Category Archives: Recipes

Various recipes that I’ve found and liked, or made up myself

Making the Best Pumpkin Spice Latte

Coffee, Food, Recipes

Well, I had to try it. James Hoffman’s recent video was interesting. I ended up making 2 batches after a visit to the Silk Road Spice Merchant on Whyte Avenue.

The first one I followed his direction and recipe as closely and exact as possible. After measuring everything out, I ground it all up into a Krups Coffee & Spice grinder. One step I added was to heat the spice blend up on the stove prior to adding the water and pumpkin juice. I also used a light brown sugar instead of Demarra.

This initial batch ended up much thicker than what his seemed, so I made a second batch, which I combined with the first one. I made the second batch without pumpkin, and added green cardamom.

The syrup is definitely very flavorful, and makes a delicious latte! The biggest challenge I found was in trying to strain the syrup. I used a couple different sieves and also a muslin filter bag, and it took a long time – must have taken almost an hour! I’ll have to find a better strainer.

Here’s are the ingredients I used for my second batch of pumpkin spice:

Vietnamese Cassia Bark: 14g
Indonesian Cinnamon Quills: 14g
Powdered Ginger: 8g
Whole Cloves: 2g
Allspice: 2g
Whole Nutmeg: 7g
Green Cardamom: 3g

For the syrup, I used a light brown sugar – 350g, and 175g of water, and 25g of the pumpkin spice.

I also made the coffee infused whipping cream to top the latte – it was fantastic, and much easier to make! Will definitely make the whipping cream again, as well as the pumpkin spice. I think that I’ll like skip the syrup.

Horseradish Sauce

Food, Recipes
Print

Horseradish Sauce

Ingredients

  • 6 oz fresh horseradish peeled, and coarsely chopped
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/4 cup vinegar
  • 2 tbsp brown sugar
  • 2 tsp Dijon-style mustard
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/8 tsp pepper
  • 1/4 cup whipping cream optional

Instructions

  1. Place all ingredients, except whipping cream in a blender. Be careful of the fumes, they can be overwhelming.

  2. Blend until finely grated.

  3. In a separate bowl, beat whipping cream until soft peaks form.

  4. Fold in 1/4 cup of the horseradish mixture.

  5. Cover and chill for at least one hour before serving.

  6. Store in refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Recipe Notes

Heating the grated horseradish mixture tones it down a bit.  If you like horseradish with lots of bite, don’t heat.

Store remaining horseradish mixture (without the whipping cream) in the freezer.

Egg Bites

Food, Recipes, ,

These are the egg bite recipes that came with an Instant Pot accessory package I purchased from Amazon.  Just wanted to put them somewhere, as the recipe leaflet is damaged.

Print

Starbucks Sous-Vide Egg Bites in your Instant Pot

Course Breakfast
Keyword Instant Pot, Keto
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 18 minutes
Total Time 28 minutes
Servings 7

Ingredients

  • 4 ea. eggs large
  • 4 strips bacon
  • 1 1/2 cups cheese use your favorite cheddar, or gouda, etc.
  • 1/2 cup cottage cheese
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Instructions

  1. Add 1 cup of water to bottom of instant pot, followed by the trivet that came with the pot.

  2. Cut bacon up into small strips and fry.

  3. divide bacon bits amongst the mold cups.

  4. Add eggs, cheese, cottage cheese, cream and salt to blender, and blend until smooth (about 15 seconds).

  5. Pour egg mixture into molds.

  6. Cover egg bite mold with tin foil and gently place into Instant Pot.

  7. Put cover onto Instant Pot, select Steam, and 8 minutes.

  8. Natural pressure release for 10 minutes after cooking is completed, then quick release.

  9. Carefully remove the egg bites from Instant Pot, and let cool down for a few minutes.

Recipe Notes

Can keep these in the fridge for up to a week.  You can also freeze them, and reheat by popping into a microwave for 30 seconds at full power.

egg-bites
Print

Spinach, Egg and Cheese Breakfast Bites

Course Breakfast
Keyword Instant Pot
Servings 7

Ingredients

  • 3 ea. eggs large
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 1 cup cheddar cheese grated
  • 1 cup spinach roughly chopped
  • 3/4 cup parmesan cheese

Instructions

  1. Put 1 cup of water into Instant Pot, followed by the trivet that came with your pot.

  2. Add all ingredients to blender, and blend until smooth (about 15 seconds)

  3. Divvy egg mixture evenly into the 7 pods.

  4. Cover with tin foil, then place gently into Instant Pot.

  5. Close lid, select “Steam” setting, for 8 minutes.

  6. Let pressure release naturally for 10 minutes after cooking has completed, then quick release.

  7. Carefully remove egg bites from Instant Pot, and let cool for a couple minutes before eating.

Recipe Notes

Can keep egg bites refrigerated for up to 1 week.  You can also freeze them.  To reheat, just pop into a microwave for 30 seconds at full power.

