Fire Cider - a winter must have!

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted. I've been getting a head start on my Christmas gifts this year to avoid that awful feeling of total brokeness right after a last minute shopping binge. And THIS is the perfect gift!! Seriously!! What better gift than the gift of health, right? But get started on it early because it does take one month to brew.

So, a little info on Fire Cider: 

I learned about it during my studies with Nicole Telkes, of the Wildflower School of Botanical Medicine. There is much folklore surrounding this ancient recipe, my favorite tale being that looter's of homes during the black plague relied heavily on it to keep them from catching the dreadful illness. Whether this is true or not, you'd have to seek out for yourself. I'm going to believe it though, because personal experience has taught me: fire cider WILL save your ass.

The garlic is anti-inflammatory as well as being a naturally occurring antibiotic.  The serrano and ginger work to increase circulation in the body causing a warming effect. And the apple cider vinegar has an alkalizing effect on the body. 

Feeling a little stagnant, or like you're about to come down with something? A couple tablespoons of this will have you warmed up and back on your feet in no time! Fire cider is also great for: congestion, sore throat, digestion, gas/bloating, and allergies. Try it as a preventative or a rescue remedy! (Please note that I am not a doctor, so please don't come sue me because you made this and it didn't cure your cancer or whatever)

The recipe itself is free to be altered, what I have listed here is just what I put into my own brew this time around for convenience purposes. Alternative recipes include turmeric, oranges, onions, lemons, raw honey, habaneros, the list goes on! 

Making Your Fire Cider:

You'll need:

-Apple Cider Vinegar (unfiltered and/or unpasteurized is best)

-Garlic

-Ginger

-Serrano

-Any other superfoods or roots you find beneficial

- A large, clean, wide mouthed jar with a lid

-Another clean jar with a lid to hold your finished product

 *Organic/farmer's market/home grown is obviously the best choice for your ingredients. Seeing as this is not always possible, you can at least put on some feel good music and saturate your work with good intention ;)

 *Put however much you want of each ingredient in there, and no need to be shy on the peppers because it never really comes out as spicy as you think it will.

1) Chop up your garlic, serrano, and ginger. The finer you cut it, the more medicinal properties will be extracted. 

Make sure to cut your own fingers fourteen times so 

you finish this project looking like Edward Bandaid-hands.  

2) Pack the ingredients down tightly into a wide mouthed jar and cover completely with apple cider vinegar. Make sure nothing is sticking out above the vinegar or it runs the risk of going bad.  

3) Seal your jar, mark the date on it, set it somewhere in your pantry/cabinet and forget about it for a month! (If you want to go the traditional route, you can bury it underground for one full moon cycle)

4) When a month has passed strain the solids out (compost these), and store the remaining liquid in a clean glass jar. Refrigeration is not necessary, but it shouldn't harm your medicine to keep it there if it puts you at ease to do so. 

Let me again note that I am not a doctor. This blog post, along with all others related to "Psychedelicious am I", are meant for entertainment and educational purposes only.

Mexican Pizza

So this one is perfect for entertaining because 1)Who doesn't love pizza?! and 2)Its actually quite filling so you don't have to make a side dish to go with it....unless your friends are "those type" if ya know what I mean..

Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 medium sized pizza crusts

1 large jar of your favorite salsa

1 can black beans

1 bell pepper, chopped

1-2 serranos/jalepenos/whatever floats your boat (optional)

1 medium red onion, chopped

2-3 cloves garlic, finely minced

2 tbsp cumin spice (or to taste - I use a lot of the stuff)

1 16oz bag of shredded Colby Jack

Salt and pepper to taste

P-P-P-Pizza Tiiiiime: 

1.  Check out the label on your pizza crusts for oven temp and baking instructions. 
2. Spread salsa over pizza crusts, then with a spoon disperse your black beans, cumin, minced garlic, and salt&pepper as evenly as possible.
3. Add a layer of cheese, then your other toppings (onion, bell pepper, pepper)
4. Add another layer of cheese, muahaha!
5. Continue to follow baking instructions for your pizza crust
6. Let cool for 5mins, cut up, and stuff your face!

