Older Bolder Life

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Recipe: Snacks

The Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: A Nifty Tip When Tempering Chocolate

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Like many of you I reached for an old favorite when Valentine’s Day rolled around a few weeks back – Chocolate Covered Strawberries.

What a delicious gift; they’re damned tasty, beautiful to look at, easy (in the big scheme of things) to do, and ridiculously more affordable – and fresher – than buying them commercially around the holiday. And though some might argue, you’ll get far better, more consistent results by tempering your chocolate before dipping every time.

After a bit of trial and error (more error initially), online research, and pestering my chef friends (thanks again Libby!), we’ve evolved to the following routine for a quick, easy temper of good chocolate for dipping, using a combination of the classic techniques and one newer trick at the end.

While some might suggest that you need to chop your chocolate down into tiny pieces, I’ve found that a fairly rough chop is all that is needed to get thing started. Most experts suggest that you need a critical mass of chocolate to really get a good temper, you’ll often see amounts mentioned anywhere from 12 ounces to a pound and half at minimum.

I started this batch using a pound and half total, with roughly 2/3’s of that dropped into a stainless bowl to place over simmering water on the stove. With your chocolate chopped fairly small, this first melt happens reasonably quickly. It’s important to note that you don’t want your chocolate to reach a temperature warmer than 125 F, some even suggest 115 is enough to consider the mass fully melted and ready for the next step in tempering.

As pictured above, the next step involves removing the molten chocolate form the heat, stirring in the remaining chopped (and unmelted) chocolate until fully melted, and letting your chocolate cool to 81 F. This process of adding unmelted chocolate serves to both cool the heated mass and “seed” the formation of well-aligned chocolate crystals that give solid chocolate its stability and sheen.

Once the seed chocolate you’ve added has fully melted and the molten chocolate has cooled to 81 F, it’s time to reheat the chocolate back to 90 F to complete the tempering process.

We’ve taken to using a water bath and immersion circulator to do that now, for three reasons. One, it’s damned precise – I can set the water bath up ahead of time and have it ready and spot on the mark temp-wise when it’s time to reheat the chocolate.

Second, this is easier than going back to the double boiler, and third, and probably most importantly, using the water bath makes it super-easy to take your time dipping or coating your fruit, as you can hold the chocolate at 90F (in theory) indefinitely so you don’t have to rush to dip / coat fruit (or whatever) before your chocolate cools and sets up.

As always, the tempering process produced silky smooth, beautiful dipped strawberries this time around. Tuck this one away for the next time you need tempered chocolate for a special occasion.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast on Thursday: Toasted Pecan Blue Cheese Ball

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In sharing many recipes here over the years I’ve unabashedly claimed the fact that I’m a child of the South having grown up in Texas, and in particular having grandparents ensconced on the Texas Gulf Coast (with ties to Louisiana and Tennessee woven into the family tree).

My earliest childhood holiday memories with these coastal-dwelling grandparents include tables spread with simple but oh so tasty – and plentiful – foods, and the venerable cheese ball never failed to make an appearance. Not only did the cheese ball make an appearance, it drew attention throughout holiday afternoons and evenings, through multiple refills of crackers and carloads of family and friends passing through.

The Southern cook’s holiday cheese ball has been around so long, persisted through so many generations, that it’s passed from being an old standby to kitschy cliche to being back in vogue again, with some nifty new flavors and ingredient combinations stealing the show these days.

A friend asked me a couple of weeks back for our favorite cheese ball recipe; this is the one that we’ve pulled together over the years, based on one that my Ma-Ma (pronounced maw maw) hand wrote years ago, and modified by bits and pieces as we’ve run across great recipes over the years.

I also reached out to Chef Libby in Austin, who emphasized that in her catering world, she builds all cheese balls around a great blue cheese (she likes Maytag) and a sharp, fresh goat cheese, with fresh dates for an earthy sweetness, two different alliums, and a generous splash of Worcestershire for the tamarind flavors, and a shake of a Cajun inspired hot sauce. For those really wanting to layer in flavor, she also toasts her pecans in a bit of Cajun spice mix and good Irish butter…

Libby added that the most critical mistakes home cooks make with this recipe include using pre-chopped dates, often dusted in sugar, which Libby likens to eating musty, slightly wet cardboard, and using a bland, minimally flavored cheese in lieu of the boldly flavored blue. You can of course throw in any cheese combination your heart desires (along with the cream cheese and butter to fill this one out), and experimenting with flavor is part of what makes the kitchen and cooking game so interesting.

