Simple Does It: A Clever Tip For Packing Lunches

When I first moved into a building for seniors I wondered how I would like it.  I'm one of the youngsters here. Many of my neighbours are twenty or even thirty years my senior. I've come to love it though. My neighbours are a sociable bunch and, because most of us are living on fixed incomes, happy to share any tips and tricks that help make the most of what we have. There's a lot to be said for knowledge gained through life experience. 

I don't buy individual fruit cups but my across-the-hall neighbour does. She also regularly attends Elder College classes and volunteers at the museum and one of the local seniors' drop in centers. She's a busy woman! And because she takes packed lunches with her to these activities she shared a handy tip with me. She passed on some empty fruit cup containers too.

Did you know that those little plastic containers' rims are the perfect size to fit under a wide mouth Mason jar ring? I didn't either, but they are.  😊  My neighbour uses them to keep things that will be eaten together but don't store well in the same container - like salad and croutons, yogurt and granola, soup and crackers - conveniently packaged together in the soft sided cooler she uses as a lunch bag. 

It works like this: 

Fill your repurposed fruit cup with whatever ingredients you want to keep in there and then cover the top of the fruit cup with a Mason jar lid, seal-side-up.

Holding the sealer lid in place atop the cup, invert it and place the cup and lid sealer-side-down onto the top of your jar. Secure it in place with the Mason jar ring. 

Easy peasy, right? I wouldn't recommend it for kids' lunches but for adults taking lunch to work or school it's brilliant. 

I'll pass your thanks on to my neighbour, shall I? You're welcome.  😊

Krispies And Candies Cookies

A lot of the best stuff I make comes from me surveying my fridge and pantry, then going with what I have on hand. These cookies are like that.

I had a jar of mini M&M's that had seemed like a good idea while I was at Bulk Barn but not such a good idea when I got home. They sat there on my shelf looking all bright and cheerful and useless until I decided I had to use them up. And cookies are good, right? Pretty much any kind of cookie is a happy thing.

So...What did I have to put in the cookies along with the M&M's?  I could've gone with nuts of some sort, but I had none and I didn't want to buy anything more. I did have Rice Krispies because I always have Rice Krispies. So, that's what I went with.  

The finished cookies were surprisingly good. The coating on the M&M's and the crispy cereal gave them a pleasant crunch that made my mouth really happy.

If you'd like to make these cookies, you'll need:

• 2-1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter
• 3/4 c each white sugar and brown sugar, lightly packed
• 2 beaten eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups mini M&M's
• 4 cups Rice Krispies

Use a fork or a whisk to stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt.

In another, large, bowl, cream together the butter and sugars. 

Add in the beaten eggs and vanilla and mix them until they were well combined with the creamed butter and sugars. Beat them together until they're light and fluffy.  The batter may look slightly curdled - broken - at this point. 

Mix the flour/baking soda/salt mixture into the wet ingredients until all of the ingredients are mixed into a stiff dough.

Add in the M&M's and Rice Krispies. Use a wooden spoon to mix them into the dough as gently as possible. Some of the Rice Krispies will get broken in the process but enough will stay intact to give the cookies good texture.

Form the dough into 1-1/2 to 2 inch balls and place them 2 inches apart on parchment lined cookie sheets.

Bake the cookies at 350F for about 12 minutes, until they begin to take on colour around the outside edges. 

Cool the cookies on a baking sheet for about 5 minutes and then transfer them to a rack covered with a sheet of brown paper to cool to room temperature. (The brown paper will absorb any extra moisture or butter from the bottom of the cookies, helping to ensure a crisp finish.)

Once the cookies are coooled to room temperature, store them in air tight containers and use them up within a few days.  If you need to keep them for longer than that, put them in the freezer.

Why You Need This Stuff In Your Kitchen: Chickpea Flour

 

One of the hard realities of living on a limited food budget is that the less you have to spend, the fewer foods you have to choose from.

My home is on Vancouver Island, off the southwest coast of Canada. It's an expensive place to live and I'm on a fixed income, in a time of rapidly increasing inflation. I could choose to move somewhere with a lower cost of living but I've lived here almost all my life. My friends and family are here and I don't want to be further away from them. 

That leaves me with two choices: I can either cut a discretionary expense like internet or my car out of my budget and put the money saved toward buying food, or I can accept that my range of food choices is declining and figure out how to make the best of what I do have access to.  I've chosen the second.

Meat is incredibly expensive here right now so it's making fewer and fewer appearances on my plate and I'm okay with that. I'm an adept enough cook and know enough about basic nutrition to ensure that I get sufficient protein in my diet from other sources. I still include eggs and cheese in my diet but I also rely on nuts, seeds, whole grains, and legumes.  Especially legumes.  

