Homemade Veggie Burgers

Ingredients:

2-3 thin slices homemade wheat bread, toasted fairly dark, cubed
    (OK to substitute disinglutie bread or cooked bulgar/quinoa/millet)

6 cloves garlic

½ - ¾ cup flowers of basil, marjoram, tarragon, removed from stems

Salt and pepper to taste

2 TBSP lemon juice

1 small pepper or ⅓ large pepper, cubed

½ tsp dried red peppers

⅓ cup Parmesan cheese (goat cheese will substitute)

Toss it all in a food processor and process it until granulated (texture of tablesaw sawdust)

Shape into patties.

Fry or barbecue.

Works actually pretty well. Tasty, not boring. 

Bacon-Wrapped Jalapeno Chicken Bites

Chicken spread with cream cheese and jalapenos, rolled and wrapped with bacon, then grilled

Makes: 16 bite-size

Ingredients

• 8 chicken tenders, flattened and cut in two. Or partially defrost a boneless chicken breast and thin slice it (< ¼”).  
• 3-4 oz softened goat cheese
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped
• 8 slices bacon, cut in half

Instructions

1. Dab ½ teaspoon (more or less) of goat cheese on top of each chicken tender. Sprinkle a ¼ teaspoon of peppers over cream cheese (don’t shy away from the pepper!). Fold or roll chicken to enclose cream cheese mixture. Wrap each roll with one piece of bacon and secure with a toothpick.
   
2. Grill until bacon is brown and crispy on both sides. Barbecue is best. Toaster oven will do if the barbecue is buried under snow.
   

Awesome Rhubarb Syrup & Sauce

Ridiculously good. Ridiculously easy.

Ingredients for a modest batch of either the syrup or the sauce:

3 or 4 cups of chopped fresh (or frozen) rhubarb
1 cup filtered water

¾ cup sugar 

This makes a pretty tart final product. For a sweeter version, use 1 cup sugar. 

Load it into a saucepan. Bring it to a boil, then lower it to a simmer, and let it go for a while. You can get by with as little as 20 minutes: just enough to break down the rhubarb into a very nice sauce. 

I prefer to let it simmer for another half an hour or more: it breaks down even more, of course, but more importantly, it reduces the mixture and the flavor is deeper and richer. If you turn up the heat a little and let it caramelize, it's another world of flavor.

If you're looking for rhubarb sauce, then you're done. Serve it hot over ice cream, or cool it in the fridge for use on granola, yogurt, or cottage cheese. Or just eat it by itself (you'll want the sweet one for this!)

If you're looking for rhubarb syrup, then strain the hot sauce through a fine strainer. After it's sat and drained (it's not fast), the resulting pulp will still be wet: this is also yummy. 

I might try swirling some of that residue, perhaps with some crushed Nilla Wafers, in freshly homemade ice cream for a new & different treat.

I'll be using the syrup in barbecue sauces, cocktails, maybe over ice cream. Mm mmm.

Vanilla Ice Cream

This will, no doubt, be the foundation for many wonderful discoveries. From the manual.

Preparation: 5 minutes, plus 20 – 25 minutes chilling time;

Optional: up to 2 hours to ripen.

Makes ten 1/2-cup servings.

3 cups half & half, well chilled

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 – 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract, to taste

In a medium bowl, use a hand mixer or a whisk to combine the milk and granulated sugar until the sugar is dissolved, about 1 – 2 minutes on low speed. Stir in the heavy cream and vanilla to taste. Turn machine on, pour mixture into freezer bowl through ingredient spout and let mix until thickened, about 25 – 30 minutes.

Note: This is incredible ice cream.

Nutritional analysis per 1/2 cup serving:

Calories 239 (68% from fat) • carbo. 17g • pro 2g • fat 18g •

sat. fat 11g • chol. 69mg • sod. 30mg
no wonder it's yummy. 

Variations: 

Cookies & Cream: when this gets to "soft serve" state (about 15 - 20 minutes), add a cup of crushed Oreos, or crushed peanut butter cups, or something yummy.

Banana Ice Cream: Add 3 ripe bananas (the riper the better). Puree into ice cream mix. Consider topping with (crushed?) vanilla wafers as sprinkles. 

Peanut Butter Ice Cream: Add 3 oz of melted creamy peanut butter (@ 40 seconds in microwave), blend with ice cream recipe. Consider topping with crumbled dry roasted peanuts as sprinkles.

Coconut Almond Ice Cream: Add 4-6 oz of Cream of Coconut to ice cream recipe. Use toasted shredded coconut & slivered almonds as sprinkles, or add them to the last 2 minutes of the mixing process. 

Alternative basic vanilla base:
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 can evaporated milk
1 qt heavy cream or half and half
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla



Dairy Free base:
3 cups reduced fat coconut milk
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla
(Chill before making ice cream)



Alternative Dairy Free base:
3 cups dairy free milk (Soy, Hemp, Almond, Rice)
2 tablespoons soy milk powder
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1-2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
(Chill before making ice cream)