Recently one of my really good friends has been talking about a new whisky she discovered, Spicebox Whisky. I know of several brands of whisky but I have never heard of Spicebox, so naturally I was curious. I was fortunate to find it in a local liquor store, so I bought a bottle and had a sip (or several) later that evening. I was so happy that I decided to try it, because it is so delicious! It has a bit of sweetness to it, and it is incredibly smooth.
As the name suggests, this is a spiced whisky. There are a variety of spices in it, but what really comes through is vanilla. As I was drinking it, I suddenly realized that it would taste great in French toast. I've made French toast with rum before, but I just knew that the vanilla notes in the Spicebox would really enhance the French toast. I was so happy with how it turned out.
Since I made the French toast just for myself, I just threw the ingredients together for one portion. But here is a recipe that gives some measurements if you're cooking for a larger crowd. This makes about 4 servings.
Ingredients:
4 eggs
2/3 cup milk
1/4 cup Spicebox Whisky
salt, just a pinch
8 slices of bread
butter
maple syrup
Directions:
1. Whisk the eggs, milk, whisky, and salt.
2. Dip the bread into the egg mixture and cook on a buttered skillet or griddle pan.
3. Top with maple syrup and any other toppings of your choice.
I didn't even remember to take a picture, but I can say that it looked good and it tasted delicious!
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Cooking Adventures - Lentil Soup
One day at work a few weeks ago we had the unfortunate luck of losing water in our building. Apparently a water main broke and affected most of the office park. People in other companies seemed to go home once that happened, and considering the problem lasted for four hours, that was probably a good choice. We, however and foolishly, continued to keep working. People who had to use the restroom had two choices: they could either continue to use our broken bathrooms or they could drive to a gas station, grocery store, coffee shop, or home if they lived close enough. A co-worker and I decided to go to her house to both use the bathroom and to have lunch.
For lunch we had lentil and vegetable soup. The soup she made came straight out of a can but it was delicious, and naturally I started to wonder if it was something that I could make from scratch. I found a recipe in Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, and, with a few adjustments, I made a batch. This soup yields about 4-6 servings.
Ingredients:
olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup dried lentils, rinsed
1 bay leaf
1 carrot, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
6 cups low sodium vegetable stock
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon cumin
salt
pepper
Directions:
1. Coat bottom of large soup or stock pot with olive oil and saute onions and garlic over medium heat until they soften. About 3 or 5 minutes.
2. Add lentils, bay leaf, carrot, celery, vegetable stock, tomatoes, and seasonings. Bring to a boil, then turn heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally, until lentils are tender, about 30 minutes.
3. Remove bay leaf and serve.
The soup had a brownish-greenish color when I finished cooking it, but, trust me, it was very good. I was also surprised at how filling it was. I have a fast metabolism and I'm usually hungry again after a few hours, but this soup kept me filled up for a long time.
For lunch we had lentil and vegetable soup. The soup she made came straight out of a can but it was delicious, and naturally I started to wonder if it was something that I could make from scratch. I found a recipe in Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, and, with a few adjustments, I made a batch. This soup yields about 4-6 servings.
Ingredients:
olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup dried lentils, rinsed
1 bay leaf
1 carrot, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
6 cups low sodium vegetable stock
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon cumin
salt
pepper
Directions:
1. Coat bottom of large soup or stock pot with olive oil and saute onions and garlic over medium heat until they soften. About 3 or 5 minutes.
2. Add lentils, bay leaf, carrot, celery, vegetable stock, tomatoes, and seasonings. Bring to a boil, then turn heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally, until lentils are tender, about 30 minutes.
3. Remove bay leaf and serve.
The soup had a brownish-greenish color when I finished cooking it, but, trust me, it was very good. I was also surprised at how filling it was. I have a fast metabolism and I'm usually hungry again after a few hours, but this soup kept me filled up for a long time.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
This and That
It has once again been a long time since I've written something, so I'm checking in to give a brief update on what's been happening since my last post.
Work: Work continues to be busy. That's a good thing, I suppose. Last week it came as a total surprise to everyone when my boss was let go. I won't go into details of how or why it happened. For one, I really don't know why it happened, and, two, I think the less I say, the better. All I can say is that it was a total shock. The rest of us had to scramble to pick up the workload and add to our already heavy loads. Unfortunately I did not get promoted, which I thought would be the natural progression of my career, but I'm just grateful to still have a job and to keep the same salary. Needless to say, this has been a chaotic and unsettling week, but the most we can do now is try to move forward as best as we can.
