SANE recipes and adventures from a splendid single life.
Contact Me
This is a default text widget for your contact area. To change this text, go to the Widgets page and edit or delete the default widget in the "Contact Form Content Area".
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Podcast Co-host, recipe developer, and food photographer for the Smarter Science of Slim.
Tales of food, travel & adventure - a little bit of crazy with a whole lot of SANE.
I think pancakes must be the most requested thing on my SANE recipe to-do list. I experimented with pancakes over the holidays in December, but didn’t get anywhere close to successful. I blame being British. In England, pancakes are only eaten once a year – funnily enough on Pancake Day – and they are what an American would call a crêpe. We don’t do the thick, spongy pancakes that are a rite of passage for any good American’s weekend brunch plate. The closet thing we have to those would be Scotch pancakes, and no one makes those. And on the rare occurrence that someone does make Scotch pancakes, they eat them with butter and jam spread on them, just like toast. They are not smothered in melting butter and syrup. Neither are they eaten for breakfast with bacon, eggs, and hash browns. They’re eaten at tea time.
Anyway, my point was, I grew up eating crêpes once a year. Until I took my first trip to Canada - many moons ago - I had never eaten an American pancake. And let me tell you, when I did, I thought it was extremely peculiar. I was sitting in the revolving restaurant on the top of the Calgary Tower. That’s how memorable this whole pancake affair was. I mean, who remembers exactly where they were when they ate their first pancake? I do – because it was such an extraordinary experience. They brought me a plate with pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage and hash browns on it. Plus a dish of butter and a jug of golden maple syrup. I was clueless as to what I was supposed to do, and I was aghast that there were pancakes on the same plate as my bacon and eggs. What were they thinking?? So I snuck a peek over at the next table and watched what they did. I stared in horror as they poured lashings of sweet maple syrup over their pancakes and bacon. What in the world???
I admit, I never really got over that first strange pancake experience. There are a lot of new things I have become acquainted with since I moved stateside, and many of them I embrace wholeheartedly. American pancakes are not one of them. And while I am neither an American pancake lover nor an American pancake-making expert, I totally respect that they are a beloved breakfast staple in a lot of households. So here you are: SANE Vanilla Blueberry Pancakes. Hurrah!
They are more fragile and less flexible than pancakes made from regular flour, but those fabulous blueberries – bursting with juices – keep them moist and delicious. I am going to play with another idea to make them less fragile and more flexible, but I thought these would tide you over in the meantime. Given that I am really not a fan of regular American pancakes, I was surprised - and a little bit giddy – that I really enjoyed eating these.
“But what about the syrup??!” I hear you cry. That, dear readers, is a particularly good question. I am still brainstorming that predicament. This time I simply poured a little Torani’s Sugar-free Vanilla Syrup over the top. It doesn’t have the deep, amber color, or the thick, glossiness of maple syrup, but it adds moistness and flavor that finished these babies off rather nicely. You could also just slide some butter over the top and call it good. Or eat them naked. Just don’t use the maple! Or honey. Or agave.
Now I must warn you – these SANE pancakes are super filling. If you’re used to being able to eat an entire stack of regular pancakes, you might find yourself running out of steam at two, especially if you add some scrambled eggs and the odd piece of bacon to your plate. I, for one, would not want to miss out on that piece of bacon.
And just a couple of cooking notes before you race off to fire up your griddle – the flip side of these SANE pancakes cooks much quicker than the first side, so don’t flip them and walk away thinking you have time. Side two goes real fast. As you can see, mine were a little on the dark side. Just sayin’.
4 oz fresh blueberries (or frozen, thawed and drained)
Torani’s Sugar-free Vanilla Syrup (if you like syrup on your pancakes)
Instructions
Spray griddle with coconut oil and heat.
Grind chia seeds, sunflower seeds and coconut in coffee grinder or high-speed blender until they are very fine (careful you don’t end up with sunflower butter!!)
In a bowl put seed mix, almond flour, whey, xylitol, salt and baking powder and mix well.
Add egg white (OR whole egg), vanilla extract, and yogurt and stir just until evenly mixed. Do not over mix.
Using a ¼ cup as a measure, pour batter onto hot griddle.
Sprinkle batter with fresh blueberries.
After a minute, lift edge of pancake with a spatula to check color. When golden, flip the pancake to cook the other side.
SANE™, inSANE, SANEity – terms used in Jonathan Bailor’s book, The Smarter Science of Slim. (Which is now out of print…but a new book will be here in January 2014 and it will be even more awesome!)
Julie Rider-Carrie,
These look great but once again I cannot have whey…do you think I can substitute 1 for 1 with egg white protein?
