“It’s not everyone that can say that he has had cholera three times, and cured himself by living on red pepper and brandy.”~ Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Scottish author in the Sherlock Holmes story, “The Stark Munro Letters”, (1859 – 1930)

Our plans were to post a smoothie today, but then the blender decided to strip its threads. No blender, no smoothie. Not so!

Milk punch has been around probably since brandy was first invented and really hasn’t changed a lot. Primarily made from milk, brandy, sugar, and vanilla, there isn’t a lot to mess with. The idea presented itself today, however, that this ages-old treat would probably be magnificent made with vanilla coconut milk beverage instead of dairy milk. Oh, yeah!

Think of this as a summer version of eggnog. Lighter, and more potent. It feels Southern — like we should be sitting on the porch reading Gone With the Wind on a hot evening when the air conditioner isn’t working. At the least, it takes the rough off the edges of a day that was a little too stressful.

Milk Punch

Serves 2
Time: 3 minutes active + 30 minutes in the freezer

¾ cup Vanilla So Delicious Coconut Milk Beverage
¼ cup French Vanilla So Delicious Coconut Milk Creamer
2 ounces brandy, dark rum, or bourbon
Pinch of ground nutmeg or cinnamon

Measure the coconut milk, creamer, and liquor into a pint jar. Cover tightly and shake well. Place in the freezer for 30 minutes to thoroughly chill. Shake again – vigorously so that it gets good and frothy – and pour into chilled punch glasses. Sprinkle lightly with ground nutmeg or cinnamon and serve immediately.

So smoooooth!

“Some people walk in the rain, others just get wet.” ~ Roger Miller, American singer and song writer (1936 – 1992)

Some spring days demand something warm and filling. A drizzly, cold Meatless Monday is no exception. It was, however, a good opportunity to use up some of the cupboard staples.

We try to keep a can or two of every kind of legume (certain beans and peas) available on hand for last minute cooking and ideas, but they expire so need to be rotated occasionally.

Combining the black eyed peas with sweet potatoes, spinach, and brown (whole grain) rice makes this dish a nutritional powerhouse — perfect for stoking the internal furnace – and simple to prepare.

Black Eyed Pea and Sweet Potato Stew

Serves: 4
Time: 40 minutes

1 ½ cups brown rice
1 tablespoon vegetable or canola oil
½ cup coarsely chopped onion
½ cup chopped sweet red pepper
1 teaspoon minced garlic
4 cups sweet potato in ½-inch cubes
1 cup vegetable broth
1 ½ cups frozen chopped spinach
1 (15-ounce) can black eyed peas, rinsed and drained
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

Begin cooking the rice in water according to package directions.

Meanwhile, soften the onion in the olive oil over medium heat in a 3-quart soup pot. Do not allow the onion to brown. Stir in the red pepper, garlic, sweet potato and vegetable broth. Cover and cook for 10 minutes. The potato should be nearly soft.

Stir in the spinach and black eyed peas, cover and cook for about 7 more minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Serve over hot cooked rice.

Today, the rain continues, so I guess we’ll eat the leftovers for lunch. If anyone has seen the sun recently, we wouldn’t mind if you sent it this way for a little while.

“To do anything in this world worth doing, we must not stand back shivering and thinking of the cold and danger, but jump in, and scramble through as well as we can.”
~ Sydney Smith, English clergyman (1771-1845)

When it comes to breakfast, in the name of time and not particularly wanting to think much in the morning, we usually settle for cereal or peanut butter on toast. Sometimes, however, we need real sit-down-with-friends food.

Many of our friends avoid eggs, and most of them fear tofu. With that in mind, why not a little scrambled cauliflower? I know it sounds weird, but it has its merits — and great flavor.

Cauliflower is fat free, high in vitamin C, and a good source of protein, dietary fiber, and potassium. That sounds like a really good way to start the day, so we paired it up with some Gimme Lean loose sausage (takes less than 5 minutes to cook and has no fat) on pita bread and topped it with a slice of soy cheese for a delicious breakfast pizza.

Cauliflower Scramble

Serves: 2
Time: 8 minutes

1 cup cauliflower broken into tiny florets
½ cup water
⅛ teaspoon turmeric
¼ teaspoon Mrs. Dash or other seasoning blend

Lightly toast the cauliflower florets in a dry, non-stick skillet over medium heat, just until they first begin to brown. Add the remaining ingredients, stir, and bring to a boil. Cover and allow the cauliflower to steam for about 3 minutes. Remove the cover and continue boiling until the water has evaporated to the point where there is no water in the bottom of the pan but the cauliflower is still very moist.

Mash some of the cauliflower with the back of a fork, creating a variety of texture. Serve while hot.

