Steamed Flan Recipe

Follow all the directions for the original flan recipe, except instead of placing the mold into one inch deep hot water to be baked in an oven, you will steam the flan instead. Depending on who you are, you might already have a metal or bamboo steamer in which you can fill the bottom level with water and the second level with the mold filled with the flan mixture. If not, you will, like FS, improve. Generally, FS looks for a large pot with a cover. Then, she considers what she can use as a stand: either a flipped over bowl or a metal stand upon which to the place the mold filled with the flan. Then, stand in place, an inch or two of water is added to the pot and then the mold placed on top of the stand. Heat to a simmer and cover the pot, leaving a small sliver open for some of the steam to escape. The water does not need to touch the mold. The steam is enough to cook the flan. Moreover, steaming takes a shorter time than baking and does not result in the eggy, hard layer atop the flan.


Steam for 45-50 minutes instead of a full hour (and maybe less depending on the size of your pot or the intensity of your stove's flame - a small pot or a good steamer may result in only 30 minutes steam time). And voila, flan!

Beautifully whole and perfect with only minimal bubbling along the sides...

Perfection is this: the sweet, smooth feel of flan.

Pumpkin Pie Filling Recipe and Sweet Potato Pie Filling Recipe

Pumpkin Pie Filling

1 c. pumpkin

3/4 c. milk

1 ripe banana

Dash of cinnamon and nutmeg (or as much as to your heart's content)

Heat milk and pumpkin together in microwave (since FS was using frozen pumpkin). Mash with banana and spices. Pour into an oven-safe bowl or pan such as aluminum foil or Pyrex or Corningware glass.

Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes or longer depending on caramelization desire.

The pumpkin could also be switched out for sweet potato.

Sweet Potato Pie Filling

FS used a similar recipe to the one above, except that the pumpkin was replaced with sweet potato and the milk was replaced with soy milk. However, sweet potato requires some sugar to be added to it since sweet potato is starchier than pumpkin. Depending on the soy milk you use, the resulting mixture may be fairly thick. Also, this requires no baking (except for the crust, the crust requires baking).

Microwave the sweet potato. Then blend sweet potato, ripe banana, soy milk, and sugar. Add water as need be to adjust consistency and sugar as need be for sweetness.

Close-up of the sweet potato pie with slices of banana pressed into it.

Sweet potato pie.

Later on FS and her mother because lazy about the crust and just had sweet potato pie filling.

Pumpkin Pancakes Recipe

Pumpkin Pancakes 

1/4 c. flour

1/4 c. pumpkin

1/4 c. milk

1/2 tbsp. oil

1 tsp. honey

Mix. Cook on oiled pan. Makes two large pancakes. FS ate the pumpkin pancakes with slices of ripe banana instead of syrup.

Brandy Strawberry Yogurt Ice Cream

Food Scavenger has stumbled upon a surprise: brandy is very good with fruit. Also, Food Scavenger has stumbled upon the perfect ratio for fruit ice cream.


Awesome and fruity since 2011... (background orange is brandy peach compatriot ice cream - new and improved)

Brandy Strawberry Ice Cream 1 to 1 1/2 c. strawberries (halved or quartered or diced)
1 c. yogurt
1 c. milk
1/4 c. brandy
2 tbsp. sugar

Soak strawberries in brandy and sugar overnight.

Blend with yogurt and milk.

Pour into ice cream maker per ice cream maker's instructions.

10-15 minutes in, add diced strawberries.

Now, the general ratio for brandy fruit ice cream is:

Brandy Fruit Ice Cream
1 to 1 1/2 c. fruit (more if incorporated pieces of fruit too)
1 c. yogurt
1 c. milk
1/4 c. brandy
2 tbsp. sugar (more depending on sweet preference)

Brandy Banana Yogurt Ice Cream

Per usual, Food Scavenger has been on a food craze. There are some flavors that surprise her. Banana, for one. It is after all banana. What could be more innocent, more bland, more there to be tried and gotten over with than banana?

But that is where Food Scavenger was sorely wrong.

For Banana Ice Cream, while not bad-ass like peach or a heady caffeine kick like coffee is truly Food Scavenger's best friend. And the best friend to all ice cream flavors. It's simpatico. It's just that nice.

Brandy Banana Ice Cream
3 bananas
1 c. yogurt
1 c. milk
1/4 c. brandy
2 tbsp. sugar

Soak bananas in sugar and brandy overnight. 

Blend with yogurt and milk.

Pour into ice cream maker per ice cream maker's instructions.

Serve as you please alone in a cone or with an ice cream buddy.

The Banana Ice Cream (the four scoops below) is topped with a scoop of Coffe Irish Cream Ice Cream and chocolate cheerios.

Here, Banana Ice Cream plays second fiddle to the beautiful color of Strawberry Ice Cream (in the forefront on the right) and Peach Ice Cream (in the back, left-hand top corner).

And from the man himself...

Rum and Raisin Ice Cream

Sometimes, Food Scavenger can be quite foolish. Like typing up an entire post in a sticky note and then inexplicably closing the sticky note. Like scoffing inside at the idea of rum and raisin ice cream usurping flavors like coffee and chocolate.

Rum and raisin ice cream is Food Scavenger's mother's favorite ice cream.

The flavor also seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth (or off the nearby grocery store). Like mocha cappucino with spherical brownie bites (that had a crunchy inside that released an intensely coffee-flavored cookie). Life coffee fudge chunk.

However, Food Scavenger is always eager to delve into uncharted, gustatory waters.

Food Scavenger also happened to have used up a 2 liter bottle of brandy.

Don't look at Food Scavenger like that. Food Scavenger is dedicated. So, there she went to get herself this piratey libation of rum.

Then, she began to make the ice cream. She soaked raisins in rum. She saw the base come together, fluffy and white like snow, smooth as silk. She tasted this rum and raisin nonsense.

And was converted. She devoured this exotic, refreshing entity and then flapped around the kitchen trying to get rid of her brain freeze.

Rum and Raisin Ice Cream
2 1/2 to 3 c. milk (Food Scavenger happened to use 2% this time)
3/4 c. rum
2/3 c. raisins

Soak the raisins in 1/2 cup of rum overnight.

The raisins should be plump, having soaked in the rum-goodness.

Plump and drunk on rum.

There should still be a little rum at the bottom. Pour this rum into a 1/4 cup measuring cup. The measuring cup should be roughly half-filled, so about 1/8 cup. Fill the measuring cup with brandy till full. Pour this into a container (preferably, the container that will also keep the ice cream). Then add the milk.

Prep ice cream maker per ice cream maker's instructions. Add milk and brandy mixture.

10-15 minutes in, in which the mixture will have become smooth and fluffy, add the raisins.

Snowy fluff with scattered raisins.

Enjoy.

If raisins be not your sweet of choice, then the base could become a horchata ice cream base by adding cinnamon and sugar or be the base for any other mixture (with cookies maybe or chocolate, etc).

For the Food Scavenger's enjoyment, Food Scavenger supplemented the rum and raisin ice cream with a chocolate puddle cookie and poured onto the affair an extra dash of rum.

That's the life for Food Scavenger.