Sigi -LOL – I’m with you, Carrie. The whole idea of maple syrup and fluffy pancakes with savoury foods like bacon and eggs just Freaks. Me. Out. (Actually, I suspect that many, many other potential dining experiences in America may well freak me out too, but I really must visit some day to find out…)
Rita -I’d love to make these for my kids, but they will not eat coconut. Any suggestions for a substitution?
carrie-Hi Rita – you cannot taste the coconut at all. It is there for the health benefits only, not the flavor. You can sub out with more sunflower seeds but they won’t quite as SANE. Hope that helps!
carrie-Yes, Sigi! Come visit!! I love it here – despite some strange foodie stuff going on :-)
carrie-Julie – I worry that egg white powder will make these incredibly dry. Can you use casein powder?
When I was a nipper growing up in the Garden of England – aka the county of Kent (although technically I was never a nipper since I am a girl) – I was regularly served up sardines on toast for supper, as I suspect a significant number of British kids were. I’m not sure it’s as popular nowadays, but back then – YUM. I loved when sardines on toast popped up on the menu. Oftentimes the sardines were in tomato sauce. I think I loved those times even more, which is a little odd because I am not really a tomato sauce kinda gal. Except ketchup on my eggs, but that’s another tale.
Of course, these days I don’t eat the toast, but I do down sardines like they’re going out of fashion. Except, in the US I don’t think sardines have ever been infashion. Whenever I mention sardines, noses wrinkle and a chorus of “Ewwws!” can be heard. Sardines do not seem to have much of a following stateside.
It seemed perfectly natural to me that Mr. Bailor would at some point mention the outstanding virtues of a humble can of sardines on our podcast. After all – they are one of the best sources of omega-3 fatty acids. Have you noticed how I always leave the geeky science stuff to Bailor? I chimed in with enthusiastic stories of how a tin of sardines is perfect road-trip fodder, and how you can keep a couple stashed in the glove box of your car in case of emergency. I joyfully explained how to fashion an eating implement out of the tin lid, if you were ever caught without a fork when you were about to down a tasty sardine snack.
I guess it was bound to happen once the sardine podcast aired that there’d be some sardine Q & A coming down the pike. So it was no surprise when the other week, Lorrie posted on the Marmalade HQ Facebook page asking for ways to eat sardines. Lorrie is a faithful SSoS’er who, with her friend Dawn, run a Downsizers Group over in Oberlin, Ohio. They meet every week to share success, tips, tricks, and recipes. They also have a lot of fun. I know this because they invited me to join them one evening and I Skyped into their get-together. SO. MUCH. FUN! Turns out Lorrie was taking sardines along to the next Downsizers meeting, and never having eaten them before, needed some sardine assistance. Having been raised on the things it never occurred to me that Sardine Virgins may appreciate knowing what they might do with them, other than rip off the lid and eat them straight out of the tin. It’s like I never remember to explain to people how to open doors, because like sardine-eating, it’s just something I assume we all know how to do. You know what they say about assuming.
When I am on road trips I eat sardines a lot. They are just so portable. In the evening when I get back from driving and shooting for 14 hours, I toss sardines, halved cherry tomatoes and quartered hard-boiled eggs on a plate, sprinkle with salt and call it dinner. When I am at home I make a rather prettier and greener version. This is another one of those very simple “what Carrie Brown really eats at home” dishes. It takes 5 minutes to throw together and makes you a perfectly balanced SANE meal. When I get home too late and too tired for thought, this is one of my go-to’s.
If you’re new to sardines, try this salad first. I really think you’ll like it. And Jonathan and I will be so very happy to get some more of you on the sardine trail with us.
Gordon -Hi Carrie. I’m so glad you (surprisingly) posted on sardines! I love to buy mine from Lidl here in the UK and they’re so cheap. I never thought of making a meal like you have,so quick,easy and cheap, you clever lady! I’m really gonna try this and I’m going hiking with some friends in a few weeks in Brecon Beacons just for two days and you’ve given me a good thought for the trip. Thanks. Oh, what do you think about hard boiled eggs still in their shelves keeping fresh for a few days out of the fridge?
carrie-Hi Gordon – I have kept hard boiled eggs in their shells for a couple of days on a road trip with no issue, except they are harder to peel :-). Enjoy the Beacons!
Janknitz -I like sardines but I really have to be in the mood for them. Your photos are definitely putting me in the mood! Looks yummy and a great meal for a hot summer day when you don’t want to cook!
My one caveat about sardines is that they are smelly, so they are not a good lunch to bring to school or work. But in the privacy of your own home or car, they are great.
Diana -Yum! Thank you! I think I may need to eat this very soon. And maybe even add BACON. I had sardines and egg and spinach just the other day, with red wine vinegar and mustard. But this sounds even better.
And thanks for the shoutout to the Downsizers!
