Beverages

Boston Coolers

September 16, 2009 by Rebecca 9 Comments

Boston Coolers are an iconic Michigan dessert. Yes. I am aware it’s called a Boston cooler but its origins and popularity have nothing whatsoever to do with Boston, Massachusetts. This perfect combination of Vernor’s Ginger Ale and vanilla ice cream hails from the Boston Boulevard area of Detroit, Michigan; another Michigan icon. And since that glorious elixer Vernor’s, the oldest surviving commercial ginger ale in the United States, was also conceived in Detroit, I guess that makes the Boston Cooler ‘Pure Michigan’. (Wink wink. Hey Michigan Tourism Bureau. Take note. I am willing to work for Vernor’s. Thank you.)

This brings me to a very important point; why is Vernor’s so special? Leave aside for a moment that it’s aged in oak barrels (let’s see Canada Dry and Schweppe’s try that shall we?) as well as the fact that it was created before the American Civil War and has been sold continuously since. Vernor’s just plain tastes better than any other ginger ale on the market. It has kick in more ways than one; it tastes more like a ginger beer than what we think of as ginger ales these days and it is seriously carbonated. When we were kids, we learned to be very careful with those first few sips of Vernor’s from the bottle or out of a cup. If you even thought about breathing when your mouth was near the open container of Vernor’s you would collapse in spasmodic coughing fits. And that was actually part of the appeal. Who doesn’t love a dangerous drink?

As a Michigander-in-exile, it’s tougher for me to find Vernor’s. Each time we go to visit family in The Great Lakes State, I pack light so we can cram the trunk of the van with enough Vernor’s so that I can drink it until I get sick of it for a while. When friends are going to, driving past or passing near The Mitten State I beg them to pick up a twelve pack or two for me. I wave cash at them. I promise babysitting favors. And to sweeten the pot, I offer to make them a Boston Cooler.

So what is a Boston Cooler? In its simplest form (also my favorite form) it is vanilla ice cream floating in icy cold Vernor’s. When something so simple is so good, why mess with it? Now some people are going to try to convince you that a proper Boston Cooler needs to be prepared in a blender. Sure, that yields a smooth MILKSHAKE, but a Boston Cooler it is not. Blending it gets rid of all that beautiful fizz that is part of why Vernor’s is so beloved by folks from Michigan. And it ruins that incomparable magic moment that comes from plunging your spoon into the glass and fishing out a big dollop of creamy vanilla ice cream that has frozen Vernor’s crystals formed all around it. The crunch of those gingery icy crystals and then the smooth, sweet vanilla ice cream is half (at least) of the fun. In short, sticking a Boston Cooler in a blender is pretty close to sinful.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but Boston Coolers aren’t just all fizzy, frozen, creamy, foamy, ginger-y goodness; they also represent my youth. I still eat them exactly the same way I did when I was six years old. I slurp about half the Vernor’s from the glass and then attack the ice cream with my spoon. Every time I have one of these I feel like a kid again. So there you have it and you heard it here first. Boston Coolers are the Fountain of Youth. Take THAT, Ponce de Leon. He was off galavanting the globe and investigating Florida and The Fountain of Youth was in Detroit all along. Boy was HE wrong.

For a printer friendly, photo-free version of this recipe, click here!

Boston Coolers

Ingredients:

Vernor’s Ginger Ale (I suppose in a pinch you could use something else. But don’t tell my Michigan peeps I said so.)
Vanilla Ice Cream

Add three small to medium sized scoops of vanilla ice cream to a tall glass. And don’t worry about perfect scoops here. Irregular scoops of ice cream yield more of those delicious, craggy, icy Vernor’s crystals.

Tilt the glass slightly and slowly pour Vernor’s into the glass against the side to reduce foaming. My picture doesn’t show this very well. I needed at least one hand to take a picture.

When within 2 inches of the top, pour the Vernor’s directly into the center of the glass. The ensures that you get a good amount of ginger ale in the glass before the foam forms at the top.

You can top off the glass with a little more Vernor’s if the foamy head dies back a little. Or if you happen to accidentally slurp some foam off the top.

Straws are optional. Spoons are not. Dig in.

Filed Under: Beverages, Desserts, Rebecca, Recipes, Vegetarian

Watermelon Mojito Slushies: Think Pink!

June 25, 2009 by Rebecca 5 Comments

Yesterday, I mentioned that we’d been experiencing some of life’s less pleasant moments. One of those less pleasant moments was a biggie, folks. As in a life changing biggie…

*Fair warning: I am about to use the following words; breast, cancer, breasts, self-exam and self-check. If any of those words bother you, tune out until I get to the recipe. On second thought, if they bother you, you probably haven’t given enough thought to this subject and should especially stick around. This is important!

