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Cayenne Pepper

Cayenne Spiked Sherry

Tis the season for sherry lads and lasses.

Tis also the season when those of us living in colder areas of the world need some extra circulation.. Which all together means – I want you to meet our cayenne spiked sherry that we invented the other day.

This year, my mom and I tried out making cayenne tincture. For externally uses. I figured out not too long after we opened the first bottle of cayenne tincture, that this was in essence, the same as the trendy chilli vodka that all the cool kids are drinking (or daring each other to drink). Just maybe a little bit stronger. In terms of the cayenne, not the vodka.

We stumbled on this fiery sherry & cayenne tincture combination one evening, and I immediately knew that it must get onto the blog at some point. And with Christmas only 3 days away, I think today is the day.

How to Make Cayenne Spiked Sherry

To make this drink you will need a sherry of your choice – sweet or dry, either works fine, and of course cayenne tincture. All you then need to do, is pour a small glass of sherry, and a small teaspoon of cayenne tincture to this.

If you are wary of the heat of the cayennes, then rather do a half teaspoon, taste, and increase if you like. If left to steep for long enough, cayenne tincture can be incredibly hot. Of course, you can also increase the cayenne vodka amount – if you have a fire tooth and are looking for a serious bit of heat.

Speaking of heat, there is another option to try with this recipe. If the weather is really cold, and you want to try out a gluhwein version, simple warm up the sherry in a small saucepan, then pour into glasses and add the cayenne vodka. Just make sure that when you are heating the sherry that you do not let it begin to simmer. If this happens, some of the alcohol will evaporate! Boooo : (.

Cayenne Spiked Sherry Recipe

Health Benefits of Cayenne Tincture Taken Internally

Oh no! Is she honestly going to tell us this is a health drink??? Yes. : )

Well, I am not sure about the sherry. But I cannot leave you with the recipe before letting you know about the health benefits of this cayenne tincture. We originally made it as medicine, and even though it ended up in the sherry, that does not mean that I can skip telling you about its benefits. : )

Cayenne tincture happens to be a potent bringer of the health benefits that cayenne contains. Here is a quick list of them in case you were wondering what these may be:

Studies have shown cayenne to have the following actions:

Promotes circulation
Assists digestion
Promotes weight loss
Speeds up the metabolism
Effective decongestant
Immune booster
Fights colds and flus
Anti-fungal
Promotes heart health
Promotes detoxification
Anti-irritant
Pain relieving

Many people make and take cayenne tincture (between 5 and 30 drops 3 times per day in water) daily, in order to reap these health benefits. Of course, you can simply eat lots of cayenne as well. However drinking the tincture in water (or sherry if your heart desires – like me) is a very convenient way to get it in.

On an anecdotal note, we have found the tincture to be the absolute BOMB when it comes to nipping flu’s and sore throats in the bud. The cayenne seems literally burns away the germs.

So now that I have convinced everybody of how important it is to drink this as often as possible, hopefully in sherry, I want to make a toast to you where ever you are. This will probably be my last post until after Xmas, as even bloggers need a break: D. I hope you have a absolutely lovely Christmas, many festive greetings of the season to you!

Cayenne Spiked Sherry Recipe

Cayenne Spiked Sherry

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Serves: 2 Prep Time: 3 mintues Cooking Time: 0 minutes

Ingredients

2 small glasses worth of sweet or dry sherry
2 teaspoons of cayenne tincture (or to taste)

Instructions

Pour out sherry into two small glasses.
Add half a teaspoon of cayenne tincture. Taste, and add the rest of the teaspoonful per glass is desired.
Sip slowly, preferably by a roaring fire.

Notes

For a gluhwein version, warm up the sherry in small saucepan. Take care not to let it get too hot, as this will evaporate off some of the alcohol present in the sherry. Faint steaming is an indication that you can turn off the heat. Then add the tincture and enjoy.

December 22, 2017 0 comment

Fast Healthy Meals Gluten Free How To's Sneaking in the Veggies Stir Fries Vegan Vegetarian

Refried Lentils with Shredded Kale, Red Pepper and Baby Onions

written by Daniela Klein

Did you know that lentils can work well in a refried beans style recipe? I love lentils like this. The extra oil and braising in the pan gives them lots of flavor and umami.

In this recipe I combine the refried lentils technique with some shredded kale, some red pepper and some young onions. The result is a filling, nutrient dense meal that is quick and easy to cook.

For sides, you could have a salad if you want something to lighten up the amount of lentils, or you can serve this on rice, couscous or millet.

Before we go to the recipe, I just want to touch on how I do the refrying of the lentils.

How to Make Refried Lentils

For non-sloppy, chunky textured refried lentils do the following:

After simmering the lentils, drain off any excess water and set back onto the heat. Allow any last excess moisture to steam off. Remove the pot before any discoloring on the bottom of the pot happenings. This step will only take a moment or two.
Pour a lug of oil into a wok or skillet, and bring up to heat. Add your seasoning and lentils and toss gently. Keep tossing.
You can refry the lentils for quite a few minutes, just make sure to keep turning and mixing them. This way you will get lots of nice crunchy little braised bits in your re-fried lentils.

If you like your re-fried lentils more smooth and sloppy, then you should rather opt to skip step 1 and mash your lentils before beginning to refry them.

Health Benefits of Lentils

Last thing! I just want to mention that lentils are an excellent source of nutrition. They are high in fibre, contain good amounts of vitamins and minerals, and are a good source of protein. If you do not eat much or any meat – then lentils can be a great pulse to fall back on when scratching your head for how to get protein into a meal.

Unlike most other beans and legumes, lentils are quick cooking. So even if you do not have a lot of time and forgot to cook them before hand – you can still boil them up in about 15 minutes. This is a similar cooking time to most starches.