By the way, once chilled these transport very easily for the days when we’re past the COVID hump and enjoying our friends and neighbors again.

3/4 cup full fat cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup good butter (11 tbsp), softened
1/2 cup blue cheese – get the good stuff
1/2 cup fresh goat cheese
1/2 cup chopped fresh dates (see note)
2 tbsp chives, chopped
2 tbsp chopped green onions, white and light green parts
1-2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp hot sauce of your choice (we lean to a Cajun sauce here)
Up to 1/2 tsp salt

To finish
2/3 cup spiced roasted pecans
1/4 cup fresh chopped flat-leaf parsley

Take the first four ingredients (cream cheese, butter, blue cheese, and goat cheese) out of the fridge at least 30 minutes before starting.

Throw everything into a mixer bowl (paddle attachment) and combine on low speed until evenly mixed; the mixture will be quite soft. Scrape the paddle and place the bowl in the fridge for 20 minutes, then form into one big or two smaller cheese balls and coat with the roasted pecans and chopped parsley.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast on Thursday: Christmas Eve Tamales #2

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In a year marked by extraordinary disruptions of all sorts, we like many of our family, friends, and work acquaintances have found comfort and solace in what are often simple, but meaningful, family traditions.

I truly hope you and your family have had similar experiences as well, embracing or reviving family and/or communal traditions that have some genuine meaning to you and yours.

Personally I don’t think these traditions need be monumental, life-changing, events; many of life’s most encouraging and endearing customs and conventions are damned simple – and for many of us, involve food.

Here’s an example from our own family life; even from childhood days growing up in my modest household in the Texas Panhandle, we’ve enjoyed tamales as part of our holiday tradition over the past fifty plus years.

We didn’t host tamaladas (a tamale making party) in my household growing up, but several hispanic friends did, and even though anglo I was welcomed every year and given some (relatively simple) task to do as hundreds of tamales were crafted around a big table in the kitchen.

My wife and I didn’t craft our own holiday tamales for several years during my training in San Antonio (there were tamales everywhere during the holidays!) and later in SLC, though we started our own tradition making tamales for Christmas Eve, and later hosting tamaladas of our own, back in 1988, and have done so every year since.

And yes, while we pretty damned consistently adhere to a much-enjoyed and appreciated Primal / paleo food plan year round, we still bow to tradition and prepare a batch of tamales with family for Christmas Eve. IF you don’t have the least bit of interest in venturing far from the Primal/paleo path, by all means don’t, and stop reading here…

For those curious about the option, yes, we have tried a host of gluten free masa alternatives out there; if you’re genuinely interested you should experiment after some easy research online. After trying a host of alternatives, we still make a batch of traditional masa for holiday tamales – we find the other options just too far off the mark for our palates.

We used the same recipe for 29 years when preparing our filling from scratch, slow cooking pork shoulder with a bevy of spices and chiles, though changed to this recipe in 2017 after having a friend share it with us.

You’ll note that I’ve not included a masa recipe here; there are a host of great options available (like this one), and I’d recommend, if you’re truly serious about your tamales, picking up a copy of one of the many great tamale cookbooks out there (I still reach for Tamales by Miller, Pyles, and Sedlar most often when looking for creative masa’s).

And by the way, here’s the recipe we used for years, and it includes a fairly traditional, and very good, masa recipe.

1 and 1/2 lb boneless pork shoulder, trimmed, 1-inch pieces
1 and 1/2 lb pork belly, trimmed, 1-inch pieces

1 tbsp avocado or olive oil
1 large onion, chopped fine
10-21 ancho chiles
8-9 guajillo chiles
4-5 morita chiles
4-5 pasilla chiles (chile negro)
3 cups chicken broth, perhaps more
1 tbsp coriander seeds
2 tbsp cumin seeds
8 garlic cloves, peeled
2 bay leaves
2 tbsp kosher salt
2 tsp crushed Mexican oregano
1 tbsp ACV

Prep the meat and chiles (stem, seed, and toast).

Heat the oil in a large saucepan and then sauté the onion until it begins to caramelize; now add the prepped chiles and broth and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, cover, let rest 30 minutes, stir and recover, and let rest another 30 minutes.

Meanwhile toast the coriander seeds in a hot dry skillet for 90 seconds, then add the cumin seeds for another 30 seconds. Remove from the hot pan, cool, then grind.

Now puree the chile mixture in your trusty blender, along with the toasted and ground spices, garlic, and the oregano.