If you look to other cultures that rely heavily on plants for the proteins in their diet, you'll soon see that beans, lentils, and peas play an important part in their cuisines. They're inexpensive, have an extraordinarily long shelf life, and - when well prepared - they taste good too. Dried legumes are often consumed in whole form, re-hydrated and cooked until tender, but they're also often ground into pastes or flours and added to dishes in these forms.

Chickpea flour is a cooking staple in India, and also found in Mediterranean and African cuisines. As the vegan lifestyle grows in popularity chickpea flour is seen more often in North American cooking too.  It's versatile and rich in nutrients. One cup of chickpea flour contains 20 grams of protein, 6 grams of fat, 10 grams of fiber, 30% of the recommended daily intake of thiamine, 101% of the recommended daily intake of folate, and 25% of the recommended daily intake of iron.

There are 2 commonly available forms of chickpea flour in the stores here: white chickpea flour/gram flour and besan flour, which is made from brown chickpeas and more finely ground. Both are similar in nutritional value. There are differences in the way they're cooked though. Vegan Richa wrote an excellent post about the differences between chickpea flour and besan. It's worth clicking through to read it. 

When you're cooking with chickpea flour, don't taste the raw batter. It'll taste awful and leave an unpleasant aftertaste too. When cooked, the flavour mellows into something slightly nutty and toasty; very pleasant.

I use chickpea flour in several ways:  

• I sub it for half of the wheat flour in conventional baking powder or baking soda leavened recipes for pancakes, biscuits, cookies, etc. (You'll probably have to adjust the amount of liquid you add.)
• I use it in Indian recipes, as instructed by the recipe writer.
• I use it to make something akin to polenta, which I cool, then cut into pieces and use in a variety of applications. It can be used as a substitute in recipes that call for paneer or tofu, it can be cut into wedges or fries and baked, fried plain, or battered/breaded and then deep fried.
• I make it into a thin batter - sometimes leavened and sometimes not - and cook it as I would crêpe batter, for use in place of tortillas.

There are a host of chickpea flour recipes on Pinterest. Pop on over there, take a look, and then give some of them a try. I'm sure you'll find something you like and, in doing so, you'll add variety and nutritional value to your menus while stretching your food dollars further.

Affordable Eats: Homemade Oat Milk

Have you looked at prices in the grocery store lately?  I don't know about where you live, but here the price of everything is going up. 

I'm on a fixed income so when prices rise the only option I have is to change my spending habits. More and more things are being struck from my grocery list because I simply can't afford them.  Dairy prices are rising so yogurt is no longer on my shopping list and cheese is appearing on my table far less often. Milk prices are going up and nut milks, soy milk, rice milk, and oat milk have always been more expensive than cow's milk. Even so their prices are rising too.

Recently, I tried oat milk and found that it agrees better with my digestion than cow's milk or other non-dairy options so that's what I've been buying for the past couple of months. In addition to being kind to my tummy, oat milk contains fibre, iron, calcium, potassium, and B vitamins. That's some good nutritional value. Still, the cost...

While browsing Pinterest just before Christmas, I came across this post from Alpha Foodie. It looked easy to make and it would cost me pennies on the dollar in comparison to the stuff in the dairy case. I gave it a try and it worked so well I'm sharing it with you. Seriously, you need to make this. It tastes good and it'll save you money too.

Here are some notes based on my own batches:

I go for the "handful of soaked cashews" option because it gives the oatmilk a creamier consistency. Even with the cashews it's a lot less expensive than store bought.

I use unsweetened oat milk when cooking. If I'm drinking it as a hot beverage, I either sweeten it with maple syrup and add a little vanilla extract, or I use a Torani coffee syrup. Jenni Field's Pastry Chef Online's butterscotch coffee syrup is mighty fine too. 😊

If you choose to add the ingredients for any of the flavour variations listed in the post, you'll still save money over store bought.  

If you prefer the mejool date option to using maple syrup, you can use (less expensive) regular dates from the baking aisle instead, by soaking them in warm water then letting them cool to room temperature before you add them to the oat milk.

I hope you'll give this a try. It's a good budget stretcher.

Ice Cream Sandwiches For The Holidays

 

Ice cream?  At this time of year?  Heck, yes!  Every season is ice cream season at my house and from the very first time I saw this recipe from April J. Harris, I knew I wanted to use them to make ice cream sandwiches.  They're so festive looking, and they taste great too.

I wanted to ensure that the ice cream sandwiches could mostly be prepared ahead of time and the cookies and ice cream were in rounds of similar diameter. The solution I came up with is simple, effective, and doesn't require the purchase of extra kitchen gear.

