Griddle Cakes, Peanut Butter and Plum Jam: All Homemade!

I've never fancied myself to be so absolutely domestic...pranching around the kitchen (and not tripping) producing home made everything. Nonono. If I could get away with something store-bought, I would.

However, after I started this low-iodine cooking...which require most food to be prepared at home to avoid forbidden ingredients (e.g. iodized salt, dairy products, yolks, soy based products, etc), it got me hooked. At first I couldn't imagine orchestrating 3 meals per day at home. It's just ridiculous and almost impossible to execute with a full time job, hobbies such as blogging and shopping, obligation to exercise regularly, and other addictions such as Top Chef, Jamie's at home, America's Next Top Model, etc.

But once I started...I couldn't stop! It's crack-like addictive! I kept blurting homemade goodies out of my kitchen like how I blurt stuff I should not have said in girls-only gossip night. Hehe! These holiday season, I even ignored my "underground" cupcake supplier, didn't order a thing! I felt that I should be able to make them at home, and not only that, increase the challenge and make them low iodine! HAH!

The recipe book from www.thyca.org helped me a lot. Those who had gone through this experience shared that breakfast is the most challenging meal to prepare. Hell yeah! When we think of breakfast...we think milk, cheese, eggs, and all sorts of yummy goods with high iodine. Check out some of my favorite low iodine breakfast treats. Take extra care, it's gonna be a rough ride.

Homemade Peanut Butter

Peeling the skin of the nuts was kinda theurapeutic. It tested our patience and persistence!


The beautiful scent of roasted peanuts made us feel better.

Recipe
(from www.thyca.org), halved
- 2 cups unsalted peanuts
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
If nuts are not roasted, preheat oven to 180C. Place peanuts in a single layer on baking sheet
and place in oven. Cook until peanuts are toasted, approx. 6-8 minutes. Shake pan a couple of times
for overall browning. Remove pan from oven.
Place roasted peanuts in food processor (they can still be warm from roasting). Add salt and sugar.
Turn on processor and drizzle in oil. Process until smooth.
(Contributed by Kim S. of New Jersey)

This is soo easy to make, absolutely delicious and it multi tasks! It's not only fantastic accompanying home made bread and cakes for breakfasts, it can be turned into muffins, cookies, and sauces!

Homemade Plum Jam

Look at the sparkles of ruby reds...how gorgeous!

Recipe
- 2 cups of plums (remove core, cut into sections)
- 2 cups of caster sugar
Process plum in food processor, pour into a pot, add sugar, cook on low heat until the color goes deep red and it's thickened, transfer into sterilized jars.

A pot of bubbling gorgeousness.

This baby also multi tasks. It's not only perfect with homemade bread, cakes, or paired with home made peanut butter, it's perfect for glazing grilled meat (chicken, pork, beef), as sauce for stir fry dishes, or even dilluted in water or soda as drinks (hot or cold)!

Homemade Griddle Cakes

Recipe
(from www.thyca.org)
Beat:
- 2 egg whites with
- 2 Tablespoons sugar
Add
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Stir in:
- 1 cup flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
Then add:
- 1/2 cup water (more as desired for batter
thickness)
Stir until the batter is the consistency of thick cream. Spoon batter onto hot griddle which has been
greased with a bit of vegetable oil. Excellent hot with homemade jam or real maple syrup. Freeze leftovers and pop in toaster. Also excellent with breakfast sausage recipe.
(Contributed by Susan L)

Phew! It's almost the end of sous chef's low iodine diet, I'll just have to spill all my low iodine beans out ^_^

As for holiday snap of the day...

This was taken in front of Prince's Building, Central, Hong Kong. They have one of my favorite Christmas tree ornaments this year.

Now, I must go and catch up on my last minute Christmas shopping...the list goes longer and longer, as always ^_^