What's your quick food?

When the day has flown by and it's 8pm and you haven't had dinner yet … what do you eat? For me, that answer is easy. I make a quesadilla! They are seriously the simplest but delicious dinner ever. You can make them many different ways too.

Ingredients:

• Tortilla (white, whole wheat, corn, whatever you like)

• Shredded Cheese (mozzarella, cheddar,  taco blend, whatever you like)
• Random leftovers from the fridge (peppers, onions, beef, chicken, beans… )
• Oil (coconut, olive, or butter)

Like I said above, it's a simple dish but I will lay out my strategy for the best quesadilla.

Coconut oil. That's it. It will make for a nice and crispy tortilla for your quesadilla. Coconut oil is solid at room temperature so scoop out about 1/2 tablespoon into a fry pan on medium heat. Let it melt and put in the tortilla. Cover the tortilla in shredded cheese then add your other fillings. Once the cheese begins to melt, fold the tortilla in half. Cook just until the sides become light brown. Flip to the other side if needed. Serve hot with sides such as salsa, plain Greek yogurt (or sour cream), or guacamole.

Some filling combinations are listed below:

• Cheddar cheese, sautéed peppers and onions (optional add some taco seasoning, homemade recipe coming to the blog soon!)
• Cheddar cheese, black beans
• Mozzarella cheese, cooked chicken (optional garlic)
• Cheddar cheese, cooked and seasoned ground beef

Really the combinations are endless! The best is just to use whatever is leftover in the refrigerator.

So what is your quick meal?

Homemade Chai Tea Concentrate anyone?

There's just something about Chai tea ... whether it's hot or cold, it's delicious! Sadly buying the concentrate in the box from the store is expensive so I only used to buy it as a treat once in a while. 

I am an avid reader of The Elliot Homestead blog (which you should all check out!) and Shaye Elliot posted her recipe for Chai tea concentrate. I based my recipe off of hers. 

I haven't done the cost calculation like I did for my Homemade Face Cream but I have to think it is either equivalent or cheaper. Plus it's fun to make, you can tweak it to your taste buds, and you know exactly what's in it! Shaye says hers is about $2 per batch.

My homemade chai tea served chilled with raw milk

Ingredients:

• 6 cinnamon sticks
• 15-20 allspice berries
• 5 cardamom pods
• 15 cloves
• 25 black peppercorns
• 2 teaspoon of dried ginger
• 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
• 6 tea bags of black tea
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1/4 cup brown sugar (or sweetener of choice such as maple syrup, raw sugar, etc.)

Directions:

1. Crack the spices (excluding the cinnamon sticks and ginger). To do so, place the spices between plastic wrap and put a towel over it. Hit gently with a meat smasher/hammer/rolling pin/etc. (Or you can use a mortal and pestal if you have one).
2. Then, combine the cracked spices, cinnamon sticks, ginger, and 6 cups of filtered water in a pot.
3. Bring the water to a boil and allow it to slowly simmer for 25 minutes.
4. Remove from heat, add tea bags and steep for 5 minutes. 
5. Strain the tea (use cheese cloth or fine sieve) to remove all the spice and herb sediment. Add the vanilla. Then, mix in your sweetener.
6. Pour into containers. I use quart size mason jars. Store the chai tea concentrate in your refrigerator and enjoy!

I like to have my chai tea about 60% tea and 40% milk, served either warm or chilled over ice! How do you like yours?

The adventures of canning

During 2013 I had been trying out several different marinara sauce recipes and by the end of the year I had successfully figured it out! After I made all these batches of sauce I would freeze most of it for use later. Then my freezer filled up and I noticed that the sauce started to separate and some got freezer burn. I was not a happy camper.

This led me to attempt to learn how to can. No not learn the game Kan Jam, but learn how to preserve foods utilizing water-bath canning. I figured I would learn a new skill as well as free much needed space in the freezer. So I put on my winter boots and headed to Walmart in search of canning supplies. I got quart sized jars and the Ball Blue Book for a time tested resource on canning. I got home and started working. I now know looking back, my mother is always right … read EVERYTHING first before you do something, right? I guess I was just super excited.

I had made the marinara sauce but then realized I needed Citric Acid in order to can it. Citric Acid (found in lemon juice) is needed to alter the pH of the food to prevent spoilage. So I turned off the stove and headed out. Walmart carried food grade Citric Acid right in the canning section. How did I miss it the first time?!