Three weeks ago, Val discovered a lump in her breast.* She called the doctor and made an appointment.* At the appointment, the doctors indicated the need for concern and scheduled a biopsy. The biopsy confirmed cancer. And within 10 days of finding the lump in her breast, Val was at a hospital having it surgically removed.

*Soapbox Moment and Biographical Interlude: Yes, ladies, it is vitally important that you do a self-check every month! This proves it. If you don’t know how to perform a self-exam on your breasts, visit here, here or here among other places. And it is also important to share that neither Val nor I likes going to the doctor. “And WHAT does THAT have to do with the price of tea in China?” You may ask? We both have a certain amount of fear and/or trepidation involved in visiting doctors. (Says the woman who has given birth to five children in ten years…) But despite our shared aversion to medical facilities and the procedures performed therein, Val still performed her monthly check and promptly scheduled a doctor’s appointment when she found something amiss. And because of her vigilance, they caught her tumor early and the prognosis is very, very positive. For this, all of those of us who love Val are eternally grateful. In other words. If you love someone, or have someone who loves you, please do everyone a favor and perform a self-breast exam on a monthly basis.

Here’s a special message to my male readers, because I know you’re out there! Please encourage the women you love to do self-exams. If you don’t know how to do it or are too embarassed to use the words to explain why it’s crucial, simply forward the link to this recipe to them.

Val has, in her typical fashion, kept the rest of us laughing instead of quietly chewing away the insides of our cheeks while waiting for test results and post-surgical updates. And (if you can even say it’s possible to have fun with cancer) Val has figured out a way to have fun with it. From turning down social events that she didn’t even want to attend with the statement, “I’m sorry. I can’t. I have cancer,” to laughing off a potential mastectomy by saying, “Hey! I told ‘em to take them both off! I’ll be able to wear a button-down shirt!” Val has kept us all in stitches while she gets real stitches.

To honor Val and her breast cancer journey, I am starting “Think Pink Thursdays“. This is my bloggy equivalent to wearing a pink ribbon all the time since the only people who would normally see me wearing a pink ribbon are my offspring and The Evil Genius husband. (And what kind of statement is a pink ribbon if no one sees you wearing it? It’s the the sound of one hand clapping near a tree falling in a forest. Er. You know what I mean.)

Think Pink Thursdays are going to be dedicated pink food and doing my part, however little it is, in trying to raise awareness of how important early detection is in breast cancer. I’d love to see any pink foods you all come up with and will publish your photos and links here if you want to send a shout-out to Val!

…Before I get to the recipe, I have one final thing to say about this, and it’s from Val. She says, “If anyone asks why I have’t posted in so long, just tell them I couldn’t. I was too busy with my cancer!”

