You can make these raw (with a dehydrator) or cooked.  I find that lower temperatures lead to a wetter bar and higher ones to a cakier one.  But the proportion of ingredients changes that up too.  If you do a very thorough blending job you end up with something like a Lara Bar, or you can leave the mix more chunky, which gives it more character.

I started using sunflower seed butter (aka sunbutter) a few months ago and discovered that they give the bars a chocolate-like look, mouth-feel, and even some taste.  Since chocolate is the worst of Miriam’s food intolerances, that’s a really cool find.

Here’s the version of this recipe I used for a submission to the baked goods, bar cookies, competition at the Sonoma County Fair last week.

Recipe:

Sunflower seed butter (sunflower seeds, cane sugar, salt), 16 oz
Raw cashews, 2 cups
Dates, 14 oz
Ginger root, fresh, 2 TB
Cinnamon, 2 tsp
Cardamon, 1 tsp
Vanilla extract (vanilla, organic alcohol), 1 TB
Sea Salt to taste
Water as needed

Don’t worry about the amounts of the main ingredients.  I used full containers so that’s what it came out as.  My sunbutter is from Trader Joe’s.  The dates are pitted deglet noor dates in a pre-packed container from Whole Foods.  You can use any kind as long as they’re fresh (don’t use dried date pieces, the ones that look like elongated pellets).  For the cashews, I just poured them into the empty sunbutter container to measure (and to scoop out residual butter).

As for the flavorings, those amounts are guesses.  I did a lot of add and taste, add and taste again.  I will note though that the batter was spiced beautifully but the bars came out very mild; the spices were in the background.  When I do it again, I’ll double (or triple) the amounts.  If they come out nice and strong I’ll call them gingerbread bars, but I was careful with the naming for the contest because I didn’t want them to be judged that way when they were so mild.

Chop the ginger root and put it in the food processor first.  You want to make sure it’s well processed.  Now add your other ingredients and blend until smooth.  If you want a chunkier bar, take some of the cashews and process them before anything else and turn out to a bowl when they’re at the right consistency.  Do this in as many batches as it takes for the size of your food processor.

Date notes: take the time to feel each one with your fingers before putting it in the processor.  I usually find one pit for every 2 containers or so.  And there are often the little end caps left on.  Just one of these things will spoil your entire batch if left in.

Ingredients in the food processor

Why add water if your goal is to bake or dehydrate out the liquid?  Because food processor motors can only handle so much and it helps the mix come together.  Don’t add too much water or baking will take forever and the bars will be overcooked and thin.  I used perhaps a cup total for this batch, which is more than I usually need but my ingredients may have been dryer than normal.  Just add a small amount at a time, as needed.  Don’t measure because the amount you need will vary based on a lot of factors.

When it’s ready, mix in a bowl if needed, and turn out into a baking pan.  You want the mix to be about 3/4 or 2/3 inches deep.  My pan was enamelled so I did nothing to it but you may want to lightly oil a less smooth pan.

Bar mix ready to go into the oven

I baked at 250*F for about an hour.  I prefer lower temps (150*F) for longer periods of time but of course I waited until evening of the night before the Fair contest to start these.  Check often for burning (if you bake at a higher temp, they are easy to overcook).  At lower temps you may need to flip them part way through to dry out the bottoms.

They came out perfect.  When I use less cashew and bake at a lower temperature I get more a fudge-like bar.  These surprised me by coming out cakey.  In fact, Michael just assumed I used flour.  They tasted like they had flour to me too.  They were still great, even if they weren’t what I expected.

I chose the six best bars for the contest.  The recipe made about 3 times this amount.  Those were good sized bars too.

Finished bars ready for Fair delivery

So…did I win anything?  Nope.  I wasn’t really expecting to.  Aside from a touch of sugar in the sunbutter, the only sweetener was the dates.  These weren’t really dessert bars, they were snack bars.  And if you were a judge tasting cookie after cookie and suddenly came upon a low-sugar one, it would taste flat to you.  I think they were delicious (and so did Miriam and Michael) but they weren’t really right for this contest.

I don’t know where I fell but there were 12 entries in the “bar cookie: other” category and I didn’t get one of the 5 prizes.

