Thursday, December 22, 2011
Come at me meringue! Come at me!!
Yes! Yesyesyesyes!!! :D I did it! So, tried Julia Childs recipe and messed but yknow in the end there's always youtube. Thank you youtube!http://youtu.be/oJvyeLlv3sw I used this recipe and doubled it. It came out perfectly! You don't need a whisk to aerate or anything! Just a good old fashioned hand beater, some egg whites and a cup of castor sugar (or normal sugar that's been put in the food processor for a minute. Same difference... kind of.. <.<;;). It's baking in the oven now, both fillings for my pastries are done, and I'll be using phyllo dough instead of making my own dough for the cream and berries tarts. Always place a slightly damp towel over your phyllo dough so it doesn't dry up before your done! Now time to clean the kitchen and attempt to look decent for this party. Oh, and finish baking, but that's a given.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Happy Winter Solstice Everyone
Good Evening everyone, it's been a while hasn't it? Sorry about that, I've been focusing super hard on my studies but finals are finally over and I can blog and knit and play and cook to my hearts content. Yay! I've also realized that blog posts don't have to be super long and that they don't all have to have a recipe in them. Amazing, right?! So on I go with my non recipe post about my day which was the best day I've had this break! It started out with a photo shoot of my dearest lovely, Kricket! I'm making a new collage of her because I'm tired of the air bubbles in the old one and it's also starting to bend in on itself so a new one is much needed. I got the most beautiful pictures of her in her garden in the fog! So misty! So serene! So mysterious! Lol, getting a little carried away I suppose. Then Kricket, me, and our friends Camila and Vanessa went to a photo shoot for our friend Jan who just got a bunch of new photography equipment.We wore Santa and elf hats and threw angry birds at one another, do I really need to exclaim just how much fun it was? I didn't really think so. Oh! I also got my hair cut today! I'm absolutely loving it too! I cut like eight inches off so it's shoulder length now and it's so much fun to swish!
Ok, so we all knew this part was coming, I'm gonna talk about food now. Yeah! I tried making Martha Stuart's Meringue shells with lime curd filling because I have a christmas party to go tomorrow and we were all suppose to bring something to drink or eat. x_x The meringue wouldn't come to stiff peaks! I whipped it with the mixer and I figured maybe it wouldn't come together because the whisks weren't far enough into mixture to aerate it. So then I used a hand mixer and spent like 45 min trying to get it aerated that way but noooooo. I even tried hand whisking but the mixture was so thick and heavy that I couldn't continue! So tomorrow I'll try again with Julia Child's recipe for meringue cookies, hopefully it will work better. There's no cream of tartar in her recipe, I wonder what difference that will make.
Ok, so we all knew this part was coming, I'm gonna talk about food now. Yeah! I tried making Martha Stuart's Meringue shells with lime curd filling because I have a christmas party to go tomorrow and we were all suppose to bring something to drink or eat. x_x The meringue wouldn't come to stiff peaks! I whipped it with the mixer and I figured maybe it wouldn't come together because the whisks weren't far enough into mixture to aerate it. So then I used a hand mixer and spent like 45 min trying to get it aerated that way but noooooo. I even tried hand whisking but the mixture was so thick and heavy that I couldn't continue! So tomorrow I'll try again with Julia Child's recipe for meringue cookies, hopefully it will work better. There's no cream of tartar in her recipe, I wonder what difference that will make.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Devil's Bundt Cake
This isn't the actual cake I made for our party but I wish it was! I came up with the idea as I was making a this halloween cake : www.cookingwithsugar.com . That cake was pretty easy but I think this one would be easier and possibly have the same spooky effect. Her cake had chocolate cake, but because I wanted something richer I used devil's food and my cake wasn't nearly as marbled, but it did have an orange and purple crescent moon instead! Which was awesome!
So the idea is basically the same, make the mix, bake in a bundt pan, drip icing, yadda yadda.
Ingredients:
1 box devils food cake
1 can of vanilla icing
Black concentrated food colouring
Red, or orange Concentrated food colouring (OPTIONAL)
1 bag of spider rings
Directions. Follow baking directions on your box of devil's food cake except while mixing the batter add black food colouring till the batter is black. Once the cake is baked spoon out half a can of vanilla icing and heat 5 ish seconds in the microwave. Make sure it's still a little thick! Drizzle the icing over the bundt cake in a disorganized manner to make it look like spider webs. Now you can mix any left over icing with food colouring till it's the right colour to you and drizzle that. Drops here and there of red icing to look like blood sounds like such a good effect! Now stick the spider rings along the cake however you like.
Magickal References:
I'm tired so I'm leaving that to you. Think premixed = ease of access, and over simplification
chocolate= aphrodisiac, richness, etc
Vanilla= Reflection, acceptance
Icing= masks, masking faults, hidden aspects, helps to keep secrets
Black= Night, mystery, secrets, protection
White= Protection, moon, mystery
Red= Passion, leadership, etc..
Meditate on what certain colours and insects mean to you and try to go from there, if you get stumped look stuff up. Spiders= Web weaving, story telling, veils, determination
So the idea is basically the same, make the mix, bake in a bundt pan, drip icing, yadda yadda.
Ingredients:
1 box devils food cake
1 can of vanilla icing
Black concentrated food colouring
Red, or orange Concentrated food colouring (OPTIONAL)
1 bag of spider rings
Directions. Follow baking directions on your box of devil's food cake except while mixing the batter add black food colouring till the batter is black. Once the cake is baked spoon out half a can of vanilla icing and heat 5 ish seconds in the microwave. Make sure it's still a little thick! Drizzle the icing over the bundt cake in a disorganized manner to make it look like spider webs. Now you can mix any left over icing with food colouring till it's the right colour to you and drizzle that. Drops here and there of red icing to look like blood sounds like such a good effect! Now stick the spider rings along the cake however you like.
Magickal References:
I'm tired so I'm leaving that to you. Think premixed = ease of access, and over simplification
chocolate= aphrodisiac, richness, etc
Vanilla= Reflection, acceptance
Icing= masks, masking faults, hidden aspects, helps to keep secrets
Black= Night, mystery, secrets, protection
White= Protection, moon, mystery
Red= Passion, leadership, etc..
Meditate on what certain colours and insects mean to you and try to go from there, if you get stumped look stuff up. Spiders= Web weaving, story telling, veils, determination
Monday, October 31, 2011
Halloween Cupcakes
Theses were a huge hit at the Halloween Party! I even bought a black cardboard cupcake stand that really sold the whole look of them. At my local baking crafts store I bought concentrated purple food dye as well as halloween themed cupcake liners. I've always firmly believed that we eat with our eyes and our noses more than we eat with our mouths. Today, although the party was almost two days ago people are still asking me for more of these spooky cupcakes so I'm really excited to share these with you guys! :D I'll add pictures!!
Ingredients:
1 box of yellow cake mix
1 can of white vanilla icing
Concentrated purple food dye
Black sprinkles
Orange sprinkles
Yellow Sprinkles
Halloween Cupcake liners
Directions: Make the cupcake batter following the directions on the box and preheat the oven. I usually add 10 or 15 degrees to the given temp because I like my cupcakes to have a more round top. They should tell you how much to full for cupcakes but just incase, usually it's half the cupcake liner. So put the liners in and fill them up half way then bake for the time on the box given for cupcakes. One box should make 24 so be prepared to do this again!
Spoon out half of the icing into a bowl and heat it for 8 to 10 seconds in the microwave. The icing should be more liquidy but not watery, if it's water wait till it's solid again to spread it on the cupcake. Add the purple dye till it's purple enough to you and let it cool.
Once the icing is cool and your cupcakes are cool spread the icing on, I did it with a butter knife. Refrigerate the cupcakes before you add sprinkles because sometimes the sprinkles will soak up any moisture and turn the colour of the frosting. That happened to my yellow sprinkles! D: A few months ago I bought halloween themed sprinkle stenenoencils and sometimes ripping out pieces of cupcake! After refrigerating them the whole situation stopped. I guess the icing was just too sticky at room temp!
Magickal reference:
Well, purple has always stood for psychic-stuff so charging your purple icing to impart psychic experiences upon the willing and hopeful for the night will really make your halloween party some great fun. : ) Yellow cake easily represents the sun, and the return to normalcy in the morning, as well as protection from any wayward spirits or ill wishes. Purple's also protective! I forgot about that. Cake is also grounding even when the fluffy and moist kind. <3 The black cupcake liners that I used would have been great grounders for those who might get carried away easily. Sprinkles impart youthful joy and curiosity, especially the yellow ones! The black sprinkles represent mysteries of the night, the crone, secrets, etc. Orange sprinkles represent the harvest, home, and family, as well as twilight.
Ingredients:
1 box of yellow cake mix
1 can of white vanilla icing
Concentrated purple food dye
Black sprinkles
Orange sprinkles
Yellow Sprinkles
Halloween Cupcake liners
Directions: Make the cupcake batter following the directions on the box and preheat the oven. I usually add 10 or 15 degrees to the given temp because I like my cupcakes to have a more round top. They should tell you how much to full for cupcakes but just incase, usually it's half the cupcake liner. So put the liners in and fill them up half way then bake for the time on the box given for cupcakes. One box should make 24 so be prepared to do this again!
Spoon out half of the icing into a bowl and heat it for 8 to 10 seconds in the microwave. The icing should be more liquidy but not watery, if it's water wait till it's solid again to spread it on the cupcake. Add the purple dye till it's purple enough to you and let it cool.
Once the icing is cool and your cupcakes are cool spread the icing on, I did it with a butter knife. Refrigerate the cupcakes before you add sprinkles because sometimes the sprinkles will soak up any moisture and turn the colour of the frosting. That happened to my yellow sprinkles! D: A few months ago I bought halloween themed sprinkle stenenoencils and sometimes ripping out pieces of cupcake! After refrigerating them the whole situation stopped. I guess the icing was just too sticky at room temp!
