homemade eggnog from scratch

This is quite a different "golden milk" than the one in my  previous post. Definitely none of its ingredients belongs to the category health food. But MIND OVER MATTER: Christine's homemade eggnog is so delicious (added to any dessert) that it certainly does have a positive effect on well-being. 

When I asked her to pass the recipe on to my readers, she popped up in my kitchen with a basket full of her preferred ingredients ready to give me the masterclass.

Ingredients:

10 fresh egg yolks

500ml milk

500g icing sugar

1 vanilla pod, scraped

400ml Schnaps (it should be a high percentage, clear spirit; Christine prefers 69,5% Prima Sprit)

Slowly bring the milk, the sugar and the vanilla to a boil, continuously stirring. Let the mixture cool to room temperature.

Separate the egg-whites from the yolks, discard the whites.

Pour the sweet vanilla milk into the blender. Run the blender at lowest speed and add the yolks. Once they are blended in, slowly add the spirit in a fine and even stream. That's it!

The eggnog should be stored in a cool and dark place. If you keep it in the fridge it will become quite solid after a while.

grey days // golden milk

Ayurvedic golden milk is a wonderful beverage to have in the evening on grey January days like these. It's not only warming and nourishing but also extremely healthy due to its main ingredient turmeric.

Turmeric is part of the ginger family and its yellow powder is widely used as a spice in Asian cooking. It has high concentrations of curcumin which has anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and anti-bacterial properties. It helps to prevent or relieve symptoms of arthritis, Alzheimer, high cholesterol, cancer, diabetes, heartburn, jaundice, liver problems and menstrual pains. In ayurvedic and Chinese medicine it's called the anti-aging spice.
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Großteich Moritzburg

How to prepare the golden paste

1 cup water

3 tablespoons turmeric powder

Cook water and turmeric in a sauce pan until you have a creamy and smooth paste. This will take about 15 minutes. The cooking process makes the turmeric taste less bitter. You can store the paste in the fridge for 2 -3 weeks.

How to prepare the golden milk

1 1/2 teaspoons unrefined coconut oil (or almond oil)
1 teaspoon golden paste
5 cardamom pods, peel removed, crushed (or cardamom powder)
a pinch freshly ground pepper ( increases your body's absorption of turmeric)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla powder
2 cups milk ( I use hemp seed milk , almond or oat milk)
1 teaspoon honey or maple syrup

Combine all the ingredients except the honey in a sauce pan. Turn the heat on medium. While heating stir constantly and do not allow the mixture to boil. Before serving add the honey or maple syrup.

Stir gently with a spoon or a cinnamon stick because the spices tend to sink down.

 

homemade almond milk

Since I learned to make almond milk I use it for smoothies, chai, hot chocolate,for cooking and baking and to soak my overnight muesli in it. The taste is light and crisp and the texture is amazingly creamy.

From a health perspective it's low in fat and calories but high in antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids.  It contains vitamins and minerals such as copper, zinc, iron, magnesium, manganese, calcium, phosphorus, potassium and selenium. 

Homemade almond milk

2 handfuls  (or 1 1/2 cups) of raw almonds
1l water + water for soaking

Soak the almonds over night and rinse the morning after.
Blend the almonds with 1l fresh water.
Strain the milk through a small-meshed sieve and save the pulp for later.

Almond milk can be kept in the refrigerator for 4-7 days, covered. It will usually need stirring or shaking before serving, to remix the liquid.

I use the pulp for baking experiments.

little almond cake 

my essential ingredients:
the almond pulp (well drained but still moist)
1 tablespoon coconut oil or ghee
1 tablespoon agave syrup
1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
1 egg (can be substituted by 1/2 mashed ripe banana)


my additional  ingredients to experiment with:
cocoa powder
shredded coconut
ground canihua
coconut flour
whole wheat flour
whole pine nuts
chopped nuts and seeds
oat flakes
vanilla extract


Fill the chosen ingredients into a large bowl, combine with your hands, fill the dough into a baking mould and bake for 20 minutes at 180°C.

Actually you can't do any wrong. If the dough feels too dry you just add a sip of freshly made almond milk. If it's too moist, you add some more of the dry ingredients.

Midnight Milk Punch - Lenka's suggestion from Paris

Hi Lenka,
thank you so much for your suggestion! Your Midnight Milk Punch reminded me of the legendary Eggnog, Cary Grant offered so adorably in "The Awful Truth". Only that in all the years I tried to serve the Eggnog all my guests denied in favour of some more transparent liquids.
But you won't believe it: just mentioning your name  (so much cooler than Cary Grant!), everybody
has been keen to try it.
Big hugs and kisses and a very happy New Year (I'm sure it will be, because now we entered The Age of Aquarius!)

Chin chin!

