Party prep and magical ingredients
Roomie & I are busily finishing up prep for a little impromptu frak party we’re having today. One Florida frakker comes through town…and poof, seven decide to come party! I love these people. :-D But, prepping for visitors always includes the typical frantic oh-my-gods-I-forgot-I-still-have-to-do-that! kind of prep. But it’s all fun, and we’ll be grilling out feta-stuffed burgers later on as well as turning on the webcam so that friends in faraway places can visit the party.
So for breakfast this morning, I didn’t do my typical egg whites & oatmeal. I decided to have half a blueberry muffin from The Patch and a half chicken salad sandwich made by me. Both were just delicious! I’ve recently rediscovered the art of chicken (and tuna) salad, and how adding a couple of key ingredients can really elevate the flavor. In this case, apple cider vinegar gives the salad that extra “something.” I also used lowfat vegan canola mayo, which was a nice change. I’d made this small batch yesterday, so by this morning the flavors had nicely melded. I can’t wait to make more.
The blueberry muffin I want to learn to make—The Patch’s recipe is the best I’ve ever had. Of course they use organic wheat flour and real, organic blueberries, but the wonderfully moist, flavorful muffin has something else going for it. It also has arrowroot in it, which I’d never really heard of (if I’d had, it certainly didn’t stick) but as I went looking for info, turns out to be a perfect alternative to corn starch. Anything that lessens our dependence on corn and corn byproducts is good in my book. Check out this post for more about arrowroot.
And for the day’s Best Found Thing*, I found a simple recipe for herbal ale that I cannot wait to try. I’d wanted to make my own mead, and still might, but according to Shawna mead takes a long time to make. This ale? A matter of weeks! Simply boil ingredients…add yeast…jar, cover, wait. Let the magic of fermentation do its thing! I am going to try a batch next weekend, I’m that excited. ;-)
*”BFT” isn’t a regular post topic, but perhaps it should become one…