Magickal reference:
Well, purple has always stood for psychic-stuff so charging your purple icing to impart psychic experiences upon the willing and hopeful for the night will really make your halloween party some great fun. : ) Yellow cake easily represents the sun, and the return to normalcy in the morning, as well as protection from any wayward spirits or ill wishes. Purple's also protective! I forgot about that. Cake is also grounding even when the fluffy and moist kind. <3 The black cupcake liners that I used would have been great grounders for those who might get carried away easily. Sprinkles impart youthful joy and curiosity, especially the yellow ones! The black sprinkles represent mysteries of the night, the crone, secrets, etc. Orange sprinkles represent the harvest, home, and family, as well as twilight.
Ground Turkey Spaghetti Sauce
Mmm, this was good spaghetti! <3 I'll post the recipe and I'll go back and add the magickal references and actual measurements later. I usually hate ground turkey anything so trust me when I say this stuff tastes more like beef than any turkey.
1 Package Ground turkey
1/2 Medium Yellow Onion
2 Cloves of Garlic
3 Cups Prego, or any other spaghetti sauce, but I usually use prego.
1 Tsp Rosemary
Some oregano might be nice
Salt and Pepper
Maybe a few chili pepper flakes if you want to make it hot
Add chopped onion, minced garlic, the rosemary, salt, pepper, oregano and ground turkey into a skillet and cook it thoroughly. Then add the tomato sauce, and the chili pepper flakes if you want. Let it simmer and reduce a bit so that the juice let off from the onions and turkey doesn't make the sauce runny. Boil some spaghetti or other kind of noodle that you want to add it to and enjoy! Omnomnom. :3
Magickal Reference: This a hearty warm meal that feels indulgent although it's pretty healthy, that in it's self is magick! Garlic and onions are both cleansing and protective, while rosemary and tomatoes increase psychic abilities. If you want to improve certain things add something different to the sauce! Like cilantro to give it a different edge. Tomatoes and pepper are great supporters of circulatory health (though I'm no doctor) and cilantro helps with fertility, coriander, the seed of the cilantro plant is more feminine and also helps with fertility. The fertility I'm talking about isn't the sexually reproductive kind so don't think you're more likely to get pregnant if you eat these things! I just mean fertile as in things that you're working hard for will come to fruit more easily with these things. For instance if you were job hunting, if you charge your sauce with this intent then things have a higher tendency of working out better. I've never worked with turkey before and maybe it's just my inner child that makes me see them this way but turkey sure can lighten up a mood! Unlike chickens I see turkey as more like harvest magick than summer and sun magick. Turkey's are also pretty fierce and passionate, so take that into consideration when you're working with turkey.
1 Package Ground turkey
1/2 Medium Yellow Onion
2 Cloves of Garlic
3 Cups Prego, or any other spaghetti sauce, but I usually use prego.
1 Tsp Rosemary
Some oregano might be nice
Salt and Pepper
Maybe a few chili pepper flakes if you want to make it hot
Add chopped onion, minced garlic, the rosemary, salt, pepper, oregano and ground turkey into a skillet and cook it thoroughly. Then add the tomato sauce, and the chili pepper flakes if you want. Let it simmer and reduce a bit so that the juice let off from the onions and turkey doesn't make the sauce runny. Boil some spaghetti or other kind of noodle that you want to add it to and enjoy! Omnomnom. :3
Magickal Reference: This a hearty warm meal that feels indulgent although it's pretty healthy, that in it's self is magick! Garlic and onions are both cleansing and protective, while rosemary and tomatoes increase psychic abilities. If you want to improve certain things add something different to the sauce! Like cilantro to give it a different edge. Tomatoes and pepper are great supporters of circulatory health (though I'm no doctor) and cilantro helps with fertility, coriander, the seed of the cilantro plant is more feminine and also helps with fertility. The fertility I'm talking about isn't the sexually reproductive kind so don't think you're more likely to get pregnant if you eat these things! I just mean fertile as in things that you're working hard for will come to fruit more easily with these things. For instance if you were job hunting, if you charge your sauce with this intent then things have a higher tendency of working out better. I've never worked with turkey before and maybe it's just my inner child that makes me see them this way but turkey sure can lighten up a mood! Unlike chickens I see turkey as more like harvest magick than summer and sun magick. Turkey's are also pretty fierce and passionate, so take that into consideration when you're working with turkey.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Get Off Your Broom! (Week 4)
Ok, I admit I've been off of here for what seems like forever! Luckily, sticking to a do-only-what-you-need-to-do basis has finally pushed me on track school, fitness, and sort of nutrition wise, but, can you blame me? It's almost halloween! The candy's EVERYWHERE! I have to defend myself you know.
Last night I went for my first official jog, and at first I was despising my self for ever setting that alarm. (Will explain later.) After I pressed the play button on my ipod though and actually started to jog I remembered just why I had been so into jogging for about a year and a half in high school. I can't remember what stopped eventually stopped me but, goodness gracious, I am hella glad I started again. I covered a distance of about 1.5 miles walking and jogging, because, well, I'm not all bad-ass, just mostly bad-ass. Luckily just as I made it a few yards from the door I saw my dad who was walking our youngest dog Huck. We seamlessly traded off his leash just as I passed him, catching Huck by complete surprise! Poor guy, he kept looking back the whole way for Dad! When we got home he was so good and patiently sat while I got his pinch collar off but the second he was out of it he sprinted for the sliding glass door to make sure Dad was there. So cute. He's such an adorable little punk. <3 <3
Anyways, what finally got me on track is what gets me on track almost every semester except this semester I had to take it one step further. Normally I make a study and exercise schedule for everyday of the week and am pretty good at sticking to it, but this semester because of a larger work load I set an alarm to remind me of the beginning time for each activity. I felt kind of embarrassed about it at first and I admit that my id is still fighting with the idea of doing anything but sleep, eat, and be entertained, but my super-ego really gets an extra kick out of these alarms! :D If I don't meet an alarm or if I ignore an alarm I end up feeling entirely guilty, woo manipulation! As a result my exercise schedule has changed to better fit my actual schedule and budget.
To make my schedule work I have to wake up at 5 which I've succeeded at! A MAJOR feat for me. I had to kick myself in the ass to get there though. For some reason, despite that I know this about myself, I've been refusing to set the three alarms I know I need. You see, for me to actually develop a waking habit different from my normal one I need to set three alarms. For 5 o' clock I had to set my first alarm at 4 o' clock, because the first one is always the one I hate the most and is always the one I choose to ignore; my second alarm is set at 4:30 so that I don't get a chance to actually fall back asleep, after that alarm goes off I know I won't be able to fall asleep but I know I'm going to try anyways or I'm gonna lay in bed with the excuse that "my cat will get cold!" and accidentally doze off; the third alarm at 5 is my no-turning-back alarm, because there are no more alarms after that and I know if I accidentally fall asleep I'll be in BIG trouble.
At five I get out of bed and do pilates/ core strengthening exercises and sometimes I throw some upper body work outs and yoga in there as well. Every other evening I'm planning to jog what use to be my regular route, which I'm proud to say started yesterday. :)
For my foodie portion of this blog I'm gonna tell you about all the foods I've made this week! On saturday, or maybe it was friday... or sunday?? I think it was Sunday, I made spaghetti with ground turkey meat sauce and it was DELICIOUS! I normally don't like anything made with ground turkey but I suppose the up-side of cooking your own food is that you can make what you don't like taste the way you like. I'll get around to posting that recipe. I'm also hoping that my blogs will soon contain pictures! I just have to master food photography and we'll be in da' business. :) I started to make cinnamon sugar beignets on Saturday only to finish Sunday morning because of a wedding I went to that evening so maybe I'll share that recipe with you as well. Even more exciting than all of this is what I have going on tomorrow though! Halloween Party! Meaning Halloween themed food! I found a recipe for marbled bundt cake that employs all my favorite colours of Halloween, and am planning to make moist honey cupcakes or maybe sugar cookies as well because I really really really want to use my sprinkle stencils! >.< I'm also in charge of making spaghetti sauce for cheese and portobello mushrooms. Yummmm. Oh, and I almost forgot my most exciting inventions for tomorrow. I bought a very cheap drink dispenser from World Market which I'm planning to fill with cranberry juice and (drum roll please!) dry ice! <3 I'm so excited about how this will make the buffet table look! I was also thinking of buying some of their pop-top coloured glass bottles for the soda or whatever else but I thought it might have been a little over the top if I did so, reluctantly, I left them there.
On a completely separate note from any of this, just as I almost reached home this afternoon the most beautiful feather I'd ever seen floated down right in front of my car! I quickly got home and parked just so I could run back to pick it up. :) I feel so blessed to have found this feather! I feel completely unblessed to have this fly invading my space the way it is though. It's been in here bothering me for two whole days! If it were like any normal fly I wouldn't be annoyed but it's running into my face and landing all over me! Why can't it just leave me alone!? Not only that, but it's silent-flyer up until it runs into me. Jerk fly, I'll meditate on you later but I'm letting the world know that I think you're a jerk anyways because no matter what lesson I learn from you you still annoy the hell out of me.
Last night I went for my first official jog, and at first I was despising my self for ever setting that alarm. (Will explain later.) After I pressed the play button on my ipod though and actually started to jog I remembered just why I had been so into jogging for about a year and a half in high school. I can't remember what stopped eventually stopped me but, goodness gracious, I am hella glad I started again. I covered a distance of about 1.5 miles walking and jogging, because, well, I'm not all bad-ass, just mostly bad-ass. Luckily just as I made it a few yards from the door I saw my dad who was walking our youngest dog Huck. We seamlessly traded off his leash just as I passed him, catching Huck by complete surprise! Poor guy, he kept looking back the whole way for Dad! When we got home he was so good and patiently sat while I got his pinch collar off but the second he was out of it he sprinted for the sliding glass door to make sure Dad was there. So cute. He's such an adorable little punk. <3 <3
Anyways, what finally got me on track is what gets me on track almost every semester except this semester I had to take it one step further. Normally I make a study and exercise schedule for everyday of the week and am pretty good at sticking to it, but this semester because of a larger work load I set an alarm to remind me of the beginning time for each activity. I felt kind of embarrassed about it at first and I admit that my id is still fighting with the idea of doing anything but sleep, eat, and be entertained, but my super-ego really gets an extra kick out of these alarms! :D If I don't meet an alarm or if I ignore an alarm I end up feeling entirely guilty, woo manipulation! As a result my exercise schedule has changed to better fit my actual schedule and budget.
