Honey Dijon Mustard Chicken

We do eat a lot of chicken in this house, but since fish is so often tainted with mercury and red meat isn't something we want to have very often, we end up eating lots of fowl, and a bit of pork. This recipe could be adapted easily for any fowl, but there's just something about honey mustard chicken that works. This is a really simple recipe, prepped in a flash, and done in an hour with little effort.

A note about mustard! You will notice that most store bought dijon mustard - even the organic stuff - has an ingredient list something along the lines of: "Mustard seed, vinegar, water, salt, spices." The problem with "spices" is you don't know what they are. Are they garlic? Are they turmeric? Are they onions? So, please be careful and make sure you get a brand that doesn't say "spices", but that says what the spices specifically are. For example Annie's makes a great brand of organic dijon mustard. Note the regular Annie's mustard *does* contain cumin. The dijon, however, does not. It's important to notice stuff like "spices" on an ingredient list and to find something that is more specific, so you're not giving yourself an unwarranted load of coriander or turmeric. Deli brands like this one are a bit more expensive, but also tend to be much purer and specify ingredients.

Preheat oven to 400 F for dark meat, 350 F for white meat.

3 lbs boneless chicken pieces
1/2 Cup dijon mustard (see above note)
1/4 Cup organic raw honey
1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar (or white wine vinegar will work if you tolerate it)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt

Lightly oil a 9x13" glass baking pan. Place chicken pieces (we use thighs a lot because dark meat supports the sulfur pathways) in the prepared dish and set aside to prepare sauce. Whisk together dijon mustard, honey, vinegar and salt until well mixed. Slowly drizzle in the olive while whisking quickly to emulsify the oil into the sauce. Then pour the sauce over the chicken and turn the chicken over to coat both sides. Cover the dish with foil and place it in the oven for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, remove the foil and again turn the chicken over. Allow the chicken to cook for another 40 minutes, or until done. Let it sit for 5 minutes out of the oven before serving.

This dish is wonderful with baked sweet potatoes, which you can place in the same oven as the meat about 20 minutes in (unless you have really big potatoes, then start them at the same time as the chicken) and cook until done. Make sure you poke holes in the skins of your potatoes before you cook them. Serve on a thick bed of romaine lettuce, and the mustard sauce will make a lovely dressing.

Cheers!
~Miriam

© 2012, Miriam Mason

Coconut Milk Vanilla Pudding

A nice simple dessert. You can reduce the sugar, if you prefer less sweet, to 1/4 Cup and it will still taste lovely.

2 Cups carton unsweetened coconut milk
1/2 Cup sugar (we always use organic evaporated cane juice)
3 Tablespoon corn starch, -or- 2-1/2 T Arrowroot starch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon butter

Begin with no heat. Whisk together sugar, starch and salt in a heavy bottomed sauce pan. Add in cold coconut milk and whisk again until all the lumps disappear. Once it is smooth, turn the heat on to medium and stir constantly until thickened. Do not boil! Once the mixture is thick, remove from heat and add in the butter and vanilla.

Pour into serving dishes and chill before serving.

Note: This recipe is superb as a base for yummy additions. Suggestions for things to add: cardamom, raisins, frozen raspberries dipped in sugar, bananas, ground pistachios (or other nuts), caramel, cooked fruit, rosewater, tangerine slices, use your imagination! :)

Cheers!
~Miriam

© 2012, Miriam Mason

Store Bought Ice Cream - Note from Andy Cutler

Have you tried the store-bought ice creams lately, even the ones that are technically non-dairy and found yourself feeling kinda funky as a result?

Turns out there's a really good reason for that! Andy wrote to me to point this out. His comments about store bought ice cream are pasted below so we can all benefit:

"Please note that most or all coconut milk and rice milk 'ice cream' uses soy protein as the emulsifier, and this has LOTS of sulfur in it and does not render the resulting material 'low sulfur!' Someone sensitive has to try each brand - and maybe suffer a lot - to figure it out, or just don't use ones with 'soy protein' anywhere on the list.

Soy lecithin on the other hand is fine.

Andy Cutler"

Thank you for that bit, Andy.

I rarely buy any ice cream at the store, because (funnily enough) they made me feel icky after eating them. So I make all my own. :) They are super easy with canned (preservative/thickener-free) coconut milk and herbs, spices, fruits and extracts. For a thicker mix, cook in a little bit of starch (potato, arrowroot, tapioca or corn) to your mix (no more than about 2 tablespoons tops, or the ice cream will taste a bit starchy). Homemade coconut milk ice cream tends to be harder and just needs to sit out for 5-10 minutes before you eat it.

