Unexpected and delicious surprises

Time for something other than soup or stew, am I right?  Or at least something to go with that stew or soup?  With Valentine’s so close (and a very healthy and breathtakingly good recipe coming soon) our thoughts turn to the sweeter things in life.

Talking about Valentine, I just love this quote from Dr. Tae Yun Kim, and it continues to inspire me.  It’s not only beautiful and poetic, but also very fundamental and true.

“You are who I dreamed of….

And so you came to be.

And you shall be with me beyond time.

I will never leave you,

and 

my love will follow you

as you follow my light,

just as the tail of the bird follows the wing.”

(The First Element, page 121)

So I got to thinking, with all the soups and stews I have been making – so popular in our family with this crazy rainy and snowy weather – what can I make that boosts our regular dinners into something special.  Should still be healthy, yet a real treat.

I already know that cornbread is very popular here, and cornbread muffins as well.  This recipe that Shirley came up with years ago is a well-tested and well-enjoyed taste experience.  You can get the recipe for that here.  I also know that often I get the ‘complaint’ or should we say, suggestion that the muffins are “empty” and couldn’t I put something in them.  Hmmmmm……Dr. Tae Yun Kim also is my ultimate not only Martial Arts teacher but also gives incredible encouragement to try different and new things.

How about some berry filling?

I happened to have some blueberry cheesecake filling stashed – good thing nobody found it – and I used that.  It’s a very simple filling – just get blueberries, fresh or frozen ( and any other berries work great here as well, and I imagine pretty much any fruit filling) boil them with a little rose wine, or water if you don’t like wine, add as much sugar as you need but don’t make it too sweet – and thicken with a little corn or sweet rice starch that you have dissolved first in some water – this will prevent hard little pebbles in the sauce.  Let the fruit sauce cool.

When you are ready, fill muffin cups, or bread pan, or both as I did 🙂 with a thin layer of cornbread mixture, then add a generous layer of fruit filling, and top with another thin layer of cornbread batter.  Bake as directed in Shirley’s recipe and enjoy, and bask in the compliments you are sure to receive!

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Ice cream Sandwiches, gluten free!!!

At Jung Suwon, we have many different programs for young people, and Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim has given the opportunity to some Jung Suwon warriors, if they so desire, to help build a training course.  Think Army, or Marine, training courses!   This has been very rewarding, and loads of fun!  There was a lot of heavy physical activity involved, like digging holes, making cement, hauling lumber, and things like that.  It really means a lot to these Jung Suwon warriors to help build “their” training area!  As Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim puts it, they are putting their energy into it, and it will be truly “theirs.”

Of course, Jung Suwon warriors get hungry and deserve treats!  It was hot, and ice cream was in order.  But just plain ice cream?  That’s difficult to serve “out there.”  Ice cream sandwiches are neat and easy to transport little packages!

I had just bought a bunch of coconut flour because Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim had asked me to check it out, since it seems to be a very healthy type of flour.  But I had no clue yet as to how to use it.  I had learned from Shirley at Gluten Free Easily that it absorbs a lot more liquids than other flours.

The recipe on the back of the package seemed ideal.  “Allison’s wheat Free Brownies.”

Here is the recipe, straight from the bag:

Here is the front of the bag, if you would like to get the same brand, but I am sure any brand will work:

I made them almost exactly as per recipe, except instead of butter I used coconut oil, and for sugar I used coconut palm sugar, and I left out the chocolate chips.

Here is how they looked as just plain brownies (for those that couldn’t tolerate dairy):

They tasted really really good already, even without the ice cream!

I cut the remaining pieces horizontally….

and filled them with Ben and Jerry’s vanilla ice cream:

put a generous layer of ice cream on the bottom brownie half, and top with the other, wrap and freeze.  It only took about an hour to freeze these beauties.

Needless to say, all this goodness was gobbled up in no time at all!

For those of us that aren’t familiar with coconut flour yet, one word of caution:

mix the brownie batter together just before you put it in the oven – if you have to let it sit (like I did on my first batch) – the batter turned to cement!  Appearently the coconut flour is a moisture hog and will absorb every last drop, unless you can get it in the oven and bake it before it has a chance to do that!

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Midnight miracle muffins

We had some unexpected guests over, and it was late.  Very wonderful people, but I had nothing to offer, and I was about to get stressed about this situation.  But just in time I remembered something Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim shared with us in  Jung Suwon class, (thankfully it’s also written down in her book, “Seven Steps to Inner Power:”

“Ideally, your awareness should be like a pool of water.  Light travels easily into still water, and you can see right into it.  It becomes very clear.  But when the wind blows and the water is agitated, or when the water is polluted, you can’t see what’s in it clearly.  So how can you make your mind like a pool of still, clean water, undisturbed by turbulent surface thoughts, free from polluting feelings and emotions, so that the light of your consciousness travels easily into your awareness?”

I calmed down and went to work.  The guests, even though not Jung Suwon warriors themselves, would appreciate something reasonably healthy, so my initial thought was to make my “go to” pound cake recipe, but as muffins for shorter baking time, and add fruit and nuts.  But, halfway through mixing it up, I realized that I didn’t have some of the key ingredients, such as buttermilk or even milk.  Oh, and it was a gluten containing recipe too!  Stress returning – I had already creamed the butter and sugar (half of the original recipe) and eggs!  Now what?

“You are creative energy,” these words from Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim rang through my head.

I gathered all the different kinds of flours I had at home, and meanwhile turned on the oven to a safe, all purpose 350 degrees.  Lined muffin pans with cute butterfly liners and went back to the mixing.

Want to see the result?

Want to try re-create them?

Here is what I did – and feel free to substitute to your heart’s content, as long as you know what you are doing!

Recipe for gluten-free, Midnight miracle muffins:

2 1/2 sticks butter (I imagine coconut oil would work, 1 stick butter = 1/2 cup) and 2 sticks would work well too I imagine

1 1/2 cups brown or palm sugar

4 eggs

3 1/2 cups flour total, I used 1 cup almond flour, 1/2 cup Teff flour, and 2 cups of Shirley’s gluten free flour

1/2 tsp Xanthum gum,

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 cup yoghurt, strawberry banana yoghurt (you can, of course, use any flavor you like!)

cream together the butter, sugar and add eggs one at a time.  Slowly mix in yoghurt and rest of ingredients, but make sure all the flours you use are blended together well before incorporating into the batter.

Bake for about 15 – 25 minutes, then share these wonderful morsels with those you love!

If you train at Jung Suwon, remember to bake up a batch and share with your fellow Jung Suwon warriors (hint 😉 )

Credit where credit is due: the very original recipe I started to work from was from here.

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