For Reals Grape Soda

That right bitches ..  grape soda!!!!

uh-hum. Sorry. you are not bitches. 

But this grape soda is my bitch. It is SO GOOD! And that is coming from me, who is not a soda drinker. (Spoiler alert.. all it is is cooked down grapes and seltzer. (and a bit of lemon juice) But thats is) So why soda? I guess it's because I can't make wine since  I don't have the  knowledge and or the vineyard to make wine.  But cooking down some grapes.. I can totally do that. 

Every once in a while I make something that I think is so freaking ingenious and fanatic that I am shocked that everyone and there mom doesn't do it. This is one of those recipes. I mean, the mr was more at then thrilled when I handed him a glass, covered in condensation, with a cutie pink straw.  He took a long drink and gave a sweet little refreshing sigh. It was great and cute and make me happy cause I think it made his day.  And I know that there are a  thousand and one other people out there that have been doing this for years and that there are probably a couple hundred recipes as well, but I still consider myself a genius for making this. Great minds my friends. 

Anyway, this grape soda is super refreshing, perfectly sweet, and a great way to end the summer and greet the fall. Great for kids and parties,  I think this is definially going to be making an appearance at a few of the littles birthday parties and maybe a few grown up people parties.(maybe  with a splash or two of booze..see you don't need wine) over the next few weeks. Who needs wine when you got grape soda!

The stuff. Grapes, a lemon, and seltzer water.

Oh wants that?  Is that drink jar suppose to be an empty? Nope. I forgot to fill it with the seltzer before I took the pictures.( I think I get a break cause yesterday was stupid hot and I was feeling a little woozy) Let's just pretend there is seltzer in there, ok. and also lets pretend there is water in this picute too, cause we need that as well.

Take your grapes, stems removed, and place in a pot with the lemon juice and water. Stick the pot on stove on medium heat and during to a boil. Then place a lid on it and turn heat down to low and simmer away, giving it a stir sand keeping you eye on it.

 Continue to cook until the grapes are pretty much all dissolved and the liquid has reduced about 1/2.

Let cool for a few minutes and strain the grapes through a fine mesh strainer, smooshing and scraping the grapes all around to extract as much liquid as you can.

The left over grape mush makes for a great little snack on some toast, in some yogurt, or with a spoon in your mouth. 

Oh so pretty grape juice concentrate. Stick it in the fridge to cool completely. 

After cooled, get it all ready for drinking.  Add a few tablespoons of the concentrate to a cup, add in some seltzer, maybe a few ice cubes and …wa la!

Gape soda is the shits!

Happy Friday.. Enjoy the last weekend of summer!

-C

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For Reals Grape Soda

Makes about 5 drinks so feel free to double and or triple recipe if you are serving a lot of people

• 2 cups red grapes
• 2 cups water
• Juice of 1 lemon
• plain (or madiran orange, or any flavor really) seltzer water

Remove stems from grapes and place into a pot with water and the lemon juice. Briong to boil then cover and turn heat to low. Cook for about 20 minutes to a 1/2 hour or until the grapes are complete mush and the liquid has reduced to about 1/2. 

Let cool enough hot handle and strain grape glop through a very fine mesh strainer, smooshing it around to extract as much liquid as you can. Refidgerate the juice, eat the left over mush.

Once cooled, pour about 3-4 tablespoon of the concentrate into a cup and add in about 1 cup of seltzer. Mix and enjoy. 

Using a straw is optional, but either way, drink with your mouth.

Apple Cinnamon Biscuits

The mr and I were suppose to go to our weekly dinner at my sisters house the other night, but when I texted her to double check that wet were still on, she informed  me that her two kids had been sickos.. but we were still welcome to come.

Yeah, no. We stayed home.