County Fair display case

These bars were great for just eating but even better heated up in the toaster oven and served under vanilla ice cream (vegan of course).

©2012 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

Pumpkin pie from Thanksgiving 2007

Because I couldn’t find one perfect recipe, I used the crust from one and the filling from another. Actually, Michael did the work.

Lowcarb notes: we’ve made this pie (filling and crust) with xylitol instead of sugar and it works fine.  Leave out the molasses.

We decided to triple the recipe this year but somehow ended up with 4 pies (and 6 crustless cupcakes we made for a nut-allergic friend).  We used small/medium springform pans.

The crust:

From:
http://www.somethinginseason.com/2007/10/pumpkin-pie-from-scratch-part-1.html
(note: this lovely site has been shut down)

Basic recipe:
2 cups whole pecans (you can substitute walnuts if you like)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg

Michael processing pecans

I used pecans and organic cane sugar and flaxseed goo for the egg (1 tablespoon fine flax meal in 1/4 cup water, nuked for a minute then left to cool). You simply grind it all in the food processor and then press it into the pan. Cover the bottom and an inch or more along the sides with a good thick crust (1/4″ or so).

Crusts ready for filling

The filling:

From: http://www.tazarat.com/results.asp?id=33

Basic recipe:
3/4 lb firm tofu
1 (16 oz) can pumpkin puree or 2 cups fresh-cooked pumpkin
1 cup Sucanat (organic evaporated cane juice/cane sugar) or brown sugar
2 TB oil
2 TB molasses
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp ginger powder or 1.5 tsp fresh grated ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Michael & Miriam measuring pumpkin puree

We used homemade pumpkin puree (from Peterson pumpkins) which I measured into 2 cup bags and froze. For the sugar, we used organic cane sugar. Michael used 4/5 of a cup instead of a full one in 2007 but we forgot in 2008 and used the full amount.  The pies tasted great and weren’t too sweet. The oil was sunflower (also oiled the pan with it). Instead of ginger powder, we used twice as much grated (both fresh and frozen work well) ginger.  In 2008, we couldn’t find nutmeg in the pantry so substituted cardamon (yum…I think we’ll have to do both next year).

Pumpkin pie filling

You just food process and/or mix everything and pour it on the crust. Spread out evenly.

Filling the crusts (picture by Miriam Norwitz)

The directions say to cook for 1 hour at 350*F, until cracks appear.  But this isn’t nearly long enough.  The filling takes 1.5 to 2 hours; unfortunately, the crust starts to burn after you pass 1 to 1.5 hours.  The secret is to turn off the oven after an hour or so, before you get that burnt smell, but leave the pies inside where it is warm.  The filling will continue to set.  If your oven doesn’t hold heat well, leave it on a low temperature (like 200 or 250).

The good news is that overcooking the crust actually tastes good.  People liked it even when it was burnt, though it was better when it was just caramelized.  Just keep an eye on it and you’ll be fine.

Pumpkin pie display

This is a rich pie with plenty of spice, but still a good pumpkin flavor. It is softer than your usual pumpkin pie but part of that is regular pies have a very firm crust that holds the filling (this crust doesn’t do that at all). The texture is good. All in all, it was a success.

I made a cashew cream to go with it. The cream was also a huge hit. It was great on it’s own but even better with the pie. They went together superbly.

Pumpkin pie with cashew cream

Note: Recipe rewritten with new pictures 11/08.

©2012 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

I made the cashew cream to go with a vegan pumpkin pie I took to a Thanksgiving Potluck in 2007 and again in 2008, though it’s delicious on anything sweet.

Recipe:

2 cups raw cashew pieces (I keep them in the freezer)
Juice of one small lemon
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
Dash or two of white stevia powder (or use a another sweetener if you prefer)

Soak the cashews overnight (anything between 4 and 24 hours is fine).

Drain and rinse the nuts and blend them with as much water as they need.  You may need to do this in several batches.

Michael & Miriam blend the cashews

Add the rest of the ingredients.

