Food & Spirits
Love is Bitter-Drink Up
December 4th, 2010 | 1 Comment
Tags: Food & Spirits
True Love is Bitter
You know us, we’re wine drinking gals, but when we drink the hard stuff–vodka, bourbon, scotch– we prefer it straight up. These are adult drinks and each maker works hard to give their spirit a distinct taste. (Read more in the tutorial on whisky/whiskey in our book.) We don’t want the flavor adulterated. If we want lemonade or a milkshake that’s what we drink—not some gussied up beverage that obscures the flavor of the alcohol.
So, we were all set to hate on ‘bitters’. Instead, we love them. Peychaud and Angostura are the two most easily found, but there seems to be an entire cottage industry devoted to crafting cool new ones. Like Coca Cola and English muffins the recipes are cloaked in secrecy, but typically include herbs, barks and the roots of gentian flowers steeped in alcohol. More savory, at least to our buds, than sweet.
A dash or two in a drink converts an ordinary cocktail into something most interesting.
Last night we made up a new ‘bitters’ cocktail.
The Pollinator
-1 ½ jiggers of Kirkland Vodka (rumor has it that this Costco brand is really the same as Grey Goose, we’re not stating this as fact, but we like it very much. It’s industrial size, a great price and cool looking, too.)
-1/4 jigger Mathilde Pear Liqueur
-2 dashes Angostura bitters
-A generous squeeze of fresh lime juice
Combine in a cocktail shaker with loads of ice. Shake until there are shards of ice and the mix turns frothy.
Cheers!
Share your favorite cocktail invention.
Pet Presence
December 2nd, 2010 | Comments
Tags: Food & Spirits, gifts, pets
If you have a pet and are anything like us, you’re madly in love. You know at the end of the day no one is happier to see you, more in tune with your mood, more pleasing to hold. (Well almost no one.)
Chapter 10 or our book is called “Pamper the Bitch” and we wax enthusiastic about all the pleasure a pet brings, we also advise against getting carried away and buying pricy presents for your little pooch or kitty (or horse, iguana, ferret…).
Here’s a recipe for treats from Bitches on a Budget.
Mini-Treats
1 ½ cups liquid (water, chicken, or beef stock)
½ cup lukewarm water
6 cups whole wheat flour
1 egg
3 tbsp honey
½ cup peanut butter (optional)
Preheat oven to 350.
Proof yeast in ½ cup warm water.
Mix together 1 ½ cup liquid, 1 egg, honey, peanut butter if using, and yeast mixture. Stir in the dry ingredients. If you have an electric mixer with a dough hook, stir until mixture is smooth and elastic. If not, flour a big board and turn the mixture onto it and knead by hand for five-eight minutes—again, until it is smooth and elastic.
Split dough in half and shape into balls. Roll them out to about ¼-inch thickness. This is where it gets fun. Buy outrageous cookie cutters in tiny sizes and fun shapes—cats, rats, people, and, if you must, bones (how boring). Place on ungreased cookie sheets and bake approximately 15-20 minutes on each side (depending on their size). They should be golden brown but, trust us, perfection is not prized. Unlike your mother-in-law, Maxie and her friends will not be critical.
For maximum crispness, leave them in the oven (shut off, of course) overnight.
Potato Latkes
November 30th, 2010 | Comments
Tags: budget, Food & Spirits
In celebration of Hanukkah we’re sharing our simple, yummy and budget friendly Potato Latke recipe.
Hanukkah Potato Latkes from Bitches on a Budget
-2-3 cups peeled potatoes
-3 tablespoon grated onion
-3 eggs, beaten
-2 tablespoons flour
-1/2 cup safflower oil
-2 – 3 tsp salt (or to taste)
Grate the potatoes. While you can use the attachment on a food processor, there is something about hand grated potatoes – maybe the blood, sweat and tears– that always seems better.
