As I am still down for the count with a nasty upper respiratory bug – one that includes a diagnosis of both a sinus infection and bronchitis (as well as a delightful fever) I thought I would post the recipe for something my late grandmother used to make for me when I was young.

1/2 cup fresh squeezed (and strained) lemon juice
1/2 cup honey
1 shot whiskey, brandy, honey liquor etc.

In a small saucepan heat honey and lemon juice together until it blends into an even syrup consistency.

Pour honey-lemon mixture into a heat proof mug.

Add 1 shot of liquor and stir well to incorporate.

Take by teaspoons as needed to soothe a painful sore throat and/or to control a dry cough.

Note: This is a family recipe and is posted for informational and entertainment purposes only. This is not intended to treat any particular illness. Please consult your own medical professional to get an accurate diagnosis and to determine the safety of this “home remedy” for your own situation.

Caution: Alcohol should not be used by children, pregnant women, or those for whom it may aggravate a chronic health condition.

Written by Mama KellyTags:cold, flu, health, illness, recipe

Sweet natural lemonade for just pennies a glass!!!

Ingredients:

5-6 large lemons

1 1/2 cups sugar

4 cups water (brought to boiling)

2 quarts cold water

1. Place lemons in a heat-proof bowl and cover with boiling water and let stand for 5 minutes.

2. Remove lemons with tongs and place on a clean dishtowel.

3. Roll lemons under your hand to free up juice.

4. Slice lemons as thin as possible on a plate, reserving all juice.

5. Place lemon slices (and juice) in a bowl sprinkling with sugar as you go, using all of it.

6. Let stand for 30 minutes.

7. Use a potato masher to firmly press lemon slices extracting juice, while preserving the pulp.

8. Move contents of bowl to a large pitcher.

9. Fill with 2 quarts of water.

10. Stir and refrigerate until very cold.

Variations:

to make “pink” lemonade take 1 cup of water (out of the 2 qts) and 1/2 cup of fresh raspberries and puree them in a blender and add to pitcher along with rest of water

replace lemons with oranges (about 3 or 4 ) or limes (about 7 or to make orangeade or limeade; be aware that you may need to tweak the amount of sugar accordingly

if you’re serving this to adults too, lemonade can be tweaked nicely with vodka and blue curacao (add a shot of each to a tall glass and fill with lemonade)

Fixing mistakes:

too sweet – using a hand juicer squeeze the juice out of 1 more fruit at a time until you’re happy with the taste

too sour – add more sugar 1 tablespoon at a time until you’re satisfied

too strong – add more water, up to an additional quart, 1 cup at a time

Enjoy!!

Mama Kelly

Adapted from:

Written by Mama KellyTags:beverage, drink, recipe

Yesterday was Friday the 13th, one of my favorite days. I know a lot of folks consider Friday the 13th to be bad luck but I don’t subscribe to that notion.  Instead, I chose to celebrate Friday the 13th has a day to have fun and invoke the number 13 as a good luck number.

I personally love the number 13 and there are many reasons to not fear it. There are often thirteen full moons in a year (I love the full moon!).   A baker’s dozen is 13, which means a free treat.  America began with 13 colonies, and we turned out ok.  Friday the 13th happens on a Friday, my most favorite day of the week.

Looking at the numerological symbology of the numbers 1 and 3, thirteen is a positive number: 

One is the number of self, being an individual, doing your own thing, confidence.  It is also the number of spirituality and unity. 

Three is a number of creativity, passion, spontaneity. It is also the number of completeness, balance, body-mind-soul, and the three aspects of the Goddess.

Four (Combination of 1 and 3) is the number for planning, building, foundation, and stability. It is also the number strength, wisdom, and the four seasons and the four elements (air-fire-water-earth).

So rather then succumb to paraskavedekatriaphobia (fear of Friday the 13th), I urge every one to celebrate and focus on making your own good fortune today and every day.  Superstitions are based on fear of the unknown or fear of not knowing what’s coming, but that fear can be turned around with knowledge and a positive attitude and fun.