Think Pink!

~~~~~~~~~~~

Now. To the food. Or drink, as the case may be… This Watermelon Mojito Slushy is the perfect way to kick off our Think Pink Thursdays. What’s pinker than watermelon? Nothing, I tell you! And the classic lime and mint mojito flavors pair beautifully with the sweet watermelon. It is not even possible for me to find words to describe how refreshing and light this drink is. Really. Just look at it!

Since the recipe relies on frozen watermelon cubes let’s begin with preparing your watermelon. Buy any size seedless watermelon you want. Could you use regular seedy watermelon? Sure, if you’re interested in seeding an entire watermelon, but I’m too lazy to sit there and pick out all those seeds. So, for argument’s sake, let’s just say you need a seedless watermelon. Using a big knife, cut it in half so that it will stand securely on your cutting board. Lay it, flat side down, and slice into quarters or eighths (depending on the size of your melon.) Use a paring knife (or even a butterknife at this point) to remove the pink part of the watermelon from the rind. Discard the rind in any way you see fit. (Our chickens lovey love love watermelon rinds.) Slice the watermelon into cubes that are roughly two to three inches across. Lay the watermelon cubes on a baking sheet lined with waxed paper and put into the freezer for several hours or until firm and frozen throughout.

If you’ve never frozen a watermelon, you’re missing out in a very big way. Even if you don’t plan on making these mojitos, at least try freezing the watermelon cubes. Since they don’t water drinks down as they thaw, you’ll probably find yourself tossing the frozen watermelon cubes into everything from iced tea to seltzer to soda to mixed drinks and cocktails. You just might wonder how you got along without frozen watermelon cubes for all those years.

For us, this drink is absolutely positively perfect when made using our Jalapeno Mojito Simple Syrup. If you don’t have any on hand, you can substitute plain simple syrup that is muddled with a few mint leaves. Our version gives a very subtle minty flavor to the finished drink. If you want more powerful mint punch, muddle a few mint leaves with the rum before adding it to the blender.

Think Pink Watermelon Mojito Slushies

Ingredients:

approximately 4 cups frozen seedless watermelon cubes (enough frozen watermelon to fill blender carafe to “MAX” line )
1/2 cup lime juice
1/3 cup Jalapeno Mojito Simple Syrup (or other simple syrup muddled with mint leaves)
1 cup golden rum
seltzer water, if needed, to thin the drink

Add all ingredients to your blender, make sure your lid is firmly in place and blend on ‘HIGH’ until smooth. Pour into chilled glasses and serve immediately. Yields between 1-4 drinks, depending on how bad your day was. Or whether you have cancer.

Filed Under: Beverages, Instructional, Rebecca, Recipes

Jalapeno Mojito Syrup

June 24, 2009 by Rebecca 7 Comments

I need to remember that no matter how weird things get around here they can always, and probably will, get weirder. Unfortunately, the last couple weeks have been peppered with some of life’s less pleasant moments. One of them, I will share with you in a future post.* The other two things I’m going to whine about right here and now.

*Not to sound mysterious or anything, but we’re waiting on a piece of information before we talk about it here… Stay tuned for further whining…

First, I spent Saturday at the Urgent Care department with little Rowan whilst the kind medical staff did their best to extract a self-administered beanbag bead from his ear. Rowan was as brave as could be; He clenched his teeth and balled up his little fists and his big blue eyes teared up; He was such a courageous little guy that it made me forget how irritated and worried I was that he had stuck the ball in his ear in the first place. But he let the doctors and nurses do their thing, and in the end, after applying several jet propelled streams of water and the world’s teensiest vacuum to his ear, the offending polystyrene ball was removed. When all was said and done, his ear felt better and he reveled in the attention from his concerned older brothers. He spent the evening repeatedly telling them how the doctor had done THIS* to his ear.

*Insert the best imitation of you’ve ever heard Niagara Falls as done by a three-year-old here. There was a great deal of spittle involved.

Second, my three best egg-layer hens were absconded with by some nefarious, and as yet undetermined, wild critter. Last Thursday, when we went to feed the chickens, we discovered that some beastie had stolen into our chicken run and coop and made off with Menya and Halgerda, a Buff Orpington and Barred Rock, respectively. The only sign of what had happened to our birds was a clearly marked trail of feathers leading out under the fence. We were perplexed and went to bed that night not knowing quite what to do. When we awoke the next morning we discovered that the vermin had come back and taken Inga, a White Rock, too.

Boo and hiss, people. We not only love the eggs we get from these birds but we love them, too. If you’ve never spent time just watching chickens you’re seriously missing out on one of life’s simple pleasures. Each one of these birds has a name and a distinct personality and will be missed both for the food they provided us and their companionship. R.I.P. Menya, Halgerda and Inga. We have since turned our coop and run into the Ford Knox of chicken dwelling places. So far, the rest of the birds are safe.