Downsizer Di, loving SSOS
Lorrie -Thank you for another wonderful recipe. I feel honored that you shared my first sardine experience! I am so glad that I was brave enough to finally open the tin that sat in the cabinet for a few months. I wasn’t sure what I would find inside and only had visions of cartooned pictures of little fish looking at me! To someone who’s never had sardines, give them a try!
Sometimes I just have to do it. Every now and then I am simply overcome by a force more powerful than life itself. Or at least more powerful than my ability to resist the urge. Yes; once in a while I go to McDonald’s. It’s true. And I eat a Quarter Pounder with Cheese. Without any pickles of course. Hey, if you’d spent every Saturday, and every day during every school break for 4 years up to your elbows in a large, green, freezing cold pickle bucket, you might not be so excited about eating pickles either.
Yes, I worked at McDonald’s for 4 years – which given what I do now makes it rather ironic. And amusing. Every Saturday during the school terms & full-time during the school vacations. It was quite the experience. I ended up earning all 5 of those stars on the yellow name tags that everyone used to wear, and then at some point I made the big time by getting the “Training Squad” patch sewn onto the left arm of my stylish navy-blue-&-white stripey uniform. I think I got a pay raise at that point too. That was nice.
McDonald’s was hard work. I think it is a lot more automated now, but back in the day I would have defied anyone to single-handedly do a 12-turn on the Quarter Grill for any appreciable amount of time without breaking a {serious} sweat. A one second slip was all it took to get out of sync on that grill & if you weren’t going flat out it could oh so easily be all over in a matter of minutes. Same goes for the fry-bagging station. And the Mac grill. I only know a couple of people at our store who could keep up on the Mac grill during the Saturday rush. I wasn’t one of them.
But when it came to running the Backroom – I was the bomb! Backroom involved keeping the entire store stocked up with whatever everyone needed, from milkshake mix to frozen fries, re-hydrated onions to hamburger patties, ketchup to buns, drinks cups to coffee grounds. The Crew would shout out what they needed & I would go run to fetch it & take it out to them. It was the hardest & craziest job ever on a Saturday. I was one of the only people who had ever been able to keep up single-handedly. I remember one Christmas, I think it was the Saturday before Christmas Eve, I was assigned to Backroom & my helper didn’t show up. Instead of whining & professing it was impossible, I decided to just go for it. It was completely mad. Much to the entire store’s complete surprise, I aced it. By 3 pm I was completely exhausted, but the kudos afterwards for having achieved what no one thought was possible, magically made it all better. I even wanted to do it all again.
So I spent every Saturday for 4 years eating the exact same thing: Quarter Pounder with Cheese (no pickle), large fries, apple pie & a Chocolate Milkshake. All those calories I ate? Burned off every last one of them. Think flippin’ burgers is easy? Try working at the second busiest McDonald’s in England on a Saturday when the queues (lines) are 9 tills wide & 10 people deep non-stop for 5 hours between the hours of 10 am & 3 pm. I needed all those calories just to stop me from passing out; all 98 lbs of me that there was back then. It was a riot!
A few things have changed. The Quarter Pounder boxes used to be foam instead of today’s cardboard & I swear that the burgers are smaller. The quarter bun, for sure, is smaller. Hey, I ate at least 400 of the things during those 4 years that I worked there. And I made hundreds more. Trust me. Those buns are smaller.
Nowadays there are fresh sliced onions. Way back then they were de-hydrated & had to be soaked for 30 minutes before you could use them. And the menu is a lot larger now than the simple old days. No fancy coffee, no salads, no McFlurrys, no breakfasts even. No cookies, no snack wraps, no chicken sandwiches, no smoothies. I remember the introduction of Chicken Nuggets. I remember the day McMuffins arrived. I have lost count of the number of egg yolks I pierced over the years so that the yolk wouldn’t drip on a customer when they bit into their McMuffin. Good times!
But McDonald’s isn’t close to my heart simply because I spent so many hours of my life there. McDonald’s is where I fell in love. Hook, line & fry basket. Only I didn’t know quite how much at the time.
Despite the grills being fired up at 450 degrees & the shortening for the fries being close to the temperature of volcanic lava (& yes I have the scars to prove it!), this guy was still the hottest thing at McDonald’s.
He was on the same gig as I was: weekends during school terms & full-time during the school vacations. McDonald’s is not a bad way to get yourself through school. The only difference was that he was a Floor Manager & I was Crew. I don’t remember the first time we met. I don’t remember when the sparks started to fly. But oh my, did those sparks ever fly once they did start.
I wonder if he ever thinks back to those days; those Friday nights when he was the manager wrapping burgers behind the production bin & I was on the till serving customers in my fetching blue & white uniform, adorable little pigtails (braids) & jaunty McDonald’s cap. Oh & one of those cool yellow name badges with all the gold stars on.
