Mmm citrus, mmm cinnamon, mmm pine, mmm ginger.

A great way to add a cozy festive atmosphere to your home is to have these tempting aromas in the air. Every year we hang oranges pierced with cloves. They look beautiful and smell great! We also put a few pine cones into the oven and allow them to slowly fill the house with scent. Ginger tea anyone? So warm and soothing on these winter nights. Or maybe a cup of hot apple cider?

Clove Orange

1-2 Tight skinned oranges or lemon or grapefruit

1/2-1 Cup of whole cloves

Ground cinnamon (optional)

thimble

Wash and dry the oranges. Mix together a large pinch of cinnamon with the cloves. Using a thimble cover your orange with the cloves, Pushing the pointed end first. Cover all over or make designs. Place in a bowl or hang with a ribbon.

Spiced Hot apple cider

Ingredients

1/2 gallon apple juice or apple cider

1 cinnamon sticks

2 whole cloves

1 whole nutmeg

1/2 orange peel, cut into strips

1/2 lemon peel, cut into strips

(make sure your peel is organic)

Directions

Pour apple juice/cider into a large stainless steel pot

Place spices and peels into a cheese cloth. Drop cheesecloth into apple juice/cider. If you don’t have cheese cloth, just throw it all in loose and pick it out later or let the spices sink to the bottom.

heat to just short of a boil. Then remove the cheese cloth and serve!

Baking Pine Cones

Pine cones

Baking sheet

Place a single layer of pine cones on a baking sheet and bake in an oven at 200 degrees for about 45 min. This will fill your house with an amazing smell and also help your pine cones to last longer.

Can also add slices of orange or cinnamon sticks.

Ginger Tea

4-6 Slices or raw ginger

2-3 Cups of spring or filtered water

small pot

cast iron frying pan

Rice syrup (optional)

Lemon (optional)

Heat the frying pan to medium and saute the ginger slices for 3-5  to bring out the natural oils. Add the ginger  and water to the pot. Bring to a boil and let simmer for  5 minutes. (longer if you like it stronger) Add rice syrup or lemon juice to taste.

Felix-”What are we having for supper”?

Me- “I was thinking of making a tofu quiche”

Felix – “Awww why? That doesn’t sound good”

Me- “I’ll tell you what, why don’t you go to the fridge and choose what will go in it”?

Felix- “Yah o.k”

He comes back with a Fennel bulb.

Fennel Tofu Quiche

1-unbaked 9 inch pie crust

4 Cups diced fennel

1-Tablespoon olive oil

1- Onion, finely diced

2-Cloves garlic, minced

1-Pound firm tofu, drained

-1/2 Cup soy milk or rice milk

-1/4 Teaspoon Dijon mustard

-3/4 Teaspoon salt

-1/4 Teaspoon ground nutmeg

-1 Tablespoon dried parsley

-2 Teaspoons of white miso

-Splash of mirin

Preheat oven to 400 degrees . Bake pie crust in preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes.

Heat oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Saute onion and garlic until golden. Stir in the fennel. Saute for 5 minutes. Add a big splash of mirin and let simmer for another 5 minutes.

In a blender combine tofu, soy milk, mustard, salt, nutmeg, miso and parsley ; blend until smooth. In a large bowl combine tofu mixture with fennel mixture. Pour into pie crust.

Bake in preheated oven for  40-45 minutes, or until quiche is set. Allow to stand for 5 minutes before cutting.

Me-”So Felix what do you think of the quiche”?

Click here to view the embedded video.

                                                         HAPPY HALLOWEEN !    From MacroMom

Try these delicious radishes for a spooky treat! 

Red radishes and kuzu sauce -by Aveline kushi

1 3-6 inch piece kombu

10 whole red radishes, tops removed

spring or filtered water

3 Whole umeboshi plums

1 Tsp shiso leaves from the umeboshi plums

1-2 Tsp diluted kuzu

Sliced scallions or boiled parsley sprigs for garnish

Put the kombu on the bottom of a pot and add whole red radishes. Add water to almost cover them. Add the whole umeboshi plums, but remove the shisho leaves in which the plums were pickled and save for salads or pickling. Cook for abour 30-40 minutes, over low heat. Remove radishes and put them in a bowl. Strain out the kombu, umeboshi pits, and shisho leaves from the cooking liquid. Thicken the liquid with 1-2 teaspoons of diluted kuzu and simmer for several minutes. Pour the kuzu sauce over radishes. Garnish with sliced scallions or with sprigs of boiled parsley. Slice the shisho leaves and put them at the side of the bowl with the radishes.

Variation: For a less salty taste, usu only1 umeboshi plum.

-I did not have Umeboshi plums so I used Ume plum paste about 1 tbsp. Also that meant that I eliminated the shisho leaf as well.

