Holiday Spiced Clove Ice Cream – Dairy-free

I’ve been sitting here this Sunday morning with dozens of blogs open on my screen, trying to think about my 2nd ever Thanksgiving menu. But the problem is, it’s 65 degrees and sunny out, I’ve got the windows wide open and it’s an unseasonally beautiful day. The kind of day that makes it very difficult to think about warm, comforting holiday foods.

One thing I never have trouble thinking about is the next ice cream recipe, and this one came to me on a wet, chilly evening as I was walking home from the train. It’s similar to my horchata ice cream, but warmed up for the holidays with ground cloves, candied ginger and some toasted almonds – this would be perfect alongside the pumpkin pie with gingersnap crust that I’m planning for Turkey day. Stay tuned for more turkey menu planning fun!

Spiced Clove Ice Cream
Makes about a quart

1 stick of canela (mexican cinnamon), crumbled
1/2 tsp ground cloves
2, 13.5oz cans of coconut milk (chaokoh is my brand of choice)
2/3 cups white sugar
pinch of salt
4 egg yolks
2 tsp vanilla
1 T whiskey

Mix-ins: 1/2 cup thinly sliced crystallized ginger, 1/2 cup toasted, chopped almonds

1. Pour 1 can of coconut milk into a small saucepan, along with the sugar, pinch of salt and the crumbled canela and ground cloves. Stir, and heat the mixture until quite hot, but not boiling. Then, cover the pot, turn off the heat, and allow the spiced milk to steep for an hour.
2. While the canela steeps, pour the other can of coconut milk into a medium sized bowl.
3. When an hour has passed, use a fine mesh sieve to strain the milk into a clean bowl. Then pour the canela milk back into the small saucepan and re-heat until warm.
4. Whisk the egg yolks in a cereal bowl, then temper the yolks by SLOWLY pouring the heated spiced milk into the yolks, whisking the entire time. Once you’ve poured most of the milk into the yolks, then pour the yolk mixture back into the saucepan, and use a spatula to stir constantly over med-low heat as you create the custard. After about 10 minutes, the custard will get steamy and magically thicken and nicely coat the back of a spoon without dripping.
5. Set your fine mesh sieve over the bowl with the second can of coconut milk in it and then pour the custard into the bowl. Stir the mixture together, then add the vanilla and whiskey. Chill overnight before turning in your ice cream maker. During the last 5 minutes of churning, pour the ginger and almonds into the ice cream maker.

250 cal per 1/2c serving, 130 cal from fat, 14.6g fat, 105mg cholesterol, 25mg sodium, 60mg potassium, 25g carbs, 22g sugar

Horchata Ice Cream – dairy free

Last night we had a gathering of food bloggers at our house, including 3 gluten-free bloggers! Emily and I talk food all the time at work, specifically Rick Bayless’ Mexican food. Rick is our go-to man, and there’s nothing that we’ve cooked from his books that we didn’t love. So one day while chatting, we came up with the idea of having a Rick Bayless Fest, and then we decided to invite some other local bloggers whose blogs we enjoy reading.

So with that plan, we had 5 food bloggers in our home last night, and WOW – did we eat well! And I have to apologize, as we were so busy talking shop and eating, that we did not pause for one photo – of us, or our food! Bad bloggers! Lisa brought some spicy chicken tostadas and homeade salsa, Emily brought salsa verde and ceviche, Stacey and Jon brought black beans with mango and quinoa, Betsy brought some amazing margarita cupcakes. I made an achiote braised pork shoulder with homeade tortillas for tacos, and horchata ice cream.

I was thinking ahead in the afternoon when I made the ice cream, and snapped a few pictures when the ice cream was done churning. This ice cream is light, airy, dairy-free, and has a lovely cinnamon flavor. I made the ice cream using cannella, also know as Mexican cinnamon. Cannella is softer than Chinese cinnamon, so it’s easy to crumble up to steep for the ice cream, but the scent of cannella has me hooked. Cannella has a very floral aroma, that almost reminds me of my favorite Market Spice tea, with the almost orange blossom-like note to the fragrance. Give this ice cream a try if you’re a fan of horchata or cinnamon.

Horchata Ice Cream
Makes about a quart
1/2 cup serving: 333 calories (190 from fat), 22.6g fat, 120mg cholesterol, 25g carbs, 22g sugar, 2g protein

3, 5″ sticks of canela (mexican cinnamon), crumbled
2, 13.5oz cans of coconut milk (chaokoh is my brand of choice)
3/4 cups white sugar
pinch of salt
4 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
1 T vodka

1. Pour 1 can of coconut milk into a small saucepan, along with the sugar, pinch of salt and the crumbled canela. Stir, and heat the mixture until quite hot, but not boiling. Then, cover the pot, turn off the heat, and allow the canela and milk steep for an hour.
2. While the canela steeps, pour the other can of coconut milk into a medium sized bowl.
3. When an hour has passed, use a fine mesh sieve to strain the milk into a clean bowl. The pour the canela milk back into the small saucepan and re-heat until warm.
4. Whisk the egg yolks in a cereal bowl, then temper the yolks by SLOWLY pouring the heated milk into the yolks, whisking the entire time. Once you’ve poured most of the milk into the yolks, then pour the yolk mixture back into the saucepan, and use a spatula to stir constantly over med-low heat as you create the custard. After about 10 minutes, the custard will get steamy and magically thicken and nicely coat the back of a spoon without dripping.
5. Set your fine mesh sieve over the bowl with the second can of coconut milk in it and then pour the custard into the bowl. Stir the mixture together, then add the vanilla and vodka. Chill overnight before turning in your ice cream maker.

