Mint tea for me...

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...
After sleeve bariatric surgery I was told to stop drinking carbonated beverages, and no caffeine. with the migraines I don't really drink caffeine anyway, but the carbonation was a BIG change. I used to never be seen without a diet pepsi in my hand. Then a diet Shasta when I realized how sensitive I was to aspartame. I now drink adult cool aid otherwise termed tisane, or herbal tea.

For a general, all around beverage that's cold, I normally drink some kind of mint infusion.
Here's what I think of the ones I've sampled.

Of the straight Peppermint teas I've tried the very cheap from the Dollar store which has almost nothing in the tea bags and costs as much as the Stash tea to buying my own loose organically grown peppermint leaves that I grind in a coffee mill. I like a smooth, light taste of peppermint that isn't overpowering that is sweetened quite a bit so I prefer the Stash peppermint. I don't know where they get their leaves, or what they do to them, but they are smooth and not harsh and nasty. The Bigelow tea peppermint has a harsh and heavy peppermint oil taste so it may be that their leaves are fresher, but I don't consider that a taste advantage in this situation.                                                                 

This Stash Moroccan Mint is one of my favorite teas. But it has green tea in it, and so it contains caffeine. I'm not allowed to indulge often. When I use this one bag is used in an entire pot so I don't overdo the caffeine allotment for the day. 

 The Bigelow Thin Mints tea is pretty good. It smells like a chocolate mint plant I had a few years ago until my black thumb killed it.  But this tea really only tastes good when it's hot. When it's cold it tastes like pretty nasty watery candy.

 

This Bigelow Plantation Mint is one of my all time favorite teas. I LOVE spearmint. unfortunately

 

this also has caffeine  in it so I can't really drink it anymore. I grind up spearmint leaves as well and that tastes good. The spearmint is less overpowering than the peppermint and so this tea is wonderful.
















The Mint Medley is a nice blend of Spearmint and Peppermint. Once again, if they used the peppermint Stash uses, the tea would be better.

From the goddess trying to keep cool with mint...

Flavor rant...keep your chemicals...

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...
I remember hearing about a post on a blog or a story on the TV news or in the press when Starbucks made the decision to use Strawberries to color their cold drinks instead of red dye no. 40 or whatever.  It is that dye that is in everything you seem to buy with the least tint of red in it. And I thought it was ridiculous it was even a story. Starbucks should have always been doing this.

It must have been a slow news day. Somebody's cat up a tree and miraculously finding its way down on its own was a better story. But the press gave lots of time and room to...this.

     But hey, it's not as if you CAN buy natural food, made the way it should be grown. In the best way for the plant and for the human consuming it unless you make a special point of buying organic and have everything specially handled. It's amazing to me that you pay a premium to have nasty shit kept OUT of your food. Gee, I don't want you to put anything I can't spell or pronounce into my food, and Oh, here I need to pay 200% more for you to do it?! It has NEVER made sense to me. But then our food supplies wouldn't survive a nuclear holocaust and my Mother's pantry wouldn't have had food in it that was 2 or 3 years past its expiration date. Someday the cockroaches will love us, after they learn how to chew through the tin cans.

I know I'd be much happier in my life if the chemical garbage that polluted my food hadn't polluted my body as well. my theory is that those chemicals don't all leave as waste products, because that would be too clean...and just wouldn't really fit in with the chemistry in our innards. Think about the fake cheese popcorn chemical coating. If you haven't heard the story, it's why I won't eat the stuff anymore. I got an excessive craving for it the day after I brought my newborn son home from the hospital 20 some years ago as I and his father were headed to a family Thanksgiving celebration. Two days later I discovered why this wasn't a good idea. It was just wrong. What came out of the baby. I was breastfeeding. Smelled and had the SAME COLOR as the cheese popcorn coating. It was truly disgusting. This set of chemicals had gone through TWO digestive tracks and stayed together. Wow. But that to me is more reassuring than the stuff in our food that DOESN'T.

That's the stuff I worry about and wonder what it's doing in my body. What cells is that garbage changing? What inadvertent effects is it having on my brain or central nervous system chemistry? How long is it being stored in my fat or muscle tissue? In my liver? Is it all being released in a flood when I diet? With some of the effects I've noticed just watching as people slimmed down, and the difference in a few generations between what was considered a "healthy" diet and what wasn't, I'm pretty sure that no matter the number of vegetables you eat nowadays and good grains, if they aren't fresh, non-GMO, and organic, your diet is probably worse than your great grandmother's...and she probably went to bed hungry a whole lot more often then you do.
from a pissed off goddess with poison in her food supply...

