New Recipes & Awesome Food

Tonight, I made 2 new things.

First, at the produce store last Saturday, I bought some chicory. I've never had it before, but the man working there said I could make a salad out of it. I also had some green-less beets from the farmer's market (I had already used the greens in green smoothies), and some cucumbers. Tonight, I found a recipe on-line and modified it slightly.

Brenna's Chicory Salad
Ingredients
1 garlic clove
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon coarse-grain mustard (I used regular)
1 tablespoon raw apple cider vinegar
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup cold-pressed, extra-virgin olive oil
As much chicory as you'd like to eat - I imagine I used about 5-6 cups
1 beet, peeled and chopped into chunks
1 cucumber, sliced

Preparation
Mince garlic with a large heavy knife, then mash to a paste with salt using flat side of knife.

Whisk together garlic paste, mustard, vinegar, and pepper, then add oil in a slow stream, whisking until emulsified.

Just before serving, toss greens with vinaigrette. Portion salad into bowls, top bowls with cukes & beets, & then drizzle the leftover dressing (from the bottom of the bowl where you tossed the greens) on top of the salads.

It was surprisingly good! The chicory alone is rather bitter (I had tasted it earlier in the week to see if it would fit in a green smoothie), but the dressing really mellows it out. Even Roy liked it!

Second, we discovered on Roy's birthday that a local ice cream shop has sorbet that is made from water, sugar & fruit/flavoring, therefore making it Brenna-safe. Initially, I was thrilled! But soon the excitement wore off as we grew tired of paying $4 for a small cup of the stuff. So we set out, looking for an ice cream maker. In fact, every Saturday, Roy would suggest we go yard-saling, to look for an ice cream maker, of course :) Well, about a month ago, we scored an electric ice cream maker at a church yard sale for $2.50. And yes, it's taken us a month to find room for it in our freezer :) Here's what we made tonight.

Awesome "Ice Cream"
1 1/2 cups coconut milk, chilled (I used canned light because that's what I had)
2 teaspoons brown rice syrup (agave, maple syrup, or sugar will do)
1 heaping scoop stevia (I get the concentrated kind - you can simply up the sweetener or skip the stevia altogether))
2-3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (to taste)
3 cups bananas, chopped & frozen

Put all ingredients in a blender, except only use half the bananas. Use the "puree" speed, slowly blending. Slowly add remainder of bananas & blend until smooth. Dump into the ice cream maker and follow machine direction (or in our case, turn the machine on for 10 minutes).

If you don't have an ice cream maker, you can use this method. My friend Raspberries swears by it :)

Enjoy!