But before I was informed of the ill littles, I started making these biscuits to bring over. And whoa, am I glad that we didn't go cause if we did, I would have brought these and maybe killed a kid.  See, one of the littles is very allergic to nuts, and I used almond milk in these, so if I had brought them over to the houes, he would have surly ended up with one of those epi pens stuck in his ass and a trip to the nearby hospital. And that would have sucked. I am usually so good about making sure there is not nut anything near anything that goes into that house, but the almond milk.. it just slipped by my awareness. Maybe cause I usually use soy milk, or maybe I am subconsciously out for the kid, but I am now more aware the ever. I think I might even make a little sign to go over the baking stuff that says "Watch your NUTS!" The mr or and any boy would like that.  

So yeah, good thing we didn't go, and now we have lots of biscuits, but that is also a good thing. The mr has had the pleasure  of enjoying them all to his lonesome. for dessert, then for breakfast, then for lunch, and now for dessert again. He is a biscuit man through and through. And yeah.. APPLES!

To the biscuits! 

The stuff. For the biscuit itself we got some flour, baking soda and powder, cold almond milk, cold earth balance.  salt and a little brown sugar. Then for the filling we have more brown sugar, cinnamon, a little more earth balance and of course apples*.

*These apples, oh they are good. Nice and crisp and slightly sweet. They are also very little. I picked them off one of the many trees at our community garden.  Unfortunately I have yet been able to identify them, so apple variety here is up to you. A granny smith, gala, or even a mac should do just swell.

To start off, thinly slice and chop up your apples.(I think peeling is a waste, but if you want to, I guess you could peel them). Add the apples to a pot with the earth balance and brown sugar.

 Place on medium heat and cook until the apples are soft and the liquid sugar is starting to thicken.  Add in the cinnamon  and set aside.

Flour, baking soda and powder and salt are whisked together in a large bowl. Add in the cold earth balance and cut in with a fork or pastry cutter until it makes the flour crumbly.

Now add in the cold almond milk and mix until just incorporated. If the mixture seems to dry, add in another tablespoon or two of almond milk

Dump mixture onto a flour surface ands gather into a ball.

Side note.. SEE MY BOWL!!! It's it amazing? My grandmother gave me here set of vintage ptyex mixing bowls last time I saw her. (It came with a medium red and a little blue one too!) And the best part,  my dad remembers them from when he was a little. How fantastic is that.

Roll dough out into a square thats about 1/2 inch thick

Spread the apple mixture on half the dough, leaving a little boarder.

Fold dough over, press the sides tougher, roll the rolling pin over the dough, just to give it a little flatten pat, and cut into squares.

Place on a baking sheet and wash the tops with a little almond milk and sprinkle with more brown sugar.

 Into the oven they go!!

Baked until fluffy golden brown. Remove and let cool for a minute or two.

Apple cinnamon biscuits heck yeah! 

To share or to hoard.. all up to you..

Happy apple time!

-C

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Apple cinnamon Biscuits 

makes 8

For the biscuits

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt 
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/3 cup cold earth balance
• 2/3 cup cold almond milk (or any milk)
• 1 tablespoon lwmon juice

For the apple cinnamon filling

• 2 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1-2 tablespoons Vietnamese cinnamon (I like lots of spice so I used 2 tablespoons, but if you like a more subtle cinnamon flavor, use a little less. Also can use regular cinnamon if you don't have viteneme cinnamon) 
• 2 tablespoons earth balance 
• 1-2  gala, granny smith or mac apples (about 2 cups thinly sliced)

a little extra almond mild to brush tops and  bit of brown sugar to spindle the tops with.

Preheat oven to 425.

Slice and chop apples into small thin chunks and place in a pot with the 2 tablespoons of earth balance and sugar. turn heat on medium high and cook until the apples have soften and the sugar an butter have turned into a thin syrup. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and powder, salt and 1 tablespoon brown sugar. Cut in the cold earth balance until flour is crumbly. Add in almond milk and mix until combined If dough seems way to dry, add in an extra tablespoon of milk . Dump dough onto a lightly floured surface and bring together. Take your lightly floured rolling pin and roll dough out into about a 1/2 inch rectange. Take apple mixture and spread evenly on half the dough then fold over and press sides and ends together. Cut into 8 equal pieces. Place on a baking sheet (Iit might be a good idea to line it with parchment) and wash tops with a little almond milked and sprinkle with brown sugar. 

