Ginger June 11, 2011

Ginger is really one of my favorite flavors. The sharp, but sweet taste and smell is so refreshing. I made ginger ale and crystalized ginger yesterday. The ginger ale was wonderful, I will make it again. The crystalized ginger… not so much. Now I love crystalized ginger, but this was so spicy I couldn’t eat it. I need different, less potent stuff. Also I burnt it, but that was just me being stupid.

Sweet Potatoes with Brown Sugar and Pecans August 21, 2010

Yet another recipe, but a good one.

Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Brown Sugar and Pecans

Ingredients

6 sweet potatoes

¼ cup butter

2 ½ T brown sugar

½ t. salt

2 T chopped pecans

1. Peel potatoes
2. In large saucepan add enough water to cover the potatoes 1”.  Put potatoes in and bring to boil on medium-high heat.  Reduce heat slightly and gently boil potatoes until tender, 20-25 minutes.
3. Put butter in small saucepan; melt; put aside.
4. Drain the potatoes.
5. Adjust an oven rack to be in the middle; pre-heat oven 350ºF.  Put one T melted butter in 6 C baking dish.  With pastry brush, spread butter on sides and bottom of dish.
6. Mash the potatoes until smooth.  Stir in 2T of melted butter + 1T of brown sugar + salt until well mixed.  Spoon mashed potato mixture into baking dish; sprinkle butter, brown sugar and pecans evenly over the top.
7. Bake for 15 minutes.
8. Eat immediately.

German Apple Pancake

Sorry for all the random recipes.

German Apple Pancake

Ingredients

Pancake

3 large eggs

¾ C milk

¾ C flour

½ t salt

1 ½ T butter

Filling

1 lb tart, fresh apples

¼ C melted butter

¼ C sugar

powdered cinnamon and nutmey

Topping

2 T melted butter

powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 450 ºF
2. Beat together the eggs, milk, flour and salt until very smooth.
3. In heavy 12” skillet melt 1 ½ T butter.  As soon as it is quite hot, pour in batter and put skillet in oven.  After 15’ turn oven to 350ºF and continue baking for another 10’.  During the first 10-15 minutes of baking, the pancake may puff up in to large bubbles; if it does, pierce it with a fork or skewer.
4. While the pancake is baking, prepare the filling.  Peel and slice the apples.  Saute them lightly in ¼ C butter + ¼ C sugar; season to taste with cinnamon and nutmeg.
5. When the pancake is ready, slide it onto a platter.  Pour apple filling over one side and fold other side over.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serves 4.

Honey Florentines

Just another recipe. These cookies are sweet and crispy. Very easy.

Honey Florentines

Martha Stewart’s Cookies, p29

2 T unsalted butter

2 T packed light brown sugar

1 ½ T honey

2 T all-purpose flour

pinch salt

1. Preheat oven to 375 ºF.  Melt butter, brown sugar and honey in a small saucepan over medium-low heat.  Transfer to a bowl.  Whisk in flour and salt until smooth.

Drop ½ teaspoons of batter onto silpat or parchment lined baking sheet, spacing at least 3” apart. Bake cookies until golden brown, about 6 minutes.  Cookies can be stored in airtight container at room temperature for 2 days.

Chamomile Tea July 31, 2010

Do you like Chamomile tea? I love it so I planted some german chamomile. It is huge! Just buy a seed package on German chamomile seeds and plant them according to instructions on the package. Once they grow, just pick the flowers and dry them. then put 3-5 dried flowers in a cup of boiling water. Yum!

Ravioli and Being a Vegetarian July 14, 2010

I made ravioli. It actually was not too hard. I don’t have a recipe on me right now, but I will post it later.

Maybe  you can tell but I really like pasta. I’m a vegetarian, so I eat it a lot.  Did you know that if you eat corn and beans or rice and beans that you get all the protein you get from meat? actually, I am a pestatarian. That means I eat seafood, but not other meat.  At first I really missed eating meat, but now I don’t very much. Even when others eat meat around me, I’m not tempted.

Some relatives tried to convince me to eat meat but I ignored them. Mostly though people have bean supportive.

Pasta with Capers, Basil, and Tomato July 12, 2010

I love this pasta recipe. Ok it’s not really a recipe, it’s more of an idea.

Cook some pasta (spaghetti is good) and add: basil, chopped tomato, capers, and lemon juice. The amounts depend on your taste.

It’s really easy, but people get really impressed. (: