Playing with ice cream and catching up on recipes...

Last night, Jeff asked if I would make him an ice cream sundae for dessert... I obliged, but we couldn't do anything ordinary here right? I was just being silly and having fun putting something together, but then he said we had to snap a picture of it and put it on the website. It was just some crushed oreo and vanilla ice cream topped with hot fudge, chocolate covered dried cherries, a crushed up sugar cone and a few bittersweet chocolate chips. He had to have a picture... so here it is - happy now?

I mentioned yesterday about some Candied Walnuts we threw on a salad I made up at Jeff's Mom's house. Sweet, spicy, crunchy and nutty - these only take about 15 minutes to make and are quite addictive. Covering the walnuts is a mixture of brown rice syrup, sugar, salt, pepper and a pinch of cayenne for heat. If you don't already have brown rice syrup - feel free to use light corn syrup. I just usually keep the rice syrup on hand and prefer to use it.

I still have a couple recipes to post about and catch up on since we had such a hectic week. We had this Tangelo Pork Stir-Fry earlier and I am still thinking about it how good it was. I never really paid much attention to tangelos before, but I will now and it is just beginning to be the season for them! They are a cross between the smaller tangerines and larger pummelos - the fruit is sweet with a surprising amount of juice in them! You use the zest and juice in the recipe, getting a double shot of flavor in the stir-fry. I used a citrus zester to easily remove the zest, but you could use a vegetable peeler and then cut the them into strips. Thinly sliced pork tenderlion is first quickly cooked in toasted sesame oil, followed by shallots, garlic, fresh ginger and crushed red pepper. Sweet red bell peppers and crunchy celery are then added to cook just until crisp-tender with the tangy tangelo juice and salty soy sauce added in afterwards. Vinegar and cornstarch are whisked together and added in to turn the liquids into a thick glaze that coats the vegetables and strips of tender pork. Since there was a bit of extra sauce, I served this over floral-scented brown jasmine rice. We have a portion left in the freezer and I'm sure we are going to fight over who gets to have it for lunch this week!

Recipes
Candied Walnuts
Tangelo Pork Stir-Fry

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