Chickening out for dinner...

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...

For some reason if you add chow mein noodles and chicken and cashews to a salad...I like it better lately. I'm not sure my kids do, but what do they know? I'm the one that has to try to cook in this heat. And they're always the ones who complain I'm trying to overfeed them.

So I thought I'd share a recipe I just came up with that tastes pretty good. It's for a large group of people....but it should scale down just fine....next time maybe I'll add pineapple to it though....

Chicken Oriental Salad with Cashews


Number Of Serves: 16 Serve(s)
Preparation Time: 30.00 min
Cooking Time: 55 min


Ingredients

1. 8 lbs of frozen skinless chicken breasts
2. 0.5 t of vietnamese or chinese ground red chili garlic sauce (chilis in vinegar)
3. 1 c of Kikoman soy sauce
4. 1 T of Black Bean Sauce
5. 1 T of Hoisin Sauce
6. 1 t of chinese hot mustard
7. 0.5 t of ground ginger
8. 1 c of dried minced onion (1/2 c. if using fresh)
9. 0.25 c of Newman's own Lowfat sesame and ginger dressing
(may leave out, doesn't really add much)
10. 2 c of oiled, salted cashew halves and pieces
11. 16 oz of bag dry chow mein noodles
12. 3 oz of dry, candied ginger, sliced finely
13. 2 lbs of salad mix
14. 0.5 head of green leaf lettuce
15. 2 ea of tomatoes
16. 2 ea of kiwi
17. 1 ea of cucumber
18. 0.5 med of green pepper

Procedure/Direction:
1. Preheat oven to 375 F.

2. Mix soy sauce, chili sauce, minced garlic, black bean sauce, hoisin sauce, hot mustard, ground giner, minced onion and newman's dressing if using it in a small bowl.

3. Spread chicken breasts in single layer in two roasting pans and baste with sauce, careful to scoop onions onto chicken for flavor. Baste both sides of chicken before inserting in oven.

4. Put into oven. Cook 25 minutes. Turn chicken and switch racks that pans are occupying so all chicken cooks thoroughly. After about another 30 minutes chicken should be thoroughly cooked, juices should run clear. Cut meat into cubes and store the chicken along with all pan drippings in a large bowl in refrigerator to cool.

5. Prepare salad. Peel kiwi fruit and slice into thin rounds or strips. Peel cucumber, or not, to taste and slice into thin strips for color. Sliver the candied ginger. Mince the green pepper. Wedge and chop the tomatoes.

6. Layer salad and chicken into large bowl in an attractive manner with chow mein noodles and cashews. Add the kiwi, cucumbers, sliced ginger, green pepper and tomatoes and enjoy.

May be served with or without additional Newman's Sesame and Ginger dressing. I didn't think it needed it particularly.

Cuisine: American
Type(s): Barbecue/Grilling , Brunch , Main Dish , Meat , Poultry , Salad , Side Dish , Low-cal , Vegetables , Favorites , Original , Low Carb , Family/Historic

Author: Sondra Prowett
Source: Original

this recipe was produced using: Recipe Manager - Your Cooking Companion


Of course the 3 or 4 recipes I've read that are similar to this use tea in them somehow, but the last time I tried that it just tasted like I was trying to eat aromatic dirt in my salad...maybe I should have soaked the chicken in the steeped tea? But the recipe called for actually putting the TEA LEAVES in the salad. I'll never figure this stuff out. Oh well, just gives my family more to scratch their heads over as they catch me going down for the count.

For those in the know...they are taking bets now and tilting me in general directions of soft areas to land, "just in case." Sheesh! no respect!

That's the world right now for a puzzled goddess whose headed off to dream land. zzzzzzz.....

Don't take it even if they offer...

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...

I made that mistake. It seemed so innocuous. How bad could it be. I'll try most things at least once. I've even tried sushi multiple times because people keep telling me that THIS piece is different, and I'm SURE to like it. NOPE. Not goin' there. Vinegar and I don't get along. Most acids and my stomach get along WAY too well. Not a fan of anything pickled in any way, shape, or form. Hmmm, kinda leaves sushi right off the list. Plus I'm not real big on the seaweed thing. Don't mind it in soup, or soap, or ice cream. You get the picture.

