FROM JUICE FAST...TO BACON WRAPPED PORK!

 I have never been accused of being limited when it comes to food. I like a wide variety and try to continually come up with new and different taste treats. From Crubeens (Pigs Feet) to Rocky Mountain Oysters (Bulls Testicles) to any flavor of Cheesecake and everything in between! I actually have never tasted anything I haven't liked. That said, my husband and I generally go on some kind of a fairly austere diet in January. We have done Paleo, Vegan, South Beach, and many others. It doesn't always last all month, but we usually go 2 or 3 weeks. This year we decided to do a 4-day Juice Fast to kick-start the year. My neighbor and good friend, Lori Itule, once again loaned me her Dad's heavy-duty Champion brand (circa 1950's) Juicer and on January 2 we began. This is a quality piece of equipment and makes Juicing easy.

Ingredients for the Green Drink, which I call Dreamy Greenie!
The coconut butter is to oil the shaft of the Juicer before assembling.

DREAMY GREENIE

Pictured behind the drinks is a beautiful print, which our good friends Steve and Debby Vis gave us after visiting with us in Spiddal, Co. Galway, IRE in the summer of 2019. The artist, Martine Moriarty is from Cork and most of her work is in oils, watercolors, silkscreens, and animation. She primarily paints scenes from around Cork. This one is called The Dingle Hare.

We both like this one for breakfast
as it was very bright, refreshing and
almost gave you a little buzz, like coffee.

The beauty of making Juices is that you can really add any vegetable with some fruit that you like. Dreamy Greenie contains:

Ingredients:

Spinach

Mixed Greens

Celery

Broccoli

Cucumber

Fresh Parsley

Green Apples

Lemons

Ginger Root

Preparation:

Run it all through the high-powered juicer and voila!

Next, my husband, Jerry's favorite...

GAZPACHO

This Juice drink has all the ingredients of Gazpacho soup, except the bread and sherry vinegar. It is really yummy and a perfect lunch-time drink.

Gazpacho on the lefty and Dreamy Greenie on the right.

Ingredients:

Tomatoes, I used lots of Plums

Celery

Green Pepper

Red Pepper

Red onion, small amount

Cucumber

Garlic

Fresh Parsley

Dried oregano

Dash of salt, to taste.

Preparation:

Put all ingredients through the Juicer and you have a Juice version of Gazpacho. Taste and season with a little salt. This really makes the difference!

Next Juice recipe I will share I call...

SWEET BEET AND MORE

This drink we had in the evenings as "supper". It is hardy and not really that sweet because of the earthy flavor of raw beets and sweet potatoes, but still quite delicious.

Ingredients:

Beets

Sweet Potato

Carrot

Red Pepper

Red Apple

Red Grape

Pear

Preparation:

Same as above!

And finally, one of my favorites...

SPICY CARROT GREEN APPLE

I love the color of this Juice, as well.
The little bunnies around the Juice are from Hungary.
Each one is hand painted! Since 1826 the Hungarian
porcelain manufacturing company, Herend,
has been producing these exquisite hand-painted creatures
in the signature fish-net pattern.

Ingredients:

Carrots

Green Apple

Ginger Root

Preparation:

Blend all and taste for seasoning. Add more ginger to make it spicier. On one batch I added a very ripe pear, which gave it a little more sweetness, but carrots themselves are inherently sweet so this made a great snack-drink. So simple. So delicious.

Once our 4-day Juice fast ended, we continued to eat a lot of vegetable, but in their full form, both cooked and raw. We slowly added fish, shrimp, chicken and graduated last week to this luscious piece of pork.

BACON WRAPPED, FIG STUFFED PORK TENDERLOIN

Ingredients:

Pork tenderloin

3 Tbsp. Dijon mustard

2-3 cloves finely minced garlic

Sweetened Dried Figs to cover inside of pork, cut in half, stems removed

Bacon to wrap. I used 3 strips of thick-cut bacon

Olive Oil for drizzling in pan

Salt/Pepper

Dried Sage, about 2 tsp.

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

Butterfly the tenderloin. Using your sharpest knife, cut through the side of the pork leaving the center intact so you can open like a book; meaning do not cut all the way through. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the pork. Spread the Dijon mustard evenly over both pork halves. Sprinkle with garlic. Cut each fig in half and place on the bottom half of the tenderloin (fat side is the top). Close the pork, salt and pepper outside of pork and wrap with bacon.

Drizzle olive oil (about 2 Tbsp.) in a cast iron or heavy bottomed skillet. Heat until it's nearly smoking. Brown the bacon and then place in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes or until meat thermometer reads 145 degrees. That is the recommended doneness, but I usually remove once it reaches 140 because #1) I don't like dry pork; and #2) the pork continue to cook once you remove it from the oven. 

THAT'S IT FOR TODAY!

VERY HAPPY TO BE BACK TO EATING REAL FOOD, 

ALTHOUGH THE JUICE WAS GREAT FOR A FEW DAYS!

NEXT TIME I'M GOING TO TALK ABOUT SOME VERY SPECIAL BEANS FROM A NEW AND LOCAL COMPANY, CALLED 'PRIMARY BEANS'.

STAY TUNED...

www.cookwithcindy.com

CHRISTMAS AND 2020 ARE BEHIND US!

I try always to stay positive, but at times in the last year, that has not been easy. So much loss and sadness for so many families. I pray that 2021 is a better year; a time of healing, both from Coronavirus, and as a nation. 

I want to share a few of our Christmas memories. Once again, my husband and I hunkered down and enjoyed the best of the holiday. We did a lot of eating, listened to Christmas music non-stop, and enjoyed a huge fire every day during the season.

Our cat, JoJo enjoyed those fires, too!

First I want to start with one of my favorite holiday treats...

