Food for 7 Stages of Life: Blackberry

Friday, February 26, 2010

Blackberry, Strawberry & Carrot Salad with a hint of crushed Almonds and Peanuts

Posted by RV @ Food for 7 Stages on Friday, February 26, 2010

When I think about writing a post, lots of ideas pop up in my mind. But when I sit in front of my Mac it gets really hard to put them together. Even this time I have 3 different topics that I could share with you. But then I have a 'Writing Syndrome' which makes the whole thing very very complicated. I sometimes feel J when I read some of the blogs. They have never ending list of words that they play around with and put their thoughts and emotions easily into their writing. I seriously wish that God blesses me with this 'ABILITY' to write seamlessly. So should I wait until God blesses me or should I take some initiative. Having known the Inner me, I would opt for the first one ;-) but then my god damn IT mind pushes me to take some initiative(s)... sobs....with all the learning I hope someday I can write a book on 'HOW TO WRITE?' The same thing happens to me when I start thinking about what I should cook, though I have lots of complicated recipes I often opt for the easy ones like this salad. It is a simple and highly nutritious salad filled with lots of Antioxidants from the berries. Also I have used a hint of Agave to sweeten the salad. You can use Honey if you don't have Agave at home.

Agave (source:wholeandnatural.com)

Agave is natural sweetener used as a substitute for Sugar and Honey. This nectar is extracted from a Cactus plant predominantly grown in Mexico. The sap of this plant is taken and heated in low temperatures to get the sweetness in the syrup. Basically some chemical reactions occurs which makes the carbs to break into fructose.

- Thou the promoters of this product say that it is good for Diabetic patients, researchers say that it is rich in fructose which is big No No for this patients.

- Agave has low Glycemic index and we use them in small quantities. Hence our calorie intake is less compared to those sugar filled dishes.

- Agave is Organic and Kosher certified also it is allergen and gluten free which makes it very famous among the Raw food eaters.

Culinary Use:

- 1/3 cup of Agave syrup = 1 cup Sugar. So substitute in your recipe accordingly.

- Reduce the quantity of liquid in original recipe as agave has some moisture content in it.

- Reduce the oven temperature by 25 F if your recipe requires baking.

- Agave is a bliss to Vegans as they can replace honey with this syrup.

How it tasted?

It can be prepared in jiffy and served as a side salad with a regular meal or just as a evening snack. I had it before my dinner meal. It was hearty and very light to my tummy. I loved the concoction of Agave and almonds with the fruits. Carrot and Nuts gave some crunchiness while the berries just melted in my mouth. TH doesn't eat berries much, but he loved this salad and said he liked the sweet thingy(Agave) in it. He definitely wants me to make this again for him :) I knew almonds and peanuts will make him go nuts about it :) but didn't know he will fall in love for Agave.

Serves 2 as a side salad - Preparation Time : 10 minutes

Ingredients
   Strawberry - 8 sliced
   Blackberry - 12
   Carrot - 3 tbsp sliced
   Almonds - 4 (Yields 1 - 1 1/2 tbsp when crushed)
   Peanuts - 4 (Yields 1 tbsp when crushed)
   Organic Blue Agave (Natural Sweetener) - 2 - 3 tsp as per your taste bud (Alternate Ingredient: Honey)

Method
    1. Cut strawberries in to thin slices. Start from one end and cut it vertically. It will look like a heart symbol on some perfectly shaped strawberries.
    2. Decorate it on a plate or place the fruits and sliced carrots in a large salad bowl.
    3. Crush the almonds and peanuts separately using a pestle n mortar or if you don't have one use your blender and run it for couple of seconds until they become small chunks. Do not powder it. Sprinkle the crushed almonds and peanuts. Add 1 or 2 tsp of Agave and Serve it immediately.

Have you recently posted any recipes which you could pack them up for lunch, then why wait, pack them up for my Tiffin Box event in FF7SL series. Deadline is 5th March 2010. Looking forward for your contribution.

Events

- This colorful salad is being sent to PJ for her No Cook Event...
- This is my family's favorite salad, hence it found its way to Shama's Family's Favorite Food event.

