I’m looking forward to making a batch of kimchee soon. I went off of it for the summer, too busy, too hot. Now I have a yellow beet, some sweet turnips, dried seaweed, cabbage and all the paste ingredients: garlic, ginger, onion and hot peppers. Yum, can’t wait for the color and the zings of flavor and digestive health food. Here’s a photo of the last jar I made back in March which lasted me through early summer. Mmm, I put fennel in that one too.
I recently learned that if I grease my stove-top waffle iron before each waffle they no longer stick. Now I eat waffles whereas before I only pined for them!
Based on a recipe in “The Joy of Cooking”
in my “Belgian Waffler” makes 3 full waffles - feeds 2 hungry people
Preheat waffle iron while mixing batter.
1 3/4 cup flour*
1/4 tsp salt
1-2 Tbsp sugar*
2 tsp baking powder
3-5 eggs
1 cup milk, yogurt, cream, water or some combination of these
2-3 Tbsp oil
1Tbsp lemon juice
Combine dry ingredients in one bowl and set aside.
Separate 3 eggs. Add all remaining ingredients to the yolks. If using more eggs, add the whole egg(s) to the wet ingredient bowl.
Beat whites until stiff but not dry. Beat yolk mixture.
Add yolk mixture to dry ingredients with swift strokes barely mixing. A few smaller lumps unmixed are okay.
Fold in egg whites.
Pour batter onto (greased if necessary) waffle iron and cook until waffle is somewhat brown.
Serve with syrup, fresh fruit, jam or yogurt. Maybe all three!
* A note on flour and sugar: I vary my flour intake so that I am not eating as much gluten as all wheat would provide. I use a mixture of rice flour and corn flour or corn meal with a little tapioca flour which seems to add elasticity. For sugar I use a less refined type such as turbinado sugar or succanat: evaporated cane juice.
I have experimented with this recipe now using additional eggs as suggested and varying the consistency. With 5 eggs the waffle is very moist and springy- almost like a popover consistency.
Today I added a little orange oil and some miso to the wet ingredients, then threw in a little mild, fine grained seaweed into the waffle itself on the iron. The excellent result was slightly more savory than usual, but still yummy with some syrup. A nice way to get some extra nutrients from the sea in breakfast!
serves 1, multiply as needed
1/3 cup cottage cheese
1 egg
2-3 Tbsp flour
1+ Tbsp oil
lemon juice, orange oil, poppy seeds optional to taste
Combine all ingredients. Spoon batter onto hot griddle or oiled frying pan. Use a medium heat. Turn pancakes when bubbles pop and edges begin to be firm. Cook to medium brown-ness. Serve with jam, maple syrup or yogurt.
This recipe is one my mother found in something like “Diet for a Small Planet” when I was a kid. We had chickens then too (my 4H project for a few years) but I didn’t like just plain eggs. The pancakes however were a hit.
Turns out we can assimilate more of the proteins in eggs and cheese when they are eaten together. Also years later I remembered that these are a good low carbohydrate recipe. With a little maple syrup I get a nice boost out the door, but breakfast lasts me well past my usual wish for “second breakfast” around 11 am. What delicious good fortune!
I had a handful and a half of new green beans and wanted to combine them with something: the refrigerator offered burdock root, celery, bacon fat, cilantro pesto and anchovy paste. I was pleased that this seemingly esoteric mix of ingredients did not swear, but made a harmonious little stir fry.
I didn’t eat this day lily - but it’s good enough to eat! Spicy and hot. I think it hasn’t bloomed as early other years. I’ve always had it mentally filed under “later than others and closing the daylily season”. It’ll be interesting to see what it does this year.
Ginger Miel and Ginger Fizz
I’m a ginger lover. I cook with it, infuse honey with it, drink it as tea, get it in ice-cream, eat it as candy. Ginger has digestive health benefits as well as being delicious and zingy. I also enjoy ginger ale and ginger beer from time to time, but like candied ginger, i tend to limit my use of them these days because of the high sugar content.
At one point I was craving sweet food sensations in my diet but avoiding sugar completely, so I came up with this ginger infused honey which I’ll call
Ginger Miel
(miel is honey in French)
Fresh ginger root
honey
rice sized grater
I keep my ginger frozen because I like to buy a big hunk of root but sometimes don’t use it up right away. In the freezer it doesn’t go bad, it’ll thaw easily within a few minutes to cut for cooking, and for this recipe it grates better than fresh.
Break off a knob of ginger big enough to safely hold onto and grate it fine into a small bowl. When you’ve got a nice pile (at least a quarter cup) transfer it to a jar and cover it completely with honey. You can put in honey as much as a 2 to 1 ratio and still have plenty of ginger flavor.
Let the honey and ginger mixture stand overnight or for several hours and stir to mix the ginger and ginger juice thoroughly. Taste.
I like this with plain yogurt, pancakes, in tea or you name it!
Another treat Ginger Ale, is too sugary and often not available with organic ingredients.
So I was delighted recently to learn how to make my own low sugar ginger ale. This is a naturally fermented beverage. It has a gentle fizz rather than big bubbles that explode out of the bottle were you to shake it. And it’s simpler to make than a regular carbonated beverage.
Ginger Fizz
Fresh ginger root
raw agave syrup, honey or sugar
water
1. In a one quart mason jar* place approximately one inch of ginger root sliced 1/8” thick. Add 2 tsp. sugar or honey, or 3 tsp. agave syrup. The sweetener is what ferments. Add in 1/2 cup water, cover loosely and allow to sit at room temperature for a day or so. Depending on the room temperature you will begin to see tiny bubbles at the surface.
2. When the mixture has begun to ferment you can add some more sweetener (no more than another tablespoon) and fill the jar up with water to the “shoulder” where the jar comes in to the neck. You need to leave a little breathing room because this food is alive! Let your mixture sit another day or so. Sample as necessary. You should get a lightly fizzy, refreshing drink with a little tang from the natural fermentation.
3. When I’ve got the desired fizz, I pour off all but about 1/2 cup of “starter” and refill the jar with sweetener and water as in step two. I re-use the ginger slices once, then set them aside for cooking. I put the finished refreshing drink in a second jar in the refrigerator.
I find there is a delicious healthy feel to this drink: refreshing and a little extra digestive boost from the live cultures.
If you have fun with this, check out the book “Wild Fermentation” by Sandor Katz or go to wildfermentation.com for more great adventures!