I wish I had a more sophisticated palate, sadly, I don’t think my palate developed beyond that of a ten-year-old’s.
I wish I was more open to all the wonderful varied food out there, yet there are so many things I just can’t bring myself to like – such is the plight of the picky eater.
I was at a fancy restaurant recently where everyone was excited to try roasted bone marrow, everyone but me, “I’m a vegetarian” I said – I’m beginning to hate that label, it feels limiting.
“That’s ok,” says the waiter, “We’ll find you something equally special.”
I ended up with an un-special plate of pasta with tomato sauce, and watched my dining companions literally moan with pleasure at every bite.
I should be eating that! I thought to myself, my people were sucking marrow from bones centuries before Fergus Henderson put roast bone marrow on the culinary map.

For over a decade I wouldn’t eat soup because my family kept reminding me that I hated soup as a child.
And then one day I was stuck in a cabin and all we had was minestrone, I didn’t want to seem irrational so I ate it. I realised then that maybe I didn’t hate soup after all, and now I can’t imagine why anyone would hate soup, especially with so many kinds out there.
Soups aren’t only heart-warming and nourishing; soups warm and nurture the soul.
Soups are healing, uplifting and comforting, there nothing more satisfying than a warm bowl of homemade soup on a cold dreary day, or when sick or feeling a little down.
I wish I made soup often – especially around this time of year when every day feels like a soup day; did you know that January was national soup month in the US?
I’ve been collecting soup recipes and working my way through them this winter…
I knew I was going to love this soup the minute I saw the ingredients; carrots, coconut milk, ginger and curry powder.

Prep and cook time for this easy recipe is 30 – 40 minutes and serves about 6 – 8

This is by far one of the best meals I’ve ever made; the thing about this soup is that, it’s not just good… it’s really, really good. It‘s spicy, creamy, and savoury with a hint of sweetness from the carrots.
It’s also soothing, the week I made this, I had a bowl every night at dinner and could just feel my worries slip away with every spoon – it’s restorative.

 

I’ve had ice cream on my mind these past few days, I know it’s a strange time to want ice cream; it’s rainy and cold.
I made coconut milk ice cream all summer long, I’ve decided ice cream is good all year round so I’m going to keep at it.

I’ve been making this coconut milk ice cream for several years now, it’s why I started buying canned coconut milk, and now I’ve found so many other uses for it – from baking to whipped cream. I have a few too many cans of coconut milk in my pantry, and this weekend we’re making ice cream!

This recipe has evolved, and I suspect it will continue to; lately I’ve been adding a arrowroot powder to the mix and I do get great creamy results.

I quite like it; a comforting bowl of ice cream on a cold rainy day.
It’s no bowl of soup but this works too!
I try to keep a variety of toppings on hand; toasted coconuts flakes, nuts, sprinkles and sauces… mango, chocolate, strawberry…

I held off my decision to go diary-free for several months because I love ice-cream so much!

I couldn’t imagine life without that luscious delicious treat. When I was younger, my ‘aunt J.’ used to say that ice-cream was the only reason to get out of bed in the morning, and of course, sex was the only reason to go to bed at night. I thought she was so glamorous then and wanted to be just like her when I grew up.

Even though I’ve discovered a few other reasons more to get out of bed in the morning, my passion for ice-cream somewhat parallels aunt J’s. This is why I reconsidered my decision to go dairy-free several times.

I eventually went diary-free and gave up ice-cream momentarily while I searched for alternatives. Soy was out of the question because I don’t do soy. I discovered coconut milk ice-cream a few months ago when the Purely Decadent put out a Coconut Milk Ice-Cream, everything I’d seen before then had some sort of soy product in it, this was the first dairy free, soy free ice cream product I’d seen.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t available in Canada, so I tried it on one of my trips down south and I loved it!

Then there’s Luna & Larry’s Coconut Bliss which I’ve heard tastes even better, but then again it’s not available in Canada.

My local Whole Foods soon started carrying Purely Decadent Coconut Milk Ice Cream and I was elated, I bought them regularly for a few weeks but that quickly weaned – it costs $6.99CAD a pint; not exactly cheap.

This was when I started looking into making my own coconut milk ice cream; I searched around the internet and found a perfect and simple recipe and modified it as thus:

• 2 cans of coconut milk
• 1 medium sized banana
• 3 – 4 tablespoons of honey
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• A pinch of salt

I mixed and blended all ingredients in a blender, transferred the mixture into my Cusinart ice cream maker and churned it for about 40mins and then froze it. It came out delicious, rich and creamy.

The only hitch was that I have to leave it out of the freezer for a few minutes to thaw otherwise it’s a little hard. It was actually pretty good for a first try; it has the consistency of soft serve ice cream and it’s delicious.

I’m going to try some adding in different things – this weekend I’m going to do a beet, ginger ice cream but I’ll add in a little bit of arrowroot powder to help with the hardening issue.