Strawberry Honey Butter

October’s poplars are flaming torches

lighting the way to winter.
-Nova S. Bair

I don’t know what it is about fall, but it brings me in. It holds me tightly with memories of trick or treating as a kid, the hot smell of the candle flickering inside my beautifully carved pumpkin cooking the flesh just enough to add its aroma to the already perfect evening. It reminds me of crisp autumn nights as I unpacked my belongings into a sturdy, warm dorm room that sat at the mouth of Logan canyon, the wind whipping around its edges creating mini snow or leaf filled tornado's. It reminds me of riding the shuttle over to the student center for a hot slice of bread with apple butter or raspberry honey butter. I had a car, but I would usually trade in the solidarity of a morning ride by myself in Crunchie the Love Cockroach (my pet name for my little Toyota Corolla because it made a lovely crunching sound anytime I cornered to the right) for the warmth and camaraderie of the shuttle.

Last week, as that autumn chill brought back those memories, I just couldn’t shake the craving that I was having for a little slice of my past. I considered driving 3 hours round trip, not including time to revel in my wanderlust, but as I scanned our calendar I knew that a quick trip would be a selfish indulgence that I just couldn’t justify for the day. So I set out to create a happy little pause button that would keep the cravings at bay until I had time for the trip.

This recipe could easily be adapted to any fruit you have on hand. After I finished up the pictures my mind started racing with ideas of different “butters” that I could try. The possibilities are endless. Since Thanksgiving is just around the corner my mind leaped to ideas that incorporated my favorite fall flavors. What about a pumpkin honey butter or an orange cranberry honey butter. I think both of those will have to be a part of our Thanksgiving feast, spread generously across a warm home made roll.

If the flavors you want to try aren’t in season, frozen fruits can easily be substituted. I made strawberry honey butter and a tropical honey butter with mangoes, pineapple and strawberries. They have both been gobbled up by my family. My kiddo’s have loved spreading them over their toast, crepes and waffles. I feel good that they are getting a little extra fruit into their days. The best part, it stores well in the refrigerator for up to a week in a sealed container or up to 6 months in the freezer. So you can take a few minutes today and enjoy it for several months to come!

 

 

Strawberry Honey Butter

 

1 c strawberries hulled and sliced

2 Tbsp honey

1 c butter softened, at room temperature

 

In small saucepan, over medium heat combine strawberries and honey. Heat until boiling, stirring constantly. Cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally to speed up the process. In blender or food processor blend strawberry mixture until smooth and then fold in butter until it is well blended.





Slow Cooker Mango Chicken over Coconut Rice & Baked Pineapple...Aloha!

Tell me what you eat,

and I shall tell you what you are.

                                           -Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

 

After tonight's dinner, with the above quote in mind, Jean would peg me as a lover of all things tropical and he would be right. I have long fantasized of changing my heritage to more suit my palate and climate preferences. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't get excited at the prospect of scaring the life out of people when I tell them I love them (I'm mostly German BTW), but island cuisine and way of life melds so much better with my current state of mind than my own German roots ever have. (With the exception of Christmas of course. I would be lost without my German Christmas traditions and pfeffernusse.) 

 

Every time I eat a perfectly ripe pineapple or sprinkle some toasted coconut on my latest creation I am reminded of how grateful I am that other cultures and countries share their food with us. My diet would be pretty unexciting if I were only able to eat the foods that naturally grew near my geographical location. It would, however, give me even more incentive to move to a tropical locale.

 

Nonetheless, this quick and easy recipe helped to muffle my desire to escape to a tropical paradise.

 

With the kids now back in school and back to a myriad of activities, it has been increasingly difficult to get a good meal on the table. This is the perfect season for slow cookers. With a little prep work earlier in the day, your family can be sitting down to a warm delicious meal moments after mom's taxi service closes for the day.

