Ginger turmeric golden milk

I've been making this tea often over the past week. It feels soothing and comforting amidst these times of uncertainty and loneliness and confusion, especially during the cold spell and snow of late. Turmeric and ginger reduce inflammation, ease depressive symptoms, and boost immunity - this tea is just the thing right now!

This is how I make mine - adjust anything to suit your tastes. I don't strain this tea because I like having the chewy ginger bits as I finish my cup. It's a bit thicker this way, so you could also pour your tea through a tea strainer or mesh sieve. I've been sweetening mine with honey under the auspices that it helps my allergy symptoms! Which while technically true, I also like having some sweet in there.

Ginger Turmeric Golden Milk, makes 2 cups
3/4 c coconut milk (half a can)
1 1/4 c water
1-2" knob of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
2 tsp turmeric
pinch of salt
pinch of black pepper
1/4 tsp cardamom or cinnamon
1-2 tsp honey

Mix all ingredients in a saucepan and simmer on low heat. The longer you simmer the more gingery the tea.

Ginger Lemon Tea

I started drinking this tea a couple of months ago and now I have it first thing most mornings. I love the spicy heat of the ginger, and the nice tartness of the lemon. It's invigorating, and also warming - which I suppose is nice for these ongoing snowy days! Originally I started making the tea for one individual cup, but that quickly gave way to the easier method of making one large batch that lasts several days. I think the larger batch utilizes the ginger best - it gets extra firey. (You can dilute as needed!) I do only add the lemon fresh though - I just squeeze about 1/3 to 1/2 a lemon each morning and add it to my mug.

Makes 4 cups/1 quart:
4 1/2 cups water
3" piece of ginger, peeled and micro-planed
2 lemons

Add water and micro-planed ginger to a pot on medium heat. (I encourage micro-planing because it seems to pull the most from the ginger. You can also make this by chopping or grating the ginger finely.) Bring to a boil, than cover and turn to low for 20-25 minutes.

Pour the tea through a strainer to remove all the ginger bits, and store in a quart jar in the fridge. For a cup of hot tea, heat up a mug's worth of the ginger-infused water (diluted with more water if you prefer). Once it is hot, add the fresh juice of 1/2 lemon (or a bit less if that is too tart) and drink!

Gingerale and Mustard (not together)

I just finished Jennifer Reese's "Make the Bread, Buy the Butter" - a cookbook of sorts that compares the cost and difficulty of making things yourself versus buying it at the store. I thought it was a great book - sometimes I was shocked by what she said to make (croissants?!), but I found it really useful for things like condiments (mustard and horseradish). Which I was then inspired to make. I also got inspired to try making gingerale with yeast.

Ginger-ale first. She says that homemade, this costs $1.59 for 2 liters, versus $1.79 for Canada Dry, and the taste of homemade is superior. My two taste testers and I agreed that this soda would be DELICIOUS in some kind of mixed drink...with gin or something, because the ginger is stronger, and because it is still sweet but not overly sweet, and definitely not like canada dry. It isn't like Reed's gingerbrew either though - a little less fizzy. I say it is worth trying once. *I wanted to try making it with less sugar, or with a mix with honey and stevia, but I am not sure how it would turn out since the yeast eats the sugar in order to produce the fizz. So, I went with exact recipe amounts.

Gingerale
juice of 1 lemon
2 T finely grated fresh ginger
1 c. sugar
1/4 t. instant yeast cold water

*You will also need a plastic 2 Liter bottle and funnel sort of thing. I used tin foil! (A glass jar will explode and a plastic water jug does not seal tight enough, so go with the standard pop bottle.)

Pour lemon juice into bottle via "funnel." Add ginger, sugar, and yeast.

Pour in water to fill bottle and cap tightly. Gently shake.

Let sit out at room temp for 24-36 hours, until the bottle is very firm to the touch. Refrigerate.

It is ready to drink when it is cold! (It only lasts a couple of days once opened, so be prepared to drink up.)