Place in oven for 12-14 minutes until golden brown.

Remove and let cool for a minute and then eat them all. Or eat a few and save the rest for later. 

Lasts for 2-3 days in air tight container, but will not be super crispy biscuity after being stored.

Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup

My brain is buzzing with all sorts of happy fall feelings. Warm, fuzzy feelings  about sweaters, socks, and the smell of decomposing leaves. I think that we are  pretty much entering the fall season around here and I couldn't be happier. (about the weather)

Fall means soup. Soup all the time. And yeah, I am a soup person all year round, but soup in the fall just so right and almost taste better because: one, you are not sweating profusely while making and eating it, Two, there is so much fantastic stuff coming from the farm and garden that the ingredients are just aces. And three, pretty leaves and cozy cuddles on the couch make soup a magic treat.

Doesn't that sound about right?

And this soup is one of my go to favorites. Especially this time of year when I have tomatoes coming out of my ears and peppers stuck into every available crevice in the fridge. (Oh what farm people problems I have) I take all of my tomatoes, pick out the best looking ones, stick those back on the tables, and use the leftover ones, the ones that are starting to maybe go a little or are not as pretty as the others. Then I do the same with the peppers, whichever ones are starting to go or looking a little sad, I grab those and use those as well. That's another thing about soup, you can use the veggies that might not be up to snuff for other dishes. Soup is a good way to cut back on any food waste! Soup. Tastes so good and is combating food waste with ever bowl! But yes, you can use the prettiest of your produce too cause if you don't use the pretty up, it will eventually turn into the not so pretty and mold stuff. Anyways..

Roasted red peppers and roasted tomatoes= (in a Mavin Gay voice)  Oh yeah!

Now lets just crank on the oven and make the soup!

The stuff. Tomatoes, peppers, onion, garlic, a lemon, salt pepper and olive oil.  

Take tomatoes, remove cores and chop into chunks. Remove stem and seeds from peppers and chop into a few chunks as well. Grab the onion and chop that up too.The garlic can go in as whole cloves.. no need for chunks.

Dump it all into a well oiled skilled or dutch oven and sprinkle well with salt and pepper. Place into oven to roast away.

And when everything in the skillet is all roasted soft and falling apart, remove from oven.

And dump the roasted stuff into a pot and add in a few cups of water.

Squeeze in the juice of the lemon and using a hand blender, go to town. Belnd unit la nice creamy smooth. Now I let my soup simmer on the stover for a little longer, like 10-15 minutes, just for it to meld a little more, but really you could go for it right away, or even let it simmer for longer.

When you are ready, ladle into bowl, grab a spoon, maybe a book (soup and a book is my happy place) and eat you until your belly is happy.

Have a super awesome friday!!

-C

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Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup

• 6-8 medium tomatoes
• 3-4 big red (yellow or orange work too) peppers
• 1 large onioon
• 1 head of garlic
• 1 lemon
• salt
• pepper
• olive oil.
• 2-3 cups water

Tunn oven on to 450

Core tomatoes and core and remove seeds from peppers. Cut into big chunks along with the onion and toss into a large well oiled oven safe skillet or dutch oven. Add in the cloves of garlic and season with salt and pepper. Stick into oven to roast  for about 45 minutes or until everything is all soft and bubbly and good.

Once everything is roasted all the way, remove from oven and transfer the veggies to a pot (unless already in a pot). Add in the juice of the lemon, about 2 cups of water (more if you want it a bit thinner)  and using a hand blender, blend until smooth and creamy. If you don't have a hand blender, use a regular one.

Place soup in pot on medium low heat and simmer for 1at least 10 minutes (if you can wait, 1/2 is good) or until ready to eat.

