Filed under: beverages, Clever Chickadees, food and beverage, inspiration, quornflour, Thanksgiving - Fall and Winter Holiday Foods and Crafts | Tags: beverage, clever chickadee, Clever Chickadees, cocktail, drink, drinks, friends, fruit, gluten free, holiday, life, low calorie, orange, quornflour, summer, thanksgiving, vegan, vegetarian, vodka
A while back I was visiting friends and they told me of this cocktail they had gotten somewhere. Now I couldn’t really remember what it was other than it was a martini and it had burnt orange oil in it.
So on a recent visit with them, I stopped at the liquor store and picked up what I thought should go in the drink. Apparently it was not the same, for starters, the one they had was a gin martini and I picked up vodka instead. But regardless, it was super delicious, and almost festive. Fire and ice is festive after all isn’t it?
Here is what you will need:
- 1 orange
- Cointreau
- Vodka
- Ice
- Matches
We used a 16oz shaker for 2 drinks…
- Fill your shaker with ice
- Add 3 oz Cointreau
- Top with vodka
- Shake vigorously
- Slice the pith and zest off the orange
- Light match
- Bend peal over the flame aiming for the glass
Now I suspect you could also add the oil and then light the drink on fire, but I haven’t tried that…
Filed under: baking, breakfast, Clever Chickadees, dessert, food and beverage, kid friendly, quornflour, recipe, snack, Thanksgiving - Fall and Winter Holiday Foods and Crafts, vegetarian | Tags: baking, banana, bananas, bread, breads, breakfast, christmas, clever chickadee, Clever Chickadees, cooking, dessert, food, food and beverage, friends, fruit, holiday, inspiration, kid friendly, life, low calorie, meal, meals, nut, nuts, pecan, quornflour, recipe, snack, thanksgiving, vegetarian, walnut
I never seem to be able to get to bananas before they brown. Once they go brown they are too sweet. I picked up a few bananas last week and then things just got crazy and once again they browned before I thought about it.
As the sweet smell wafted through my apartment, I figured I should make some banana bread.
I cannot eat much soy, so I try to switch out my oils to non-soy based oils and fats. One of those common soy fats is brand named Crisco (vegetable shorting). A good swap out for Crisco is coconut oil. Coconut oil is a saturated fat, that in years back got a bad rap for being a saturated fat but is now looked at as a healthy fat because of the way your body digests it.
Anyway, my 84 year old friend gave me this recipe and then I swapped it out. Switching out the oils worked great.
Here is what you need:
Wet:
- ½ Cup of Coconut oil
- 1 Cup of sugar
- 2 eggs
- 4 medium sized browned bananas (mashed)
Dry:
- 2 Cups of flour
- ½ teaspoon of salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda
Other:
- ½ Cups of walnuts or pecans broken into small pieces (optional)
Here is what you are going to do:
- heat your oven to 350⁰
- in a large bowl fluff the sugar and the coconut oil until it is thoroughly mixed
- add the eggs and beat the eggs into the oil and sugar
- add the smashed bananas
- in a smaller bowl combine and mix the dry ingredients (save for the nuts)
- add the dry ingredients and mix in a little
- add the nuts and finish mixing completely
- grease (with coconut oil) your bread pans, I like the small ones, but you can also use a regular side loaf pan
- pour your batter into the pans
- bake for 45-60 minutes (depends on the pan size, the smaller ones take less time)
- remove when they are browned on top and you can poke them with a toothpick and it comes out clean
Serve warm or room temperature, it is super delicious with cream cheese!
Filed under: Clever Chickadees, easy meals, food and beverage, inspiration, photography, quornflour, snack | Tags: cheese, cooking, dog, eat, food, friends, fun, holiday, jeep, quornflour, road trip, travel, travel food, vacation
It seems there are a lot of people who seem to think of Road Food when on a road trip to be primarily junk food or fast food. This need not be the case.
I have some friends who find the local BBQ of the place where they are while others stick with the same fast food chains. There was a time where my road trips were filled with corn nuts and red licorice.
Now I like to a mix. I have a bag with an ice pack that holds bread, peanut butter and jelly and at any time a variety of other snacky foods. I like to maintain foods that do not require utensils or extreme preparation.
When I land some place I like to see if there is a locally owned place that is especially good, or a diner, or if visiting friends: gather groceries and make a nice meal.
My first night on the road I stayed with my aunt, we hit the grocery store and prepared a feast of cheese, salmon, veggies and a host of other finger friendly foods.
Last night we had a “Mexican Feast” of soft shelled tacos and strawberry mango margaritas made from scratch and not too sweet.
Really I am just telling you this, not because I have anything profound to say, or because you can eat healthy on the road but really because I want to show you some pictures of some delicious food I have had on this trip.