DoNot Fear the Fastnaught

Decades of parenting and crazy memories. We went to recall only the good ones. When my husband and son woke up today, I was sore from shoveling yet another snow, you'd think my body would have been used to that, but I hurt all over. BUT when my daughter woke up she descended the stairs with high hopes, which she realized when she turned the corner into the kitchen, Yes I made them Fastnaughts! Pronounced Fosh-not, and spelled like fast-naught. It is the last day to eat like a hog if you practice 6 weeks of self-denial during the season of Lent, leading toward Easter. I delighted to hear her thanks, and see her go for her fair share.

Many years I forgot what day it was, what week it was, because I was experiencing season depression of wither and dark. Sometimes I would make them the next day, or skip it altogether. Some years it was a double fail of them falling all apart making greasy slop. But one year, I was attempting to use a pastry bag to make doughnuts, in circles, not blobs, and at the same time, I was trying to get more protein into our carbs, and funnel cakes came out. No easy task for the egg-free, sugar-free, dairy-free, gluten-free. My secret ingredient? Raw sesame seeds ground in a coffee grinder until a fine powder.

The last installment to my success was being in an antique market one day and coming across a doughnut dropper, in mint condition, in the original box. It could drop perfect circles and perfect amounts...well my batter thickens as it sits, so the first few are perfect, and then the rest look like onion rings, but hey! They are yummy! and that is all that matters! My recipes are all dump and throw, so I'm estimating, but here is today's recipe, the final after over 30 years of hit or miss homemade annual doughnut-making.

3/4 cup millet, 3/4 cup brown rice, 1/2 cup of arborio rice, into the grain mill
1/4 cup of raw sesame seeds into the handheld electric coffee grinder...
add 1 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp cinnamon....combine all of this in a separate bowl
(add a 1/4 tsp of stevia powder -optional)

wet ingredients: mash one or two very ripe bananas with an electric mixer, and add slowly about 1/2 cup of milk substitute, like rice milk, and 1/2 tsp vanilla then prep your doughnut dropper, or pastry bag for making a pain-full of funnel cake...

I use the smallest cast iron pan I own, and corral extra virgin coconut oil, making small batches.

I took a picture of the most perfect version all by itself, and then of all of them as they became smaller and like onion rings.
I took a picture of frying, in my pretty kitchen installed by my 20 yr old son. Enjoy!

Fat Tuesday! What might you be setting aside for the next 6 weeks, starting tomorrow?

Chick Pot Pie variations.

First, let me define chicken pot pie.


It is not a pie crust filled with of chicken stew with or without a top, or chicken stew in a foil pan with only a crust on top.
Pie crusts have no eggs, just grease, salt, and flour


It is not chicken and dumplings, which are spoonfuls of biscuit dough on top of chicken soup, making it into a bubbly stew.
Biscuit dough has baking powder in it and id made to be light and rise.

No, chicken pot pie is chicken soup, cooked long so that the chicken seems nearly shredded after picked from the bones.
There is no green in chicken potpie, ie no parsley, as would put in corn soup, pot pie dough is not rivels.

No, just a skinless chicken or parts, with bones in, and root vege--onions, diced carrots, and celery. That is it, maybe white pepper. Simple.

Yesterday, I actually dusted the chicken parts with salt, white pepper, and a little bit of dry garlic granules, and little bit of Frontier brand Poultry seasoning, then root vege and added water, then cooked it all day, turning it off whenever I have to leave the house or go upstairs, and turning it back on when I could watch it.

Chicken potpie is a soup with flat square homemade egg noodles containing only: flour, salt, and egg. That is it. Rolled to between 1/4 and 1/8 inch, and cut into 1 and 1/2 to 2-inch squares, which are then slipped one by one into boiling chicken soup. The soup thickens and the starchiness of the noodles make a gravy-like broth.

I am credulous anytime someone says that they had chicken pot pie, I want to see it for myself, If it is not the gravy like soup described above, with cream-colored slabs of dough floating on top and within, I just smile and say nothing, but I am setting the record straight here. Because it's my blog and I can be snobby about pot pie if I want to.

My noodles are made of rice a mix of rice and oat flours. A handful of brown rice, a few handfuls of oats, and a big handful of a sticky rice to bind ---all go into my grinder. I add a tsp of salt and about 2 eggs, and no more than a quarter cup of water, mix quickly, then knead a little bit, and roll out between 2 sheets of waxed paper. I like to cut them with a crimped edge into 1-inch squares, and preferably thinner than thicker.

Last night I made twice as many as the broth in my soup would afford because I cooked it down too long, but it was oh so tasty!! So, with my 2nd batch of noodles, I pulled the top waxed paper off, cut them, and let them sit while we ate supper, just enough time for the top surface to dry, I scarped them off the lower waxed paper, now sticking form having sit, and turned them onto an ungreased baking pan dry side down, and baked them at 3:50 until crisp. Now, my sister makes chicken soup with something that seems made like these "crackers" on top, and it is called Chicken Stolzfus. If you are ent form these parts, that is about as clear of an Amish name as one could have. This is PA Dutch food, and it is not for the keto-crowd, of which I SHOULD be. Amen

My Breakfast Shake Tasted Like a Pop Tart! What?

So, my bad, I woke up and ran to the grocery before it began to snow today. I came home past the time I needed to have had breakfast. I needed something fast, so I threw my normal "breakfast oat slurry" into my magic bullet, but added a dash of stevia, a 1/4 tsp of vanilla, a tsp of carob powder, and 5 small strawberries, then, I added some Lakewood Brand organic coconut blend, which I had just bought to make some freezer pops, about enough to make it a smoothie, and then 3 ice cubes. OK to be clear, I did put my nuts and seeds in the grinder, and the drink has a touch of lemon. When I drank it, Oh my goodness! I tasted like a strawberry pop tart. That is all I have to say. I cannot guarantee that it was not some kind of delusion. But It as good to me!