Cooking Adventures; Preparing my new granite mortar and pestle

Aynaria 8 Comments

Today, my three cup mortar and pestle arrived by postal mail. And while I really liked the picture I saw on Amazon, I must say it’s more lovely in person. It weighs at least fifteen pounds.

I was eager to try it out, but before I tossed garlic, herbs or any spices into the mortar I thought it would be a smart idea to season my mortar and pestle before using it for the first time.

 

 

Prepping mortar and pestle_1
making ‘rice flour’ in my mortar and pestle

 

I added uncooked rice to the mortar and ground it into a fine powder. From my readings this helps remove the extra stone dust that might be lurking on your mortar and pestle.

Prepping Mortar & Pestle - lemon

 

After grinding the rice, I added another step to the cleaning process by tossing one cut lemon into the mortar. Lemon is a disinfectant, and I noticed after using it seemed to add a bit of shine to my new tools.

Perfect! With the initial prepwork complete I was ready to start using my new mortar and pestle. But what should I add to it?

Well, I added a lot of spices and herbs to my newest kitchen gadget, so yes the mortar and pestle got a great workout today. Tea leaves were the last thing I ground in it today.

 

Green tea turning into matcha_1
Making my own matcha with my (granite) mortar and pestle

 

I figured that grinding gunpowder green tea leaves to make my own matcha was the proper way to wrap up my manual grinding adventure for the day. I promptly made a cup and drank it. The tea was fragrant and since the tea leaves were finely ground… I was receiving added benefits by consuming the tea leaves!

Cooking Adventures; Zucchini pasta with roasted garlic tomato sauce

Aynaria 4 Comments

My daughter loves pasta and so do I. While occasionally I prepare the traditional flour based pasta. Most times the ‘pasta’ I use is actually vegetables noodles. It’s a healthier option for those who are looking for candida free food, eliminating gluten, reducing carbs, etc.,

I’ve had my spiral vegetable slicer for over eight years. It’s made of sturdy plastic and easily turns vegetables into long spaghetti like strands.

Zucchini pasta_3
Making zucchini pasta with my plastic spiral vegetable slicer

 

There are three different dies to change the thickness of the pasta. I much prefer the thicker noodles, but it’s really a personal preference.
Zucchini pasta_1

 

Since my daughter has been carving pasta ,earlier today I made zucchini pasta with garlic roasted tomato sauce. As you can see, she loves a lot of sauce and she liberally sprinkled her pasta with raw sunflower seeds and raisins. Simple, delicious and nutritious.

Furbaby Adventures: Lionhead rabbit; getting to know you…

Aynaria 4 Comments

Today marks the first full day that Gracie, our lionhead rabbit, has been with us…

Lionhead rabbit_Curious Gracie_3
Hmm, I wonder if I can hop on that bed?

 

I must say that the transition is coming along quite nicely.

Lionhead rabbit_Curious Gracie_2
Mommy, wait for me! I caught Gracie in mid hop as she was running behind me.

 

She’s becoming my little shadow and follows me around everywhere I go. Quilts were put down on our wooden floors, until she gets used to the slippery surface.

Just like Oreo, our Netherland dwarf bunny, she loves to binky and she also likes to lick.

 

Gracie’s extremely playful and friendly. She enjoys playing with my daughter and me.  We’ve already discovered that she  likes us to play ‘tag’ with her.  She runs close to us, bumps us with her nose and then runs off a bit, looking to see if we follow her. Once we follow and ‘tag’ her, she’ll chase us! I’ve had a few rabbits in the past that would do this also. It’s so sweet to be included in bunny play time.

Lionhead rabbit resting_2
Yawns, enough with the pictures. It’s my naptime!

 

Since I still had my collapsible Midwest Ferret Nation, I moved it from the shed, cleaned it and made a proper resting area for Gracie. Soft terry towels were laid on the floor, hay and leafy greens were put out for her to snack on whenever she was hungry. And of course, there’s her glass water bottle. That gets changed daily.

I also added a cardboard box to her resting area. It makes an excellent hideout for when she wants privacy, and it also gives her something safe to chew. Bunnies teeth are constantly growing. It’s important that they keep them filed.  After a few hours of play, she was ready to go to her new resting area and take a nap. A few hours might not seem like a lot of playtime for a young bunny. I’ve had three as an adult an the young ones never seem to tire, but Gracie is in a new environment. So even though she seems to be doing well. I’m sure she still has to adjust. She seems to have claimed her home as her ‘safe haven.’ As with Oreo, currently, we keep them in their homes when we can’t watch them.

Furbaby adventures: Here’s Gracie…

Aynaria 2 Comments

Well, here’s the surprise that I wrote about yesterday.

Lionhead rabbit My daughter wGracie_2

Gracie is another rescue. She’s a young lionhead rabbit. I think she’s about four months old?