Keep blending, then stop and use a spatula regularly to get it all. Make sure it is very smooth.  Don’t be afraid to add water, but taste the cream frequently to make sure you aren’t over doing it.  If the blender is strong, the nuts will cream up and absorb the extra liquid.  If not, you’ll have a somewhat gritty cream (which won’t take too much liquid, so be aware) but it will still taste good.

Finished cashew cream

Serve as you would whipped cream.  It will keep in the refrigerator for several days.

Cashew cream over pumpkin pie

Note: Recipe rewritten with new pictures 11/08.

©2012 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

Start with any winter squash: pumpkin, acorn, red kuri, whatever you like.  In these pictures, I used butternut squash.

Cut the raw squash in half lengthwise.  Use a fork to pull out the seeds.  See the gooey stuff in the seed section of the squash?  It’s delicious when cooked so you can just leave it there (except for pumpkins; remove and discard pumpkin goo).

Removing butternut squash seeds

If you want, you can wash the seeds in some fresh water (I rarely bother).  This will give them a cleaner appearance and flavor after being cooked, and will reduce burning.  Be sure to lay them on a clean towel after washing to dry them.

Mix in some oil (I use olive, just enough to coat), something salty (I used tamari), and some flavor (I used cumin, other times I use curry powder or hot pepper).  Stir with the fork.

Spread them out on a cookie sheet (no need to grease it since you put oil with the seeds) and bake until crispy and golden brown.  I put them in with the squash (the temperature can vary between 300 and 450 degrees) but watch them carefully because they’ll be done in 5-20 minutes, depending on the temperature.  They do burn easily.  Be sure they aren’t too soft either; you want them to crunch in your mouth once they’ve cooled down.

Roasted butternut squash seeds

If there are any leftover, store them in a glass jar with a lid on the counter.  They will last for a few days to a couple of weeks.  If they get soft in the jar, just crisp them up in the toaster oven.

©2012 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

My friend used slicing cucs (the kind you put in salad), cut into chunks.  They were delicious but a bit mushy with a thick skin.  I knew I’d want to use pickling cucs, which are thin-skinned, solid, and just the right size for pickles.  I found some at an organic farm stand I passed on my way to an appointment in Santa Rosa.  The farmer insisted I take some heads of dill as well.

I used the making sour pickles recipe from fellow tribe member Sandor Katz, author of Wild Fermentation.  With other veggie ferments, you add salt, massage it in, and let the vegetable juices come out and cover the veggies (adding some salt water if necessary).  But, with whole pickles, you need to make a brine.  With cucumber pickles especially, the salt to water ratio matters.  I used 3 tablespoons salt in 2 quarts/liters of water.

I also added a large head of dill flower, a small handful of peppercorns, and some grape leaves.  Katz (and other sources) say the grape leaves help make the pickles crunchier.  I figured it couldn’t hurt, and I do have a nice grape vine in the back of my property.  Next time though I’ll make extra grape leaves and then use them for stuffed grape leaves since all the commercial ones have preservatives.  If you want garlic, toss in a few peeled cloves.

Seasoning for pickles

Put your dry seasonings in the bottom of the container (use glass or ceramic; plastic works but I can’t recommend it).  You don’t have to sterilize it first but do make sure it’s clean.  Wash the cucumbers, cut out any bad spots, and remove any remaining blossom ends with your fingernail or a knife.  You can keep the stems.  Pack tightly into the container.

Packing pickles

Now, pour in the salt solution, making sure all the cucumbers are covered.  Put a plate or jar or other weight into the container to keep the pickles submerged.  I used a plate with a water-filled jar on top.  Cover the container with a loose fitting lid or towel to keep it clean.

Put the container on your kitchen counter or some other place that’s not too hot or too cold.  Don’t put into your fridge; it won’t ferment.

A plate as a jar weight

Check the pickles every day.  There will be a lot more mold growth than with sauerkraut and other vegetables.  Carefully wipe it away, cleaning the plate/weight as well.  You can dip a cup or ladle into the brine to pull off mold from the top.  The mold is white and isn’t overtly harmful but it will make your pickles mushy and bad tasting.  Don’t worry about traces but try to get most of it.

