Ginger Ice Cubes

Ginger Ice Cubes - Remedy or On the Rocks?
What to do when you are feeling queasy, have eaten something questionable, or have been exposed to friends/significant others who later came down with a bug? I've been saved more times than I can count by drinking a super strong ginger infusion! The only trouble is that you may not always have fresh ginger root on hand at all times, plus it takes about 45 minutes or more to make. So I like to freeze my ginger infusion in ice cube trays and then store them in a zip-lock bag in the freezer. The only trouble is, a certain someone was nipping into my supply--apparently these are also good for Scotch on the Rocks!

Ginger Ice Cubes

Peel and slice one large ginger root; place in 2-qt sauce pan and fill with cold water. Bring to a rolling boil and reduce heat and simmer for about 45 min to hour until the water is reduced by about half. Cool, strain and pour into ice cube trays. Freeze and store in a zip lock bag, or use those nifty ice cube trays that have lids!

This will be super-strong! So whenever you feel like you need a little ginger just put one cube in a tea cup with enough water just to cover it, microwave until hot.

In the summer John likes to use my ginger ice cubes for Scotch on the Rocks, it's probably good but I have not yet come to enjoy scotch.

Forbidden Breakfast Rice Pudding

Found this recipe yesterday on the My New Roots.org blog, I knew I had a package of Boxed Goodes Forbidden Black Grains at home and so I had to try it out immediately. I redeemed all the soda cans I was saving from the cafe at work so I could buy the coconut milk on my way home yesterday. Redeeming cans is usually a sticky experience at best, and often not worth the gas it takes you to drive there, but during a snow storm after you get sent home from work early, it's really not that bad! I made this last night, so I only soaked my rice for about 1 hour, and I think I overcooked it a little--so be sure you keep an eye on it. The original recipe states serves 3-4, but with the coffee and all the pineapple I was way too overfull after breakfast this morning. I'll divide into 5 portions next time.

Forbidden Breakfast Rice Pudding


Ingredients:

1 cup / 200g black rice, soaked overnight (if possible)

1 can full-fat coconut milk (reserve a couple tablespoons for garnish, if desired)

½ cup water with soaked rice, 1 ½ cups water with un-soaked rice

¼ tsp. fine grain sea salt

½ vanilla bean (optional)

1 Tbsp. maple syrup (I used about 1/4 cup)

1/3 cup coconut flakes, lightly toasted


Tropical fruits for topping! (I used warmed pineapple)



Directions: Bring the rice, water, coconut milk, salt and vanilla bean to a boil, stir once and reduce heat and simmer until rice is tender. Cooking time could be anywhere from 20-40 minutes, and pre-soaked rice takes significantly less time! Remove from heat, fish out vanilla bean* and stir in the maple syrup. Top with toasted coconut and your favorite tropical fruits.



*Note: I rinsed the vanilla bean gently and dried it out on the stoneware cookie sheet as I slowly toasted coconut at 300F. You can still get more use out of it! I scraped some of the tiny beans into my hot chocolate mix for the afternoon.



And P.S. canned mango sucks. Oh, impulsive me, I went out on a limb and now John and I have to eat it all so it doesn't go to waste.

Hello again! & Maple Coffee Cake

Inspired by my cowoker Camille, I have decided to start up my food-blogging again! This blog was created more for my own theraputic uses than for other people to read, infact I don't share it with my friends or family. I was actually surprised to see that people had actually viewed it! I hope that someone out there tried one of my recipes and enjoyed it. I apologise for any posts that were never followed up on, ex: the doughtnut debacle! I had a malfunction with the coconut oil, then I dropped a big rock on my foot while gardening in flip-flops. Yes that was a bad idea. But the donuts rose and smelled incredible. I ended up baking them, and using them for breakfast sandwiches. I think there may be still some in my freezer.

A little back-story to the recipe: I spent a weekend in Sebastian, Florida after Christmas, and my grandfather's girlfriend Rhoda served us this decadent Maple Coffee Cake. I ended up taking pictures of all her favorite recicpes with my digital camera. Unfortunatly for me, Rhoda is one of those cooks who "just knows how to do things" so her recipe only included the ingredients, and I had trouble remembering how she told me to shape the dough. I ended up making a large spiral and baking it in a tube pan. Then I noticed up in the right-hand corner of the image: (makes 2). I made one super-gigantic coffee cake, but in this case it was good because it was a gift for my Aunt & Uncle who's house we crashed at last night after the roller derby awards party. I have now reached an age where I need to spend the night if the drive home is more than 40 minutes away. John and I did get to try some for breakfast this morning, it was very caramely gooey at the bottom and the cake itself had great texture.

Maple Coffee Cake

1 packet of yeast (I used 2> teaspoons)
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1/2 cup scalded milk (yes, it really needs to be scalded!)
3+1/4-1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup warm water
1+1/2 t salt
3 T sugar

Filling:
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 T flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t maple flavoring (I omitted this)
1/2 cup chopped nuts (I used slivered almonds)

Place in bread machine at dough setting. Punch down well on floured surface.

Now, Rhoda's directions stated merely "roll out to 8x12inches"; which I did, and then spread the filling as evenly as possible over the dough, rolled it up and wet the edges to seal it in a ring. With sharp kitchen scissors I snipped the dough perpendicularly to expose the layers. Teh I let it rise for a good hour, and baked it in a greased and floured tube pan for somewhere between 45min-1hr at 325F. But Rhoda's incomplete directions said only: yeilds 2; bake at 350F 25-30min. I will let you decide what to do! If you want to get fancy, check out a bread machine cookbook for ideas how to shape similar breakfast/dessert breads.

This is amazing with coffee on a January morning in CT, even if you have your uncle's howling beagle named Lexi serenading you while you eat!