Chocolate Candy

     I always felt left out, especially at Christmas and Easter when everyone else was eating chocolate candy and I wasn't.  I didn't want a whole box of chocolates, but one or two would have been nice, and then I got an idea when I was shopping for Halloween candy.  I always buy candy that my husband and I like so if we don't get very many trick or treaters, the candy won't go to waste.  This year I made a point of looking for candy without chocolate so I wouldn't be left out.  I bought the fun size Payday and had twelve left over.  Then I decided that between my husband and I, we could make one of my favorite candies which is chocolate covered almonds.  I think for our first time out we did very well.  My husband has made the chocolate coating for years to make his peanut butter balls only this year he used my dairy free chocolate.  Substituting the chocolate made no difference in how it reacted or how it tasted.
     You can use the basic chocolate coating on any fruit or nut or pretzel you want.

                                                                Chocolate Candy

2 10 oz. pkg. non-dairy semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 paraffin (This can be found in the baking aisle of the grocery store and in this small amount is safe to eat.               It is necessary to get the chocolate to set up.)
12-18 fun size candy bars that have no chocolate coating, cut in half
roasted whole almonds or nuts of your choice(I made a dozen candies using 48 almonds)
small paper cups

     Cut the the candy bars in half and have them close at hand so when the chocolate is melted you can begin covering them.  Cover two cookie sheets with waxed paper, foil or something else you can remove later.  This will keep you from having to wash the cookie sheets.  On one of the sheets set out rows of the small paper cups but don't put anything in them yet.
     In a double boiler, or one pan set in another with water in the bottom pan and chocolate chips in the top, stir the chocolate chips to begin melting.  Using a potato peeler, shave the paraffin into the pan with the chocolate.
     Once the chocolate and paraffin are melted you can begin the coating process.  This works better if you have a partner for help.  Put in one half candy bar, using a small slotted spoon-like a serving spoon-turn until it is coated and lift it out and place on your cookie sheet and repeat until you have finished your candy bars.
     Meanwhile, if you have a partner, with your cookie sheet on the other side of the pan, put 1-2 tsp. of chocolate in three paper cups,  Put 4 almonds on top and cover them with chocolate and repeat.
     When you have finished making candy, place the cookie sheets in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours or in the freezer for less time.  Your can put them in plastic bags in the refrigerator when they have completely cooled and set up.
     If you don't use all the chocolate, you can put it in a container and freeze for later use.  When you reheat it you may have to add a few drops of olive oil to it.

     I am going to be taking a holiday break to visit relatives but will be back the week of Dec. 30.  I will be sharing my recipe for grilled/broiled fish and homemade tartar sauce.
     I hope everyone has a very nice and safe holiday.  My prayers continue to go out to those victims of Sandy as I know their holidays will not be what they had hoped for.
     See you in two weeks.  Happy Holidays!!

Bavarian Mousse

     If you need an elegant company dessert that looks like you went to a lot of trouble, this is your recipe.  It works best if you spoon it into individual serving dishes rather than serving it from a serving bowl just because the presentation is nicer.  I always top it with non-dairy whipped topping you find in the freezer section of the grocery store.  I use this product in a lot of recipes calling for whipping cream when the whipping cream needs to be whipped.  You can make it taste more homemade by adding 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract to 1 cup non-dairy whipped topping.

                                                              Bavarian Mousse

1 1/2 envelopes of plain gelatin
3/4 cups very hot water
6 oz dairy free semisweet chocolate chips
2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup ice cubes
1 8 oz. tub non-dairy whipped topping
extra non-dairy whipped topping for serving

     In a blender combine gelatin and very hot water.  Blend on high for 40 seconds.  Add chocolate, sugar, and vanilla.  Blend until chocolate is melted.  Add ice cubes.  Blend until ice cubes are dissolved.  (Sometimes by this point the ice cubes won't dissolve all the way and the small pieces need to be scooped out with a slotted spoon and discarded.)

     Pour gelatin mixture in a mixing bowl and gently combine with the non-dairy whipped topping.  Spoon into dessert dishes or into a serving bowl.  Cover and refrigerate.  Serve, if desired, with more non-dairy whipped topping with vanilla added (1/4 tsp. per 1 cup of topping), chocolate curls, sprinkles, chopped nuts, or cookies.

     Depending on the size of your servings, this recipe will serve 4-6.

