Cookie bars (chocolate)

The actual title is Black Bottom Cookie Bars denoting that the cookie is half chocolate and half plain. Not a big cookie and brownie fan, but other household members are.

Cocoa, vanilla, sugars, coconut oil,eggs, chopped chocolate, flour/salt mixture. 8 inch by 8 inch pan is prepped with baking paper.

A substitute for the butter is coconut oil, which due the current weather had to measured and refrigerated to a solid consistency. (lower left)

 

I also did not have bits, so I had to go to the reserves

 

Blend coconut oil and sugars. Whisk attachment.

Once mixed, add flour gradually.

Finish adding the flour, mix till just moistened.

 

Divide the dough in half, weighed it out but note: the chocolate 1/2 should be a bit less than half because the chocolate bits will take up some volume. (just being picky)

Mix in the cocoa and bits to 1/2 of the plain dough mixture

Spread the chocolate dough, then the plain dough in the pan. Happily

Off to the oven

In the convection oven , still warm weather so no running the gas oven for now.

Chillin out till cool !

cooled finished bars, some of the chips still oozy.

I could have probably left out the chocolate chips, deep chocolate flavor. No comment from the the brownie expert so all is good. I just have about 1/2 of one of the squares, enough for me. Would be good tempered with vanilla ice cream.

cooking with coconut milk (chicken)

One of the ingredients I’ve been slowly  incorporating into recipes is coconut milk. From Thai grilled shrimp to this,  it uses some similar elements for a different take on chicken. As the story goes there are probably more ways to cook chicken than anything else.

First step, thawing out and thin slicing some boneless chicken breast, many in the freezer at this time.

Thin cut chicken breast

chicken fillets with spice paste

Next using Thai spice paste, rub the chicken and stack the fillets, let stand for about an hour, I find that this is a quick acting spice paste so a meal can be prepared with a shorter lead time than an overnight marinate.

ground hot pepper, allspice,cloves, cassia bark star anise,celery seed, fenugreek, ginger and turmeric in center.

Free hand a spice pallet, here cinnamon, fenugreek, allspice, peppercorns, ground hot smoked pepper, whole peppercorns and the like. One of my attempts at assembling a combination. Researching some recipes revels that the ingredients are often dictated by what was locally grown and available at the time even depending on the weather and harvest conditions and may be influenced by religion. I opened the spice closet.

 

toasting or sputtering the whole spices

Heat a small amount of oil and flash or sputter the spices quickly, add the sliced onions ,sliced lemongrass and a bit of water to prevent burning.

quickly add the slice onion and lemongrass.

Cook the onion and spice mixture several minutes , add water along the way if necessary till translucent. remove to a plate.

pan fry quickly the chicken breast till just done

Yes the breast are huge!  This was slicing from only one piece.  When all are browned, return to the pan.

Add the coconut milk, grated turmeric and ginger and several tomatoes along with the previously cooked onions and lemon grass.

Mix slightly, cover and simmer till heated through. Taste and adjust spices. I was surprised ! The coconut milk evened out all the spices, taste was more than I expected even a bit of heat with the sweetness of the coconut milk.

plated it up with rice and cool cucumbers.

The chicken was fork tender, not overcooked. A pleasant alternative to conventional chicken gravy,  a lighter sweeter taste.

 

Garden update

The hot weather has receded, cooler temperatures albeit humid,  scattered showers prevail. One single tomato stalk remains of the hydroponic DWC , a caterpillar munching on the last green tomatoes, as soon as this is done I will move on to most likely growing greens that will last during the fall.

The soil based tomato plant still thrives providing us with almost a daily supply.

A friend has been hanging around for a while, sharing some tomatoes with him.

Interior of the tomato stem

chicken and mushroom dumplings

quickly made and frozen, good for soup or sauce.

• diced sautéed mushroom
• diced cooked chicken (preferable from chicken carcass)
• salt and pepper
• grated turmeric and ginger
• shredded lettuce.

beech and white mushrooms

added cooked chicken meat from simmered chicken carcass a small grating of ginger, turmeric

ready to go, water for sealing dumplings

I find that some plastic wrap placed over the dumpling maker makes them easy to remove.

trayed for the freezer, didn’t trim the excess wrap.

the cooks sample, boiled, the wrappers are very thin and hold the content well. Deep fried, steamed or pan fried?

shopping

pricing, groceries, shopping

Red braised pork belly

From: An Island Chef

The Online Cookery School

modifications of measurments and ingredients

• About 1 lb pork belly
• Water
• 2 and 1/2 tablespoons mead
• 1 and 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 and 1/2 tablespoon rock sugar
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons dark soy sauce
• Star anise pods
• Cassia bark
• Ginger
• Garlic, garlic scapes

Here we go…. Prepped….

Blanch the pork belly, drain and dry

Melt the sugar with oil….

Start braising the pork belly in the syrupy liquid.

You can see the caramelisation and shiny result.

MMMMM…. Have to taste a sample.

Added some garlic scapes in place of the Spring onion.

Plated up, added some sesame seeds, because I add them to a lot of dishes.

Tasty dish, I will try this with chicken wings !

Dark to light lamp

My guess is that anyone who follows recent purchases I’ve made can call me LED guy, LED face, LED boy etc. Rudimentary electronics are one thing , designing lighting is another, neither I do professionally. Any one who tinkers with parts that happen to be on the workbench and assemble them to artwork or designs I take note. Some very  talented persons post their creations on the internet,. Like Bad Dog Designs , Robotart etc. So that next inquisitive tear down can be re-purposed for your next creation. A quick assembly of a lamp that can be refined at a later time.

application of the COB LEDs

Base and control of the lamp

view from the top

Base and wiring

The lamp lit

For some reason, lighting I like. With the modern advances in Light Emitting Diodes, the traditional light bub is out of fashion. Some inexpensive components can be soldered and hot glued together for a funky lamp.

A bit of spray paint was used on the shade. The dimmer controller switch turns the lamp on off and steps dimming to different levels. The mode can also be changed to a slow flash rate to a high-speed attention-getting strobe signal. 12 volt DC power makes the unit simple to wire and safe. The Cob LED modules are bright white, come mounted on aluminum for heat dissipation and give plenty of lumens for the size and weight on the lamp they also draw low power easily powered by a plug in type 12 VDC power supply.

Since the shade (fan blade), carbon fiber pole,and LEDs are light in weight, the base parts are enough weight for support and stability and minimalistic design flair of the copper wound armatures. Base parts , power supply and shade were parts salvaged from discarded items. The other parts were purchased.

Dimmer Control Switch

60 x 15 , 2 Watt Cob LED

Carbon Fibre Tube    

this is a reposting for some reson…….