Shrimp Cocktail in a Pineapple (Pineapple Monte Carlo)

 Another weird recipe from Vincent Price's cookbook.  I don't know why, but my dad always goes for the weird, tropical recipes.  Pineapple, banana leaves you name it!  I really liked the apples in this one.  The shrimp was a little tough, but that might have just been our old in-the-freezer-forever shrimp.  My sister says: "It looks awesome but it doesn't taste good."  Don't listen to her, she doesn't like shrimp or fruit!

 Ingredients:

1 pineapple (refrigerated)

2 pound salad shrimp

2 apples

1 T tarragon

1 T fresh parsley

3 T mayonnaise

6 T ketchup

1/4 ounce Cointreau (brandy, rum, or white wine)

1/4 ounce port

Directions:

1. Cut the top off the pineapple and save it.  Scoop out the meat, toss the core, chop up the rest, saving the hollowed-out pineapple in the fridge.  (This is harder than it sounds, be patient.)  Peel the apples and chop them up. Put the pineapple, apple, shrimp, tarragon, and parsely in a big bowl and toss to coat with the pineapple juice.  Put the bowl in the fridge.

2. Prepare the sauce.  Mix the mayo, catsup, Cointreau (or whatever), and port.  Pour this over the fruit mixture, and put back in the fridge.

3. When you're ready to serve it, put the mixture into the hollowed-out pineapple.  Put the lid back on top.  The Rivoli in Mexico City (from where this recipe originates, via Vincent Price) twines fresh flowers amongst the leaves.  You can do that, or just serve it up as-is.  You will probably have extra which you can use to refill the pineapple after the first course.

The shrimp becomes totally nasty as a leftover, so eat everything!  Delicious, but only when fresh!

Pumpkin Corn Bread

This was our version of Thanksgiving corn bread.  It was a good blend of pumpkin and normal bread flavor.  I didn't like it as much as some of our other breads, but it was still yummy!

 Ingredients:

1-1/2 cups cornmeal

1 cup brown rice flour

1 T baking powder

3/4 tsp. salt

1 cup pumpkin puree

1 cup milk or substitute (hemp, coconut, etc.)

1/3 cup melted butter

1/3 cup honey

2 eggs

Directions:

1. Preheat over to 350.  Oil a baking dish (9" x 9" or 7" by 11" or whatever you have.)

2. In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients thoroughly.  In another bowl, whisk the wet ingredients together.  Mix the wet and dry together, but do not overmix.  Pour into the baking dish, smooth the top with a spoon so it looks pretty.

3. Bake for 35 minutes or until done; test with a toothpick.

Skewered Chicken in Sesame Soy Sauce

This is a really great dinner that my dad made, straight from Vincent Price's A Treasury of Great Recipes.  It was super flavorful and filling.  Even my sister liked it.  She says: "The sauce is delicious, especially good with mashed potato."  The mashed potato part has nothing to do with the recipe, but she likes mashed potato with anything! :)

Ingredients:

2 cubes         {  -about 1 1/2 cups boned cooked chicken

of each on     {  -pineapple

each skewer  {  -apple(s)

                            

for marinating  -1/2 soy sauce or substitute

 for sauce          -1 clove garlic, crushed

                          -1/2 Tb sugar

                          -1/4 cup wine vinegar

                          -1/4 cup sherry

                          -1/2 large apple, finely grated

                          -3 drops sesame oil

Directions:


Skewers

1.  Cut chicken into cubes.
2.  Put on each skewer: 1 chunk pineapple, 1 cube chicken, 1 cube apple dipped in lemon juice, and repeat again.  
3.  Marinate skewers in sesame soy sauce (which you will make) for fifteen minutes, and then remove and drain.


Sauce

1.  Mix all of the sauce ingredients in a bowl.

Reintroducing Foods

Our dietitian has recommended that we start reintroducing eggs.  This was low-ish on my forbidden list and we introduced it 2 days ago.  In the morning I had a muffin with egg ingredients and at lunch I had a stir-fry with scrambled eggs.  We watched for two days and I had no bad symptoms except for a sore back which we suspect was from doing marching in band.  So eggs are back on the chart, but not every day, every meal.  Yay!

Halloween- Dissapointing...

I knew that I would not be able to eat a lot of candy, but I did not realize I would only get about seven pieces.  That's it.  I got two sour patch kids (only one gummy in a package) and five dum-dums.  No candy corn; no Hershey's; nothing.  Definitely disappointing,  but the good news is my dad is paying me for the candy I got so I can use that money to buy a bag of dark chocolate chips, which I can have! 

Ham Soup

This is my lunch basically every day!  Not much to say about it, because it is what it's called, but it is really good and nutritious.  This is my dad's recipe.  It changes every time.