     Next time I will share how to make chocolate candy you can eat for the holidays or really any time.  I don't want to eat a mountain of candy, but it would be nice when everyone else is have a treat if I could have one too and I will share how easy it will be for you to be included.

     See you next time.

Hot Chocolate and other hot beverages

     There's a cold wind blowing outside and you're all snuggled up by the fire drinking a cup of cocoa to keep you nice and warm inside.  Okay, that might be stretching it for those of us in Southern California, but it does get cold and damp, at least to us, and we want something hot to drink too.  But if you have eating disabilities, your options are limited: no coffee, no tea, no cocoa mixes, no alcoholic beverages.  Somehow a glass of water when everyone else has their favorite drink in hand doesn't hit the spot.
     I have found two solutions.  The first is portable.  I keep a small bag of individual instant portion packets of Splenda flavors that are usually mixed into coffee.  (Please note that I do not represent Splenda and am not being paid by them) Usually these are kept on hand in the coffee room in offices, but you can buy them online for thirty in a box if you can't find them in the grocery store.  I tried french vanilla, hazelnut and mocha and like mocha the best.  They are small enough for a man to keep a couple in a shirt pocket or his wallet.  When I go to a restaurant, I ask for a pot of hot water and a cup.  You would be amazed at how many waiters will bring you the pot and you will have to send them back for the cup.  Depending on how big the pot is you will need one or two packets.  Now when I go out I have something I can drink that is hot and I know I won't have any digestive problems.
     The second is my recipe for hot chocolate.

                                                                    Hot Chocolate

1 1/2 cups lactose free milk
3 tblsp. dairy free semi-sweet chocolate chips

Cook over a low-med. flame stirring frequently until the chips are melted.  This takes some time, so be patient.  It may be easier to chop the chocolate chips in the food processor first.   Makes 1 serving

Next time I will share my recipe for Bavarian Mousse.  It is easy, delicious, and can be served as a company dessert.  What could be better for the holidays?

See you next time.

Surviving Thanksgiving Dinner

     Thanksgiving dinner is my favorite meal of the year.  But once I got my diagnosis, I felt like it had become a mine field.  There was butter and milk in the mashed potatoes, milk in the green bean casserole, milk in the pumpkin pie.  What was I to do?  Lucky for me, or unlucky for me depending on how you look at it, Thanksgiving dinner was always at our house.  One year we invite my family, the next year we invite my husband's family.  If they ask to bring something, I suggest something I know won't trigger any of my symptoms.
     Here are my suggestions on how to survive Thanksgiving dinner:
1.  Do everything ahead you can.  This goes for any dinner party.  Enough things will happen at the last minute you won't see coming so do anything ahead you can.
2.  I make my mashed potatoes one to two days ahead.  After your potatoes are peeled, cooked and mashed, add lactose free milk and stick margarine.  Add salt to taste.  I have been making my mashed potatoes like this for years and no one has noticed that I haven't used regular milk or real butter.  When they are cool, I put them in a plastic bag and refrigerate.  We serve our big dinners buffet style and keep the food hot in crock pots.  On Thanksgiving I take the bag out of the refrigerator.  When it is room temperature, I put it in a crock pot sprayed with vegetable spray and put it on low to heat up.  Add more milk and stick margarine if necessary.   Stir occasionally to make sure the potatoes are heating through but not burning, you may have to turn the heat up.
3.  Both of our families were divided on cooked vegetables, but the one vegetable I could get everyone to agree on was corn.  If you buy canned corn, drain almost all the liquid and heat with stick margarine.  If you buy frozen corn, rinse and then heat with stick margarine.  I've had people tell me with the frozen corn they couldn't believe they weren't eating fresh corn.
4.  Gravy was a problem for me.  Since we cook our turkeys on the rotisserie on our BBQ I didn't have enough pan juice to make gravy.  Reluctantly I looked at the gravies at the grocery store and while they were good on their own I couldn't resist my "improvements."  For every two jars of bottled gravy (I like Heinz the best) rinse the jars with 2 tblsp. Marsala wine and 1/4 tsp. poultry seasoning.
     As far as pumpkin pie goes, I don't have an answer on that yet.  Since I prefer pecan pie, I have been working on other recipes, but as soon as I have that one figured out, I will share it.
     Following is my stuffing recipe.  Even though we cook our turkeys on the BBQ we still stuff our turkeys.  If there is any stuffing left we bake it.  If you prefer your stuffing baked, you can do that too.