I'm a plebian at heart. My tastebuds are those of an uninformed 3 year old. Actually, when my kids were 3 year olds they would try more than I will. I've tried it, and I DON'T like it!

You know, this could be about so many things and only my dear husband, or those who know me really well would guess the real subject....freeze dried ice cream!

It has NONE of the benefits of real ice cream, the cold, the smooth, the texture, the yummy goodness. It is truly, pretty gross and has all of the ickiness of melted ice cream: the heavy taste on the tongue that coats it, the overly smooth and sweet flavor. Uck!

I even tried strawberry thinking it would be more innocuous than chocolate...nope. It's got a high ick factor!

Just putting it up there on the list with sushi and cinnamon on meat products as things I don't care to eat...oh, and processed cheese food...how can they even call it food?

from a puzzled goddess with the tastebuds of a three year old...nah if I was a three year old I'd probably eat that cheese stuff, huh?

SCA Events and Wow! What wordy people we all are . ..

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...

But then I have friends with such insightful things to say! I am finally caught up on all the blogs I try to follow...I think.

I have to apologize for being out of it for the last few weeks. My eyesight is pretty well shot and my cold is still lingering.

We did manage to get to an SCA event this last weekend. It's been one we've looked forward to, Yule Feast, hosted by the Baronies of Stromgard and 3 Mountains. One more step closer to becoming a real group out here on the Oregon side of the Gorge. We got to petition their excellencies Alfric and Jill to support our efforts. We now look to having our efforts published and proclaimed in the Portland area for a few months, and if people don't object we'll be able to submit our name and device and file our paperwork. Then it will be the turn of Kingdom and Crown to see if we will be real. ("Oh, if only we could be a real group!" lol)

We gave gifts and had fun. I tried my hand at period cookies for their excellencies Stromgard. Her Excellency Reginleif was amazingly sweet for trying the cookies immediately. I doubt she could have been at all hungry considering the excellent feast that was there, but I finally got my chance to make truly period cookies. (For those who are wondering, "Jumbals" and it was either from, "To the King's Taste" or, "To the Queen's Taste." I think the latter based on the time period of the reference, but I'm too lazy to go look it up again right now.) Kerryk gave their Excellencies Three Mountains some of his fine blackberry liquor, and we had handmade glass beads, a beaded necklace, a period game board, some apple brandy(? I think) and more of the cookies. Alfric is a diabetic, as are Kerryk and I, so the food items will probably get passed on, heck it's largess, it will all probably get passed on.

Kerryk DID try to give away Cedryk during the ceremony, over his strenuous objections, but the Baron wasn't taking. :) {I don't think anyone but Francessca noticed me trying to give her away. ;D} I finished the scroll with time to spare and we got to bring it home! Now I get to look at all the things I did wrong until we have a new seneschal for the group and we can pass it on! :) I'll blog later about the scroll and how it turned out.


We had a wonderful time talking to old friends and making new ones. Kerryk and Cedryk were glued to the fighting (I have 60 pictures of one fighter's armor so that I can make a gambeson like his for Cedryk. *grin*) Francesca was helping out and enjoying seeing friends from past events. She even got to sit on St. Nicholas' lap! I, being a creature of habit, painted on charters, ate, talked, and ate. :)






Mom Elfwyn made sure to share the period porn she found with my family LOL and got her grandson to cringe. (Notice the fingers are SPREAD over the eyes though!)









Wirawen danced divinely and it was like poetry. There was live music most of the day and even some dancing. Sven One Eye won the cooking contest. The marzipan was shaped and some spiced and placed on 2 big trays and disappeared! lol Chrodek and his family were there and we got to sit close enough together that we could share conversation. So, all in all, it was a great event.

And for those who let the weather forecast frighten them...since when have the weathermen been accurate? lol We didn't have any bad weather or snow until 3 or 4 hours after we got home! (Though you wouldn't know it by the number of times my big sister called me to check on me. *grin* She's inherited my mom's worrying tendencies, ouch!)

until next time from a very medieval feeling puzzled goddess

Some really good eats...

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...

Nah, this one doesn't puzzle me at all. I LOVE french toast. Especially the way my family makes it...with a heavy breading and lots of flour. But I created a recipe that I like even better.

I've done the french toast thing with bagels before and it's actually really good. I had these megaberry Winco bagels in the freezer waiting for someone to eat them. And waiting, and waiting. So when I defrosted one and noticed that it was more chewy than it really is supposed to be on one side I decided to do the french toast thing....then I got to thinking....people put nutmeg and cinnamon in their french toast...what happens if I put vanilla in mine? GOOD EATS! Num, Num.