Resolutions: I think a few people might have noticed that I haven't made any New Year's Resolutions this year. I haven't been very successful with my resolutions, so I decided to not be overly ambitious this year. This year, I think I should just keep things simple and doable. One of the important resolutions I have is to get back into my workout and healthy eating routine. I always let go of the workout and healthy eating routine once the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays come around. I always know that I'm going to be enjoying good food, so I never want to be too strict or hard on myself. And I also know that I'm going to pig out during the football playoffs and Super Bowl, so I never start my resolution until after the Super Bowl. So I suppose that now I need to get back on track.
Another one of my resolutions is to get back into some of my hobbies. Photography has always been one of my hobbies, and I used to go out a lot to take pictures. I think this is something that I need to start doing again. I always used to keep my camera with me in my purse or bag so that I could take a picture of anything interesting that I happened to see. For a long time I kept forgetting to do this and I missed out on a lot of wonderful opportunities. So I need to remember to start doing this again.
The other hobby I want to keep focusing on is cooking. Frequent readers will know that I love to cook and I love to experiment with new recipes. I want to try to make more homemade soups. Even though I just love the convenience of canned soup (and I have plenty of canned soup in my cupboards to prove it), I want to start making my own soup so that I can control the ingredients. Frequent readers will also know that too much sodium freaks me out and canned soup is full of sodium, so I want to make my own healthier versions of the various soups that I like. I also want to experiment a little more with baking. Baking has always been more difficult for me because it has to be so precise; you can't just throw the ingredients together without measuring and expect to get a perfect result. I'm at the point where I'm getting pretty good at muffins, but now I want to try to make cookies and breads. We'll see how it goes.
Current mood: relaxed
Current drink: coffee
Current music: Loreena McKennitt "Mummer's Dance"
Work: Work continues to be busy. That's a good thing, I suppose. Last week it came as a total surprise to everyone when my boss was let go. I won't go into details of how or why it happened. For one, I really don't know why it happened, and, two, I think the less I say, the better. All I can say is that it was a total shock. The rest of us had to scramble to pick up the workload and add to our already heavy loads. Unfortunately I did not get promoted, which I thought would be the natural progression of my career, but I'm just grateful to still have a job and to keep the same salary. Needless to say, this has been a chaotic and unsettling week, but the most we can do now is try to move forward as best as we can.
Resolutions: I think a few people might have noticed that I haven't made any New Year's Resolutions this year. I haven't been very successful with my resolutions, so I decided to not be overly ambitious this year. This year, I think I should just keep things simple and doable. One of the important resolutions I have is to get back into my workout and healthy eating routine. I always let go of the workout and healthy eating routine once the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays come around. I always know that I'm going to be enjoying good food, so I never want to be too strict or hard on myself. And I also know that I'm going to pig out during the football playoffs and Super Bowl, so I never start my resolution until after the Super Bowl. So I suppose that now I need to get back on track.
Another one of my resolutions is to get back into some of my hobbies. Photography has always been one of my hobbies, and I used to go out a lot to take pictures. I think this is something that I need to start doing again. I always used to keep my camera with me in my purse or bag so that I could take a picture of anything interesting that I happened to see. For a long time I kept forgetting to do this and I missed out on a lot of wonderful opportunities. So I need to remember to start doing this again.
The other hobby I want to keep focusing on is cooking. Frequent readers will know that I love to cook and I love to experiment with new recipes. I want to try to make more homemade soups. Even though I just love the convenience of canned soup (and I have plenty of canned soup in my cupboards to prove it), I want to start making my own soup so that I can control the ingredients. Frequent readers will also know that too much sodium freaks me out and canned soup is full of sodium, so I want to make my own healthier versions of the various soups that I like. I also want to experiment a little more with baking. Baking has always been more difficult for me because it has to be so precise; you can't just throw the ingredients together without measuring and expect to get a perfect result. I'm at the point where I'm getting pretty good at muffins, but now I want to try to make cookies and breads. We'll see how it goes.
Current mood: relaxed
Current drink: coffee
Current music: Loreena McKennitt "Mummer's Dance"
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