Place the grated potatoes in paper towels inside a strainer and press down to squeeze out as much of the moisture as possible. We find we go through several batches of paper towels; you can also use cheesecloth.
Mix together all the ingredients in a bowl.
We use an electric fry pan and heat the oil to 375. If you don’t own one (who would?) use a deep skillet and on medium/high heat the oil. With a big kitchen spoon individually drop the latkes into the hot oil. Flatten the pancakes to about 1/2 inch thickness. Brown on both sides. Like all pancakes, you’ll need to cook these in batches and watch the heat on the oil.
Drain on paper towels.
While these are best served hot, we’ll put them into a 200 hundred oven to keep warm if we’re making them for a big crowd.
Serve with applesauce, greek style plain yogurt or sour cream.
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Sweet Potatoes or Yams for Thanksgiving?
November 17th, 2010 | Comments
Tags: Food & Spirits, Health & Fitness, Shopping
 Have you ever cruised the supermarket and wondered about the difference between a jelly and a jam, a cornish game hen and a chicken, a sweet potato and a yam? We have.
Have we ever thought about it beyond more than the passing turn of the cart down the aisle? No. Not really.
Recently, the writing up of our baked sweet potato fry recipe inspired us to do a little research into solving the yam and sweet potato mystery. Since Thanksgiving is next week we think it’s timely to share our findings.
According to the Library of Congress, yams and sweet potatoes are from different families of plants:
Although yams and sweet potatoes are both angiosperms (flowering plants), they are not related botanically. Yams are a monocot (a plant having one embryonic seed leaf) and from the Dioscoreaceae or Yam family. Sweet Potatoes, often called ‘yams’, are a dicot (a plant having two embryonic seed leaves) and are from the Convolvulacea or morning glory family.
Due to very confusing USDA labeling regulations (the history of which is convoluted and boring), almost all potatoes labeled as yams are in fact sweet potatoes. ”Real” yams are drier and starchier than the sweet potatoes we buy labeled as yams (we told you it was confusing).
So, as you’re shopping this Thanksgiving and are wondering which to buy– yam or sweet potato– know that all those boxes stacked high and labeled as yams, garnet yams, sweet potatoes, white sweet potatoes, etc. are really all the same. They are sweet potatoes– just different varieties.
This begs the question: which sweet potato to buy?
The Texas Cooperative Extension Aggie Horticulture Network, advises buying sweet potatoes with a deep color for the best food value. (And, don’t forget, sweet potatoes are near the top of the good-for-you-food-hiearchy-of-foods.) For best food flavor they advise storing them in an environment between 55-60 degrees–not the refrigerator.
Spotting-All-The-Daily-Eater-Meal-Buzz-Tasty-Recipe-Beasts
November 12th, 2010 | 1 Comment
Tags: Food & Spirits, recipes, Travel & Entertainment
Just when we thought we’d found all the great cook-eater-review-food related spots that are worth wasting our time obsessing over, we stumble on a new one.
You know how it happens.
Going online can be like visiting Venice. You’re so happy. It’s so stimulating. On your way to a familiar cafe a glimpse of a colorful shop or the aroma from a bakery beckons, you take a right turn only to spy a fantastic building or stunning small bridge at the next corner. A series of distractions follows, you take another right and then a left and before you know it you’re lost. Not to mention you’ve totally forgotten where you were heading.
A few days ago we took our latest detour, which we want to share with you: The Daily Meal.* 
(more…)
Mushrooms. Tarragon. Pasta. Truffle Oil. What’s so bad?
October 22nd, 2010 | Comments
Tags: Food & Spirits, Mushroom, recipes
If you’ve read the book you’ve figured out we’re not big into rules and cooking is no exception. Think of this recipe as a template; food should please you, so adjust the recipe to please your palate. You might like more or less garlic, want more or less mushrooms, perhaps you don’t like tarragon (hard for us to imagine) or like olive oil as a finish instead of truffle oil. Play with the recipe.