Thor, our rooster, has had his harem reduced and is looking a little depressed;

Just look at that drooping tail feather.

Thor! Show some rooster pride, man up and protect the rest of your gals; That’s why we put up with you trying to spur us every time we feed you, for cryin’ in a bucket.

That’s more like it!

…Now, does anyone recognize these tracks?

The shotgun shell is there to give you an idea of the size of the track.

These, we think, belong to our chicken-killer. But there’s a mystery involved. While method of the chickens’ demise would suggest a fox, the tracks left behind would suggest a raccoon. Any ideas?

On the bright side, while we were combing the brush behind the chicken coop to try to find traces of our beloved girls, we found a hidden monster patch of mint. And in the grand and time-honored spirit of filling any voids in my life with food, I decided to do something with it.

Enter Jalapeno Mojito Syrup. Everyone has heard of mojitos, right? Oh sure, they’re delicious with their lime and their mint and their ice and their rum. It’s a concept that’s practically perfect in every way much like Mary Poppins. *

*I love ‘Mary Poppins’. I really do.

Sidebar: Can you imagine if Mary Poppins had tippled a few mojitos? Hey! Now there’s a thought! There probably would’ve been more of this:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx7lz5X2vKk[/youtube]

…And less of this…
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHrRxQVUFN4[/youtube]

I do like a classic mojito -mint leaves muddled with simple syrup, lime, and rum- but I also like variations on the theme. When the mercury spikes and the humidity rises, there are few things more refreshing than a mojito slushy -mint leaves, ice, lime juice, rum and simple syrup blasted through the blender to make the ultimate ‘adults only’ freezer drink. But whether you’re a mojito purist or a mojito visionary, you’re bound to appreciate this spectacular mojito flavored syrup that takes advantage not only of the classic mint and lime mojito combination, but of the fruity flavor and ever-so-subtle kick of heat provided by a fresh jalapeno pepper.

If you abstain from alcohol, this syrup is a refreshing and delicious addition to a tall glass of iced tea or club soda. It also serves as the base to a show-stopping limeade. Anyway you mix it, this syrup lifts your drink to a higher level of deliciousness*.

*That’s a technical cooking term, you know.

Jalapeno Mojito Syrup can be used anywhere a simple syrup is required, so don’t just stick with beverages. The possibilities are fantastic; Brush it on cake layers to keep them moist, make rock candy or poach fruit with this elixer.

For this batch of syrup, I removed the seeds because I only wanted a background, barely perceptible heat so it would be more versatile. If you’re up for some adventure, leave the seeds in your halved jalapeno pepper for an added burst of heat with your flavor. Either way it’s danged good.

For a photo-free, printer friendly version of the recipe, click here!

Jalapeno Mojito Syrup

Ingredients:

2 cups fresh mint leaves, washed
2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups water
the zest and juice of 1 whole lime
1 fresh jalapeno pepper, washed and stemmed

Add mint leaves and sugar to a medium-sized non-reactive saucepan.

Press gently with the back of a spoon, add the water, lime zest and lime juice and stir several times. Set aside.

Place your stemmed jalapeno pepper on a cutting board and cut in half from end to end. *Friendly reminder: If you are sensitive to hot peppers or aren’t sure, save yourself some grief and wear a gloves when working with them!

Use the tip of a teaspoon to remove the seeds from the pepper.

Add the pepper to the pan.

Bring to a boil over high heat. Boil for three minutes, turn off the heat and put a tight fitting lid on the pan.

Leave the syrup to steep with the lid on for fifteen minutes. While syrup steeps, place a fine mesh strainer (or cheesecloth) in a funnel in a jar or bottle that has a tight fitting lid or into a measuring cup.

When time is up, remove pan lid. This is what you’ll be looking at. What you’ll be smelling is simply heavenly!

Pour the syrup through the strainer.

Store, tightly lidded, in the refrigerator for up to a month.

Tune back in tomorrow to see what mixological feats of derring-do I perform with the syrup.*

*Translation from Nerd to English: I’m doing something crazy delicious and unorthodox with this and alcohol tomorrow. Come back if you want in on the fun.

Filed Under: Beverages, Component Foods, Desserts, Instructional, Rebecca, Recipes, Vegetarian Tagged With: jalapeno, mixological madness, mojito, summer drinks

Papa’s Homemade Hooch: Homemade Ginger Ale.

May 8, 2009 by Rebecca 24 Comments

For a multitude of reasons I don’t buy soda. Please don’t get me wrong. I’m not going all judgy-judgerton on soda. It’s just that over the years, I have gotten to where I don’t really like most of it. It’s just too derned sweet for me. Once a year or so I’ll grab a Pepsi when I’m out on the town (Hmmm… Perhaps I only get Pepsi once a year because I only get out on the town once a year or so. Please excuse me for a moment or two while I go mourn my lost ability to go where I want when I want…) but that’s about the extent of it. I am, however, a big fan of ginger ale.

