Wednesday, September 16, 2009

The Website

The website is coming along slow but sure . Hope to get some baking andother stuff made over the next few days so I can get pictures. If you want to check out the progress you can click the link on the right side or go here
http://www.kenskreations.yolasite.com/

Homemade Peach Ice Cream

Homemade ice cream! Umm ,Umm, it doesn't get any better. I know we make it here once or twice during the summer. If you have been unfortunate enough to never have it , I highly suggest you get a little ice cream freezer and try it sometime. Anyway, peach is always a good ice cream, and I am sure you could substitute with other fruit like strawberries or raspberries. Anyway, check it out.


Adapted from David Lebovitz’s The Perfect Scoop.

Makes 1 litre



4 large very ripe peaches, peeled, cut into chunks (about 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 pounds)

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup peach juice (or 3 tbsp juice and 1 tbsp peach schnapps)

2/3 cup white sugar

1 cup whipping cream (35% fat)

1/2 cup sour cream (full fat)

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp lemon juice

Place the peaches, water, juice and schnapps in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cover and cook until the peaches are soft, stirring a few times.


Transfer peaches, along with the liquid, into a non-reactive bowl. Stir in the sugar and let the peach mixture cool, uncovered, to room temperature.

When the peaches have cooled, add the cream, sour cream, vanilla and lemon juice. Puree with an immersion blender until blended but bits of peaches remain.

Cover and chill the mixture thoroughly in the fridge. (You can put in the freezer towards the end to make it extra cold.)

Churn in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.

Eat with gusto.

Quotes of the Day

New York now leads the world's great cities in the number of people around whom you shouldn't make a sudden move.-David Letterman (1947 - )

Why is it that our memory is good enough to retain the least triviality that happens to us, and yet not good enough to recollect how often we have told it to the same person? -Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613 - 1680)


Television is more interesting than people. If it were not, we would have people standing in the corners of our rooms.- Alan Corenk

It's a lot like nature. You only have as many animals as the ecosystem can support and you only have as many friends as you can tolerate the bitching of.

Wednesday!

Hey! Half way throught the ol' work week. Looks like the heats coming back here in the high desert. Supposed to be pushin' the 100's by the weekend here.Hopefully after another week or two, it will start staying cooler. I am definately ready for fall. So anyway, I started doing some "creating" on my website, if you want to follow the progress on it there is a link on the right side of my blog page. Or you can go here, Kens Cheesecakes "n" Things , it is in the very , very preliminary settings and there is not much on it yet. It will be changing from what you see most likely. But, like I said before, I am learning all this just by doing it so there will be mistakes. and there will be do overs, that I am sure. If anyone has a favorite recipe they would like to share feel free to send or submit it to me. And I will publish it in my post. I am hoping evetually to have several people who would want to contribute.
Anyway, have a fantastic Wednesday!  And remember, life is short so eat dessert first!
Kent

Zucchini slaw

Total time: 25 minutes

Servings: 6 to 8

2 pounds zucchini (about 6 small or 3 to 4 medium)

4 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced into 1/4 -inch pieces

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1/4 cup sherry vinegar, or to taste

2 tablespoons best-quality olive oil, or to taste

1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste

1/4 teaspoon pepper, or to taste

8 large basil leaves thinly sliced

1/2 cup toasted pine nuts

Shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano for garnish

1. Trim the ends from the zucchini and cut them crosswise into 3-inch pieces. Julienne the pieces down to the core (discard the seeded core); then place the julienned strips into a large bowl.

2. Gently stir in the tomatoes and garlic, then stir in the sherry vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper, tossing to evenly coat. Taste the slaw and adjust the flavor and seasoning as desired, then stir in the basil. The slaw can be made up to this point up to 3 hours in advance and stored, covered, in the refrigerator. This makes about 7 cups slaw.

3. Just before serving, stir in the pine nuts. Serve the slaw with a few shavings of Parmigiano over each portion.

Each of 8 servings: 112 calories; 3 grams protein; 6 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams fiber; 9 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 0 cholesterol; 159 mg. sodium.

Slaws make a great side dish -- or dessert

Think outside the cabbage. Try zucchini, bell peppers, daikon or even melon.


Crisp, cool slaw should be the official side dish of summer. Bright and refreshing, it's the dish to turn to as the weather turns hot. Made with just a few ingredients, slaws are straightforward and simple. And they're fast and easy to assemble -- no cooking required.

When you think slaw you might think cabbage, or maybe you've even gone so far as to try slaws made from broccoli or carrots. But there's a big wide world of slaw possibilities out there, particularly in the summer, when so much produce is at its prime.