We love mushrooms. White. Crimini. Shitake. Trumpet. Portobello. Porcini. And our all time orgasmic favorites –fresh Morels (which fall into the super-duper-extra-super-splurge category and never make it into our pasta sauce.) (more…)
Sunday Brunch: Wheatberries and Poached Eggs
October 10th, 2010 | Comments
Tags: budget, budget friendly healthy food, Food & Spirits, Healthy eating, recipes, Sunday Brunch
We’ve been experimenting with new (to us) grains for over a year and our most recession obsession is with Wheatberries. They are the entire wheat kernel with the husk removed. Simple to cook (boil in 4X the amount of water to wheatberries until tender – approximately 1 hour) and incredibly versatile.
Often finding and preparing budget friendly and good for you foods can be a time challenge. These are simple and ideal. We’ll cook up a big batch on Sunday, serve them for brunch. Then we’ll save and use the rest throughout the week. Great for lunch on-the-go, use wheatberries under leftover grilled chicken or tofu with peanut sauce. Easy for a main dinner dish with pesto. Ideal as a side with a little oil and salt and pepper (or a drizzle of truffle oil).
Try this for breakfast.
Wheatberries with Poached Eggs, Cooked Seasonal Vegetables, EVOO, Manchego Cheese and Thyme
Cook 1 cup of wheatberries in four cups of boiling water for approximately 1 hour or until tender
Saute in olive oil a big pile of seasonal vegetables. (We just used 2 sliced peppers, 3 diced tomatoes, 2 sliced zucchini and 1 chopped onion.) Cook them slowly until tender and they release their juices into a yummy, ‘soupy’, mix.
Poach two eggs.
The rest is simple.
Place a layer of wheatberries in the bottom of a soup bowl. Cover with a ladleful (or to taste) of veggies with their juices. Then top with the poached eggs and shaved cheese. Finish with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, fresh herbs and salt and pepper.
Experiment with different vegetable, herb or cheese combinations. Share your creations!
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Honey, We Like the Raw Stuff
October 6th, 2010 | 3 Comments
Tags: Food & Spirits, Health & Fitness, health food, honey, pleasure, Whole Foods
We first started writing this blog under the cover of relative obscurity, (before we became really big bitches- at least that’s what they say about us now), we wrote about experimenting with rough raw stuff. We were addicted pouring big money into our habit, we tried everything we could get our hands on. Some of the stuff was nasty, dirty looking, foul tasting–sure to make us ill. Some of the stuff was so refined and processed we felt nothing. Then we found perfection. It was as though Smokey the Bear married Marshmallow Fluff.
Oh!
We forgot to mention we’re talking about honey. Raw honey. For those of you who missed our earlier ranting and raving on the pleasure of yummy raw honey we thought we’d share our earlier post hoping that you’ll share with us your favorite honey variety. Enjoy!
You know our obsession with finding the little things that make a bitch happy. That spoonful of sugar…well, not sugar anymore if we can help it. These days we’re all about honey. No, we’re not members of the healthy food police, but we do like to eat as well as we can. For example, when given the choice we take brown over white rice and wheat over white bread. Organic over non-organic. Unprocessed over processed. And honey over sugar in all the right places: in our tea, spread on toasted Eli’s health loaf, baked into our favorite ancho chili blue corn bread recipe (we’ll share, we promise). We’ve been experimenting with raw honey. Interesting. We’ve tried it all. We’ve explored the gamut of ‘raw’ honey—from the kind with a faintly feral hive odor and bits of bees in it (at least we thought we came upon wings and stingers) to a very pricey, waxy, raw clover blend with a bland odorless flavor. We’ve worked hard to find you the world’s best most delicious honey…and in our search we discovered something divine. It’s a lovely blend of that classic Smokey the Bear-container honey, fragrant wildflowers, and marshmallow fluff. 365 Organics Wildflower Raw Honey from Whole Foods is the one we love!
