Summer Sipping, Blueberries, and Chicken

Summer is flying by and I am still doing my darndest to keep up with the cooking and baking, picture taking and blogging.  Truth be told, I am taking tons of photos but I am failing at the writing the part....I even took my laptop to the back yard to write but there are so many darn distractions in the yard...you know, the garden, butterflies, naps....that sort of thing....

The distraction of the first ripening tomato in the garden!!!

 I am still busy making my own lemon and ginger syrups for tasty summer bevvies (and for some marinades and dressings) but lately  I have tried a new syrup. Blueberry syrup!!! I did some research online for this one and came up with my own concoction that follows the recipe I follow for the lemon syrup. A simple syrup of equal parts sugar and water with the berries tossed in. This one seemed to work for me.

Blueberry syrup

4 cups blueberries (fresh or frozen)
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 lemon's worth of lemon juice

Put everything in a pot and let it come to a boil. Cook until the berries are popping. I gave the berries a bit of a mashing with a potato masher just to get all the juice out.

Allow everything to cool in the pot then pass through a strainer.  I stirred and mashed the berries in the strainer a bit more then transferred the mashed berries to a jar for use on toast....instant jam!

Store the berry syrup in the fridge.

I found this one required a bit more than 1/3 cup of syrup per can on club soda. It makes a nice fruity soda with a gorgeous colour.

Another use for this syrup:

BBQ sauce!!!!!

Mix equal parts chili paste and syrup and brush onto meats on the grill. I used this on chicken tonight and it was absolutely divine, a nice sweetness with heat on the back of the tongue!

I used Sambal oelek for this one.

Until next time, stay warm and eat well!! (and have a drink!)

PhDs, Books & Lemonade, Oh My!

Oh Summer, you seem to pass by so quickly. Before we know it, it is almost August. Yikes!! We have been busy. My sister defended her PhD thesis last week so we had to have a BBQ and a cake.  A Yoda cake to be exact....She will be a Jedi Master following fall convocation. This is a big deal in our Prairie dwelling family of Jedi nerds.

I still need to practice the Yoda cake, but always fun!

 Things have calmed down around the Little Kitchen and I have even been able to get back to reading one of my favourite books. Many of you probably figured out that I have long been a fan of Little House on the Prairie (both the books and the tv show). I know, who'd a thunk it?

I bought this book last year when we were in St. Louis, MO and I even read through it last summer and enjoyed it. All this book has done has re sparked my interest in the Little House On The Prairie books to the point where I would like to read them again. This book has recipes that Ma Wilder used (or similar to ones she would have used).

 
That's right, The Little House Cookbook by Barbara M. Walker has become a favorite. Not so much for it's recipes but for some of the descriptions of the frontier life and the simple living (that was actually labour intensive).  Walker also uses excerpts from the Laura Ingalls Wilder's books where she describes in great detail the foods, the smells, and the feelings of the food. From the times the family nearly starved all the way to the richer times, Laura's life revolved around family and food.

I just like this book. I keep wanting to try some of the recipes from it. I am thinking the pickled beets would be great since I have a garden full of beets. I will work on that in the next while.

In the meantime, I am still making ginger syrup but have also started making lemon syrup for lemonade...oh and am I in love with lemon syrup...(especially with a shot of rum or gin or vodka in it....)

With many thanks to Pinterest for helping me find this one. The recipe actually hails from the Anne of Green Gables Cookbook (perhaps another one I should pick up...) but I found it on the Simply So Good Blog.  Perhaps I was drawn to this recipe over others due to its traditional roots.

It really is simple:

1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 cups lemon juice (fresh squeezed please)
zest from one lemon

Boil the sugar and water for about 5 minutes. Add the zest and lemon juice and allow to cool.  Transfer to a jar or other suitable storage vessel.

This works well using 1/3 cup syrup to 1 can of club soda or the equivalent amount of cold water. (Don't forget that shot of rum).

Adding some frozen fruit is fabulous as well...I like frozen blueberries but fresh strawberries muddled in the bottom....raspberries....blackberries....you get the idea!

Frozen blueberries

Fresh strawberries

We also got a fabulous haul from our CSA this week....

Check out other fabulous recipes at the Melt in Your Mouth Mondays Link up!

Until next time, stay warm keep cool and eat well.

Ginger and Spice and Everything Nice: Homemade Ginger Syrup

Lemon lime basil with raspberries

 Way back in the dead of winter we had the amazing opportunity to travel to Hawaii and I am still day dreaming about going back.  Now that the sunshine is here and the grass is green, I am dealing with life off the island a bit better than before.  One of the tasty things we tried at the Honolulu famers' Market was a homemade ginger ale concoction from Pacifikool that was absolutely fabulous.  Ginger syrup mixed with sparkling water (or club soda) and flavoured with lime, berries, basil....I believe the boy took his cup back to that booth for a refill!