Well then I was back at it! I had 3 quart sized jars in my stock pot but then realized it was a VERY full pot. I continued to follow my recipe and filled the sanitized jars correctly, placing each filled and sealed jar back in the water. When all three were full I put the lid on and cranked up the heat. It came to a boil after awhile and I realized my pot was definitely too short. You need 2 inches of water on top of the jars while boiling, and that brought the water to the very tip of my pot. I was continually wiping up water as it spurted out! I survived the 45 minutes of processing time. Then after the jars cooled for 12 hours I tested the seals and they worked! We are in business people!!

Don't let my experience scare you away from canning … just make sure to read your recipe in advance and have a large enough stock pot!

For reference the pot I was using was 9 inches tall. I am going to be purchasing a new one that is at least 11 inches tall to avoid the water catastrophe again!

 

Homemade PSL

Fall is my favorite season by far. Are there any other fellow pumpkin enthusiasts out there? Pumpkin cupcakes, pumpkin pie, pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin donuts, pumpkin soup, and the list goes on until you reach … the Pumpkin Spice Latte. Shout out to Starbucks for making this drink a cultural phenomenon in our society. The amazing little drink that costs a whopping $4-5 but oh it tastes delicious but I want to save money! What do I do? Make it at home!

There are various recipes out there if you ask the Google. But here is what I recently tried this week after having some leftover homemade whipped cream in the fridge from our 2nd Annual Thanksgiving-in-October party … and now I think it will become a regular in this house!

Ingredients:

Homemade whipped cream (recipe below)

1 1/2 cups coffee (brewed however you like it)

1-2 teaspoon sugar

1/2 cup milk (I use 1 or 2%)

Pumpkin pie spice (or a combo of nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger and if you have it add cloves and allspice)

Making the whipped cream:

1 cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

If you have an electric mixer this is super easy, if not you get a free workout! Place bowl (glass or metal bowl works best) and whisk of electric mixer in freeze for 10 minutes. Once the bowl and whisk are chilled add all the ingredients together in the bowl and whisk away! Come back in a few minutes and check the texture. You want it to form soft to firm peaks. Don't know what those are? Check this great visual resource.

Making the latte:

When your coffee is done brewing, spoon out a heaping spoon of whipped cream into your to-go mug. Add some pumpkin spice in and pour your coffee over top. Sweeten the coffee to your liking (I normally put about 1-2 teaspoons of sugar in mine). Stir the mixture quickly to dissolve the sugar. Then pour in the milk to fill the large cup. Place in microwave for 1 minute. Remove the cup and give it a good stir and top with a sprinkle of pumpkin spice and you are good to go! The combination of the whipped cream and milk makes the drink frothy and delicious!

Craving more pumpkin flavor? Add 1-2 teaspoons of pumpkin puree when you add the sugar. 

Enjoy the fabulous foods of Fall!

UPDATE: Pumpkin Whipped Cream!!
Wow! Adding pumpkin to the whipped cream is fabulous! You must try! Follow the whipped cream recipe and mix in 1/3-1/2 cup of pumpkin puree once the cream is finished. Then add a big scoop to your coffee! Enjoy!!

Cooking adventures: Homemade sauce and Pizza!

I love to cook. If you a close friend of mine you sure know that by now. I try to feed everyone. It's how I show I care for you. One of my most recent adventures has been making homemade marinara sauce! 

I will never go back to jarred pasta sauce again!

Making the sauce was relatively easy. I have done it twice so far. The first time the sauce came out great, though it had a kick to it - it was high in acidity. For the second go around I added a few chopped carrots to the sauce and voilà, the high acidity was nixed!

Cilantro, Red onion, garlic, tomatoes

I will forever have homemade sauce stocked in my fridge and freezer. It came in handy this weekend when my friends and I decided to make pizza! We used some premade crusts as we were short on time (that will have to be another cooking adventure soon though!). Smoothed on some sauce - though not too much cause then the pizza would get soggy. I would say it was less than a 1/4 cup of sauce. Then the cheese of course, about 1 cup. For toppings we had two pizzas. One had red onions, cilantro, garlic and tomatoes. The second had roasted red and green bell peppers and garlic. Both were fantastic but the pepper pizza was out of this world! I think it was the fact the peppers were roasted the day prior and sat in the fridge to develop more flavor.

Cooking is always an adventure! To my friends, you are always welcome in my kitchen. Let's cook a meal together!