Print

Special Spinach, Onion and Cheese Breakfast Bites

Course Breakfast
Servings 7

Ingredients

  • 10 oz. fresh baby spinach cooked
  • 1 ea roma tomato diced
  • 4 ea eggs large
  • 4 ea egg whites
  • 1 ea medium Vidalia onion diced
  • 2 tbsp fresh parsley finely chopped
  • 2 tbsp chia seeds
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp white pepper finely ground

Instructions

  1. Place 1 cup water into Instant Pot, followed by the trivet that came with your pot.

  2. Add all ingredients to blender, and blend until smooth (about 15 seconds)

  3. Divide mixture evenly into the 7 pods of the mold

  4. Cover with foil, then place gently into Instant Pot

  5. Select “Steam” and set time to 8 minutes.

  6. After steam cycle has completed, let pressure release naturally for 10 minutes, then quick release.

  7. Carefully remove from Instant Pot and let cool for a couple minutes before eating.

Recipe Notes

Egg bites can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.  They can also be stored in the freezer to keep longer.  To reheat from frozen, pop an egg bite into a microwave for 30 seconds at full power.

Bulletproof Coffee – A Non-Dairy Variation

Coffee, Food, Recipes, , ,
espresso shot, mct oil, cashews and cinnamon

We’ve adopted a ‘largely’ Keto way of eating for about 8 months now, and I’ve gotten used to blending my morning coffee with MCT oil and butter, and a pinch of cinnamon for fun. Took a little getting used to being a creature of habit – my habit being over a decade of pulling a double shot every morning and making an Americano to start my day – no cream, no sugar.

Well, after our old blender gave up and replacing it with a Vitamix, I thought I’d try something a little different. I came across a site using cashews as a milk replacement – and thought perhaps I would see how it fared replacing the butter in my coffee. I was very pleased with the result, and with hile there are a few carbs, it’s still a Keto-friendly drink with 8 carbs, 42g of fat, and 5 grams of protein. It’s has more of a milk feel in the mouth as well – butter seems to have an slicker or oilier feel.

Filling my mug…
Print

Keto Cashew Bulletproof Coffee

Course Drinks
Keyword coffee, Keto, vitamix
Prep Time 3 minutes
Servings 1

Ingredients

  • 1 double shot espresso
  • 2 tbsp MCT oil
  • 1/4 cup unsalted cashew nuts (optional: soak overnight in water)
  • 1 1/2 cups hot water (just off the boil, or from the espresso machine)
  • 1 pinch sea salt

Instructions

  1. add MCT oil, espresso, hot water, cashew nuts and salt to the blender

  2. starting on low, start the blender, slowly turning the speed to max.

  3. blend at max for 20-30 seconds

  4. Pour into your favourite mug and enjoy!

Recipe Notes

Adjust the amount of hot water to the size of your mug.  Also, you might try adding a pinch of cinnamon, and/or a half-dime sized piece of 85% cacao dark chocolate to the blender…trust me 🙂 

If you choose not to soak your cashew nuts overnight, extend the blend time to 30-60 seconds.  This will pulverize the cashew nuts more, so there is virtually no solids left at the bottom of your drink.

Cilantro-Lime Sauce

Food, Recipes,
Print

Clilantro-Lime Sauce

A delicious topping for pan-seared salmon.

Course Condiment
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 1 minute
Total Time 6 minutes
Servings 4 people
Author admin

Ingredients

  • 1 ea lime juice only
  • 1/2 cup cilantro
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 5 ea golden berries
  • 1/2 ea jalapeno pepper
  • 2 tbsp mayonnaise

Instructions

  1. Add lime juice, olive oil, mayonnaise, cilantro, golden berries and jalapeno to blender

  2. Blend for 30-45 seconds, pushing cilantro down if necessary.