My House Smells Divine

Brewin' up a batch of chai today. Plan on keeping some and giving out the rest. 

Sure do love this stuff!

Fun Fact

One can almost never have too much garlic.

It's true.

Almost.

Not For The Faint Of Heart

This is so not for me, but I know a few people who would love it. *shudder*

Today's Goodness

Ah yes, the French Press. The only way that I make my coffee in the mornings. It's not that I think it is bad, per se, to use a coffee maker, but I just really like the ultra fresh flavor that comes from coffee brewed in a French Press.

Now that I have plenty of experience using it for coffee, I am going to look into brewing small batches of chai in it. I am not sure if it will work, actually, because every recipe I've read for making chai at home calls for the spices to be boiled for a time so as to fully release all flavors. We shall see. Today, in fact, I am off to one of my favorite local markets to see if I can't find all the spices I need to make me a batch of chai. I am really excited to try! Also, we have these most wonderful neighbors who keep bringing us tamales and other culinary goodness so I am going to bake them a batch of my Pumpkin Crumbles.

Got my work cut out for me, so off I go!

Rose Lassi

Right now I am drinking my very first rose lassi. A traditional Indian drink used to aide digestion or is just simply enjoyed after meals. I may not have made it the best or right way, as I imagine it should taste a little better than it does. I added real rose petals so maybe next time I won't. Or maybe I won't add the rose water and see how that tastes. As I've been drinking it, I thought that a mint lassi would be good. We didn't grow mint this year because it pretty much takes over our garden so I'd have to get a bunch at the store, but it may be worth it.

Here's a recipe, for those so inclined:

LASSI:

About a cup of plain (unsweetened) yogurt {or indeed use sweetened and just don't add sweetener afterward}

rose water (can be found in Asian markets, but be careful which you get, mine seems fake...)

rose blossoms (optional)

A few teaspoons of honey (until it's sweet enough for you)

Whizzz it up in the blender (until it's frothy and smooth)

Two (DoughDough) Birds With One Stone

Image via the Kitchen DoughDough site

The ever-lovely Kitchen DoughDough has a dream. A big and lovely and worthy dream - and I want to help!! Not to mention, by my mentioning KDD's dream, I could also be the lucky, lucky recipient of her fabulous giveaway!

I've already written to Ellen (yes, THE Ellen!) to tell her about KDD's dream and about how much I too believe in flowing one's dreams. If you want to help give someone the chance to realize a dream, you too can write to Ellen, or even participate in the other ways KDD has outlined. I nominated the Mother's Day Cupcakes because I love to sew, but I was really torn between these and these - both flodded me with childhood memories! :)

Good luck, Kitchen DoughDough!! I hope your dream comes true!!!

Some Like it Tart

Seeing as how I've had such a rough week, I knew I had to do some baking to make things once again right with the world. Enter: My Famous Rhubarb Pie.

Now, most like strawberry rhubarb pies, but not this little red hen, oh no! Just delicious, tart, juicy rhubarb. For the crust, I consulted my lovely British mother-in-law for her wonderfully simple recipe (sorry, it's a secret. If I told you, I'd have to, well, you know...). The filling is also amazingly simple (the best pies are always the simple ones to make, if you ask me). Again, I can't give out the recipe. Well, OK, maybe I can... :)

Ingredients:

• 4 cups chopped rhubarb
• 1 1/3 cups white sugar
• 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
2. Combine sugar and flour. Sprinkle 1/4 of it over pastry in pie plate. Heap rhubarb over mixture. Sprinkle with remaining sugar and flour. Dot with small pieces of butter. Cover with top crust.
3. Place pie on lowest rack in oven. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F, and continue baking for 40 to 45 minutes. Serve warm or cold

Verdict: criminally good!

Carrot Top

The Best Carrot Cake... In The WORLD

2 eggs

1 C oil

2 C brown sugar

2 C sifted flour

1 t baking powder

1 t baking soda

1 t salt

2 t cinnamon

3 C grated carrots

1 C (or 5 oz.) crushed pineapple; drained

1 C chopped nuts (I use pecans)

Combine the eggs, oil and sugar. Add the brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Mix in the carrots and pineapple. Stir well, then add nuts. Pour into 9" x 13" greased pan. Bake at 350 F for 35-45 min. Frost only when cool. Adjust cooking time if making into cupcakes.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 8-oz. pkg. softened cream cheese

1/4 lb softened butter

2 C powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Yum! To make recipe VEGAN, you would:

Cake: Substitute eggs with bananas or any other egg alternative

Frosting: Substitute cream cheese with vegan cream cheese, and use margarine instead of butter.

Horchata!