Peach Ice Cream - that doesn't require an ice cream maker ;)

Can you say "HOMEMADE PEACH ICE CREAM" faster than you can drool?? Yeah, neither can I. So when my friend gifted me some homegrown organic peaches it was quite embarrassing to have to excuse myself to find a way to wipe up all that drool....
Enjoy and don't make a fool of yourself.

What you'll need (instead of an expensive and practically useless ice cream maker):
- Egg beaters...I just used a cheap little hand held
- Large bowl
- Enough room in your freezer for said large bowl
- Roughly 3 hours where you'll be somewhere near your freezer

Ingredients:
- 6 eggs (beaten)
- 3 cups sugar
- around 10 peaches (over ripe is best)
- 4 cups heavy cream
- 2 cups half&half
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp salt

Ok, so here we go!

Peel and pit your peaches. I learned an awesome trick from my grandmother that works like a charm for this. Boil some water in a medium sized pot. Have a bowl of ice water next to your cutting/peeling/pitting/magic station. Drop a few peaches into the boiling water till they get hot. Then with a pair of tongs, move a peach over to the ice water. Dunk it in for a few seconds and then peel! Or let it peel itself because it pretty much does if you do it this way. Repeat peach by peach. It's kind of like juggling, but if you like cooking you'll have fun with it. 

Ok, so peaches are peeled! Mix all those ingredients together in a large bowl. 

Put mixture in the fridge for two hours. Then move to freezer for 30 minutes. Blend it again with your beaters. Another 30 minutes in the freezer, repeat beating. The more you do that the fluffier your ice cream will be. I only beat mine twice and it came out a nice consistency, slow melting, almost like...dare I say it?...Ben and Jerry's......mmmmm....

Be sure to share some with your friends! Only YOU can fight obesity ;)

Quinoa Stuffed Bell Peppers

    Amazing things happen when you need to clean out your fridge. Amazingly tasty things - and I don't even like bell peppers. This one is super filling, if you're anything like me you'll only need one of these bad boys to last you through the night/day. And this one can easily be made vegan :)

This recipe (ideally) serves 4.

Ingredients

- 4 bell peppers 

- 1 cup uncooked quinoa

- 2 cups water

- 1 tbsp butter (or cooking oil)

- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro

- 2 lemons (juice of) 

- 2 Roma tomatoes

- 1/2 cup shredded cheese (optional)

- 1 small to medium onion (diced)

- 3 cloves garlic (minced)

- 1 jalapeno (optional)

Let's do it:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Rinse and strain your quinoa a couple of times. If you've never cooked with quinoa before it can taste a little bitter if you don't do this. Just a heads up, so you don't go to all this trouble and then think "Wow, 'Can You Say Psychedelicious' is a terrible food blog. I'm never going there again!!" 

Proceed to dump the rinsed quinoa into a pot. Cover with 2 cups of water and lemon juice. Bring to a boil. Then cover and reduce to a simmer for 15 minutes. It should be nice and fluffy when done.

In the meantime, melt your butter/heat your oil in a skillet on medium-high heat. Toss in your onions and garlic and cook until soft or slightly brown. I always like to add that you can skip cooking the onion for a more crisp, fresh, onion-y taste if you prefer.  

While the onions and garlic are browning go ahead and chop up your tomatoes, jalapeno, and cilantro.

In a medium bowl mix together quinoa, onions, garlic, tomatoes, cheese, jalapeno, and cilantro. 

Cut the top portion off of your bell peppers and scoop out the seeds. I actually trimmed a little off the bottom of mine so they would stand up better.

Spoon the quinoa mixture into the peppers all the way to the top!