A few years back, my Dad found a recipe online and started making his own ginger ale so, naturally, we started teasing him.

(*This is a side note to give you a very important piece of information about interacting with people to whom I am related. We are a teasing family. It’s how we show you we love you. If we tease you we care. What that says about us I cannot tell you. Perhaps someone with a bent for psychology could tell you weird and horrible things about our collective psyche based on that, but, eh… We is what we is.)

“Ah,” said us, “You’re home-brewing, eh Dad?” (My Dad does not drink alcohol.) “Sooooo, Papa, you’re moonshining? Making hooch?” And thus was born the name of Dad’s ginger ale, “Papa’s Hooch”. When Dad came to visit, he brought four bottles of “Papa’s Hooch” with him. I had ignored my Dad’s recommendation to open it over the sink and found myself wearing the top third of the contents of a very pressurized bottle.

Wow! It was REAL ginger ale. You could taste the ginger, lemon juice and lime juice that he had used, and boy howdy it was fizzy. There was actual citrus pulp and ginger in the bottle.

Have you ever had a real, honest-to-goodness homemade soda? As in one that was made from scratch? I have to tell you that if the sum of your soda experience is contained in the fizzy-drinks aisle at the local grocery store that you are missing out. Big time. I feel obliged to warn you that homemade ginger ale is worlds different than Canada Dry, Schweppe’s or fill-in-the-blank brand. It tastes closer to what most folks would consider a ginger beer (like a Reed’s Ginger Beer) and is somewhat similar to Vernor’s, which is about the only bottled ginger ale worth buying and drinking. (Uh oh. Look out! My native Michigander is showing…)

*Science Content Warning!

Papa’s Hooch is a home fermented product. That means that there will be a little sediment in the bottle. And since it’s brewed with real, grated ginger and fresh squeezed citrus juice, there will be a small amount of pulp in the finished product. If you pour carefully, the sediment should remain in the bottle. If you find pulp objectionable (I personally find it really tasty and will fight anyone for their pulp) you can pour the hooch through a fine mesh strainer into your glass.

Since this is a fermented product, there is a miniscule amount of alcohol produced as a by-product of the yeast. The original recipe called for a full cup of sugar, but Dad reduced that to a half cup. Since there is less sugar to be eaten by the yeast, there will be less alcohol in the finished product than there was in the original recipe. To give you an idea of how much (or rather, how little) alcohol there really is let me share with you a quote from the page where Dad originally got the recipe (and if it sounds like it’s written by a scientist, that’s because it is.)

“We have tested in our lab the alcoholic content which results from the fermentation of this (ginger ale) and found it to be between 0.35 and 0.5 %. Comparing this to the 6% in many beers, it would require a person to drink about a gallon and a half of this (ginger ale) to be equivalent to one 12 ounce beer. I would call this amount of alcohol negligible, but for persons with metabolic problems who cannot metabolize alcohol properly, or religious prohibition against any alcohol, consumption should be limited or avoided.”

This means, that the final alcohol content of Papa’s Hooch is going to be roughly half of what the original recipe’s alcohol content was. Translation: You’d need to drink 3 gallons of Papa’s Hooch to get the alcohol that is in the average 12 ounce beer.

Also. You’ll want to keep in mind that the bottle in which you ferment the hooch will be under a great deal of pressure. It’s best to use an empty plastic two-liter seltzer or soda bottle with a tight fitting screw top for the process. You wouldn’t want to use an empty milk jug, glass bottle or mason jar for this project. If you use glass you run a very real risk of explosion. Heck, there’s bit of a risk of explosion with the plastic bottle, too. But you’re a lot less likely to incur injury or property damage from an exploding plastic bottle than an exploding glass one. And using a plastic bottle along with the safety precautions laid out in the recipe makes it a pretty safe bet that you’ll be fine. But, really… I’m not asking you to fillet and eat your own fugu. It’s just ginger ale. As long as you use a plastic bottle, the biggest risk you’re flirting with is that you’ll have a puddle to clean up and you might have to wipe down a wall or two. I’d say that’s worth it!

Onto the ginger ale. If you make this tonight, it should be ready to drink by Sunday morning.

For a photo-free, printer friendly version of this recipe, click here!

Papa’s Homemade Hooch

Ingredients:

1/2 cup granulated sugar
One lemon or one lime (or half of each)
2 inches of fresh gingerroot
1/4 teaspoon of yeast

Fit the top of a clean, dry, empty 2-liter soda bottle with a funnel. Pour the sugar and yeast into the bottle.

Swirl gently to distribute the yeast through the sugar. Leave the funnel in the bottle and set aside.

Grate the ginger into a measuring cup.

Juice the lemon and/or lime. I prefer to use half each of a lemon and a lime.

Freaky claw hand juices citrus. Stay tuned for more...

Combine the citrus juice and the grated gingerroot in a measuring cup and swirl to mix.

Pour through the funnel into the bottle.