The next Friday the 13th is Nov. 13, 2009. One way to celebrate Friday the 13th is by making up a big batch of this 13 bean good luck soup: 

• 2 cups mixed dried beans (13 different kinds, including black-eyed peas – which are associated with good luck)
• Water with 2 tablespoons salt (to soak beans)
• 2 qts Water or Chicken or Vegetable Broth
• 2 large onions, sliced
• 2 cups chopped celery
• 1 can (28 ounces) tomatoes, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• salt and pepper to taste, add other herbs and seaonsings that you like
• Optional: 1-1/2 cups bite-size pieces lean baked ham (about 1/2 pound) or 1-pound meaty ham bone or ham hock (leave out if vegetarian)

Wash the beans, cover water and add 2 tablespoons salt, and then soak overnight.  Drain the beans and combine with 2 quarts fresh water (or chicken or veggie broth) in a large pot. Add the ham and boil for 1-1/2 to 3 hours, or until the beans are tender and cooked thoroughly. Toss in the onions, celery, tomatoes, red pepper, and salt and pepper (and other seasonings) to taste. Simmer for another 30 minutes, or until the vegetables are cooked.

Set the table with 13 bowls, a plate of 39 fresh baked dinner rolls (3×13), invite 12 friends over and enjoy!

For some interesting reading check out an interesting article on the symbology of 13 and Freemansonry (our founding fathers).

Health and happiness, Lady Rose

Written by Lady RoseTags:13, luck, recipe, soup

I spent a good part of my Imbolc weekend in the kitchen.  I did my usual once-a-week cooking and made a number of other treats as well.  I made both chicken salad and egg salad, french onion soup (topped with cheesy toasted bread), 2 pans of “mexican lasagna (tortillas layered with pureed beans, sauce, cheese and sauteed vegetables, a pan of Jambalaya, a bunch of Asian chicken in a savory sweet gravy – so much food so little refrigerator space.

I also made corn muffins and a cake.  A wonderful cake. A cake that surprised even me with its utter yumminess.  A little more than 2 weeks ago I posted the recipe for GamerDude’s birthday cake.  Well today I made it again and tweaked it some more.  It came out better than I could’ve hoped.  This is the new revised recipe.  I no longer think it needs any glaze or icing – it would be overkill.  Though somehow turning this cake into cream filled cupcakes is tempting.   I have to tell you that it is right now, officially and without reservation my favorite traditional cake ever (flourless chocolate still tops the list).

I have yet to sit down and calculate out the costs of the ingredients on this list and honestly Im a little afraid to, LOL as I may not be able to make it again. The chips and butter are the most expensive part of this recipe, but mine were all purchased on sale. 

Using a handy little tool over at Sense to Save I have been able to estimate that making this cake costs about $6, assuming all ingredients were purchased in bulk or on sale (as I do on a regular basis). Now granted $6 is significantly less than most store bought cakes and this one is particularly tasy, but, if I want to be able to make this cake on a more frequent basis (now that I have a no fail treat to serve in my back pocket) I am going to have to bring the cost down.  The original recipe calls for shortening which might be cheaper and the chips are my addition.  So the next tweaking will be to work out a plain cake version to make it even more of an affordable treat. 

In the meantime, Enjoy!

Mama Kelly

The Cake

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F

Apply butter-flavored non-stick spray to a non-stick 10 inch Bundt pan.

Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa, then whisk to thoroughly blend.

Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together butter, sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy.

Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each.

Add honey and cinnamon and blend well.

Add dry ingredients alternately with the milk, pausing occassionally to fold in chips.

Mix until well-blended.

Spoon into Bundt pan and smooth.

Bake at 325 F for 80 minutes (start checking at 70 minutes) or until a tester comes out clean.

Let cool in pan for at least 10 minutes before inverting onto a serving plate.

PS  Cake recipe was originally inspired by this

Written by Mama KellyTags:chocolate cake, recipe

Written by Lady RoseTags:inauguration, Obama, recipe

I tweaked a recipe I found at allrecipes.com and am enamored enough to want to tweak it again.  But it was rather yummy and I thought you’d might enjoy the recipe. 

