Holiday Cheer Sangria

Here’s a holiday recipe to enjoy with friends and family. Merry Christmas, from our family to yours! May this holiday be filled with Christ’s love, peace and joy in your hearts and memories that will last for years to come. See you in the New Year!

Holiday Cheer SangriaServes 10-12 people

• 2 bottles of red wine. Pinot, rioja, tempranillo, shiraz or zinfandel all work well. Just use something you like drinking on its own but that doesn’t have too distinct of a flavor. I’d steer clear of say a cabernet. Also, you don’t want to spend too much money since you’re basically making a classy fruit punch with it.
• 3 oz (two shots) of either brandy or rum (or both if you like). I prefer brandy.
• Assorted fruit. I used 2 green apples, one large red apple, one lime and two seedless oranges. Sweet, fresh pit fruits like cherries and peaches are yummy too. Of course they’re also out of season right now. I’ve used Maraschino cherries in the past with okay results too. Depends on what you like.
• 2 liters of seltzer or 2 liters of lemon-lime soda like Sprite if you like your sangria a little sweeter.

 1.) Wash your fruit and core and chop it into a variety of shapes that will look pretty and fit into a wine glass later. Make sure you take out any seeds. Place the fruit in a 1/2 gallon pitcher. Isn’t that pretty?

2.) Pour the two bottles of red wine over the fruit and refrigerate overnight.

3.) Add the rum and/or brandy just before serving, stirring with a spoon to combine.
4.) To serve the sangria, place 1-2 ice cubes in a glass along with a few colorful pieces of fruit. Pour the wine over top and add seltzer water or soda to taste. For a strong drink, add less soda. Avoid adding the soda to the whole pitcher as it goes flat quickly and leaves you with watered down wine by the end of the night.

Girls Night! Frozen Cherry Mojitos

Yesterday my friend Courtney came into town with her baby girl and spent the night at my house. We stayed up late (well, late for women who have kids who are awake at 6:00 in the morning) talking and catching up, just the girls. It had been another brutally hot day, so I mixed us up a pitcher of these Frozen Cherry Mojitos to sip on. They were just what the doctor ordered. Today, I have to return her to her family. I hope she goes back to them more relaxed and refreshed and gets her fanny back to North Carolina permanently soon. Love ya girl!

Frozen Cherry Mojitos

2 1/2 cups fresh cherries, pitted

Juice of 2 limes (about 1/3 cup)

1 cup crushed ice

2 Tb sugar

1 dozen fresh mint leaves

3/4 cup rum (or leave virgin if preferred)

1. Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Makes 1 pitcher.
2. The stick off the top is a sugar cane garnish. Completely unnecessary but since my well-intentioned husband paid $4 for them I thought I'd use them.

Indian Restaurant Inspired Canteloupe Mint Smoothie

Canteloupe doesn't come in season in North Carolina for several more months, but I'm seeing them on sale more and more at the store. One of my favorite ways to eat canteloupe is smothered in the yogurt mint sauce served at our favorite Indian restaurant. I thought I'd try to make a smoothie that captures this unique taste sensation. This recipe is a refreshing version with the lightly sweet melon, fresh mint and a sprinkling of cayenne pepper for heat. The texture is thinner than a traditional smoothie, but adding ice just waters it down. Top with a fresh sprig of mint and a sprinkling of cayenne pepper and get your morning off to a great start.

Spiced Canteloupe Mint Smoothie

1 canteloupe, seeded and pulp scooped out

5 or 6 fresh mint leaves

1 Tb honey

pinch of cayenne pepper

kefir or 1 cup plain yogurt and milk/soy milk

1.) Place canteloupe, mint and honey in blender. 

2.) If using yogurt and milk or soy milk, then add the yogurt and blend, adding milk/soy milk until you get a smooth consistency. You may have to add more honey than shown above if you're using plain yogurt.

3.) If using kefir, blend ingredients, adding kefir as you go until you get the desired consistency.

4.) Top with a fresh mint sprig and a sprinkling of cayenne pepper.

Crazy Monkey Protein Smoothie

My boys get excited when they see the chocolate syrup bottle come out of the fridge at breakfast time, and I love that they're getting lots of protein. Try this shake with a yogurt and soy milk/milk combination if you don't have kefir on hand. Don't tell the kids but I also sneak cooked sweet potato or carrots in this when they're not looking. They've never noticed! For easy cleanup, use an immersion blender like the one pictured below. They have fewer pieces to clean up than a blender.