To make my schedule work I have to wake up at 5 which I've succeeded at! A MAJOR feat for me. I had to kick myself in the ass to get there though. For some reason, despite that I know this about myself, I've been refusing to set the three alarms I know I need. You see, for me to actually develop a waking habit different from my normal one I need to set three alarms. For 5 o' clock I had to set my first alarm at 4 o' clock, because the first one is always the one I hate the most and is always the one I choose to ignore; my second alarm is set at 4:30 so that I don't get a chance to actually fall back asleep, after that alarm goes off I know I won't be able to fall asleep but I know I'm going to try anyways or I'm gonna lay in bed with the excuse that "my cat will get cold!" and accidentally doze off; the third alarm at 5 is my no-turning-back alarm, because there are no more alarms after that and I know if I accidentally fall asleep I'll be in BIG trouble.
At five I get out of bed and do pilates/ core strengthening exercises and sometimes I throw some upper body work outs and yoga in there as well. Every other evening I'm planning to jog what use to be my regular route, which I'm proud to say started yesterday. :)
For my foodie portion of this blog I'm gonna tell you about all the foods I've made this week! On saturday, or maybe it was friday... or sunday?? I think it was Sunday, I made spaghetti with ground turkey meat sauce and it was DELICIOUS! I normally don't like anything made with ground turkey but I suppose the up-side of cooking your own food is that you can make what you don't like taste the way you like. I'll get around to posting that recipe. I'm also hoping that my blogs will soon contain pictures! I just have to master food photography and we'll be in da' business. :) I started to make cinnamon sugar beignets on Saturday only to finish Sunday morning because of a wedding I went to that evening so maybe I'll share that recipe with you as well. Even more exciting than all of this is what I have going on tomorrow though! Halloween Party! Meaning Halloween themed food! I found a recipe for marbled bundt cake that employs all my favorite colours of Halloween, and am planning to make moist honey cupcakes or maybe sugar cookies as well because I really really really want to use my sprinkle stencils! >.< I'm also in charge of making spaghetti sauce for cheese and portobello mushrooms. Yummmm. Oh, and I almost forgot my most exciting inventions for tomorrow. I bought a very cheap drink dispenser from World Market which I'm planning to fill with cranberry juice and (drum roll please!) dry ice! <3 I'm so excited about how this will make the buffet table look! I was also thinking of buying some of their pop-top coloured glass bottles for the soda or whatever else but I thought it might have been a little over the top if I did so, reluctantly, I left them there.
On a completely separate note from any of this, just as I almost reached home this afternoon the most beautiful feather I'd ever seen floated down right in front of my car! I quickly got home and parked just so I could run back to pick it up. :) I feel so blessed to have found this feather! I feel completely unblessed to have this fly invading my space the way it is though. It's been in here bothering me for two whole days! If it were like any normal fly I wouldn't be annoyed but it's running into my face and landing all over me! Why can't it just leave me alone!? Not only that, but it's silent-flyer up until it runs into me. Jerk fly, I'll meditate on you later but I'm letting the world know that I think you're a jerk anyways because no matter what lesson I learn from you you still annoy the hell out of me.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Food Item of the Month! Aloe
I've been thinking of making a monthly food item post lately and I was seriously considering doing the normal seasonal thing and talking about pumpkins or mushrooms or I don't know something! Today my opinion was completely changed and I feel that I have to, yeah have to, pay tribute to aloe. We all know about how aloe helps sunburns, and is a great moisturizer but did you also know that it's fully of minerals and vitamins and you can buy them in yummy drinks at the grocery store? I would suggest buying one of those and NOT trying to make your own cause I hear it gets pretty bitter. x_x Yuck.
Today I burnt my hand with insanely hot water, you know the kind they use to make tea at coffee shops? The really hot kind? The kind you can't drink for like 45 minutes cause you lose nerve endings if you do? I spilt that on my hand! I thought I'd be good with some icy bottled water on it but goodness gracious, it just wasn't. I was tearing up and decided to skip my sign language class and go home, abandoning the water bottle since it wasn't mine in the first place and the burning had gone away. By the time I reached my car, oh my gosh! It BURNED! I drove home as fast as I could and cut off a piece of aloe from my aloe plant. Man, I threw that slimey thing on there and got more relief than I did from the icy cold drinks of friends.
Point being if you have a burn or need some yummy tasting vitamin C if you hate orange juice like me, then you need to talk to an aloe plant, or your local grocer, either works haha! :D
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Yummy Veggie Pot Pie!
I thought this pot pie would be bland, boring, and a general disaster but oh. my. gosh. I don't think I've ever eaten a pot pie more yummy or healthier! My family and I added up all the calories and if you cut the pie into eight slices each slice is around 240 calories! Awesome right? Well it gets better. This pot pie is full of healthy good stuff and here comes the really astounding part, it's filling! Really filling!
Ingredients for filling:
2 Yukon Gold Potatoes, Diced
1/4 Red Onion
6 cups of Fresh Spinach
2 SMALL Crook Neck Yellow Squash, sliced
2 Ears of Grilled Corn
2 Tsp Dried Thyme
1/4 tsp Dry Rosemary
2 cups Chicken Broth
1 tsp Corn Starch or Flour as needed to thicken it
Extra Virgin Olive Oil! or whatever oil you prefer.
Directions for filling:
Place corn on the grill for about ten minutes till it has those hash marks on it. Dice and boil potatoes. Drain and set them aside. Dice red onion. Add about 1/2 Tbsp of some type of healthy oil to a skillet. Add onions and saute till tender. Once the onions are tender add the spinach. Yup, all of it, I hope you have a big skillet! Add the onions and spinach to the potatoes once you're done. Slice the squash and saute with the same amount of healthful oil as before and thyme. Once they're tender add them to the rest of the filling w/ the potatoes. Toss the rosemary in with the rest of the filling too. Put 2 cups of chicken broth in a pot and bring it to heat. Slowly add the cornstarch. Let cook for 1-2 minutes and take off heat. Add some flour to make that creamy colour if you want! Now add it to the rest of the filling! Let it sit and thicken while you make the crust.
Ingredients for Crust: (Altered Galette Crust from Cooking With Julia)
1/3 cup Corn Meal
1 1/3 cup Whole Wheat Flour
7 Tbsp unsweetened butter
1 Tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3 Tbsp sour cream
1/3-1/4 cup Ice water.
Directions for Crust:
Preheat the over to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Combine dry ingredients and mix well. Cube butter and cut into dry mixture with either a pastry cutter or food processor. In another bowl mix sour cream and ice water. Once it looks crumbly the dry mixture slowly, very slowly add it to the wet mixture. Keep it cold! Once finished split dough in two and roll out dough to fit an eight inch pie pan. Add the filling and roll out the second ball of dough to make the top. Cut the vents into the crust and bake for 30-45 minutes. Let it cool for 20-30 minutes, serve, and enjoy. : )
Magickal Reference Stuff:
Pot pie is just one of those foods that kind of ends up like a garbage can. You get to use up what you need to get rid of while learning how to make what you have work. You can use this aspect of pot pie for a lot of things, it's up to you to think them up! I'm not doing all the work here! It's also a great way to bring balance, unity, and "flow" into your life. For instance, I always think of single ingredients as words or ideas but by bringing them together you make something more detailed like a sentence or a paragraph! Yeah! :D When I think of pot pie compared to stew though, which is another kind of garbage can food, pot pie always seems like a warm hug, stew feels more like an old man in constant thought, like Aristotle.
Yukon Gold Potato: Earth, simplicity, generosity, abundance,
Onion: Masculine, earth, protection, healing, purification
Spinach: Truthfulness, bright beginnings, open heart
Crook neck yellow Squash: Sun, lightening a load, aloofness
Corn: Steadfastness, strength, courage, sun, a sweet demeanor, cycles
Thyme: Cleansing, courage, memories, healing
Rosemary: Memory, concentration, healing, protection, longevity
Chicken Broth: Health, sunrise, mothering, making what you have last
Corn Starch: Creating uniformity, an embrace, bringing yourself to focus when your mind's all over the place.
Flour: Control, revealing hidden matters, consistency
Cornmeal: Earth, fire, maintaining stability and protection, steadfastness
Salt: Ocean, earth, purification, protection, moon energy
Pepper: Fire, cleansing, banishing
Sugar: Sweetens EVERYTHING, childlike joy, friendship, courage
Unsalted butter: Smoothing out relationships, removing harsh feelings, acceptance, forgiveness
Sour Cream: Cleansing, patience, respectability
Ice Water: Calming over abundant emotions, respecting the emotions of others, cooling firey souls
Ingredients for filling:
2 Yukon Gold Potatoes, Diced
1/4 Red Onion
6 cups of Fresh Spinach
2 SMALL Crook Neck Yellow Squash, sliced
2 Ears of Grilled Corn
2 Tsp Dried Thyme
1/4 tsp Dry Rosemary
2 cups Chicken Broth
1 tsp Corn Starch or Flour as needed to thicken it
Extra Virgin Olive Oil! or whatever oil you prefer.
Directions for filling:
Place corn on the grill for about ten minutes till it has those hash marks on it. Dice and boil potatoes. Drain and set them aside. Dice red onion. Add about 1/2 Tbsp of some type of healthy oil to a skillet. Add onions and saute till tender. Once the onions are tender add the spinach. Yup, all of it, I hope you have a big skillet! Add the onions and spinach to the potatoes once you're done. Slice the squash and saute with the same amount of healthful oil as before and thyme. Once they're tender add them to the rest of the filling w/ the potatoes. Toss the rosemary in with the rest of the filling too. Put 2 cups of chicken broth in a pot and bring it to heat. Slowly add the cornstarch. Let cook for 1-2 minutes and take off heat. Add some flour to make that creamy colour if you want! Now add it to the rest of the filling! Let it sit and thicken while you make the crust.
Ingredients for Crust: (Altered Galette Crust from Cooking With Julia)
1/3 cup Corn Meal
1 1/3 cup Whole Wheat Flour
7 Tbsp unsweetened butter
1 Tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3 Tbsp sour cream
1/3-1/4 cup Ice water.