For every four ice cream sandwiches you plan to make, you'll need on 398 ml/14 ounce tin can. It's the size of tin most commercially canned cranberry sauce comes in, and many other canned fruits and vegetables too. Decide on how many servings you're going to need, then save your tins over time. Unless you have a cookie or biscuit cutter of the same diameter as the tins, you'll have to save an extra tin for cutting out your cookies.  You'll also need some kitchen parchment.

The ice cream should be the first thing you make because it can be kept in the freezer for several days before you plan to serve your ice cream sandwiches.  You'll be using the tin cans as ice cream molds so you should prepare them before beginning to make your ice cream.

Use a pencil to trace around the top of one of your tins onto a piece of parchment.  You'll need to make two circles for each tin you plan to use. Cut the circles out, cutting just inside the traced line so there's no graphite on the cut pieces.  

Cut a piece of parchment greater than the height of each tin. You'll use the full width of the parchment piece in each mold. Working one tin at a time, begin by rolling up this piece of parchment from one of its side edge,s into a tube smaller than the diameter of your tin.  Place the tube inside the tin, let go, and allow it to widen to conform to the sides of the tin.  

Place a parchment circle in the bottom of each tin.  I used the handle of a wooden spoon to gently push the circles into place at the bottom of the mold.

Now you're ready to make your frozen custard.  You'll need:

• 5 large egg yolks
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 cup whole milk
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 2-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Whisk the egg yolks, sugar, and salt together until the mixture lightens to a pale yellow and becomes fluffy.

Stir the milk and cream together in the top of a double boiler and cook it over simmering water, stirring occassionally,  until little bubbles begin to appear on the surface.

Whisk one ladleful of the heated milk/cream mixture into the egg mixture until the two are thoroughly incorporated.  Add another ladelful of the milk/cream mixture and whisk it in. Continue ladling and whisking until all of the milk/cream mixture is combined with the egg mixture. Whisk in the vanilla extract.

Pour the custard through a seive into a pitcher, let it cool to room temperature, then put it in the firdge for a few hours or overnight.

Pour the chilled custard into your ice cream maker and process it according to the manufacturers instructions until it reaches the thickness of soft ice cream.

Spoon the ice cream into the prepared molds, filling them almost to the level of the top edge of the tin and then place a parchment circle on top, pressing it gently into place so that it helps level the top of the ice cream and there are no air bubbles between the ice cream and the parchment. One batch of ice cream should fill two tins with maybe a little bit left over.

Put the tins in the freezer and leave them there until you're ready to assemble your ice cream sandwiches.

Next, bake the cookies.  Here's a link to the recipe: https://apriljharris.com/cherry-christmas-cookies-an-old-fashioned-recipe/

Prepare the cookie dough following April's instructions right up to the point where she rolls the dough into cylinders prior to chilling them.  Instead of making cylinders, divide the dough in half and place one half onto a sheet of waxed paper.  Cover it with a second sheet of waxed paper and roll it out to about a 1/8 inch thickness. 

Use the waxed paper to transfer the rolled dough onto a baking sheet and then repeat the process with the other half of the dough. Put it in the freezer to chill.

When the dough is very cold bring out one rolled sheet and place it on your work surface.  Remove the top sheet of waxed paper.

Using your extra tin can, or a cookie or biscuit cutter the same diameter as the tins you're using for ice cream molds, cut out your cookies. You'll need two cookies for each ice cream sandwich plus a few extras in case of breakage. Gently remove the extra dough from between the cut cookies and use a paring knife to trim any edges where the cutter hasn't cut all the way through a cherry. 

Line a baking sheet with parchment.  Lift the cut out cookies, still on their sheet of waxed paper, over to the parchment lined baking sheet and quickly flip the waxed paper over so that the cookies are on the parchment.  Peel away the waxed paper and then move the cookies so they're evenly spaced on the parchment lined baking sheet.

Bake the cookies at 350F for about 10 minutes, just until they start to take on a tiny bit of colour along the bottom edge. Remove the baking pan from the oven to a wire rack and cool the cookies to room temperature.

Repeat this process with the other half of the cookie dough. 

Once at room temperature the cookies can be stored in an airtight container, or frozen, until you need them.

To assemble the ice cream sandwiches:

Working with one mold at a time, take the tin out of the freezer and dip the bottom of the can in a bowl of hot water for a few seconds to loosen the ice cream from the bottom of the tin.  Use the ends of the parchment sticking out from the top of the tin to pull the wrapped ice cream out of the tin.

Place the wrapped ice cream on a cutting board. Place 4 cookies bottom-side up on your work surface. Unwrap the ice cream and cut it into four rounds of approximately equal thickness and use a spatula to transfer one cut round of ice cream to each of the cookies you place on your work surface.  Top each sandwich with another cookie, facing right side up.