Crazy Monkey Breakfast Smoothie
2 bananas, peeled
2 Tb chocolate syrup (I've also used 1/2 packet of hot cocoa powder)
2 heaping Tb smooth peanut butter
kefir (or 1 cup of plain yogurt and milk or soy milk)

1.) Place bananas, chocolate syrup and peanut butter in blender cup.
2.) Pour kefir until cup is 3/4 full. Blend until smooth. Serve.


For more recipes visit www.feedingfourfood.blogspot.com.

Kefir Update

My kefir grains arrived in the mail last week, thanks to Marilyn at www.kefirlady.com. Here's a picture of what they look like. Kind of a yellowish cottage cheese curd. The instructions said the kefir grains will grow and if you get too many you can always eat them. So I gave one a try. Tasted like a chewy, yeasty dough but with a slimy texture. I know, Mom Hogan, this is really grossing you out isn't it? To get started, I poured 4 cups of milk over the grains, secured a light cloth over the top and set it out on my counter for 24 hours.


What a huge difference from the powdered version! The first batch I made of kefir with cow's milk I used Yogourmet's powdered kefir starter. Part of the reason I'm using the kefir is because I'm lactose intolerant and the kefir is an inexpensive type of yogurt drink with lots of probiotics that's easy on the stomach. Well, over the course of a day I worked the quart of yogourmet's kefir into my diet. Not a good idea. I was sick for 24 hours because the powdered version didn't devour enough of the lactose sugars in the milk. With the kefir grains, I didn't have to boil the milk and within 24 hours I had kefir I could use right away. I have now had three quarts with no side effects, and I'm finding I really like the flavor. It's very mild, although the texture isn't as creamy. But I think the lighter texture is also because I'm using 1% milk versus the goat's milk I used for the hot cocoa recipe earlier. Haven't tried to make this into hot cocoa yet. I haven't drank milk since I was a kid. Now what am I going to do with all of those $2 Silk coupons you gave me Maridith? :-) I've been drinking the kefir straight with meals and also using it to replace both the soymilk and yogurt in my smoothies. The kefir grains from Marilyn also came with great recipes on how to use it to make sourdough, since the kefir beverage can replace the yeast in the recipe. So something else to try.

Now the only problem I'm having is that my kefir grains are converting one quart of milk every day. I'm using 1% milk but that's still way more dairy fat than I'm used to and it will start to get expensive. I haven't figured out how to handle this. I put it in the fridge to slow it down but apparently that doesn't make the kefir grains very happy. So if anyone wants to buy freshly made kefir beverage from me, I will have a few quarts available each week. Bring your own container and I'll only charge you $2 a quart to cover the expense of the milk. I'm pretty sure that's much less expensive than you'll find it at Trader Joe's or Whole Foods. When the kefir grains start to double I'm happy to share those for free.

Hot Kefir Cocoa

Already trying to answer the question, "Now that I've got a quart of kefir in my fridge, what do I do with it?" I used some in place of soy milk for a berry smoothie for breakfast this morning and then thought I'd make a little pick-me-up in the afternoon. Mmm, warm, spicy, tangy, creamy hot cocoa. So yummy--really! Kids both drank the smoothie in the morning; Linc tried the cocoa but was not a big fan. He said maybe if it was with cow's milk next time. Or marshmallows. :-)

Hot Kefir Cocoa
1/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 cup white sugar
1/3 cup hot water
4 cups kefir (mine was goat's milk but cow will work great too)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Combine cocoa, sugar and water in saucepan. Cook on low heat and stir constantly two minutes. Don't scald it. When the sugar is all dissolved, stir in the kefir and heat gently, just until hot. You don't want it to boil or you'll kill all those lovely bacteria, and then what's the point, right? Makes 4 servings. I had leftovers and poured them back into the jar when cooled. Heated it up the next afternoon and mmmm. I'd try to use it all the first time though if you can. I'm not sure how healthy those bacteria are after being heated so many times. It was delicious though!

Kefir Culture

In researching a fiction story I'm writing (yes, I've started writing fiction again) I came across a plethora of information on kefir. The character in my story has a herd of goats and I was trying to come up with something she could sell from the goats' milk--other than milk and chevre of course. I started wondering if it was possible to create an alcoholic beverage from fermented goats milk and Googled "fermented goats milk." Well, there is a tradition of alcoholic beverages involving milk, but more interestingly, and more apropos for my story, was the information I found about kefir.

