Frank Asch’s Original Recipe for Mooncakes

Mooncakes Yield: One large mooncake which can feed 1-4 people depending on how hungry they are. I usually serve them for breakfast but they’re good any time. Ingredients: 3 eggs dash of salt 1/4 cup Grape Nuts dash of cinnamon (optional) butter Maple syrup (preferably real Vermont maple syrup) Procedure: Melt a small amount of butter into an omelette pan. Beat eggs lightly, add dash of salt, and pour into pan. Let cook on medium to low flame for about 30 seconds. Sprinkle grape nuts on top of eggs, add cinnamon, and let it cook until bottom is light brown. Flip (carefully) and let the other side cook until done. Serve with butter and Maple syrup,as you would a pancake. (Bear prefers his with honey) Mmm delicious!

 

Monsieur Saguette’s Carrot Soup

Carrot Soup with Ginger 

1 tablespoon butter
1 medium yellow onion, sliced
1/2 pound carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
1-inch piece of fresh ginger root, grated
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 quart chicken broth
A pinch of sugar, if necessary
1/4 cup heavy cream, if desired

Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until they are lightly caramelized, about 8 minutes.

Add the carrots, ginger and cinnamon, and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Cover and cook the carrots over low heat for 5 minutes. Add the broth and bring the liquid to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the carrots are soft, about 5 minutes longer.

Purée the soup in a food processor or blender until very smooth. Check the seasoning, adding sugar if the carrots aren’t sweet enough. Add the cream, if desired, and adjust the salt. Ladle the soup into serving bowls and serve immediately.

Caution: Be careful when puréeing hot soup. Blend in batches and cover lid tightly to avoid hot soup splashing out.

Makes 4 servings

By Marilyn Hunter

Enjoy her article about how sometimes a book inspires a meal at:  http://about.specialfork.com/blog/2013/6/27/saguettes-carrot-soup.html

 

Milk And Cookies

We have been experimenting with recipes that don’t use dairy products or wheat and eliminate white sugar.  Here is a way to serve milk and cookies to the lactose intolerant, gluten allergic, sugar sensitive children in your life, and feel good about it.

Fresh Almond Milk

Yes, you can buy almond milk at the store, but making your own is fun, delicious, and you’ll know everything that’s in it.  You can make it a little thicker by increasing the almonds or decreasing the water a bit and use it to make fresh home made ice cream, too.  (see that recipe below)

2 cup of raw organic almonds soaked overnight

4 cups of water

Blender

A large piece of thin acrylic fabric.  Organza works great.

A large strainer

A large bowl or  measuring cup with a handle

Soak the almonds overnight.  You can soak them for less time if you forget.  I’ve done it for as little as an hour and it works fine.  Rinse them one last time, pour off all the water and place the almonds in the blender with twice the water (2 cups almonds=4 cups water).  Blend until smooth.  Place your fabric over a large strainer that fits securely in a large bowl.  Make sure you have it centered and that there is lots of fabric going over the sides to grab.  Pour all of milk into the strainer on top of the fabric.  Gather up the corners of the material and twist it together, squeezing out all of the milk from inside it.  This will take a while.  The harder you squeeze the more milk you will get.  When you’re done, remove the strainer,  pour the milk into a mason jar, cover and refrigerate.  Save the almond grounds in a separate container.  That’s what we’ll use to make the cookies!  This milk does not contain any preservatives, so it won’t last more than a couple of days.  Shake well before serving.

Chocolate Almond Cookies (Raw, Dehydrated)

This recipe is raw, vegan, organic, gluten free, sugar free,  (if you use xylitol), and tastes amazing.

Take the almond grounds from the recipe above and put them in a food processor along with

1 cup raw organic cacao powder, (unprocessed chocolate)

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup organic dried coconut

1/4 cup Vermont maple syrup  OR  1/4 cup xylitol (for sugar sensitive or diabetic kids who can’t tolerate even maple sugar) If you use xylitol put some water in it, just enough to wet it and let it sit for 10 minutes, stirring the granules in, before using.

Add raw organic cacao nibs to the dough after mixing for some texture (optional)

Mix this well, then spoon out into 2″ cookie shaped rounds and place on a piece of  parchment paper, and then into your dehydrator.

Dehydrate at 105 degrees for about 18 hours or until desired crispness is reached.  We prefer them on the soft side.  Yum!

 

Ice Cream

Most folks buy their favorite ice cream from the store.  But if you have an ice cream maker it’s fun to make your own.  This recipe calls for fresh almond milk but you can use cow’s milk in its place.  We’re talking ice cream that’s raw, vegan, organic, gluten free, sugar free, and  great for lactose intolerant, and kids who need to avoid sugar.

Don’t forget to put your ice cream maker canister in the freezer the night before!

4 cups thicker than usual almond milk (see recipe above)

1 cup xylitol

2 cups fresh organic fruit of your choice cleaned, and cut into small chunks (we like peaches)

1 tsp vanilla

Follow the directions that came with your ice cream maker.  We like to blend half or 3/4 of the fruit with a hand mixer so it really becomes part of the milk.  It might take a little longer than cows milk to freeze, depending on how cold your canister is to start with.