                                                                    Stuffing                                    

2 boxes sliced mushrooms
1/3 cup Marsala wine
2 12 oz. boxes seasoned corn bread stuffing mix (I like Mrs. Cubbison's the best)
2 cups celery chopped (It will be easier to digest if you take the strings off first)
1/4 cup dried minced onion
2 cups chicken broth
2 tsp. poultry seasoning
2 tsp. fresh chopped parsley
2 tsp. fresh chopped sage
2 tsp. fresh chopped chives

Break mushrooms into small pieces, cook in margarine and Marsala wine until browned.  Cool.  Mix with all other ingredients.  You will be able to stuff at least a 20-22 lb. turkey or two smaller turkeys. and probably have some dressing remaining to bake in a separate bowl.

     Next time I will share some of my suggestions for hot drinks.  These are non-alcoholic, but some you can make at home and one you can take with you so when you are eating out and everyone else has coffee or tea you can have something hot too.  See you next time and have a happy and safe holiday!

Beef Burgundy

     A hot beef stew on a cold winter night, what could be more cozy to warm up with?  And there are so many advantages:  because you can cook it so long you can buy a less expensive cut of meat and for time saving you can make the meal in the morning and put it in the crockpot and it will be waiting for you at dinner time.  You can also replace the beef with other kinds of meat and make a different type of stew.  This recipe can be doubled and frozen for future dinners.
     The instructions read to brown the meat twice and for the first time to dry the meat so it will brown.  This is a Julia Child trick and it works.  You brown the meat twice to make sure it is cooked.  If you cut it in small pieces and you are cooking it all day in the crockpot you don't need to cook it the second time because it will be too done.
     As I explained last week, if you saw the movie "Julie and Julia" you will remember the scene of the book editor carefully following the Julia Child recipe.  I have adapted that recipe for people with eating disabilities such as my own and also for the convenience of my life.  The Julia Child recipe took me all day to make and I didn't have that much time.  My hat is off to Julia and I admire what she has done for the world of fine cooking, but I had to make my own adaptations.

                                                        Beef Burgundy

2 boxes of fresh mushrooms                                       1 tblsp flour
1/3 cup Marsala wine                                                  1 cup red wine or beef broth
4 slices turkey bacon                                                   1 can beef broth
1 1/2 lbs. stewing beef                                                 2 cloves garlic, mashed
1/2 carrot, peeled, sliced                                             1/4 tsp. thyme
1/2 tsp. salt                                                                  1 whole bay leaf
1/8 tsp. pepper                                                             1 tblsp. corn starch
2 tblsp dried minced onion

     Wash and slice mushrooms.  Saute in Marsala and stick margarine until all the liquid is gone and the mushrooms are brown.  Remove to a plate.  Do not wash pan.  In the same pan cook the bacon until crisp, don't drain fat.  Set bacon on paper towel to cool, then crumble.  Cut the beef in chunks.  Pat dry so the meat will brown.  Brown the meat in the bacon fat and add olive oil if more oil is necessary.  Once browned, set on paper towels to cool, slice carrot and saute in bacon fat a few minutes, then drain on paper towels on a plate.  In a zip lock bag measure salt, pepper, flour and add beef.  Seal bag and shake.  Pour contents of bag in pan to brown the flour on the meat.  Once it has browned, remove from flame.
     In crockpot mix red wine, beef broth garlic and thyme. (do this in a stock pot if not using a crock pot) Once these are combined, add meat, carrots, onion, bacon.  Add bay leaf so that it remains whole.  Cook on low until about fifteen to thirty minutes before time to serve. (If cooking on the stove, cook for at least one hour.  Stir to make sure it doesn't burn on the bottom.  Check to make sure meat and carrots are to desired doneness before serving.)  Remove bay leaf.  Remove most of the liquid to a pan and about 1/2 cup to a small cup to add the courstarch to.  Once the cornstarch has been thoroughly mixed the with broth in th cup, whisk it slowly into the pan which has a low flame under it.  Continue to whisk it until it begins to bubble and thicken.  Cook another minute or two and then pour it back into the crockpot.  Mix with the meat and vegetables.
     Serve over mashed potatoes, noodles, or rice or in a bowl by itself.  Serves 4.

     Next week I will share some of my Thanksgiving recipes and how I survive Thanksgiving dinner.  My husband always host Thanksgiving, one year with his family, the next year with mine.  We can have anywhere from six guests to twenty.  We have plenty to be thankful for and I am grateful for that.  See you next time.

