Watermelon, Lemonade and Blueberry Ice Pops

What’s a better way to begin the end of summer then to make popsicles? No other way! These popsicles take a lot of time but are totally worth it. So delicious! 🙂

As per usual this recipe came from the amazing website named epicurious.com. For any new cooks out there, this is the site for you to discover. But maybe not this recipe. Simmering blueberries, exploding blenders and putting three times as much sugar in the lemon ice all contributed to quite an experience. It all turned out in the end and the popsicles were quite delicious. However it was a lot of work and time.

First we made the watermelon puree. This was the easiest part of the entire odyssey. In my opinion, it was also the tastiest part of the entire popsicle Fancy that. Secondly, we made the lemonade ice. This was also quite easy to make, however we discovered to negatives while making it. First of all, we accidentally added triple the amount of sugar that the recipe called for. Then when we tasted the lemon part of the popsicle it was super tart. Yick. My lovely cook assistant S quite enjoyed the lemony part, but warns that it is really and truly very tart.

The last part of the popsicle making process was making the blueberry ice. The most difficult part of the entire recipe. We would first like to say that this recipe is totally wrong. You cannot get enough juice out of the blueberries simply by pressing on the blueberries in the colander. Not to mention that because we had already boiled the blueberries until they were very soft, they would squish into our hands as we squished them. Staining our hands bluey-purpley. SO we decided, what better way to get the juice out of blueberries then to blend them? Well this ended in disaster. Somehow the blender wasn’t put together properly and so the blueberry juice exploded all very the table, chairs and carpet. Blueberry juice stains awfully, needless to say. We then had to move the operation to the yard, where we burned our hands squishing the blueberries that had just come out of the boiling water. Blueberry ended up on our arms, legs, faces and the deck. EVERYWHERE!!! It was a complete mess, and our hands were stained a bluey-purpley colour for over a day.  We didn’t even get the required amount of blueberry juice. Plus, it was a nightmare to clean up. We thought we’d have to paint the deck purple and cleaning everything involved a hose.

The mess was colossal but the end product turned out pretty well. Just make sure when you’re about to eat it that you run the pop under hot water. Also, we suggest that you put the blueberry layer on top since it stains the worst, and put the lemon layer on the bottom since people tend to like that layer the least. If you’d like to brave this recipe yourself, here’s the link to the recipe:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Watermelon-Lemonade-and-Blueberry-Ice-Pops-109724

Thanks for reading!

Warm Herbed Coriander Rice Salad

Every once in a while I decide to allow myself the luxury of browsing through Epicurious. com. It really takes quite a lot of time to look through all of the recipes, finally deciding on a recipe that looks delicious. Although normally I only pick a recipe based on the quality of the photo. Which leads me to spending a half hour on a frosting that looked simple and delicious. It tasted great so that was good. But a vanilla frosting took 30 minutes, when I only had 15. Oh well. Like I said. It tasted phenomenal. 🙂

The last time I was glancing around this site, I was on a mission. I needed to find a warm vegetable salad that contained rice in it. Preferably healthy and low sodium. I found the perfect recipe in this one: warm herbed coriander rice salad. This salad is perfect as a side, or if you add steak or chicken it can work as a main meal. It’s really easy to cook and can be served at room temperature or hot. I hope you enjoy eating and cooking this salad as much as I did!

Ingredients

• 1 cup long-grain brown basmati rice, rinsed
• 1 3/4 cups cold water
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
• 1 tablespoon coriander seeds, slightly crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds, slightly crushed
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 medium zucchini (1 1/4 pound), cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1/2 cup chopped mixed herbs such as cilantro, parsley, and mint
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 cup pecans (2 ounces), toasted and coarsely chopped

Instructions

Bring rice and water to a boil with 1 tablespoon oil and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a 2-quart heavy saucepan. Cover and cook over low heat until water is absorbed and rice is tender, about 50 minutes. Let stand, covered, 10 minutes, then transfer to a shallow baking pan and cool to warm.

While rice is standing, cook coriander and cumin seeds in remaining 2 tablespoons oil in 12-inch heavy skillet over medium heat, stirring constantly, until fragrant and a shade darker, 1 to 2 minutes. Add garlic, zucchini, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and cook, stirring frequently, until zucchini is crisp-tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Toss zucchini mixture with rice, herbs, lemon juice, pecans, and salt and pepper to taste.

Thanks for reading!!

