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October 23rd, 2024

Blog, Cooking Technique, Dessert, Nuts, Special Recipes

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Killer Flavorful Roasted Chestnuts: Picture Book Directions

Good friend, Shane Stuart, rolled into Hickory with his Suttle’s Nut Farm truck 2 weekends ago with my favorite fresh chestnuts, South Carolina grown North American chestnuts.

“How’re things looking this year, Shane?”

“Great! Last year we harvested 6000 pounds. This year we have 9000 pounds.”

I picked up a 2 pound bag and have been loving them for evening dessert, especially as the nights get cooler.

Roasted chestnuts have been a warm, richly flavorful rite of winter all my life. And though I’ve seen and used different methods of roasting, the easiest, most practical way I’ve found to roast chestnuts is with a toaster oven.

As shown in the step-by-step picture book conventional oven/toaster oven chestnut roasting directions you can get by clicking this link or any picture below, here are four tips before actually getting to the roasting:

I like using a toaster oven for convenience and power savings, but if you don’t have a toaster oven, a conventional kitchen oven will work just as well. Also note: if you’re using American chestnuts, which are half the size of Italian chestnuts, cut roasting time in half.
When buying fresh chestnuts, select those that are firm to the touch – the shell should not give when squeezed with your thumb as shown in the picture below. Also, choose those chestnuts that are heavier rather than lighter in weight and don’t have any signs of mold or small round wormholes in their shells.

Select fresh chestnuts that are firm to the touch

3. To prevent chestnuts from exploding while roasting and avoid a nasty mess to clean up (you bet, I know this from experience), make sure to cut into the shells before roasting chestnuts.

Cutting an "X" through chestnut shells to prevent chestnuts from exploding while roasting

4. If you’re not roasting fresh chestnuts the same day you bought them, put them in a plastic bag and store them in the refrigerator for at least 1 week. Just beware that the meat of the chestnut inside the shell dries out steadily over time.

Putting fresh chestnuts in a plastic bag and refrigerating them to preserve them best

If you live in the Hickory area, check out the Suttle’s Farm Fresh Nut truck loaded with nuts grown in South Carolina and parked at 2231 N. Center St. (Rt. 127).

Most of all, roast on and enjoy!

June 3rd, 2024

Blog, How To & Tips, Special Recipes

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Easy Homemade Vanilla Extract

Picture book recipe shows how to make homemade vanilla extract

I’m a BIG fan of real vanilla extract. I love how it enriches the flavor of whipped cream, desserts, fruit pancakes, warm fruit toppings, breakfast cereals and much more as shown in a few examples below.

You’ll notice I’m using commercial or store-bought vanilla extract in the pictures above. Nothing wrong with that – except that the price shot through the roof years ago and is still high. The reason: Madagascar, the largest and most popular producer of vanilla beans, experienced storms, deforestation and labor shortages that meant that vanilla bean supply couldn’t meet worldwide demand (actually, vanilla beans aren’t real beans, like string beans, but are the fruit of the vanilla orchid).

.For me personally, that supply/price problem was a great nudge to learn how to make vanilla extract on my own – and it’s all very easy. All you need are vanilla beans, liquor that’s at least 35% alcohol content (70 proof), a container to pour off excess alcohol if you’re using a full bottle, sharp knife, cutting board, and then masking tape and a pen to mark the date, as shown below.

The toughest part of the whole process is ordering vanilla beans, which I recommend you do by searching “how to buy vanilla beans” online. Here are some links I’ve used: Beanilla and Amazon.

The next step is deciding what flavor of 80 proof (40%) alcohol to use: rum, bourbon or vodka. I’m a big fan of either rum or bourbon for their added flavor.

After that, it’s just cut into the vanilla beans to expose their flavorful middle where the small black seeds are, put the beans in the liquor bottle, close the bottle, mark the date you put the ingredients together with masking tape and a pen and store the bottle in a cabinet for at least 3 months to allow the vanilla flavor to infuse the alcohol.

Click this link or any picture on this page for step-by-step picture book directions – and enjoy!

April 4th, 2024

Blog, Condiments, How To & Tips, Special Recipes

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Homemade Tomato Ketchup: “Super” Easy, Fully Flavorful, All in Pictures

As shown in the Statistica graph below, ketchup was the number 3 selling condiment in the US between 2019-2021. I can’t imagine that’s changed between then and now.

At the same time, as shown in the images of store-bought ketchup nutrition/ingredient labels below, most of those store-bought ketchups contain about 1 teaspoon of sugar per tablespoon of ketchup (3 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon).