Scrambled cauliflower can be used in many recipes to replace scrambled eggs, such as in the breakfast pizza pictured, or in breakfast burritos. The cauliflower doesn’t cling together as well as pieces of eggs do, but the color, shape of the pieces, and (most important) flavor make it an attractive and creative alternative that many will enjoy as much, if not more.

“And the Rhinoceros upset the oil stove with his nose, and the cake rolled on the sand, and he spiked that cake on the horn of his nose, and he ate it…” ~ from How the Rinocerous Got His Skin, part of the Just So Stories by the Indian author Rudyard Kipling (1865 – 1936)

Every time I start reading one of Kipling’s books, it puts me in the mood for Indian food. Then I think to myself, “Why don’t we do this more?”

The cuisine of India is really a study in contrasts. They like to offer little bits of lots of different foods with flavors that compliment – sweet, salty, spicy, creamy, crunchy, etc. – all on the same plate. Regionally, they can vary in spiciness from mellow to quite intense, but we stick with fairly mild.

Baked coconut rice is a favorite, recently change up to include whole grains instead of the customary white basmati rice. You can make it with whichever rice suits you (reduce cooking time to match package instructions), but using whole grains is decidedly more nutritious. Gotta love those little scrub brushes going to work on our arteries and colons, right? We used Lundberg Wild Blend, which was found in the rice section at our local Kroger.

To contrast the richness of the rice, we also made a traditional cucumber salad. The mint in this (just emerging in the garden!) makes the dish twice as refreshing, and the peppers give it just a little tingle.

Baked Coconut Rice

Serves 4
Time: 5 minutes active + 50 minutes baking

1tablespoon vegetable or canola oil
¼ cup very thinly sliced white onion
1 cup wild and brown rice mixture
½ teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups So Delicious Unsweetened Coconut Milk Beverage

Preheat oven to 325°

Note: Use a deep skillet or Dutch oven that is safe to cook on the range top and in the oven. Otherwise, prepare in a skillet, then transfer to a covered casserole dish to bake.

Sauté the onion in the vegetable oil over medium heat until softened. Add the rice, allowing it to cook for just a minute before adding the remaining ingredients. Bring to a full boil, then cover the pot and place in the oven for 50 minutes without peeking. Remove from the oven, stir, and serve while hot.

Meanwhile, prepare the…

Cucumber Mint Salad

Serves 4
Time: 5 minutes active + 10 minutes marinating

1 English or seedless cucumber
½ cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
¼ teaspoon crushed dried red pepper flakes
¼ teaspoon lemon pepper

Slice the cucumber into ⅛-inch thick pieces. Toss in a bowl with remaining ingredients and allow to rest for 10 minutes, then toss again before serving.

The deep red, Simple Tomato Chutney recipe is on page 107 in our Mosaic Meals cookbook. It rounds out the combination with a very pleasant spiciness that goes well with baked chick’n cutlets or nuggets to make a complete meal.

Pennsylvania State University has posted a copy of Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories at http://www2.hn.psu.edu/faculty/jmanis/kipling/JustSoStories.pdf

“I think the butter’s slipped off your biscuit.” ~ Southern (U.S.) saying of unknown origin

When the weather is perfect, supper takes a back seat to fun times. You’re more likely to find us on a tandem bicycle than in the kitchen, so dinner needs to be quick and not too heavy.

One of our solutions to the problem of playing outdoors until the last minute is found in using pot pie filling to top biscuits or toast. After all, the crust is the most difficult and time consuming part, isn’t it? This un-pie features mushrooms, which give a satisfying chewiness, and lots of nutrient-rich vegetables in a thick vegetable gravy.

To save even more time – especially if you don’t have the patience for chopping – use frozen vegetable combinations instead of fresh. You don’t need to thaw them out entirely, just enough so that they begin to soften. Also, use this as an opportunity to re-purpose some leftovers. In this photo, we tossed in some pieces of a baked sweet potato just to use it up and found that it provided some textural variety that was very complimentary.

Hurry Upside Down Dinner

Serves 4
Time: 20 minutes

2 large white mushrooms
2 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
2 cups chopped mixed onions and peppers
2 cups other chopped vegetables
2 teaspoons dried oregano
3 cups vegetable broth
3 tablespoons cornstarch
¼ cup cold water

8 biscuits or slices of toast for serving

Cut the mushrooms into ¼ inch thick slices. Sauté in the oil in a large, deep skillet with the onions and peppers, until the onions are soft and the mushrooms have begun to brown. Stir in the chopped vegetables and continue to cook until they are tender.

Stir in the oregano and vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Meanwhile, mix the cornstarch with the cold water, stirring to mix well. When the broth is boiling vigorously, stir in the cornstarch mixture and immediately remove from heat, continuing to stir until the gravy has thickened.

Serve while hot over slices of toast or on top of biscuits. For the photo above, we topped freshly baked Drop Biscuits from page 27 in the Mosaic Meals cookbook.