Directions for Crust:
Preheat the over to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Combine dry ingredients and mix well. Cube butter and cut into dry mixture with either a pastry cutter or food processor. In another bowl mix sour cream and ice water. Once it looks crumbly the dry mixture slowly, very slowly add it to the wet mixture. Keep it cold! Once finished split dough in two and roll out dough to fit an eight inch pie pan. Add the filling and roll out the second ball of dough to make the top. Cut the vents into the crust and bake for 30-45 minutes. Let it cool for 20-30 minutes, serve, and enjoy. : )
Magickal Reference Stuff:
Pot pie is just one of those foods that kind of ends up like a garbage can. You get to use up what you need to get rid of while learning how to make what you have work. You can use this aspect of pot pie for a lot of things, it's up to you to think them up! I'm not doing all the work here! It's also a great way to bring balance, unity, and "flow" into your life. For instance, I always think of single ingredients as words or ideas but by bringing them together you make something more detailed like a sentence or a paragraph! Yeah! :D When I think of pot pie compared to stew though, which is another kind of garbage can food, pot pie always seems like a warm hug, stew feels more like an old man in constant thought, like Aristotle.
Yukon Gold Potato: Earth, simplicity, generosity, abundance,
Onion: Masculine, earth, protection, healing, purification
Spinach: Truthfulness, bright beginnings, open heart
Crook neck yellow Squash: Sun, lightening a load, aloofness
Corn: Steadfastness, strength, courage, sun, a sweet demeanor, cycles
Thyme: Cleansing, courage, memories, healing
Rosemary: Memory, concentration, healing, protection, longevity
Chicken Broth: Health, sunrise, mothering, making what you have last
Corn Starch: Creating uniformity, an embrace, bringing yourself to focus when your mind's all over the place.
Flour: Control, revealing hidden matters, consistency
Cornmeal: Earth, fire, maintaining stability and protection, steadfastness
Salt: Ocean, earth, purification, protection, moon energy
Pepper: Fire, cleansing, banishing
Sugar: Sweetens EVERYTHING, childlike joy, friendship, courage
Unsalted butter: Smoothing out relationships, removing harsh feelings, acceptance, forgiveness
Sour Cream: Cleansing, patience, respectability
Ice Water: Calming over abundant emotions, respecting the emotions of others, cooling firey souls
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
All These Allergies
The only allergy I had up until this year was my allergy to citrus pollen, and I considered that pretty fortunate even if I have lived with citrus trees my whole life. This year though, I don't know what happened, I've developed three new allergies and an intolerance to lactose! Talk about sucky, no more ice cream, no more smelling or even touching sunflowers, in fact no more touching any plant that's fuzzy/ prickly like sunflowers, but my latest new allergy has been the worst of them all.
Yesterday I went to the mukolmne (sp) river with a friend after lunch. I noticed a few wasps in the air but figured I'd be okay. Why did I assume that! We started walking towards a trail and my klutzy self decided to accidentally slap a wasp. Eff. F! L! OPQRS! I can't remember actually saying any of those letters but I really can't even be sure of what I actually did say.
In a panic, I slapped it off and continued with a slew of gibberish interspersed with sorries and ows and holly shits. I reassured my friend that I'd be okay over and over, assuming that I really was going to be okay because it's just a sting, right? Wrong! Apparently I'm allergic to wasp stings! A! L! F! M! O! I kept brushing it off, the radiating pain, the swelling, the tears, the giant red patch that formed around the bump, I figured this kind of stuff was normal, luckily it is. The stuff after that ,though, wasn't and I kept brushing it off! Dumb Michelle, that was dumb. The dizziness, the nausea, the tingling that I started to feel in my fingers closest to the sting, the excessive sleepiness, the pulsing lights and colours, the shortness of breath and my inability to see straight were not normal! So dumb! I told myself it was just a reaction to the adrenaline, never mind the fact that I've never had that reaction to adrenaline and that I've always, without fail, been able to control my reactions to adrenaline before they got out of hand.
After calming down a bit, my friend asked if I thought I needed to go to the doctor, but being the oh so smart puppy that I am said no because I never think I need to go to the doctor. D: Can I say it again? So! Dumb! I proceeded hiking, stopping every so often to keep from losing my balance and to convince myself that I would be just fine. In my defense, I've been stung by bees before and haven't had this kind of reaction, and I wasn't in my right mind enough to think of all of my other new allergies!
That night I decided to look up symptoms of a wasp sting and how to make the pain go away which is how I found out that I'm allergic. Lucky me, I'd done all the right things when I had been stung, even if well maybe I kinda sorta could've died. I kept my hand above my heart level, applied ice, and kept myself as calm as possible. Yay! I still have a red patch and it's still painful but it's only been one day, I still have two more to go before I can say it might be an infection. I still plan to go to the doctor but hey, I'm not dying anymore, right? :)
On a side note, fall is officially here! The wind blew it in a week or two ago and a thunder storm just started!
On a off-my-broomstick side note, I'm finding that soup can be surprisingly filling. Yum! On sunday I'm making veggie pot pie, prepare yourselves! Oooo lightning. O_O Thanks for the visual effects weather, but I'm the only one who can see them right now.
Yesterday I went to the mukolmne (sp) river with a friend after lunch. I noticed a few wasps in the air but figured I'd be okay. Why did I assume that! We started walking towards a trail and my klutzy self decided to accidentally slap a wasp. Eff. F! L! OPQRS! I can't remember actually saying any of those letters but I really can't even be sure of what I actually did say.
In a panic, I slapped it off and continued with a slew of gibberish interspersed with sorries and ows and holly shits. I reassured my friend that I'd be okay over and over, assuming that I really was going to be okay because it's just a sting, right? Wrong! Apparently I'm allergic to wasp stings! A! L! F! M! O! I kept brushing it off, the radiating pain, the swelling, the tears, the giant red patch that formed around the bump, I figured this kind of stuff was normal, luckily it is. The stuff after that ,though, wasn't and I kept brushing it off! Dumb Michelle, that was dumb. The dizziness, the nausea, the tingling that I started to feel in my fingers closest to the sting, the excessive sleepiness, the pulsing lights and colours, the shortness of breath and my inability to see straight were not normal! So dumb! I told myself it was just a reaction to the adrenaline, never mind the fact that I've never had that reaction to adrenaline and that I've always, without fail, been able to control my reactions to adrenaline before they got out of hand.
After calming down a bit, my friend asked if I thought I needed to go to the doctor, but being the oh so smart puppy that I am said no because I never think I need to go to the doctor. D: Can I say it again? So! Dumb! I proceeded hiking, stopping every so often to keep from losing my balance and to convince myself that I would be just fine. In my defense, I've been stung by bees before and haven't had this kind of reaction, and I wasn't in my right mind enough to think of all of my other new allergies!
That night I decided to look up symptoms of a wasp sting and how to make the pain go away which is how I found out that I'm allergic. Lucky me, I'd done all the right things when I had been stung, even if well maybe I kinda sorta could've died. I kept my hand above my heart level, applied ice, and kept myself as calm as possible. Yay! I still have a red patch and it's still painful but it's only been one day, I still have two more to go before I can say it might be an infection. I still plan to go to the doctor but hey, I'm not dying anymore, right? :)
On a side note, fall is officially here! The wind blew it in a week or two ago and a thunder storm just started!
On a off-my-broomstick side note, I'm finding that soup can be surprisingly filling. Yum! On sunday I'm making veggie pot pie, prepare yourselves! Oooo lightning. O_O Thanks for the visual effects weather, but I'm the only one who can see them right now.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Anything but Sweets
I talked to my parents today and soon I'll be allowed to make dinner every sunday. Which means I'll get to experiment with healthy foods! I'll try my best to not bake cookies or cake or pie... x_x oh man, but if I do I'll try my best to make them as health-conscious as possible.
On the same note but in a different direction, here's my new and improved exercise plan! How is it improved? Because now it's existent! :D I'm also adding my new goal of 24 oz. of water daily to my plan since I've been slacking this past week on drinking my fluids.
Monday:
30 minute walk with my chubchub doggy
15 minute jog around the block
Tuesday:
10 minutes of core work
15 minute jog around the block
30 minute walk with my chubchub
Wednesday:
On the same note but in a different direction, here's my new and improved exercise plan! How is it improved? Because now it's existent! :D I'm also adding my new goal of 24 oz. of water daily to my plan since I've been slacking this past week on drinking my fluids.
Monday:
30 minute walk with my chubchub doggy
15 minute jog around the block
Tuesday:
10 minutes of core work
15 minute jog around the block
30 minute walk with my chubchub
Wednesday:
30 minute walk with my chubchub
15 minute jog around the block
Thursday:
10 minutes of upper body work
15 minute jog around the block
30 minute walk with my chubchub
Friday:
30 minute walk with my chubchub
15 minute jog around the block
Saturday:
15 minutes of hip strengthening
1 hour of PiYo at the gym
Sunday:
Make a healthful meal
Having this all planned out is very daunting. I'm feeling kinda nervous about whether or not I can do it although I use to do this all the time. Not only that but I've never joined a class at the gym and I've never done Piyo before, although I have done pilates and yoga which is supposedly what makes up Piyo. :( Maybe I'll try it out at home via youtube next saturday just to see how it goes and talk to the instructor about joining. Hopefully I won't run screaming!
Punkin Pie from a real pumpkin
It's finally fall. The days are getting colder and shorter. The moon is looking oranger, and to celebrate it all a pumpkin pie from a real pumpkin! What better way to thank the earth for all it's given than to make something sweet straight from the earth, unlike the unidentifiable moosh in a can.
Let me start off by talking a bit about fall, since it is my favorite season. :) When fall rolls around a lot of things start happening. Leaves start to change colours and fall off of trees, summer fruits and vegetables begin refusing to grow, and last but not least what to carve into a pumpkin starts taking over a little witch's mind. Fall is well known for these things but a lot of the time we focus on feasting and not what's being asked of us by the earth. Any gardener knows that fall is a time to start clearing away what's not needed and cutting back plants for winter, hint hint hint! Are you getting the idea? Trees drop their leaves? Plants conserve energy? Gardeners clean out their garden? It's time to cut back things you don't need. Clean up and clean out clutter in both the emotional, spiritual and physical realms. Hm, maybe I should make a post about cleansing. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with feasting and celebrating, it's a great way to show thanks for everything that's been given to you, but remember every time you take you have to get rid of something to make room for it. The idea's a lot like working out to make room for pie or just to maintain your health.