  

Nutmeg Banana Bread

     Originally this recipe started out as buttermilk cinnamon bread.  If you are lactose intollerant you can't have buttermilk even though it is a great ingredient in baking because you get the added benefit of milk and butter in one ingredient.  Several weeks ago I shared a recipe for banana cinnamon crumb cake.  This has a minimum of cinnamon.  Generally I try to avoid cinnamon and replace it with nutmeg wherever possible as I have done with this recipe.  In this recipe you can use egg substitute for real eggs if you want and because you are making two loaves you will use four bananas.  If you have some bananas which need to be used before they go bad, this is the perfect recipe.  If I have some bananas that are about to go bad and I don't have time to make the bread then, I put them in the freezer until I do.  If I don't need two loaves, I wrap one tightly and freeze it for up to one month.

                                                                Nutmeg Banana Bread

4 cups flour
2 tsp. nutmeg
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 sugar
2 cups low-fat lactose free milk
1 egg or equivalent
4 mashed bananas
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/3 cup chopped nuts

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking soda, 2 tsp. nutmeg and salt.  In a small bowl, combine oil and 1 1/2 cups sugar.  Add milk, bananas, and egg.  Mix well.  Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.  Fill two baking pans 8 x 4 x 2 in., which has been sprayed with baking spray, about one-third full.  Combine 1/2 tsp. nutmeg and remaining sugar and nuts; sprinkle half over the batter.  Top with remaining batter and nutmeg-sugar-nuts.  Swirl batter with a knife.  Bake at 350F for 50 min., then 30 min. at 300F or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.  Cool  in pans for 10 min. before removing to a wire rack.

     Next time, my version of Beef Burgundy.  If you saw the movie "Julie and Julia" you saw the book editor try to faithfully follow Julia Child's recipe for Boeuf Bourguignon.  I have simplified the recipe.  No, I don't think I am Julia Child or better than her, I just don't think I have as much time to make dinner, so I had to find a way to make a really good beef stew and not be in the kitchen all day.
I'll share this when I see you next time.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

     Chocolate chip cookies are a favorite of everyone.  You can make them soft and chewy or crisp and crunchy.  You can have lots of chips or just a few, you can have nuts or leave them out.  You can add chocolate to the batter to make them double chocolate or substitute peanut butter, butterscotch, toffee, or white chocolate or a combination to make another kind of cookie all together.  You are limited only by your imagination.
     This is a recipe I was given years ago and have made multiple changes so it makes a good cookie and no one suspects it doesn't have butter or the regular chocolate chips.  I buy nondairy chocolate chips at a health food store.  If one is not available to you, look for them online.

                                                            Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 1/4 cups oatmeal
1 1/2 cup nuts
1 1/2 bags nondairy semi-sweet chocolate chips (16 oz. total)
1 cup stick margarine-2 sticks-softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda

      Preheat oven to 380 degrees.  Blend oatmeal, nuts, and 1/2 bag chocolate chips in food processor until chopped.  Set aside.  Cream margarine and both sugars with a mixer.  Add eggs and vanilla.  Mix the salt, baking powder, and baking soda with the flour in a separate bowl.  Add to the mixture in the mixing bowl slowly.  When it is all mixed together, add the mixture from the food processor.
     You may bake these cookies on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray or lined with a reusable liner or parchment paper.  The last two will keep you from having to wash the baking sheet.
     Roll about two teaspoons of dough in your hand or with a scoop into a ball.  If you want soft and chewy cookies, you can get fifteen cookies on a baking sheet.  If you want crispy cookies, flatten the ball and only put twelve cookies on the baking sheet.  Bake for 12 minutes.  Check that your cookies are golden brown, but not too light or not burned.  Remember every oven is different.
     If you want to make chocolate dough, instead of putting the half bag of chocolate chips in the food processor, melt them.  Let them cool as much as possible without hardening before mixing with the dough.
     This recipe makes about five dozen cookies, but if you wanted to make extra dough to freeze, it keeps well in the freezer for a month.


     Next time I'll share a remake of a recipe that was originally buttermilk cinnamon bread and is now nutmeg banana bread.  If you are lactose intollerant you can't have buttermilk and if you have GERD you can't have cinnamon.  I'm sure you're wondering how I made the changes to get from one recipe to the other, but I will explain that next time.  See you then.