Hot milk with honey

Posted on January 13, 2008 by Michie

cupofmilk

Everybody has bad memories about their childhood, when they were forced to drink hot milk with honey and onions… ewwwwwww!!

But do try it without onions – just milk and honey. It is incredibly good – and also, the one and only effective cure for sore throat.

Under no circumstances, do not try it with lukewarm milk. That tastes just disgusting. Use hot, almost boiling milk – and drink it with a straw. Yummy healthy goodiness!

Do not add honey to the milk before heating, especially if you use microwave oven to heat the milk. Microwave radiation breaks down enzymes in the honey and diminishes its healing effect.

Usually, one cup (~0.24 liters) of milk goes perfectly together with one tablespoonful of honey. Stir, get a straw, go sit on your sofa – and feel how your sore throat, cough and runny nose are going away. And for a change, medicine doesn’t taste bad, instead it tastes incredibly yummy!

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Happy New Year!!!

Posted on December 31, 2007 by Michie

 

fireworks

 

 

If I were having a party tonight, these drinks are what I would serve.  They look festive, and taste so good.

 

Green Apple Martini

Cinnamon and sugar martiniglass
2.5 Ounces vodka
2.5 Ounces sour apple schnapps
2.5 Ounces lemonade
2.5 Ounces 7-up or sprite (or a lemon-lime soda)

Sliced green apple

Mix 1 part cinnamon to 2 parts sugar (or 1 tablespoon cinnamon plus 2 tablespoons sugar).  Dip the rim of the martini glass into a shallow dish with a bit of water in it — about 1/4 inch or so, and then into the cinnamon/sugar mixture.

In a shaker filled all the way with ice, mix the vodka, schnapps, lemonade and 7 up

In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, combine vodka, schnapps, lemonade and lemon-lime soda. Cover the shaker, and shake hard.  Strain the ice off, and pour into the glasses, garnish with a slice of green apple, and serve immediately.

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Pecan Butter Cookies

Posted on December 25, 2007 by Michie

These cookies are an annual Christmas tradition.  I’ve been making these since I was about 10 years old.  My son and I make them together every Christmas Eve.

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Pecan Butter Cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 cup pecans, chopped
1 cup flour
1 cup powdered sugar (10x or icing sugar)

Mix the butter, sugar and vanilla together.  Add the pecans, and mix well.  Add the flour and mix.  Don’t over mix the flour – mix just until it comes together.

Roll dough into small balls – about the size of a large marble, or about 3/4 of an inch big.  Place on an ungreased cookie sheet lined with parchment.  You can place these closer together than normal cookies — instead of 3 across on a cookie sheet, you can do 5 -6.

Bake at 300F for 30 minutes.

Allow the cookies to rest a few minutes, and then remove them from the parchment.  Allow to cool completely.

Once these are completely cooled, roll in powdered sugar.

This makes about 40 or so cookies, if you keep them about 3/4 of an inch big.

You can also roll these while they are still hot in the powdered sugar, and then return them to the oven for about a minute to glaze.  Allow them to cool and serve.

These keep a few days in a covered container.  They never actually last that long, though ;)

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Ohio Buckeye Peanut Butter and Chocolate Candy

Posted on December 15, 2007 by Michie

Something yummy to make for the holiday season. Of course, it contains peanut butter!!!!

This is a candy that originated in Ohio, and spread over the mid-west. A friend on IRC, who is from Ohio, shared the recipe (and the picture of the completed candy) – Thank you BS.

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A “buckeye” nut from the Buckeye Tree.

Candy buckeyes are named after the shiny, dark nuts of the Buckeye Tree-the official state tree for Ohio. The state’s original settlers found it to be an unfamiliar tree in the forest, and adopted it as a symbol of Ohio heritage. These pioneers carved the soft buckeye wood into troughs, platters and even cradles. Today, buckeye trees are prominent in the Ohio River Valley, and are known for being resilient and hearty.

The nuts of the tree, which are actually mildly toxic, were given their name because of their resemblance to the eyes of white-tailed deer. Folk wisdom says that carrying a buckeye nut in your pocket brings good luck.

These are fun and simple to make – perfect for the kids to do, with adult supervision when melting the chocolate.

Enjoy!

Buckeyes (Peanut Butter and Chocolate Candies)

2 cups butter
2 pounds peanut butter
2 pounds to 2 1/2 pounds confectioners sugar
2 1/2 pounds milk chocolate

Combine butter, peanut butter, and sugar in a bowl and mix well. Shape into walnut-size balls. Insert a toothpick in center of each ball. Place on a cookie sheet, as close together as possible, and put in the freezer overnight (or at least 4 hours).

Melt the chocolate over a double boiler slowly, or in the microwave. Dip frozen balls into melted chocolate. Leave a bit of the peanut butter showing when you dip these, so they look like the Buckeye. Place on parchment or wax paper to dry. Remove the toothpick and smooth over the hole the toothpick made.

Store in a tightly covered container, in the refrigerator, for up to 1 week.

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Notes:

In order to make the mixture into balls, I refrigerate the mixture for a couple of hours. You can do this overnight, as well.