Cinnamon Spiced Quinoa

While riding home on my bike this afternoon, I was thinking about breakfast options. I’m on a break from oatmeal, now that the weather is warm-ish (summer has yet to truly arrive in Chicago). I always have homeade granola bars on hand, but when I’m riding 11 miles in to the office in the morning, but if I eat a granola bar I’m hungry by 10 a.m. I need something just a bit heartier to keep my energy up and creative juices flowing.

My friend Betsey always eats a bowl of quinoa cooked with a bit of ghee in the morning, and so I decided I’d try a slightly sweet quinoa with my favorite oatmeal flavors – cinnamon and vanilla. I cooked the quinoa in my rice cooker as usual, and added a bit of butter to the spices to add just a little richness. The finished quinoa is light, fluffy, and perfectly spiced with a hint of sweetness, and a nutty backnote from the butter. I think I’ll be making many more batches of spiced quinoa for breakfast this summer.

Cinnamon Quinoa
Serves 4

1 1/2 cups quinoa (2 rice cooker cups)
2 T butter, cut into a few pieces
1 T cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
a few grates of fresh nutmeg
3 T brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
water

Rinse the quinoa well in a fine mesh sieve for a minute or two, then drain. Dump the quinoa in the rice cooker bowl. Add cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg, salt, brown sugar and then fill the rice cooker bowl to the 2 cup line. Cook on the “quick steam” mode, if you have one. When the quinoa is done, fluff and let cool on the counter before serving, or stashing in storage containers for the week ahead. The quinoa can be eaten room temperature or warmed.

Snacktime: Cinnamon Spiced Popcorn

Do you love popcorn like I do? I’m not talking about that nasty stuff that comes in a chemical brick that you put in the microwave and then burn, making your co-workers smell it in the office all afternoon. Real popcorn does not cause a smelly fug that hangs in the air.

Popcorn, for me, is a little like breakfast foods – I could eat it pretty much anytime. Buttered, plain, with truffle salt, chili oil & salt, olive oil & parmesan, pesto, basil oil and garlic…there’s a million ways to eat popcorn – its the perfect starchy base for your favorite flavors…and it’s better for you than potato chips!

I was craving a sweet/salty snack this evening, and this popcorn and takes the idea of Kettle Corn to a whole new level with cinnamon and nutmeg. Sometimes I think the best thing about being a grown-up is that I can have whatever I want, whenever I want…and this is what I had for dinner tonight. My mom taught me this recipe, and I’m not sure where she got it, but I know she makes it with her special ed students, and that they love it too.

In our winter farm shares, we received adorable little miniature ears of popping corn – I wish I had taken pictures of the colorful little ears. I decided to take on the considerable task of taking all the corn off the cobs this afternoon, and that was a finger-numbing experience! Those little kernels are sharp, and it takes awhile to rub all of them off the cob. Anyway, after all that work, I wanted to enjoy the fruits of my labor. (And my thumb is still sore, 5 hours later)

Cinnamon Spiced Popcorn
Serves 2 (3 cups popped corn per serving)

1/3 cup unpopped popping corn
1 Tb butter
1 Tb brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
pinch of salt

Pop the corn in an air popper. Meanwhile combine the other ingredients in a small bowl and melt in the microwave. Stir, so that everything blends together, and the sugar and salt mostly melt. Pour the melted mixture over popped corn, and stir with a spatula, making sure to get some seasoning on most of the kernels. Enjoy!

Now, how do you like your popcorn? Share your favorite flavors in the comments below!

Roasted Applesauce

Applesauce was a fixture of our childhood – and I’m not talking Motts. Each fall, mom would make applesauce from scratch, a labor of love that consumed a full day of cooking in the kitchen. I often kept mom company while she canned, though I’m not sure I helped all that much, as everything was boiling and bubbling, and that food mill was a little bit scary. Mom put up dozens of quarts of applesauce for the winter, which my brother and I gobbled up at every dinner through the winter. And I will admit that many a spoonful of applesauce was used as a carrier medium for lima beans, so that I might swallow them whole and not have to taste them.

I haven’t canned my own applesauce yet, but I have come to love my own roasted applesauce. Needing no sugar, and baked with apple cider, this sauce has a concentrated apple flavor that I love. Once you’ve cubed the apples, and pop it in the oven, it needs little attention, and after an hour, you’ve got a meltingly perfect sauce. I like mine chunky, but if you like a smoother sauce, just remove the cinnamon stick, and puree the sauce in the blender or food processor.

Roasted Applesauce
Makes 1 qt sauce
1 Weight Watchers Point per 1/2 cup

10-12 medium sized apples, peeled, cubed into 1″ pieces
1 1/2 cups apple cider
1 T cinnamon
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
1 cinnamon stick
1 T vanilla (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Peel, core and cube the apples, and put them in a 9×13 pan. Add cinnamon and nutmeg, toss to coat. Pour in apple cider, then add the cinnamon stick underneath the apples.

Bake for 60 minutes, stirring after 30 minutes. Let apples fully cool on the counter – they will reabsorb some of the liquid. Applesauce will keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks, and also freezes very well.