Ingredients:
1 glass bottle of vodka
1 cup of finely chopped or grated chocolate (baker's chocolate, candy bar, flavoured chocolate, whatever you want)
1 dishwasher
Method:
Empty 1 cup of vodka from bottle. Either save for later or consume.
Fill bottle to almost full with the chopped or grated chocolate and return lid to bottle. Invert several times.
Place bottle in top rack of dishwasher and run short wash cycle without soap.
Shake bottle well.
Repeat dishwasher cycle and shaking until all chocolate is melted and fully incorporated into vodka.
Serve neat with adequate adult supervision as it will, at this point, simply taste like candy.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Friday, March 30, 2012
New addition
Hi all,
Just a quick note to tell you that I've invited a fabulous friend to join this blog! Nakita is properly educated about things like nutrition, and she's been spending the last long while in Morocco running Bassma Primary School. I've always wanted this blog to be a bit more of a collaborative effort anyway so... here we go!!!
Love,
Jen
Just a quick note to tell you that I've invited a fabulous friend to join this blog! Nakita is properly educated about things like nutrition, and she's been spending the last long while in Morocco running Bassma Primary School. I've always wanted this blog to be a bit more of a collaborative effort anyway so... here we go!!!
Love,
Jen
Friday, February 24, 2012
French Onion Soup
It's flu season, and there is absolutely no better way to kill the flu than with French Onion Soup. And it's tasty too!
Here's what you do:
Saute 3 sliced yellow onions and 3 cloves of garlic. When they're cooked, add 2 cans Campbell's beef broth (or your own homemade beef stock if you have it). Add to that 1/2 tsp marjoram, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, and 1 heaping tsp hot dry mustard mixed into just enough water to make a medium paste.
Next make croutons: break apart old stale bread (best if it's been in the freezer for at least a year) onto a baking sheet. Cover in fresh Parmesan cheese. Bake in a moderate oven until golden brown.
Slice mozzarella cheese - DO NOT use the partially skimmed crap! It tastes like cardboard and will ruin your soup. Go out of your way to find a deli that has real mozzarella.
You have enough soup for 4 onion soup bowls (oven safe, usually with handles). Into each bowl layer some croutons, ladle a scoop of soup, add a layer of mozzarella. Repeat. This should fill the bowl. Top with more fresh Parmesan.
Bake at 350F for about 25 minutes with no lid - you want it heated so that your cheese is gooey and brown on top, but not so long that it is runny .
Om nom nom.
Here's what you do:
Saute 3 sliced yellow onions and 3 cloves of garlic. When they're cooked, add 2 cans Campbell's beef broth (or your own homemade beef stock if you have it). Add to that 1/2 tsp marjoram, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, and 1 heaping tsp hot dry mustard mixed into just enough water to make a medium paste.
Next make croutons: break apart old stale bread (best if it's been in the freezer for at least a year) onto a baking sheet. Cover in fresh Parmesan cheese. Bake in a moderate oven until golden brown.
Slice mozzarella cheese - DO NOT use the partially skimmed crap! It tastes like cardboard and will ruin your soup. Go out of your way to find a deli that has real mozzarella.
You have enough soup for 4 onion soup bowls (oven safe, usually with handles). Into each bowl layer some croutons, ladle a scoop of soup, add a layer of mozzarella. Repeat. This should fill the bowl. Top with more fresh Parmesan.
Bake at 350F for about 25 minutes with no lid - you want it heated so that your cheese is gooey and brown on top, but not so long that it is runny .
Om nom nom.
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Baklava Cake
Like baklava but hate working with phylo pastry? I can't even spell it so you know I just described myself! This is a modified recipe of a Greek walnut cake that, with syrupy goodness, is baklava in cake form. (If you are averse to syrup you can totally use cream cheese icing...)
Cake:
Beat 7 eggs for something crazy like 5 minutes.
Add 1 tbsp almond extract and 1 tbsp real vanilla extract.
Add a mixture of half oil half milk that comes to 1 1/2 cups liquid.
Beat again. Give it a good thrashing.
Combine in a separate bowl 3 1/2 cups flour, 2 cups white sugar, 1 tsp baking soda, 2 tsp baking powder, 2 tsp cinnamon, 1/8 tsp allspice, 1 tsp ground ginger. Mix evenly.
Add to wet mixture 1 cup of crushed walnuts - crush with rolling pin (releases oil, totally yummy) and measure after crushed, not before.
Beat the wet bowl like mad.
Add the dry stuff a cup at a time and beat it.
Then when pretending you're Michael Jackson no longer works and it's getting too thick, add a splash or sploosh of milk to adjust consistency. And beat it some more.
Pour into a big cake pan lined with parchment paper. What size is big, you ask? Bigger than a square cake pan but not as big as a lasagne pan. I've never measured my cake pan. I inherited it from my grandmother, and her cakes were always awesome.
Bake in a 350F oven for about an hour (at Saskatoon altitude - more in Edmonton and less in Estevan). Cake is done when knife in centre comes out clean.
Syrup:
Combine in a pot approximately 2 cups brown sugar (this is an excellent use for your rock hard brown sugar - it doesn't have to be an exact amount, just close) with 2 1/2 cups of water and 1 short cinnamon stick, and about a tablespoon of lemon juice. Boil until thicker. Refrigerate to cool. Pour over cooled cake. Om nom nom!
Cake:
Beat 7 eggs for something crazy like 5 minutes.
Add 1 tbsp almond extract and 1 tbsp real vanilla extract.