This recipe makes 2 pies!
Ingredients:
Filling:
1 Sugar Pumpkin (You can find these at Trader Joe's)
1 cup of Sugar
4 teaspoons pumpkin pie seasoning
1/2 teaspoon Sea salt
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla extract
4 large eggs
2 cups of whipping cream, concentrated milk, or unsweetened original flavor almond milk
Crust:
2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick (4 oz) cold unsalted buter or 4 oz cold lard cut into 8 pieces
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
This crust is from Baking with Julia and is called Pasta Frolla. I use this pie crust for every pie I make because it's always easy to work with a consistently good. :)
For the filling! :D I do the filling first cause it's easier to clean out of the food processor. Get a trash bowl to get rid of all the extra stuff you're gonna have while steaming the pumpkin, a cutting board to work on, and a bowl to put your finished pumpkin in.
Get a strong serrated knife or a screwdriver, or something flat and skinny cause you're about to do the funnest part. Slide the flat skinny object under the base of the stem. Yell "Four!" and pry it off! Now chase after it! See? I told you it was fun. :) Cut your pumpkin with a serrated knife straight down the middle now that the stem is out of the way. Scoop out the insides and put them in your trash bowl or clean your seeds off and make toasted pumpkin seeds if you like that kind of stuff. :P Now, cut your pumpkin halves in half, now do it again. Do you have six pumpkin pieces? Goooooood. I like the number six.
Now you have to make a decision. There are three ways to soften the flesh, steaming by stove top, steaming by microwave, and baking wrapped in foil. I've tried all three and I steaming by stove top always comes out better for me so if you want to do it one of the other ways look it up on line but at least here me when I say baking takes the longest. :/ So set up your steamer basket on your pot and get a lid. Fill your pot up with water but don't let it touch your steaming basket or you'll be boiling part of your pumpkin. Set your pumpkin in there, turn on the heat, and place the lid on top. This is gonna take 30 minutes almost to the T so don't try to rush it. When you check your pumpkin you'll notice two colours, a lighter orange in the center and darker orange around the edges. Even if you can fork your pumpkin and it's soft just wait till it's all a dark orange.
Let the pumpkins cool for... well until they're not gonna burn you lol. Use a spoon to separate the skin from the flesh, oh wow, I never realized just how creepy that sounds. You can use a potato masher/ fork, or a food processor and while a potato masher would probably be easier if you have the time I don't so I use to food processor. Place the pumpkin pieces in the food processor until they form chunks that refuse to move anymore. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit. Slowly add the sugar to the pumpkin while the food processor is running. You see if you add one of the liquids air will form and you'll get something more like pumpkin moose pie instead of old fashioned pumpkin pie. All you need is something that moves more easily in the food processor. Sugar works well cause the sugar is fine enough to be flung around and draw the liquid out of the pumpkin. As you add the sugar you'll see what I mean, it's pretty fun to watch. :) Add the pumpkin pie spice, vanilla, and salt.
Transfer the pumpkin moosh to a bowl and add 4 beaten eggs making sure to mix well. Add milk slowly, I usually do it 1 cup at a time. The filling should be thick so don't add enough milk to make it runny.
Pie shell:
Clean and thoroughly dry the food processor. Add all dry ingredients and blend till well incorporated. Next add either your cold butter or cold shortening. I suggest adding 4 Tbsp of butter and 4 Tbsp shortening/lard. Blend until it looks like superfine bread crumbs. Add the eggs and blend until a ball of dough forms. If no ball of dough forms add cold water 1/2 a Tbsp at a time.
Flour your surface and roll half of the dough out super thin, like crepe thin or tortilla thin and save the other half. Roll the crust onto your rolling pin and unroll it into your pie pan. Do the same thing with the second pie crust into a new pie dish!
The whole shabam:
If your oven has reached 400 degrees pour your batter into your pie shells. Carefully cover the edges of your crust with foil because the crust will cook faster than your filling. It should take about 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until it stops jiggling and the filling looks firm.
Enjoy your pie!
For Magickal Purposes:
Pumpkin pie, in my experience, brings people together. It opens and warms hearts while reminding us of the approaching cold weather when others will need us. Pumpkins are like the epitome of making the most of what you have. They provide so much and can be used in so many ways. Pumpkins remind me of the old days when people were thankful for who and what they had in their lives and pumpkin pie, with all it's sweetness, encourages gratefulness straight from the heart. Give thanks for everything that's come your way and help others see the fortune of their circumstance.
Pumpkins: Earth, fire, hard work, family, change, belives, strong bonds
Eggs: Sun, hidden agendas/ secrets, hardiness, family
Almond Milk: Springtime, water, simple joy, friends
Whipping/ Heavy Cream: euphoria, simple joys, neediness
Butter: Smoothing, whether it be smoothing over uncertainties, plans, or arguments butter'll do it. Bringing together, tolerance.
Shortening: Combining, uneasiness, opposition
Let me start off by talking a bit about fall, since it is my favorite season. :) When fall rolls around a lot of things start happening. Leaves start to change colours and fall off of trees, summer fruits and vegetables begin refusing to grow, and last but not least what to carve into a pumpkin starts taking over a little witch's mind. Fall is well known for these things but a lot of the time we focus on feasting and not what's being asked of us by the earth. Any gardener knows that fall is a time to start clearing away what's not needed and cutting back plants for winter, hint hint hint! Are you getting the idea? Trees drop their leaves? Plants conserve energy? Gardeners clean out their garden? It's time to cut back things you don't need. Clean up and clean out clutter in both the emotional, spiritual and physical realms. Hm, maybe I should make a post about cleansing. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with feasting and celebrating, it's a great way to show thanks for everything that's been given to you, but remember every time you take you have to get rid of something to make room for it. The idea's a lot like working out to make room for pie or just to maintain your health.
This recipe makes 2 pies!
Ingredients:
Filling:
1 Sugar Pumpkin (You can find these at Trader Joe's)
1 cup of Sugar
4 teaspoons pumpkin pie seasoning
1/2 teaspoon Sea salt
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla extract
4 large eggs
2 cups of whipping cream, concentrated milk, or unsweetened original flavor almond milk
Crust:
2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick (4 oz) cold unsalted buter or 4 oz cold lard cut into 8 pieces
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
This crust is from Baking with Julia and is called Pasta Frolla. I use this pie crust for every pie I make because it's always easy to work with a consistently good. :)
For the filling! :D I do the filling first cause it's easier to clean out of the food processor. Get a trash bowl to get rid of all the extra stuff you're gonna have while steaming the pumpkin, a cutting board to work on, and a bowl to put your finished pumpkin in.
Get a strong serrated knife or a screwdriver, or something flat and skinny cause you're about to do the funnest part. Slide the flat skinny object under the base of the stem. Yell "Four!" and pry it off! Now chase after it! See? I told you it was fun. :) Cut your pumpkin with a serrated knife straight down the middle now that the stem is out of the way. Scoop out the insides and put them in your trash bowl or clean your seeds off and make toasted pumpkin seeds if you like that kind of stuff. :P Now, cut your pumpkin halves in half, now do it again. Do you have six pumpkin pieces? Goooooood. I like the number six.
Now you have to make a decision. There are three ways to soften the flesh, steaming by stove top, steaming by microwave, and baking wrapped in foil. I've tried all three and I steaming by stove top always comes out better for me so if you want to do it one of the other ways look it up on line but at least here me when I say baking takes the longest. :/ So set up your steamer basket on your pot and get a lid. Fill your pot up with water but don't let it touch your steaming basket or you'll be boiling part of your pumpkin. Set your pumpkin in there, turn on the heat, and place the lid on top. This is gonna take 30 minutes almost to the T so don't try to rush it. When you check your pumpkin you'll notice two colours, a lighter orange in the center and darker orange around the edges. Even if you can fork your pumpkin and it's soft just wait till it's all a dark orange.
Let the pumpkins cool for... well until they're not gonna burn you lol. Use a spoon to separate the skin from the flesh, oh wow, I never realized just how creepy that sounds. You can use a potato masher/ fork, or a food processor and while a potato masher would probably be easier if you have the time I don't so I use to food processor. Place the pumpkin pieces in the food processor until they form chunks that refuse to move anymore. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit. Slowly add the sugar to the pumpkin while the food processor is running. You see if you add one of the liquids air will form and you'll get something more like pumpkin moose pie instead of old fashioned pumpkin pie. All you need is something that moves more easily in the food processor. Sugar works well cause the sugar is fine enough to be flung around and draw the liquid out of the pumpkin. As you add the sugar you'll see what I mean, it's pretty fun to watch. :) Add the pumpkin pie spice, vanilla, and salt.
Transfer the pumpkin moosh to a bowl and add 4 beaten eggs making sure to mix well. Add milk slowly, I usually do it 1 cup at a time. The filling should be thick so don't add enough milk to make it runny.
Pie shell:
Clean and thoroughly dry the food processor. Add all dry ingredients and blend till well incorporated. Next add either your cold butter or cold shortening. I suggest adding 4 Tbsp of butter and 4 Tbsp shortening/lard. Blend until it looks like superfine bread crumbs. Add the eggs and blend until a ball of dough forms. If no ball of dough forms add cold water 1/2 a Tbsp at a time.
Flour your surface and roll half of the dough out super thin, like crepe thin or tortilla thin and save the other half. Roll the crust onto your rolling pin and unroll it into your pie pan. Do the same thing with the second pie crust into a new pie dish!
The whole shabam:
If your oven has reached 400 degrees pour your batter into your pie shells. Carefully cover the edges of your crust with foil because the crust will cook faster than your filling. It should take about 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until it stops jiggling and the filling looks firm.
Enjoy your pie!
