I was going to make a banana-ginger oatmeal for breakfast this morning. But then it turned out that we were all out of crystalized ginger. So that was a bust. And most of the other things I'd been looking at either required ingredients or time that I didn't have. And it was already late to be having breakfast. So, in the end, I just asked TF to put together this simple cottage cheese bowl for me. It was actually pretty good! I was going for a banana bread sort of vibe.

I tried it with a full tablespoon of maple syrup this time. But I think next time I might try it with a little less maple syrup, but add a few raisins in instead.

Banana Bread Cottage Cheese Bowl

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. cottage cheese
• 1 banana, sliced
• 1 Tbsp. ground flax seed
• 1 Tbsp. chopped walnuts
• 1 Tbsp. raisins (optional)
• 1-2 tsp. maple syrup
• 1/8 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
• pinch of ground nutmeg

Directions

1. Place all ingredients in a bowl.
2. Mix and serve.

I picked up a copy of Pleyn Delit a couple of years ago. It's a great book full of medieval recipes. I've been wanting to try some out for ages, but I kept just not quite getting around to it. But, with our annual Labour Day get together this year, I finally found the motivation to give it a go!

I picked out a salad, a very interesting steamed chicken dish, and a poached pear recipe. And they were all excellent! This salad was so interesting. It's basically all greens. Lots and lots of herbs in addition to what I tend to think of as salad greens.

The original recipe called for parsely, sage, "green garlic", "chibolles" (which I would have assumed were chives, but the authors of Pleyn Delit indicate were actually green onions), onions, leeks, borage, mint, "porrettes" (small leeks), fennel, watercress, rue, rosemary, and purslane. These are washed, torn, and dressed with a simple combination of oil, vinegar, and salt.

The modern interpretation recommends making it with a combination of leaf lettuce, spinach, borage or radish leaves, watercress, parsley, sage, chives, fennel, mint, green onions, sweet onions and/or leeks, and savoury and/or tarragon. This made for a lovely mix! I loved all the herbs! It was very different, but absolutely delicious!

Original Recipe

Take persel, sawge, grene garlec, chibolles, oynouns, leek, borage, myntes, porrettes, fenel, and toun cressis, rew, rosemarye, purslrye; lave and waische hem clene. Pike hem. Pluk hem small wiþ þyn honde, and myng hem wel with rawe oile; lay on vyneger and salt, and serve it forth.

Photo goes here.

Salat

Slightly adapted from Pleyn Delit: Medieval Cookery for Modern Cooks by Constance B. Hieatt, Brenda Hosington, and Sharon Butler

Ingredients

• 2 handfuls of leaf lettuce
• 2 handfuls of spinach
• 1 handful borage or radish leaves
• 1 handful of watercress¹
• 1 small bulb of fennel, thinly sliced
• 1/4 c. chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fennel fronds or dill
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh chives or garlic chives
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh sage
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh mint
• 1 tsp. fresh tarragon
• 1 tsp. fresh savoury (optional)
• 3-6 green onions, sliced
• 1 small Vidalia or red onion, halved and thinly sliced
• 2 small leeks, very well washed and thinly sliced (optional)
• 1/3 c. olive oil
• ~1/4 c. vinegar (preferably red wine vinegar)
• ~1/2 Tbsp. salt
• freshly ground pepper (optional)

Directions

1. Combine the lettuce, spinach, borage/radish leaves, watercress, fennel, parsley, fennel fronds/dill, chives/garlic chives, sage, mint, tarragon, savoury (if using), green onions, sweet onion, and leeks (if using).
2. Add the olive oil and toss to combine.
3. Have guests drizzle their portion of salad with a little of the vinegar and some of the salt and pepper (if using) at the table.
   

---

¹ I will admit that I omitted both the borage and the watercress for my rendition. It was still delicious. But I'd love to try it with an even wider variety of greens sometime. ^Back

I'm used to watermelon and mint salad just involving whole mint leaves tossed with watermelon, feta, and maybe a little oil and/or vinegar. I've never seen one that goes to the trouble of making a whole vinaigrette before. It was an interesting approach. And I appreciated how much mint it used up!