EGGNOG

Growing up, we made homemade eggnog every Christmas. It's easy to make and tastes quite different from what you buy in the store. It actually tastes like...EGGNOG!

This is not in the dietetic category, but it IS the holidays!

Ingredients:

6 large egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup heavy cream

2 cups milk

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Pinch of salt

1/4 tsp. vanilla 

More nutmeg for topping

Preparation:

Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a medium bowl until light and creamy. 

In a saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the cream, milk, nutmeg and salt. Stir often until the mixture reaches a bare simmer.

Add a big spoonful of the hot milk to the egg mixture, whisking vigorously. Repeat, adding big spoonfuls of the hot liquid one at a time to temper the eggs.

Once most of the hot milk has been added to the eggs, pour the mixture back into the saucepan on the stove. 

Whisk constantly for just a few minutes until the mixture is just slightly thickened (or until it reaches 160 degrees). It will continue to thicken as it cools.

Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

Pour the eggnog into a pitcher or other container and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until chilled. 

Serve with a sprinkle of nutmeg on top.

Store in the fridge for up to one week, but bet it won't last that long!

Many enjoy eggnog with a little rum. I prefer bourbon.

Since I had the homemade eggnog, I decided to make an Eggnog Cheesecake. I had never heard of Eggnog Cheesecake so thought it was an original idea. Of course, when I googled it there were hundreds of recipes. Why invent the wheel. I found this recipe on the Allrecipes site. 

EGGNOG CHEESECAKE

Ingredients:

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

2 Tbsp. sugar

3 Tbsp. melted butter. I used 4.

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

3 (8oz.) packages cream cheese, softened

1 cup white sugar

3 Tbsp. flour

3/4 cup eggnog

2 eggs

1/4 cup bourbon. Original recipe calls for 2 Tbsp. rum.

1 tsp. nutmeg. Original recipe calls for pinch of nutmeg.

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a medium bowl combine graham cracker crumbs, nutmeg, sugar and butter. Mix well and press in the bottom of a 9 inch spring form pan. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes. Place on a wire rack to cool. I did this the day before and stored in the fridge covered in plastic wrap.

Preheat oven to 425. In a food processor combine cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, flour and eggnog. Process until smooth. Blend in eggs, rum (or bourbon) and nutmeg. Pour mixture into the cooled crust.

Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes. 

Reduce heat to 250 (I reduced heat to 275. 250 seemed too low.) and bake for 45 -50 minutes until center of cake is barely firm to the touch. Allrecipes recommends removing from the oven immediately. I suggest turning the heat off; opening the oven door and let the cake set in the oven for about 30 minutes. This almost always avoids cheesecake cracking. Remove from oven and let the cheesecake cool completely on a wire rack before removing the rim.

At first, I was disappointed this cake was not thicker, but it really is perfect just as it is. Rich, creamy, eggnoggy and delicious!

I considered topping with whipped cream, but decided that would be gilding the lily so served as is. 

It was a hit with my husband, Jerry!

The next Christmas recipe I want to share is Shrimp Bisque. I decided our Christmas menu was so big and Shrimp Bisque is so rich, that I would serve the Shrimp Bisque on Christmas Eve. I started this recipe the week before by making a luscious fish stock. My dear brother and his wife sent us live lobsters from Maine for my birthday back in the summer. After devouring the lobsters I saved the 'bones' with this bisque in mind. You could use all shrimp shells or a combination of any seafood shells and I think it would be as good, but the lobster lends a very beautiful and unique flavor. Like so many soups you can improvise!

SHRIMP BISQUE

FOR THE FISH STOCK:

2 lobster bodies

4 cups shrimp shells

1 large onion, roughly chopped

2 carrots, roughly chopped

3 stalks celery, roughly chopped

1 garlic clove, smashed

Salt/Pepper

1 bay leaf

Enough water to cover all shells. In a large soup pot bring all ingredients to a rapid boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 3 hours. Strain. 

FOR THE BISQUE:

4 Tbsp. flour

6 Tbsp. butter

1/4 cup very finely diced shallots

3/4 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup half and half

1/2 cup Marsala wine*

3 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 tsp. Worcestershire

1/4 white pepper, or more to taste

Dash of Old Bay Seasoning

Dash of smoked paprika

4 Tbsp. tomato paste

Salt

1 lb. raw shrimp, shelled and deveined, roughly chopped. Keep 2 shrimp per serving whole for garnish.

Preparation:

In a large pan melt 6 Tbsp. butter. Add shallots and saute until soft. Whisk in flour and continue cooking over medium heat until the roux becomes golden brown; about 5 minutes.  

Slowly add 2 1/2 cups of fish stock to the roux, whisking constantly to ensure that it stays smooth.

Whisk in 4 Tbsp. tomato paste. Add creams, Marsala, lemon juice, Worcestershire, pepper, salt, Old Bay, and smoked paprika. Taste for seasoning and adjust accordingly. Add both the whole and chopped shrimp and cook over low simmer until shrimp just turns pink; about 7-10 minutes. Garnish with the whole shrimp. Chives or chopped fresh tarragon would add a nice garnish, as well.

*You do not need a fancy or expensive sherry or marsala, but please do not use cooking sherry. This is what I use.

This is one of my favorite soups! 

I'm going to close today with a few more photos from our Christmas...

Deviled Eggs and Polish ring always appeared at Christmas Eve growing up.
We would not have had smoked salmon with mascarpone cheese garnished with green olives!

The traditional Peppermint Stick Ice Cream.

JoJo enjoys doing jig saw puzzles. So does his Mama!

Christmas morning sunrise.

LOOKING FORWARD TO MORE JOY, HEALTH 

AND HAPPINESS IN 2021!

...AND, MORE COOKING!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

www.cookwithcindy.com