Blackberry mango lime ginger ale

Not only is ginger tasty, it also has huge health benefits if consumed regularly. Ginger is beneficial for the gastrointestinal system, motion sickness, arthritis, and it also is an antioxidant and can help boost the immune system! Those are just a few of the benefits of this spicy little rhizome! Find out some more info at these helpful websites:

World's Healthiest Foods

Health benefits of ginger

I looked up a whack of different recipes online and found pretty much the same basics: make a simple syrup infused with ginger.  A simple syrup is basically equal parts sugar and water boiled until the sugar dissolves and cooled down.

Here's what I did:

Wash then chop up a big ole rhizome of ginger into smallish pieces and place in a pot. ( To peel, or not to peel? The first time I made this, I peeled the ginger but the second time, I washed it well and chopped it up. I didn't notice a difference. This is strictly a personal preference)
Add to this pot:

• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups water

Bring to a boil, slap a lid on it, reduce the heat to medium, and let it steep for about an hour.

Allow the syrup to cool before draining it and storing in the fridge. This syrup hasn't lasted more than 1 week, because we keep using it up so quickly! Every recipe seems to say something different. Some say 2 weeks, some say they've successfully kept ginger syrup for 6 weeks in the fridge.

I have been using about 3 to 4 tbsp of syrup and topping the glass up with club soda. (I also squeeze some lime into the bottom of the glass first.

Other tasty add ins we've used this week:

• fresh basil leaves
• raspberries
• backberries
• mango
• mint
• lime
• lemon

 When using the add ins, make sure to muddle everything at the bottom of the glass first, then add the ginger syrup, then add the club soda. (muddle is fancy talk for 'smash things up a bit')

You can test things out and use the amount of syrup you feel tastes the best. In general I have been using 4 tbsp to 1 cup of chilled club soda (1/4 cup syrup to 1 cup soda). I have made syrup twice in the past week now and have been making different concoctions ever since!

Mango lime basil

 I really love the hint of warmth left after drinking this. I find I prefer this to the prebottled brand names becaues I can really taste the ginger.  Mix it with all those add ins and the flavour possibilities are endless!  Now I just have to play with adding the liquor and my summer is all set!

Here is a few sites I looked at while deciding in what to do with the ginger.

Joy the Baker
Cocktailia
Martha Stewart

Until next time, stay warm and eat well!

Drink Your Cocktails, Cupcake

Did you know it is very easy to add booze to your cupcakes?  It is as simple as brushing on some rum or tequila, or whatever on to cupcakes when they come out of the oven, again before icing, and heck, put some in the frosting as well!

Strawberry rhubarb daiquiri

Remember those amazing strawberry rhubarb cupcakes?? Well, I brushed a batch of these little beauties with rum, twice...then I added rum to the the strawberry meringue butter cream....Yum!! You heard me correctly....just add some liquor to a Swiss meringue butter cream after it is finished and you are set!!

Mango lime margarita

Then there was the wonderful mango lime cupcakes?  Those were brushed with tequila, twice then were topped with a tequila lime icing!!  Tequila lime icing is as easy as switching out the water or other liquid for lime juice and tequila.  A little lime zest never hurts either!!

I took these little gems over to a friend's house to help celebrate her birthday.  I must admit I enjoyed hearing the rave reviews!!

Until next time, stay warm and eat well!!

Warm Me Up Hot Chocolate

It has been snowing now for over 24 hours....without stopping.  The driving is crazy, the walking is difficult, and the shoveling goes on forever.  Thankfully I have a wonderful near 15 year old to help (by help I mean he does it all) the shoveling.  I did take pity on him for a while and helped shovel the front steps and beside the house.  When one is done shoveling, they need a treat. I called it quits early and went in to make hot chocolate.  It just helps to warm one up when you come inside with the cuffs of your pants covered in snow and frozen solid, your glasses are fogged up and your toque is damp from the constant barage of snow!

This is a recipe I have tinkered with over many winters of snow, ice, and shoveling!!

Warm me up Hot Chocolate

In a large measuring cup mix together:

• 1 cup 1/2 and 1/2
• 1/2 cup milk (you can use all 1/2 and 1/2, or cream...but I felt the need to lighten it up a little with some skim milk.  As long as you have 1 1/2 of dairy)

In a sauce pan or pot mix together:

• 2 tbsp cocoa
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1/4 cup water

Mix this until nice and smooth.  It helps make sure there are no unsightly lumps of cocoa powder in your mug!

Stir and heat the cocoa mixture until it is boiling.

Boil for about a minute, stirring.

Reduce the heat and add the milk.   Heat the milk mixture until it is warm throughout.  Remove from the heat and add:

• 1 tsp vanilla and stir to combine

Pour into 2 mugs, add the toppings of your choice and enjoy with the toppings of your choice.  Some tasty suggestions:

• marshmallows
• whipped cream
• cinnamon
• Irish cream
• Peppermint schnapps

Serve to your favourite snow shoveler!

My favourite shoveler, snow topped, glasses fogging, red cheeks

!