Watermelon and Feta Salad with Mint Vinaigrette

Slightly adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 3/4 c. fresh mint, divided
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 fresh mild chile (optional)
• 2 Tbsp. rice vinegar
• 1 Tbsp. lime juice
• 2-3 Tbsp. olive oil
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 650g watermelon, cubed
• 185g feta, diced

Directions

1. Combine 1/2 c. of the mint with the sugar in a blender or food processor and chop.
2. Add the chile (if using), vinegar, and lime juice and purée.
3. With motor running, drizzle in the olive oil.
4. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
5. Add the watermelon and feta to a bowl and toss with dressing.
6. Top with remaining mint leaves and serve.

I'm a big fan of whipped cream. Especially when it's lightly sweetened and flavoured with a bit of vanilla. This variation adds some additional layers of flavour to the mix: A small amount of sour cream gives it a distinctive tang. And using brown sugar rather than powdered or granulated gives it just a touch of complexity from the molasses.

I made it to go with a sour cream chocolate cake, but it also pairs beautifully with fresh fruit.

Tangy Whipped Cream

Slightly adapted from The Perfect Cake by America's Test Kitchen

Ingredients

• 1 c. heavy (35%) cream
• 1/4 c. sour cream
• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions

1. Combine the cream, sour cream, sugar, and vanilla and beat on low speed until slightly frothy.
2. Gradually increase speed to high and beat on high speed until cream stiffens.
3. Serve with fresh fruit and/or cake.

Boysenberries in Whipped Cream

This dessert appeals to me. It's simple, very quick to assemble, delicious, and refreshing.

It's basically an unfrozen fool. You just stir the fruit through some lightly sweetened whipped cream and serve. You could also make it ahead and freeze it to turn it into a proper fool if desired. (That's what I've done with the leftovers from tonight's dessert!)

The original recipe called for blackberries. But, since we're in New Zealand right now, I figured I'd take advantage of the availability of bosenberries for this particular treat. Especially since this is somewhere where the fruit really gets to shine.

Bosenberries in Whipped Cream

Slightly adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 2 c. bosenberries, divided
• 2 c. heavy (35%) cream
• 1/4 c. icing (confectioners'/powdered) sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions

1. Purée half of the berries.
2. Combine the cream, sugar, and vanilla and beat until stiff.
3. Fold in puréed berries.
4. Carefully stir in the remaining 1 c. of berries.
5. Spoon into bowls and serve.

I had to fudge this one slightly. It was meant to be done with bananas, blueberries, soft tofu, and orange juice concentrate. We didn't have any orange juice concentrate, but we did have some nice honey Greek yogurt that needed to be used up. So I swapped that in instead. Obviously it's a very different flavour, but it still gives a bit of acidity and a bit of sweetness. Not in the same proportions and not with the same flavours, but it got the job done. And, honestly, I suspect the yogurt version is probably a bit healthier as well.

This worked out quite well. It provided something to round out the breakfast this morning, since we didn't have enough pancakes left to feed everybody. It used up some of the ridiculous pile of tofu from the fridge. And it let me easily say "sure, no problem!" when the Kidlet requested a smoothie with her pancakes this morning. And, even more importantly, Reiver and the Kidlet both seemed to enjoy them.

Banana-Blueberry Smoothie

Slightly adapted from The Big Book of Breakfast by Maryana Vollstedt

Ingredients

• 150g soft tofu
• 3/4 c. honey or vanilla Greek yogurt
• 1/2 c. frozen blueberries
• 2 frozen bananas
• 1 c. milk

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients and purée until smooth.
2. Pour into glasses and serve.

I went slightly off-script for this one. The recipe calls for banana, pineapple, and mango for the fruit and then vanilla yogurt and orange juice as the liquid. I found a bag of frozen "tropical fruit blend" at the grocery store yesterday. It did contain pineapple and mango, but it also had a lot of strawberry and honeydew in the mix. I figured that sounded tasty and let me buy only one bag of frozen fruit rather than two, so I just rolled with it. As for the liquids... We already had a bunch of really nice honey yogurt, so I opted to use that with a little vanilla extract mixed in. And for the orange juice... I did juice the orange that we had, but it didn't produce quite enough, so I just rounded it out with a bit of milk and called it a day. So, not quite the smoothie of the recipe, but good nonetheless.

Tropical Smoothie

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 1 banana
• 2 c. frozen fruit (preferably a 3:1 mix of mango and pineapple)¹
• 1/2 c. honey yogurt
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2-3/4 c. orange juice and/or milk

Directions

1. Combine ingredients in blender and purée until smooth.
2. Add more liquid as needed to achieve desired consistency.
3. Pour into glasses and serve.

