JBug's Kitchen Antics

Mexican Hot Chocolate

Good morning everyone! I have an apology to make. With all the doin's last night at the party, unfortunately neither the big guy or yours truly thought to take any pictures of the food or the festivities. That means I'm at a loss as far as talking about last night's dinner never mind the fact that I didn't have time to even have one. I could however, eat skunk butt fried in butter I'm so hungry this morning so I'm going to tell you about something a whole lot better that I'm enjoying at this very moment.

If you're looking for something to soothe your tired soul and really need a treat, have I got a deal for you! Rich and creamy, Mexican Hot Chocolate is flavored with coffee, cinnamon, vanilla and a touch of orange rind. It's deep chocolate flavor and thick creamy consistency make it worth every second it takes to make and triple worth ever decadent calorie. It is a serious hot chocolate - really a sipping chocolate and not to be enjoyed in giant sized cups. It deserves a small china demitasse, a raised pinkie finger and the soothing sounds of the Maxer Dawg's snoring and/or Josh Grobin. Honest.

Granted, I didn't have tiny little biddy cups for the 30 or so people that showed up at last night's party, yeah...30 and I cooked for 60 plus... but a small serving is definitely essential. It went very well with the other 5 desserts on the menu, and yes, I agree it was definitely overkill. Leftovers anyone?

Boy, I sure am glad there was some of this leftover though! By the way, it is NOT my picture on the package of chocolate although I have to admit at the moment I'm feeling about that old, but not half as spry as that dear soul seems to be.

Mexican Hot Chocolate (from JBug’s Kitchen)

1&1/2 ounces Nestle Abuelita chocolate (one half of a disc), or unsweetened chocolate

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 to 2 tablespoons instant coffee granules (I use instant espresso)

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Dash of salt                                                                        

3/4 cup water

 

Combine above ingredients in medium saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.  Increase heat to medium high and heat to boiling, then reduce heat again and simmer uncovered, stirring constantly for 4 minutes. Mixture will become quite thick and creamy.

Stir in 2 cups milk (whole is best, or 2%)

Heat through but do not boil, stirring often. Remove from heat. Add

Grated rind of ½ an orange

1 teaspoon vanilla

Whip with a wire whisk or immersion blender until foamy. 

NOTE: Abuelita chocolate can normally be found at your local supermarket in the Mexican section.

 

 

Fireworks and Hot Buttered Booze

Fireworks were going off in our neck of the woods last night and we had the best seats in the house. You see Waldport celebrates their 4^th on the 3^rd and Yachats which is 8 miles south down the coast has a big La Di Da Parade today (the 4^th) and fireworks tonight, so if people are so inclined they can take in both days of festivities. I’m not sure that we’re so inclined.

We took some fleece blankets and a couple of rather lovely Hot Buttered Bourbon Toddies up onto the deck above the carport and sat and enjoyed the party from the comfort of our little beach house. Wrapped in fleece with the Maxer Dawg cuddled into his Daddy, the view was spectacular and I certainly need not have worried about the fireworks scaring the pooch cause he slept through the whole thing. Good thing we had naps after our excursion to Nye Beach though or we never could have stayed awake long enough to enjoy the show. Mark the date in history – we actually stayed up till 11:30. LOL

About the drinks – this is the kind of thing you make by the bucket in advance and stick in the freezer for just the time when you need something warm and comforting. Actually it’d be perfect if you’re fighting off a cold too – at least that’s going to be my excuse this afternoon when I need a pick me up. I’m giving you the recipe for a reduced amount because of course space is limited in our freezer here, but for heaven’s sake while you’re at it you might as well double or triple it. It keeps forever in an airtight container.

Hot Buttered Booze Toddies

1 cup vanilla ice cream (premium kind – slightly softened)

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Cream together butter, brown sugar, powdered sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon until light and fluffy. Add ice cream to mixture and mix well to blend. Place in tightly lidded containers and freeze until ready to use.

To serve, place 1 tablespoon mixture into large cup. Add a jigger of rum, bourbon, or whiskey and fill cup with hot water. Top with whipped cream if desired.

Now that I’ve told you the important stuff, I bet you’re wondering what we had for dinner. Well we kept it simple with some Chili Dogs and triple cooked home fries – triple cooked because I forgot about the darn things till the last minute, so I nuked the taters for 3 minutes, then the big guy cut them into wedges and we cooked them in a cast iron frying pan until they were well browned before they were finished in a hot oven. They were wonderful. The chili was courtesy of a package mix and a pound of lean ground along with some onions and jalapenos and the dogs were from Hills Meats in Pendleton OR, the big guy’s home town.