 

 

Slow Cooker Mango Chicken

 

4-5 chicken breasts

1 large ripe mango peeled and diced

3 ripe peaches peeled and diced

1/2-1 full hatch chili pepper (or pepper of your choice) seeds and ribs removed and diced

1 Tbsp lemon juice

2 Tbsp lime juice

1-2 Tbsp toasted coconut for garnish

 

Prepare slow cooker by spraying sides and bottom with non-stick cooking spray. Place all ingredients in slow cooker and cook on high for 3 hours or medium for 4-5 hours. Shred chicken and serve over coconut rice with toasted coconut on top.

 

 

Coconut Rice

 

2 c rice

1 16.5 oz can of coconut milk

1/2 c toasted coconut

water 

 

Cook rice as per package directions but sub coconut milk for as much water as you can. For example I cooked cal rose rice in a microwave rice cooker that called for 3 c of water to 2 c of rice. The 16.5 oz can was almost 2 c so I finished filling the measuring cup with water to equal 3 c. When the rice is done, immediately toss with toasted coconut. 

 

 



 Baked Pineapple

 

1 pineapple cut in half, core removed. 

1/2 c ginger snaps crushed

1/2 c macadamia nuts (I subbed hazelnuts)

1/2 c shredded coconut

1/2 c sweetened condensed milk

1 tsp coconut or rum extract

 

Preheat oven to 350. Slice pineapple in half and remove the core by cutting diagonal slices into the length of the core. Combine ginger snaps, nuts and coconut. Combine sweetened condensed milk and extract. Pour half of the sweetened condensed milk mixture into the area where the core was. Top with gingersnap mixture and top again with the remainder of the sweetened condensed mixture. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the pineapple is a little soft and the topping is warm and bubbly.

 

To serve, cut off top and bottom of pineapple and run a long knife around the edge of the pineapple, separating the the skin from the fruit. Leaving the fruit in the skin, cut into bite sized pieces and serve.  

Mango Coconut Banana Bread (Vata balancing)

"Our thoughts and feelings have a chemical effect on our bodies. Stress, repressed emotions, depression, anxiety, lives being lived half-assed – all have profound effects on our wellbeing.

Even our fears, hurts and sufferings need to be digested, along with our last meal.

Being truly nourished has just as much to do with our thoughts, feelings, beliefs and experiences as it does with what we are feeding ourselves on a daily basis."

                                                                                                                   

                                                                                                                  -Corona via nurturepod.com

 

Todays quote was much longer than any other quote that I've posted so far, but I loved the way she expressed so much of what I have been feeling. Today's recipe is brought to you by my loose understanding of Ayurveda. I have read through the lists of flavors that help balance the different doshas and the thing that surprises me time and again is that when I truly listen to what my body is telling me I end up selecting foods that are part of the list to help balance my dosha. It shouldn't surprise me, but it does.

 

I thought about appearing "all knowing" and listing all of the flavors that balance the vata dosha, but that's not where I am at the moment. I am just doing my best to listen to the subtle cues that my body is sending out. You will be happy to know that I am caffeine free again (for the last 12 hours anyway, but it's a start), so that should help.

 

I've learned that winter is the prime season for vata to become imbalanced. Ayurveda says that "like increases like" and "opposites decrease". The vata dosha is characterized by the elements of air and space. Both of which increase in our natural world during the winter through qualities of cold, dry, light, mobile, rough, and subtle. It is not surprising that winters have been hard for me to endure for the last several years. During a time when the vata dosha is easily imbalanced I have also been trying to loose weight, eating light and cold foods instead of the warm and comforting foods that my body wants. The "like increases like" throwing my body into vata imbalance that spirals into depression.   

 

Beyond listening to what my body wants by way of nourishment, I am also trying to do as the quote suggests and truly digest my emotions. It is easier to push those emotions aside, especially the really ugly ones, and just hope that they go away. But scientists are finding that these emotions often have physical repercussions. I think many of us have either read an article or listened to a radio blurb talking about the physical ailments attributed to stress. It isn't hard to imagine that our other emotions create either physical harm or physical healing depending on the emotion.