Add a mixture of half oil half milk that comes to 1 1/2 cups liquid.
Beat again. Give it a good thrashing.
Combine in a separate bowl 3 1/2 cups flour, 2 cups white sugar, 1 tsp baking soda, 2 tsp baking powder, 2 tsp cinnamon, 1/8 tsp allspice, 1 tsp ground ginger. Mix evenly.
Add to wet mixture 1 cup of crushed walnuts - crush with rolling pin (releases oil, totally yummy) and measure after crushed, not before.
Beat the wet bowl like mad.
Add the dry stuff a cup at a time and beat it.
Then when pretending you're Michael Jackson no longer works and it's getting too thick, add a splash or sploosh of milk to adjust consistency. And beat it some more.
Pour into a big cake pan lined with parchment paper. What size is big, you ask? Bigger than a square cake pan but not as big as a lasagne pan. I've never measured my cake pan. I inherited it from my grandmother, and her cakes were always awesome.
Bake in a 350F oven for about an hour (at Saskatoon altitude - more in Edmonton and less in Estevan). Cake is done when knife in centre comes out clean.
Syrup:
Combine in a pot approximately 2 cups brown sugar (this is an excellent use for your rock hard brown sugar - it doesn't have to be an exact amount, just close) with 2 1/2 cups of water and 1 short cinnamon stick, and about a tablespoon of lemon juice. Boil until thicker. Refrigerate to cool. Pour over cooled cake. Om nom nom!
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Xolostle
First, in a dry, preheated pot, with the stove fan on, toast your chiles. You need 8 chiles - really it seems any chile will do. Jalapenos, guajillo, chipotle, anch, New Mexican, cascabel... red hot peppers, if you're using habeneros maybe only add 3 or 4.... whatever you choose. The chiles need to be toasted until they're almost black. Maybe use tongs to turn them over. Let them cool and then cut them open and take off the stems and seeds and cut or tear into bite sized bits.
Then put some season salt on the roast and brown it. Then take the roast out of the pot and set it aside.
Add a bit more oil and saute 1 white or yellow onion, chopped into bite-sized bits, along with 6 pieces of garlic, sliced lengthwise.
Add to that a "generous pinch" of ground cumin, probably a tsp or so.
When the onions start to look done, add the chiles and 3 tbsp of flour. Mix well. (This actually works, the flour doesn't come out lumpy.)
Add 1 cup of cool stock and a tablespoon of cider vinegar. Mix well and remove from heat.
Bring another 7 or so cups of stock to a boil. Add the meat, the onion mix, 1 tbsp Mexican oregano (regular oregano will work too), and 2 bay leaves. Cook as you would a regular roast or stew. This would also be the time to add the canned tomatoes and whatever else might be good (although I have to admit it's extremely tasty just on its own.)
Serve with boiled or mashed potatoes and fresh cilantro and lime to garnish (or not if you forgot like I did).
Then put some season salt on the roast and brown it. Then take the roast out of the pot and set it aside.
Add a bit more oil and saute 1 white or yellow onion, chopped into bite-sized bits, along with 6 pieces of garlic, sliced lengthwise.
Add to that a "generous pinch" of ground cumin, probably a tsp or so.
When the onions start to look done, add the chiles and 3 tbsp of flour. Mix well. (This actually works, the flour doesn't come out lumpy.)
Add 1 cup of cool stock and a tablespoon of cider vinegar. Mix well and remove from heat.
Bring another 7 or so cups of stock to a boil. Add the meat, the onion mix, 1 tbsp Mexican oregano (regular oregano will work too), and 2 bay leaves. Cook as you would a regular roast or stew. This would also be the time to add the canned tomatoes and whatever else might be good (although I have to admit it's extremely tasty just on its own.)
Serve with boiled or mashed potatoes and fresh cilantro and lime to garnish (or not if you forgot like I did).
Friday, January 21, 2011
Happy Birthday Punch
Mix in a punch bowl the following ingredients:
1 bottle cranberry raspberry juice
1 can condensed, no pulp orange juice with appropriate amounts of water
2 bottles Virgil's cream soda
1 single serve size bottle of cherry juice
Stir, add ice, stir again. Fits in a standard antique punch bowl.
1 bottle cranberry raspberry juice
1 can condensed, no pulp orange juice with appropriate amounts of water
2 bottles Virgil's cream soda
1 single serve size bottle of cherry juice
Stir, add ice, stir again. Fits in a standard antique punch bowl.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Apple Cider
Ingredients:
2 litres cold pure unconcentrated apple juice
4 cinnamon sticks
6 anise stars
12 cloves
9 black peppercorns
1 freshly broken nutmeg (just break it open, don't break it into tiny bits.)
Put all ingredients in a large pot on the stove on a high heat. Allow the concoction to steep as long as possible before coming to a boil. It will fill your house with a very yummy smell.
Turn the heat off once it boils and let it cool on the burner. When it has cooled, strain it into a container and refrigerate. To reheat, take only what you need and use a pot on the stove. Do not microwave.
Enjoy!
2 litres cold pure unconcentrated apple juice
4 cinnamon sticks
6 anise stars
12 cloves
9 black peppercorns
1 freshly broken nutmeg (just break it open, don't break it into tiny bits.)
Put all ingredients in a large pot on the stove on a high heat. Allow the concoction to steep as long as possible before coming to a boil. It will fill your house with a very yummy smell.
Turn the heat off once it boils and let it cool on the burner. When it has cooled, strain it into a container and refrigerate. To reheat, take only what you need and use a pot on the stove. Do not microwave.
Enjoy!
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