I’d put my hand into the chute to retrieve the customers burger & there would be his hand, for just a second touching mine where no one could see. Those little sideways glances over the fountain drink dispenser. That little brush of our arms when we just happened to be bagging fries at the same time. And inevitably the odd {forbidden} stolen kiss in the store room or the freezer or the calibration room where the syrup tanks were hooked up to the soda dispensing machines. We did that for a whole year. No one had a clue. Oh yeah, we were good. And then we just couldn’t stand it any longer, so he moved himself to a different store & no one was any the wiser. You should have seen the looks on the faces of all the crew & managers at my store when I turned up at our Christmas party with him on my arm 2 weeks later. PRICELESS. Only trumped by the stunned gasps when they realized we’d been dating for a year, right under their noses & not one of them had figured it out. SO MUCH FUN!
It is completely impossible for me to eat at McDonald’s without my mind wandering back all those years to thoughts of surreptitious glances & secret winks. Sigh. Just even catching a glimpse of those golden arches & my heart still skips a beat.
If we were ever to see each other again I imagine it being rather like that scene in The Notebook. Yeah, THAT scene. Except without the torrential rain maybe. Or maybe with.
I expect he is still listening to John Martyn, cooking great food & stoking log fires. I expect that wherever he is, he is ridiculously happy. And if he isn’t, I expect that he is making the absolute best of it. He always was a glass-all-the-way-full type of guy.
As for me, I am still listening to Phil Collins, making great {SANE} desserts & taking photographs. I still love Quarter Pounders with Cheese. I still love McDonald’s fries & Apple Pies. And their Chocolate Milkshakes – although I can’t remember the last time that I had any one of those 3 things. I do still remember the hottest thing that ever came out of any McDonald’s restaurant anywhere on earth though. Sigh.
When people talk about emotional eating, it’s no joke. It’s as real as the nose on my face – which, incidentally – I wish were smaller. The foods that we eat can be inextricably linked to good or bad memories, emotions and feelings, and everyone knows that emotions can be strong enough to turn the tide; or at least make us do **really** crazy things. Like eat disastrously inSANE food even though we know – for sure- that they are bad for our health. If you don’t believe me, please explain why I only ever cross the thresholds of three fast food restaurants – McDonald’s, KFC, and Jack In The Box – the 3 places that I have intense emotional connections with. I don’t eat fast food anywhere else. Because it’s not the food that is the draw – it’s the good emotions that I associate with these places.
Understanding this has given me the willpower to keep driving right on by those golden arches when my brain is screaming for some comfort. And understanding this has also allowed me to give myself permission to take care of my emotions every once in a while. So don’t ignore the reality of emotional eating. Embrace it. Use it to your advantage. Recognise it. Understand it. Manage it. And then get right on back to your fabulous *SANE lifestyle, without beating yourself up over it.
McDonald’s: I’m lovin’ it. Or rather, my emotions are.
PS. I’d have taken better pictures for you, but I haven’t been in a really long time.
SANE™, inSANE, SANEity – terms used in Jonathan Bailor’s book, The Smarter Science of Slim. (Which is now out of print…but a new book will be here in January 2014 and it will be even more awesome!)
Michelle Fusman -OMG! Working at McDonald’s was my first real job! I worked at McDonald’s for over two years, learned how to work hard and have fun doing it. To have standards and to provide quick reliable customer service. I’m surprised looking back how much I liked that job. It is of course jaded by the fact that I started dating my first husband there. I too fell in love at McDonalds. He was the crew person with the fastest drive thru time and I was a Crew Trainer. My meal: Double cheese burger well done, cheese only with a small fry and honey mustard dipping sauce. I LMAO when I read your blog. What is the likelihood! We were destined to meet dear lady!
Mark -Lovely memories of the McD’s workhouse. Some things have clearly changed but are those damn apple pies still so hot that you have to eat them the next day? Like a zillion degrees? Happy New Year from all of us. XXX
cb-Ah! Those heady summer days when both brother & sister were sustained almost exclusively by McDonalds grub! You know, I haven’t had an apple pie in forever, but I am pretty sure that they still taste exactly the same & are still as hot. Now you’ve made me want one! Let’s Skype soon. Need to see my munchkins! xxxx
Steve Green -Found your site on del.icio.us today and really liked it.. I bookmarked it and will be back to check it out some more later.
Royce Craigwell -Hi! I’ve been following your site for a while now and finally got the bravery to go ahead and give you a shout out from Houston Tx! Just wanted to mention keep up the fantastic work!
demi lovato-While I don’t eat fast food anymore, McDonald’s will always hold a special place in my heart too. It brings back so many great childhood memories for me.
carrie-Thanks for stopping by, “Demi”! I don’t think I’ll ever stop lovin’ McDonalds, even though I almost never eat it anymore.
