June 18 – International Picnic Day / International Sushi Day
I have to admit, I didn’t make this sushi – we bought it from a local shop 🙂 . My attempts at making sushi have not been so successful in the past, so in the interest of this challenge, I thought it would just be more suitable if I bought some … gluten-free of course! And I was fortunate enough to have some time to spend on a picnic with my awesome husband (love you heaps, Grant!). So today, you get 2 food days for the price of one – SCORE!
June 19 – Dry Martini Day
Ummm … no.
June 20 – Vanilla Milkshake Day
Did you know that most generic branded ice cream (plain vanilla) contains wheat? I sent Grant on a mission to find some gluten-free vanilla ice cream so I could make this milkshake. Simply 100g ice cream, 125mL milk and a dash of vanilla extract. I’m not a milkshake sort of person any more, but this was yummy!
June 21 – Peaches and Cream Day
I thought of making a peaches and cream pie, but I did that last year (see here for a picture), so I thought I’d try a peaches and cream slice. This recipe came from Sally’s Baking Addiction (here) – I love her website! This is definitely a keeper – the base is full of oaty-goodness, the filling is a nice blend of peaches and sugar (not too sweet) and the streusel on top … delicious!
June 22 – Onion Rings Day
Never thought the humble onion would get a day all to itself! I used to love onion rings, especially with burgers. Today I tried to make them for the first time – and to try to be a little more healthy, I baked them, rather than fried, using polenta/cornmeal as the coating. Unfortunately, I think I was trying to be a little too clever and they really didn’t work – the coating didn’t stick, but they tasted great with the homemade chicken burgers we had with them!
June 23 – Pecan Sandy Day
Not being American, I didn’t know what a Sandy was. Apparently it’s a sugar cookie. I did my research and came up with a recipe (here) and tried it. The actual description on the recipe was ‘a sugar cookie, rolled in confectioner’s sugar’. And that is a pretty accurate description. Still yummy, though!
June 24 – Pralines Day
Again, not really sure what constituted a praline before this. In the link from the National Food Days calendar, there was a recipe for a New Orleans-style pecan praline. After a bit more research, I found that pralines in Australia mean something a little different – Australian pralines are more about nuts in a sugar syrup, baked and then cracked into more like a brittle. Pralines in America appear to be nuts in a sugar syrup, but with milk and butter added, heated to a certain temperature and then cooled rapidly before forming little cookie shapes.
Since the food calendar linked to an American recipe, I tried the New Orleans recipe. Very (VERY) sugary, but nice … until my mother-in-law chipped her tooth while eating one! Mind you, she told me she had also chipped a tooth while eating an ice cream cone that had melted enough to completely saturate the cone, so I don’t think it was necessarily anything to do with my cooking!
Coming up next week:
- June 25: National Strawberry Parfait day
- June 26: National Chocolate Pudding day
- June 27: National Indian Pudding day / National Orange Blossom day
- June 28: National Tapioca Day
- June 29: National Almond Butter Crunch day
- June 30: National Ice Cream Soda day
- July 1: Creative Ice Cream Flavour day / National Gingersnap day
Stay tuned to see which ones I choose to make/eat and how successful (or not) I am!
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