After 5 days, my pickles were crunchy with a slight tang but were more cucumber than pickle.  At two weeks they were just right.  You should taste now and then to see how you like them.  Some people go a month or more.  It’s not only a matter of taste (do you want sour, half sour, dill, etc?) but the salt concentration and temperature will make a big difference in the fermentation rate.  When they’re done, clean things up one last time and stick the container in the fridge.

Pickles ready for eating

This batch came out pickle perfect.  But my second batch, not so much.  That time I bought organic pickling cucs from the farmer’s market and they had air spaces in the middle.  You just can’t predict this.  The pickles took less time to cure and still tasted fine (though not as flavorful since I didn’t have any dill) and the texture wasn’t bad, but I didn’t get that solid pickle crunch when I bit into them.  I also had a lot more trouble with mold the second time, even after refrigerating.  They’re still edible but I’m not sure what went wrong.  Guess I’ll have to practice some more…next cucumber season.

©2012 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

Start with fresh masa if you can get it.  Reconstituted masa harina if you can’t.

Grab a chunk, roll it into a ball, then flatten by hand into a thick oval tortilla.  Place your hot dog on top, making sure the tortilla is large enough to cover the dog on all sides.

We used a LightLife Tofu Pup.  Not because it’s the best vegetarian hot dog out there (trust me, it’s not) but because it’s the only one I know of that is even halfway like a hotdog but is vegan and gluten-free.  Miriam had been asking for hot dogs and this package was a treat for her.  Feel free to substitute any hot dog or sausage of your choice.

Hot dog placed on top of masa

Now, roll the masa around the dog, seal the edges and crimp the ends.  Pull off any excess masa.

Note: I haven’t tried this on a stick but the time to do it is before you put the hot dog on the masa.  Wrap the masa around the hotdog end of the stick.

Corndog ready for frying

Fry in a hot cast iron pan (or anything else that won’t stick) without any oil.  With tortillas, the pan should be hot enough to sizzle water, but here you want it on the low end of that because the masa is thicker and you want it to cook through without burning the outside.

Cook until browned on all sides.  That means about 6 turns (it’s round, not a square) and don’t forget a few seconds on each of the ends.

Corndog with Catsup

Serve with the condiments of your choice.  For Miriam, that’s catsup.

Miriam adds catsup to her dog

Three years olds often take some time to warm up to new foods, even ones that become their favorites later on.  Not in her case…  “I LOOOVE this!!”

Half eaten corndog

©2012 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

First, I collected 24 hours worth of fallen apples.

Apples in bowls waiting for processing

Next, I cut away the bad parts (nice organic, untreated, apples with some worms, impact bruising, and other spots) and cut the apples into quarters.

Cut apples

Then I trimmed out all the cores and any bad spots I missed.  I like my sauce with skins left on.  They add more depth of flavor, nutrition, and don’t change the texture much.  Plus it saves a ton of time.

Toss some fresh lemon juice in the bowl to reduce browning.

Apples ready for the cook pot

Cook on low heat and stir every few minutes.  After a few minutes, they look like this.  Add a touch of salt to help them fall apart.  If you’re adding sweetener or spices, this is a good time.

A few more minutes and they’ll look like this.  If you want apple butter, cook them even longer.

Apples ready to be made into sauce

Now you can turn them into sauce.

First though, here’s how not to sauce them.

A ricer doesn't work on applesauce

The ricer seemed like a good idea at the time.  But it took a whole lot of pressure just to come up with mostly liquid.  It helped to swap the end-piece for one with bigger holes, but only marginally.  So, off to the food processor we went!

Cyndi putting the cooked apples into the food processor

Don’t overload the food processor.  And just pulse the apples a few times so you don’t over process them.  I like my applesauce chunky but you can go further and make them smoother.

Perfect applesauce

At this point, it’s ready to eat.  I love it chilled.  Our host was planning on using it warmed on pork chops and putting it into recipes.  Because of the latter possibility, we measured it into bags two cups at a time.  Then we labelled and froze them.  I’ve tasted some of the thawed sauce and it’s fabulous.  The taste and texture don’t suffer a bit for being frozen.