Add the meat to your braising pot or Dutch oven and pour in the chile puree, stir to cover. Add the bay leaves and salt, stir again. Bring to a simmer over medium high heat on the stovetop, then cover, and throw in a 275 degree oven for three hours, stirring every hour.

The meat should be fall apart tender at this point; if so, let cool uncovered for 15 minutes, then skim the fat and pull the bay leaves. Shred the meat, stir in the vinegar, and cool enough to throw in the fridge for at least three hours (see note above).

Now your ambrosial tamale filling is ready to fill your tamales or use as otherwise suits you (see discussion above).

Enjoy.

The Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Summer Berry and Ginger Frogurt Bark

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To no one’s surprise, given that we’re in the “dog days” of summer here in North Texas, it’s been hot as hades most days around our camp, prompting sunrise workouts, zealous hydration, and even a change in our normal summer menu rotation of late.

One of the treats or snacks we’ve been reaching for lately (you could even officially call this one a dessert too) has been this ridiculously simple Summer Berry and Ginger Frogurt Bark. Granted, this isn’t a novel concept, and you’ve no doubt seen something similar before.

For those of you who include full fat dairy in your weekly routine, it’s a great way to find some naturally sweet relief from summer’s pounding heat. We’ve tried it with all sorts of fresh summer fruit, though we keep coming back to this strawberry, blueberry, and ginger – yep, ginger – combination.

Strawberries and blueberries are at their prime these days, and somewhat surprisingly both fruits hold up very well to the (relatively) short window of time they spend in the freezer. The real surprise is how well the fresh ginger pairs with the blueberries – it’s amazing – though my lovely wife doesn’t so much care for it with the strawberries.

You can of course use any fruit that suits you here, though you’ll want to make sure you use fresh fruits and not frozen to finish your frogurt bark, and we like this topped with several tablespoons of unsweetened coconut flakes too (I was out when this batch came together).

This is a great project to do with kids (or grandkids) – the skills required amount to stirring, spreading, and sprinkling chopped fruit around, and whenever we serve this to families with kids (of all ages) it vanishes in a heartbeat.

3 cups unflavored/plain full-fat Greek yogurt
2-4 tbsp honey, maple syrup, your choice of sweetener (optional)
2 tsp vanilla extract
Small pinch of good salt
1/2 to 1 cup fresh strawberries, sliced thin
1/2 to 1 cup fresh blueberries
1-2 inches fresh ginger, peeled, chopped small (see note)

Optional
Other fruits of course
3-4 tbsp unsweetened coconut flakes

Line a full sized (home full sized, it’s actually a half sheet in the restaurant world) baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Stir together the yogurt, sweetener of choice if using, and vanilla until well combined, then spread evenly over the parchment paper (you’re shooting for about 1/4-inch thick layer here).

Spread the fruit artfully atop the yogurt base; note that in the example I’ve imaged here, we chose to only add the ginger to the blueberries – ginger and blueberries play really well together. Sprinkle with the coconut flakes if using, the slide into the freezer for at least 3 hours until the yogurt is tight and firm.

Slice or break into pieces and serve promptly; will store in an airtight container or bag for up the 3 months so they say, ours never lasts more than a day or two.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Everything You Really Need to Know About Dark Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

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With today being Valentine’s Day how about a few quick tips on how to make a nifty, indulgent treat at home – Dark Chocolate Dipped Strawberries.

I have to confess that as a guy who spends most of his time in nutritional ketosis, I don’t consume near as much fruit as I used to. Enjoying some February strawberries really does seem like a treat, and we’ve extolled the luxury , and benefits of, modest amounts of good dark chocolate many times before.

There are hoards of recipes for this very treat floating around out there, and while dipping strawberries in good chocolate isn’t rocket science by any means, there are a tips that take your results from good to great. Thanks once again by the way to friend Chef Libby in Austin for her coaching and consultations over the years, including chatting about chocolate earlier this week.

Now to three tips to make your chocolate dipped strawberries the best ever.

The only really dip-able strawberry is a dry strawberry. Libby feels in particular that the most common reason chocolate dipped strawberries fail (and sometimes fail miserably) is that the fruit, including the green stems, have not been fully dried. She believes, as do I, that strawberries should be rinsed thoroughly, then dried carefully. Rinse (either with spray or in a bath) as per your routine, then dry each berry individually using paper towels (much more absorbent than woven towels). It’s also vital that you set the strawberries out to finish air drying for at least 30 minutes, sixty is even better.