There will be some ginger and citrus pulp left in the funnel and measuring cup.

Can't waste all that ginger you grated!

We’ll take care of that right now! To rinse the additional pulp out of the measuring cup and into the bottle add clean drinking water to the measuring cup and swirl.

Pour this through the funnel. That should have cleaned out the measuring cup and the funnel.

No ginger left behind! Not in THIS kitchen!

Remove the funnel and screw the cap on tightly. Shake the bottle vigorously to mix. Remove the cap and fill the bottle to within an inch of the top (that should be just about where the bottle starts to narrow at the neck), cap tightly and invert repeatedly to dissolve sugar.

This is a good part of the process to get the kids involved. They love shaking things vigorously. It comes naturally.

Use your thumb to press in the side of the bottle and take note of how far it gives under the pressure.

See how far in the bottle goes when I press it with my thumb? That means this is not done yet!

Place bottle in a warm (but not hot) place for about 24-48 hours, or until the bottle is very firm. When the bottle does not yield to firm pressure it is time to refrigerate!

Freaky claw hand is back to show you a bottle of finished hooch. See how the bottle doesn't indent at all when pressed really, REALLY hard? This needs to go into the fridge. And now.

Do not leave the bottle out for more than 48 hours as you run the risk of it bursting after that point. Chill completely, preferably overnight. When it is completely chilled, caaaaaarefully loosen the lid…

Do this over your sink or over a surface that is easy to clean. Trust me.

and pour over ice.

This is pure refreshment.

If you find pulp and small bits of ginger objectionable, strain your soda into the glass.

This last bit of advice comes straight from my Dad. Heed him well. “Rinse the bottle out with water immediately after pouring your last glass. Otherwise you’ll never get the dad-burned stuff out of there.” He’s right. I tried washing out an empty hooch bottle after it had sat out, capped- I might add, overnight. I ended up recycling the blasted thing. When will I learn to listen to my Dad the first time?

Filed Under: Beverages, Instructional, Kitchen Techniques and Hints, Rebecca, Recipes, Stretching your dollars, Vegetarian Tagged With: better than store-bought, homemade soda

Purple Cow Smoothies

March 5, 2009 by Rebecca 7 Comments

It is simply gorgeous outside here today. And for that reason, I will not be long winded here. (And there was much rejoicing…) My kids are standing on the porch, pressing their faces against the window asking me when I’ll be out. They’re also waiting for their smoothies so I have to make like a bird here, and fly.

When I was a wee thing my favorite snacks and desserts were milk shakes, purple cows, and my Mom’s version of an Orange Julius. There is something so exciting about using the blender to whip up dessert. It seemed like such alchemy to put all those bumpy, multi-textured ingredients into the carafe and spin it into perfectly smooth thing of beauty. Plus I just dug anything I could drink with a straw.

A couple years ago I realized -and not for the first time, I might add- that my mother is a genius. Look at the list of ingredients that go into a Purple Cow: plain yogurt, frozen bananas, and grape juice concentrate. That’s it. It’s cheap. It’s simple. It blows the doors off of most other snacks in terms of nutritive value. The yogurt gives you protein, calcium, magnesium, riboflavin, vitamins B-6 and B-12, and vitamin D. The bananas give you vitamin B6, vitamin C, potassium, dietary fiber, and manganese. The grape juice concentrate gives you a power punch of vitamin C and antioxidants. Not only that, but Purple Cows take 5 minutes or less, start to finish. Thank you, Mom.

My kids are clinging impatiently to my thighs while I take this picture, 'scuse the angle.

For a printer-friendly, photo-free version of this recipe, click here!

Purple Cow Smoothies

Prep time: 5 minutes or lessCooking time: NA

Yield: 4-8 servings, depending on desired size

Ingredients:

4 cups plain yogurt, divided
1 (11.5 ounce) container frozen 100% Grape Juice concentrated, divided
3 frozen bananas (peeled prior to freezing, if available)

Filed Under: Appetizers & Snacks, Beverages, Desserts, Instructional, Recipes, Snacks, Stretching your dollars Tagged With: grape juice, Snacks

Hot Lemon Shrub

February 27, 2009 by Rebecca 8 Comments

Several years ago I got into the Aubrey/Maturin series of books by Patrick O’Brian. And by ‘got into’ I mean that I obsessively read all twenty one books (including the unfinished one) back to back so quickly that I can’t remember what happened in which novel. There was hardly a moment when one of O’Brian’s books left my hands for longer than it took to whip up a meal or change a diaper. The books, aside from being some of the best, if not THE best, historical novels ever written provide a wonderful chronicle of foods prepared in the Napoleonic Era by both lubbers and sailors. Among others, Spotted Dog (or Spotted Dick), Boiled Baby (NOT really a baby, so don’t freak out!), Skillygally, Jam Roly-Poly, Solomongundy and Lobscouse were all prepared and enjoyed (?!?) by cooks of the time. Jack Aubrey, a ship’s captain, and Stephen Maturin, his friend and ship’s surgeon -both central characters in the books- share a love of music and food. Which brings me to another (and related) obsession.