 

Roasted Marshmallows and S’mores

We all know the scene. The bonfire has been going for a couple hours. The conversation is beginning to die down as the moon goes up and energy levels go down. Nobody wants the night to end, but nobody likes it when things get awkward. What to do, what to do?

Ah yes. The marshmallow. 100% sugar means a huge sugar rush. Just the thing to liven up a bonfire. Yet there’s a way to increase the sugar intake of this delicious dessert. Oh yeah, it’s called a s’more.

S’mores are the pinnacle of every bonfire that I’ve ever been to. If you don’t have a s’more at a bonfire then the bonfire is a dud. Even if they have fireworks. It doesn’t matter. S’mores are essential. Plus, they’re easy to make! Just follow the instructions below (after you get yourself a bonfire) and pretty soon you’ll have yourself a tasty treat on a hot summer night.

Ingredients

Marshmallows

Chocolate bar

Graham crackers

Stick

Instructions

Grab your stick and shove a marshmallow on there. Roast according to your personal taste. The majority of people like it a nice toasty brown. Then take 2 graham crackers and oh so delicately slide your roasted marshmallow between the 2 crackers. Don’t drop it! This will ruin your entire smore and you’ll have to start over!  Once you get your marshmallow safely between the 2 graham crackers you have to break off a piece of chocolate from the chocolate bar. The size of this piece can vary between the size of your s’more (the practical side) or your need for chocolate (the delicious side). In any case when you’ve managed to squeeze that piece of chocolate into that lovely marshmallow graham cracker sandwich, you have a smore. A delicious-chocolatey-oh-so-sweet s’more. That should pump the energy levels right up. 🙂

 

Now I have recently discovered that the recipe above is only for the classic s’more. Apparently there’s a whole world of different s’more recipes that I’ve been oblivious to all these years. For example, to make a Peanutty s’more you slip in a piece of peanut butter chocolate instead of a piece of run-of-the-mill chocolate. Or if you’d like something exotic you can make the Hawaiian s’more. You roast a coconut marshmallow, slide it between 2 graham crackers, slide a piece of white chocolate in there and then top it all off with a piece of pineapple. You see, the possibilities are seemingly endless. All you have to do is start a bonfire, get some sticks and roast some marshmallows.

Thanks for reading! Hope you all are enjoying you summers so far! 🙂

Kenyan Chai Tea

On a recent trip to Kenya, I discovered a tea for the ages. It’s not a tea from DavidsTea, but it is quite spectacular. It’s called Kenyan Chai. Now, the process by which to make this tea is not an easy one. You don’t just boil some water and pour it over a tea bag. Nope, this tea requires dedication to achieving the end result. Get yourself a pot and a stove. This is about to get intense.

There are many variations on how to make Kenyan chai tea (we’ll get into that later though) but the main thing that never changes is the masala spice. This spice is stirred in near the end, but it gives the tea some spice and it’s signature flavour. I use Tropical heat pure ground tea masala spice, but I’m sure that other ,mixes are available. Basically it’s just a mix of ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, black pepper and nutmeg.

Now like I said before there are many different ways to make Kenyan chai. You see, it all depends on your own personal taste. Here’s a basic recipe though:

1. Heat together 1 cup of water with 1 1/2 teaspoons of black chai tea leaves (or 1 tea bag). Boil for 10 minutes and then add 1 cup of milk. Simmer and then add 2 to 4 teaspoons of sugar. Then add 1 teaspoon of tea masala spice seasoning.

Now this recipe is very bare bones–this recipe results in a very milky tea since most of the water boils away before the milk is added. Therefore if you’d like a spicier tea than you can add more spice. Milkier, than add more water and likewise if you like a more diluted tea. The possibilities are limitless but no matter what you’ll end up with a delicious tea. I personally like a spicier tea, So I might add a teaspoon and a half of spice, along with maybe just 3/4 cup of milk. But that’s just me. 🙂

Here’s some background info on Kenyan chai tea. Chai tea is drunk twice a day in many Kenyan households. For breakfasts kids will gulp it down before rushing off to school. Then the parents will drink some before going off to do their daily chores, such as farming, cleaning or getting water. That’s all most people can afford to have for breakfast, especially now considering the famine going on. Then it will be drunk again as an afternoon pick-me-up. Chai is a cornerstone in the Kenyan diet and I have come to appreciate it greatly. It’s very tasty!

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoy drinking some good ‘ol Kenyan chai 🙂