Matilda-My first job was at a pie shop. Oh the pies. So yes I understand, and no pie has ever compared to the pies at that pie shop.
Now if I could just replicate a SANE pie.
Sigi -Great post, Carrie. :)
Allisol -Oh what a great post! Your Saturday-before-Christmas situation reminded me of working the dress section of a department store the day before Easter. I busted my chops and earned some serious respect from management.
I love these glimpses into your life. You’re like a good book that we only get to read every once in awhile but when we do it’s AWESOME and we can’t wait for more. I love all your layers. XX OO
carrie-I miss pie too, Matilda! What kind of pie are you after?
carrie-And boy are there ever some layers, Allisol ;-)
Cowgirl Rae -I never worked at the typical fastfood. I worked at a pizza parlor in HS. Funny how to this day I get taken back to the era when I enter a pizza parlor, the smell of the sauce, the smell of the crispy cornmeal in the ovens…. yes it’s a funny thing.
I don’t really like pizza. It’s OK, but not something I’m keen on.
Tom L -Loved this post, Carrie. Loved it! I could hear Barry White playing on the MC’D Muzak in the background…
Really liked the different levels of understanding with regard to emotional eating you brought into this post, and with such a delightful pace to your pros, as well, how delightful it was to read!
I can completely relate. I also like that you caved, ate the goods, and moved on with your life. It is helpful, to know that we are all human, and none of us are perfect, including our role-models (that’s you!!!). So, thank you for the personal share, and giving all of us permission to be human beings, having our moments, and then, continuing on with our journey to follow our SANE goals and dreams.
carrie-Thanks, Tom! One minor correction – JONATHAN BAILOR IS NOT HUMAN!!!! :-D PS. I am going to have to rent that movie now.
Matilda-chicken and leek pie, and plain meat (ground steak), they would be my top 2.
carrie-Ooh! Chiken and Leek! I’ll be working on these for you, Matilda.
Nancy-Well Carrie, I’ve been a horrid pig. Visited your fair city for the first time and indulged two days in a row on Beecher’s grilled cheese sandwiches. Thought I’d died and gone to heaven. Pretty sure it’s the same as a McD’s and fries which actually also sounds pretty good right now. But NO, I’m home and first thing in the morning it’s back to SANE!
carrie-Nancy – stop beating yourself! I am glad you enjoyed your foray into inSANEity!!! It’s awesome that we can do this once in a while, enjoy it, have no ill effects and then just get back on with being SANE without having to worry about gaining weight or all that blah. Did you love Seattle??!
Nancy-Yes, I LOVED Seattle. Quite a difference from my own fair city (Boulder, CO.) What I really wanted was a kitchen to go cook in after seeing all the amazing produce and seafood.
I did notice that portable food often means bread. Another very eye opening thing was realizing how after you haven’t eaten bread in awhile it instantly screams at you take another bite, take another. Spinach smoothie for breakfast :)
carrie-So happy that you loved my home town Nancy!! We do have good food here :-D
Little did I know when I created – in utter desperation one cold, wet and wild November morning - a hot cereal to fill the gigantic void left by a bowl of porridge (oatmeal), that it would be turn out to be 1) the most popular recipe post of all time, and 2) become the starting point for a number of other recipes.
You lovely, lovely people just LOVE that Hot and Nutty Cereal. I’ve had notes from all over the world about how it makes your porridge-less mornings delicious again – and that makes me feel all warm and goofy inside. Not only that, but you’ve bombarded me with ideas on how to use that same mix in different ways. You’re awesome!
I used it as a starting point for my Cinnamon Raisin Muffins, which is also a Top 15 most popular recipe, and I have another couple of recipes I am working on. This Creamy Lemon Coconut Cereal idea came when Lori, a delightful and wonderfully enthusiastic SSoS’er in California, posted that she had woken up craving my Hot and Nutty Cereal one day, but because it was a warm day she wanted something cold. She stirred the Hot and Nutty Cereal mix into a cup of fat-free Greek Yogurt and voilà! Lori’s favorite cereal – but cold. Not to mention the added protein. Needless to say, as soon as I heard that I ran off to try it. Delicious!
Since I am me, my brain promptly exploded, and lots of ideas for bright, sunny flavors started ricocheting around all over the place. I am always thinking about coconut these days – I blame studio time with Bailor for that one - so I started there and went with my favorite citrus flavor to make a cold, creamy bowl of sunshiny cereal for you.
This cereal is one of my new favorites, and easy to whip up in bulk at the start of the week, spoon into lidded bowls and stack in the ‘fridge to grab on the way to the office each week-day morning. It’s extremely filling, but with a light, refreshing taste. Would also make a great summertime dessert.
Grind chia, sunflower seeds and coconut until very fine in a coffee grinder or high-speed blender (be careful you don’t end up with sunflower butter!).