#12 Pomegranate: a sip of summer

inspired by a beautiful coffee table book about the Venice kitchen and tasted last weekend:

Pomegranate

 1 part freshly squeezed pomegranate juice

2 parts  Prosecco

Squeeze the pomegranate using a lemon squeezer . Pour the juice into chilled champagne glasses and add the Prosecco. Alla salute!

watermelon slushie -cinemascoped

Ok, the colours are not a 100% natural, but doesn't it look sooo cool?

It reminds me of the luxury of a hotel breakfast on the warm side of the globe, drinks by the pool and big fat hot summer....

Take

1/4 watermelon, cut in small cubes

a handful of ice cubes

1tbs freshly squeezed lemon juice

sugar to taste depending on the ripeness of the melon ( I prefer it without sugar; it's more refreshing and just sweet enough)

Put

all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

Enjoy!

addictive qualities

"Very very nice shot with great colours! My favourite detail is the elderflower in the drink. Well done!
This is my little daughter's comment via skype. So sweet!!

Recipe for a summery aperitif in the garden

Ice cubes
champagne
dash of Campari
dash of elderflower syrup
a sprig of elderflowers for decoration

Enjoy!

Powerdrink N°3: beauty mask for the stomach

Believe me, this drink has been a real challenge to photograph! Due to the mixture of the violet acai berry powder, the dark orange quince sauce and the green portulaca leaves it  quickly adopted an uninviting brownish greyish colour (just like a facial mud pack!)

I took two  nice glasses we inherited from Grandpa  - those with the silver rims, poured in the drink and decorated it with pieces of beautiful apple skin. Now a little bit of overexposure, focus clearly on the apple skins and a seductive name...  I hope, you'll like my marketing efforts!

To prepare Powerdrink N°3 in your own kitchen, blend

1 apple
1 banana
a handful of portulaca leaves
1 teaspoon acai berry powder
1tablespoon quince sauce ( to be prepared like apple sauce; can be substituted by quince jelly or quince juice)
1 teaspoon flax seed oil
1 teaspoon almond butter
a glass of water (2 glasses, if you prefer your drink more liquid)

Enjoy and be healthy!

Powerdrink

Yesterday's one was very simple:

1. an apple
2. some oat milk
3. a teaspoon of acai berry powder
4. a teaspoon almond butter
5. maple syrup to taste

Put all ingredients in a blender - et voilà!

When I recently bought the acai berry powder at my wholefood store I didn't know about its wondrous properties. Do you?  Well, googlesearch helped:

"Full of antioxidants, acai berries are able to combat free radicals. They contain high levels of the fatty acids, oleic acid and omega-6, as well as fiber and protein" and, believe me, they taste much better than spirulina powder... (I tried that and URGHHHH - no way!)

#11 Bellini

Recently strolling through the delikatessen of Karstadt, a Dresden department store, we found the perfect tool to prepare an "instant Bellini": a small bottle containing pureed white peaches for longdrinks.  The season of whites peaches is short, so it seemed to be worth a try.  (In case it wouldn't have met my high expectations - there are always dessert creations calling for an extra ingredient.)

To mix the original Bellini, invented more than half a century ago in Harry's Bar in Venice, Italy, you need

2 parts  dry sparkling wine (prosecco)
1 part fresh white peach purée

Pour the peach purée into a chilled champagne flute, add gently the sparkling wine and stir.

#10 Red and Green Makes You Clean

Today I complained about being uninspired. My daughter just saw one way out of this creative drought.

Ever since I had a sip of this spontaneously created raspberry cocktail, things started moving. My creativity galloping away ( - me clinging on), pulled me into new terrain. The topic of discussion for the night has become profane : "is the primitive contrast of red and green enough to stimulate the demanding readership of my blog?"

Here the very liberal instructions to this miracle cocktail:

Undefined amount of Bacardi Rum
A handful of fresh raspberries
an ounce (or more to taste) of grenadine sirup
Put all of this in the blender and add crushed ice
Add fresh lime and Mint leaves

Barbecue night

Finally the nights have become warm enough  to inaugurate the Barbecue season. No better holiday feeling than heating the charcoal, mixing  the sauces and preparing the lots of meat we normally abstain from.
And of course, our guests had to be introduced into the pleasures of a well-prepared Leapfrog.

#7 Leapfrog

The peppermint plantation in my garden is ripe and ready to find its way into the cocktail glasses...

For 2 glasses of irresistible-dazzling-turqoise Leapfrog  take

6 mint leaves

4 parts Gin

1 1/2 parts lemon juice 

1 part Blue Curacao

1/2 part sugar syrup

2 dashes Angostura Bitter

In a mixing glass, muddle the mint leaves with the sugar syrup, then add the rest of the ingredients.

Shake with ice cubes and strain into a cocktail glass. Enjoy!