Food, Travel, Lifestyle, Hunting and Redefining Slow Food

Fruit roll-ups were a big thing when I was growing up. There were so many iterations at one point that I was in pure fruit candy bliss. Then there were the healthy versions that we’d always find at the health food store. They were called “fruit leather,” because they were thicker and made out of pure fruit I suppose… not the other nasty bits that were probably in the fruit roll-ups. My editor told me that they needed a few more recipes for my book Food Heroes a little while ago for “layout” reasons. And since I had so many strawberries left over from the pie and shortcake I made, I gave this home made fruit leather a whirl. And I’m so glad I did. I may or may not have eaten the entire tray. I may have. I did. You start by dicing up the strawberries into small pieces. Then in a pot they go, with a bit of water. And a squirt of lemon juice. Then you stew them. Next you place some plastic over a sheet tray and brush it with olive oil. Pour the mixture on the plastic covered tray. Like so. And voila!

http://georgiapellegrini.com/2010/07/23/recipes/homemade-fruit-leather/

HOT CHOCOLATE ON A STICK recipe If you’re new here, welcome. I’m AmberLee, and since writing this post, I’ve opened up a little chocolate shop. I’d love to have you stop by, don’t forget to send me a hot chocolate flavor suggestion. Or say hello on facebook. Marshmallow 101 A few months ago, I promised a marshmallow tutorial –WITH PHOTOS! – to Laura and Karen, to prove that, YES!, they can make marshmallows at home. Big, soft, happy, puffy marshmallows that taste much better than any you’ll find at the grocery. Marshmallows that actually MELT in hot chocolate instead of bobbing around looking stupid. General Tso’s Roasted Chickpeas These little guys were DELICIOUS! I was just trying to make some simple asian roasted chickpeas but they ended tasting a lot like General Tso’s chicken, so I felt like I needed to add it to the name. How delicious is General Tso’s chicken? We were just talking about it the other day and how it’s like crack and you can’t stop eating it no matter how full you are. Unfortunately it’s usually fried and puts you into an immediate food coma so I probably only have it once or twice a year.

Vanilla Extract January 2, 2010 | Print | E-mail | Filed under vanilla I’m sure you’ve probably seen this everywhere by now, but since it was part of mine and hubby’s homemade Christmas gift baskets this year, I couldn’t post about it until now or I would have spoiled the surprise! When I first learned how easy it is to make your own vanilla extract though, I was so excited. Hazelnut Chocolate Cake Saturday night we had a special dinner with family friends. For one weekend all 8 of us were around before starting vacations and school again; one of is even spending a year studying at Oxford(no, it’s not me; yes, I’m jealous). That called for cake. I had been wanting to make this recipe for a while and wanted to wait until just the right celebration. Everyone loved it, although when I told them the frosting involved avocado you would have thought I told them my own hair was in it. They started eating it again 2 seconds later when they remembered how good it was and decided you couldn’t taste the avocado.

FOODball – game day eats Last Saturday night we went to play B.I.N.G.O. Jason and I met my sister, her husband and other friends for a fun night of numbers and daubers. I didn’t win anything this time, and we all still had fun. One of our friends wasn’t able to make it, and she later explained she was sitting out in the cold the night before, at her sons high school football game, and was feeling under the weather. My first thought was to suggest she show up this Friday with a thermos full of hot soup. (Okay, if I’m being honest, I actually suggested hot soup or hot toddy – either way). tiny poppy seed 'taschen My track record with hamantaschen — those three-cornered filled cookies traditionally limited to Purim, but shouldn’t be, because did I mention that they’re cookies? And you can fill them with whatever you want? — is abysmal. I can’t seem to find a recipe that allows them to be as fragrant, buttery, delicate and delicious as I believe they were meant to be that does not completely fall apart once baked.

Fruit Rollups I am not one of those people that eat strictly organic, natural, and whole foods. Just check this, this and this. Overall, I am not a very healthy eater. My diet consists of mostly bread, pasta, cheese and sugar. Oh, and heavy cream. That’s a staple these days.

Sharp Cheddar Cheese Crackers I did a thing I was not supposed to do. I went shopping in a mood. More specifically, I went to Target slightly upset. Nothing earth shattering in my life. Honeyed Pears in Puff Pastry Poaching fruit is one of my favorite things to do when cold weather arrives. It's so warming to stand over a boiling pot of fragrant spices and lose yourself in thought. When I made these, I couldn't help but daydream as I stirred; if I were a pear... I wouldn't want to spend my days on the shelf of a cold produce department. I'd want to be taken to a warm home and placed in a jacuzzi of honey and spices.

Cookie Dough Pie It’s a trick actually. There is no cookie dough in this pie at all. Just cookies made so they seem like cookie dough. Magical really.