The other thing I tried was homemade stone ground mustard. I go through this stuff like crazy (mostly in salad dressings) - so I was excited to try it. Reese says that this costs $0.22/T for the homemade version, versus $0.33/T for grey poupon. I am not sure the cost for the organic stuff from the co-op, but i will look it up next time I go. To me this mustard tasted GREAT. Really. It is a little spicy, and pretty similar to store bought mustard, but fresher and more potent.

Mustard
1/2 c. yellow mustard seeds
2 T. dry mustard
1/3 c. vinegar + 1 T. (I tried a mix of white and apple cider vinegars)
1 T. sugar (optional)
1 t. kosher salt
2 garlics, peeled (*me and garlic are not friends, so I left this out)

1. Grind seeds in a spice grinder (aka coffee grinder) with the dry mustard. It will look like wheat germ - the seeds will not totally break down. (Mine actually was a little finer than wheat germ - so I guess my seeds did break down. huh.)
2. Put seed mixture in a bowl and add 1/2 c. water. Mix together. Cover and let rest overnight.
3. Scrape mixture into a blender or food processor and add rest of ingredients. Liquify. Scrape down the sides and add more vinegar if the consistency is too thick.
4. Store in a jar in the fridge - but DON'T EAT for at least a week.
Makes 1 1/2 cups

*You will notice a lack of mustard photos...this is because my computer and camera were stolen this weekend and I lost the picture of ground up mustard seeds, and I never took one of the finished product. Alas. My prime motivation to secure another computer and camera is to assist in my fave pastime of blog posting.  Luckily this post was in the works pre-computer absence, but there may be a delay before another post comes around.

Ginger overload

About a week ago, I got some free cabbages from a friend (thanks, Butter Nut!) and thought I would make them into kimchi. I bought a crap ton of carrots, ginger, garlic and scallions in preparation and then ... nothing. For some reason, I couldn't get over the 12-hour soaking period required by the recipe I wanted to use. Thankfully, soon came a better cabbage-fermentation idea (what's up, kraut party people?) and life went on. Except I still had a crap ton of carrots, ginger, garlic and scallions. Enter: Mark Bittman and his wonderfully searchable cookbooks. All of these recipes come from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian.

1.) Carrot ginger orange soup

What you need:
1/1/2 lb carrots, sliced
2 T butter
1 t sweetener (sugar, maple, honey, etc)
6 C vegetable stock or water
1 T minced ginger
1 T grated orange zest
3/4 C orange juice
Cream, sour cream, yogurt, etc. (if you're into that sort of thing with your soup)

What you do
Put the carrots, orange juice, zest ginger, and sugar into a skillet/saucepan and bring to a biol on high. Cover, turn heat to medium low, and cook 5 more minutes. Uncover and raise the heat to boil off the liquid. Lower the heat again and continue to cook until carrots are tender. Add the stock and bring to a boil again. Simmer until the carrots are tender enough to smoosh with your choice of immersion blender or regular blender.

2.) Spicy cilantro ginger pesto


What you need
2 C cilantro leaves
salt
2 cloves garlic
3 T oil
1 T lime juice
1 T chopped ginger
1 jalapeno or other hot pepper to taste

What you do
Throw it all in a food processor and blend until tasty.

3.) Pickled ginger (because when you're unsure what to do with something you happen to have a lot of , why NOT make a pickle?)


What you need
enough ginger to fill your jar (For this recipe, I used a fist-sized piece for 1/2 pint)
1/4 C vinegar (the original recipe calls for rice, but I used cider to no ill effect)
1-2 T sugar
1/4 C water
1 T salt

What you do
Thinly slice the ginger and toss with salt. Let sit in a bowl for 1 hour. Rinse *thoroughly* and pack into your jar. Heat equal parts vinegar and water with sugar to taste. Let cool a bit and pour over ginger into jar. This is a refrigerator pickle, so stick it in the fridge.