For Magickal Purposes:
Pumpkin pie, in my experience, brings people together. It opens and warms hearts while reminding us of the approaching cold weather when others will need us. Pumpkins are like the epitome of making the most of what you have. They provide so much and can be used in so many ways. Pumpkins remind me of the old days when people were thankful for who and what they had in their lives and pumpkin pie, with all it's sweetness, encourages gratefulness straight from the heart. Give thanks for everything that's come your way and help others see the fortune of their circumstance.
Pumpkins: Earth, fire, hard work, family, change, belives, strong bonds
Eggs: Sun, hidden agendas/ secrets, hardiness, family
Almond Milk: Springtime, water, simple joy, friends
Whipping/ Heavy Cream: euphoria, simple joys, neediness
Butter: Smoothing, whether it be smoothing over uncertainties, plans, or arguments butter'll do it. Bringing together, tolerance.
Shortening: Combining, uneasiness, opposition
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Get Off Your Broom: Week 1, Challenge 1
Weight: 115 lbs
Waist: 27 in.
Hips: 36 in.
Chest: 32 in.
My Plan
I eat a lot, and not all of it healthy so I want to cut back on my meat intake. Truth be told, I really don't need to eat meat at all; I don't do any rigorous exercise and I don't have a lot of physical fitness going on in my daily routine but I like meat and this is a food blog with recipes for everything I eat. So simply put, I'm not going vegetarian, but I am aiming for no red meat, less chicken, and more, much more, green stuff. I'm really not aiming to lose weight or look skinnier but to eat healthier. I hope, by the end of this, I'll be able to balance exercise with food intake, learn what kinds of foods I should eat and how I can make them delicious, and last but not least, to control how much I eat! Best of luck to all y'all, can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!
Waist: 27 in.
Hips: 36 in.
Chest: 32 in.
My Plan
I eat a lot, and not all of it healthy so I want to cut back on my meat intake. Truth be told, I really don't need to eat meat at all; I don't do any rigorous exercise and I don't have a lot of physical fitness going on in my daily routine but I like meat and this is a food blog with recipes for everything I eat. So simply put, I'm not going vegetarian, but I am aiming for no red meat, less chicken, and more, much more, green stuff. I'm really not aiming to lose weight or look skinnier but to eat healthier. I hope, by the end of this, I'll be able to balance exercise with food intake, learn what kinds of foods I should eat and how I can make them delicious, and last but not least, to control how much I eat! Best of luck to all y'all, can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!
Friday, September 30, 2011
A Witchy Fitness Challenge
Some wonderful happenings have taken place in the pagan community lately, a challenge that asks us to step off of our brooms and into our running shoes. An event made to combat the all to common couch potato life style. A witchy fitness challenge! A whole ninety-nine people have already joined and I can't help but want to share the news! So I've started up my blog press (aka my fingers) in hopes that more people, witches and nonwitches alike, will step into their running shoes this holiday season. I don't know how to link an image so you'll just have to bare with my old fashioned ways. Get Off Your Broom! Annnnd the flyer. :) I can't wait!
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Without Supervision
So today my parents left for L.A., my dad has a work thingy going on down there and they figured "Hey! Why not go to disney land too?" Of course, being the over-studious child that I am, I decided to stay home. I've always wanted to go to disney land during the halloween season but I suppose that will just have to wait for another day. Plus, I have work, I'm even garden sitting this week! Yay! In fact, I was left a note that encouraged me to take all the tomatoes I want! Yum yum yum, I even had one for breakfast while I watered their garden today. I'm also going to Jackie's birthday this weekend. Not quite sure what to get her for a present but I'm sure all kids like money, right? I'll be home alone till Sunday and I'm glad to know that I'll have the run of the kitchen till then. Be prepared for many new recipes!
On another note, I have quite the story of "coincidence" for you all. :) Chemistry professors at Delta are rarely ever good and always leave me lost. My Chemistry 1 A professor, for example, is the laziest teacher I've ever had. She arrives late everyday and does her prep work for our class during our class. What annoys me most though is that she doesn't put a real effort into teaching us when she does get around to trying to teach us. I finally became frustrated enough last week to try going to the tutor center for science and math. I really planned to only go on a Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, because not only are those my shortest school days but I also walk right past it on those days. I have no idea why I decided to go today. I suppose the universe just decided to take over when I put myself on autopilot while walking to my car. By the time I realized what I was doing I had already opened the door and walked right in. Well I couldn't just turn back at that point especially since one of the tutors, who looked extremely familiar, had watched me as I walked through the door.
I went ahead and signed in before quickly departing on a search for a chemistry tutor who could help me. I must of searched the whole room before resorting to the help desk. The woman was kind enough to refer me to "Jason, behind the white board." who was, of course, the one who had watched as I mindlessly walked into the tutoring center.
As I walked around the white board, though, and took a seat at his empty table with him I realized where I recognized him from. A year ago, almost exactly, I was people watching with my friend Allie on the front steps of Delta's library. I just love watching how people react to me staring at them. That day, he just happened to be one of my victims and as I watched him walk past he looked right at me, threw me a I-know-I'm-sexy smile, and one of those weird eyebrow wiggles. Do you know what eyebrow wiggle I'm talking about? The one where they go up and down suggestively. x_x Yeah, those ones. I swear, I was laughing for a week because of that. Apparently it wasn't all that funny when we had to sit across the table from each other while he taught me how to balance a redox equation because there was no I'm-sexy smile, and no predatory look in his eyes that all Stockton guys do. The only thing that came from him was his nerves which I was all too influenced by. I have a hard enough time dealing with strangers and admiting that I need help, I didn't need his nerves clenching my stomach tighter than it already was. :/ I hate catching other people's nervousness. Unexplainable butterflies while you stand in the grocery store line, a racing heart beat when someone tells you about a test they have that week, and to think that for some reason people want to be empathic. x_x
I'm not saying being empathic is a bad thing, or to strive for empathy is a bad thing, I'm just saying people don't realize that sometimes there's a downside. Think of the consequences before you choose to forgo your state of normalcy! I'm 20 and still trying to figure out how to deal with other people's emotions without being socially awkward and calling them out on it. I'm thinking of getting an onyx ring from Dragon Fairy (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dragonfairy/228759227140794?sk=wall) and charging it to keep me separate from the emotions of others, who knows, I may get a sense of what it's like to not feel like I'm laying on sharp gravel when someone's angry. :) That'd be awesome!
Anyways, off to chem homework and Luna! Love and light for all! Look forward to a pumpkin pie post!
On another note, I have quite the story of "coincidence" for you all. :) Chemistry professors at Delta are rarely ever good and always leave me lost. My Chemistry 1 A professor, for example, is the laziest teacher I've ever had. She arrives late everyday and does her prep work for our class during our class. What annoys me most though is that she doesn't put a real effort into teaching us when she does get around to trying to teach us. I finally became frustrated enough last week to try going to the tutor center for science and math. I really planned to only go on a Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, because not only are those my shortest school days but I also walk right past it on those days. I have no idea why I decided to go today. I suppose the universe just decided to take over when I put myself on autopilot while walking to my car. By the time I realized what I was doing I had already opened the door and walked right in. Well I couldn't just turn back at that point especially since one of the tutors, who looked extremely familiar, had watched me as I walked through the door.
I went ahead and signed in before quickly departing on a search for a chemistry tutor who could help me. I must of searched the whole room before resorting to the help desk. The woman was kind enough to refer me to "Jason, behind the white board." who was, of course, the one who had watched as I mindlessly walked into the tutoring center.
As I walked around the white board, though, and took a seat at his empty table with him I realized where I recognized him from. A year ago, almost exactly, I was people watching with my friend Allie on the front steps of Delta's library. I just love watching how people react to me staring at them. That day, he just happened to be one of my victims and as I watched him walk past he looked right at me, threw me a I-know-I'm-sexy smile, and one of those weird eyebrow wiggles. Do you know what eyebrow wiggle I'm talking about? The one where they go up and down suggestively. x_x Yeah, those ones. I swear, I was laughing for a week because of that. Apparently it wasn't all that funny when we had to sit across the table from each other while he taught me how to balance a redox equation because there was no I'm-sexy smile, and no predatory look in his eyes that all Stockton guys do. The only thing that came from him was his nerves which I was all too influenced by. I have a hard enough time dealing with strangers and admiting that I need help, I didn't need his nerves clenching my stomach tighter than it already was. :/ I hate catching other people's nervousness. Unexplainable butterflies while you stand in the grocery store line, a racing heart beat when someone tells you about a test they have that week, and to think that for some reason people want to be empathic. x_x
I'm not saying being empathic is a bad thing, or to strive for empathy is a bad thing, I'm just saying people don't realize that sometimes there's a downside. Think of the consequences before you choose to forgo your state of normalcy! I'm 20 and still trying to figure out how to deal with other people's emotions without being socially awkward and calling them out on it. I'm thinking of getting an onyx ring from Dragon Fairy (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dragonfairy/228759227140794?sk=wall) and charging it to keep me separate from the emotions of others, who knows, I may get a sense of what it's like to not feel like I'm laying on sharp gravel when someone's angry. :) That'd be awesome!
Anyways, off to chem homework and Luna! Love and light for all! Look forward to a pumpkin pie post!
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Cleansing
There are many methods of cleansing and I suggest you do a lot of research and small scale experimentation before you give up and choose to not cleanse at all. A general trend in cleansing is to ground yourself, which I find really important. I use a tree grounding technique where I imagine myself with roots pulling energy up from the earth as well as leaves that send energy back down. Another trend that I've noticed is the use of four elements, however I prefer to use five. Five?! That's right, not a lot of people think about the fifth element and it has many names that it goes by: akasha, essence, soul, life energy, etc. I prefer to call the fifth element either akasha or essence. :) It's pretty easy to work with essence since it's what makes everything up. For me the point of grounding is to allow myself to work from my essence with my environment instead of getting carried away by the other elements or my environment, which happens a lot in cooking. >_< I'll go ahead and explain how I ground and cleanse as long as you remember that this is something that I came up with through trial and error for myself. Don't feel like you have to do it my way, figure out what's best for you!