---

¹ I think mine was more like 8:6:3:3 strawberries to honeydew to mango to pineapple. ^Back

This is a nice vegetable side. It's fast, easy, and surprisingly tasty. I quite liked it!

Honey-Lemon Carrot Salad

Slightly adapted from Vegetable of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 1/2 Tbsp. honey
• 2 Tbsp. white wine or sherry vinegar
• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 500g carrots, grated
• 1/3 c. sultanas or golden raisins
• 1/4 c. sliced almonds¹
• 1 Tbps. chopped flat-leaf parsley

Directions

1. Combine the honey, vinegar, and lemon juice and mix well.
2. Whisk in the olive oil and salt.
3. Add the carrots, sultanas, almonds, and parsley and toss to combine.

---

¹ I was all out of sliced almonds, so I used sliced hazelnuts for my salad instead. ^Back

So, full disclosure: I was in a bit of a hurry and kind of messed up this pudding. It still turned out reasonably tasty. It was just very lumpy. Since I just dumped the chia into the milk the night before and didn't both to mix it properly. Not the end of the world. Just not ideal either. So, I guess I should let that be a lesson to me to make sure to mix everything very well before I leave it to soak overnight if I'm ever making this again.

You can mix up the fruit to go with this. The original recipe calls for kiwi, blackberries, fresh apricots, pomegranate, and toasted coconut chips. I think I ended up using kiwi, blackberries, nectarines, raspberries, and toasted coconut. But you could try all sorts of things! I've included some ideas in the variations below.

Chia Pudding with Fresh Fruit

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 1 c. oat milk
• 1/4 c. chia seeds
• 2 Tbsp. maple syrup
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 150g blackberries
• 2 kiwis, peeled and sliced
• 4 apricots, sliced
• 75g pomegranate arils
• 20g toasted coconut chips

Directions

1. Combine oat milk, chia seeds, maple syrup, and vanilla and mix well.
2. Cover and chill for 4-24 hours.
3. Divide into four bowls, top each with 1/4 of the fresh fruit and coconut chips, and serve.

---

Variants

Strawberry-Banana

Ingredients

• 1 c. oat milk
• 2 Tbsp. peanut butter
• 1/4 c. chia seeds
• 2 Tbsp. maple syrup
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 150g strawberries
• 2 bananas, peeled and sliced
• 20g dark chocolate shavings

Kiwi-Mango

Ingredients

• 1 c. coconut milk
• 1/4 c. chia seeds
• 2 Tbsp. honey
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 kiwis, peeled and sliced
• 2 mangoes, sliced
• 2 passionfruit
• 20g toasted coconut chips
• 20g macadamia nuts, chopped

Lemon-Blueberry

Ingredients

• 1 c. almond milk
• 1/4 c. chia seeds
• 2 Tbsp. honey
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp. culinary lavender
• 150g blueberries
• 1/2 c. lemon curd
• 20g slivered almonds, toasted

Blackberry-Melon

Ingredients

• 1 c. coconut milk
• 1/4 c. chia seeds
• 2 Tbsp. honey
• 1/2 tsp. lime zest
• 150g blackberries
• 1/4 cantaloupe, diced
• 1/4 honeydew melon, diced
• 20g pine nuts, toasted

Kiwi-Lychee

Ingredients

• 1 c. coconut milk
• 1/4 c. chia seeds
• 2 Tbsp. honey
• 1 tsp. rosewater
• 150g blackberries
• ~20 lycheefruit, peeled and halved
• 2 kiwis, peeled and sliced
• 20g slivered almonds, toasted

Cranberry-Quince

Ingredients

• 1 c. oat milk
• 1/4 c. chia seeds
• 2 Tbsp. maple syrup
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 quince, peeled and diced
• 1 star anise
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 c. apple juice
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 250g fresh cranberries
• 1/4 c. raisins
• 20g walnuts, toasted and chopped

Directions

1. Combine the oat milk, chia seeds, maple syrup, and vanilla extract as directed above, mixing, covering, and chilling for at least 4 hours.
2. Meanwhile, combine the quince, star anise, cinnamon stick, apple juice, and sugar and bring to a boil over medium heat.
3. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, for ~20 minutes.
4. Add the cranberries and raisins and simmer for another 20 minutes.
5. Divide pudding among four bowls, top with compote and walnuts and serve.

