Making Banana Biscoff Ice Cream is so easy. You don’t need an ice cream maker, just a food processor or blender. It’s a totally guilt-free ice cream base made of literally just bananas and a spoonful of some speculoos cookie spread known as Biscoff, an optional indulgence.
To keep it super healthy, add fruits and/or nuts and seeds or just a little drizzle of honey or maybe your favorite nut butter.
Nutella Marshmallows. Enough said. You’re either into it or you’re not.
Here’s how you make them:
I’m sure we’ve all heard how good fish is for you.
Instead of just throwing some seasoning on the fish and tossing it in the oven, get your fish with the skin on.
Make it crispy!
Nothing more satisfying than cracking into a crispy fish skin to reveal the succulent tender fish inside, squeeze some lemon juice on it to wake it up and omg, it actually feels decadent.
This method is a fool-proof way that teaches you how to cook fish with crispy skin.
Every time.
Without fail.
Especially now, during this season of light and bright fresh foods, fish seems to be perfectly satisfying without being too heavy.
When I was in Morocco I kept being offered the most amazing tea known as Moroccan Tea, which is basically green tea with mint and if you like, sugar.
Moroccan mint green tea is sooooo good. When you drink it it’s like you can’t imagine how you lived life without it and then you get really mad thinking of all the years that passed in which you could have had this tea after each meal and also at other times, because it’s that good.
I never really liked green tea and always tried to force myself to drink it because it’s healthy and all that shit and now I discovered a way to drink green tea and enjoy it!
It’s my teaha! moment.
Get it?
Like, aha! moment.
But with tea.
So like, teaha! moment.
Oprah. Continue reading
Turkish coffee is rich and flavorful. It’s kind of like chai coffee, but not really.
It’s cardamom spiced coffee that’s brewed in an small pot (ibrik) where the coffee sediment settles to the bottom and if you accidentally drink it you get all this sludge in your teeth, which can be very annoying and embarrassing (especially if you’re trying to look cute and decide to smile). Also, the sediment makes it difficult to enjoy with milk.
Until now!
This recipe fixes that and this Turkish coffee latte can be made hot or iced.
I scream for ice cream.
Actually, it’s more of a hysterical shriek, but that’s not the point.
The point here is ice cream.
Technically this isn’t ice cream, because it’s dairy and egg free. But if it looks like ice cream, tastes like ice cream and walks like ice cream, it’s a duck.
I mean it’s ice cream.
Whatever. This is what you need:
The vanilla bean paste is optional. I use it to get the little flecks of vanilla. You can also use a vanilla bean pod if you have one. Just cut it down the middle and scrape out the vanilla caviar. Swoon.
That white jar has powdered sugar in it, also known as baker’s cocaine.
You should really refrigerate the cans of coconut milk for at least 4 hours. It helps separate the cream from the water and it’s best to have super cold ingredients when making ice cream.
So after the cans have chilled, open the cans and scoop out the top layer of thick cream into a bowl. Pour the coconut water into a separate container and reserve.
The coconut cream should look luscious and sinful. Although it has no dairy and qualifies as Paleo, it is pretty calorie heavy so this is still a treat.
To the coconut cream, add a splash of vanilla extract, a drizzle of vanilla bean paste and a heaping 1/3 cup of powdered sugar or any other sweetener that soothes your conscience.
Now that all the ingredients are in the bowl, whisk it up until the consistency is thick and ribbony like custard.
If you feel it’s too thick, add a little of the reserved coconut water until desired consistency is reached.
Ok, now for the fun part. If you have an ice cream maker, set it up, pour the ice cream mixture in and churn according to your manufacturer’s instructions.
If you don’t have an ice cream maker, do not despair. Just place the mixture in an airtight container and freeze. Take it out every few hours and whisk it for a few minutes then return to freezer. Repeat until desired consistency is reached.
Don’t let anything stop you from making this ice cream!
Below are photos of before and after churning:
It was so hard not to stick my face in this.
I composed myself and placed it in an airtight container and into the freezer overnight.
This morning, I jumped out of bed to check on my ice cream.
Looks perfect!
So, I scooped some out to take a picture, and then I decided it needed a little something.
Maple syrup.
Then I tasted it because it’s a job requirement.