To ground I stand in a quiet place with natural lighting in comfortable clothes. I place my feet shoulder width apart, move my arms a few inches away from my body and face my palms forward. The tricky part for me is to slow my breathing and to keep it slow, as well as breathing deeply but not deep enough for me to get all dizzy and pass out! Relax your shoulders and focus on your spine. Imagine it as the core of your trunk, and imagine your trunk being your abdomen and legs. Move your awareness down until you reach your roots, which I assume are at different places for everybody. My roots start somewhere around my knees and when I reach them I push the air in my chest out as I push my energy down through my roots. I imagine the cool earth around my roots, the soil, water and rocks that make it up becoming aware of me. Push your energy only as far as is comfortable for you, I say this because when I push my energy too far I become the opposite of grounded and have trouble keeping my balance. If you could imagine what a plant feels when it's uprooted then you could imagine exactly what it feels like to push your energy to far. Once you've reached your comfort level going down breath in bringing your awareness back up through your roots, trunk, and up through your shoulders into your branches. The energy following your awareness back up trough your body will feel different than the energy you send down which may seem a little sketchy but once you experience it you'll understand that it's not. Then I send the energy taken from my leaves down into the earth.
The energy I draw up from the earth helps me expand my awareness through my branches growing while staying firmly in place through my roots and remembering who I am opposed to the world around me through my trunk. I usually stop when I feel, well for a lack of better words grounded and purified. grounding like this everyday helps remove spiritual baggage.
Some people use meditation to remove emotional baggage, but what I do is write. Mostly I write poetry but I write a lot of journal entries too! Free writing is how I reflect and sometimes when I'm really mad at someone or about something I write a letter to it/them. Then I just sit that letter out where I can see it everyday and let my emotions slowly settle. When I've settled down I draw a red X at the top of the paper and write a new letter apologizing and explaining that I'm sending those emotions away from me to the light. I love free writing. ^^ It's awesome! Other forms of cleansing include bathing, and meditation.
To cleanse and to clean a room are two different things, but I can't have one without the other. Unclean places always feel frustrated and absent minded to me. :/ So, before I even start cleansing I spend time decluttering. When I cleanse I light my sandalwood-rose incense because that's just a scent that I can really relate to. For me, incense is both fire and air, but from a lot of what I've read incense is usually considered strictly air, but whatever, magick is about doing what feels right to you. :) After that I take my salt water and spray salt water everywhere! I think that's my most favorite part, haha. Oh, I also try to have only two opening's in the room. For instance if I was cleansing my room I'd have a door and a window or two windows open because then you can start at one end of the room, and kind of shuffle uneeded stuff through the window. Don't be rude about it though! Remember your manners when handling energy and stuff 'cause it remembers and can come back to bite you in the ass. :P I'll let you guys figure out how to be nice though.
I think that's about it, grounding, emotional, spiritual, and physical cleansing. Sounds about right. Now ya'll come back now you here? Haha, couldn't help myself, my country side needs to romp sometimes. Bye bye now! :)
To ground I stand in a quiet place with natural lighting in comfortable clothes. I place my feet shoulder width apart, move my arms a few inches away from my body and face my palms forward. The tricky part for me is to slow my breathing and to keep it slow, as well as breathing deeply but not deep enough for me to get all dizzy and pass out! Relax your shoulders and focus on your spine. Imagine it as the core of your trunk, and imagine your trunk being your abdomen and legs. Move your awareness down until you reach your roots, which I assume are at different places for everybody. My roots start somewhere around my knees and when I reach them I push the air in my chest out as I push my energy down through my roots. I imagine the cool earth around my roots, the soil, water and rocks that make it up becoming aware of me. Push your energy only as far as is comfortable for you, I say this because when I push my energy too far I become the opposite of grounded and have trouble keeping my balance. If you could imagine what a plant feels when it's uprooted then you could imagine exactly what it feels like to push your energy to far. Once you've reached your comfort level going down breath in bringing your awareness back up through your roots, trunk, and up through your shoulders into your branches. The energy following your awareness back up trough your body will feel different than the energy you send down which may seem a little sketchy but once you experience it you'll understand that it's not. Then I send the energy taken from my leaves down into the earth.
The energy I draw up from the earth helps me expand my awareness through my branches growing while staying firmly in place through my roots and remembering who I am opposed to the world around me through my trunk. I usually stop when I feel, well for a lack of better words grounded and purified. grounding like this everyday helps remove spiritual baggage.
Some people use meditation to remove emotional baggage, but what I do is write. Mostly I write poetry but I write a lot of journal entries too! Free writing is how I reflect and sometimes when I'm really mad at someone or about something I write a letter to it/them. Then I just sit that letter out where I can see it everyday and let my emotions slowly settle. When I've settled down I draw a red X at the top of the paper and write a new letter apologizing and explaining that I'm sending those emotions away from me to the light. I love free writing. ^^ It's awesome! Other forms of cleansing include bathing, and meditation.
To cleanse and to clean a room are two different things, but I can't have one without the other. Unclean places always feel frustrated and absent minded to me. :/ So, before I even start cleansing I spend time decluttering. When I cleanse I light my sandalwood-rose incense because that's just a scent that I can really relate to. For me, incense is both fire and air, but from a lot of what I've read incense is usually considered strictly air, but whatever, magick is about doing what feels right to you. :) After that I take my salt water and spray salt water everywhere! I think that's my most favorite part, haha. Oh, I also try to have only two opening's in the room. For instance if I was cleansing my room I'd have a door and a window or two windows open because then you can start at one end of the room, and kind of shuffle uneeded stuff through the window. Don't be rude about it though! Remember your manners when handling energy and stuff 'cause it remembers and can come back to bite you in the ass. :P I'll let you guys figure out how to be nice though.
I think that's about it, grounding, emotional, spiritual, and physical cleansing. Sounds about right. Now ya'll come back now you here? Haha, couldn't help myself, my country side needs to romp sometimes. Bye bye now! :)
Monday, September 26, 2011
Why, why, why I'm a kitchen witch.
If I were able to go about life following only the paths that were most clear and least dramatic, that's probably where I would be right now, because all I'd ever wanted was to be accepted. Even as a little girl I was controversial without meaning to be. Shadow things, empathy, and clairvoyance were so common to me that I had trouble understanding why other people laughed and avoided me. My parents always tried to keep me on a path where they considered me to be safe. I remember often being told what not to say, where to not go, what to not read, who to avoid, and what to not do. I wanted to make my parents happy and proud of me and I wanted to be accepted by the general populace, but by doing so I was hiding who I was deep inside myself.
You may be wondering what changed, and to be truthful so am I. I can't really remember what it was exactly, and I'm pretty sure there was no specific moment that caused me to stop being faithful to everyone but myself, but I do remember coming to a point where I just started feeling tired. I can only compare it to walking up a hill, and maybe my whole life the hill hadn't bothered me but I was fooling myself to think that I wouldn't become exhausted. So, I gave up. I turned around and found my own way even though a lot of people aren't alright with that and I'm made fun of both to my face and behind my back frequently for my believes. For anyone who reads this, please understand that it's not okay to make fun of people like me for our believes, you have no idea how much it hurts especially since a lot of it is involuntary. I don't make fun of someone's skin colour just because it's darker than mine, and I don't mock them for the fact that they don't get burnt in the summer just because I've never experienced that. What ever happened to the grade school lesson about not making fun of something or someone you don't understand?
Anyways, by high school I was fully aware of my "non-mainstream" qualities. It was exactly these "non-mainstream" qualities that lead me to paganism and it was through paganism that I learned what it meant to be a "witch". There are a lot of different names for being a "witch", I prefer energy sensitive, and occasionally for funzzies I call myself a "witch". For me, energy sensitive means sensitive not only to obvious environmental factors like light, sound, and scents that give off energy but also energy given off by people and objects, for example anger, love, fear, health, femininity, joy and distrust. I haven't met many people like myself but there's one thing that I find to always be true: "A witch knows a witch when they see one".
I didn't realize till later that my unexplainable talent at cooking was only explainable through energy sensitivity. For instance, I've never set a timer while baking because I've always simply known when it was done.
I use to feel regret when anything magickal happened in my life, because I didn't want my parents to look down on me or feel the need to ignore any aspect of my life. I still want my parents, as well as the general populace although I care much less about them, to accept me for who I am, energy sensitivity and all, but I doubt that will happen. I suppose I've come to that point in life that every "witch" raised by nonsensitive parents has to come to and that is accepting who I am with the knowledge that I will always be scorned, mocked, and ignored for being just who I was born to be. I'm choosing to be who I am despite the people who are willing to do this, even if those people are my friends and family.
You may be wondering what changed, and to be truthful so am I. I can't really remember what it was exactly, and I'm pretty sure there was no specific moment that caused me to stop being faithful to everyone but myself, but I do remember coming to a point where I just started feeling tired. I can only compare it to walking up a hill, and maybe my whole life the hill hadn't bothered me but I was fooling myself to think that I wouldn't become exhausted. So, I gave up. I turned around and found my own way even though a lot of people aren't alright with that and I'm made fun of both to my face and behind my back frequently for my believes. For anyone who reads this, please understand that it's not okay to make fun of people like me for our believes, you have no idea how much it hurts especially since a lot of it is involuntary. I don't make fun of someone's skin colour just because it's darker than mine, and I don't mock them for the fact that they don't get burnt in the summer just because I've never experienced that. What ever happened to the grade school lesson about not making fun of something or someone you don't understand?
Anyways, by high school I was fully aware of my "non-mainstream" qualities. It was exactly these "non-mainstream" qualities that lead me to paganism and it was through paganism that I learned what it meant to be a "witch". There are a lot of different names for being a "witch", I prefer energy sensitive, and occasionally for funzzies I call myself a "witch". For me, energy sensitive means sensitive not only to obvious environmental factors like light, sound, and scents that give off energy but also energy given off by people and objects, for example anger, love, fear, health, femininity, joy and distrust. I haven't met many people like myself but there's one thing that I find to always be true: "A witch knows a witch when they see one".
I didn't realize till later that my unexplainable talent at cooking was only explainable through energy sensitivity. For instance, I've never set a timer while baking because I've always simply known when it was done.