Applesauce ready for the freezer

We made two recipes:

Unsweetened Applesauce
Apples
Lemon juice
Salt

Apple Butter
Apples
Lemon juice
Salt
Ginger
Cloves
Cinnamon
Nutmeg

©2012 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

Pupusa stuffed with leftover veggies and burger

I won’t purport to have an authentic version but, so far, I’m doing pretty decently with the tortillas and am still working on fabulous fillings (cheese is easy but not on my diet). Since I can’t have most breads either, these have been like a sandwich substitute for me. I have to go easy because of the carbs, but they make wonderful treats.

You can make pupusas out of any type of masa, even masa harina (flour). But they are truly wonderful with fresh, unpowdered, masa (ground corn soaked in lime–that’s calcium carbonate, not citrus). I’ve been using Primavera’s organic masa. Just don’t try to make pupusas from pre-cooked tortillas. It won’t work.

Start with your fillings. For this recipe, I finely chopped some onions and sauteed them to remove water and add some carmelization. Then I sauteed some mushrooms, added salt to pull out water, and cooked them down.

Cooked onions next to cooking mushrooms

Next, I processed some leftover fresh tomato and basil leaves and added it to the mushrooms.  Then I mixed everything together in a large bowl.

Mushroom/onion filling for pupusas

I also sliced up some bell peppers and sauteed them in oil with some salt and a large amount of hot pepper flakes.

Spicy hot bell peppers

I rolled the masa into balls and pressed them one at a time in-between dinner plates that were inside gallon zipper bags (see my post about making tortillas for technique details).  The tortillas went down on a dry cast iron griddle in a single layer.  Then I put a spoonful of canned beans (not my first choice but no time to make anything else), some of the peppers, and a bit of the onion/mushroom mix.  Another tortilla went on top of each one, and I crimped the edges by hand, with a butter knife, or with a fork.

Cooking pupusas on a grill

Wait until the pupusas have cooked enough to release easily, then flip them.  Press down to make sure the top touches the griddle as much as possible.  You won’t get it all but you do want to avoid raw spots.

Finished pupusas cooling

After they cooled, I wrapped each one in foil and placed into a zipper bag then into the freezer.  I’ll let you all know how well they freeze and reheat.  So far I have heated a refrigerated foil-wrapped pupusa in the toaster oven and it came out great.

Some of my favorite fillings for quickie pupusas have been leftovers.  Use your imagination.

Pupusas stuffed with whole red beans, onions, and leftover tofu

©2012 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

“Using masa harina [masa flour] is like making mashed potatoes from a box.”

So says Karen Waikiki, owner of Primavera, the Sonoma company that makes masa, tortillas, and tamales from organic stoneground corn. And she has a point. Though the tortillas I made from masa harina were way better than the store-bought tortillas I’ve had and were definitely worth making as an alternative to them (a million times cheaper too).

I’ve used Primavera masa before. I got it from the Berkeley Farmer’s Market and froze it because the guy at the booth said I could to preserve it. Karen says no no don’t freeze it. I chronicled my adventures using the defrosted masa when I made tortilla pie. The short version is: they still tasted great and worked in larger applications, but I couldn’t make tortillas that didn’t fall apart.

I’ve been trying to find Primavera masa to try this again with the fresh stuff. But no store carries it. I can find the tortillas and tamales easily enough though. So I called Primavera and Karen called me back. Because the masa is more perishable than the finished products, it’s not currently sold in stores. My choices were to go to Farmer’s Markets in Berkeley, San Francisco (Ferry Building), or Sonoma, or to their shop in Sonoma (the closest but still about 40 mins each way).

Or I could special order it. I decided to have them send a bag to the Petaluma Whole Foods. Karen sweetly offered to comp it for me, since I told her I had blogged about them. I said I wanted to get it regularly so I didn’t mind paying.

I went to Whole Foods and ordered it and, a few days later, they called me to say it was in. And there was a big “no charge” label on it. I went to pick it up that afternoon and oh my God, the shock when I saw the bag.

10 lbs of Primavera Masa

That’s with some already used up. We’re talking 10 lbs of masa. Not the 2 or so lbs I had gotten before. What on earth was I going to do with it?

