Indian Coffee

I stumbled across a recipe for Indian Coffee quite accidentally today (you’ll understand when you see my next blog entry) and – considering I’ve almost never met a cup of coffee I didn’t love – I knew that I needed to try it… pronto.

Luckily for me, this recipe requires just three ingredients and maybe 10 minutes of your time. And, I promise you, it’s worth every minute! You can adjust the strength of the coffee flavor as well as the sweetness to your liking – I’ve decided that I prefer a ratio of 2 tbs sugar to 1 heaping tbs coffee to 10 oz of whole milk – but tweak it as you see fit!

My “froth” left a little something to be desired… I admit I might not have been as patient as I should have been with the prep on these. BUT! I’ll be practicing! Check out the beautiful foam on the coffees over at eCurry – this is my goal!

Indian Coffee
(recipe courtesy of Amy @ Dish on Design)
1 tablespoon instant coffee or coffee powder (the finer the ground the better)
8 – 10 ounces milk (preferably whole milk)
2 tablespoons sugar (or one tablespoon of sugar + a packet of sweetener)

Heat the milk until just under boiling and then simmer to keep warm.

In a mug, add the instant coffee and sugar. Add a teaspoon or less of the milk and vigorously mix with a spoon It will be dark, wet and crumbly at first, but keep mixing until the mixture turns lighter in color and resembles a thick mousse.

Stir in the heated milk and then pour the coffee back and forth between to containers (I used measuring cups) 6-8 times until your coffee is nice and frothy. Pour into a mug and enjoy the goodness!

it’s a lime double-header!

What to do when you have limes on the brain? Go all in.

First…. make lime sherbet floats. Perfect for the warm days that have been creeping in on the heels of Spring. Seriously…. perfect.

Second… make key lime pie ice cream. Even more perfect than the floats – if a little more labor-intensive. But no cooked bases for this one, so no need to have to plan ahead! Make it at whim (and make it often)!

Mmmmmm. It’s good to have options.

Lime Sherbet Floats
(serves 2)
20 ounces Sprite, 7-Up or other lemon-lime soda of your choice
juice of one lime
2 healthy scoops lime sherbet

Divid all ingredients equally between two glasses. Enjoy!

* * *

Key Lime Pie Ice Cream
(recipe from Good Life Eats)
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup bottled Key lime juice (such as Nellie and Joe’s)
1/2 cup heavy cream
Dash of salt
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
6 graham crackers (1 1/2 cookie sheets), coarsely crushed, divided

In a large bowl, combine milk, lime juice, heavy cream, salt and sweetened condensed milk; whisk to combine.

Pour mixture into your ice cream maker, and freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions.

Stir 1/3 cup graham crackers into ice cream. Spoon ice cream into a freezer-safe container, cover and freeze for 1 hour or until firm. Sprinkle each serving with 1 teaspoon reserved graham crackers.

homemade orange-basil soda

Have you ever made your own soda? I hadn’t… but, after seeing this post from my friend Kathy, I’ve been feeling inspired to give it a try for a while now. I’m so, so glad that I finally did because I’m TOTALLY hooked!

Sugar, water, basil, freshly-squeezed OJ, and seltzer… that’s IT. And… wait for it… NO HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, people. The basil is oh-so-subtle and I envision us enjoying this often as the weather heats up and we’re looking for something light and refreshing. Beautiful! (P.S. You’ll have extra basil simple syrup… keep it in the fridge for more soda making fun!)

Homemade Orange-Basil Soda
(adapted from Sandra Lee)
1 cup water
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup freshly-squeezed orange juice
1 liter seltzer or sparkling water

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the water and sugar and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Remove from the heat, add the basil, and let cool. Strain out the basil and refrigerate until ready to use. (Syrup will last up to 2 weeks in a sealed container in the refrigerator.)