To do my family's french toast you use about 8 or 9 eggs, 1 cup of flour and about 1/8 cup of milk. Then I added 1/2 tsp of vanilla and battered the megaberry bagels after they had been sliced. Talk about decadent food! I went ahead and used butter and syrup on mine, but the kids will eat them plain.

from a cookin' puzzled goddess

[ps. you know those nasty bread ends that no one likes to eat on sandwiches? Freeze them, and when you have enough take them out and dunk them in this batter still frozen and they cook up just fine!]

[pps you can also freeze the french toast, once it's cooked. And then the kids can just pop it in the microwave for 60 seconds and have a warm breakfast.]

The Muffin Man and other Bread Products...

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...


We celebrated Lammas tonight (Aug 3rd). We were a few nights late, but I figure it's the sentiment that counts. I think I would be more comfortable leading rituals for my children and sharing my very real spirituality and belief in beings larger than ourselves if I hadn't spent all of my time as a solitary practitioner. I don't think they have much of an idea really of how important meditation and ritual really are to me. How could they when I keep it all internal.

Anyway, I baked a bread man as a Lammas sacrifice to thank the gods of the harvest for our abundant wealth, kind of like the pagan Thanksgiving. :)

Here's what's left of our Bread man....of course my dh HAD to bring up the "muffin man" as we were tearing off the legs and eating them. ;)

He really liked this bread recipe!
So here it is:
2 T active dry yeast
1 1/2 c warm water
3 T sugar
1 c oats
1/4 c steel cut oats
1/4 c wheat bran
1 1/2 c unbleached white flour
1 1/2 c whole wheat flour
4 T olive oil
1 t onion salt
1 T chives
1 t granulated garlic

mix, knead, let rise 1 hour, punch down and form into a 'man shape' on a large, greased baking sheet. Sprinkle with garlic salt. Let rise 1 hour. Bake at 400F for about 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and a 'knock' on the top sounds hollow. As it's cooling spread butter (not margarine, yuck!) over the top.

Makes for a moist and nummy 'heavy' bread.

blessings on all from a puzzled goddess
who DOESN'T live on Drury Lane...

The REALLY ucky green stuff...

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...

As I sit here, drinking my cup of spinach flavored pseudo tea, I comfort myself with the thought that at least I'm not drinking the REALLY ucky green tea that's in my cabinet; so life could be worse, right? I just have to keep looking for those silver linings.

For those of you who read my last post on ucky green stuff this is a continuation. Same not-so-bat-time, but definately the same-bat-channel. (In case you are wondering? I'm the bat!)

Yes, I'm whining again about how nasty green stuff tastes. But the Stash green stuff actually tastes less nasty than the Royal King green stuff crap I bought at Uwajimaya in Beaverton. YUCK!

That stuff is the Royal King pictured on the lower right here. I don't know if the 'smokey flavor' everyone talks about is the flavor of dirt and mold I normally taste when drinking green tea, or if it's just particular to this brand and the cup I tried at the Corvallis Beanery many years ago. (More than I'd like to remember!)

My favorite green tea so far is not pictured here. (I drank it all!) I'm looking to see where that is local to me I can find the Tazo if I can't find anything that tastes better. :) Four of the packets above are Stash teas (an Oregon based company!) The premium green tea on the upper right is my least favorite of these (tastes like spinach water!) But the Morrocan Mint, Ginger Peach and Wild Raspberry green teas are part of my daily green tea intake of 4-8 cups. (I only force myself to drink the Royal King or Stash Premium Green after dinner....puts me off eating any more food *grin*)

Just so you know, I DO force feed my family green stuff, and I'll eat it occasionally. Dinner tonight was oriental steamed brocoli spears, teriyaki pork, and pork ramen (which I can't eat due to MSG so it's not on my plate.) The teriyaki was the Lighthouse brand that J & M introduced us to (and I have to blush because I've had the bottle in my cabinet for 2 years...I just normally mix my own teriyaki!) The ramen was the standard packaged crap. But the Oriental Brocoli Spears are one of my FAVORITE vegetables....crunch and nummy and not slimy and it doesn't taste like green sand as the top of brocoli can so often. NUM....

