Ginger, Mint, and Lime

These are three of my favorite ingredients. Specifically, in a drink for summer. Because it turns out, hen its over 90, I don't want to cook. Except to prepare a kale salad (which you have all seen) or maybe some ice cream (that adventure up next). So here is my favorite thing lately: a ginger (mock or not) mojito. The only thing that requires any forethought is ginger simple syrup, and that doesn't require a lot.
 

It goes like this:
-1 cup white sugar
-1 cup water
- Ginger root, peeled and thinly sliced. I used a piece about the size of my thumb.

Combine all ingredients, bring to boil, and simmer for a few minutes. Cool, strain out ginger, and store in a jar.

For the cocktail, muddle some mint and the simple syrup. Add ice, club soda, a slice of lime and drink! You can obviously add booze if you would like: rum for a ginger mojito, or gin if you are like me and like gin best.

Enjoy on your back deck while reading Bossypants. Tina Fey, how I love you. A perfect summer evening.

Mother's Day Brunch

We had Robin's mom Kathy and Bilhenry in town for Mother's Day, and it was lovely to have a mom around. The weather could not have been more perfect all weekend. On Sunday we had a leisurely brunch on the back deck. I made strawberry basil scones, bakes eggs with tomatoes and spinach, and sweet potato hash. The strawberry scones I used this recipe, with butter and coconut milk. 

I added less basil (because our plant is still little and I didn't want to kill it) and more strawberries. They required longer than it said to cook, and for the last 10 minutes I separated the scones (per Robins suggestion). They were good. I would say they are some of the better scones I have made, but admittedly my sample size is fairly small.

And the weather this weekend was simply amazing.

 Up next: polenta pie!

Two Pies (Sweet, Sweet Freedom)

Freedom doesn't even begin to describe the relief. Going out with a bang makes no homework and no stress that much sweeter.

To this end, I made pie (or rather, Robin helped extensively) :

-One of my classes was Program Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation: PIE for short. So naturally, we had a pie party the last day of class. And I cheated by having Robin help extensively with the pie, as I was logging hours in the library. So we made Banoffee pie, found here. I had never heard of it, but several of my classmates knew exactly what it was, so here goes:

First you need a pie crust. I know there is a heavy debate of butter vs. shortening, but this crust has the trump card: Grandma. This is my Grandma Myrtle's recipe, and I think of her every time I make it. This makes it automatically the best recipe (in my totally unbiased opinion).

For the crust:
-1 cup shortening
-2 cups flour
-1/3 cup sour milk (milk with 2 tablespoons of white vinegar).

Bake the crust, as you won't have to bake the final product. 

Next up is the toffee: we used 2 cans of sweetened condensed milk, and Robin cooked it in a water bath at 425 for a couple of hours. Until it looks convincingly like toffee. Let the toffee cool, then add it to the pie crust and refrigerate again. With the toffee, it looked like this:

Just before serving, top with sliced bananas and whipped cream. It's not a health food, it's delicious. 


Next up, Meyer Lemon Shaker Pie. We made it for a Cinco de Mayo get together. Not at all holiday-appropriate, but a good life choice nonetheless.

Same pie rules apply: I used Grandma Pie Crust. I was able to make both of these pies from the same recipe, but there was certainly no extra, and you can see the homely edge above.

This involves a double crust, and a little freezing before adding the filling.

My favorite thing about this: simple. Other than pie crust, the filling is super easy.

Filling: I used this recipe, with some key modifications: I used 6 meyer lemons, and only 1 1/4 cups of sugar. You just slice the lemons as thinly as possible, remove seeds, mix with sugar, and refrigerate to let the flavors meld a bit. Then add 4 eggs and pour into your chilled crust.

I ended up freezing it for much longer than it calls for. Robin pulled it out to the fridge for a bit and then baked it for me.

It ends up a sort of marmalade/custard filling. The two leftover pieces were great cold the next day too. 

Freedom is sweet ;)

The Final Countdown

This is what I've been doing instead of cooking:

Thank goodness for these ladies (and Emily who took the picture), or I might be losing my mind.

This weekend, I promise to post something fun. For now, back to paper edits.

Sweet Potato Breakfast Potatoes

Or maybe, sweet potato hash? Whatever it is, it doesn't require a recipe. It's delicious. And it's fast. These are critical when you have untold homework hours to do. Oh and it's diner-like food, which I extra-like this time of year.

Peel and dice a sweet potato. Pretty small. Add a little olive oil and a little vegetable oil to the pan, and dump in the sweet potato pieces. Saute on medium heat until they are cooked - it took about 10 minutes total for mine. I added some onions in to caramelize, because life is more fun with caramelized onions.

I ate it with ketchup and cilantro dressing. Sounds terrible, but so delicious.

This was great hot food to warm up a dreary Sunday last week.

And some day I will post things that are actually worth posting again, I promise!

(Almost) the end

One week and one day. Then no homework, no papers, no tests. All. Summer. Long.

So needless to say, exciting food has been lacking. But tonight, it is a pita pizza with paper editing. 

 

And while studying is never my favorite, I have lucked into some really good groups. Tzu-Hsin even provided some herbal tea cubes to help keep me going: 

So sweet, and so prepared. 

So today I am thankful for sunshine, tea cubes, smiles, and things that end. 

Caprese Skewers

Simple and springy. Just the way I like it. 

 Sorry for the terrible photo, I didn't finish it in time for natural light when I made it for a get together.

This doesn't really need a recipe. The only thing that requires any forethought is making the balsamic glaze, or whatever you want to call it. And the only thing required for that is 1. buy cheap balsamic vinegar and 2. pour it in a pot and simmer until it is reduced by half, or starting to look syrupy. Your kitchen will smell seriously like balsamic vinegar. But it will be worth it.

Then just skewer some combination of grape tomatoes, basil leaves, and fresh mozzarella. Any leftover balsamic not used for dipping can be used to make thicker, sweeter salad dressings than you get with normal balsamic. 

Hope your weekend looks more exciting than my homework!