I use to feel regret when anything magickal happened in my life, because I didn't want my parents to look down on me or feel the need to ignore any aspect of my life. I still want my parents, as well as the general populace although I care much less about them, to accept me for who I am, energy sensitivity and all, but I doubt that will happen. I suppose I've come to that point in life that every "witch" raised by nonsensitive parents has to come to and that is accepting who I am with the knowledge that I will always be scorned, mocked, and ignored for being just who I was born to be. I'm choosing to be who I am despite the people who are willing to do this, even if those people are my friends and family.
Basic Bechamel (sp) and cheese sauce
So, despite being lactose and tolerant, I use this stuff all of the time. <3 You can make plain bechamel for pasta, macaroni and cheese, to bring left over alfredo pasta back to life, fondue, or whatever else you can think of that's creamy, cheesy and delicious. In fact, I'm making some right now for nachos!
Ingredients:
2 Tbsp Butter
1/2 Tbsp Flour
1/2 Cup Milk
A pinch or so of nutmeg (optional)
Get yourself a small pot or pan please. Turn your heat on high-medium or low-high and melt the 2 Tbsp of butter. Once the butter's all melted turn the heat down to low-medium, or high-low and slowly add your flour and nutmeg, whisking or stirring with a spoon continuously. Once your flour and butter are completely combined add the milk and stir as you were doing before. I'm not adding nutmeg but you can if you want. Usually nutmeg is used in traditional bechamel, like when you're making pasta but since I'm making nacho's I don't really want it. Instead of nutmeg I used some pepper and rosemary. Also, if you want to make cheese sauce gradually add the cheese, ripping in pieces if sliced or by heaping pinch if shredded. Continue till it's stringy and delicious! Stringy will come after the delicious. ;) Enjoy!
Magickal Reference:
Bechamel: Happiness, female, calming your emotions, relaxation, responsibilities, healing, friendship
Butter: Smoothing relationships, acceptance, receiving, female
Flour: Male, exposing secrets and hidden agendas, creative forces, consistency
Milk: Female, health, caring, fertility
Nutmeg: Female, clairvoyance, health, fertility
Cheese: Different cheeses have different aspects so I'll just list some universal one, usually male, health, joy
Pepper: Male, protection banishing, purification
Rosemary: Female, memory, cleansing, healing
Sunday, September 25, 2011
From the Rooster's Mouth: Pico de Gallo
Just so you know I don't actually use measurements unless I'm baking. If this isn't a pastry item please take that into consideration and don't hate me for ruining your dinner party.
I. Love. Pico de Gallo. I eat about 1 liter of Pico de Gallo per week. It's safe to say I have an addiction to this lemony, spicy, tomato relish. I figure I was destined to love this stuff since I've always hated salsa, but to fit the South American stereotype it was necessary that I like some kind of spicy tomato thing! It was such a predicament. I would've been the shame of my family if it weren't for Chipotle. Thank Goddess for the McDonald's industry, right? I went to Chipotle almost weekly just to get my Pico de Gallo fix, because the last thing I want to deal with is withdraw symptoms. It's comparable to the horrors of a meth addict going cold turkey. I could've died!
Ok, in all seriousness, I just love Pico de Gallo. Yeah, I do eat 1 liter of it a week but don't worry, I don't suffer withdraw symptoms if I chose to abstain for a day. On another serious note, don't do drugs! I hear they're bad for you, but I wouldn't really know since I don't want to experiment with them to find out. Just a friendly suggestion from your friendly internet kitchen witch.
I'm wondering how I'm gonna present my recipe on here... oh whatever, I'll just wing it.
Pico de Gallo (Pee-Ko Day Gai-Yo) aka Yummzers (Yummzers):
Makes about 1 liter
2 Lemons, maybe more
3/4 Medium Yellow Onion
2 1/2 Cup Fresh Chopped Cilantro, maybe more
6 Almost Ripe or Ripe Small- Medium Tomatoes
1 Seeded Red Bell Pepper
1/3 of a Small Seeded Jalapeno Pepper, depends on how spicy you like things, if you don't like spicy things at all add 1/4 of a Small Seeded Jalapeno Pepper because it really does change the flavor to have none at all.
Salt Not Too Much, Not Too Little
Directions: Pico de Gallo gets spicier the longer that it sits, so keep that in mind as you're deciding how much you want to make as well as how much jalapeno to add. If you want your Pico de Gallo to be spicy from the very moment it's made juice your lemons first then carefully cut off the the amount of jalapeno desired and remove the seeds. I cut my jalapeno into tiny pieces so that it doesn't get concentrated in any one place, but if you like to get unexpectedly slapped in the face by jalapeno flesh, be my guest and cut it exactly the way you like it. :) Don't lick your finger or rub your eyes after you make this stuff! Bad ,bad idea.Even if you wash your hands don't consider yourself safe. O_O If you don't want your Pico de Gallo spicy right away add the lemon juice after this next step without the jalapenoes then wait till the end to add the jalapenoes.
Next you'll want to move on to the tomatoes, bell peppers, onion and cilantro. Chop up all these ingredients and add them to a large bowl, or if you're as lazy as me add it to a tupper wear container that can hold as much as you plan to make.
Sooo, did you cut your onion up yet? What about the cilantro? Yes? Oh, you're getting to it. Just make sure to peel the onion before you cut it up. x_x When you're done with that add it to your tomatoes and bell peppers and combine please! It's pretty huh? :) Just be sure to not bruise those tomatoes! I may not be a grammar nazi but I sure am a texture nazi.
Pour your lemon juice over the rest of your ingredients and mix. If you have jalapeno in your lemon juice use a silicon mixing paddle to stir your ingredients, if not go ahead and use your hand or a spoon if you want but once you add those jalapenoes you want something that's not gonna soak up the capsaicin, as well as something that isn't gonna burn like hell afterwards (I'm talking about you're hands :P).
Wala! You have now made Pico de Gallo, and you can now expect me over within the hour, tortilla chips in hand. ^^
Magickal Significance:
Lemons: feminine, sun, summer, happiness, clarity, reflection, water, purification
Yellow Onions: earth, insecurities, love, patience, protection, understanding, clarity, the universe, the moon, masculine
Cilantro: masculine, awareness, passion, keeping secrets
Tomatoes: love, feminine, home, intention, prosperity
Bell Peppers:
Jalapenoes: lust, reaction, forethought, masculine, fire, without remorse
Pico de Gallo: Clarity, awareness, cleansing, water, fire, interactivity
I give.
I love Kricket, and the fact that those three words are the first things I say on my new fangled blog should explain why I'm on here in the first place. I never thought having a blog could benefit me or anyone else and, generally, I thought it was a huge waste of my time. However, Kricket, my dear, my darling, my very best friend, started one of her own. Now don't go making assumptions of my character before I explain myself because I've never been the type to jump on the band-wagon and assumptions are just gonna go ahead and make us both confused in the long run. At the end of her very first blog post she "hinted" at the idea that I should make my own, giving those oh so indirect compliments that she's oh so good at. In sum, my very best friend in the whole wide world asked me to make a blog about my kitchen witchin', and, being the very huge push over that I am, gave in whole heartedly. Once I figure out how to work this thing I'll go ahead and post a link about her in another blog post, or maybe I'll do so when I haven't just woken up after a road trip to yosemite where I drove six hours through the dark, who knows.
Anyways! Now on to what you'll find here on my blog. I love to "witch it" in the kitchen, I bake and cook all the time, but mostly I bake. Baking is what I really do best, although I do fumble and mess things up sometimes, so don't think this blog won't have it's hilarious moments where I talk about just how much I screwed something up or the huge mess I made. You're fully welcome to take the recipes that I come up with, you can change them, comment on, suggest a change, ask questions about them, or ignore them. What you choose to do is completely your prerogative. I'm, by no means, telling anyone how to cook 'cause I know there are people out there who are much better than me, or live their life, this is simply how I do things and as long as you can show respect to me and to others I'll make sure you feel welcome here. My blog will also have my thoughts about the weather in my neck of the woods, the changing of the seasons, maybe a few of my poems awesome websites that don't necessarily have anything to do with food, magickal reference guides as well as my input on those guides. Sometimes I might talk about movies, incense, books, coffee shops, or class. Other days you might find me ranting about just how much cook books can lie to a gal (meaning me), as well as other things that could lie to person (meaning any one of you). I guess what I'm saying is I'll try my best to focus on food but no guarantee, this is my blog after all. ;)
Y'know, for a first blog post I think I did pretty well, despite the obvious disorganization which you will probably never find on Kricket's posts. Speaking of, I've finally mustered up the energy to copy her link into my post http://broomclosetxmojo.blogspot.com/. I hope you all enjoy yourselves on our blogs, if anybody at all ever reads them. :)
P.S. I'm addicted to smiley faces. I can't write a thing without feeling like it must have a smiley face. :P
Anyways! Now on to what you'll find here on my blog. I love to "witch it" in the kitchen, I bake and cook all the time, but mostly I bake. Baking is what I really do best, although I do fumble and mess things up sometimes, so don't think this blog won't have it's hilarious moments where I talk about just how much I screwed something up or the huge mess I made. You're fully welcome to take the recipes that I come up with, you can change them, comment on, suggest a change, ask questions about them, or ignore them. What you choose to do is completely your prerogative. I'm, by no means, telling anyone how to cook 'cause I know there are people out there who are much better than me, or live their life, this is simply how I do things and as long as you can show respect to me and to others I'll make sure you feel welcome here. My blog will also have my thoughts about the weather in my neck of the woods, the changing of the seasons, maybe a few of my poems awesome websites that don't necessarily have anything to do with food, magickal reference guides as well as my input on those guides. Sometimes I might talk about movies, incense, books, coffee shops, or class. Other days you might find me ranting about just how much cook books can lie to a gal (meaning me), as well as other things that could lie to person (meaning any one of you). I guess what I'm saying is I'll try my best to focus on food but no guarantee, this is my blog after all. ;)
Y'know, for a first blog post I think I did pretty well, despite the obvious disorganization which you will probably never find on Kricket's posts. Speaking of, I've finally mustered up the energy to copy her link into my post http://broomclosetxmojo.blogspot.com/. I hope you all enjoy yourselves on our blogs, if anybody at all ever reads them. :)
P.S. I'm addicted to smiley faces. I can't write a thing without feeling like it must have a smiley face. :P
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