Custards!

Yes, eggs are an awesome staple to start your day. But say you're looking for something a little more fancy-pants. Indulgent, without being indulgent, you know what I mean? Enter the custard. I love making custard as a night-before project that has my breakfast ready-to-eat, no cooking, the next morning!

Preheat your oven to 350 F.

First, find a large rectangular pan and fill it with about an inch of water. This is the classic "water bath" method that is used in cheesecake recipes to enable an even baking throughout the custard.

Next, place some smallish Pyrex dishes (or other ramekin-type dishes) in the water bath. No need for them all to be the same size. You can see here that I used three small ones, a medium one, and three clean baby food jars. Why the baby food jars, you ask? I'm experimenting with them as a way to send custard with my three-year-old to preschool in the fall, when I'll be packing her lunch three days each week. (They turned out perfectly baked in these jars, by the way! I poured the excess off the full ones into the big Pyrex dish so that there would be about 1/2 inch to expand during the baking.)

OK. So you have your water bath pan, filled with your little custard dishes. Get yourself a nice, easy, primal custard recipe. You can experiment with it after you're used to the process. I like the Son of Grok banana "Caveman Custard" recipe. In my head, I call it "1-2-3 custard" because it requires one can of coconut milk, two bananas, and three eggs (along with a dash of cinnamon). Whip up your custard batter, and pour it into your ramekins. (I did nearly-full baby food jars, and about 1/2 inch deep in the larger dishes.)

Stick it in the oven and bake for 45 minutes at 350. Take them out of the oven, but don't remove them from the water bath. The more gradual the cooling process, the prettier your custards - that is, the less likely they are to crack on top. Once the water bath is completely cool, put the custards in the fridge to cool and set some more overnight.

Oh, and remember the part about experimenting? Now that you've done your basic custard recipe, shake things up.

Add a drizzle of walnut oil to the custard batter for some added fat, and a deliciously nutty taste. (Just don't do it all the time, though, since walnut oil is omega-6 heavy. Maybe make the custard with Omega-3 eggs to offset?)

Mmmmm, walnut oil in a pretty tin.

Other variations: You can soft cook some rhubarb and very ripe cherries (must be ripe to offset the rhubarb's tart), and then temper your eggs with them before adding the eggs and a stick of butter. (No coconut milk this time.) This results in a very Yoplait Whips! type texture.

While you're experimenting, add nutmeg, ginger, vanilla, etc. to your liking as well.

Oh, and let's talk toppings. In the morning, I top my chilled custards.

See my humble banana custard? (And yes, even with gradual cooling, there's a little crack. So sue me. This is another good reason to talk toppings - because they hide cracks!)

Add some fresh blueberries, a small handful of cacao nibs, and a few walnuts. Now we're talking indulgent breakfasts.

 

Fourth Treats

Happy Fourth of July!

We had many treats (click pic above to enlarge) when my inlaws and my folks joined us for lunch. Slightly carbier than my normal fare, but part and parcel of indulging with family around on a holiday. Since my folks are on a low-fat low-calorie diet, and my in-laws are Weight Watchers, I tried to make sure that not everything was drenched in butter or coconut oil.

Among our treats:

Grilled Skewered Shrimp - Courtesy of my parents and inlaws
This one's easy: For each 3 lbs. of fresh shrimp, melt 2 sticks of butter (organic if you can). Add a dash of garlic powder, a couple of cranks of fresh black pepper, and a small drizzle of honey (yes, honey, because it's a special occasion!). Skewer shrimp, and grill over a piece of foil, turning constantly, until butter mix blackens just a bit. Serve immediately.

Tossed "Big-Ass" Salad
Ours had cherry tomatoes, kumatos, mushrooms, pitted Kalamata olives, avocado, olive oil, a bit of shredded mozzarella, and balsamic vinegar.

Mexican Veggies with Creamy Cumin-Tomato Sauce
Blend a few cloves of garlic, one white onion, and two tomatoes in a mini-chopper. Melt some butter or chicken fat in the bottom of a skillet, and add the chopped tomato mix to this to simmer. Then add: 2 tomatoes, cubed, 1 box mushrooms, quartered, and two yellow squash. Add 1 tablespoon of cumin. Simmer 1 hour or more. Just before serving, add 3/4 cup heavy organic cream, and stir through.

Sauteed Peppers and Onions with Ginger, Lime Juice, Coconut Oil
Blend 1"x1" chunk fresh ginger, 4 cloves of garlic, and the juice from one lime. Melt 2 tablespoons of coconut oil in a skillet on medium-high, and add the chopped mix to this. Toss in 3 bell peppers and one onion, sliced, and sautee for 5 minutes.

Fruit Salad - Courtesy of my inlaws
Cut up a bunch of fruit. Eat. :)

Fried Plantains
Slice three plantains into long french-fry-type slivers. Fry in butter at medium-high heat until golden brown and just darker around the edges.

I later added the fried plantains to the creamy Mexican veggies for a leftovers meal. YUM. I will be replicating in an official capacity.