I Love My Hot Chocolate

I may have published this before, but here it is again. The photo is from the Internet..my hot cocoa is more foamy. This drink will cheer you, give you energy and help you to stay warm during those cold mornings.

Joan's Hot Chocolate Recipe

1 1/2 cups soy milk ~ Regular milk is OK.
1 1/2 Tablespoons Cocoa (Hershey's)
1/4 teasp. cinnamon
1/8 teasp. cayenne pepper.

I whisk this in a cooking pot over medium heat.
I whisk it until it is hot and foamy.
I pour it into a nice big mug.
It is such a pleasure to drink it.
Notice I prefer not put sugar in it. I used to
put a few drops of honey in it. You can add
whatever sweetener (honey, sugar, etc.)
you want to this.

Broth from Simmered Baked Turkey or Chicken Carcass

If any of you have no experience with making broth from scratch, I need to show you what it looks like. This is broth from a deli chicken carcass...the skin got nice and brown and so the broth was a delicious looking brown. After taking all the meat off the bones of the chicken, I put the bones, skin, and whatever chunks of meat that are left on the bone, or clinging to fat or skin..I take it all and put it in my crockpot with a chopped onion, some chopped celery, some chopped carrot and a chopped garlic clove and some black pepper. I add water to cover it all by an inch and cover the crockpot put it on high...after several hours, what a delicious aroma wafts through the house.

I cook this for about 4 hours. Then I strain it through a colander into a stainless steel bowl (and throw out all the spent bones and veggies) and after it cools a bit, I put it in a cylindrical tupperware and refrigerate it over night. In the morning, I see that the nice white fat has risen to the top, so I skim that off and throw it away. It is OK if some stays, it adds flavor to the broth, this fat does. I turn the container over and out plops..
brown jello. Jello is gelatin..it is made from the bones of animals!
Just heat this jello-y mass in a small pot and then pour into a bowl or mug and drink it. Yum!!!!! (You may want to salt it a tiny bit.)

Split Pea Soup: Nutritious Delicious Bargain

I love the fact that you can have a super nutritious meals for so little money.

Here we have a bag of split peas (16 oz. or 1 lb.)
add a chopped up carrot, 1/4 of an onion chopped up, and a small potato, chopped.

I rinse the split peas in a strainer and then put them in a pot with water covering it by 2 inches. I bring it to a boil and lower the heat and then simmer an hour. Then I add the potato, carrot, onion, and a few twists of black pepper.and simmer another hour. I get 8 1 cup servings of soup. (figuring in the coast of the added vegetables, each cup of soup costs about 15 cents each. (I get my onions for 38 cents a pound, the potatoes for 20 cents a pound, the carrots, for 50 cents a pound.) Each cup has 11 grams of fiber, and 10 g of protein. I serve it with hot buttered toast, although I do not show the toast in the picture. I never feel guilty eating butter. Especially in this meal. The soup has not fat in it at all, so I get the fat my body needs from the butter on the toast. The toast also makes the protein in this meal complete.

One of My Breakfasts

I am such a mood eater. The other day, I made this wonderful sardine sandwich on some high fiber whole wheat bread...plus a side of homemade chicken broth! Good fuel to start the day with! Mmmm.

Final Product: Thumbprint Cookies

I got 25 cookies from the recipe. They are like jewels. See previous post for recipe.

Evelyn Cera's Thumbprint Cookies Recipe

I made these this morning...I chopped up the walnuts in the food processor attachment that my blender has. Worked like a charm.
See the bowl of nuts, the bowl with the egg white?
I made 25 balls from this recipe and laid them on a cookie sheet. Then I took each one and dipped it in the beaten egg white and then rolled them in the nuts. It is kind of tricky to do this without getting lots of egg white and nuts sticking to your fingers. Half way through, you have to take abreak and wash your hands and start over. Then you press your thum into the middle of each unbaked cookie.


Evelyn Cera's Thumbprint Cookies
(Do read recipe thoroughly first)

1/2 cup butter, softened at room temperature
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg, separated
1/2 teasp. vanilla
1 cup flour
1/4 teasp. salt (optional..usually there is enough salt in the butter)
3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts

350 degree oven

Cream butter and sugar together. Add egg yolk and vanilla. Add dry ingredients. Roll into balls (teaspoon size). Beat egg white until frothy in small bowl. Dip ball in egg white, roll in nuts. Place cookie balls 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Press thumb gently into middle of each cookie before baking. Bake 10-12 min. or until set. Cool, fill with jam (use the tip of a teaspoon to spoon your jam into indentation) or candied cherries. (sometimes, you have to make the indentation with your thumb a little deeper after they are out of oven...because they puff up a bit and lose their indentatation somewhat.) Joan likes to use 2 kinds of jam: Strawberry jam (red for christmas)...and apricot pineapple jam (Makes cookies look like golden jewels) These cookies, with 2 dif colored centers look so good on a plate. If you use candied cherries, just one or one half in the center of the cookie is fine. The nuts on the outside and fruit-y center give good contrast to the tender melt in your mouth body of the cookie. Joan's all time favorite Christmas cookie.

