Bubbly!

My soda maker is really cool, and also fantastically economical and healthy. I have two reusable bottles that I fill with tap water, refrigerate until cold, and then carbonate. I make tons of flavors but today I am going to give you a two-fer. If you have a juicer, this is the time to use it.Juice a bundle of big cucumbers, maybe 6, then juice 6 key limes as well. Mix that up (remove any froth) that is a delicious juice right there. Now we have sweetening options. Grape juice (green grapes are best) or apple juice (green are preferable, again) straight from your juicer is your best option. I was out of both, so I used some simple syrup (ratio of 1 cup water to 1 cup sugar) that I keep in the fridge. Simple syrup is simple, you just heat up some boiling water and then stir in an equal amount of sugar, I do it in the microwave (just be careful not to overheat once the sugar is in there or you start making candy and whatnot). So sweeten your cucumber lime juice until it suits your tastes, then fill some popsicle molds with the juice. They are delicious and green! BUT!!!! Don't use all the juice, take an amount (maybe half, maybe a cup, whatever you're into) and add an equal part of carbonated water from your soda machine or just from the store. You may need to add a bit more of your sweetener here, but it is a light, grassy, citrusy, barely sweet soda that is so much better then that can of whatever you were probably going to drink before (unless it was one of those canned juice spritzers, which are acceptable but still not as healthy or tasty). There you go, popsicles and cucumber-lime soda. They will be gone soon because they taste like spring!

Vanilla Sugar, and Banana Yum

Vanilla Sugar is a real thing that you can make. 1 1/2 cups white sugar, 1 vanilla bean split on one end and also sliced in half width wise. Scrape the black beans from inside the bean and massage them into the sugar with clean fingers. Then rub sugar into the inside of the bean until you slough out most of the extra beans and oils. Put the beans and sugar in a jar and give it a shake now and then (the bean pods continue to add to the flavor). Use this sugar in whatever way you feel it should be used, like a
Banana Licuado:
1 1/2- 2 bananas, peeled
3/4- 1 1/2 cups milk or more (I use whole, you can use soy or whatever you want)
1- 3 tablespoons vanilla sugar
dash of cinnamon
1-3 ice cubes (optional)

Blend it in a blender or use an immersion blender, whatever you have will work. The recipe will vary based on the ripeness of the bananas and your prefrences, so try it with the minimum amounts of everything and decide how you want to alter it. I like a thinner licuado so I usually use the 1 1/2 bananas and a good bit of milk and vanilla sugar. I use ice in the summer because I like the ice crystals, my husband never uses ice in his personal licuados. It's your choice, but it is a delicious drink either way!

Exposions, Bad Things, and Love

1 Explosion: Tried to roast Chestnuts after slicing Xs onto the flat sides to keep them from exploding. Now I have never roasted a chestnut, but I am pretty sure that mine definitely turned out wrong because they taste like raw, muddy, potatoes. Also, they exploded in the oven, and a few exploded in my kitchen (luckily I was terrified after the oven explosions so I opened the oven door, pulled out the oven rack and ran and hid for half an hour in another room). I am not 100% positive I had the right kind of chestnuts at all. I just need to try some profesionally made and then give this a second, less explosive, try.

1 Bad Thing: I love rustling about the Asian market looking for new foods and old favorites, so an old woman's insistance that candied lotus seeds were AMAZING gave me enough reasn to buy a bag. WHen I opened the bag, the smell was unpleasant, and when I ate the seed it first tasted like sugar and then like a rancid meat. I do not want to insult candied lotus seed lovers, but it was not my cup of tea. Is this how they are supposed to taste?

1 Love: I love making bread and my husband loves eating it, and it is fun. To compinsate for my initial lack of powdered milk, my first bread was a plain white bread that resembled a french bread in flavor. From what I understand, fats are interchangeable with one another and sugars are as well. So, oil became room temperature butter and sugar became honey, and man do I love this bread:
White Bread Love:
1 cup warm water
3 tablespoons room temp butter
3 cups of bread flour
3 tablespoons of honey
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
2 1/4 teaspoons Bread Machine Yeast

Add in the order that your bread machine calls for and bake on white bread, light crust, 1 1/2 pound loaf setting. We eat it hot out of the bread machine with a bit of butter or honey butter or jam or turkey, or whatever sounds good and is laying around. Delicious!

Cauliflower Smash

Twice over the holidays I was forced into making my infamous cauliflower smash. Originally, I ate some cauliflower augratin at Whole Foods, and then I decided to make it super delicious!

1 Head Cauliflower (steamed)
1/4 to 1/2 cup of your favorite cheese(s) feel free to use more, sometimes I use 1/2 cup extra sharp cheddar and 1/2 cup munster) plus an extra 1/4 cup
1/4 to 1/2 cup cream or milk
1/4 to 1/2 cup sour cream
salt and pepper to taste

So you put everything in a blender, or you mash it with an immersion blender, make it smooth and velvety. then throw it in a pan and top it with that last 1/4 cup of cheese, bake at 350 until it is hot and melty all the way through.

