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http://www.CollardLovers.com
Country: United States
Language: English
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Joe Boudreaux
12/17/2007 8:59 PM UTC
Hey, Cinnamon, I've found A LOT of very healthy recipes using collards! They can be finely chopped and used in salads. I use them in wraps as Mary and Paul suggested in their book, The Collard Patch. You cut out the heavy stems, wilt them slightly in the microwave (or not), put them on a tortilla, add the other ingredients you wish, and roll it into a wrap. I love them this way! You can get more ideas from their Collards Notebook which you can download from this section. Joe
Mary Cheatham
12/17/2007 7:53 PM UTC
Thank you, Cinnamon, for your great question. Willie Crawford recommends using smoked necks of turkeys instead of fatback or salt meat. Actually collard greens, blackeyed peas, and sweet potatoes are healthy chocies. Our cookbook THE COLLARD PATCH is all about making soul foods very tasty and keeping them healthy. We flavor with onions, chicken broth (homemade that is not too salty), garlic, red pepper,black pepper, etc. We limit the amounts of salt and fats in our food and look for other souces of taste. Here is another hint: in recipes calling for butter (not desserts) substitute olive oil for half the butter.
Cinnamon McCann/FFH
12/12/2007 5:13 PM UTC
Mary, I loooove soul food, but we know that it may not be the health choice. Do you have any ideas as to how to cook soul food healthy without losing the soul and good taste?
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Green living begins with green food -- greens grown in the flower beds. The most nutritious greens in the world, collard greens, are the most delicious. Growing, cooking, and eating collard greens -- everything from appetizers to desserts -- we'll bring you the joy of greens living.
Date / Time: 2/20/2008 2:30 AM UTC
Category: Food
Mary Cheatham and Paul Elliott will share the history of King Cake. They will also share recipes for King Cake and bread pudding.
Original Air Date: 2/20/2008 2:30 AM UTC
Date / Time: 1/21/2008 11:12 PM UTC
Louisiana Bread Pudding was developed by my anonymous cousin. More of her recipes can be found in Flavored with Love, available atAmazon.com and http://www.fwlcookbook.com. Please refer to the blog on January 21, 2008.
Louisiana Bread Pudding
½ cup raisins
6 tablespoons bourbon
Non-stick spray
1 loaf (16 ounces) French bread
1 stick unsalted butter (not margarine)
4 eggs
1 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
3 cups low-fat milk
1 cup fat free Half & Half®
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Shake of nutmeg
1½ cups pecan halves
Soak the raisins in the whiskey an hour and drain. Spray a 9 X 13" glass cooking pan with non-stick spray. Cube the French bread and place a layer of it in the pan. Melt the butter and drizzle half of it over the bread cubes.
In the blender beat the Half & Half®, eggs, sugar, and milk together. Stir in the vanilla extract. Pour half the liquid over bread cubes. Evenly spread the raisins over the bread cubes. Add the remaining bread cubes in a layer and drizzle them with the remaining butter. Sprinkle a hint of nutmeg evenly over the breadcrumbs. Add the remaining liquid and mash the bread down.
Wait 30 minutes for the bread to absorb the liquid; cook it on the top rack of the oven for 15 minutes. Arrange the pecan halves over the top of the pudding and continue to cook until lightly browned and bubbly. Serve warm with warm sauce.
Caramel-Rum Sauce
2½ cups packed light brown sugar
1 stick butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ cup fat free Half & Half®
¼ cup gold rum
Combine the sugar, butter, and cinnamon in a heavy pan and simmer on very low heat to dissolve the sugar. Add the rum and continue to cook on very low heat with constant stirring until the mixture is smooth. Pour the mixture into a blender and set the blender on beat. Slowly add the Half & Half®. Continue to beat in the blender until the sauce is thoroughly mixed. Warm the sauce; serve warm over the bread pudding.
Notes
The sauce may be prepared in advance and heated carefully before serving.
Immediately before serving, you may top the pudding with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream.
Date / Time: 1/21/2008 10:54 PM UTC
Please refer to our blog on January 21, 2008. FLAVORED WITH LOVE, available at Amazon.com or at http://www.fwlcookbook.com.