Chocolate-Cherry

Ingredients

• 1 c. almond milk
• 1/4 c. chia seeds
• 1 Tbsp. Dutched (alkalized) cocoa powder
• 2 Tbsp. honey
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 400g fresh cherries, pitted and halved
• 20g slivered almonds, toasted
• 20g dark chocolate shavings

We had a surplus of mint and strawberries were on sale this week, so this low-effort dessert seemed like a natural fit.

Macerated Strawberries with Lemon and Mint

From Dessert of the Day by Kim Laidlaw

Ingredients

• 450g strawberries, hulled and quartered (or sliced)
• 2-4 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/2 Tbsp. lemon zest
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh mint

Directions

1. Add all ingredients to a bowl and toss to combine.
2. Let stand for at least 15 minutes, then serve.

Bund Gobhi Kakadi nu Salade (Cabbage-Cucumber Salad)

I had initially been intending to do some baked cod for dinner last night, but, when dinner time rolled around... I just wasn't feeling it. So I flipped through the curry cookbook instead. I started at the back and worked my way forward until I got to this interesting salad recipe.

It's hot here right now, so the idea of a nice, cool salad for dinner was quite appealing. And it meant that I could finally use up the cabbage and cucumber out of the fridge! Granted it was napa cabbage rather than the green cabbage the recipe called for, but I had a hunch that I could get away with making that swap in this instance.

I made the recipe to spec initially and it was good. That said, I felt like it could stand to be a little punchier, so I added a couple tsp. of Maharashtrian garam masala. I think that helped, but I might be inclined to add a minced green chile next time as well. Still... it was a tasty refreshing salad for a hot day.

Bund Gobhi Kakadi nu Salade

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1 small head cabbage, shredded
• 1 English cucumber, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced crosswise
• 1/2 c. shredded fresh coconut¹
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 fresh green Thai, finger, or serrano chile, minced (optional)
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 c. raw peanuts (without skins)
• 1-2 Tbsp. mustard oil
• 1 tsp. mustard seeds
• 1/4 tsp. ground asafetida
• juice of 1 lime
• 1-2 tsp. Maharashtrian garam masala (optional)

Directions

1. Combine the cabbage, cucumber, coconut, cilantro, chile (if using), sugar, and sea salt and mix well.
2. Toast the peanuts over medium-high heat until brown and spotty.
3. Transfer to a molcajete or large mortar and pestle and coarsely grind (to the texture of coarse breadcrumbs). If using a food processor, blender, or spice grinder wait until the peanuts have cooled completely before grinding or else they will become cakey.
4. Add the peanuts to the salad.
5. Heat the oil over medium-high heat.
6. Add the mustard seeds, cover, and cook until they've stopped popping (30-60 seconds).
7. Remove from heat and stir in the asafetida.
8. Allow to cook in the residual heat for 5-10 seconds, then pour the oil mixture over the salad and stir to combine.
9. Add the lime juice and garam masala (if using) and mix well.
10. Serve cold or room temperature.

---

¹ Alternatively, use 1/4 c. of dried, unsweetened shredded coconut. Pour over 1/4 c. of boiling water, let stand for 10-15 minutes, then drain and use as directed. ^Back

I was looking for an easy, relatively healthy dessert the other day and this fit the bill. And, as an added bonus, it even used up the last of the mascarpone that was left over after making the last batch of tiramisu!

The original recipe called for macerating the cherries with a bit of sugar. But it also called for Ranier cherries. For the sake of convenience, I just ended up using some frozen dark, sweet cherries. I didn't feel that these needed any extra sweetening, so I just used them as-is, with the cascarpone on top.

Cherries with Vanilla Mascarpone

Slightly adapted from Dessert of the Day by Kim Laidlaw

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. mascarpone
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 340g pitted sweet cherries

Directions

1. Mix the sugar and vanilla into the mascarpone and set aside.
2. Get out two bowls and put half the cherries into each.
3. Spoon half of the mascarpone mixture onto each portion of cherries and serve.

I wanted something fairly light for breakfast this morning. I was initially thinking of doing another batch of oatmeal, but I wanted to try something new and I didn't have the right ingredients on hand to do any of the other oatmeal recipes that I had handy. In the end I decided to keep flipping through the Breakfast Bible and see what else caught my eye.