What I Did While I Was Snowed In

I promised Larissa I would experiment and make tamales to see if I could maybe make them for our Xmas Eve dinner. Our tradition the last few years has been to have tamales on Xmas Eve. I lately found out that the traditional tamales that we buy every year from the Mexican restaurants, have 1 and 1/2 cups lard per 5 cups of masa. I went on the Internet and found a recipe that substitutes ricotta cheese
and a bit of canola oil for the lard.
This was my first time ever making tamales. I made vegetarian tamales
with a filling of black bean, butternut squash and goat cheese. I also made some with shredded turkey meat and diced green chilis. They needed to be steamed one hour. Our house smelled so good.

What I learned:
Make your ties twice as long (by tying 2 together with a square not)
and ahead of time so you can easily wrap and tie each tamale.

Soak more than enough corn husks to make sure you have enough good ones...some rip in the middle as you handle them, some are too small.

Take a break now and then from the busywork or you will get tense back muscles.

Making tamales is not for whimps!
Here is the recipe I used:
Squash, Black Bean & Goat Cheese Tamales
Makes 16 tamales
Ingredients
4 ounces dried cornhusks (see Note)

Batter
1 ¾ cups masa (see Note)
1 ¼ cups hot water
1 ½ cups part-skim ricotta cheese
¼ cup canola oil
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
2 cups quick-cooking grits or cornmeal
½-¾ cup vegetable broth or reduced-sodium chicken broth

Filling
20 ounces frozen winter squash, thawed (about 2 cups; see Tip)
1 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed
1 4-ounce can chopped green chiles, drained
¾ teaspoon salt
¾ cup crumbled goat cheese


Squash, Black Bean & Goat Cheese Tamales Instructions

1. To prepare wrappers: Place cornhusks in a large bowl, cover with hot water and weight with a heavy plate or pan to completely submerge them. Let soak for 30 minutes.

2. To prepare batter: Put masa and 1 1/4 cups hot water in a large bowl; stir with a wooden spoon until a soft dough forms. Beat ricotta, oil, baking powder and salt in another large bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed for 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low. Add grits (or cornmeal) and mix until combined. Add the ricotta mixture to the masa mixture and stir until smooth. Stir in broth 1/4 cup at a time until the batter is very moist and spreadable, but not runny.

3. To prepare filling: Place squash puree in a fine-mesh sieve and gently press on it to extract excess liquid. Transfer to a medium bowl and add beans, chiles and salt; stir until combined.

4. To assemble tamales: Drain the cornhusks and pat dry. Sort through and pick out 16 large, unblemished husks to use as wrappers. Cut about 2 dozen thin, long strips from the remaining husks to use as ties (or use kitchen string instead). Cover the husks and ties with a damp towel to keep moist.

5. Working on a clean surface, unfold one of the large cornhusks so its completely flat. Spread 1/3 cup of the batter in the center of the husk in a 4-inch square, leaving a wide border at the top and the bottom. Spoon 2 tablespoons of the filling in a thin strip down the length of the batter. Top the filling with 1 rounded teaspoon goat cheese.

6. Bring the two long sides of the cornhusk together, causing the batter to completely surround the fillingbut dont fold the sides over the tamale yet. Fold the cornhusk ends in, then fold the sides around the tamale. If a cornhusk splits while youre folding the tamale, just wrap a second husk right over the first and finish rolling. Tie the tamale closed using a thin strip of cornhusk. Repeat with remaining ingredients to make 15 more tamales. (You may have a little batter and/or filling left over.)

7. To steam tamales: Fill a large Dutch oven with 1 inch of water. Place a steamer basket in the pot and loosely place the tamales upright in the basket. Cover and steam over medium heat for 1 hour. Check the water level periodically and add more boiling water if necessary. The tamales are done when the batter is firm and easily pulls away from the wrapper.

Squash, Black Bean & Goat Cheese Tamales Tips
The batter (Step 2) and filling (Step 3) will keep, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. Steamed tamales will keep, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 2 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Reheat tamales in a steamer or in the microwave on Medium power.

Notes: Cornhusks are traditionally used as tamale wrappers. They are sold dried and need to be reconstituted in water to make them pliable enough for tamales.

Masa is ground dried corn treated with lime, sometimes called masa harina or instant masa mix; it is used for making tamales and tortillas. Masa can be found near the cornmeal or flour and dried cornhusks in the produce department of most well-stocked supermarkets or Mexican grocers; both can be found on amazon.com.

Tip: To make your own squash puree, halve and seed one medium acorn or butternut squash. Place, cut-side down, on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake in a preheated 375°F oven until soft, about 50 minutes. Cool, then scrape out the flesh with a fork. Or simply use frozen (thawed) or canned squash puree. Find frozen squash puree near other vegetables in the freezer section and canned squash near the canned pumpkin.

Squash, Black Bean & Goat Cheese Tamales Nutrition Information
Per tamale: 232 calories; 7 g fat (3 g sat, 3 g mono); 10 mg cholesterol; 35 g carbohydrate; 8 g protein; 4 g fiber; 612 mg sodium; 130 mg potassium.
Nutrition bonus: Vitamin A (25% daily value), Calcium (15% dv).
2 Carbohydrate Servings
Exchanges: 1 medium-fat meat, 1 fat
http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/print/index.php?r=2574