You may notice that there are a lot of options in this recipe and that is because I guesstimate everything and make it differently all of the time. Like mashed potatoes only healthier, these mashers can be whatever you want them to be! Add bacon, I don't care, it will be delicous! Play areound with it, and give me some of your ideas.

Holly Jolly Days

I have been busy, busy, busy since the holidays. I have tried and made so many new things that my brain is exploding. A few gift highlights that are blog relevant:
A Bread Machine
A Soda Making Machine
Some Rockin' Popsicle Molds

So what to start with? Well, my most recent creation is Blackberry Jam! You see, breadmakers also make jam, which is pretty awesome! I had a pound of frozen blackberries and a lot of experimental zeal!

1 lb blackberries (crushed)
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp brandy

Place in bread machine pan and set on 'jam' setting.

This jam does not contain pectin, so it makes a very spreadable jam (I add 3 tablespoons to 1 - 1 1/2 cups plain or vanilla yogurt for an amazing treat). If you are as confused about the jam jelly preserve situation a I am then here's a bit of help:

Jelly: Clear, or clearish. Easily spreadable. Some people say it is 'sparkling' which doesn't help me. Like a sweet jellied fruit juice.

Jam: Mashed fruit. Easily spreadably. basically sugar and whole fruit mashed about and cooked down.

Preserves: Like Jam but with big fruit pieces. Not as easy to spread. Chunky.

My jam ratio should be compatible with other fruits, I'll let you know if I come across a disaster!

Slow Roasting Toms

A food blog that I love (I should link it sometime!) had a recipe for making what seemed like sun-dried tomatoes without the sun, and I ended up with magic by simply not following the recipe correctly. So, get some garlic like a big head of garlic, roma tomatoes, sea salt, pepper, olive oil.
Ready:
Oven at 300 degrees
quarter tomatoes lengthwise
peel cloves of garlic
garlic and tomatoes in a pan (glass rectangle dish)
Sprinkle with salt, pepper, olive oil
roast for 2- 2 1/2 hours
(Take out the garlic when it reaches your liking, I like mine half burned and half smushy)
EAT hot!

Vanilla!!!!!!!!!

I rarely measure our vanilla, and I frequently add it to recipes that don't originally call for it. The thing is, vanilla extract is pretty flippin expensive, and artificial vanilla or vanillin?! is made from the bark of some tree and tastes just awful. So! I researched and researched (as I am prone to do with everything that crosses my mind) and I figured out how to make my own vanilla extract. In fact, I made a jug for our house, and about 20 small bottles for Christmas gifts. Making vanilla is less of a science thing and more of a patience thing. So here is what you do:
Buy some vanilla beans (I got mine super cheap in bulk, like 500 or 1000 beans for 20 bucks or something ridiculous) and store them in a ziplock with the air sucked out in a dark place. Also, keep an eye on these beans because they will mold and ruin 100 beans in the blink of an eye. One more thing, don't freeze the beans, it's bad stuff. So, you have vanilla beans, it's up to you what kind of bean, though I use Madagascar Bourbon beans (which have no bourbon). Mexican vanilla is great, Tahitian vanilla is okay, but it has a different taste, semi-off-putting smell, and it's contents are more volatile and likely to spoil or turn into a dissapointing situation. So, find your self a glass jug with a cap (we use a big 3 Thieves wine jug with a handle) or you can use a smaller bottle with a cork, whatever you choose, preferably glass. Now, go to the liquor store, go on, and ask them for the cheapest vodka they have. You can use other liquors like bourbon or rum, but vodka is easily overcome by the vanilla and even with the cheapest vodka you will get a quality vanilla extract with no off-putting flavor. Split several beans on one side (like in Star Wars when that Taun-Taun gets sliced open) and toss them in the jug. How many beans? Well, how patient are you? How many beans do you have? How big is your jug? I think our jug is 1 1/2 litres and we added maybe ten beans, but our smaller 1/4 liter bottles got two beans. You can add more, possibly less (but be willing to wait). Fill the bottle with vodka, cap it and give it a shake. Tomorrow, give it another shake. Keep going (you can forget a few days, it's okay). In 1-3 months you will have a useable vanilla extract, and in 6 months you will have a hearty extract. You can top the bottle off with vodka every few months, maybe add a bean every year. Extract forever! Some people replace all of the beans every two years, but I only have a 6 month old extract right now so we'll see how it goes. The thing is, you always have a bit of the original vanilla you made, like a sourdough starter, only not terrifying. Some people have 100 year old vanilla blood lines, it's pretty cool. Have fun!