These wienies are pure pork dawgs and delicious with just mustard and relish but smothered in chili, cheese and garnished with chopped red onion, they were superlative. What can I say …everything’s better in Oregon. LOL

POM Kind of Wonderful

This week we're going to be doing a series on cooking with pomegranate juice, courtesy of the folks at POM Wonderful. You see they sent me this lovely care package that arrived on Friday night, and believe me it didn't get here a moment too soon.

We have a pomegranate tree espaliered along the wall in our back yard that's a mere 3 years old. Last year it provided us with lots of juicy red orbs, but we were such newbies in pomegranate growing we couldn't wait and picked the darn things about 3 weeks too early. They were dark pink, but not red - good but not great. Unfortunately, this year the tree paid back our lack of intelligence by providing us with just one lonely pomegranate. 

 
Enter the gift from POM Wonderful. You know, I really feel as though my blog has arrived when it attracts the attention of people that grow and market something so incredibly good for you. Did you know that POM Wonderful is produced entirely in the United States, with their orchards located in the San Joaquin Valley. They grow all their own product, and their pomegranate juice is all natural with no added sugars, preservatives, colors or other juices added.  Best of all it's a fabulous source of vitamins and antioxidants.

 

The big guy and I are great at inventing new drinks from what nature supplies us in one way or another. Our ruby grapefruit tree resulted in the creation of Chihuahua's - a margarita fashioned from fresh ruby red grapefruit juice. Our lovely little Mexican lime tree supplies us with gorgeous little sour limes from which we make the traditional version and now thanks to POM Wonderful, we've created this Pomegranate Margarita that has a fabulous tart flavor but the kick of a mule - imagine a healthy alcoholic drink?

In a cocktail shaker on crushed ice combine

• 1-1/2 ounces tequila
• 1/2 ounce triple sec
• 2 ounces POM Wonderful pomegranate juice
• squeeze of lime

If you're not crazy about tequila, substitute vodka and a twist of lemon and you'll have a beautiful, delicious martini. Stay tuned for more pomegranate surprises during the following week, oh and for heaven's sake drink responsibly. By the way, POM Wonderful are not paying me a dime to promote their product. My love of POM Wonderful is purely personal. Please feel free to check out the ABOUT page in this blog for more information on any products I may choose to endorse. 

Hello Yellow Limoncello

Today's post is the result of a request for our house lemonade recipe - you know the one that I've been bragging about for a while. It evolved almost by accident when I was looking for something cool and refreshing to drink after the mountains turned pink on a Friday night.

The lemonade is a standard recipe made from fresh lemons Download J'Bug's Lemonade - I warn you, don't even go here unless you've got the real thing. Imitation juice just doesn't cut it. To complete the cocktail, fill a large glass with ice, then add 1-1/2 ounces of vodka and 1/2 ounce of limoncello, top with lemonade, stir and enjoy! Simple, smooth, tart, refreshing - a perfect summer drink, with the kick of a mule, if you're not careful.

So what's this limoncello stuff, you ask? It's an Italian liqueur made from lemon rinds, alcohol, sugar, water and time...lots of time. It is rather labor intensive to make because you have to remove every bit of white pith from the rinds, bright yellow to orange in color depending on the type of lemons used and a great way to make use of the lemons that grow in our yard. We've made a couple of batches of limoncello, and every time we do we wish we'd doubled the recipe. When made with meyer lemons it is sweeter and a bright yellow/orange color while regular lemons yield a liqueur with a crisp tart finish. They're equally good - just different. Remember, if you're using store bought lemons, be sure to scrub them well with soap to remove any pesticides. Download Limoncello 

What do you do with the left over pulp after you've removed the rinds? Just extract the juice and freeze it in one cup containers or in ice cube trays - you can use it to make lemonade, lemon curd or put the cubes into iced tea. 

Limoncello's also great drizzled on top of vanilla ice cream, as an addition to lemon curd, a sauce over pound cake, in a lemondrop martini or just straight up in a shot glass right from the freezer. Just be sure to enjoy it COLD, really cold! 

I'm a little slow on the draw today and definitely un-funny, so I've got to apologize - and no, it's not because I had too much of the aforementioned. The Maxer dawg had us up at 2:30 again this morning. He's a sick puppy but he's sleeping it off right now, and I'm so all for joining him. Catch ya later.