Through most of my adult life, I’ve backed off ketchup mostly because I found it too sweet. But then, not too long ago, I found a sugar-free ketchup at a fresh food market in Easton, Pennsylvania. And though I loved the taste: fresh, zesty and rich tomato flavor, I wasn’t too hot on the price, something like $8.00 for the bottle you see below – and I found that price consistent for similar sugar-free ketchups on other store shelves across the country.

So, how ’bout I learn to make it on my own?

First step, find a decent recipe on line, like the one you see here from Tastes Better From Scratch.

As noted in red above, though the recipe above looks perfectly fine (thanks, Lauren!), I improvised (any recipe is only a guide) by:

using crushed tomatoes because I like that better than tomato sauce
cutting the sugar amount from 4 tablespoons to one tablespoon
skipping water – no flavor – and because I used a can of crushed tomatoes (14.5 ounces) that was almost twice the size of the 8 ounce can of tomato sauce called for in the recipe above
cutting out the salt because I didn’t think it needed it
skipping the onion powder because I didn’t have it on hand and, instead, used 1 full teaspoon of garlic powder
added 1/4 teaspoon of ground clove because I love that flavor
skipped the red pepper/hot sauce just to find out how the ketchup would taste without it – I could always add either later

Bottom line: here’s what I came up with that’s “super” easy to make (no cutting needed), low in sugar and salt, and, most importantly, fully flavorful – that you can see how to make by clicking this link!

November 25th, 2023

Blog, Chicken & Turkey, Leftovers, Special Recipes, Thanksgiving Dinner

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Picture Book Cooking Thanksgiving Leftover Ideas

Leftovers are the most flavorful rewards of cooking Thanksgiving dinner.

First, I hope you had a fun time and fully flavorful Thanksgiving dinner with friends and/or family.

Second, one of the best rewards of making Thanksgiving dinner yourself is all the leftovers that actually enrich with flavor after the holiday meal itself.

First, click this link or the picture below for picture book directions that show how to remove and store meat from a cooked turkey.

Here are two easy to make turkey leftover recipes, turkey nachos and turkey parmesan, intended to inspire your imagination to make fully flavorful Thanksgiving leftovers that suit your taste.

Click this link or the picture below for very easy turkey nacho picture book directions.

Click this link or the picture below for easy-to-make and fully flavorful turkey parmesan picture book directions.

Enjoy the rest of your Thanksgiving weekend with full-on flavor!

Bruce

November 9th, 2023

Blog, Breakfast, How To & Tips, Seasonal/Holiday Recipes, Special Recipes

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Fully Flavorful Whipped Cream Variations – Even If You’re Lactose Intolerant

Flavor rules – always!

Last two posts showed how easy it is to make fully flavorful fresh whipped cream and then how to boost flavor to that same whipped cream by just adding ground cinnamon. This post shows a couple ways to vary whipped cream flavor very quickly and easily – even if you’re lactose intolerant. As always here, imagination is your only limit!

To kick that imagination in gear, here’s Pumpkin Pumped Whipped Cream.

Killer easy to make! As shown in the picture thumbnail sketch below,…

…just add pumpkin butter and pumpkin pie spice to the base fresh whipped cream recipe. And you don’t have to be limited by pumpkin butter. You can use apple butter, your favorite jam, butterscotch spread – anything you like to get the flavor you want.

Then if you or someone you know is lactose intolerant, here’s how you can easily switch out heavy cream with coconut cream and coconut milk to make both a basic coconut based whipped cream and then use the above ideas to vary the flavor any way you like.

The key here – as always – learn the base recipe and then use your imagination to have fully flavorful fun with it!

September 29th, 2023

Blog, Breakfast, Cycling Food, Fitness Food, How To & Tips, Running Food, Special Recipes

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Pumped Up Flavor Fresh Whipped Cream With Cinnamon and Coconut Sugar

The other day I mentioned that I keep a vat of fresh whipped cream in the fridge. That vat went dry just after I wrote that. So, what a great opportunity to whip up a new one – and add flavor, all fun and very easily. As shown below, all I did was add a good shake of ground cinnamon (I do that all the time now) and use coconut sugar instead of regular white table sugar.

Whipping then took only 2 minutes as I’d used heavy cream right out of the fridge and a frosted glass measuring cup I’d put in the freezer over night.

You’ll notice in the last shot above that I didn’t whip the cream until it was firm enough to keep the ejected hand mixer blades standing. All fine. That’s the consistency I like, as it dissolves more easily in coffee, works great on anything else I top with it and makes it easy to pour into a “vat” I put in the fridge for easy access anytime I want it.