This parfait was the first recipe I came across that I actually had all the ingredients for. And we even still have some raspberries ripening, so I figured this would be a nice opportunity to enjoy them before the season ends.

This is a pleasingly straight-forward recipe with layers of fresh raspberry sauce, Greek yogurt, blueberries, and granola. I just used the last little bit of some store-bought granola I had in the cupboard, but you could make it even more customized and special by using some homemade granola.

And, while I did have lots of fresh raspberries, I didn't have any fresh blueberries handy, so I just thawed out some frozen ones to top my parfait with.

There is some flex in this recipe too. The suggestion is to use raspberries to make the sauce and then add fresh blueberries on top of the yogurt, but the autor notes that strawberries are an acceptable alternative for the sauce layer with blackberries making up the upper layer. You still get to enjoy two different kinds of fruit and a nice colour contrast that way.

Raspberry-Blueberry Parfaits

From The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 1 c. raspberries
• 2 Tbsp. honey
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 c. plain Greek yogurt
• 1 c. blueberries
• 1 c. granola

Directions

1. Mash the raspberries with the honey and vanilla to make a chunky sauce.
2. Divide the sauce between four containers. (There should be ~3 Tbsp. of sauce per container.)
3. Add 1/2 c. of yogurt to each container.
4. Layer ~1/4 c. of blueberries on top of the yogurt in each container.
5. Top with 1/4 c. of granola on each parfait.

---

Variations

Strawberry-Blackberry Parfaits

Ingredients

• 1 c. strawberries
• 2 Tbsp. honey
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 c. plain Greek yogurt
• 1 c. blackberries
• 1 c. granola

This is a simple vegetable side. It's somewhere between a salad and a quick pickle. It's very easy to make and requires very little active time. You just need to start it far enough in advance to give it at least an hour for the flavours to develop before you serve it.

This reminds me a lot of how I used to eat cucumbers as a kid: in a little dish with some white vinegar, salt, and pepper. Using cider vinegar instead of white, adding a bit of sugar, and diluting the mixture with a bit of water all help to tone down the acidity a bit. I still like my childhood version, but I do think this mellower take is probably more broadly appealing. And letting it sit for a while before serving gives the vegetables a chance to really absorb the flavours.

I made my salad with Vidalia onions since I had some on hand for another dish anyway, but the write-up says that regular yellow onions worked fine here as well. And I used an English cucumber because that's what I had on hand, but apparently when the folks over at ATK tested this recipe their tasters preferred field cucumbers to English. It's not like it's bad with English cucumbers though, so use what you have and enjoy!

Cucumber and Onion Salad

From Cook's Country June/July 2019

Ingredients

• 1/2 cider vinegar
• 1/4 c. water
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/2 Tbsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 450g cucumbers
• 1 onion, halved and sliced thin

Directions

1. Mix the vinegar, water, sugar, salt, and pepper until dissolved and set aside.
2. Peel the cucumbers, halve lengthwise, and slice thin.
3. Add the cucumbers and onions to the dressing and mix well.
4. Cover and chill for at least an hour before serving.

This was meant to be yet another cottage cheese breakfast bowl from Budget Bytes, but I decided that I'd rather do it with yogurt again. If doing it with cottage cheese, I think I'd be tempted to add a little lemon zest and/or juice. I think the lemon and bluberry would be a great combo! Or, if you wanted to go another way with it, you could try replacing the bluberries with cherries and maybe adding a little almond extract to the yogurt. Maybe even try replacing the slivered almonds with a little almond butter. I think that would be an excellent mix of flavours.

Blueberry-Almond Breakfast Bowl

Slightly adapted from Budget Bytes

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. Greek yogurt or cottage cheese (fat-free if you're counting calories)
• 1/8 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/8 tsp. almond extract (optional
• 1 Tbsp. no sugar added syrup or 1/2 Tbsp. honey
• 1/4 c. blueberries (or cherries)
• 2 Tbsp. slivered almonds (or 1 Tbsp. almond butter)
• 1/4 tsp. lemon zest (optional)

Directions

1. Combine the yogurt, vanilla, almond extract (if using), and syrup and mix well.
2. Top with berries, almonds, and lemon zest (if using) and serve.

Salatat Fawakeh (Fruit Salad)

I had been intending on making a peach coffee cake for dessert last night. Only to check the recipe and find out that it calls for peach preserves in addition to actual peaches. I didn't really feel that any of the preserves that we had would make a good stand-in for the peach ones, so I set that plan aside for now and started flipping through cookbooks for other dessert ideas.