This recipe makes a LOT. I almost always cut the recipe in half, as follows:

1 Cup butter
1 pound peanut butter
1 – 1 1/2 pound confectioners sugar
1 12 ounce bag of milk chocolate chips

This halved recipe still makes a lot.

Variation:

Using a mini-muffin tin, place candy cups into the muffing holes, add a bit of melted milk chocolate to the bottom of each cup, making sure it is spread evenly and covers the whole bottom of the cup. Allow to cool (stick it in the refrigerator for a few minutes). Add a spoonful of the peanut butter mixture, and spread evenly. Cover with more melted chocolate.

Or, instead of making the peanut butter mix as above, make your favorite Peanut Butter Fudge recipe (or mine). Once cooled, roll into balls and proceed as above, freezing for a few hours, and rolling in chocolate.

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Ham and Bean Soup

Posted on December 12, 2007 by Michie

This is the easiest ham and bean soup recipe I have — and specially picked out for afaiktoit, (a good friend, who has been craving this soup).

TBH, the easiest ham and bean soup is basically just the beans, water, a ham hock and you are good to go — all the rest is gravy.. so to speak.

This recipe is my Grams, with a few minor changes.. like adding in chopped ham at the end, instead of beginning, because I don’t like rubbery and tasteless ham.  She always made this with just the water, but I like the flavor and depth the chicken stock adds.

Enjoy!  And, afaiktoit, I do expect to hear you made this!!

 

Ham and Bean Soup

pinto beans

1 pound dried beans
4 cups chicken stock (or vegetable stock)
4 cups water
1 2-3 pound ham hock (ham bone)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium carrot, shredded
1/2 cup celery, chopped fine
1 clove garlic, minced fine
1 bay leaf
2 cups chopped ham
black pepper, to taste

Rinse and pick over the beans, taking out broken or off colored ones.  Place the beans in a container, and cover with water, with 2/3 of the water above the beans.  Allow to soak 8-10 hours. **See note

Drain the beans, add to your soup pot, and cover with chicken stock and water.  Add in the ham hock, carrots, garlic, celery, mustard powder, and bay leaf.

Allow to simmer until the beans are tender.  Once they are at the very edible stage (mmmmmm), take the ham hock out, and add the chopped ham.  Add black pepper to taste, and serve.  

** Note on soaking beans:

You can also speed this up by bring a pot of water to a boil, adding salt and the beans.  Remove from the heat and allow to sit, covered, for about 1 hour)

Notes:

  • I sometimes add about 1 cup of tomato sauce to this recipe, when I add the vegetables.  It adds a depth of flavor, and makes it richer tasting.
  • If you don’t have chicken stock — no worries — just use water. 
  • I use almost any bean that is available but I like great northern or pinto for this, personally.  They have in the market some mixed beans…packages with 10 to 15 different beans, which does give this soup an interesting variation, if you are so inclined.
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Sausage and Rice Stuffed Peppers

Posted on December 10, 2007 by Michie

pepper_yellow_redThis dish is a quick and easy one to put together, and excellent for lunch the next day. You can use any kind of sausage you like (though I’d not use a American ‘breakfast sausage’ type.

This recipe comes from my son’s Great Aunt Josie — she taught me quite a few traditional Italian-American recipes over the years I knew her, and this is one of my all time favorite of the dishes she prepared.

Aunt Josie made these for family get together’s’ in the autumn and winter. She would make 15-20 of them, and keep them warm over a sterno, along with other dishes such as ‘sausage and peppers’, ‘baked ziti’, ‘meatballs’, and the ever present lasagna.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I always have.

Sausage & Rice Stuffed Peppers

6 large peppers
1 pound Italian sausage (sweet or hot style)
1 large onion, chopped fine
1 clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 pounds mushrooms, chopped
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
3 cups cooked rice
1/2 to 3/4 cup of tomato sauce
3/4 cup of parmesan or Romano cheese

Wash the peppers, and then slice the tops off. Remove the seeds, and cut away the white veins inside the peppers.

If you are using cased sausages, remove the casings. Chop the sausage and brown in a skillet. Break up the bits of sausage as best as possible with a spatula, so you have small pieces.

Once the sausage is cooked, remove it from the skillet. Add the garlic, onions and mushrooms into the skillet and saute 3-4 minutes. Add in the 3 cups of cooked rice, and saute with the onion/garlic for a couple of minutes. Add the sausage back into the skillet and mix.   Add 1/2 cup of tomato sauce and 1/2 cup of the cheese.  Mix in the parsley.

Spoon the sausage mixture into the peppers, filling them completely. Put the peppers into a baking dish that has been lightly greased. Spoon the remaining tomato sauce over the peppers. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Bake in a 425F oven, for about 45 minutes.

Note:

  • I use red, yellow or green peppers. I prefer the red peppers, as they are sweeter and, quite frankly, Yuma.
  • I like these made with ‘hot’ Italian sausage.
  • You can mix in the tomato sauce, instead of placing it on top.
  • Mix in the cheese, instead of placing it on top.
  • I’ve seen these made with the peppers cut in half, as well, which might be a nice idea if using the peppers as a side dish, instead of the main dish.
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