Peanut butter ice cream topping

This is good!

It's from Karma Farrer - a fellow West Indies missionary.

Peanut Butter Ice Cream Topping

(yield: 2 3/4 cups)

1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
3 Tablespoons butter or margarine

pinch salt
1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup evaporated milk


Combine brown sugar, corn syrup, butter, and salt in 1½ qt. microwavable baking dish.
Cover and microwave on high for 4 minutes or until mixture boils, stirring twice. Add
peanut butter; stir until smooth. Stir in evaporated milk. Serve warm over ice cream.
Cover and store in refrigerator. Reheat in microwave.

Note: Can use creamy peanut butter and add peanuts, or use chunky peanut butter and
you may not want additional peanuts. In place of corn syrup in Trinidad, you could use
Gold Syrup. This can also be used as a sauce for cake or other desserts.

5 beauty-juice drinks

This is to balance out all the chocolate recipes I've been posting lately.

From today's Daily Candy email:

Super Eight
Loaded with chlorophyll, enzymes, minerals, vitamins, and amino acids, the veggies-only juice is a serious feast.
1 kale leaf
1 collard leaf
1 celery stalk
1 carrot
½ red pepper
1 tomato
1 broccoli floret
1 handful parsley

Brighten Up
Do away with dull skin glass by antioxidant-packed glass.
4 carrots
1 handful parsley
1 handful spinach
½ apple

All Clear
Calm irritated skin with a swig of a bromelain-rich, anti-inflammatory cooler.
1 c. pineapple
½ cucumber
½ apple

Beat the Sweets
Stave off the sugar munchies with a satisfying sip packed with vitamin C and a little zing.
4 carrots
½ apple
Ginger to taste

Mrs. Clean
The fruit-and-veg liquid powerhouse not only flushes toxins from your system but curbs salt cravings as well. Pick the variation that’s right for you based on your personal taste and experience in the juicing department.

Level One
4 celery stalks
1/3 cucumber
1 bunch parsley
1 apple
1 lemon
Ginger to taste

Level Two
4 celery stalks
1 bunch parsley
2 handfuls spinach
2 carrots
1 apple
1 bunch cilantro
1 lemon
Ginger to taste

Level Three
4 celery stalks
1 bunch parsley
2 handfuls spinach
1/3 cucumber
2 carrots
1 beet
1 kale leaf
1 lemon
Ginger to taste


Let me know if you try any of these

Chocolate German pancakes

We've been making what we call "German Pancakes" in our family forever - and I just now found out they're also known as Dutch babies.

Here's our original recipe:

German Pancakes

1 cup milk
1 cup flour
6 eggs
1/4 tsp salt
2-3 Tbs butter.

Mix all ingredients except for butter in blender. Preheat oven to 450. Put butter in a glass pie pan or casserole dish and put in oven until butter melts. Then pour in batter and bake until it puffs up and is golden - 15-20 minutes. We like to drizzle it with fresh lemon juice and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Now here's the chocolate version from marthastewart.com

Chocolate Dutch Baby

3/4 cup whole milk
3 large eggs
1/3 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a blender, combine milk, eggs, flour, cocoa powder, salt, vanilla, and granulated sugar. Blend until foamy, 1 minute. In a large cast-iron skillet (I think a glass dish would work), melt butter over medium. Pour batter into skillet and immediately transfer to oven. Bake until puffed and set, 20 minutes. Dust with confectioners' sugar and serve immediately.

Someone try this and let me know how it tastes!

Ok - I tried this recipe and it's delicious.

Here's my pictures:

5 minute ice cream

Yes really!

And it is the best ice cream ever!

You can get the recipe and see a video here.

You need a good strong blender like a vitamix. Just add a package of frozen fruit (12-14 oz), 1/2 cup or less of sugar, and 2/3 cup cream, yogurt, coconut milk or soy milk (I'm going to try out skim milk soon). Then just blend until relatively smooth. It will be soft serve but you can freeze it for a few hours if you like firmer ice cream.

Here's the flavors we've tried:

Mango - fabulous (reminds me of the 4 mango trees we had in our yard during our mission)

Cherry with a drop of almond extract - my husbands absolute favorite. It's unbelievable with hot fudge sauce - tastes like a chocolate covered cherry.

Apricot - cream is great and I tried using plain yogurt and less sugar to make it tart. Loved it!

Chocolate banana - delicious. I just added 3 TBS of good quality cocoa powder.

That's all for now but I have fresh pineapple chunks in the freezer to try that flavor next.

Caprese parfaits

Isn't this a wonderful idea?

It's from one of my favorite food blogs: Apron Strings

Caprese Parfaits

A pint or so of cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
A cup or so of basil, chiffonaded
16 ounces or so of fresh mozzarella, sliced and then cut into wedges
1/2 cup or so prepared pesto (optional; also fine with olive oil alone)
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

If you’re using the pesto, add a few tablespoons of olive oil to make it more pourable. Aside from that, my only advice is to layer in the order of tomatoes – mozzarella – basil and then drizzle a bit of pesto, if using. If not, this is where a touch of olive oil comes in for each layer. Repeat until glasses are full. Top with the prettiest tendrils of your chiffonade.

Turmeric - the spice that may prevent Alzheimers

This article caught my eye today. I think we need to use more Turmeric (curcumin).

A few quotes:

In India, the smell of turmeric, the bright yellow spice used in curries, fills almost every restaurant and home. Indians eat turmeric because they like it, but rapidly growing evidence indicates that the spice is giving them much more than flavor. Thousands of years ago, Ayurvedic and traditional Chinese medicine recognized turmeric as a healing agent for everything from flatulence to liver disease. Now research demonstrates that properties of this zesty spice may be useful for lowering rates of breast, prostate, lung and colon cancers, and also for treating breast cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, Crohn’s disease and possibly cystic fibrosis. But even newer and especially exciting research concerns the relationship between turmeric and Alzheimer’s disease.

There is yet more good news about curcumin’s power to prevent and even fight Alzheimer’s disease. Elevated cholesterol is thought to be involved in the development of Alzheimer’s—and studies demonstrate that curcumin reduces cholesterol. In one study, healthy volunteers took 500 mg of curcumin supplements every day for one week. Result: Reduced levels of total cholesterol and also lipid peroxides (markers of free radical damage to fats).

I encourage all my patients, especially those over age 50, to consume one or two teaspoons a day of turmeric.


How to use Turmeric?
Curry is the most popular use. I'll search out some recipes

I just found this Time Magazine article:  Can Turmeric Relieve Pain? One Doctor's Opinion

Bottom line? Yes it works.

Fat free, low cal salad dressing

Heres a recipe for salad dressing from my Dr Weil newsletter today.

Someone try it out and let us know if it is good.

Tomato Red Pepper Salad Dressing

Description
This rosy, zesty salad dressing is great on a bed of leafy greens, sliced cucumbers and fresh mozzarella cheese. It is virtually fat free and therefore very low in calories. It also keeps well in the refrigerator for at least a week.

Ingredients
1 small (6 ounce) can of tomato paste
1 whole roasted red pepper or pimento from a jar
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons water
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon dried basil

Instructions
1. Combine all ingredients in a blender container. Blend until well mixed.