Horchata is one of my favorite drinks, and I really like making it too. I figured my last post may leave some wanting for a little Hispanic flare seeing as how today is Cinco de Mayo and all, I thought I'd post my recipe for this light and delicioso drink. Enjoy!

1 C uncooked, white long-grain rice

5 C water 1/2 cup milk

1/2 T vanilla extract

1/2 T ground cinnamon

2/3 C white sugar

Pour the rice and the water into the a blender; blend until rice just begins to break up, about 1 minute. Let the rice and water stand at room temperature for a min of 3 hrs. Strain rice water with a cheesecloth into a pitcher and discard the leftover rice. Stir in the milk, vanilla, cinnamon, and sugar into the rice water. Chill and stir before serving over ice.

Horchata is sooooooooooo good!

मसाला चाय Spiced Tea

In honor of Cinco de Mayo, I am going to post a delicious chai recipe. You may be saying to yourselves, "But Sundance, chai is an Indian (Asian) recipe, not Mexican." To which I would reply to you, "I know. I'm chic like that." :)

Here be the spices ye will need to brew up some lip-smackin', knee-slappin', good ol' chai.

• A gallon + stockpot for the water
  
• 1/4 C green cardamom seed pods, lightly crushed w/ a pultice to break open
• 1/4 C fresh ginger root w/ skin, coarsely chopped
  
• 1/4 C cinnamon bark, broken into chips
• 1 T whole black Tellicherry peppercorns
• 2 T whole cloves
• 1 C honey
  
• 5 T loose black tea leaves (Assam is most common)
  
• 3 star anise

Add one gallon of cold, filtered water to the stockpot. Add all the ingredients except for the honey and black tea. Simmer everything for 45 min., uncovered. The spices will begin to release their aromas; you want to get it to the point where all the bulk ingredients are spent. Add the black tea, simmer for another 15 minutes, then add the honey. Strain entire contents over a cheesecloth into another large pot to cool, compost or discard the reminents from the spices. Serve hot or cold with equal parts chai and milk (any substitute is great here, too), and enjoy!

Jai Papaji, Om SatGuru Ki Jai Om shanti

May all beings enjoy masala chai with aromatic, milky smiles!

Jai Guru Dev!

EARTH DAY

Bon matin. In celebration of Earth Day, I am going 100% vegan, just for today, but it's my little way of doing more.

So, in accordance with my 24-hour diet, I thought I'd post my menu for the day and encourage you too to go animal-product-free today. :D

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Breakfast:

Smoothie:

* rice milk (preferable in smoothies)
* fresh papaya (stinky, but good)
* spirulina blend (powdered form)
* flax oil (Omega-3)
* frzn. strawberries
* frzn. pineapple
* frzn. mango

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Mid-Morning Snack:

Granola:

* rolled oats
* Golden Syrup (British sweetener)
* dried raspberries

Banana

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Lunch:

Salad:

* redleaf lettuce
* whole avocado
* half a Roma tomato

Dressing: "Liquid Gold"**

* 1/2 C flaxseed oil
* 1/2 C water
* 1/3 C lemon juice
* 2 T raspberry vinegar
* 1/4 C Bragg Liquid Aminos
* 1/2 C Red Star Nutritional Yeast***
* 2 t Dijon mustard
* 1 t ground cumin

** dressing courtesy of Becoming Vegan, an excellent resource book on veganism.
*** I buy my Nutritional Yeast in bulk at my local health food store, but this will work too.

Slice of my favorite bread.

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Mid-Afternoon Snack:

The Best Popcorn In The World (according to me :D )

* 1/4 C organic popcorn seeds
* 2 T Red Star yeast
* dash of Spike seasoning
* drizzle of warm veggie oil

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Dinner:

wholewheat rainbow pasta
tomato sauce (the usual: fresh garlic, bell peppers, basil, etc.)
vegan Parmesan cheese (Red Star yeast, whole sesame seeds - blend)

crook-neck squash
zucchini

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Voila! A day's worth of food that includes absolutely no cruelty! How about it? Wanna try it?

ERIN GO BRAGH

Before I start, I want to wish my father Michael a very happy 60th birthday today, and to anyone reading, please do me the honor of wishing my Pops a happy one. He was a great man, who like many of us, suffered more than his fair share but still held his head high in the face of adversity. Through trials and tribulations, he always loved me and I knew it. Whatever our fate after mortality, I hope that at the very least, he's in peace. Much deserved peace.

You will always live on in my heart, Dad. I will do my very best to honor you and live the life you were never able to live. I dedicate my degree to you - something I know you'd be so proud of. My Irish eyes always smile at the memory of you.

I love you, Papa. I love you...