Well, over the next week I made some pupusas.

Pupusas

I made some tortillas and tortilla pie.

Hand-shaped tortilla pie stuffed with veggie burger and vegetables

And I generally tried to just use it up. But I was barely making a dent. So, finally, I decided to do a giant batch of pupusas. I made 16 of them (that’s 32 tortillas) and was too tired to go on (4 for our tummies and 12 for the freezer). But the bag isn’t empty yet.

Pupusas cooking on the griddle

With all that, the masa is holding up incredibly well. In the beginning, I only used clean spoons to pull out masa, not my hands. So it would last a long time. And it has. It’s been 10 days since I bought it and it’s still fresh.

In the first few days, the masa was like heaven. It rolled out into perfect discs with either a press or my hands. It never stuck to anything. Now it has dried out ever so slightly and the tortillas are starting to stick and crack a bit. I added some water which helped but nothing brings back the super freshness I started with. Even so, it’s amazing stuff. Puts that powdered business to shame.

Next time though, I’m going to specify the small bags.

Foods I’ve made with masa (fresh or flour):

1. Tortillas
2. Omelet stuffed tortilla pie frittata
3. Pupusas
4. Cornbread Challah
5. Corn Dogs

©2012 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

The basic recipe is:

Pureed fruit
Liquid to make them pourable

For this batch, I used frozen strawberries (because that’s what we had) and a banana.  I thinned it with water.  That’s it.  For a lowcarb treat, use lowcarb fruits like berries and melon (not watermelon) and stone fruit (peaches, plums).

My stepmother tells me she made popsicles for me and my brother as kids with orange juice and yoghurt.  Instead of the water I used, you could use cow’s milk, yoghurt, cream, soy milk, rice milk, nut milk, or juice.  Nearly any fruit would work well.  You can also make an ice cream base and freeze that.

Just mix it up and pour it into your molds, setting it up as appropriate.

I have some all metal molds but they’re harder to use and the sticks are not standard and are something you can’t substitute for or replace.  I’m not crazy about using plastic but it’s the easiest to find.

1.5 cups of puree filled 6 of my 8 molds.  Next time I’ll make 2 cups.  If you write down the total amount needed for your molds, it will make it very simple to whip up a new batch.

Let them freeze for several hours.  The stick should be firmly in place.  Dip the mold in very hot water (I used tap) for a few seconds then slide the popsicle out.  This may take a couple dips.

Eat on a blistering hot day for best effects.

©2012 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

Bananas:

I sliced the bananas in half (thirds for longer ones) then lengthwise into 3 or 4 strips, and placed them on the tray.  As close together as possible without overlapping.

They came out smaller but not as tiny as some of the other foods.  I couldn’t get them crispy though, even though I ran them through the dehydrator for several days.  They were leathery and chewy and really delicious.  They were also dried plenty for safe storage.

My first attempt to make them was with banana chips.  The results were similar but arranging all those chips on the tray was a pain, so the strips are easier.

Carrots:

I tried both chips and strips here.

Like with the bananas, I never managed to get them crispy, though they were close. These shrunk up like crazy and some of the chips fell through the grate.  The chips would be good in soup I think.  These were tasty.

Beets:

I’ve made beet chips, with both red and golden beets, many times, and they have come out reasonably well.  I got them crispy and firm and able to be used for eating hummus.  I cut them by hand and dried them in the oven, at 150*F (the lowest I could go).  They work well in a convection oven.  But I had trouble with some burning or over-drying and also with the thickness.

I have been looking forward for a long time to making the chips with a mandolin (which I bought a few months ago) and a dehydrator.  But these were a disappointment.  The chips I made in the past tasted wonderful, but these were bitter.  Maybe it was the beet I used, not the method.  I think the slices were too thin also.  I can set the mandolin thicker, or I can cut by hand.

And I never got them past the leathery stage.  Maybe I’m being impatient, but it did seem that they got to leathery and then stayed there for hour upon hour of additional drying.  The other items were the same.

I’ll keep experimenting though, because I really do love beet chips.

This is one large beet.  It covered two trays.

This is what it it came down to.  You can see the other tray under the top one.  This is about the amount of shrinkage I got from oven drying.