Clean brocoli and chop off the heads to use with cheesy brocoli or some other dish. Slice the spears left on a slant into bite sized pieces in a microwave serving dish. Mix 1/2 Tablespoon fresh minced garlic (jar) with 2 Tablespoons soy sauce and 2 Tablespoons water. Add 1/2 teaspoon of granulated onion and 1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger (or 1/8 teaspoon of fresh grated ginger.) Pour over vegetables and microwave on high for no more than 3 or 4 minutes. Just so they are warm and still crunchy. MMMM! Good stuff. Could almost make me like green.....nah.

And my ds will pretty much ALWAYS eat the veggie leftovers. YAY! I trained him right!

Tasty cooking from a puzzled goddess.

Hairballs?

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...

I now know how cats must feel when they have a hairball. I thought I knew, when I was pregnant, TWICE, and was throwing up my toenails for the full 10 MONTHS of the grueling ordeal, multiple times per day....but I was wrong.

I have now started losing so much hair to thyroid disease that I find it EVERYWHERE. And I swear to all the gods that I tie it back at all times...even in a BRAID. But the d*mn stuff leaps off my head and junps into whatever I'm doing! Take a bath, end up with long strands of hair wrapped through unmentionable places. Take a nap, end up with long strands of hair tickling your nose or forhead blowing in the wind from my CPAP. Make food, invariably SOMEONE ends up with a strand or two in whatever they are eating. It's a conspiracy, they can't all be mine...but I've got the longest hair in the house! aargh....

The final straw was my egg salad sandwich last night. I ate it; it tasted fine; I then noticed the feeling of a strand of hair on my tongue....as I pulled the 12 inch long piece out I choked and gagged just like my cats! I looked at it, to make sure it was mine....but I couldn't blame it on anyone else. It's gray.

It's the silly things that puzzle me most :)

Blessings from a puzzled goddess

Social grease, the falls on a faucet, and cooking fires...

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...

My daughter hates cooking. How can one of my descendants HATE cooking? Cooking is good for the soul. It allows you to express your love and caring to others in a tangible way through your efforts.

Of course, if the last 3 or 4 times I'd cooked for my loving friends they had told me that I really shouldn't try to cook, I'd probably hate cooking too (or maybe turn the hate-on to my 'loving' friends!...hmph! that's the bitch goddess in me I suppose!)

This was supposed to be a post about cooking, but I'm wandering off the subject, as usual, I think what I really want to puzzle about is politenes, gratitude, and all that other social grease that so many people think is unnecessary. As a goddess, I find it very necessary. People in this world are hateful enough without adding to those feelings out of ignorance or sheer thoughtlessness.

A magic 'please' or 'thank you' and a smile can go a long way toward people feeling less nasty during their day.

When we moved to our current town a few years ago, I really thought the people here were some of the rudest I had ever met, no smiles, no helpful attitude, no refills, all gruff and 'here's your change' as they dump it in your hand when you buy something. I really couldn't understand it in a tourist town.

Then, the goddess was enlightened. My nephew, poor boy, has lived in this town his entire life. He has held jobs here. We were having dinner with him (at a really cool Chinese Buffet we found that has NO MSG! WOot! It hasn't got that great of reviews, but there is always something new there for me to try...peppered squid, sushi, octopus, dim sum) and I expressed how hard I found the rudeness of the clerks, etc in town to deal with and how it surprised me in a tourist town. His answer was that it was BECAUSE it was a tourist town and according to his experience...some tourists are really stupid...

Okay....? Had I heard the one about the tourist from back East who asked him when did they turn the Falls off for the night? (Multnomah Falls) ??? huh

Or then there was the one (sitting in a dining room almost under the bridge) who asked if the Bridge of the Gods went all the way across the river? (my dh told my nephew he should have said ....welll....only if you get a run at it.)

Then there was the tourist who asked what that island was over there across the lake (the 'island' being Washington State and the 'lake' being the Columbia River.)

So I guess maybe this goddess has to b*tch less about rude people and wonder why people who have seen me at least once a week for the past 3 years in a town of less than 2,000 might think I'm a tourist. :) huh... it's been a long time since I've been mistaken as dumb...maybe it's the grey in the hair and the missing teeth (until recently)....nah, nobody would think you were dumb just because you were old, right?

Hmmm....maybe this is teaching the goddess another lesson. "judge not..." or maybe just to, "consider the source..." or maybe just to not let them take your day. The day is yours to do with as you wish. Their rudeness or judgements should not allow it to be ruined because it is time you won't get back. I like that better.

Blessings from a Puzzled Goddess