To assemble, pour 2 tablespoons basil simple syrup and 3 tablespoons orange juice into an ice-filled glass and top with approximately 8 ounces seltzer. Stir and enjoy! (serves 4)

culinary capers – oranges

We Midwesterners have been battling our usual beginning of winter temperature swings as of late. 70 one day… 45 two days later… 60 two days after that… and so on. It’s made for an office full of hacking, sniffling, congested schmucks at work… and that’s for those who got off easy and weren’t home with a full-blown virus.

I’ve had run-ins with both and am still battling a bit of sore throat, so while trying to decide what I could throw together for this week’s Culinary Capers challenge I ran across a recipe for a ginger-orange tea that sounded wonderful for a lazy, scratchy-throated Sunday afternoon. It’s got all of the classic underpinnings of tea with lemon and honey – with the added bonus of a big shot of vitamin C and the slight zing of ginger.

A few notes:
- I used freshly squeezed orange juice – but you can easily sub in OJ from your fridge.
- You can use either a herbal or a black tea in this recipe – or you can leave the tea bags out entirely, which is more aligned with the original, Moosewood Restaurant version.
- You can find fresh ginger in the produce section of your grocery store. Peeling is easiest if you use the edge of a spoon. Store any leftover ginger in the freezer.
- You can grate the ginger using either a box grater or a zester – but if all else fails, you can also mince it very finely with a knife for the same effect.

Orange-Ginger Tea
(adapted from The Craving Chronicles and The Moosewood Restaurant Cooking for Health Cookbook)
2 heaping tablespoons peeled and grated fresh ginger
2 cups water
3 herbal or black tea bags (use your favorite – I used Twining Irish Breakfast Tea)
2 cups fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2-4 tablespoons honey, to taste

Place water and grated ginger in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add tea bags. Steep for at least 5 minutes. Strain tea with a fine mesh strainer, pressing on the ginger and tea bags with the back of a spoon to squeeze out all the liquid. Return tea to pot. Stir in orange juice, lemon juice, and honey. Reheat to serve warm. (Serves 4.)

culinary capers – pumpkin

Ahhh… I love pumpkin! Even more than that, I love pumpkin-infused alcohol. And even MORE than that, I love pumpkin-infused, decadent, buttery alcohol. Enter this Pumpkin Spice Hot Buttered Rum. Perfect, perfect for chilly fall evenings… or as you relax after a big Thanksgiving dinner!

Hot Pumpkin Buttered Rum
(adapted from The Kitchn)
-makes 6 servings
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup light brown sugar, loosely packed
1/3 cup pumpkin butter
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
Pinch salt
Spiced rum
Hot water
Whipped cream, to garnish

Cream together the butter, brown sugar, pumpkin butter, pumpkin pie spice, and salt using a mixer on low setting. Add approximately 2 tablespoons of butter mixture to the bottom of a heat-proof glass or mug. Add 2 ounces of rum. Fill the glass with boiling water. Stir to mix. Top with whipped cream and garnish with a dusting of spice. Serve immediately.

another installment of POM Wonderful!

I’ve been a bad blogger. Oh, wait… you already knew that. Well, in addition to what you already knew… here’s what you didn’t know. The nice folks at POM Wonderful were kind enough to send me some more pomegranate juice to play around with… right about the time that I dropped off the face of the earth.

So, I’ve had all of these lovely little bottles hanging out in my fridge, just begging to be used in something yummy. And, though I have a few more things on tap for you, I wanted to get this one out there as well, because it’s easy and crazy good. In fact, this is our beverage of choice on eggs and hashbrown night… which tends to pop up at least once a week at our house.

No recipe, really… it’s just a 1:1 ratio of yummy, good for you, POM Wonderful pomegranate juice and your favorite lemon-lime soda. Refreshing… and pretty nice to look at, too, don’t you think?

Keep an eye out for some more fun POM-centric recipes coming soon… and in the meantime, go check out the health benefits of pomegranate juice and POM’s great recipe page!

