-6 quart slow cooker. Place chicken tenders on top. Cover, cook on low for 6-8 hours. Great to have ready for you when you walk in the house from wherever your day took you. Again, if you aren’t worried about carbs, quinoa or brown rice make a nice accompaniment. It’s delicious all on its own.

A hui hou!

Apple Nut Bread

Although I love to eat mostly local fruits, sometimes I really want to make something with apples. The wonderful apple isn’t considered a tropical fruit, but it contains so many good essentials, especially the skin.

I haven’t discovered too many recipes that include the skin of an apple, so when I found this one years ago, I started making it often. I found it in an old “early marriage” Farm Journal Country Cookbook, published in 1959. Later, it became a staple for a growing family who wanted a delicious but nutritious snack, with a few personal variations.

Apple Nut Bread

½ cup butter
1 cup sugar (I would use Splenda today)
2 unbeaten eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 ½ tablespoons dairy sour cream
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped nuts
1 cup chopped unpeeled apples

• Cut butter into sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Blend in vanilla and sour cream.
• Sift together dry ingredients; add nuts. Combine with first mixture.
• Stir in apples. Pour into greased 9 X 5 X 3” pan or 2 small loaf pans.
• Bake in slow oven (325 F) about an hour. Makes 1 large or 2 small loaves.

Serve warm with milk or coffee or tea, or whenever you wish. This needs no icing, and two small loaves seem to last a few minutes longer than one large one, although that may be just my imagination!

NOTE: Because of pesticides, please wash your apples well before eating. Better yet, get organic apples. Because I suggest whole wheat flour instead of white flour, you might need a little less. Most cooks know how to gauge the consistency of this kind of batter.

A hui hou!

Strawberry Wheatgrass Smoothie

Wheatgrass isn’t necessarily one of those food items that’s on every table, but should be. Recently a friend brought me a tray of soil and a bag of wheat berries. After soaking them for a few days until they were starting to sprout, I spread them over the top of the soil in the tray.

I saved some of the sprouting berries and put them in a jar to toss into my salads. If you buy your berries from a health food store, you still need to check if it’s suitable for sprouting.

In order to keep the birds and cats away, I loosely covered the entire tray with foil tucked in at the ends so it wouldn’t blow away. Each day, I sprayed it with water and watched it grow! In just a few days, I had my own little 20” X 10” private lawn.

As the wheatgrass grows, clip off the tops for your use. Some folks simply add a little water and whirl in a blender, then drink for a taste of fresh spring. There are expensive wheatgrass juicers, but I find that your regular blender works just as well.

Why drink wheatgrass? It’s full of everything you can possibly think of that’s good for you! Check out a longer list here, or Google “wheatgrass” for recipes and more information. Basically, it is 70% chlorophyll and is a total protein, with loads of vitamins and minerals.

My favorite way to get all those goodies in one drink is as a wheatgrass smoothie. When I buy strawberries or other berries, I use a bunch while they are super fresh, then blend the rest of them into sort of a “sauce” to use over ice cream or cheesecake or pancakes or whatever. (Oh my!)

To make this smoothie, add strawberry puree, a little soy milk or fat free milk to make it more liquid, and a little organic agave nectar for sweetness. You’ll need to experiment with your own quantities of each for your own tastes. Zap it up in your blender until it’s just the way you want it. Pour and drink!

A hui hou!

Baked Crab Cakes with Chipotle Mayo

I remember sitting on a dock with a crab net dangling over the side, waiting for the Blue crabs of Mississippi to climb in. After picking out the good crab meat, we would make up a concoction much like the following recipe for crab cakes. This would be stuffed in the cleaned out shell. A little corn meal was sprinkled over the top, then baked until golden brownish, producing a “deviled crab” that was good enough to make your mama say “howdy.”

And I remember driving down a road covered in potholes when I lived on Kodiak Island in Alaska, the back of my station wagon loaded with twenty-five live King Crabs. The (now) amusing story of my lesson on how to pick up a live King crab is too long to tell here.

I also remember eating many Blue crab cakes when I lived in New England, and cups of Dungeness crab walking along Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. You might say I love eating crab. So when I saw a 16-ounce pot of crab at Costco this past week, I couldn’t resist. Below is my version of crab cakes.

Ready for the oven

1 pound crab meat
¼ cup bread crumbs
1 large egg
1 large clove garlic, minced
¼ cup mayonnaise
1 heaping tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon minced onion
2 teaspoons ground coriander
½ teaspoon ground red pepper
1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Combine all ingredients and form into patties. Roll these in a combination of fine dry bread crumbs and corneal. Place on pan covered with aluminum foil that has been sprayed with oil. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes, or until golden brown. This recipe makes 12 delicious cakes. I served three of these cakes to a friend with two poached eggs, coffee and juice, and a healthy dollop of chipotle mayonnaise (see NOTE below).

NOTE: Mine took longer than 10-15 minutes, but I think I needed to put them higher in the oven, or under a broiler for the last few minutes. I also would make the cakes a little flatter next time. These crab cakes can also be pan fried. The chipotle mayo is made with a cup of mayonnaise mixed with 2 canned chipotle peppers that have been finely chopped. This can be kept in the fridge for a week and adds wonderfully serious heat to the crab cakes.

A hui hou!