worth1 wrote: ↑Sat Apr 08, 2023 7:29 pm I have a baked potato experiment going on.
Might possibly be the first time in the history of the human race.
But not likely.

Bower wrote: ↑Sun Apr 09, 2023 8:34 am What is it about potato skins, @worth1 . I just love them... maybe favorite food ever!

Bower wrote: ↑Sun Apr 09, 2023 8:32 am It commonly happens that when Easter rolls around, I find myself thinking about all the chocolate other folks are eating, while I resisted the temptation to hook myself a bunny off the shelf.
My Mom has also been talking about treats non stop for the past week, so I figured she needed some. I had been looking into recipes that would give her a little iron and protein boost, so I made a couple of things and then compared them for protein/iron content - they all came out at about 1 mg iron per serving and 3-4 g of protein. Not quite as good as the date crumbles I made her a couple of weeks ago, which had a little more iron but a little less protein - there's not much in oats. All of these recipes are made with light olive oil instead of butter or saturated fat, which makes them heart healthy compared to anything you'd pick up in the store. There is some saturated fat of course in the eggs and coconut and so on, but it's all about guilt reduction, right?
The apricot squares I used a full cup of ground almonds for protein boost with 1 unsweetened coconut and 2 flour plus an egg, oil and sugar in the crumbs. Apricot is iron rich too. It took longer than I expected to cook down the dried apricots and I wasn't too thrilled with my first taste of these, finding them dry, but after they were packed up for a day the balance of flavors and texture is really pretty pleasing and sweetness just right.
The fudgy brownies are iron rich for the amount of cocoa and protein rich for the six eggs, still a solid 3X the brown sugar in any other recipe and more oil to boot, there are a lot of calories for your mg of iron LOL but they are so good, really rich without tasting overly sweet go figure.
Cranberry muffin, used a different recipe this time but again using the superfine besan flour to boost protein and iron. It made a much thicker batter, I think they were a bit overbaked as well, so I'm not done with developing this recipe as yet. We are thankful for the brown sugar/lemon juice glaze which as mom said, you could pour over a rock and it would be fit to eat.
Anyway I'm happy to have treats on hand for a change, instead of regretting my own fortitude to resist the commercial temptations..
eastertreats-890.JPG

Bower wrote: ↑Sun Apr 09, 2023 7:01 pm @Danny I hope you have antibiotics for that. Pneumonia is bad stuff.
Lemon, garlic and egg in broth is my go to sick day soup. Green onions, bit of parsley. Noodles and yoghurt. Very similar to what you've been having. Crack an egg into the broth and stir it up, it is so easy for the body to get protein from egg, it will always help. You must win!!!!

Apricot Squares:

Filling: 2 cups of dried apricots chopped; cover with a cup of water and 2 tbsp lemon juice, add 1/2 cup sugar and bring to a boil; simmer 1/2 hour and mash to make a smooth filling when cool.
*This filling step took longer than I expected as the apricots were slow to soften. In future I would soak them first, and make the filling a day ahead.

Crumbs: Cream together 1 cup brown sugar, 1 egg, 1 tsp vanilla, 3/4 cup light olive oil
Stir in 2 cups unbleached flour, then 1 cup unsweetened coconut and 1 cup ground whole almonds

Press about 2/3 of the crumbs into a lined 9X13 pan for the bottom layer.
Spread with apricot filling, then sprinkle the remaining crumbs on top.

Bake in 350F preheated oven for 35 minutes. Cool completely then cut into 24 squares.

(2C apricot: 10.8 g protein; 8.6 mg iron) (egg 6.3 g protein; 0.9 mg iron)
(2 cups flour - 32 g protein; 10 mg iron) (1 cup ground almonds - 20.1 g protein 3.5 mg iron)
Total protein 69.2 g; iron 23 mg = 2.9 g protein and 0.95 mg iron per serving

Sue_CT wrote: ↑Mon Apr 10, 2023 8:51 pm I bake my meatballs before adding them to the sauce too. I use a leaner hamburg but add ground pork and/or veal which adds more fat, too, and a penade usually. Might be spaghetti in my future now that you mention it.

karstopography wrote: ↑Mon Apr 10, 2023 8:31 pm Spaghetti and meatballs with marinara sauce. Mix of various frozen 2022 garden tomatoes thawed for the sauce. I pour off some of the clear tomato water that comes from thawing. I’m down to about 2 sauces worth of frozen tomatoes so I froze about the right amount from 2022.

I never make this the same way twice. Different mix of tomatoes, maybe onions, shallots and/or garlic get used in the sauce and or meatballs. Maybe the meatballs get fresh parsley or it could be fresh basil or spinach. Tonight, it was fresh garden parsley and shallots in the meatballs and garlic and shallots in the sauce. Dried Oregano, marjoram, thyme in the sauce. Meatballs might get Parmigiano Reggiano or pecorino romano. I might put a little red wine into the marinara, tonight it was a splash or two of Westmount Pinot Noir from Oregon. Red pepper flakes in tiny amounts get into the sauce.

The difficulty is remembering what might have been the best combination of ingredients or some specific amounts of this or that, but generally it’s always very good. Meatballs always get baked in the oven until done 25 minutes or so at 375°, then folded into the sauce. I hate greasy tomato sauce. I use grass fed 85/15, the fat drips away onto the parchment paper and stays out of the sauce.