After several attempts, I finally made rock-awesome lemonade today! My first failed attempt was with maple syrup as sugar. It wasn't nearly strong enough to offset the lemons. Next, I tried honey. Waaaaaaay too strong. It ended up being honeyade. Blech. Then we discovered that at Wal-Mart, all-natural sugar really wasn't that expensive. Sugar in the Raw is kind of pricey, but not awful, and the Florida Crystals kind we got was really cheap compared to honey or maple syrup (I mean c'mon, nothing is going to rival 3 cents an ounce for refined sugar or "white death" as the Spartan guy calls it, but I think the health benefits are worth it. I really don't feel like having my joints corrode this week). And natural sugar tastes so good! I've been throwing it into everything this week including chicken and
chocolate (!) without my joints having any problem. Yay!
I actually managed to write down a recipe this time for my successful lemonade attempt today...which means I threw a bunch of ingredients together, wrote them down as I winged it, and the amounts I tried actually worked and were yummy. I got it on the first try today, without having to readjust ingredients or anything!
Spartan Friendly Lemonade by Calise SellersThe Juice from 4 Small Lemons
1/2 Cup Natural Sugar
3 Cups Water
We blent (Blended?) our lemons this time because our juicer is a fancy, highly involved thing that we bought with our wedding gift cards, but it is more complicated than it needs to be for citrus. The lemonade was still good, but it had seeds in it, something one of those little hand juicers would remedy.
The natural sugar makes the lemonade look brownish because of the natural molasses still in the grains. Also, we discovered, a little bit of natural sugar goes a long way. If you want your lemonade more tart, add another lemon or just lessen the sugar.
I wanted to put pictures on with this post, but we don't have a regular digital camera yet. I took stills with our video camera, but I don't know where the cords are at the moment. :-P
I made several other things this week that turned out good, but I didn't write down how much of each ingredient I used. Like I said, I usually just wing it and if it's gross, I add things until it tastes better. Thankfully, Justin is patient and not picky. He'll usually eat things even when I think they're gross.
Don't worry though, I only post things that work and that
I enjoy. :)
Spartan Friendly Miso Soup (With Guesstimated Ingredients) by Calise Sellers3 Cans Chicken Broth
1 Very Large Clove of Garlic, Minced (Um...the cloves are sections, not the whole thing, right? At this point everyone wonders why they're following my recipe)
Copious amounts of Ground Ginger
Onion to Taste
Simmer, simmer, simmer, simmer :)
Spartan Friendly Cheesy Chicken Salad (With Guesstimated Ingredients) by Calise Sellers2 Cans Chicken (or use uncanned chicken and it will probably taste way better)
Lots of Cheese (We used Sharp Cheddar in big chunks)
1 Chunk Unsalted Butter
1 Clove (See Above) Garlic, Minced
1 Slice of Onion, Chopped
1 Generous Sprinkle Natural Sugar
1 Generous Sprinkle of Red Pepper
I microwaved it in a glass bowl 1 minute at a time, letting the cheese and butter melt, stirring it in between. It's not the prettiest food, but I was really surprised at how good it was. I think the sugar made the biggest difference. You can probably cook it any way and with any form of chicken. Just (obviously) make sure your chicken is cooked somehow before you're done. Definitely a good thing to do with leftover chicken, just like regular chicken salad.
Lastly, the unperfected, yet most exciting:
Spartan Friendly Chocolate! by Calise SellersAlright, I really have no plain ingredient list for this, since I haven't really perfected it yet. I use plain, unsweetened chocolate squares, milk and natural sugar. Seems pretty obvious from the ingredients in regular chocolate, I know. I'm just pleased that I found a way to eat chocolate and not kill myself. So far, the best I've done is making a yummy chocolate liquid. Oh well. It's still chocolate.
I would love to have comments from real cooks with suggestions, tips and recipe modifications. I like throwing things together and hoping they work, but if anyone wants to find a better way to do it, I'm all for it :)