Ham Soup

Notes:

1. All quantities are minimums; add more if you want
2. Adjust seasonings to taste
3. Roughly chop all veggies

Ingredients:

- 2 handfuls dried beans

- 1 cup ham (or at least two cups of ham with bone...the more bone, the more you should put in)

- 2 stalks celery

- 1 medium carrot

- 3 small red or white potatoes

- 1/2 cup wild rice

- 1/4 cup whole quinoa or millet

- 1 cup "soft" vegetables like kale, spinach, cabbage, mushrooms, corn, water chestnuts

- 3 tsp bullion

- 3 tsp spices: salt, pepper, mace, cloves, parsley, coriander, mustard powder, garlic powder

1. Wash beans very well to remove dust.  Check them for small pebbles and remove those, too!
2. Fill soup kettle halfway with water.  Put the beans in, bring to boil, then reduce to simmer.
3. Add ham, bring back to simmer.  Add celery, carrots, and spices except salt, and bring back to simmer.  Add wild rice, bring back to simmer.  After about 30 minutes, add the potatoes and quinoa or millet.  You want the total stewing time to be about one hour, and you want to wind up with beans & rice just cooked and with potatoes that aren't overcooked (beans take about an hour, wild rice about 40 minutes, potatoes & whole grains about 10 minutes)
4. Once the beans & rice are pretty soft, add the bullion and salt.  (Don't add the bullion or salt until the beans are soft, because they slow down the softening process.  It's okay to do this if the potatoes are not yet fully cooked.)
5. Add your soft veggies.
6. Stew it all for five or ten minutes.  Then put about two or three ladles' worth into a food processor and blend on pulse.  Return the processed stuff into the soup, stir well, and serve!

This also saves really well in the fridge!

I CAN Believe It's Not Butter!

 We have found the perfect butter!  Smart Balance Buttery Spread Light with Flaxseed Oil!  This is gluten free, lactose free, non-dairy, and vegan.  It does contain soy(beans), the second ingredient.   Here are the ingredients:

water, oil blend (palm fruit, soybean, flaxseed, canola, and olive oils), Contains less than 2% of: salt, natural and artificial flavor, and then a whole bunch of long weird stuff.  It is very very good!

This is what it looks like!

Growing Chia Seeds

When my dad forgot to put chia seeds in the bread, I decided to use them instead of throwing them away.  2 weeks later: they have grown a lot and are still alive!  They have been living in the bathroom.  It was really easy!  I just put the soaked seeds in a pot and put dirt in it.  Now I want to grow all the seeds in the kitchen!  

Millet Sandwich Bread

Finally, we have a bread that everyone will eat by choice!  This bread does not have the centimeter-thick crust, but instead has a soft, mushy one.  The inside is mushy too!  As you can see in the picture, honey goes with it very well as well as jam and our new favorite fake butter!  It is very good!  I am posting this as my dad makes the second loaf.  Enjoy!

Millet Sandwich Bread

Ingredients:

- 2 Tb chia seeds

- 1 cup millet flour

- 1/2 cup potato starch

- 1/2 cup buckwheat flour

- 1/2 cup quinoa flour

- 1/2 cup brown rice flour

- 1/2 cup tapioca flour

- 1/3 cup flax seed meal

- 1 tsp salt

- 1 tsp xanthan gum

- 2-1/4 tsp yeast

- 2 cups water

- 3 Tb olive oil

- 2 Tb syrup (maple or agave)

- sesame seeds to sprinkle on top

1. Soak the chia seeds in 1/2 cup of the water.  These will turn into tiny squishy eyeballs after fifteen minutes.  That's good.

2. Put the yeast in a large bowl, then add 1-1/2 cups water (should be room temperature or slightly warm).  Add the oil and syrup.  After 5-10 minutes it will look like foamy goo.  That's good.

3. Preheat oven to 425.  Put a "bath" (pan filled with water) on the bottom rack.

4. In another bowl, mix all the dry ingredients well.  Add the chia goo to the yeast goo and mix well.  Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix well.  It will quickly make a soft dough.

5. Grease and dust a bread dish (9 x 3 x 4 or thereabouts.)

6. Pour the dough into the dish.  Smooth the top, and score lengthwise, not quite in the middle.  Sprinkle with the sesame seeds.

7. Put the bread in the oven.  Immediately reduce temperature to 350, then cook for 1 hour 20 minutes.  Reduce heat again, to 300.  Bake for another 25-35 minutes, or until done.

(All-Purpose) Flour Mix #6 and 6.5

The way this works is that you make a giant batch (this recipe makes about 5 cups) and then use it as recipe calls for.  For example, my pancake recipe calls for 1 cup of this mix, so you would just take one cup out of your giant batch.

All Purpose Flour Mix #6

1 cup brown rice flour
1 cup oat flour
1 cup millet flour
1/2 cup quinoa flour
1/2 cup black bean flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/4 cup flax seed meal

All-Purpose Flour Mix #6.5

1 cup brown rice flour
1 cup oat flour
1 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup quinoa flour
1/2 cup white bean flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/4 cup potato starch