I'd initially thought to make a carrot cake. But, after examining the amount of sugar and oil called for in the recipe, I couldn't bring myself to make it. Plus, I didn't have the buttermilk for making the soaking syrup anyway. (Yes, this cake calls for a huge amount of sugar in the batter and then soaking it in a buttermilk-sugar syrup before icing it with cream cheese frosting.) So that was out...

I considered a few different cookies. There were some interesting, not-too-sweet-looking, yeasted ones in the Italian cookbook my mom got me for my birthday this year. And the anise and nigella cookies from the Syrian cookbook were also tempting. In the end though, I decided to go for this fruit salad. We didn't quite have all the ingredients it called for, but we came close enough that I felt like I could make a reasonable approximation of it.

The original recipe (which is what I've given here) called for apples, bananas, mangoes, kiwi, and strawberries. I had the apples, bananas, and strawberries, but was bereft of kiwi and only had mangoes in frozen form as part of a "tropical mix" with pineapple, coconut, and dragonfruit. I realize that this wasn't exactly the blend that the recipe was calling for, but I decided to give it a go with the "tropical mix" standing in for the kiwi and mango.

The dish is meant to be topped with "milk curd" -- a soft, fresh, Syrian cheese. The author notes that ricotta makes a reasonable substitute if you don't feel like making your own cheese for this. I decided to try it with fat-free cottage cheese since I that is a "zero Point" food for me. The cottage cheese was fine with it, but I think the saltiness of it clashes a little bit with the fruit. Next time I think I'll follow the Kidlet's example and have it with plain Greek yogurt instead.

The salad is also meant to be topped with raisins, whole almonds, and honey. Conveniently, we still have a partial jar of whole mixed nuts packed in liquid honey, so I just used those -- along with a few raisins -- to put the finishing touches on the salad. I went with ~4 almonds, 1 tsp. of raisins, and a teaspoon or so of honey (estimating how much came with the nuts) for each portion. I think I probably could've gotten away with a little less for the raisins and honey, but it's certainly very tasty that way! (Just a little more calorically dense.)

Salatat Fawakeh

From Our Syria by Dina Mousawi and Itab Azzam

Ingredients

• 1 mango, peeled and cubed
• 1 apple, chopped
• 1 kiwi, peeled and sliced
• 1 banana, sliced
• 8 strawberries, hulled and quartered
• 200g ricotta, cottage cheese, or plain Greek yogurt
• 16-20 whole almonds
• 4 tsp. raisins
• 4 tsp. honey

Directions

1. Toss the mango, apple, kiwi, banana, and strawberries together.
2. Divide into four equal portions and top each one with ~50g of cheese, 4-5 almonds, and 1 tsp. of raisins.
3. Drizzle each with 1 tsp. of honey and serve.

I've had this recipe sitting in my bookmarks for ages. It really appealed to me when I first saw it, but we didn't have all the ingredients (and also, it's pretty unhealthy, so I couldn't really justify going out and getting the bits for it). So, it sat there in my bookmarks, mostly ignored and forgotten.

I wasn't even planning on making it today. I was going to do a completely different unhealthy, cheese-based recipe. But, sadly, my goat cheese had gone off, so I had to punt on my original plans. But this still left me with half a package of cream cheese to use up. Perfect for making half a batch of brownie batter dip! And, since it's only a half batch, I feel less bad about its nutritional status.

(The recipe below reflects the original quantities since I figure I'm more likely to have a whole brick of cream cheese on hand than a half package, but feel free to scale it up or down as needed.)

Brownie Batter Dip

Slightly adapted from Taste of Home

Ingredients

• 250g cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 c. unsalted butter, softened
• 2 c. icing (powdered/confectioners') sugar
• 6 Tbsp. cocoa powder
• 1/4 c. milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 Tbsp. brown sugar

Directions

1. Beat cream cheese with butter until combined.
2. Sift in icing sugar and cocoa powder.
3. Add milk, vanilla, and brown sugar and beat until smooth.
4. Serve with fruit or graham crackers to dip.

So, I've been going through cookbooks trying to find a use for some excess egg yolks that I've been hanging on to in the fridge. I sa a recipe for an egg-yolk-only white chocolate mousse in an issue of Cook's Country. That put me on to the idea of mousse in general and I figured I'd check the plain chocolate mousse recipe (in a different issue of Cook's Country) as well as seeing what Edmonds had to say on the topic of chocolate mousse.