Serve with lots of  cracked pepper and a spoon and maybe something crunchy.

Creamy Tomato Chard and Rocket Soup

I probabaly have already told you, but August is for sure my favorite month of the year (well,one of my favorites)

There is bounties of bounties of fresh, sweet and colorful, oh so juicy, crispy crisp, just so f ing  amazing, produce exploding all over the place. I have probably gained like 75 thousand pounds in the past month due to all of the fruits and veggies that I have been consuming. I am starting to consider it a full time job just to keep up with the eating.

 Another reason why I love August so much is becauuse the days are still nice and warm, but the nights are starting to cool which means I get to make so much soup!!!!!. 

This soup is the freshest freshy soup yet. Everything is from the farm and or the garden (except the salt pepper, vinegar and oil), some picked within hours of me making this.

. I am a lucky/spolied veggie brat.

Anyways. This soup. The fresh tomato base gives it a sweet, slightly acidic kick. So super creamy due to the lovely earthy stocks of the chard. Slightly spicy and earthy from the arugula* and chard green green. This soup... it just tastes so fresh and clean, yet hearty and satisfying. A perfect soup for a mid August night, eating outside, watching the sun slide behind the mountains and the temperature dropping just enough that you might want a light sweater. Or you can just eat it from the pot in the kitchen while watching TV. It's good eating anyway you want. 

*Here in America, it's called arugula.  Else where , it's  called rocket. I wish we all called it rocket, although I do like the name arugula, but for like my first born child or maybe a pet goldfish. Anyway, rocket is arugula,  or vice versa.

Soup time!.

The stuff. Some big  fresh tomatoes, a few stalks of chard, and a few handfuls of arugaula (aka rocket). A couple carrots, an onion, some garlic, salt and pepper and a bit of olive oil.. Oh, and I added some balsamic vinegar, which for some reason didn't make it into the picture (sorry vinegar)

Start by removing the chard leaves from the stalks. Set aside leave with the arugula. Chop up the carrot, chard stems, onion and garlic and toss into a big pot with a drizzle of olive oil, a splash of water, and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Stir around and stick o nthe stove on medium heat for about 10 minutes until the veggies start to soften up.

All cooked up

Now chop up the tomatoes into chunks and toss those right into the pot with the other stuff. Add in a few cups water and a few glugs of balazmic vinegar. Bring everything to a boil and then turn heat to medium low and place a lid on pot and let cook at medium heat for another 20 ish minutes, or until the tomatoes are falling apart.

Now that everything is all cooked up, blend it up.

So silky smooth

And now take the chard leaves and the aruglula and chop into little pieces….into the pot they go.

Mix it all up.. and take the blender to the soup again….if you want a smaller sized bite.

Soup Into bowls..Then into mouth.

Happy August!!

And hey hey hey.. Have the best weekend!

-C

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Creamy Tomato Chard and Rocket Soup

• 4-5 large fresh tomatoes
• 4 large stalks of rainbow chard
• 2-3 big handfuls of arugula 
• 1 medium onion
• 1 large or 2 small carrots
• 4-5 garlic cloves
• 2-3glugs (about 2 tablespoons) balsamic vinegar 
• 3 cups water 
• olive oil
• salt and pepper

To start, remove stalks of chard from leaves and chop stalks, onion, carrot and garlic into chunks and place int a big pot with a drizzle of olive oil, a splash or water, and spinkle of salt and pepper. Place on stove on medium low heat sand cooke the veggies down until starting to soften and garlic is becoming fragrant. While that cooking, remove core from tomatoes and dice them up. Toss into pot with the cooked down veggies with the vinegar and water. Place a lid on the pot and let cook for about 20-25 minutes or until the tomatoes are falling apart. 

