Chicken supremes a la meunier

Chicken tenders dusted with Madras curry flavored flour lightly sautéed in coconut oil. Coconut oil based chicken gravy flavored with poultry seasoning proprietary to Spice Boys, Denver. They're two blocks from my house, so what the heck.

I am love, love, love'n this Tropical Traditions Black Label® coconut oil. It's a keeper. Contrary to presumption, it does not make everything taste like coconut.

Mix curry powder with flour and S/P. Flatten chicken tenders with a pounder. Dust with flour mixture. Sauté in coconut oil.

Remove tenders from the pan, add a teaspoon of flour to excess oil and heat through to thoroughly cook the flour. Toss in three or so frozen cubes of homemade chicken broth. Stir until sauce forms and ice completely melts, about 2 minutes.

Dressing = olive oil +raspberry vinegar + S/P

Does it get any simpler than this? No! It doesn't.

Moon pies, cupcakes with coconut oil

I am so well pleased with my coconut oil experimentation.



I made vanilla frosting incorporating coconut oil. It is not purely coconut oil, but rather a combination of butter, Crisco®, and Tropical Traditions® black label coconut oil.

The moon pies and cupcakes are boxed cake mix which is incredibly inexpensive. I divided the box in half by weight and made two batches, one with coconut oil and one with vegetable oil. The batch with coconut oil won hands down.

Cupcakes at altitude is a bit of a trick. You can not get a straightforward answer on this by searching the internet. Most recommendations are to add a few tablespoons flour and to increase the eggs. I just backed off from the water instead of adding flour. I oiled the pans with coconut oil and used a scant tablespoon of batter per cup. This turned out to be too much. Pictured above are the coconut oil batches using a tablespoon of batter. Later batches used a teaspoon of batter. Made with vegetable oil, they all collapsed.

The moon pies were made with a coconut oil and a tablespoon of batter. I dropped the batter on Silpat®. I should have used only a teaspoon and even denser batter. Oh well. Next time.

For the record, this frosting is not an improvement over commercial frosting, IMHO. But I'm not giving up. It occurs to me buttermilk, or cream cheese would be an improvement. I collected a dozen recipes and averaged the amounts. All the recipes I collected said, "This is the best!" They're not. It's a bit too saccharine to suit me. Another thing I learned; the bowl of my Bosch mixer sits atop the motor which gets hot with prolonged use. It doesn't do to blend saturated fats for much longer than a few minutes. It melts the fat, and that's not good. I had to re-chill it and fluff again. Although the coconut oil is very stable at room temperature, it hardens more than butter when chilled. It's fun.

Still, after all I've read on high altitude baking, cakes, cupcakes etc., and the difficulties encountered by bakers, I must say, coconut oil appears to be the perfect ingredient to control results. I melted it to liquify the fat before mixing it in.

Apple, plum, oatmeal with trail mix pie

The experimental crust of this pie is made with coconut oil in place of butter, shortening, or lard.  I do believe the experiment is successful.  It results in a slightly crunchy crust, at least mine is.  I like it.

This started out as an ordinary apple pie but then I decided to include plums.  Then instead of using corn starch or flour to thicken, I chose my prepared oatmeal mixture which includes trail mix.  I augmented with more dried fruit, raisins, cherries, cranberries, and pecans.  I added a cup.  Decided that wasn't enough so added another cup.  I included coconut oil in place of butter in the filling.   This made more filling than the pie could contain so I ate it apart from the pie. It was a little bit like the most amazing granola in the history of ever.

Pie crust

*  1 + 1/2 cup sifted flour (cold)
*  3 rounded tablespoons coconut oil (cold)
*  1/8 teaspoon salt
*  1 Tablespoon palm sugar, organic sugar, whatever
*  1/4 cup (cold) water

Rub the chilled coconut oil into the flour in the usual way to pea-sized flour-coated nodules.  Add just enough water to bring the mixture together.  This needn't be sweetened.  It can be seasoned however the impulse strikes.

Pie filling

*  5 or 6 apples, depending on size
*  3 plums
*  1 + 1/2 cup to 2 cups oatmeal combined  with trail mix
*  extra dry fruit as desired
*  1 rounded tablespoon coconut oil

I used organic palm sugar because I had it on hand but it's not necessary.  Any sugar will work, including brown sugar or honey, or none at all if you prefer to keep it to the natural sugar in the fruit. I added very little, just a tablespoon.

My prepared oatmeal mixture contains a load of cinnamon, various nuts and dried fruit, so I didn't add any more spices.  If I didn't use the oatmeal, then I'd have added spices, namely, cinnamon, allspice, clove or possibly ginger.  I have a tendency to overdo things.

Pre-bake pie crust for 12 minutes at 400℉.  Heat the pie filling on stove top  to cause apples to shrink and fruit to release liquid which is soaked up by oatmeal. Bake for 25 minutes at 400℉.

Diced salmon in miso

Diced salmon, diced onion and capers left over from salmon on sourdough breakfast. Lightly sautéed in coconut oil, placed in bowl before adding mixed light and dark miso, which imparts to the miso a delightfully rich unctuous goodness it would ordinarily lack.

Plus
* one crushed and finely diced garlic clove
* several cubes of previously frozen homemade chicken broth, up to eight cubes.
* chicken seasoning proprietary to Spice Boys, Denver
* extra sage, because I just love sage. Love it. Love it. Love it.

Cubed salmon in coconut oil vinaigrette

The coconut oil is heated and the vegetables are barely cooked. The lime juice is added to complete the vinaigrette and the salmon is added at the very end and cooked briefly and barely using mostly carry-over heat. Served warm.

* rigatoni pasta
* two tablespoons coconut oil
* two stalks celery
* half an onion diced
* garlic clove cut in slivers
* mushrooms sliced (not cooked)
* half a bell pepper (not cooked)
* half a small zucchini
* juice of half a lime, added to coconut oil and vegetables after they're cooked but still in the pan
* salmon steak cubed, added at the very end, barely cooked through
* S/P