And even though the options might sound endless, slaws are essentially simple things: Take a main ingredient cut into shreds, dress it lightly with something tangy, and finish it with the little touches that add color and crunch.

Start building your slaw by looking for a crisp central player -- a slaw is defined by its "crunch" factor. Summer is loaded with options, including squash, root vegetables, even fruit. Now cut them into shreds. The easiest way is to use a mandoline; they're widely available, and an inexpensive model should set you back only about $20. Or try a box grater, though the blade isn't as sharp and the shreds won't be as pretty. Or you can even go the longer route and slice everything by hand -- a sharp knife will take a bit more time and elbow grease, but it also allows you more room for creativity.

Now dress the slaw, but keep it light -- you don't want to weigh down your salad with a heavy mayonnaise-based dressing. Instead, use a vinegar- or citrus-based dressing, or even yogurt -- the bright tang will complement the slaw's components, highlighting the other flavors, not covering them up.

When you dress it can matter almost as much as what you dress it with. Many slaws can be made a few hours, up to a day, in advance, giving the flavors time to develop. Some slaws actually benefit from a little advance preparation; this gives the vegetables time to slightly "pickle" and allows the flavors to develop more fully -- try this with tougher vegetables and roots.

Other slaws work best assembled just before serving: If you're using fruit, you can shred it a few hours in advance, but you should dress it at the last minute to keep it from going soggy before serving.

So now that you know how slaws are built, what are you going to make?

Zucchini are great cooked, but they can be just as wonderful raw -- light and crisp with delicate flavor. Shred a couple (or more) pounds of zucchini. Dress it with a light sherry vinaigrette -- it's a bright vinegar with a lighter flavor that won't overpower the zucchini. Add some diced tomato; not only is the color vivid, but the soft tomato really emphasizes the crispness of the zucchini. And it's perfect served simply, with a sprinkling of toasted pine nuts and fresh-shaved Parmigiano.

Or try crisp peppers. Few vegetables can match the vivid shades of bell peppers, and they make a perfect slaw with their mild, almost sweet flavor. Use a more assertive dressing for this because the peppers are so sweet. The earthy cumin and smoky chipotle pepper deepen the flavors. Finish the slaw with bright sweet corn kernels and chopped cilantro for a decidedly Southwestern feel.

Because daikon is so bland, the choices of dressing and garnish are even more important. Combine the shredded radish with thinly sliced red onion and diced snow peas. Dress it with a rich but tangy sesame oil and rice vinegar dressing. Finish it with a sprinkling of black sesame seeds; the seeds' matte black finish is beautiful against the glossy white sheen of the dressed radish. Try tossing in some crunchy toasted peanuts, or even spicy wasabi peas.

It may sound a bit unusual at first, but the right fruit can make a wonderful slaw, particularly in the summer. Melons are a perfect example. When they're ripe, cantaloupes are rich and sweet and meltingly soft; slightly underripe, cantaloupes are more delicately flavored with firmer flesh -- perfect for slaw.

Base the dressing for this slaw on yogurt, a tangy and more refreshing alternative to mayonnaise, which would only flatten the flavor. Season the dressing with a dash of curry powder. It takes only a very small amount to emphasize the savory aspects of the flavor.

Or leave out the curry powder and throw in some fresh berries to make a colorful sweet slaw that's perfect as a dessert.

Slaw for dessert? It really must be summer.

A Drink Thats Could May Be Good For Blood Sugar

There are powerful little chemical compounds in tea -- called polysaccharides -- that may do your blood sugar a bit of good. And one of the best ways to get them? Black tea. Researchers recently discovered that the polysaccharides in black tea may be tops over those in green or oolong teas. Make mine black!



Power in the Polysaccharides

People in Japan and China have long touted black tea’s blood sugar benefits. And now, researchers are taking a look at the components of black tea that may play a role. When researchers extracted the polysaccharides in black tea and examined their effects on a cellular level, something interesting happened. The black tea polysaccharides exhibited blood sugar stabilizing properties -- even more so than the polysaccharides in both green and oolong teas. Researchers suspect there may be something unique about the chemical composition of black tea polysaccharides that boosts their blood sugar benefits. Check your diabetes risk with this quick questionnaire.

Take Charge of Your Sugar

Because the researchers were doing a cell study, it’s not clear if drinking brewed tea will have the same benefits. But researchers already know that black tea is bursting with health-promoting antioxidants. So there’s no reason to sit on the sidelines tapping your foot. Drink up!