Pineapple-Rum Punch

Springtime means the return of pitchers of yummy cocktails to be enjoyed on the patio. Check out this Pineapple-Rum Punch over at FGG!

Peanut Butter Cup Drinking Chocolate

Are you ready for this? Peanut Butter Cup Drinking Chocolate over at FGG! An exercise in mindful decadence!

getting boozy for the holidays

Looking for a signature drink to serve at your Thanksgiving get-togethers next week? My friends… come with me. I have something I want to show you. It’s called a Smashing Pumpkin Martini and it’s like pumpkin pie in a glass. Really.

Infusing your own vodka is really very easy — we do sweet tea vodka in the summer, so decided to give pumpkin vodka a go for the fall season. You’ll need to plan ahead because this needs to hang out in the fridge for at least a week before serving — but, once you’ve roasted the pumpkin and thrown it all together, it just steeps and develops on its own — no further work needed until it’s time to put the martinis together. How much easier does it get?

Make this vodka. Then make these martinis. You’ll absolutely wow your guests. For that matter, you may wow yourself! Fair warning though… they are boozy and may not be for the faint of heart. But they are OH. SO. GOOD. Now get out there and get to it! Good luck with all of your holiday preparations and enjoy!!!

Smashing Pumpkin Martini
(adapted from Epicurious)
2 ounces spiced pumpkin vodka (recipe follows)
2 ounces Amaretto

In a shaker filled with ice, shake spiced pumpkin vodka and Amaretto. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

***

Spiced Pumpkin Vodka
(adapted from Epicurious)
2 cups pumpkin meat, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 cup vanilla vodka
2 cups vodka
6 cinnamon sticks
2 whole vanilla beans
1/2 teaspoon whole cloves

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Arrange pumpkin pieces on a non-stick cookie sheet. Drizzle with honey and sprinkle with nutmeg and cinnamon. Roast for 45 minutes or until tender. Remove from oven and allow to cool to room temperature.

Combine vodkas in a bottle or other glass or plastic container. Add cooled pumpkin meat, vanilla beans and cloves and let sit for 1-2 weeks in the refrigerator. Strain before using in a cocktail.

a taste of the holidays

Does anyone else struggle with how quickly time seems to go once we cross the threshold of Halloween? It seems as though the trick-or-treaters have barely left my doorstep when the holiday deluge begins… and I know, in the blink of an eye and amidst all of the holiday festivities, we’ll be taking down the Christmas tree and welcoming in a new year. So, this year, I’m determined to enjoy every minute!

Remember last month when I told you about the nice people over at POM Wonderful offering to let me sample some of their wonderful, all-natural POM pomegranate juice? The good news is that I still have a few bottles hanging out in my fridge and I’ve got a great new recipe to share with you.

Mulled beverages (cider, wine, you name it) make me think of the holidays and there’s nothing better than the smell of something mulling on the stove… hints of cinnamon and cloves wafting through the house. Makes me want to drag out the sweaters and the twinkle lights!

The addition of pomegranate juice to a classic mulled cider brings an interesting sweet-slash-tangy twist to the drink. But – even better than that – a splash of port or brandy adds a whole other level of goodness. (Add the alcohol directly to the glasses of those who care to partake and leave the pot alcohol-free for the kids and non-drinkers among you.)

This recipe halves and multiplies easily to fit your needs… whether that be a cozy night in for two or a holiday party for twelve. And, you can store any leftovers in the fridge and heat up a mug in the microwave the next day.

Mulled Pom-Apple Cider
1 cup pomegranate juice
2 cups apple cider
2 tablespoons mulling spices
port or brandy

Warm the pomegranate juice, cider and mulling spices to a very low simmer in a large non-reactive pot over low heat. Allow to mull, stirring occassionally, until fragrant, 30-45 minutes. Do not to let the mixture boil. Strain and serve in clear mugs or glasses. For those inclined, add a splash of your favorite liquor. Serves four.