Here are my recipes so far for homemade low sulfur coconut milk ice cream:

Basil ice cream (with a note about making green tea ice cream)
Butter pecan ice cream
Quick 5 Minute Banana Ice Cream (no coconut milk for this)

Vanilla is very easy, as would be any fruit addition to a vanilla. I will post more recipes as I get time, but if you have a craving and want me to invent an ice cream flavor/idea just for you, please post it in the comments below and I will try to make that happen for you and post it in this blog. :)

Bear in mind, we can't eat chocolate *or* carob, or have any mocha or coffee flavors in there due to their high sulfur content. But amaretto, or mango, or strawberry? Let me know?

Cheers!
~Miriam

Baklava - Totally (Link)

This one is just a really really really good link for baklava. Make sure you read that first comment below the recipe for some great time-saving (and soggy avoiding) tips on the original recipe.

Also make sure the phyllo dough you use checks out against the high sulfur list. I've not had any trouble with phyllo at all.

This did not last long at out house!

Baklava - AllRecipes

Cheers!
~Miriam

Vegan Apple Cider Caramel sauce (Link)

This recipe is so unusual and most caramel has dairy in it, while this doesn't. There's something about the tang of the apple cider vinegar that tastes SO good over coconut milk ice cream with bananas and walnut, or on apple slices dipped in oat granola or pecans. It makes a superlative coconut milk vanilla pudding addition and is terrific on pies or grunts (cobblers).

Check out those pictures. Does it not make you hungry?

Happy Healthy Life Vegan Apple Cider Caramel sauce

Obviously, replace any peanuts with other nuts or a simple granola, and only use coconut milk ice creams. :)

Cheers!
~Miriam

Waffles (Link/Replacement)

What? What's that you said? You want waffles that actually work really well in a waffle iron (or an affle wiron, as recently it has been called)? Yeah? Me too! I love waffles. I love making lots of extra waffles so I can freeze some to toast later on in the week when I get a waffle craving. And then I have my Vanilla Nutella on them. So I always at least double this recipe.

Here's the egg-free waffle recipe from Mr. Breakfast.

Replacements:

Replace the all-pupose flour with something whole grain and healthy for you

Replace the cool water with cool coconut milk.

And as one of the comments suggests, let the waffle cook an extra minute to acheive the same doneness as a waffle with eggs.

Truly and utterly delicious. And so simple, too! Thank you for bringing waffles back into our lives, Mr. Breakfast. :)

Cheers!
~Miriam

Helfer's Deep Butter Cake (Link/Revisions)

Can you tell I enjoy desserts a lot? :) This isn't one of those things I'd made often, actually just once. And it was beyond decadent and I felt completely indulgent and delighted and horrified all at the same time. It was goooood. This recipe is lifted from the wonderful Helfer's Pastries and Deli Cafe deep butter cake, and revised for a low sulfur diet. The artificial butter flavor is at once bizarre and really enhances the cake. So, this isn't a "let's do it all the time" thing. At least for me. :D

Let's Eat Recipe Card
Deep Butter Cake (Helfer's)
Helfer's Pastries and Deli Cafe

Yield: 8 to 9 servings

Revisions:

For crumb mixture:
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon butter flavoring (see note)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour

For batter:
11/3 cups granulated sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 T EnerG egg replacer
2/3 cup coconut milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon butter flavoring
1-3/4 cups cake flour

Powdered sugar, for garnish

1. Prepare the crumb mixture. In a small mixer bowl, beat together 1/4 cup sugar and 1/4 cup butter until fluffy. Add 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon vanilla, 1/4 teaspoon butter flavoring and all-purpose flour; beat at low speed just until crumbly. Cover and refrigerate.

2. Prepare the batter. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour an 8-inch-square baking pan.

3. Combine 1 1/3 cups sugar, 1 cup butter and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a large mixer bowl; beat on high speed for 2 to 3 minutes or until fluffy. Add energy egg replacer; beat on high speed 2 to 3 minutes or until light.

4. Combine milk, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and 1/2 teaspoon butter flavoring. Alternately add cake flour and coconut milk mixture to batter, starting and ending with flour. Beat on low speed, scraping sides of bowl, until well mixed.

5. Sprinkle crumb mixture evenly in prepared pan. Spread batter over crumb mixture. Bake 50 to 60 minutes or until top is deep golden brown and cake tests done in the center with a wooden pick. Cool 5 minutes.

6. Place a flat plate or cake board on top of the pan. Hold the pan and plate together securely; turn over. Carefully remove the pan. (The crumb side is now the top of the cake.) Dust with powdered sugar.

Note: Butter flavoring is sold with the extracts in supermarkets. Its flavor is essential to the success of this recipe.


Cheers!
~Miriam