You can serve your ice cream sandwiches at this point or you can do this assembly a few hours before you serve your meal. If prepping ahead, arrange the sandwiches on a platter, cover them, and put the platter in the freezer until you're ready to serve dessert.

Sesame Crackers

I made crackers last night. I know there are a great many commercially made crackers but, still, they're a regular part of my baking routine. Homemade crackers are delicious, inexpensive, and really easy to make.  You can add whatever you want to the dough and come up with your own unique flavours.

This recipe is an adaptation of the white cracker recipe in Marion Cunningham's "Fanny Farmer Baking Book."  The recipe's a blank canvas and over the years I've added all sorts of different seeds, nuts, and seasoning to them.  I chose sesame seeds this time because they provide a nice, slightly nutty flavour that's neutral enough to go with the meats and cheeses or with jams or fruit.

To make Sesame Crackers you'll need:

• 1/2 cup raw sesame seeds
• 2 cups of flour
• 1 Tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 2/3 cup milk (plus a very small amount extra if needed)
• 2 teaspoons flaked or coarse salt

Begin by toasting the sesame seeds. Pour them into a dry frying pan and cook them over medium heat, stirring constantly until they darken a bit and take on a golden colour.  You'll be able to smell their toastiness too. Sesame seeds are easy to overcook while toasting so pay careful attention and remove the pan from the heat as soon as they warm and deepen in colour.

Stir the flour, sugar, and salt together.

Cut the butter into small pieces, add it to the flour mixture, then use your fingers to rub it into the flour until it breaks down into small, irregular crumbs.

Add in the sesame seeds and stir them through the flour.

Use one hand to stir the flour mixture with a fork while you use the other to pour in the milk.  Keep stirring until the dough comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. If the dough's too dry to come together add more milk, a few drops at a time. Use as little extra milk as you can manage. You want the dough to hold together but to stay as dry as possible.

Leave the dough in the bowl, cover it with waxed paper, and let it rest for at least an hour.

Roll the rested dough out as thinly as possible, using a little flour both under the dough and on top of it to keep the dough from sticking to either your work surface or your rolling pin.  You should aim for a 1/8-inch thickness.

Wrap the dough loosely around the rolling pin and transfer it to a parchment lined baking sheet.

 

Once it's on the baking sheet, score the dough into 1-1/2 x 2-1/2 inch rectangles (roughly the size of a business card).  Use a fork to dock the dough, poking a few holes in each rectangle.  

Sprinkle the flaked or coarse salt over the top of the crackers and press it in so it adheres to the dough.

Bake the crackers at 425F for 6 to 8 minutes, then flip them over, put them back in the oven and bake them for about 5 minutes more.

Remove the crackers from the oven and, as soon as they're cool enough to handle, break them apart.  If some of them aren't yet crispy, put them back in the oven and let them continue to crisp.

When the crackers have cooled to room temperature, store them in an airtight container.

Nutty Caramel Popcorn

Sometimes you want something that's sweet and crunchy at the same time. Sometimes you want a sweet with a hint of umami in the background. Sometimes you want a big bowl of snack-y stuff that you can nibble on while watching a movie. This recipe is all of that.

The caramel corn part of this recipe isn't mine.  It comes from Paula Deen via Gluesticks blog. I just changed the quanities a bit and added in lots of nuts.  

I used peanuts and cashews because that's what I had on hand and the combination proved surprisingly good.  You can, of course, add whichever nuts you prefer.  If you want your mixture to be more salty, you could even add a commercially made mixture of salted mixed nuts.

To make this recipe, you'll need

• About 5 quarts of popped popcorn (about 1/2 cup unpopped kernels, popped)
• 2 cups each raw, unsalted peanuts and cashews
• 1 cup butter
• 2 cups golden sugar (light coloured brown sugar)
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

Pop the popcorn kernels in an air popper and pour them into a large roasting pan. I use the bottom half of the roaster I cook my turkey in.

Add the nuts to the popcorn in the roasting pan.

Combine the butter, sugar, corn syrup, and salt in a medium saucepan.  Heat the mixture over medium-high heat. When it comes to a full boil, set a kitchen timer for 5 minutes and continue to boil the mixture, stirring constantly.

At 5 minutes, remove the mixture from the heat and stir in the baking soda.

Pour the caramel over the popped corn and nuts. Stir it gently to coat them evenly.

Bake the caramel corn at 200F for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

Turn the entire batch out onto a sheet of kitchen parchment and let it cool.

Snack away!

If you don't eat the whole lot at once, store the leftovers in an airtight container and use it up within a couple of days.