This recipe is a work in progress.  It can get better.  I’d like the get a more uniform texture, but the extra-large eggs I get at the farmer’s market (cheaper than the price of medium eggs at my grocery store) are throwing recipe proportions a little askew.  I might add a little more brown sugar next time.  I’m thinking of using regular chocolate chips and mixing in actual cut up caramels.  I could go with more cinnamon (maybe even a little black pepper which took my candied yams into the level of awesome this past Thanksgiving) in the glaze.  I could even add caramel to the glaze as well.  But for now, its pretty darn good as it is.

The Cake

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F

Apply butter-flavoed non-stick spray to a non-stick 10 inch Bundt pan.

Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa, then whisk to thoroughly blend.

Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together butter, white sugar, brown sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy.

Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each.

Fold in chips and mix until well-blended.

Add dry ingredients alternately with the milk.

When well-blended batter will be uniform in color and quite glossy.

Spoon into Bundt pan and smooth.

Bake at 325 F for 75 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.

Let cool in pan for 10 minutes before inverting onto a serving plate

Glaze

Melt butter and chocolate together in a double boiler, stirring constantly until smooth.

Add cinnamon and blend thoroughly.

Pour on top of cake, coating evenly.

If you are in a rush, this can be poured on top of a warm cake as well. In this case the glaze with absorb into the cake creating a dense crust. Not as pretty, but just as tasty.
Enjoy!

Mama Kelly

PS  Cake recipe was inspired by this and glaze recipe was adapted from here.

PPS I left a little early the other day so I would have time to procure a cake for my hubby’s birthday and soas to have a little extra time for family.  I left work at 3:00, came home and made this for Gamer Dude’s birthday cake.  At the same time I had a loaf of cinnamon-raisin bread doing its thing in the breadmaker with whom I have recently taken up an elicit affair.

Yes I work a really terrible job.  But for a little while today I caught a glimpse of who I was before I started working there.  The person I was when taking care of my family was the focus of my day not the inane mutterings that comprise my days now.  For a few moments today I also caught a glimpse of who I could be, of who I want to be.

Flour, sugar, butter, and a few sundries.  This may be the cheapest thereapy I’ve ever taken part in.

Written by Mama KellyTags:baking, cake, cooking, recipe

Chocolate Crazy Cake – (made with no eggs, no milk)

Angelgirl had a chocolate cooking class this past summer at camp college. She brought home wonderful treats every day and at the end of the week she also brought home the recipe booklet for everything they made. Here is one of the recipes:

Crazy Cake – It is an awesome, rich, dense cake. She decorated it with roses made from tootsie rolls.

Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
3 cups flour
1/3 cup coaco powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup oil
2 Tbsp white vinegar
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups water

Directions:
Preheat over to 350 desgress F
Mix together the dry ingredients in a bowl. Stir with rubber spatula to mix completely.
Make 3 wells in the dry ingredients forming a happy face (you need to make a big mouth!)
Into one eye put in white vinegar, in the other eye pour vanilla, and in the mouth pour in the oil from the measuring cup.
Add 1 cup of water and stir the mixture until blended smooth with no lumps.
Add remaining cup of water and carefully stir until completely blended.
Bake in ungreased baking pan (9×13) until toothpick comes out clean after being inserted into the middle of the cake, (about 45 minutes).

Here’s another yummy recipe that Angelgirl made in class Chocolate Chip Biscotti (posted on my other blog).

Written by Lady RoseTags:recipe

In my quest to lose over 150 lbs (90 lost so far!) since May 1, 2006, I have been on the look out for new healthy foods – my motto on my other blog the Diet Pulpit is “don’t be a fool, eat for fuel.”  

I recently tried Ancient Harvest Organic Quinoa for the first time – it is a high protein grain. I just love it! It is so easy to make – just combine 1 cup water for every 1/2 c. quinoa, once it boils, cover it and turn off heat, let stand for 15 minutes (2 servings) – or make up a big batch for the whole family. You don’t have to worry about it being sticky like rice. It is light and fluffy and takes on the flavor of what ever you add to it – so it can be sweet (i.e. cooked apples, dried fruits, honey) or savory. I added lots of roasted garlic to my batch as it was cooking. Then added lots of veggies (diced canned tomatoes with no salt added, choppped frozen kale and diced sauteed onions). Heated everything up together and it was warm and delicious, and very filling. It was a great comfort food meal on a cold night. My hubby even liked it and will be trying it in his next batch of homemade soup.