Strawberries and Peaches:

A few apricots made it into the mix too.

Oh wow, these were amazing.  The peaches stayed a bit juicy (but were still storage safe) and all the fruits were chewy and stick-to-your-teeth delicious.  Despite having plenty of the fresh versions around to eat, Miriam is begging me to make more.  “Can you make some more of these chips?…Will you do it right now?”

Happiness is a dried peach.

©2012 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

I just toss some very ripe fruit into the blender. Mostly stuff too soft for the dried fruit I was prepping. Peach, strawberry, banana. And a pinch of salt. I never remove edible skins.

I poured about 1 cup of pureed fruit on to the insert.

I dehydrated it at 115*F, to keep it raw, for many hours.  Not sure but maybe 8-10.

Peeling it away was hard to figure out, but then I cut a strip across and eased around the edges with a butter knife.  After that, it came off rather easily.

It’s really good and chewy and sweet, despite no added sugar.  It’s been storing very well in a plastic bag on the counter.  Next time I think I’ll do 1.5 to 2 cups of puree instead of 1, to make it thicker  Oh, and get more inserts.

©2012 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

Their slushie recipe:

Ice cubes (between 1/3 and 1/2 of the blender)
Fresh watermelon (a cup or so)
Fresh strawberries (a cup of so)
Lime juice (freshly squeezed, maybe 1 lime’s worth)

I’ve made a lot of smoothies, usually with soy milk, but only rarely have made slushies. The difference is the ice. Slushies are very cold and have that wonderful bumpy texture.

My recipe is more intense because 1) I like it that way and 2) I can’t find my ice cube trays. But the diluted (with ice) kind would be better on a very hot day so you could drink more of it.

Soon after the fair, a vendor at the Farmer’s Market had a ton of organic strawberries they were practically giving away. They said they had been rejected from Whole Foods because they were too ripe. Indeed, they were at their peak and wouldn’t have lasted overnight without refrigeration. So we got a whole flat (12 overflowing baskets) for a mere $9. I gave away 2 baskets, put 3 in the fridge, and froze the remaining 7.

I poured the strawberries into a bowl of cold tap water (no chlorine in ours). Then I pulled off the caps by hand and put them on a clean dish towel on a cookie sheet. When they were done (I did this in two batches), I put them back into a fresh bowl of water, swished, and scooped them back on to the towel. Then I poured them off the towel on to the cookie sheet. It’s best if you don’t wash them, but these were a bit older and I felt it was necessary.

I used 2 big cookie sheets. Ideally, you don’t want the strawberries to touch each other, but at least keep them in a single layer. The drier they are, the better. Freeze overnight, then transfer to zipper bags (they will take some prying) or your container of choice and store in the freezer. My 7 baskets made 2 stuffed gallon bags worth.

My slushie recipe:

Fresh melon (leftover from a holiday fruit salad: cantaloupe, honeydew, chopped mint, a touch of salt, and some liquid in the bottom of the bowl, about 1/3 blender full)
Frozen strawberries (about the same quantity as the melon)

It came out really well. We do have watermelon in the fridge, and I liked the watermelon/strawberry blend a lot, but I wanted to use up the melon salad first. I also want to do some with peaches (we have some older ones in the fridge). Lime or lemon juice would be good too.

I love that it is pure fruit. Juice is promoted as a healthy food but it’s just not. It’s stripped of fiber and a lot of the best nutrients. Commercial brands are extremely sweet (even if they don’t add sugar; they either use sweet fruits or add white grape or apple juice), use peeled fruits, are filtered, and are pasteurized. Ick . If you make your own juice, that’s different. though I recommend eating the pulp too (can be in a different recipe) so you get the whole fruit).

For a lower carb slushie, choose berries, melon (not watermelon), or stone fruit, and use ice cubes or water to dilute it some.

These blends would make great popsicles, by the way. Our usual source of strawberries says she puts her unwashed strawberries in the blender (she only removes the caps) and then puts the unadulterated puree into popsicle molds.

Now I have frozen strawberries to use in drinks or slushies all summer long. Slicing them would be easier on my blender (a couple got left whole) but it’s more work and takes more trays for freezing.