My sweet friend of too many years for us to decently admit, Alison (the mother of Leif’s future wife), got me the book “Lobscouse & Spotted Dog: Which It’s a Gastronomic Companion to the Aubrey/Maturin Novels” by the mother and daughter team of Anne Chotzinoff Grossman and Lisa Grossman Thomas. I have now read this book cover to cover twice. The first time was for the sheer enjoyment of the book. The Grossman ladies were brilliant, humorous and thorough. They tested and compiled a culinary companion to the 5,000 references to food and eighteenth century medicine that appeared in the books.

The second time I read the book was more academic. I loved O’Brian’s books so much that I had to try some of the recipes. I opted against making several of the recipes for obvious reasons; anything that took more than eight hours of boiling or stirring was eliminated immediately. Also, some that sounded, er, less than appetizing. “Millers in Brown Onion Sauce” (Millers=rats, just so you know…) and Haggis, for example. Regarding Haggis, the ladies Grossman were kind enough to point out their theory that, “Those who enjoy eating it have never had a hand in its preparation; those who have cooked it are unwilling if not unable to consume it.” And the thought of placing a large vessel under the opening of the lungs to catch the ‘horrid impurities that will drip forth’ was more than enough to convince me they were right.

On the other hand, there were quite a few recipes that looked more than good enough to eat. Among the many were toasted cheese, Ratafia biscuits, trifle and several old fashioned drinks or toddies, including Hot Lemon Shrub.

Being a sucker for anything lemon, I glommed onto that last one as being a safe bet for my first foray of culinary adventuring into the eighteenth century. Besides, I had book-related memories for that particular receipt. Killick -the poor put-upon bristly son of a gun- was simultaneously brow-beating Jack into resting per Stephen’s orders and trying to get out of doing anything when he was asked for a Hot Lemon Shrub. Said Killick, “I got to hang the wipes out first, ain’t I?” I’d give my eye teeth to have a Killick around here, with his cussing, surly attitude and all. Maybe not so great an example for my children? But my house would be spotless. And that’s more than I can say for it now…

Plan ahead on the Lemon Shrub. You should allow it to mellow for about one week before imbibing. Unless, of course, you’re caught in a gale on the high seas and it’s the middle of the curtailed dog watch. Or you just can’t wait. Your call.

For a printer-friendly, photo free version of the recipe, click here.

Hot Lemon Shrub

as appears in “Lobscouse & Spotted Dog: Which It’s a Gastronomic Companion to the Aubrey/Maturin Novels”

Ingredients:

Zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups rum

Combine all ingredients, stir well, bottle and set aside in a cool place. It will be ready to drink after about a week.

Not entirely appetizing to look at, to be sure, but quite delicious.

To serve, mix 2-3 parts boiling water to 1 part Shrub.

Hot Lemon Shrub. So they DID have tastebuds in the 18th century after all... This is good!

My Notes:

This was good. It was not your everyday, modern hot toddy. It managed to be both lemony and soothing and was just ever-so-slightly sweet. I imagine a hot glass of this would be a powerfully comforting thing to drink whether you had a cold or were coming in from the rain or snow. And tell me if I’m nuts here (book lovers only on this one), but isn’t it fun to get the full-body experience on a book? By that I mean eating/drinking what they ate/drank, listening to the music they enjoyed, standing on the bow of a wooden ship in the middle of an ocean while the swells are twice as high as your mizzen mast? Well, maybe skip the last one. I’ll content myself with a glass of hot shrub on a bitter, rainy night and reading along with Jack and Stephen’s adventures.

Welcome in the cold! Grab a book, a blanket and a Hot Lemon Shrub.

Welcome in from the cold! Grab a book, a blanket and a Hot Lemon Shrub.

Oh! And lest I forget, I’ve heard tell that shrub, once prepared, is quite versatile. The word is that it tastes equally good when mixed in the same 1 part to 2-3 parts proportion with cold seltzer water. I can believe that would be very refreshing on a hot summer’s eve.

So, would you say overwhelming heat or biting cold was the lesser of two weevils?

*There’s no reason a tea-totaller can’t have the Hot Lemon Shrub experience, too! Just replace the rum with an equal amount of water and 2 teaspoons of rum extract in the recipe. Proceed as directed!

Filed Under: Beverages, Rebecca, Recipes Tagged With: Anglophilia, Aubrey, Historic foods, Maturin, O'Brian

Simple (and Frugal!) Homemade Hot Chocolate: Foodie Christmas Gift #3

December 4, 2008 by Valerie 2 Comments

Years ago, when I first was looking seriously into making homemade gifts for sharing at Christmas, I stumbled across a newsletter that had recently begun publication–a housewife in Maine had started sharing ideas on frugality (a.k.a. “tightwaddery”) and I was hooked on some of those ideas from the very beginning. Amy Dacyczyn and all of the issues AND books connected with the Tightwad Gazette became a permanent part of my life!

