After-dinner protein hit

Aka double chocolate mug cake. A few minutes, real food ingredients, gluten free, grain free, dairy free, low fodmap, over 15g of protein, can be low carb ... And so good.

2 mugs:

1/4 cup plantain flour or almond flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
Tiny bit of stevia powder, like 1/8 tsp

4T pure peanut or almond butter
2T maple syrup (or equivalent of erythritol + water)
1/3 cup water
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Optional:
1/4 cup chocolate chips, low carb if desired.
1 oz Chambord or orange liqueur

Warm the peanut butter, syrup and water, and whisk til smooth. Thoroughly mix in the eggs one by one, and the vanilla.

Mix the dry ingredients together, stir in the liquid until completely mixed. If using chocolate chips, stir them in.

Divide mixture between two oiled/sprayed coffee cups and microwave them together for about 1 1/2 minutes total. If using the liqueur, make a hole in the top of each cake with a teaspoon and pour in 1/2 oz. Eat immediately.

Cholla bud, chile, and chickpea salad

Tastes like desert. Cholla buds taste similar to artichokes - but really, if you don't have them, probably just makes some other salad instead.

1 cup cholla buds, cooked (could be fresh I guess - I used dry), split lengthwise
1 can drained and rinsed chickpeas/garbanzo beans (or equivalent freshly cooked, would probably be even better)
6 Hatch chiles, roasted, seeded, chopped
1/4 cup agua chiltepin (or cider vinegar and hot sauce)
splash of sesame oil
splash of peanut or olive oil
2 T salted lemon liquid
1 clove garlic, finely chopped

Mix all in a bowl. Let stand for 20 minutes to blend flavours. Check seasoning before serving.

Would probably be even better with spring onions/green onions.

Desert/date brownie with prickly pear buttercream

I was in southern Arizona last weekend and it reminded me how much I love the Sonoran desert. It's enchanting in almost every particular, not least the taste. I may have slightly gone shopping, though not to excess, of course. Back home, I wanted to use some of those ingredients. Also, wanted brownies. And what is life without pink buttercream?

Took this as a starting point. But then it went thataways ... straight southwest. 

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups chopped fresh or frozen dates (not dried)
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1/2 cup salted butter
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 5 T pecan meal
• 1/4 cup mesquite flour
• 1/4 cup black onyx cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup regular cocoa powder
• 2 t baking powder
• 1 t cinnamon

Method

Line an 8 inch square pan.

Pour the water over the dates and leave until tepid. Blend or process to a smooth puree. Keep a cup of the mixture and save the remainder for another recipe. Add the butter and let soften if required until the mixture can be whisked smooth. Add the vanilla and eggs, whisk again.

In another bowl, put all the dry ingredients and gently whisk until blended.

Heat the oven to 375 F. Add the date mixture to the dry ingredients and whisk until thoroughly blended. Turn into the prepared pan, smooth the surface. Bake about 20 minutes or until centre surface is dry and not jiggly.

Optionally, when cool, spread with prickly pear buttercream and sprinkle with prickly pear margarita/lemonade dry mix to decorate.

Prickly Pear Buttercream

• 1/4 cup prickly pear juice (or syrup or puree)
• 1 t triple sec or orange juice (optional)
• 2 T butter, softened.
• Icing/confectioners sugar - approximately 3 cups

Whisk butter and fruit liquid together until smooth, warming if needed. Whisk in sugar until desired consistency reached.

For the record, I used: 

• dates, a mixture from China Date Ranch CA & Sphinx Date Ranch AZ 
• pecan meal from Green Valley Pecans AZ
• mesquite flour from San Xavier Co-op Farm AZ
• wildcrafted prickly pear juice (actually collected the fruit from Utah but of course AZ is full of it in due season) 
• Jill's prickly pear margarita mix (can't find a link, you're on your own, sorry. Bought it in Tucson.)

Green devilled eggs

All the southwestern 'oh yes' is in these creamy, spicy little monsters.

If you can't get dried Hatch chile powder then make ordinary devilled eggs by using cayenne instead and lemon instead of lime. They will still be terrific.

Ingredients

6 fresh good eggs, boiled hard, cooled, peeled.
spring onions, 3 small or 2 large
2 - 3 tsp hot Hatch green chile powder
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp dried or fresh chervil, finely chopped
1/2 tsp dried dill or fresh dill
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp salt or to taste
1/3 cup mayonnaise or more if desired
juice of 1/2 - 1 lime, or 1/2 - 1 T tarragon vinegar, or some of each
finely chopped chives, dill, or Hatch chile to garnish

Method

Slice each egg through lengthwise and carefully remove the yolk from each half. Finely slice or chop the spring onions. Thoroughly mix the egg yolks, spring onions, herbs, spices, salt, and mayonnaise together in a bowl. A fork is good for crumbling the yolks.

