BSI – Pistachio

Nothing like waiting until the last minute on this weeks BSI!  When Tony and I went to Whole Foods a few weeks ago, they had a gelato bar – he picked pistachio and I had a tiny spoon of salted caramel.

We’ve both had pistachio on our brain since then, and what a perfect opportunity to try to make some when this weeks BSI ingredient is pistachio!

Biz’s Pistachio Gelato

• 2 cups shelled pistachios
• 4 cups vanilla soy milk
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch

Put pistachios in a food processor and finely grind them.  Put in a large bowl.  Put 3 cups of the soy milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Just as it starts to simmer, remove from heat.  Meanwhile mix the last cup of soy milk with the sugar and cornstarch and mix well.  Add to hot milk, return pan to medium heat and cook for an additional 10 minutes – it should be thicker.

Now it was at this point based on several other recipes I saw, they wanted you to strain the pistachio mixture and throw out the pistachio’s that didn’t go through – what??!!  Why would I throw away all that goodness?  So I mixed everything together, let it cool and then refrigerated it for 8 hours.

Then I just turned on my icecream maker and 20 minutes later, you have soft gelato.  This morning, it looks just like icecream, but either way, we both thought it was delicious!

Our next project is to see if I can substitute splenda for the sugar – has anyone tried a sugar free icecream at home?

It was 11:30 when I realized I hadn’t even eaten breakfast yet!  So I heated up two pieces of my pizza from Friday night with a big bowl of watermelon.

And then I canned 8 pints of my baja fresh salsa.  I am sending some jars for Amanda and Andy to try! I may have had just enough left over to have some chips and salsa for a snack 😀

So by now it was around 3:00, and I knew I wanted to get a bike ride in.  Two things were not in my favor though – not enough fuel before heading out and it was hot out!  I did my 9.8 mile loop around my neighborhood and I probably stopped four times to catch my breath.  I also went the opposite direction so I wouldn’t have to end my ride with the big hill.   Well, this way was a lot harder because at one point, one mile was a hill climb!

It took me an hour, and when I got back I think I was overheated because I was nautious and didn’t even want to drink water.  I took a cool shower, which helped, and after a couple hours I felt fine – I made sure to drink lots of water – that’s another problem, I don’t drink nearly enough water on the weekends.

Tony bought a pot roast last week that needed to be cooked up.  Normally pot roasts have to cook low and slow because of the type of meat – but if you marinated them and grill them, its delicious!  I came up with a new marinade after picking out what I liked from a bunch of other marinades:

Biz’s Beef Marinade

• 1/2 cup whiskey
• 1/4 cup teriyaki sauce
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons Splenda brown sugar (can use regular)
• black pepper
• juice of one lemon
• pinch of salt (not too much because the teriyaki is salty)
• 2 tablespoons cilantro

I made the marinade around 9:00 a.m. and we grilled at 6:00.  I am sure you could marinate it overnight too with no problem.

I notoriously used too many coals again!  Tony said I had enough coals to cook a turkey!

After letting it rest for 15 minutes – my plate:

With zucchini “pasta” on the side – Shelley, thanks for the reminder to make it!  The marinated meat was delicious – full of flavor and tender.

We are in the home stretch for the 101 Days of Summer Challenge! Only one more week left! While there is a pretty large group that dropped out before the end of the first month, there are about 12 participants who have given me weekly updates and are doing great.  Don’t forget to email me your week 13 update!

I am making red beans and rice with ham hocks and andouille sausage – fingers crossed it turns out.  My beans have been soaking since yesterday, but Tony and I have not had the best luck working with dried beans.

Enjoy your Sunday!