 

So, today I will allow my emotions a place to express themselves. I wont push away the ugly ones. I will invite them to sit with me, no matter how scary that might be. We will get to know one another and try to come to the reason for their visit. I will love and accept them for what they are trying to teach me. I will digest their lesson and move on, knowing that I didn't try to bury them without giving them a chance to speak. Everything that I experience is for my good.

 

While I am conversing with my emotions, I think I will offer them some of the delicious Mango Coconut Banana Bread that I made yesterday. It has the perfect blend of down to earth goodness that my emotions are in need of. As the days shorten and the earth gets colder I hope you will try some as well. Curl up with a warm slice and a cup of your favorite tea with a splash of milk.

 

 

 

Mango Coconut Banana Bread

 

2 1/2 c flour

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp nutmeg

2/3 c sugar

1 c sunflower oil

4 eggs, lightly beaten

2 tsp coconut extract

2 tsp lemon juice

2 c diced ripe mango (1 large mango or 2 small)

4 extra ripe bananas, mashed

1/2 c coconut flakes

 

Preheat oven to 350 or 325 if using a convection oven. Sift together flour, baking soda and nutmeg. In a separate bowl combine sugar, sunflower oil, eggs, coconut extract, lemon juice, mango and mashed bananas.

 

Fold dry ingredients into wet ingredients being careful not to over mix. Divide batter between two prepared loaf pans and sprinkle coconut on top. Bake for 50-55 minutes. Check half way through cooking time to ensure that coconut is not becoming too dark. If it is you can cover the pans with foil to prevent any further browning. Make sure that it is cooked through by inserting a clean toothpick into the center of the loaf; if it comes out clean then it is ready.

 

  

Grilled Peaches a la Mode

Delicious autumn!

My very soul is wedded to it,

and if I were a bird

I would fly about the earth seeking

 the successive autumns.

                                                          –George Eliot

 

With our recent trip to the mountains, and all of the beautiful changing leaves, my stomach couldn't quit thinking of all of the exciting flavors that are about to grace our table. But my heart isn't ready to give up summer quite yet. Tonight, for dessert, I decided to make my heart and my stomach happy with a fun twist on a summer dish that plays up some of my favorite fall elements.

 

Say hello to Grilled Peaches a la Mode. This is the time of year that the peach trees are heavy with sweet, ripe, beautiful fruit just begging to be picked. If you are lucky enough to live close to a farm, you might take this time to pick your own peaches. Or maybe, you have a single peach tree in your yard that supplies an abundance for you and your family. My peaches came to me via Bountiful Baskets. As soon as I got home I tucked them away to preserve them for tonights dessert. Fresh peaches don't stand a chance in our house.

 

 

This was the first time that I've grilled peaches, so it took a bit of guess work and patience. In the end everything came together in a palate pleasing crescendo. I wanted to add fall elements of ginger, cinnamon and pecans but also keep it light, with the summertime freshness of peaches and vanilla ice cream. This was a perfect end to our grilling season by welcoming some of my favorite fall flavors. I hope you enjoy the end result as much as we did!

Grilled Peaches a la Mode

 

4 peaches washed, sliced in half and pitted, skins on

1 tube sugar cookie dough

6 gingersnap cookies

1/4 c pecans

1 quart vanilla ice cream

 

Preheat oven to  350. Crush ginger snaps and pecans in zip lock bag with a mallet or pulse in food processor leaving some bigger chunks. Scoop out sugar cookie dough with 1 inch cookie scoop and smash gingersnap and pecan mixture into each ball. Place on cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes.

 

While cookies are baking heat grill to medium heat and prepare peaches by lightly brushing with olive oil. Place on grill and cook for 2-3 minute and turn. If your peaches are not quite ripe cook for a total of 10-12 minutes. Ripe peaches should take about 5-6 minutes. You will know when your peach is ready when the skin becomes loose and juices begin to appear on the cut side of the peach.

 

Remove from grill. Fill pit with crumbled sugar cookie, top with vanilla ice cream and top with additional sugar cookie crumble and any left over pecan and gingersnap mixture.