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Now on to gayer events! Today, as you all know, is none other than St. Paddy's Day! A day when we Irish get to be vocal about the many things we have accomplished as a people. Not only those in Ireland today, but those of us here in the US and of course, of course our ancestors. Irish immigrants. More than 12% (just over 36 million) of the United States population can trace their ancestry back to Ireland. A great deal of the hard work it took to make America the country it is today was done on the backs of Irish immigrants in work such as canal building (Erie being the most famous), bridge building (Golden Gate again being the most famous example), railroad laying (the first transcontinental railroad prior to WWI), servitude, lumber work, civil construction, and so much more. Despite their hard work, it largely went unappreciated and Irish immigrants were discriminated against and harsh stereotypes were cast upon them, many of which I still hear today. Even though the Irish have been primarily Catholic since before our recent memories will allow, they were originally a Pagan peoples, as were most of the Western Europeans before the Crusades.

I raise my glass to my Irish family, to my Irish ancestors, all Irish peoples of days gone by of today and of tomorrow...

ERIN GO BRAGH

To Get You Started...

I've compiled some traditionally Irish goodies that are a mainstay in my home and that I highly recommend to anyone who's not yet Irish. ;)

This set is inspired by my Irish heritage (I'm half Irish, half Italian - read: very hardheaded), the upcoming St. Paddy's Day, and me father's birthday - which would also be St. Paddy's Day - he would have been 60 this year. Love ya, Dad!

Hope you get the chance to try some of these out, whatever your preferences may be. Oh, and I'll have an official St. Paddy's Day post on the 17th, you can count on it.

First up on the list of lovelies: Irish Oatmeal, as that's the first thing we all eat at our home. I love McCann's (~ 10 min. to cook) and a much more time-consuming but very tasty breakfast to make at ~ 40 min. is Country Choice Organic. These oats aren't rolled and are thus a whole grain - very good for you. A treat one of my Irish uncles David would make for us kids years and years ago was Irish oatmeal with vanilla ice cream mixed in for dessert. Oh how we loved that!

Next up (you guessed it!): Irish beer, as this is what we all have for lunch in our house (I kiid, I kiid!!). As a bit of a beer aficionado myself, over the years I've come to have a few favorites from three categories: stouts, ales, and cream ales. Now, there are other styles of brews, and I'll be posting on those in the future to be sure, but as for Irish beers, these kick arse. Top o' the lists for me are: Beamish Stout (like Guinness), Harp Lager, and finally, Kilkenny Cream Ale. Drink up! Responsibly, of course. And remember, indulgence not compulsion.

Finally, no Irishman is complete without this traditional Irish fare: Colcannon. Makes me mouth wada. My Irish grandfather Donald would hide coins in our colcannon when we were little as this is done in Ireland (and many other countries, too). I make mine with kale versus cabbage because I just love the bitterness of this leafy green and really like my cabbage on the side, but recipes vary according to region and personal tradition/preference. BTW, this recipe can be made into a vegetarian, vegan, or meat dish (I happen to be a near-vegan {meaning that my diet is primarily vegan with a few variances now and then}, or as some like to call it these days, a flexitarian), there's really a lot of ways to prepare it and many can be found all over Ireland.

Also on our table throughout the year, and yes, on St. Paddy's Day:

Irish Soda Bread (appetizer)
Corned Beef (main dish)
Apple and Barley Pudding (for dessert)
Cadbury Bournvita (after dinner drink for the kiddies)

So my friends, go out there and 'get your Irish on!' For me and my family, being Irish is a year 'round deal, but we were so generous we decided to let yous people who aren't Irish play Irish one day a year. Ain't we sweet? ;)

Carrot Apple Muffins

I realize that this post isn't going to be half of what it would be were it to have pictures, but alas, I don't have a printer down here that will take my camera card (whatever those things are called).

This afternoon I made Carrot Apple Muffins, really with the intent of having them for dessert after our fab dinner that I'm actually about to cook, but then I remembered that I had saved another recipe for an Apple Coffee Cake instead. So I made the muffins, gave five to the neighbors (as a "thank you" for helping me with my vast and seemingly endless computer problems), and put the remaining dozen in the bread box for breakfasts and just to munch on as a healthy snack.

The muffin recipe can be found here, courtesy of Simply Recipes.

I discovered Simply Recipes a few weeks ago and have really been enjoying what I've found and made. To my surprise, so far everything's been simple and tasty - huh, imagine that! I've oft avoided cooking from recipes for fear of elaborate and complicated hours spent in the kitchen only to have a mountain of dishes afterward. But, alas, these have been mostly simple, with ingredients I rarely have to go out to the store for too, which is a big bonus in my eyes.