In a bowl add ground seeds, vanilla whey powder, xylitol and mix well.
Add the lemon zest, lemons essence, yogurt and coconut milk and stir thoroughly until completely mixed.
Measuring out and grinding all those seeds every day got old really fast, so here’s an instant mix that you can make in bulk and store in the ‘fridge ready to go when you want it.
10 tbsp chia seeds
1 1/4 cups sunflower seeds
2 1/2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
3 1/3 cups vanilla whey powder
10 tbsp xylitol
5 tbsp lemon zest (5 lemons)
In batches, place chia seeds, sunflower seeds, and coconut in a coffee grinder and grind until fine. (If you use a blender such as a Vitamix be careful you don’t end up with a paste!) Pour ground mix into a large bowl, add vanilla whey powder, xylitol, and lemon zest. Mix very well until completely blended. Store in an air-tight glass jar in the ‘fridge.
Then, when you stumble into the kitchen, bleary-eyed from your 7 hours of shut-eye, here’s the recipe for 1 serving of instant Creamy Lemon Coconut Cereal:
1/2 cup instant cereal mix
1/2 cup fat-free Greek yogurt
2 tbsp coconut milk (carton)
1/4 tsp lemon essence
Place cereal mix in a bowl, add yogurt, coconut milk, and lemon essence and stir very well.
SANE™, inSANE, SANEity – terms used in Jonathan Bailor’s book, The Smarter Science of Slim. (Which is now out of print…but a new book will be here in January 2014 and it will be even more awesome!)
Ellen -This looks yummy! But, I need to checking the “translation” to Americanese – is ‘lemon essence’ the same as lemon juice? Or would it be lemon extract?
;) Thanks, Carrie!
carrie-Sorry Ellen – Lemon extract :-) I’ll update the recipe to bi-lingual!
Janknitz -Tried it this morning. Yum! Reminded me of a lemon poppyseed muffin.
This isn’t a real post. This is a “let’s get ready for a real post” post. It’s a calm-before-the-storm post. An “on-your-marks-get-set…” post. Yes. One of those.
You may have heard the rumors. You may even have heard the screams of delight all the way from the Marmalade HQ kitchen. There’s been an awful lot of dancing, and whooping, and cheering, and clapping going down at the Brown house this weekend. The “kids” all hid behind the couch at one point, when I got more than a little loud and rambunctious. Just what is all the excitement about? I’ll give you a hint. It’s ice cream. ICE CREAM?? No, wait. SANE ICE CREAM!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now, because it will take me a little while to get you a recipe posted, and because I am always thinking ahead, and because I am a planner, and because I love you, I wanted to make sure you were ready when the real post – the one with an ice cream recipe in it – hits your screen. Because {great} ice cream takes planning and preparation. You’ll thank me when the time comes. I mean, who wants to have a recipe for SANE Ice Cream and then NOT BE ABLE TO MAKE IT?? Not you.
Here’s what you’ll need to make your adventures in SANE Ice Cream making easier and more successful. In the equipment department, the only thing you MUST have is a churner, so don’t panic thinking that you’re going to have to mortgage the house to make SANE ice cream. You’re not. Everything else just makes it easier, quicker, and you’ll get a better result. This is what I use, because I know you’ll ask me anyway.
EQUIPMENT
Ice Cream Churner
There’s lots to choose from, ranging from super-duper, super-spendy commercial models, to buckets with rock salt round them. I am only going to tell you which ones I have because these puppies are brilliant (I have two churners and 4 freezer bowls), and between them they have churned hundreds and hundreds gallons of ice cream perfectly. And I don’t mean any old ice cream. I mean “that was the best ice cream I’ve eaten in my life” ice cream. So don’t think for one second that you have to go all big and fancy here. You don’t. This one is all you need. It’s a Cuisinart ICE-20 Automatic 1 1/2 Quart Ice Cream Maker. (If you use these links to purchase stuff it will help to offset the SANE Ice Cream Recipe Development Budget, which is not insignificant. Then I won’t have to send Dougal out on a paper route for the summer. You don’t pay any more, they just send me a few pennies for getting you there, and it all adds up. THANK YOU!)
High Powered Blender OR Blender OR Food processor(if you have one of the three you’ll be good)
A Vitamix or Blendtec will be your very best friend for ice cream. Smooth, smooth, smooth. These machines smash everything that goes in them into liquid – except raspberry seeds – and believe me, I have tried to pulverize those suckers on numerous occasions. You will still need a sieve, even with a Vitamix. Second jug for Vitamix / Blendtec – I find having a second blending container incredibly handy. Or maybe I just don’t like washing up when I am on a roll in the kitchen.
