Recipes – Page 11 – a hippie with a minivan

Beef, noodle, veggie Pho… yummy…

This is just one of those non recipes… Most of my cooking is made this way…

Today.. It started with this…

A few beef shanks, bones and some slightly freezer burned steak roasting in a pan with a few onions…

Then after a bit more than an hour the stock was started with the roasted beef and onion, all the pan drippings, two heads of garlic, a few large pieces of ginger, star anise, carrots and a few stalks of celery and then covered with water…

After a few hours of simmering, I let it cool, adjusted the seasonings (a bit of tamari and garlic powder were perfect) and then skimmed the fat and strained it leaving a beautiful and fragrant beef broth…

The wok came out and in went a bit of peanut oil and thinly sliced beef marinated in Hoisen sauce for a few seconds, then set it aside…

Then a bit more peanut oil went into my wok along with ginger, garlic, Chinese cabbage, thinly cut celery, carrots and bean sprouts… I added a few ladles of stock and covered until cooked but not soggy… and then set that aside also…

A few toy choy went into the wok… and then in a bit of water with a bit of Tamari and some noodles while I reheated the broth…

When everything was ready, the noodles went into the bowl… then the veggies, the beef and the toy choy with a a few ladles of broth on top…

A squeeze of lime, a bit of Sriracha Chile sauce and it was perfect…

A hearty bowl of delicious goodness…

Frozen Grapes…

This is such a simple snack that feels like such a treat… It is just one of those things that you don’t think about sharing because it is so simple.

Just wash some grapes and throw them in the freezer… really.. that’s it… and what comes out of the freezer are these tasty little treats that everyone seems to love…

You bite into the crisp outside and the inside has frozen into a sorbet like texture…

Eat them straight from the freezer (or use a bowl if you wish) or throw them into your favourite cold drink…

Jalapeño Tequila Lime Hot Sauce…

I love spicy foods but Colin doesn’t appreciate the spice like we do, so we have been spicing things up in our plates more lately.

I bought a bottle of hot sauce for Simon around his birthday and I have to admit that I am the one that finished it off. It was so good on everything that I tried it on, but so expensive. It made me realize how much I love the taste of Jalapeños and I just had to try making my own version. I never really thought about making my own hot sauce before but I am so glad I did. I really can’t get enough!

The first time I made it I took all of the seeds out of the peppers and mashed it but didn’t blend it so it made a chunkier and milder sauce, more like the original. This time I left some seeds in and blended it making a hot and smooth sauce. I think both ways turned out great! The Tequila flavour really stands out and if you don’t know it is there it leaves you wondering…

This is not an exact recipe, but more of a guide… I tried my best to give amounts though…

You will need:

20 Jalapeño peppers

2 Cubanelle Peppers

Seed the peppers (or not depending on how hot you want the sauce) and chop roughly: and don’t forget to use gloves!!! Hot pepper burns are not fun! (don’t ask me how I know)

1 medium onion, or half or a large onion, 6-7 Shallots and about 6 cloves of garlic.

mince finely and start sautéing in a few tsp of oil until translucent.

Chop up a tomato and add to the onion mixture. Add a few tsp of salt and some if you love garlic like me add a bit of garlic powder.

Cook down for a few minutes and add the chopped peppers.

Add about 2 cups of water.

Cover and Simmer…

Keep on simmering until everything is fully cooked and soft.

Juice two limes

Add the Lime juice to the sauce, add 2 tsp of sugar and adjust the salt if needed.

Turn off the heat and add about 1 ounce of Tequila… or maybe a bit more 😉

Wait until Cooled and then Blend, mush or use a wand.

While blending, start adding the vinegar, start with 1 cup, taste and add more if needed. The first time 1 cup was enough but this time I used about 1 1/3 cups.

and there you have it!

Jalapeño Tequila Lime hot sauce.

Here’s the Recipe again.

20 Jalapeño peppers
2 Cubanelle Peppers
1 medium Onion (or half Large)- minced
1 cup of minced shallots
6 cloves of garlic – minced
1 tomato (chopped)
2 cups of Water
salt
garlic powder
2 tsp sugar
Juice of 2 limes
1 ounce Tequila (or a bit more)
1 – 1 1/3 cup vinegar

This makes a large batch! But it stores beautifully.

Lime Cardamom Pumpkin seed cookies…

I got this recipe from Annie and decided to tweak it a bit…

These are my new favourite cookie… I made them today to make me feel better and also to bring to my meeting tonight to share…

This is for a double batch… (I like to refrigerate half and bake them when I need a fix)

2 cups Sugar
1/2 cup Butter, room temperature
2 tbsp Vegetable Oil
Zest of 3 Lime
2 large Egg
Juice of 3 limes
3 1/2 cup Unbleached Flour
1/2 cup Pumpkin Seeds, toasted and roughly chopped
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
1 heaping tsp Cardamom

Preheat oven to 350?
Cream sugar, butter, oil, and zest together until light and fluffy. Add egg and lime juice and beat to incorporate.
In separate bowl, combine dry ingredients. Add to wet and mix together well.
Make balls with batter and slightly flatten on a cookie sheet. Leave enough room for cookies to spread a bit on sheet.
sprinkle with sugar before baking.
Bake about 8 minutes or until edges and bottom golden.

Enjoy!!

Vanilla update…

I first started this Vanilla in January…

It looked like this….

Now… it looks like this…

After about 6-7 weeks I was able to start using it and haven’t looked back… Every now and again I add a bit more alchool or a vanilla bean after I used the seeds in a recipe to keep it replenished and it is the most amazing Vanilla I have ever had… and the cheapest!!

With this vanilla, when a recipe calls for a tsp, you only need a tsp… if you use more, the vanilla flavour will stand out even more but for somethings it can even become overwhelming if you use too much… and I am a vanilla lover!!