When cooked, using with a hand blender or a normal blender, blend the soup until smooth. (if using blender, pour back into pot)

Now take the arugula and chard leaves and chop them into wee little picese and mix into soup. If you want to, blend the greens into the soup.. but not until smooth, unless thats what you want.  Cook for another 5 minutes. Taste and season with more salt and pepper to taste.

Ladle into bowl and serve with lots of fresh cracked pepper, maybe a little balsamic drizzle or even some mustard (I at left overs with mustard and it rocked my world)

spoons work eel las eating utencils.

Cilantro Lime Coconut Butter Smothered Corn on the Cob

There is corn everywhere!!

This past weekend, the mr and I were out and about in the sticks of Vermont and got an eyeful of this very familiar sight of corn fields forever. It's just part of the landscape.. Blue sky, big lush mountains, little rives and big fields of corn. It is ever so lovely… and so telling. Tall high corn fields just means  two things. 1.We will be eating lots of corn, and, 2. the summer is winding down. So soon we will be talking apples and root veggies, but until then, we will just eat the corn and revel in what I consider one of the best and most beautiful times of the year here in Vermont.

And after seeing all the corn (and we have been getting a bunch in the farmshare) I realized that I need to step up my corn game.

What better why to fancy up some corn then to fancy up the stuff people like to smother on it…. butter. 

Whenever I think about butter, I think about my sister, the one that, as a little kid, used  sneak to the kitchen and eat whole sticks of butter. This (to me) just seemed like a pretty gross option for a snack, but you know, whatever floats your boat I guess.

Bur after making making this coconut butter, I can see the draw, for I would sure love to eat the entire contents of a jar of this butter. (I have been eating a spoonful here and there)

Lime cilantro coconut butter.. Its my new thing…corn or not.

The stuff. We have some lovely, super fresh from the farm, corn on the cob. Then for the coconut butter we have , unsweetended coconut flakes, a lime, som ecilantro and salt.

Dump coconut flakes into a food processor. Turn to on and let it go.

After about 7 minutes… you coconut will start to clump together and look like this. And maybe you are like, "this shit isn't going to happen".. well be patent. Scrap the coconut off the sides and keep the processor going.. scraping down the sides whenever you need to. 

And eventually, after another 8-10 minutes,  it will turn into this.. a nice creamy buttery butter. 

Now add in the zest of the lime, the lime juice, a pinch of salt,  and cilantro into the butter. Turn processor back on until combined.

And you got yourself some freak yeah cilantro lime coconut butter… ready to smother your corn with. 

This amount is good for 6-8 corn cobs… Any extra is excitlent on any veggies, bread, cake, or spoon.

And stick that butter in a jar.

I dare you not to eat a spoonful right now. (I licked the bowl down clean)

 So I hope I am not being presumptuous when I think that you know how to cook corn. Or maybe you have a specific way you like to cook your corn. But just in case,  husk corn and stick either in a pot and boil until cooked,(about 8-10 minutes)  or like me, char on the grill, or under the broiler. 

So cook some corn….And smother it with the butter.

And there you have it, some freak yeah amazing lime cilantro coconut butter smothered on some corn.

So good…..so good.

Have a great day!

-C

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Cilantro Lime Coconut Butter Smothered Corn on the Cob

• 1 1/2 cups dried unsweetened coconut flakes
• 1 lime
• 1/2 bunch of fresh cilantro (about a 1/4 cup chopped)
• salt
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil (optional)
• freshly cooked corn on the cob 

Note. Any extra butter is good on anything and everyhitng!!!

Place coconut into a food prosser and turn to on. Prosse until coconut start to stick to sides. Stop, scrap down bowl, then conuitne to process. Repet this until the coconut has turned into a creamy buttery goodness.  

Add the juice, the zest, a pinch of salt, and the cilantro to the butter. Pulse until combined. If you want to add in a little coconut oil here to make it a little smoother, go for it. 

Scoop into a jar. When your corn is hot and ready, smother butter all over.

And eat. There swill be stuff stuck in your teeth..Don't worry about it. Think of it as a snack for later.