I have a KitchenAid blender in addition to my Vitamix, for those times when I don’t want to pulverize everything into oblivion. Some recipes don’t require the extra power. I use this Kitchen Aid blender when I don’t want or need to use the Vitamix. Grinding nuts is a great example – try this in a Vitamix and you’ll have awesome nut butter, but you won’t have any ground nuts.
I love this Cuisinart Food Processor because it comes with three bowls that sit inside one another so you can do three different things before you have to wash up. Love that. It also has a large capacity, which I find very useful when making large batches. I find some ice cream recipes easier to get out of a food processor than a Vitamix.
Melamine pouring bowls
The next most important thing after my churners are my melamine pouring batter bowls. The melamine means they do not transfer flavors and colors like plastic, but they are way lighter than glass. They have handles and spouts, and they are the perfect solution for ice cream because you use them to store the ice cream custard in while it’s in the ‘fridge, and then you can pour it straight from there into the ice cream churner when it’s chilled. This saves time, and more importantly, a lot of wasted ice cream custard because you are not transferring from one container to another. Plus, they make pouring your custard into your churner super-easy and super-clean; which means less clean up. I know you want less clean up. I have lots of these bowls. They even stack neatly when not in use. I make them stackable in the ‘fridge by putting a dinner plate on the top of them. When you make as much ice cream as I do, making them stackable in the ‘fridge is essential. If you hadn’t realized – I LOVE these bowls.
Rubber Spatulas
You can never have too many of these lying around when you’re in the middle of ice cream production. You specifically need spatulas that will not damage the inside of your ice cream maker freezer bowls when you’re removing the ice cream.
Sieves
I am a perfectionist, so I use sieves a lot. A lot. Strawberry seeds in the sauce? Sieve. Hazelnut skins? Sieve. Cocoa powder? Sieve. Nut dust in the nuts you just chopped? Sieve. Ice cream custards? Sieve.I sieve everything in the name of texture perfection. And when it comes to ice cream, in my little world, texture perfection is mandatory. I’ll forgive you for not having sieve-itis with most things, but not when it comes to ice cream. You need a sieve (or two). And you need those sieves to be really good fine mesh sieves. These are not your regular flour-sifting sieves. When I say fine, I mean *really* fine. The kind of fine that will stop strawberry seeds in their tracks. With regular ice cream I sieve every single custard. You won’t need to do that with all of my SANE ice creams, but some of them you will. I have 3 fine mesh sieves in different sizes. Please buy at least one really good fine mesh sieve. Thank you.
Pyrex storage
I am not a fan of plastic for storage. At all. I use these glass Pyrex lidded dishes for storing my ice cream in the freezer. If plastic is capable of absorbing colors and flavors, then that means the plastic is not impermeable. The thought that the chemicals in plastic are therefore capable of transferring back into my ice cream is highly unpleasant to me. In the Brown house, it’s gotta be glass. Specifically, I use the 7-cup round ones for ice cream.
Those are the main things. Of course there is always other miscellaneous equipment – detailed here - such as microplanes, measuring spoons, scale, measuring cups, etc.
INGREDIENTS
I am only listing here things that might not be in your SANE arsenal of kitchen staples yet.
Full-fat Coconut Milk (canned)
Full-fat Coconut Milk that comes in a can is coconut meat made into a thick, creamy milk that solidifies in the ‘fridge. The brand I use is Thai Kitchen unsweetened (of course), and you can find it in most grocery stores in the US. It is often located with the Asian and/or Indian foods.
Nut Milks (carton)
I use a combination of almond, coconut, and hemp milks in my recipes. Always buy the plain unsweetened versions, or vanilla unsweetened if there is no plain. These milks come in cartons and are thin like cows milk.
Guar Gum
Guar Gum is an emulsifier and thickener. It is readily available online. I use Bob’s Red Mill brand. In the US you can find it in most stores that carry Bob’s Red Mill products - PCC, Whole Foods, Safeway, IGA, etc. It is not cheap, but you use tiny amounts in recipes so it will last you a long, long time. Store in an air-tight jar.
Whey Protein Powder
Whey Protein is one of the best sources of protein, and it is extremely useful in increasing our protein intake. Beware – protein powders are a minefield. Most of them are not SANE and not particularly healthy. Luckily, Jonathan has done all the leg work for us here. We use Optimum Nutrition brand 100% Whey Gold Standard. It comes in a variety of flavors and sizes. I only use vanilla in my recipes. You can purchase this at Super Supplement stores, but it is usually cheaper online. I buy it in 10lb bags to further reduce the per pound cost.
Xylitol
Xylitol is a natural sweetener to replace sugar. It is readily available online. I use Xyla brand. I buy it in bulk because I get through so much of it in recipe development that it is a lotcheaper per pound that way. Make sure that you get xylitol that is made from birch bark and not corn. In stores I have seen Xyla in PCC. NOTE: Like chocolate, xylitol is harmful to dogs, so please be sure to keep any xylitol-containing goodies away from them!