To temper or not to temper your chocolate? While the art and science of tempering chocolate is beyond explanation in this post today, we (Libby and I) fall into the camp that tempered chocolate gives a far better, more consistent result for dipped fruits. The process isn’t very complicated – here’s a nifty, direct, and simple description of the process. And by the way, adding a teaspoon of a neutral oil adds gloss and softens the hardened chocolate ever so slightly so it doesn’t shatter when you take a bite of the coated fruit.

Finally, should you fancy your strawberries up with other coatings, or let the chocolate shine? Absolutely your choice, though Libby admits when she’s crafting a big batch of these for a catering gig, she’ll most often coat 1/3 with finely chopped nuts (pistachios and pecans being her favorites, and I used a bit of ground pistachio for these), leave 1/3 plain, and drizzle a contrasting melted chocolate over the final 1/3 (she suggests using a small “sandwich” plastic bag with a tiny section of a corner cut off like a miniature piping bag to decorate the berries).

2 pound medium strawberries
16 ounces good quality dark chocolate
1 tsp avocado oil

Optional
2-4 ounces “contrasting” chocolate
Chopped nuts (be creative)
Toasted shredded coconut

Wash and dry your strawberries very carefully as per the discussion above.

As noted above, melting chocolate can be done efficiently in the home kitchen a couple of ways – either using the microwave in short bursts (30 seconds, stir, then 15 seconds repeatedly until melted and smooth) or using a double boiler technique – using a pan set over another pan/pot of just barely simmering water. (See the comment about tempering chocolate above.)

Once your chocolate has melted, stir in the teaspoon of avocado oil until combined. Remove from the heat and start dipping.

Dip the prepped and dry strawberries into the chocolate, coating up to the shoulders of the berry, then gently scrape away excess chocolate using the lip of your chocolate bowl. If using, now’s the time to gently dip the coated strawberries into your chopped nuts or toasted coconut.

Place the berries on a parchment or wax paper-lined baking sheet, and let them cool and harden at room temperature until set. Chilling the strawberries in the fridge can cause some condensation problems; we strongly suggest leaving them at room temperature to set and consuming them the day they’re dipped.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Sauce and Dip Monday Recipe: Butterbean Hummus

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Living in the nutritional ketosis world for the past 15 months or so, I’ve only pulled together a hummus plate a couple of times; now that I think about it, both were for entertaining company with a big crudite spread before the main meal event.

Don’t get me wrong, we’re big fans of a well-prepared and flavored hummus; some of our favorite eateries here in the DFW metro serve up a wonderful butterbean hummus as part of their Southern-inspired menus – and it’s always delicious with an innovative platter of crispy vegetables alongside.

We just haven’t served up hummus of late as I’ve been running (very comfortably I might add) at or below 20 grams of soluble carbs per day for more than a year now, and let’s face it, a nice hummus with a plate full of crispy crudite could easily double or triple amount in one sitting. (For the record, I’ve never played the keto game as if the keto police were looking over my shoulder; I’ve simply felt great at that level, and it’s allowed me to fairly painlessly accomplish my weight loss and body recomposition goals this past year.)

And like many of you as well who are thriving eating a low/lower carb nutrition plan, we pretty much carved legumes out of our routine several years ago, not only for their carb load relative to nutrient content, but their anti-nutrients as well. Truthfully, I can’t even recall the last time I cooked a big “pot of beans” at home, though I have to confess we very rarely and thoughtfully nibble at some when eating TexMex out with friends.

That said, my lovely wife recently developed a hankering for some hummus and veg to take to work for lunch during these blisteringly hot Texas summer days; the same week, two clients asked me if we had a favorite hummus recipe to share as well.

This Butterbean Hummus recipe is one that we worked out years ago, originally of course with chickpeas, though it works with just about any other cooked legume; here we’re using butterbeans, though Great Northerns would work as well. And as in the image above, we like ours with a bit of fresh ground pepper and a dusting of a good paprika as well.

Of note, many prepared hummus products you will find at your favorite grocer are make with canned beans (BPA risk), terrible seed oils, and other preservatives and stabilizers. It’s far better to soak and cook your legumes of choice (even better if fermented too), use quality oils and tahini, fresh lemons and spices, and you’ll craft a hummus worthy of an indulgence now and again.

4 cups cooked and cooled legume of choice (chickpeas, butterbeans, Great Northern, etc)
1/4 cup cold water
Freshly squeezed juice of 1-2 lemons (2-4 tbsp)
2 tbsp good tahini paste (more to taste)
2 tbsp good extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tbsp (generous) ground cumin
Good salt and pepper to taste

For service, drizzle with more olive or avocado oil, finely chopped cilantro, maybe even a dusting of paprika or cumin/coriander.