I had coconut ice cream for breakfast.
I need to go workout.
Bye.
P.S. Please subscribe to my blog. I might just pop up at your place with a fresh pint of ice cream to thank you 😉
[subscribe2]
[yumprint-recipe id=’81’]
I’m sure you’ve already heard how much better it is to make your own chicken stock. I’m not going to go out of my way to make chicken stock all the time, although now that I type this I feel like maybe I should. Usually, I only make stock if I make a roast chicken, which I did the other day.
So I pulled off all the leftover chicken and discarded all the skin, saving all the bones.
A lot of “all’s” in that sentence.
Add the carcass (hardcore, right?) to a large stock pot.
Now, you need the following items:
I used onion, garlic, ginger, lemon, cinnamon sticks, cardamom pods, coriander seeds, black peppercorns and herbs de provence.
See how the East meets the West in this chicken stock? So inspiring.
Add all the veggies and lemon to the stockpot. Then add a 1/2 teaspoon each of the following spices:
Coriander seed:
Herbs de provence (a French spice blend that can be found in some grocery stores, or online):
And finally black peppercorns:
Add them all to the pot.
Then add enough water to cover the chicken.
Bring it to a boil, then reduce to simmer right away. You don’t want to hard boil your broth the whole time, it can result in a bitter stock. A gentle boil for at least 45mins is my general rule for stocks.
Once the stock is done simmering, strain it out.
This recipe makes lots of stock. About 3 quarts and 4 cups.
Btw, I didn’t add salt because I wanted to keep it as low sodium as possible so I can adjust the salt depending on what dish I’m using the stock for.
Store in the fridge for a week or freeze indefinitely. A good test to see if it’s still good is to smell it.
If it’s funky, toss it.
Also, boiling stock for about 10 mins kills any bacteria incase you really need to use that stock sitting in the back of your fridge. You know who you are. Ok, fine. I’m talking about myself. Ahem. Oh, look! What’s that? A little box right below! I wonder what would happen if you typed your email in it? Only one way to find out!
[subscribe2]
[yumprint-recipe id=’65’]
Oh my. Whatever could this be? The bumps indicate it may be some kind of citrus, Watson.
Let me zoom out a little and see if that helps.
It’s a lemon … It’s a grapefruit … It’s superman!
Actually no, it’s pomelo!
Pom-who-o? You ask. Or maybe you already know what a pomelo is, in which case touché. According to the guy at the farmer’s market, pomelo is an Asian grapefruit that tastes just like regular supermarket grapefruit except a bit sweeter. He said it’s great in savory salads, so I decided to let that guide me in my recipe.
Then I asked him to pick out two good pomelos, which he so graciously did. For someone like me, who doesn’t like grapefruit, that was a big mistake. I should have just bought one because it yields so much fruit there is no way I could eat it all without my tongue burning off.
Anyway, I got home, opened up a bag of Easter themed chocolate and started googling pomelo and saw that the skin is sometimes used as a container for salads and then I got excited, and off my ass, and began cooking.
If you wanna make a pomelo bowl, start by making a zig zag shape with a knife into the upper part of the pomelo to create a lid. Hard to explain with words, so here are some photos:
Once you’ve zig-zagged all around the pomelo, use your thumb to dig in between the skin and the flesh to separate them. Do that all around the pomelo a few times until the top comes off.
Now you want to get the fruit out of the skin. It’s the same process as the top lid except you need to dig deeper, physically and emotionally, and go around a few more times.
It looks like a pumpkin.
Now you want to peel and separate the segments like you would an orange. Except you don’t want any pith at all, just the inner flesh.
As you can see, all that flesh is just from half a pomelo. This fruit is a giver.
Now you have the pomelo all prepped. I decided to make a lump crab salad and a pomelo and avocado salsa to go along with it. Here it goes!
This is what you need:
To make the dressing for the crab salad you need some mayo, a few dashes of Worcestershire and a bunch of spices (found in the recipe card at the end of the post).
Mix it all up.
Add some green onions and cilantro.
Stir and add the crab.
Season with S&P
Gently mix, leaving pure chunks of crab still intact. Chill in the fridge until needed.
Next let’s make the pomelo & avocado salsa. You need avocado. Obvi.