One of the simple gift ideas that I’ve used repeatedly over the years is a recipe for homemade hot chocolate mix. I enjoy both the simplicity and the versatility of this mix–you can add cinnamon, nutmeg, mixed spices (must put in a good word for my garam masala here) to suit the taste of whomever you are gifting with this, and some instant coffee added to the mix will make the mocha-lovers in your family smile. (Yes, Christina, I’m thinking of you!) I’ve not tried this yet, but with some adventurous chocolatiers out there putting curry powder, chili powder, cardamom, lavender and other unusual herbs and spices in their chocolates, it might be fun to play around with some of these and see if you can come up with something new that you might really love.

The mix can be put in a jar or plastic bag for gift-giving, suitably decorated, of course! Last year I made homemade marshmallows for the first time, and they were a welcome additional gift, perfect for floating and melting into a cup of steaming hot cocoa. (I’ll be sharing the Marshmallow recipe with you all tomorrow.) So, without further ado, here is the recipe:

Homemade Hot Cocoa Mix,

from The Tightwad Gazette, Volume 1

10 2/3 c. dry milk

1 lb. Nestle’s Quik

6 oz. of non-dairy coffee creamer

1/3 c. confectioners sugar

Mix the ingredients in a large bowl and store in a covered container. To prepare hot cocoa, mix 1/2 cup of the mix with 1 cup of hot water.

Filed Under: Beverages, Desserts, Gifts, Recipes, Uncategorized, Valerie Tagged With: Beverages, Food gifts, Homemade hot cocoa, hot chocolate

Harry Potter Butter Beer

November 3, 2008 by Rebecca 7 Comments

In today’s Record-Eagle column I ran the following recipe for Vanilla Simple Syrup.

Vanilla Simple Syrup

Once you make this you’ll find all sorts of reasons to keep it handy. We put about 1 1/2 ounces in the bottom of a tall glass and top it off with cold plain seltzer for a homemade cream soda that beats the pants off of anything you can buy in the store. If you’re so inclined, you can pour a wee bit in a glass with some brandy. And for you Harry Potter fans out there … Tune in to www.foodiewithfamily.com for an amazing and delicious Butter Beer recipe in both grown up and house elf styles.

If you don’t have access to a vanilla bean, just add an additional tablespoon of vanilla extract at the end of the recipe.

1 c. fresh water

2 c. granulated sugar

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise but not scraped

2 T. pure vanilla extract

Add the sugar to a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan with the vanilla bean and pour the water over the top. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, lower heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Pour syrup, along with the vanilla bean, into a clean glass jar with a tight fitting lid. Cool completely before use.

…After submitting the column to the editor, I promptly forgot to post my butter beer recipe here. Sigh. You might almost think I was really busy or something.

‘Tis the season to be reading and I’m willing to bet there are a bunch of kids (or adults) who are preparing to read or re-read the Harry Potter books. I was surprised, when first reading the books, to discover the huge role of food in the stories. I was hungry and salivating the entire time I read them. Pumpkin pasties, meat pies, sausages, potatoes, rock cakes, cider, licorice, butter beer. Wait. Um, butter beer? Sounds good, but what is it?

I decided to do a bit of research. It turns out that when J.K. Rowling wrote about butter beer she had in mind a butterscotch type flavor. There was no recipe. When I find something in a book that sounds delicious and there is no recipe I normally have a brief moment of anger at the author for making me hungry and not providing the immediate blueprint for satisfying that food craving. Drat you Rex Stout! Drat you and Fritz and Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin all to hecky durn. Where in the world am I going to get a dozen starlings and a culinary genius of a Swiss national to stew them in saffron for me? I then become rational once again and either recognize that I’ll probably never get to eat that dish (as in the stewed starlings) or I and produce my own version. With a jumping off point like butterscotch and the description that accompanied it in the book I figured I could probably produce a decent version of butter beer myself.

In the books, butter beer was served both hot and cold. For simplicity’s sake, I started with the cold version, but you can just as easily serve this warm by gently heating in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat or in the microwave.

Does anyone else see that house elf hiding behind my butter beer?

That was such a lame picture that I might have to make more butter beer later to try another shot. Er, I mean another photo.

Butter Beer

The alcohol content in this is very low. However, for the wee bairns, substitute butterscotch syrup for the butterscotch schnapps.

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons Vanilla Simple Syrup
1/4 cup Butterscotch Schnapps (for children, use 2 Tablespoons butterscotch syrup instead.)
1/3 cup apple cider, chilled
Plain Seltzer Water, chilled

Method:

Pour vanilla syrup into the bottom of a tall glass. Add schnapps and cider. Stir to combine. Top off the glass with plain seltzer water and have your lips ready to sip at the foamy head that threatens to pour over the edge. Enjoy!

Filed Under: Beverages, Rebecca