Anyways, enough of Dr. Daniela talking – here is the recipe. Enjoy!

Refried Lentils with Shredded Kale, Red Pepper and Baby Onions

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Serves: 4 Prep Time: 5 minutes Cooking Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups dried lentils or 2-3 cups cooked / canned lentils
4 large kale leaves
3-4 small young onions (you can also use shallots)
1 red pepper
2 teaspoons dried rosemary
2 teaspoons dried and crushed cilantro seeds
Black pepper
Cayenne pepper to taste
Salt to taste
Dash of apple cider vinegar
3-4 cloves garlic

Instructions

Start of by simmering the lentils according to their packet instructions.
While the lentils are simmering, de-rib and chop the kale into shreds. Dice the red pepper and slice the onions into rounds. Peel and slice the garlic.
Once the lentils are done drain off any excess water and set back onto the heat.
Allow any last excess moisture to steam off. Remove the pot before any discoloring occurs on the bottom of the pot. This step will only take a moment or two.
Pour a generous lug of olive oil into a wok or skillet, and bring up to heat. Add the crushed cilantro seeds, some black pepper and cayenne pepper to taste, and the dried rosemary. Quickly add your lentils, and toss gently. Keep tossing. Add in some salt to taste which you are tossing.
You can re-fry the lentils for quite a few minutes, just make sure to keep turning and mixing them. This way you will get lots of nice crunchy little braised bits in your re-fried lentils.
Once the lentils are refried to your liking, spoon them out of the wok / skillet and back into the pot you cooked them in. Add a little more olive oil and the kale, pepper and onions. Stir fry this well on a highish heat. You want the kale properly cooked, otherwise it will be tough. You should see the kale reduce a lot in volume, this means that it is nearing being well cooked.
Now add your lentils back into the wok, sprinkle with a dash of apple cider vinegar and your raw chopped garlic, and stir to combine roughly.
Serve hot.

Notes

You can eat this dish plain, side it with a salad, or serve it on a bed of rice, millet or couscous.

November 2, 2017 0 comment

Cookies and Treats

Cayenne Pepper Crunchies

written by Daniela Klein

My mother has been making crunchies for years. She doesn’t even measure any more. I think she makes crunchies twice a week. It’s just her and my dad, but they use those crunchies like rocket fuel! Or rather, gardening fuel.

Because they use these crunchies as a sort of in-between-meals source of energy, my mom has been tweaking the recipe to strike a balance between nutrition and taste. The result – good! They are sweet enough to satisfy one’s craving and make the crunchies tasty, but not so sweet that you are gonna max out your sugar intake allowance for the week.

The original recipe was a standard oats, coconut, flour, sugar butter combo. Over time Mom added in pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, and her latest addition, cayenne pepper! Cayenne pepper has been making its way into all sorts of things these days. But the last thing I expected was for my mother to trend set and pimp the crunchies. : )

But true to what seems like a trend between parents and children, I was wrong. And so what does cayenne pepper do to a batch of crunchies?

It is quite an interesting combo. Cayenne pepper immediately brings to mind curry and hot savory dishes. However when added to a recipe like crunchies, it acts a lot like ginger. Just without the ginger flavor. That is probably the best way I can think of to describe it. And the ginger effect without a ginger flavor is actually really great. I love ginger, but I would feel like a bore if I made ginger flavored biscuits all the time. However with the cayenne pepper, as one does not get any dominating flavor from it, just a pleasant warmth, one can use it again and again.

Before I start with the recipe, I just want to let you guys know that I tried to make a batch of these, gluten free style. I wasn’t actually meaning to make a gluten free version, but that was the only flour left in the house. Determined not to be discouraged, and quite certain that gluten free flour would work fine, I plunged into my baking.

I did everything else as usual. However alas when I opened the oven, I could immediately see that the crunchies looked like they might be crumblies. Which indeed they were. No amount of cooling could harden those babies.

Biting down my disappointment, I scraped my crumblies into tupperwares and hit them at the back of the fridge in shame. The Troll however managed to discover them, and pronounced that what they lacked in consistency they made up for in taste. Aahh imagine if they had been firm?

Anyway, my point is – if you are gluten intolerant and want to adapt this recipe it most probably will not work. I hate being so negative about anything, but its even worse baking something with which you are disappointed.

My suspicion is that because of the reduced sugar, and the lack of gluten (binding agent) in gluten free flour, there just was not enough to hold things together. Perhaps, if there were more sugar in the recipe, or one added some xanthan gum things would work out. But for now, my verdict is – no gluten flour with this crunchie recipe!

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Ingredients

2 cups oats
1 cup coconut
1 cup flour
2/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon vanilla essence
3 teaspoons cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
250g butter
1/2 teaspoons baking soda
Sunflower & pumpkin seeds to taste (approx 1/3/ cup)
Large baking pan
Large pot for melting butter and mixing all ingredients
Spoon

Instructions

Melt the butter in the pot at a low heat.
Mix in sugar, soda and vanilla essence.
Stir on a low heat for 5-10 minutes to melt sugar.
While you are waiting for the sugar to melt you can preheat the oven to medium heat.
Turn off the stove and mix in the dry ingredients.
Scrape the mix into your baking pan, pressing it down with back of a metal spoon.
Bake until golden brown.
Once the crunchies are done, allow them to cool slightly in the pan.
Cut into squares and allow to fully cool at which point you can remove them from the pan and pack into a tin or tupperware.

Notes

If you are not a fan of spiciness, then you might want to halve the cayenne pepper quantity at first. If you find that this is too little you can always sprinkle some on the top of the crunchies after they are baked.

January 15, 2017 0 comment