The famous white chocolate bread pudding as it is served at Café des Amis and Grapevine Market and Café:
White Chocolate Bread Pudding
5 pints (10 cups or 2½ quarts) whipping cream
6 cups vanilla white chocolate chips
2 cups milk
2 cups sugar
5 whole eggs
25 egg yolks
About 8-9 loaves stale French bread, cut in ½” slices
Butter the bottom of a stainless steel full size baking pan. Put 1 layer of bread slices in bottom of pan—4 inches across and as many as you can back down in pan lengthwise.
Heat whipping cream, milk, sugar, and white chocolate chips. When chocolate is melted, remove from heat.
Whisk eggs and egg yolks together in a large bowl until smooth. Slowly pour melted mixture into eggs mixture stirring constantly so as to not let eggs curdle. Continue stirring until well blended. Pour half of the mixture over the first layer of bread. Let bread soak up the mixture. Add another layer of bread and pour remaining mixture on top. Use your hands to feel bread to make sure it has soaked up all of the mixture and that the center is not dry in the middle.
Cover with aluminum foil and bake 1 hour at 300º. Remove foil and bake 25 minutes at 250º until top is golden and the center of the bread pudding has risen. Top with white chocolate sauce listed next:
White Chocolate Sauce
6 ounces whipping cream
16 ounces white chocolate chips
Melt white chocolate chips in double boiler or microwave until liquid. Mix in whipping cream until creamy and smooth. Spoon over bread pudding and garnish with chocolate shavings.
1 full pan = 24 pieces; portion size: one 2 X 2” square
Café des Amis and Grapevine Market and Café
Date / Time: 1/21/2008 10:29 PM UTC
Throughout Carnival season, which is January 6 until the midnight of Mardi Gras, bakeries and grocery stores throughout Louisiana and other parts of the United States offer various flavors of King Cakes, also known as Twelfth Night Cakes or gateaux de roi. Although it is easy to go to the bakery, cooking your own king cake is easy too. Taffy Chenille’s own private recipe for King Cake recipe is rich, but shouldn’t it be?
King Cake
More than 6 cups flour (not self-rising)
¾ cup and 6 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 packages Fleischmann’s Rapid Rise Yeast® (¼ ounces each)
(You could probably use 2 packages, but since it comes in groups of 3 and since I don’t use it very often, I go ahead and use all 3.)
¾ cup milk
1 pound unsalted butter (almost)
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
1 tiny baby doll (A dry bean, pecan half, or gold ring with huge stones securely set—the real ones, Dahling—may be used.
8 ounces cream cheese
½ cup pineapple preserves
½ cup Karo® light corn syrup (approximately)
Purple, green, and gold food color
Decorative candies
Place 4 cups of the flour into a very large bowl. Add ¾ cup sugar minus 3 teaspoons and the salt. Stir the dry ingredients together.
Warm the milk but do not allow it to be warmer than what is comfortable to touch. In other words, it should be tepid. Add 3 teaspoons of the sugar. Stir the yeast into the water to dissolve it.
Melt 3 sticks of butter. Don’t overheat it. In fact, don’t completely melt it. Heat it until it is soft.
By now the yeast is bubbling to the top of the cup. Pour the liquids into the dry ingredients and stir. The result will be a bowl of dough with an irresistible smell.
Allow the mix to rise in a warm place 30 minutes.
Beat 5 eggs with a whisk. Add the almond extract, vanilla extract, and nutmeg. Mash down the sponge of dough and add the egg mixture. This part looks yucky, but it is fun to mix.
Stir hard. Work in another cup of flour.
Continue to stir. Don’t taste this batter with all those raw eggs and yeast. Take my word for it. This stuff is delicious. The raw eggs could poison you, and the raw yeast could bubble in your belly.
Pour a thick coating—a generous amount—of flour onto your biggest board. Turn the sponge onto the floured board. Be careful not to spill it off the sides of the board.
Kneading is one of the most pleasurable experiences of cooking. With all that butter in the mix, you will find the dough easy to manage. Work enough flour into the ball of dough to make it firm enough to knead. To knead the batter, mash it flat approximately 1” thick and fold it over. Repeat and repeat. Each time you will work a small amount of flour into the mix. Knead, for about 10 minutes until the sponge is shiny.
Wash and butter the bowl. Use ½ stick of softened butter. Return the sponge to the bowl. Cover the sponge with a damp cloth and allow it to rise in a warm place until doubled in size again.
At this point, if you need to go eat, I strongly recommend the Grapevine in Donaldsonville, LA. The dough can be refrigerated for several hours.
