Wednesday, March 3, 2010

The House Around the Corner - Key Lime Pie

Goat's Milk is something I have been trying to develop a taste of for a long time.  I have come a long way, but am not quite there yet.  One of my favorite all time things is a latte made with half fresh goat's milk and half cow's milk, so there is hope for me.

Even without developing a taste for goat's milk, I had a couple of pieces of this key lime pie.  It was so GOOD!  I have not tried making it yet, but plan to one of these days.  Bright, tart, refreshing and healthy.

Here is another wonderful recipe from Katherine's Kitchen!

Cindy


Key Lime Pie
Crust:
2 cups ground almonds
(I use ones I have previously soaked and dried)
1 cup dates
½ tsp salt
Soak dates in ½ cup boiling water. When they are soft, run them through a food processor till smooth
Then add almonds,( I also added a tbsp of ground flax seed). Spread into a greased pie pan.

Filling:
2 cups homemade cream cheese 
(yogurt you’ve strained overnight through cheese cloth)
1/3 cup agave or honey
1/3 -1/2 cup lime juice
Grated peels of 1-2 limes
Combine these set aside.

Combine
3 beaten eggs
1 packet of gelatin
(check out MaryJane Butters online for gelatin alternative called chillOver powder)
MaryJane's Farm - ChillOver Powder 
½ cup milk

Wisk over low heat until thickened, combine with cream cheese mixture.
Pour into pie shell and chill.
You can substitute  1-2 cups fresh or frozen berries in place of lime for a berry pie.

My daughter said this pie was better than any key lime she’d ever tasted! I think it’s so important to be creative with desserts and be able to offer your friends and family delicious treats. Enjoy these in small quantities, they’re rich. I encourage my kids to take small bites and savor them.

Proverbs 23:3 talks about being careful not to crave the food of a ruler, his food is deceptive, or to be given to gluttony. My understanding of the deception is extravagant rich desserts and foods (prepared by servants) may charm your senses, but they will do much harm to your body without you really understanding the relation between the two. I think of the servant food we eat as being fast food, or processed food. Once you start making desserts this way other stuff just doesn’t taste so yummy.

Katherine

The House Around the Corner - Tiramisu Rustica


 Tiramisu Rustica

My friend Katherine has been successfully using fresh goat's milk for quite a long time now.  She has been so encouraging to all of us to have nutritious and beautiful meals.  Thank you for sharing some of these wonderful dessert recipes with all of us!
Cindy




Tiramisu Rustica
(Pronounced tee-dah-mee-sá½»)
This is inspired by a traditional Italian dessert,
 I’ve reworked it so you’re using great ingredients and methods.

2 cups flour whole wheat, spelt, Kamut, gluten free (I used Kamut)
-1 cup yogurt
 -1 cup water
Combine these and soak overnight.

½ cup butter
½ cup agave or honey
Cream butter and sweetener together with a beater.

4 beaten eggs
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
Combine all ingredients. Pour into two round cake pans, which are greased and floured.
Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes. Cool completely. The cakes will be thin.

Filling
2 cups homemade cream cheese (yogurt you’ve strained overnight through a cheese cloth)
½  whipping cream-whipped in a cold bowlJ
1/3 – ½ cup agave or honey
Add sweetener to room temperature cream cheese. Fold in ½ of whipped cream then fold in the rest.

So your filling is ready, your cakes are cooled, 2 more simple steps and you’re done!

You’ll need ½ cup of strong coffee or 2 shots of espresso - slightly sweetened
½ cup of cocoa powder
Place first cake on plate, saturate with one espresso shot, or ¼ cup coffee.
Spread ½ of the filling over your cake. Sift ¼ cup cocoa powder over the filling.
Add next layer and repeat. Enjoy!

I doubled my flour and liquid when I soaked them and used ½ for pancakes.
When I get more than one dish out of my efforts I feel so much more accomplished.

Also pictured is
Chocolate Mousse

½-1 cup raw whipped cream, whipped in a cold bowl
4 stiffly beaten egg whites (add a dash of salt or cream of tartar while beating)
6 oz semisweet chocolate
1 tbsp cream
Melt chocolate with tbsp of cream on low heat, cool. Slowly fold in to whipped cream.
Slowly fold in beaten egg whites. You can add a little coffee or espresso to bring out the chocolate flavor. Cool in refrigerator at least an hour.
Now that was easy! And yummy!

Katherine

Low Temperature Yogurts

The Raw Milk Adventure Continues....

Low Temperature Yogurt

After spending time researching raw milk I have become convinced that our family wants to switch completely away from pasteurized milk.   This includes yogurt, which we have been eating a lot of.   There are some great web sites and youtube clips showing how to make raw milk yogurt.  The basic process seems to depend on what type of culture you have.

You can purchase cultures on line.  I intend to do this, but did not get around to it yet.  Instead, when we went to buy milk yesterday my sister and I decided to get three types of yogurt and we shared them.  These were then mixed to make our culture.   What we found was a sheep milk yogurt, a coconut milk yogurt and a greek yogurt.

The milk with the yogurt culture (all three combined) was put into a glass canning jar and lidded up tightly.  My sister has a yogurt maker that she used.  She also is going to try a dehydrator (as soon as she can find it.... probably it is somewhere in the shop).  I tried several different spots around my fireplace... using my candy thermometer to test it out.... too hot.  The milk cannot go above 118 or the enzymes are destroyed.

Finally.... I put hot water into my crock pot, left it off til it got to 110, then put the jars of yogurt into the hot water, put the lid on and put a thick bath towel over the whole thing.  I did need to turn it on low every couple of hours for about 10 minutes at a time.   The candy thermometer helped me keep track of the temperature.  It has now been in there for 8 hours.  It is at 110 degrees right now, and it is just going to stay in there overnight.  In the morning the water should be cold and it should be finished.  

So, this is a work in progress.  Hopefully it turns out!  Here is a paragraph from the web site where you can get the cultures and the web site.  As soon as I pull it together I plan to switch to countertop yogurt!

Two Types of Yogurt Cultures

There are two types of yogurt cultures: Mesophilic and Thermophilic.  Mesophilic cultures are also known as room temperature or counter top yogurt varieties as they culture best at room temperature (70-78 degrees).  You do not need a yogurt maker to use a mesophilic culture.  Thermophilic cultures require heat to culture properly so using a thermophilic culture requires a way to keep the yogurt at 110 degrees for 4-8 hours (depending on the variety).  Yogurt making appliances are a popular choice when working with a thermophilic culture but other methods can work quite well including a crock pot, oven with a low temperature setting, etc.