Kefir is a yogurt-like beverage derived from fermenting milk with a kefir grain (kind of like a slimy cauliflower-looking organism) at room temperature. All you need is some milk, some grains and a jar. Kefir is supposed to be full of pro-biotics and even more beneficial to your digestive tract than yogurt. Also, according to a WebMD article I read, kefir reduces the lactose content of milk so that lactose intolerant people like me can drink it. I thought I'd give it a try so I went to the health food stores we have here in town. I found kefir for sale in the dairy section but wanted to make my own. For research purposes for my story, I bought one quart of goat's milk and the powdered form of kefir pictured above for a total of $10. I had to boil the milk first, according to the package directions, let it cool, and then inoculate the milk with one of the powdered packets. Then I poured it into a clean Mason jar (thanks Mom!) and let it sit on the counter for 24 hours. It looked exactly the same to me the next morning, I have to say. But I refrigerated it for 8 hours according to the instruction and drank a glass.

First reaction? My mouth did not want to swallow. Everything in me was screaming, "Sour milk! Spit it out!" But then, when I did get it down, it was pretty good. Not a glowing recommendation for taste, I know. But I have to be honest. The description of it being like a liquid yogurt was pretty dead on for this batch. The after taste was better than the first impression. I can see mixing it with a little honey or making it into a berry smoothie for breakfast.

Now all the research I did on kefir on-line said that the powdered form and all the commercial versions you get at the stores are not the real deal. You don't get the same health benefits due to the way they have to process it in order to sell it, and it can be quite expensive. On the other hand, if you can get a hold of some real kefir grains (I found a lady in Ohio who will ship them to you for a flat $20) you'll have kefir as long as you give it milk to eat. So I'm going to try that next. Also to try: cow's milk. I have some Lactaid on hand just in case my science experiment goes awry. :-)

Oh, and BTW: Happy Thanksgiving all! I have debated about whether to post a Thanksgiving recipe but as I have gotten off scot-free from having to make anything other than a dessert this year it seemed like sheer hypocrisy. A few things I'm thankful for this year: my Feeding Four family and friends, my Kitchenaid mixer, and dark chocolate. Oh and not having to make Thanksgiving dinner. Thank you Aunt Jennifer!

P.S. I originally titled this post "Kefir Culture" because there is a quite an interesting following to kefir. Just wanted to reassure you that I'm not moving to a commune or actually starting my own goat farm. Yet.

When Mom Brings You Lemons...

My parents came for a visit for Easter and brought with them a generous plethora of goodies and gifts: chocolate bunnies, jellybeans, clothes and LEGOs for the kids; handmade soaps, coupons and more for me. And yes, past-their-prime lemons and a couple of apples. Mom didn't want to leave them to rot on her counter at home while they were away, so she brought them to my counter. Where they sat for the entire visit. I convinced her to throw the apples to the wild animals in the woods (which I'm sure are there) but the lemons remained after she'd left. Each day I would look at those lemons and think, "I can't believe she left me her rotting lemons. I really should do something with them." But as I am my mother's daughter, I couldn't bring myself to throw the them away either. Waste not, want not.

Finally, one afternoon I cut them in half and squeezed all of the juice out into a glass measuring cup. Don't you know, lemons are so much easier to squeeze when the peels are withered down to leathery thin-ness? I had exactly one cup of juice. I sniffed it. It smelled okay. I tentatively took a sip: the faintest hint of elderly citrus, but still edible. I brainstormed clever recipe ideas that would disguise the aging fruit after-taste and compared the results with the clock on the wall. I didn't have time for anything complicated. How long would lemon juice last in the refrigerator, I wondered? Would it last longer as juice than as a whole fruit? That stuff in the yellow squeeze bottle isn't even refrigerated in the grocery stores. Is it lemon juice substitute? Are there citrus preservatives I'm not aware of?

As I pondered all of this and more, I realized it was a hot day and there was one recipe that wouldn't last long enough in our house to hear the familiar refrain, "Does this smell funny to you?" So here it is. When your mom gives you her old lemons, make lemonade. Just drink it before it gets to the state of natural carbonation.

Old-fashioned (or just plain old) Lemonade

1 cup lemon juice
3/4 cup granulated sugar (may need to up this to 1 cup, depending on the age of your lemons)
5 cups water

Heat 1 cup of water in the microwave. Dissolve the sugar in the hot water, making a simple syrup. Add simple syrup and lemon juice to a pretty glass pitcher. Pour in remaining ice-cold water. Drink quickly.