When you and the dough are ready, turn it onto a floured board. Knead it enough to remove the air bubbles and press it into a flat shape about 1” thick. Using a pastry knife cut it into 1” strips. Shape into an oval shaped ring on a well-greased cookie sheet. Twist 2 ropes together to make the ring. Imbed the baby doll into the dough and forget where you put it. (Or if you prefer, wait until you have cooked the cake and tuck the baby doll inside from underneath.)
Soften the cream cheese and add the pineapple preserves to it, but do not mix them thoroughly. Place dollops of sour cream and pineapple between the 2 ropes of batter, and pull the batter over the mixture.
Beat the remaining egg and brush the cake with the mix. Sprinkle cinnamon over the top. Let it rise to double size one more time Bake at 325° in a preheated oven approximately 20 minutes. After working this hard, don’t go off and play with your computer. You don’t want to overcook it.
While the cake is cooking, work on the colored sugar. Place 2 tablespoons sugar in a small glass bowl. Add 2-4 drops green food coloring and stir until it is thoroughly mixed. Add more color if needed. Repeat the process for the yellow food coloring. It may be necessary to add more color to achieve a rich golden color. If you have purple food coloring, repeat the procedure. Otherwise, you will need to color 2 tablespoons of sugar red and add enough blue to make it purple.
Remove the cake from the oven. While the cake is still warm, brush the top with enough corn syrup to cover it. Sprinkle with colored sugar. Try to make the cake resemble a jeweled crown. A typical design is to color a third of the cake each color.
Date / Time: 12/23/2007 2:47 AM UTC
Dr. Carole Elliott’s Warm Fruitcake Pudding
Mix a box of cook-and-serve vanilla pudding mix (4-serving size) with 2 cups milk.
Crumble a layer of remaining fruitcake (if you have not eaten it all by now) into a 9-inch square baking pan, which has been sprayed with cooking spray.
Pour the pudding over the crumbled cake.
Bake the mixture at 350° until the pudding sets—approximately 30 minutes.
Serve warm.
Dr. Carole Elliott’s Cool Fruitcake Pudding
Prepare a box of vanilla pudding (instant or cook-and-serve) according to the package directions.
Pour half the mixture into a pie plate.
Crumble a layer of fruitcake over the pudding.
Spread the remaining pudding over the fruitcake.
Refrigerate until time to serve.
Carole Elliott, M.D., is the deceased wife of Paul Elliott, M.D.
Paul’s Note about the Fruitcakes
We were receiving more fruitcakes than we could eat. They were delicious, but we were not up to the task. Carole devised 2 methods of varying the taste and texture.
Date / Time: 12/23/2007 2:23 AM UTC
In our programs we often mention recipes. This wonderful fruticake was developed by the mother of my sister-in-law, Carole Gregg. Dorothy Williams' white fruitcake is a treat like no other. People who do not usually like fruitcake love this one. This recipe, along with several of Carole's other favorites, can be found in Flavored with Love. See www.FWLCookbook.com
7 eggs (Save 1 egg for the wash)
6 sticks margarine (not butter)
1 pound pecans (or 3 cups)
1 pound candied cherries
1 pound candied pineapple
4 cups plain White Lily® or other brand flour (Save ½ cup for coating the nuts and fruit.)
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup whiskey (such as Jack Daniel’s® or Seagram’s V.O.®) (Save ½ cup for soaking the cooked cake.)
½ cup apricot preserves
Cream the sugar, 6 eggs, and margarine. (Save 1 egg for the wash.) Add only 1 egg at a time. Remember not to use butter, because it is too heavy for the cake}
Use ½ cup of the flour to coat the nuts and fruit or they will sink to the bottom of the mix.
Mix the remaining flour and baking powder together.
Add the flour and baking powder mix to the creamed sugar eggs and margarine slowly. It will be necessary to mix this big cake with a large strong spoon and your hands.
When mixed, add ½ cup whiskey and vanilla.
Then add the floured candied fruit and pecans.
Transfer the batter to a well-greased and floured tube pan with a bottom that slides out.
Optional: Brush the top of the cake with a wash of 1 beaten egg and ½ cup apricot preserves. (The top of the cake will shine like it has been polished.)
Cook at 330º for 2 hours. Remember your oven temperature varies. It may help to buy an oven temperature gauge.
After cooling the cake on a rack and removing it from the pan, drizzle whiskey over the top of the cake. Don’t use too much. Be careful not to add more than ½ cup.
Original Air Date: 12/22/2007 3:00 PM UTC
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