Click any picture on this page for step-by-step picture book Fresh Whipped Cream directions that you can vary however your personal taste desires.

Enjoy & have fun!

September 27th, 2023

Blog, Breakfast, Cycling Food, Fitness Food, How To & Tips, Running Food, Special Recipes, Sports Nutrition

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Rocket Fuel Breakfast, Part 5: Fresh Whipped Cream

Fresh whipped cream tastes far better than whipped cream spritzed from a can or scooped from a plastic tub – and it’s both as incredibly easy to make as it is versatile to use. I love it with the “rocket fuel breakfast” you see above: on fruit pancake, with yogurt and fruit, in coffee. But, as always, imagination is your only limit!

Here’s what you need for both for ingredients and equipment – easy.

Before you get started, here’s an easy tip. Make sure the heavy cream is cold and put whatever container you’re going to use to whip the cream in the freezer until it is well chilled as shown below. The reason: cold cream and a cold container make the cream whip faster – I like that!

Please click any picture on this page or this link for step-by-step fresh whipped cream picture book directions – and enjoy!

July 28th, 2022

Blog, Breakfast, Cycling Food, Pancakes, Special Recipes

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Killer Versatile Active Life Power Food: Fresh Crepes with Picture Book Recipe

Though France is well known for the premier cycling events of the year, the men’s and women’s gutsy, rip fast Tour de France, they are even better known for full-on food flavor.

One of my favorite go-to French foods is fresh crepes, which are, no kidding, just as easy to make as flapjack pancakes but much more flavorfully versatile and a great physical activity power source.

Here are the needed ingredients.

Click this link or the photo below to see a short, thumbnail sketch video showing how I made fresh crepes to take on a bike trip last weekend.

Click this link for a complete, very easy to use step-by-step picture book Crepes Made Easy recipe.

December 11th, 2021

Blog, Breakfast, Cycling Food, Fitness Food, Fruit, Pancakes, Running Food, Special Recipes

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Picture Book Warm Pineapple Coconut Topping Recipe

This warm pineapple coconut topping is just an example of how you can easily improvise on the warm fruit topping theme.

Last two posts showed how to make warm fruit toppings that go great over hot or cold cereal, with yogurt, on pancakes, waffles or French toast. Your imagination is your only limit.

This post is about a variation on the fruit topping theme I’d never tried before but put together on-the-fly for breakfast with my good Hickory, NC, buds a little before Thanksgiving. The key to this warm pineapple coconut topping recipe is using a fully ripened pineapple, and the picture book recipe you can get here shows exactly how to check a pineapple for ripeness and ripen a pineapple that will most likely be under-ripe when you buy it at the store.

Here’s what you need to to make a warm pineapple coconut topping.

Click this link or any picture on this page for this warm pineapple coconut topping picture book recipe.

Next post will show an example of how I use this topping and toppings like it to power me through a morning that almost always includes a good rip on the bike.

December 6th, 2021

Blog, Breakfast, Cycling Food, Fitness Food, Fruit, Running Food, Special Recipes

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3 Easy Picture Book Variations on Warm Apple Cranberry Fruit Topping

3 easy-to-make variations on the warm apple cranberry fruit topping recipe theme

Last post showed how to make a warm apple cranberry fruit topping that goes great on warm or cold cereal, pancakes, French toast, waffles and much more. I mentioned in that post that the recipe is a base or building block recipe that can be easily varied by using different ingredients to meet your personal taste. This post shows three specific examples that work great as is and can also be used to fire your imagination.

The first two recipes are direct riffs on warm apple cranberry fruit topping. The third is berry based.

Apple, Kiwi, Cranberry Topping: This recipe just adds kiwi to the topping, which you can substitute with any other fruit: pear, grapes, berries and more. Click this link or the picture to get the recipe.

Here are 3 easy-to-make variations on the warm apple cranberry fruit topping recipe theme

2. Apple and Papaya Topping: Quickly cooking papaya is my favorite, most flavorful way of eating this tropical fruit. The recipe for this topping that you can get by clicking this link again is just an example of exchanging one ingredient for another either for the fun of it (I mean that) or to suit your personal taste.

3. Warm Berry and Kiwi Fruit Topping: This is an example of a more dramatic variation on the apple, cranberry topping theme. Again, you can substitute the berries or any fruit in this recipe to suit your specific taste. Click this link or the picture below for a picture book recipe.