Since then, I’ve made slushies every which way. You need something frozen (ice cubes or fruit) mixed with very liquid fruit or firmer fruit with liquid added.

One recent recipe:

Frozen raspberries (a couple cups)
A couple squeeze of lemon
Various leftover fruit (a few slices of mango, half an overripe banana)
Water to make it blend and thin it out

©2012 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

I’ve tried my hand at making them before with varying degrees of success. The secret to the Lara texture is to food process the heck out of them (or to use a blender with some extra water)…save the nuts to add in after. I like them with a bit more texture though, and adding water just means you have to cook/uncook them longer which also changes the texture.

Tip: rough chop the dates with a big knife on the cutting board. The whole (or even half) ones will stick to the food processor blades and make it impossible to do anything.

This time I tried Miriam’s current favorite flavor, banana. The dates weren’t organic, because I found a big thing of them cheap at Costco, but I usually use organic and, now that I’ve got the recipe down, will find the good ones to mail order.

No measurements. I processed the dates in two batches. Here is batch one:

Note the chunky texture. That really made the difference in the bars. I had to add a touch of water to get them going (the amount will vary with the dates). Do be sure to go through every date with your hands before putting in the processor. I found one pit and several little end caps in the dates I used.

In batch number two, I added the banana (2 of them) and cinnamon powder. So I didn’t need to add water. This I processed smooth.

After removing them, I put in the nuts. I was going to use pecans but they weren’t good so I used the only nuts I had, which were walnuts. Process into small chunks. Then mix everything together.

Put into a pan. This batch is thick enough that even choosing a pan that was too big didn’t hurt anything. Aim for 1/2 to 2/3″ thick. No need to grease the pan.

Technically, these aren’t raw, despite the tag, but they can be made raw. If I had a dehydrator, I would use it. But I don’t, so I just set the oven to the lowest setting, 150*F. They only took a couple of hours for the main drying. When you can do so easily, cut into large pieces and flip them over. After another hour or so, cut into smaller bars and prop up.

The total amount of time will depend on how much water was in your ingredients and added, the temperature of your oven or dehydrator, air flow, your pan, and various other factors. I was cooking other things so just left the oven on for a while through-out the day, and finished them off the next day.

What you want is something soft enough to cut and bite into easily but dry enough that it’s no longer sticky. In theory these should be safe to leave out covered at room temperature but I store them in the fridge. They are best when back at room temperature or warm from the oven.

©2012 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

I can tell you straight out that I used the wrong kind of turnip. What I had was ordinary purple top, but the ones at the restaurant were a different variety (the waitstaff didn’t know which). I also didn’t get the seasonings right.

The recipe for this or any other fermented vegetable is very easy. Wash and cut your vegetable(s). I used turnips and some dried chile peppers I removed the seeds from and broke up with my hands. Put in a bowl with some salt (I used kosher, to taste). Knead it all a bit so the juices release, or just let it sit.

Next, pack the veggies tightly into a clean glass jar or other container. Pour the juice into the jar. Put a weight into the jar to keep the veggies submerged (I used a clean soy sauce jar with water in it). Cover the whole thing with a towel and check it the next day. If there isn’t enough liquid, add some salt water.

Kim Chee, Red Onions, and Turnips
The pan of soapy water is to keep out ants

Then let it sit for a week, two, three, or as long as you like. If there is mold, just wipe/spoon it away and clean the weight too. When you are ready to decant, work carefully so that you keep any mold on top where it is easy to get rid of it. This batch had plenty on top but I spooned it out then poured the top bit of liquid in the sink. Don’t be afraid of mold; there is so much good bacteria in the mix that the mold isn’t going to hurt you, it just can add an off taste.

Now you’re ready to eat. This picture is of the kim chee I made (on left) and the turnip pickles (on right). I tried the turnip pickles after a week of fermenting and they had very little flavor and were quite boring. I finally decanted them after 6 weeks. The flavor is good (though not at all spicy) but the texture is too soft. They’re still quite edible but nothing like the restaurant pickles. Now I have an excuse to make more.

©2012 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.