Friday, January 8, 2010

Mixed Berries Jam/Preserves and a Dessert

Posted by RV @ Food for 7 Stages on Friday, January 08, 2010

When life gives you berries, make preserves :) Phew.. I didn't know it was so easy to make jams or preserves at home. The process is fairly simple unless you are planning to do the canning process to preserve them. Even then I wouldn't say it is cumbersome if you can get the canning jars ahead.
To contradict my previous statements, it took almost 3 weeks to make this jam and another 3 weeks to take pics and publish it. Thinking what the hell this girl did for 1008 hours(I had to take the help of calculator get this number..lol). I bought the berries and put it in the freezer for couple of days. Oops, it is not part of the recipe but I was just waiting for the auspicious time to make it (am pretending that I am not lazy...lol..). When I bought Pectin and made the jam, I realized that I almost made 4-5 Kissan bottle size jam(people who do not know what Kissan Jam is please click here), which means I don't have to buy jam for the next 6 months. Wow, but it was not easy to keep them longer. So I had to devise a new strategy to preserve it. This new process required something called canning or preserving jars. Since I didn't even know how it looked, I did a Cut + Paste of the jam from the sauce pan into an airtight container and locked it in the freezer. To my dismay the jars were not available in the local super market and Walmart. A week later, I found them in 24 hrs Walmart in Virginia when our tour bus stopped(We were off to Tennessee & Virginia on a Chinese Bus Tour) and let us do some Thanksgiving shopping. When we got back home, I was terribly tired and since I knew that my Jam was safe in the freezer I further delayed the canning process. But at last, on one fine evening I took the canning jars out and finely did the preserving process. So this explains why I took 3 damn weeks to prepare jam. But when this was over I didn't find any time and energy to click picture or write a post. Hence it took another 3 weeks to get this out of my drafts.

Source: This recipe is inspired from the Sure Jell Pectin box and from various sources on Internet.

Ingredients

[yields 4-5 jam bottles (Medium Smuckers or Kissan jam bottles) ]
Cranberry - 12 oz
Raspberry - 12 oz
Blackberry - 6 oz
Lemon Juice - 1 tsp
Sugar - 5-7 cup
Water - 1/2 cup
Sure Jell Pectin - 1 box

For the Dessert:
Ritz Salt Crackers

How to make it

Crush the berries using a potato masher or a spatula.
In a thick bottomed sauce pan, add 1/2 cup of water, crushed fruit, lemon juice. Stir and let it cook on a medium flame for 20 minutes.

Add sugar (I have added 5 cups, you can add or reduce as per your taste buds) and stir it well. Let it boil for another 10 minutes. (Sure Jell Pectin recomments 8 cups of sugar for 1 box of pectin)

Slowly add pectin while stirring. Mix it well. You can see that the fruit mixture starts coagulating. On a low flame cook for another 5-10 minutes until it gets into a jam consistency.

Canning
The Canning process is really simple. I promise to come back with a step by step procedure to explain this process. Please give me some time to procure another set of jars from the store.

Step 1: Buy Canning/Preserving Jars
Step 2: Boil water in a huge Saucepan, when it just hot enough (should not boil), dip the bottles (without the lid and band) and sterilize them. Remove it immediately and wipe them with clean towel. Ensure that the jars are dry. You can also place the jars in Microwave for 10-15 seconds to dry or warm them. This also prevents the jar from breaking.
Step 3: Using a ladle or spoon fill the jar with jam leaving 1/4 inch of head space and immediately close it with the lid and band.
Step 4: Dip the bottle in the boiling water and let it stay for 10 minutes. Remove the jars and let it stay in a cool place for 24 hrs.
Step 5: After 24 hrs, to confirm if you have the done the canning process perfectly, do this simple test. Press the center of the lid with your finger, if it does not flex up and down you are good to go, but if does flex up and down and you hear the cracking noise of the lid then re do step 4 or put them in the refrigerator.
Step 6: To be on a safer side, I have put the canned jars in my freezer :)

For the Dessert

Take 1/4 t.spoon of RV's Jam and spread it over the Ritz Crackers. Close it with another cracker and your Sweet and Salty Sandwich Cracker is Ready in minutes. I will give 10/10 for this instant dessert I made.