Those are the main things. Everything else is perishable or something that I think you will already have on hand, like vanilla extract.
YOU
Patience
Great ice cream is a process. The {really} good news is that SANE ice creams are a lot less of a process than regular ice creams. Woohoo! The not-so-good news is that it is still a process. There’s lots of waiting involved. Once you’ve made the custard you get to wait. Then you churn the ice cream and you get to wait again. Then before you can make another batch you need to re-freeze the freezer bowls and you get to wait again. So you are going to need patience. There will be waiting. If you choose to forego the waiting, you will end up with a not-so-great ice cream, or a dollop of soft-serve. Then you’ll be sad. I’ll be sad too. Because I want your SANE ice cream to be the best ice cream you’ve ever eaten in your life. I promise you it’s totally worth it.
Planning
Plan for AT LEAST 24 hours to go by from when you get the blender out to when you’ll have a scoop of fabulous SANE ice cream in your bowl. Two days is even better planning. I typically plan a week in advance, especially if I am making large quantities or a lot of different flavors at once. Yes, I know the box the ice cream maker came in says you can have frozen treats in 20 minutes, and you can. But don’t expect a fantastic scoop of ice cream in a bowl in 20 minutes. They’re fibbin’. My recipes are not recipes for soft-serve. I’ll probably get to some of those at some point, but first the real stuff.
I am SO RIDICULOUSLY EXCITED for you to have SANE ice cream I can barely stand it!!! If you’ve been around for a while and know how fastidious I am, when I tell you I am beside myself with excitement over how these came out, you know that means they’ll be SO worth the wait.
Get ready, ice cream lovers. It’s nearly time.
PS. Please don’t get mad with me if it takes a little while to post the first recipe. I am doing the best I can here. The upside is that two days ago we had no SANE ice cream in sight – anywhere on the horizon. Now we do.
I’m still screaming!!
SANE™, inSANE, SANEity – terms used in Jonathan Bailor’s book, The Smarter Science of Slim. (Which is now out of print…but a new book will be here in January 2014 and it will be even more awesome!)
Lorna Broad -Just want to thank you for your fantastic dedication to the ice cream cause… I am soooooo ready, let’s just say I have the ice cream freeser bowl already in the freezer cooling
thanks again
Lorna
carrie-Lorna – TOTALLY my pleasure!! Selfishly, I find ice cream making very therapeutic ;-)
Gary Moss -Carrie, Optimum Nutrition whey is only available flavored. Is this going to be acceptable for all the different recipes that call for whey? If so, which flavor do you recommend, vanilla?
carrie-Gary – yes, vanilla. I am trying to keep the “new purchases” to a minimum for everyone. This is the same whey I use for smoothies and other recipes.
Heidi -Costco is now carrying Optimum Nutrition Whey it does not say “Gold Standard” it says (Performance) do you know if this protein is considered Sane? I also looked at an ice cream maker at Costco today 2 qt for $50.00. I think after a little research I will purchase this machine when I go back to Costco. Can’t wait for SANE ice cream. Thank you!
Sigi -Carrie, your enthusiasm is infectious! Bring on the recipe! BRING IT!!
Suzie Price-Hey Carrie, I ordered some of the things I didn’t have – based upon your list and your links. Yea. Eager to make ice cream! You are the best. Love your personality, thoughtfulness, care and genuine ways. Thank you Carrie. Bring on the ice cream!!
carrie-Hurrah for ice cream, Suzie! THANK YOU for you kind words. I’m just me :-)
carrie-Good to know, Gary! I buy the 10 lb bags, because with all the recipe development I get through it fast!
Gary Moss -They don’t carry the 10-lb bags, in my store or online. fyi
Sharon-Hubbie says it’s time to buy a churner!!! YAY!!! ***HAPPY DANCE***
by carrie
Julie Rider - Carrie,
These look great but once again I cannot have whey…do you think I can substitute 1 for 1 with egg white protein?
Sigi - LOL – I’m with you, Carrie. The whole idea of maple syrup and fluffy pancakes with savoury foods like bacon and eggs just Freaks. Me. Out. (Actually, I suspect that many, many other potential dining experiences in America may well freak me out too, but I really must visit some day to find out…)
Rita - I’d love to make these for my kids, but they will not eat coconut. Any suggestions for a substitution?
carrie - Hi Rita – you cannot taste the coconut at all. It is there for the health benefits only, not the flavor. You can sub out with more sunflower seeds but they won’t quite as SANE. Hope that helps!
carrie - Yes, Sigi! Come visit!! I love it here – despite some strange foodie stuff going on :-)
carrie - Julie – I worry that egg white powder will make these incredibly dry. Can you use casein powder?