Add the lime juice or vinegar and stir in well. Check seasoning. Use a piping bag or teaspoon to fill the hollows of the egg whites with the mixture. Chill. Garnish. Serve.

Or, for travelling, carefully pack the egg whites. Put the yolk mixture into a small bag. When ready to serve, snip a corner of the bag and squeeze the mixture into the whites, garnish and serve.

Green curry salmon cakes

Serves 4 or 5 depending on appetite. Sorry no photos yet, these were made on a busy evening and I forgot. Will update next time I make them, because they were definitely good enough to make again! Prep plus cook time about 40 minutes.

Ingredients

1.5 lb fresh salmon fillet, skinned
1/2 cup chopped fresh coriander
1/4 cup fresh basil (more if it seems a bit wimpy)
1 clove chopped garlic
juice of 1 lime
2 tsp green curry paste
2 eggs
Dessicated coconut OR (GF?) panko crumbs as required ( approx 1 cup)
coconut oil for pan frying

To serve, per person:
salad greens, approx 1/2 - 1 cup
prickly pear syrup - approx 1 tsp
Hatch chile peppers, roasted and chopped into strips, approx 1 T
thick unsweetened Greek yoghurt, approx 2 T

Prep and cook

1. Slice the salmon lengthwise into thin strips, then crosswise to make small dice. Remove bones as you go. 
2. Chop the garlic and herbs finely, and add to the same board where the salmon is. Add the green curry paste and lime juice. 
3. With a broad, long, sharp, chef's knife, mix and chop the fish, herbs, and spices together. You want the aromatics evenly mixed with the fish, and also to mince up some of the fish so it will start to hold together as a very rough paste with pieces in it, rather than falling apart as individual pieces coated with herbs and spice.  
4. Once the fish mixture starts to hold together, add the eggs one by one, mixing thoroughly after each. It will get quite sloppy. I do all this on the chopping board, but you could turn it into a bowl if you want. 
5. Add coconut or crumbs to the mixture to make it firm again - if using coconut, remember it will take some time to absorb the liquid. 
6. Divide into hamburger-ish sized patties. I made 10 from this quantity, to serve 5 people as a light meal. 
7. Press more coconut or crumbs onto both surfaces of each cake. Leave to stand for ten to thirty minutes on a tray or plate in the fridge - a good opportunity to get the garnishes ready. 
8. Heat a little coconut oil in a wide pan and fry each cake until golden on both sides and firm. The exact time will vary, but about 3 or 4 minutes per side. It depends on how much oil you use as well as the heat. Start them out hot - it's better to turn them down so as not to burn, rather than to overcook them while trying to get a good colour on them. 

Plate and serve

On each plate, put a handful on greens, a blob of yoghurt, a tidy pile of chile strips. Drizzle a little prickly pear syrup around the edge. Put the hot cake(s) on the greens and serve straight away.

Traveller's Uncereal

For those of us who can't or won't do oats and other grains at breakfast, here are a few recipes for things you can put in a jar, chuck in the suitcase or picnic basket, and mix with yoghurt, juice, or water to make a quick, high-protein breakfast.

Each recipe makes 1/2 cup, about 2 or 3 servings. Obviously these are suggestions and can be almost endlessly substituted. I usually do better with chia than LSA, and don't like much sweetening, some people can't have nuts or pieces of seeds or don't like coconut, and some will enjoy it with honey or their diet allows dried fruit ... You can ring the changes freely on this concept. Make it your way! Here are a few ideas to get started with.

Method 

Either layer the ingredients in a 1/2 cup jar, or mix in a bowl and transfer to a container. Store cool (ish) and dry (very). (Sometimes I'll add one of those little dessicant packets from some other food package if I know it's going to be hard to keep it dry - e.g. almost anywhere in NZ.)

Peanut coconut cheer

To serve, dig out a couple of tablespoons (if you've layered it, make sure you dig through all the layers!) Mix with yoghurt or a little water or juice or milk or whatever and let stand a few minutes. Optionally, add fresh fruit. Eat.

Peanut coconut cheer

• 3 T peanut powder
• 3 T dessicated coconut or coconut threads
• 4 T chia seed

Cinnamon or chocolate almond cheer

• 4 T LSA or ground almonds
• 2 T dry toasted almonds, chopped or slivered. Or sunflower seeds
• Cinnamon (pinch or two should do it) or cocoa powder (say 1/2tsp) to taste 
• Stevia powder to taste

Seedy morning

• 2 T chia seeds
• 2 T black sesame seeds (black looks better, if you have to, use unhulled white/brown)
• 1 T sunflower seeds
• 1 T coconut threads or flakes
• 1 T pumpkin seeds