Well, it turns out that I'd already made the Edmonds chocolate mousse and just forgotten to write it up. (Looked familiar once I was actually reading it, just didn't remember before I got the book out.)

This recipe doesn't help me with my egg yolk dilemma as it uses whole eggs, but it should still be written up. I was happy with how it came out if I recall correctly, and it's a fairly easy dessert to make.

Chocolate Mousse

From Edmonds Cookery Book

Ingredients

• 100g dark chocolate
• 2 Tbsp. water or espresso
• 4 large eggs, separated
• 1 Tbsp. rum or cointreau
• whipped cream, to serve

Directions

1. Chop the chocolate and place it in a heatproof bowl with the water/espresso.
2. Set the bowl over a pot of boiling water and heat for 5 minutes.
3. Remove from heat and stir gently until combined.
4. Beat the egg yolks until fluffy.
5. Gradually stir in the wearm chocolate mixture.
6. Mix in the rum/cointreau.
7. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks.
8. Add half of the egg whites to the chocolate mixture and stir to combine. (Don't worry about deflating them at this point. The goal is just to loosen the mixture a little bit.)
9. Add the remaining egg white and gently fold into the chocolate mixture until no longer streaky. (NOW you want to be careful not to deflate it too much.)
10. Spoon into 4 small or 1 large dish and chill¹ for 1-2 hours.
11. Served topped with whipped cream.

---

¹ Edmonds recommends putting the mousse somewhere cool, but not cold to set. They note that if set in the fridge, the mousse may become too firm. I set mine in the fridge anyway and just checked it fairly frequently to see when it was set enough, but not too firm. Keeping it slightly warmer (probably somewhere in the 6-10°C range) would probably avoid the risk of overly hard mousse, but I'd also worry about food safety at those temperatures. Especially given the raw egg in this recipe. My preference would be to store it colder, get it to set up as quickly as possible, and eat it sooner. Less chance of any nasties having a chance to multiply and cause problems that way. ^Back

I've been trying out a few more recipes from my Filipino cookbook. We had chicken adobo for dinner tonight and I needed a couple other dishes to round out the meal. I opted for a cucumber salad and a mango salad. For the cucumber salad, I followed a recipe that I found online. For the mango salad, I was pretty much just winging it. I ended up stirring together a couple tablespoons each of some other dressings I had on hand and stirring together a few other ingredients with some sliced mango and a little bit of palm sugar and calling it a day. I was slightly worried that such a chaotic approach would result in a disappointing dish, but it was actually amazingly good! TF and I both had seconds. I would definitely make both this and the cucumber salad again in the future.

Mango salad (top right) picture with cucumber salad (bottom right) and chicken adobo with rice (left).

Mango Salad

Ingredients

• 1 mango, sliced
• 1 shallot, halved and sliced thin
• 1 fresh red Thai chili, sliced thin on bias
• 1 tsp. palm sugar¹, pulverized
• 2 Tbsp. dressing from cucumber salad
• 2 Tbsp. dressing from salad crêpes
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and toss to thoroughly combine.
2. Cover and chill until ready to serve.
3. Top with chopped dry-roasted peanuts if desired.

---

¹ My mango was a bit under-ripe and not very sweet. If you have a very sweet, ripe mango you may wish to omit the sugar. Make it to whatever level of sweetness you prefer. ^Back

I wasn't actually expecting to be that enamored of this cold chopped veggie dish, but it's actually really tasty. The acidity of the lime juice means it works well with fish and seafood. In this instance I actually made it as an accompaniment to a simple paneer curry. I simplified the preparation a bit, but I don't think it suffered for it.

Kachumber

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1 large English cucumber, cubed¹
• 1 medium tomato, cored and cubed
• 1 small red onion, finely chopped
• 1/4 c. fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1-2 fresh green Thai, cayenne, or serrano chiles, chopped
• juice of 1 lime
• 1 tsp. Chaat Masala

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients and mix well.
2. Serve room temperature or chilled.

---

¹ The original recipe says to peel the cucumber and scoop out the seeds. I didn't bother with any of that and just chopped up the cucumber with the skin on and seeds in. I think it was just fine that way. Not to mention easier prep and less waste. ^Back