- I cooked this dish for only 25 minutes. the radishes just looked right at that point.

*NEWS! Kids Can Cook program will be held on Thursdays ONLY for the Fall Semester. Starting September 22 at 3 p.m  Hope to see you there! 

After School Program

Fun in the kitchen with macrobiotics and fresh local whole foods, sewing creations, crafts and dance!

I’m very excited to be spending time with your wonderful children. I hope they all enjoy the fall program with me. We will be dancing, making crafts and doing lots of cooking! All of our projects will be hands on, using local organic ingredients as much as possible and recycled goods for our craft projects.

September 16-December 14th 2010

All Elementary School kids -Tuesdays and Thursdays 3:00-5:30

All Junior High students- 3rd Tuesday of the month from 6:00-8:00 p.m

$15.00/a day

Please contact me for further information. Sign up today!

Location:Charlottetown Prince Edward Island

Telephone: 902-367-9491

Happy Valentines Day!

The Kids Can Cook group made jam filled heart cookies.

Jam Filled Heart Cookies

1 Cup of organic all purpose flour

1/2 Cup ground walnuts or Almonds

1/2 tsp baking powder

and a pinch of sea salt

Whisk together dry ingredients

2 Tbsp of olive oil

2 Tbsp of barley malt

and

2 Tbsp of rice syrup

1 tsp of vanilla or almond extract

and 1tbsp or rice milk

Mix together all ingredients

Roll out the dough

Make heart cut outs

Cut out a small circle in half of the cookies (yes we are using a clean marker top for lack of a better tool)

BAKE at 350 for 8 minutes

Spread the solid cookies with unsweetened strawberry or raspberry jam. Place the heart with the cutout on top to make a jam cookie sandwich

ENJOY

We have been having so much fun! Origami one day, paper mache masks the next. Baking muffins, cooking apple sauce, spaghetti sauce and hummus from scratch! Don’t forget the dancing and dress-up!

Junior High night has become so popular that I have added an extra night! The program is now every other Tuesday evening.

Join us for Fun whole foods cooking!

Elementary students Tuesdays and Thursdays 3-5:30 p.m

Junior High nights Every other Tuesday evening 6-8:00 p.m

$15.00/day

After School Program

Fun in the kitchen with macrobiotics and fresh local whole foods, sewing creations, crafts and dance!

I’m very excited to be spending time with your wonderful children. I hope they all enjoy the fall program with me. We will be dancing, making crafts and doing lots of cooking! All of our projects will be hands on, using local organic ingredients as much as possible and recycled goods for our craft projects.

September 16-December 14th 2010

All Elementary School kids -Tuesdays and Thursdays 3:00-5:30

All Junior High students- 3rd Tuesday of the month from 6:00-8:00 p.m

$15.00/a day

Please contact me for further information. Sign up today!

Location:Charlottetown Prince Edward Island

Telephone: 902-367-9491

We have been “away” (as we Islanders say) for 9 years, minus the summers. Last week I drove a 20 foot U-Haul truck from Connecticut to beautiful Prince Edward Island . We are so happy to be home! Forgive me for the delay in posts as I am still surrounded by boxes and just today found the computer and plugged myself into the very slow Dial-up connection:)

Please enjoy this short interview with Lucy while we unpack and get settled:)

We are having this amazing tropical weather the last couple of days.. In the mid 30′s! It really makes packing a chore, a bore and I really  don’t feel like doing it anymore.

But with one of my handy dandy homemade Popsicles you can accomplish any task!

-1-Popsicle mold

-Your favorite juice, apple sauce, pear sauce or fruit puree.

- Thick juices like apricot or pear make for a creamy Popsicle!

-Adding some berries into the mold and filling with a vanilla soy or rice milk also makes a tasty treat.

- Try chocolate rice milk too…

-Freeze overnight and enjoy!

The kids came home singing that annoying McDonald’s commercial ,and after the 100th time I said “That’s it let’s make it” !

-Sourdough buns

-1 lb Halibut

-1 lb  extra firm tofu

-Earths best soy butter (optional)

-Soy cheese slices

-Tarter sauce

-Olive oil

-Bread crumbs

Halibut/Tofu

Coat both sides of the halibut/tofu in bread crumbs and set aside. Heat 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil in a cast iron frying pan.When the oil is hot place the fish/tofu in the pan and cook for 3-4 minutes until there is a nice golden crust. Flip over the fish/tofu and sprinkle with a little salt/pepper or ume vinegar. cook for another 2-3 min. Place a lid on top of the pan and cook for another 1-2 min then place on bun.

Tarter sauce

Mix together a little soy mayonnaise and a diced dill pickle.Or  blanch a 1/4 lb of tofu and blend till smooth add a couple of drops of lemon juice or ume vinegar and a diced dill pickle.