Beet-less Mock Borscht

Yes, Borscht can be made without Beets… I've already done a Beet version, this is the Beet-less version… if you've not read my Mock Borscht recipe you really should, you'll understand the whole concept of Borscht better & why I call mine Mock Borscht.


Ingredients (this time):
  4 cups Water
  2 tsp Better than Bouillon Beef
  2 tsp Better than Bouillon Mushroom
(instead of the 3 ingredients above you could use 4 cups of broth…)
  1/8 tsp Ground Cloves
  1-2 Tbl Red Wine Vinegar (don't go more than 2 Tbl)
  Salt & Pepper (to taste)
  2 cloves Garlic, crushed/pressed
  1 stalk Celery, diced
  2/3 medium Red Onion, diced
  3 medium Tomatoes, diced
  2 cups Shredded Cabbage (push it down & get a good solid 2 cups worth)
  1 cup diced-small Red Potato
  1 cup grated fresh Parsnip
  1 cup grated fresh Carrot
  1 cup grated fresh Turnip
  1/2 pound 95% Fat Free Ground Beef
  1 tsp Sausage Spice
  4 Tbl Fat Free Sour Cream (garnish)
  1-2 Tbl Fresh Chopped Dill (garnish)

Cook the Ground Beef with the Sausage Spice in a small non-stick skillet sprayed with Olive Oil.  Throw the cooked ground beef & all but the last 2 ingredients listed above in the Crock Pot on Low in the Morning…

And by Evening… it's Borscht!!  Or at the very least its Borscht-like :)

Serve hot or refrigerate it to be served another day (Borscht is eaten both hot & cold), just before serving garnish with Fat Free Sour Cream & Fresh Chopped Dill.

Yum, Yum!!  Hubby approved, but he has asked I wait to do more Borscht until we have cooler weather (guess who's not into eating it cold)… don't worry honey, I'll eat the leftovers ;)

Pineapple Sorbet

This Sorbet was an experiment I've been wanting to try for a while, and I mostly followed a recipe I'd found via Cooking Light for ideas… but it ended up being my own "thing" in the end…

Pineapple Sorbet, garnished with an Oblaten wedge cookie...

So simple, so easy, so tasty, so light & fluffy…  Ok, maybe "light & fluffy" isn't what you think of when you think of Sorbet, but when I was done with it that's exactly what it was… Wonderful!!


Ingredients:
  1 pound fresh Pineapple chunks
  1 cup Sugar
  2 Tbl Fresh Lemon Juice


I put the Ingredients in a sturdy bowl, then puree/blended them using an Immersion Blender until the pineapple was completely pureed.  The Immersion Blender seemed to aerate the fruity concoction a bit, this may have made a difference in the end result (I'm not sure).


I then poured it into my Ice Cream Maker* and let it run longer than the normal time suggested (I did 40 minutes), which makes sense since it wasn't a "chilled" fruit concoction at the start.  The batter didn't look like much at the beginning but ended up filling the freeze-bowl on completion - a total of 6 cups of light/fluffy Sorbet.  Then it was placed in an airtight container & put into the freezer for 3-4 hours to get it to firm just a bit more (it was more like soft-serve right out of the Ice Cream Maker).


*My Ice Cream Maker is simply the attachments & a special freeze-bowl that work with my Kitchenaid Stand Mixer.  This device suggests a processing time of 20-30 minutes, I did 40, and I'm thrilled with the results!!

Tee Hee… Another Variation!!

I'm having way too much fun with my Yogurt Coffee Cake, and Jeff is really enjoying the results :)

Here's the latest… its a mixed berry version  - yep, just sub in mixed berries for Strawberries in my original recipe…  I'm just having too much fun with this :)

Don't Try This At Home...

I made myself a Giant Crumpet!!  Doesn't it look Yummy?!?!

Well, looks can be deceiving :(…  I had wanted Crumpets for breakfast, and I was in a "mood" & didn't want to fight with my Crumpet rings (they always stick a bit because I use very little oil), so I made one huge Crumpet in a small non-stick skillet… I also didn't feel like toasting after cooking, so I flipped it over for a couple minutes to give the top a little browning (shown below)...

What you're not seeing is the bottom, it got a bit darker than usual (actually, a lot darker)… that should have been my first clue that this wasn't going to pan out as a good idea…

I went ahead and spread Chèvre on it, added some sliced Strawberries… it was too big to pick up and eat in the usual way :(

I tried eating it with a fork, but that wasn't going so well (the bottom was a bit too tough)… I eventually picked it up and ate it taco-style (yes I folded it in half).

Remember trying to make 1 Giant Chocolate Chip cookie as a kid (you know you tried it)… that's how I felt about the results...

So kids, don't bother, it doesn't work… perhaps I need to invest the non-stick Crumpet Rings I saw on Amazon…

Until the next experiment!!

Another Bread Experiment...

I was experimenting with Bread again, this time messing around with a non-Sourdough loaf trying to see if I could come up with a nice Sandwich loaf… with mixed success… here's what I tried…

Mixed my dough in a bowl...

Stirring with a Spoonula until the dough held together...

Put the dough into a glass loaf pan lined with Parchment Paper,
showing off my horrid Origami skills...

Pushed dough into corners - note to self: use the Spoonula
rather than your fingers...

Ready to be tucked in for a nap...

Covers on & napping...

About 6-7 hours later...

After baking, beside it's sourdough cousin...

Sourdough (on left) rose during baking, plain didn't… :(

Once cut it was clear that the bread had the Sandwich
texture/airiness that I wanted… even without raising in
the oven… but its a "short" loaf...

I'll be getting it right eventually, for now we're enjoying the "failure" - it has a nice texture & tastes good after all :)

I may try not letting it rise as long, usually my traditional bread doesn't need to rise as long as my Sourdough (the yeast may have worn itself out)… the dough also seemed much more "wet" than the Sourdough after the rise - not sure what this means, may try adding a bit more flour… It could be that I need to add just a smidge of Gluten to help with the final result, but I'll only do that as a last resort, many other things to try first…

When I get it "just right" I'll share a recipe…