Lionhead bunnies are one of the newest rabbit breeds.
Lionhead rabbit My daughter wGracie_3

And like most rabbits, she loves to get into everything.

Lionhead rabbit_Oreo & Gracie_2
Gracie meeting Oreo

 

I have no time to write about her (this evening) and how I acquired her from “A” (a truly amazing lady.) But I’ll be sure to post the story some time soon. Well, if you are my contacts that I sent a ‘Custom message’ to on Facebook than you know some of the story. All, I’ll say is that I’m thrilled that she now has a forever home and I’m truly thankful that A rescued her.

 

Another surprise..

Aynaria 2 Comments

A few weeks ago, I surprised my daughter with Oreo, our sweet Netherland dwarf bunny.  Oreo was a little over a year old when we adopted her from the Humane Society of Harford County and she has adjusted to her forever home quite nicely.

This weekend I have a few more surprises planned for my daughter, but since my daughter occasionally reads my blog, I won’t be writing anything here, but I’ll be sure to post photos this weekend!

 

Cooking Adventures: Mortar and Pestle

Aynaria 7 Comments

Part of the enjoyment I receive from preparing meals is the tools I use. Some are a bit elaborate like my Vitamix blender or my Green Star juicer. I’m guessing some might think my recent purchase of my Presto Pressure Cooker, is an elaborate kitchen appliance also.

But… I do enjoy simple appliances too! One of my favorite kitchen appliances is my manual stainless steel garlic press. It’s sturdy and has been in my possession for over fifteen years. That gets used daily! I love garlic and consume it (nightly) raw since it’s so good for your body. Another simple appliance is my stainless steel hand hammered wok. I’ve had that since I was in college. That was over twenty years ago.

For quite some time, I’ve been wanting to invest in a really nice mortar and pestle, but I kept holding off since I couldn’t find one that I really liked. When choosing a kitchen appliance here are a few things that I find appealing.

  • Durability
  • Ease of use
  • Appearance

 

Mortar and Pestle - 3 cup
Mortar and Pestle – 3 cup

Simple enough, but at times it can be challenging to find what I want. However with the mortar and pestle my search is finally over… yesterday I found the perfect one for me.

Regarding the mortar and pestle…

I chose granite, since it’s extremely sturdy and is fairly resistant to stain. I also picked a large three cup mortar and pestle. The one I’ll be receiving weighs fifteen pounds. That’s a sturdy bowl! I really won’t have to worry about that breaking from any aggressive grinding I might do, but I will make sure that I don’t drop it on my feet!

Since the mortar is much larger than many of the tabletop varieties that I’ve seen, it broadens my options since it means I can grind a small or much larger amount of ingredients.

Herbs and spices

I have a variety of herbs, spices, sea salt, peppercorn, etc., that are simply waiting to be tested in the mortar and pestle. Even though the simple mortar and pestle will take much longer than my electric grinder, I must say there’s something therapeutic about grinding my food items manually. Even with all my electrical gadgets, I much prefer doing certain kitchen activities at a slower pace. Grinding, would definitely fall under that category.

I’ll be sure to post a few of the things I create…

First on the list is my spice rubs, herbal tea blends, freshly made salad dressings, guacamole and perhaps my homemade mayonnaise. Of course, I’ll review the actual product (eventually) but judging by the countless positive reviews, I highly doubt I’ll be disappointed.

Adventures in Beekeeping: Piling on the honey

Aynaria 1 Comment

Two weekends ago, I actually went inside the Warre hive. The hive is healthy, vibrant and really didn’t pay too much attention to me. This time around, I did something I normally don’t do.

I actually pulled off the first box (filled with comb I might add) and got a closer look at the second box. All I can say is those honeybees are hard workers. Many of the bars were filled with honeycomb! I marveled at how industrious the honeybees were. That excitement brought on some unexpected clumsiness. Can I just say that, I’m hardly ever clumsy, even under pressure. I bumped a bar as I was putting it back inside the Warre hive box. The honeybees immediately let me know they weren’t thrilled about that and rose up in a tiny cloud, only to drop back down inside after realizing I wasn’t a threat… I guess?

So I went to close up the hive and made another mistake. Instead of sliding the box along the length of  the box below I placed it down even with the box below.  Here’s the problem, when you do that the honeybees don’t have a chance to move out of the way and will get crushed if they happen to be along the edge. I thought I had made sure all the honeybees were out of the way, but there were a few stragglers. I crushed about six honeybees. 🙁

When you slide the box along the length of the box below, you give the honeybees a chance to get out of the way.  That’s how I’ve been doing it when checking on them in the past. I could kick myself for doing it the wrong way. I felt awful, in fact I still do. I learned an important lesson, stay alert when interacting with the honeybees.