Replace the tops and put those puppys on a baking sheet and into the oven for about 15-20 mins, or until your whole house smells like awesome and you just can't take it anymore.

Let cool for a few minutes, and then let the eating commence!

Yummmm!

Sun-Dried Tomato & Spinach Quiche

     Ok, so my picture isn't up to par...but this quiche IS. And its all about that parmesan cheese peeps, so don't skip it because it really does take this dish to the next level! The original recipe (and a true blogger with legit pictures) can be found here. The sun-dried tomatoes were just something I had lying around that I needed to use and they worked perfectly! What don't sun-dried tomatoes work with though? Anyways, enjoy guys!

Ingredients

- 1 tbsp olive oil (or butter)

- 1 small to medium sized onion chopped

- 2 or 3 cloves garlic minced

- roughly 3 cups fresh spinach

- 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes

- 5 large eggs beaten

- 2 cups Monterey Jack cheese

- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

- pinch of crushed red pepper

- salt/pepper to taste

So here's what you're gonna do kids:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. Lightly grease baking pan.
2. In a skillet, heat oil at medium high heat. Throw in your garlic and onions and saute until soft. For a crunchier fresher onion taste you might try skipping this step, or sauteing for less time. I however dislike onions, so this helps make their flavor a little less pungent for me.
3. Add spinach to skillet. Cover skillet and drop the heat down to medium-low until spinach begins to get floppy and "wilted". 
4. In a large bowl combine eggs, salt/pepper, crushed red pepper, and Monterey Jack cheese. Mix in your spinach, onions, sun dried tomatoes, and garlic and pour into prepared baking pan. 
5. Bake for 25-30 minutes (you want it to start to brown around the edges and top). Top with parmesan cheese immediately after removing from oven. Let sit for a few minutes - don't and burn the sweet life out of your taste buds like I did - and enjoy! 

Raw Spinach Chips

     I was feeling inspired today after I was given WAY TOO MANY VEGETABLES (hah, like there is such a thing..). But nonetheless I was given too many veggies to eat before they would spoil. So, I decided to do what any normal human would do when too many fresh veggies are afoot: I made veggie chips! Yummm! Inspired by: Inspired by this delicious recipe.

Here's my (entirely adjustable) recipe for Raw Spinach Chips:

What you'll need:
- Food processor
- Dehydrator
- Spatula
- Parchment paper
- 7+ hours, this isn't one of those recipes you can whip up at the last minute before that potluck you forgot about

Ingredients:
- at least 2 cups fresh spinach
- 2 or 3 large carrots
- 1/2 an onion (or 2 teensy tiny Texas garden sized onions)
- 3 cloves garlic
- 2 jalepenos
- 1 lemon (juice of)
- 1/2 cup nutritional yeast (optional, I think it adds a nice creamy flavor)
- 4 tbsp flaxseeds (optional, for texture and added nutrition)
- Salt/pepper to taste

1) Shove all of this into the food processor and hope it doesn't explode (mine's really old and loud so it always sounds a little scary)
2) Cut your parchment paper so that it will fit into/onto your dehydrator trays (like those little flexible plastic trays some of them come with for making fruit paper - but don't use those because the chips tend to stick to them)
3) Spread out your mixture onto the parchment paper (which is sitting on your dehydrator trays) with your spatula, or your hands, or something else if you dont have one. If you are using your hands you may want to keep a bowl of water nearby to keep them wet so the mixture doesn't keep sticking to you. The trick is to spread it as evenly as possible or it will take longer to dehydrate. I accidently made mine a little too thin though, so try making them a little thicker than a chip would normally be because a lot of that mass is water that will evaporate.
4) Make score lines on the mixture that outline the shapes and sizes of your chips
5) Dehydrate at 125 degrees for about 6 hours
6) Once they're all good and dry break them up and bust out the dip! I found them to be excellent with plain greek yogurt :) yumm!

Enjoy and let me know what you think! I would love to hear any twists on this or recommendations for the next time I make these!