This one is easy and intuitive to stir blend together. Into your trusty food processor go the cooked legumes, followed by the next 7 ingredients. Blend together until as smooth as you like (we like a little texture in our hummus), and adjust the tahini, lemon, cumin, salt, and pepper to your tastes.

Serve either at room temp or chilled (we like it chilled during these hot summer days), and drizzle with more oil and any of the optional finishing touches above.

Enjoy.

Road Trip Food Update May 2019

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About nine months ago I wrote this post – Healthy Take From Home Road Trip Food Ideas for Summer 2018 – with a list of suggestions for healthy foods to take on the road when traveling. Having spent the past 54 weeks (quite happily and contentedly) in nutritional ketosis, I thought I’d offer a quick update with a few thoughts.

Metabolic Flexibility Rocks on the Road

Though you don’t hear everybody talking about it, count me among the die-hard fans of the concept of being metabolically flexible as you charge through the challenges daily life brings to hand.

Being metabolically flexible means, in this context while traveling, you’re not looking to eat every 2-3 hours, buying chips, sugary drinks (sports drinks and fruit juices still aren’t good choices, no matter how crafty their marketing), and crappy candy to “keep your energy up”.

Being metabolically flexible on the road means, when adequately hydrated, fasting comfortably if you need to stretch a day or travel outside your normal activity window in a day. For example, my wife and I hit the road on a 24-hour drive about 1pm yesterday and drove into the wee hours today to make our upcoming vacation schedule work; we had both fasted since dinner the evening before, and we were absolutely comfortable nibbling on keto snacks along the way, choosing to forgo a sit down meal to get on down the road.

Not fat-adapted or as metabolically flexible as you’d like to be? Stay with it, you’ll get there. (I can help you with the process too).

What About Foods for the Road?

Having spent a little over a year in the keto world, the list I posted here last year still stands. This particular trip to Montana (both of our kids live still live under the Big Sky), we have another 1/2 gallon of our favorite cold-brewed coffee on hand in the cooler, with some great cream to go along with it.

As suggested in last year’s post, we have cold-grilled salmon, some high quality German salami, several nifty cheeses, my go to keto snack trimmed radishes, some full-fat, whole milk, pastured yogurt, good dark chocolate, nuts, and unsweetened coconut chips.

Finally, I made a batch of these Spicy Southern Sausage and Cheese Balls – they’re great cold and will keep a week or so in the cooler/fridge.

After another fasted start this morning, we’re back on the road and will be in Missoula later today, stocking up at a wonderful grocer our daughter has found there, and getting ready for a week of fly fishing and hiking.

What are some of your favorites for the road?

the Older Bolder Life Snack Wednesday 9 January: Spicy Turmeric Coconut Milk (Tea)

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A friend offered us a mug of this delicious Spicy Turmeric Coconut Milk (she likes to call it a tea) one evening a few months ago. Like us she’s a big fan of spicy, full-flavored foods, and enjoys using whole spices when available (she grated fresh turmeric and ginger root for our milk/tea that evening). Her version was outstanding, and we’ve been making it regularly since.

There are dozens and dozens, if not hundreds, of different variations of golden milk floating about, my bent is to encourage you to find one that you like, and consume it liberally. Don’t be afraid to experiment, and don’t forget the black pepper to fully activate the benefits of turmeric too.

As our palate has changed over the past several years, we find overly sweet foods and drinks almost off-putting now; if using freshly grated turmeric and ginger, we often don’t use any honey, molasses, or maple syrup at all in our golden milk (though as a child of the South, a tiny bit of molasses does make this recipe more interesting).

I hadn’t intended to spend time here this morning going over the impressive list of health benefits that turmeric (and ginger) bring to the table; we’ll come back to turmeric in particular at some point down the road and talk about details.

2 cups full-fat coconut milk
1/2 – 1 tsp ground turmeric (or 2-4 tsp freshly grated)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger (or 1 tsp freshly grated)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Optional
Honey, maple syrup, blackstrap molasses to taste (start with 1 tsp!)
Pinch of salt
Pinch of cayenne pepper

Combine all ingredients (save for the sweetener if using) in a small saucepan over medium heat, adding a small volume of filtered water if desired if you find the consistency too thick for your tastes. Bring to a gentle boil, remove from heat and let steep at least 5-6 minutes.

If you used grated turmeric and / or ginger, filter through a fine-meshed sieve into a pre-warmed mug, sweeten if desired, and go to it.

Enjoy.