Slice it into a grid, make sure you don’t cut through the skin and into your hand.
Spoon it into a bowl.
Mix in the pomelo.
Squeeze lemon on avocados to prevent them from browning, then add cilantro and S&P.
To make the dressing, squeeze some lemon juice into a bowl.
Add in some honey.
Trusty rusty S&P.
A drizzle of oil. I used grape seed oil, that’s why it’s neon greenish.
Whisk, whisk, whisk, until the dressing emulsifies.
Pour onto your salsa.
Add some chia seeds for good measure, if you have them.
Place the salsa into a bowl, or hollowed out pomelo.
(Side note: I should have added some lettuce to fill up the pomelo a bit more. It still looks ok, but I think it could be better, so if you’re gonna go the hollowed-out-pomelo route, add some romaine lettuce to the “salsa” and call it a salad.)
The next part is optional also. I chose to mold the crab salad. You can use a small bowl for a rounded top or a ramekin for a more spherical shape.
Turn it over on top of the salsa in the bowl and pray like you’ve never prayed before. (The mayo dressing should help it slide out easily).
Add a little garnish for shits and giggles and decoration as well.
Awwwww. How cute is that?
Peekaboo!
Enjoy!
If you enjoyed any part of this post then you should really type your email in the box below to subscribe to my blog. Jus’ sayin’.
[yumprint-recipe id=’53’]
Labneh. Pronounced Leb-Na. It’s the Middle Eastern version of cream cheese. Except it’s way less fattening and it has all the beneficial probiotics of kefir cheese or yogurt. It’s basically yogurt without the whey (the liquid separated from yogurt). Ok whew. Now that that’s out of the way let’s get to it!
This is what you need:
Oh, and these too:
Ok. Now you’re good to go. You’re about to make cheese! This is so easy you won’t even believe it.
First stir some salt into your yogurt. You can add other spices you like too. This is the basic traditional recipe that can be altered to be sweeter or more flavorful. I’m already thinking of different labneh flavors to make…
Line your strainer with cheesecloth.
Pour in the yogurt.
Tie up the yogurt in the cheesecloth.
You should immediately see the whey dripping down into the bowl. If you don’t then you probably have too many layers of cheesecloth, I used four.
Place this whole contraption above ^ into the fridge and let it sit for at least 18 hours. The longer it sits, the firmer it gets 😉 . I took mine out after one day.
This is how much whey I strained out:
It was about two cups of whey.
This is the yogurt before straining:
This is after straining:
Stir the labneh and get it all swirly.
Yum. If you like greek yogurt you will love this. Plus, it’s really good for you.
Traditionally, it is prepared with a drizzle of olive oil:
Then add Za’atar (a mixture of dried thyme and sesame seeds found in Middle Eastern markets or online)
Scoop this dip up with warm pita bread, or anything else you might like. Enjoy!
[subscribe2]
[yumprint-recipe id=’45’]
So since I can’t afford a juicer right now. I just purchased a new dSLR which should arrive in a few days (!). This will make the pictures on this blog waaaaay better. I’ve been using my iPhone this whole time and I’m ready to take the plunge and invest in this blog! So stay tuned for waaaaaay better pics!
Anyway, so I wanted to make a juice with my blender and it turns out it’s actually very easy and doable. Not too time consuming at all.
So, I used a bunch of kale, grapes (not all of the grapes in the picture below, about half), an apple, the juice of 6 tangerines and 3 pieces of turmeric root (my new obsession, along with elephant garlic).
Clean and cut your ingredients like the picture below:
Squeeze the tangerine juice into the blender, then add all the other ingredients.
Blend it, blend it, blend it. If it needs more liquid add whatever liquid tickles your fancy, or your casual.
Create a sophisticated straining apparatus thusly:
Strain and use a small spatula (or a spoon) to stir the last bits of liquid out of the pulp. Some people use the pulp in other recipes to prevent waste. I haven’t found a good use for my pulp yet, so unfortunately I just toss it in the trash. I’m very ashamed. If you use your juice pulp in another recipe, please do share in the comments section!
I strain the juice twice just to be annoying. And then I drink the juice to be healthy. It’s nice and sweet with a slight spicy kick in the end from the turmeric. Really good and good for you!
[yumprint-recipe id=’33’]