Yet another update:
After we wrote and re-wrote, published and re-published this post, we received in the mail a gift of raw honey from Mohawk Valley Trading Company. Three yummy jars worth. (Come to think of it, it’s the only thing we’ve ever received in return for all this writing). Anyway, since we’re fickle and not necessarily monogamous bitches — at least when it comes to our food affairs–we loved their RAW Maine Wild Blueberry Blossom Honey. Check it out.
Tell us about your favorite raw honey and where you buy it.
Whiskey the Official Drink of Every Repression
September 29th, 2010 | Comments
Tags: Food & Spirits, whiskey
We’re big whisky/whiskey gals. We even offer a tutorial in our new book, Bitches on a Budget, so a gal can sidle up to the bar and order with authority. After all, we think that whisky (or is it whiskey? read The Bitches to get the answer) should be the official drink of any Repression.
Repression?
Yes, we’ve decided we are not exactly living in a recession or a depression, but something psychologically nefarious and new. A Repression.
Think about it: the national mood is one of repressed appetites, repressed spending, repressed lending, repressed reality.
Some of this is a good course correction–not consuming everything in our path is wise, smart, and green. We need to finally grow up as a country–we can’t have and do anything we please. Thoughtful careful spending is overdue. Savings are good. But a frightened consumer and withholding banks aren’t good for anyone.
Are we repressing our reality because it is too painful to see and hear the truth? Crumbling infrastructure, desperate local governments, deficits, joblessness and the fear of joblessness. Gridlock in Congress (who doesn’t want a big tall stiff one listening to the incessant, unproductive, petty squabbling while war rages, unemployment continues unabated and the future seems uncertain ).
Meanwhile, as a nation we’re glued to reality shows depicting “real” people whose lives are falling apart or defy normal logic: so-called real housewives; or women so desperate to get famous they’ll let some dude pick them from a line-up. Don’t get us wrong, we have our addictions like Project Runway and Chopped. But isn’t it disturbing to read about the latest perversion: Bridalplasty?
Think about it: what else could account for the popularity of our “Peep Show Nation” but a need to hide from our own reality, to submerge our psyches in those whose lives are weirder and more unbelievable?
We think it’s time for a little healthy stimulation, leaders willing to tell the real truth and stop the spin, and voters mature enough to face hard realities and listen. Until that day comes, we’re doing everything we can to stay afloat.
Whiskey or whisky? We’ll take one of each.
We originally published a version of this in the Huffington Post.
Roots Week: Baked Sweet Potato Fries. Sweet.
September 20th, 2010 | 2 Comments
Tags: bargains, Food & Spirits, Health & Fitness, healthy food, recipes
Healthy, delicious, easy. Sweet.
Not only have we have given up old fashioned fried fries, but our potato of choice is sweet potato*. So what could be better than simple to make, yummy to eat, baked sweet potato fries?
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Wash and completely dry one large sweet potato (we buy organic whenever possible). This should be enough for two people.
If you like wedges, cut the potato in half the long way. Place the flat side down on your cutting board and slice each half into 4- 6 wedges (you determine how thin or thick you want them, just remember to check on them as they cook). If you prefer a real ‘fry’ look, slice the potato into 1/3-inch long slices, then 1/3-wide inch strips.
Before baking, lightly coat them with olive oil, sea salt and loads of freshly ground pepper . Get creative and vary your seasonings: cumin, curry, paprika, truffle oil…
Place on baking sheet lined with parchment (easy clean-up) and cook from 20-30 minutes until crispy on the outside and soft inside. Add salt and pepper to taste.
*We were wondering about the difference between yams and sweet potatoes and did a little research. In the US almost all potatoes labeled as yams are in fact sweet potatoes. The Texas Cooperative Extension Aggie Horticulture Network, advises buying sweet potatoes with a deep color for the best food value. For best food flavor they advise storing them in an environment between 55-60 degrees–not the refrigerator.
Root cellars anyone?
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