With the color combination of the red tomatoes and the green kale (chopped spinach would work too) – this dish would be great for the Yule holiday. You could use it for stuffed peppers (all green or a combo of red and green peppers), you could use large mushroom caps and use this for filling, or just have it as a nice, colorful sidedish or bring it along as a covered dish to a holiday get together. You can experiment with your favorite veggies and combos for unlimited flavor combos.

Next I am also going to be trying Rice Select Couscous – I got the variety 4 pack so I could different ones. I especially like the sundried and the tri-color couscous (with red from tomato and green from spinach) – not only is it easy to make (just boil water!), it’s pretty too and very festive looking and would be nice to use in a dish for Yule also. The tri-color couscous would be perfect a recipe dedicated to the Goddess too.

Eating more whole grains is healthier for you (tons of fiber) and for Mother Earth (saves energy and resources). So if you haven’t tried these yet, I urge to give them both a try. If you don’t want to go completely meatless – adding whole grains like these can reduce the amount of meat needed (which also reduces the fat content) – i.e. these would work nicely to replace some of the meat content in dishes such sloppy joes, spagetti sauce, ghoulash.

These grains are so easy to cook up they can be made in lots of every day dishes but are also so lovely looking that they can be dressed up and served at any holiday.

Health, happiness, and bright blessings to all, Lady Rose

Written by Lady RoseTags:harvest, holiday, recipe, whole grains

This recipe is In honor of my new diet plan (Medifast Diet) that I started last Monday - it calls for a lean and green meal for dinner.   This is one I came up with for this week for the crock pot. I call it Lean Mean Green Chick – lean because it only has 3 grams of fat per serving, mean because it has a ton of garlic and a dash (or more if you like) of red pepper flakes, green because of the blend of kale and spinach and chick because the protein is chicken. This is going to be one of my favorites, I really loved it. And it’s easy too.

Enjoy, Lady Rose

Makes 7 servings, each 232 calories, 12 carbs, 36 grams of protein, 3 g fat. (determined from information on packaging).

Ingredients:
7 Perdue Perfect Portion chicken breasts (140 calories each)
1 can 98% fat free cream of chicken soup
4 celery stalks and 1 medium onion (chopped roughly)
1 20 oz bag of frozen spinach
2 10 oz boxes of frozen kale
Seasonings: Mrs Dash Original, red pepper flakes, 20 cloves of garlic chopped or smashed (approx. one head of garlic), fresh or dried basil and parsley.

Put soup on the bottom of the crock pot, top with chicken breasts, add celery and onion, sprinkle with seasonings and most of the garlic. Top with spinach – spinkle with seasonings and a little garlic, top with kale – sprinkle with seasonings and a last of the garlic. Cook on low for about 6 hours.

When finished, serve or place in freezer containers approximately two large spoonfuls of the veggies to the plate or container topped by a chicken breast. When done, add a spoonful or two of the broth on top.

This is a very filling dish and the added kick of the garlic and the mild heat of the red pepper help to curb the appetite too.

Bright blessings, Lady Rose

P.S. Star Trek fans might recognize the “green chick” in the photo.

cross posted on Diet Pulpit

Written by Lady RoseTags:recipe

Wander the Web Wednesday – Crib Candy – Felt Art – Recipes

The idea is to highlight 3 to 5 links that you feel would be new to other readers. They can be daily reads, or personal favorites. They may even just be something fun or freaky or just plain fascinating that you wandered into recently. They can all be about one theme or all different.

If you want to “play along” make a list on your site and link to it in the comments. Of course I’d appreciate a link back. You may use the graphic above, (do not hotlink), simply save it to your own computer.

1. Crib Candy – unique decorative items for your home check out the wall-mounted fruit holders
2. Make your own convenience food mixes.  You know … cake mix, soup mix, etc.
3. My Paper Crane will wow you with what this woman does with felt and stuffies … check out the plushie toilet bowl.  It manages to be both cute and disturbing at the same time.
4. If you love ice cream you may enjoy playing with the Ben & Jerry’s Flavor Generator tool
5. I came across a short video clip on youtube from the Simpsons which features Lisa defending Wicca as being empowering.

Written by Mama KellyTags:arts and crafts, ice cream, meme, recipe