Lebanese Garlic Sauce

Lebanese Garlic Sauce (Toum) Makes about 4 cups
Ingredients 1 cup peeled garlic cloves 1 teaspoon salt 4 cups neutral oil such as grapeseed or sunflower 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
Examine the garlic cloves and remove and discard any green sprouts, which can make the sauce taste bitter. Place the garlic and salt in a food processor and process until the garlic is puréed. Scrape down the sides of the bowl once or twice as necessary.
With the machine running, add 1/2 cup of the oil in a very slow, thin, steady stream. Gradually add 1/2 tablespoon of the lemon juice in the same manner. Repeat this process until all of the oil and lemon juice have been incorporated into the garlic. It should take around 10 minutes. If at any point the mixture separates, stop adding oil/lemon juice and continue processing until the mixture comes together. The sauce should have a mayonnaise-like consistency.
Transfer the garlic sauce to an airtight container. If the sauce is still warm from the food processor, wait until it cools to cover the container.
Store in the refrigerator for up to 4 weeks.



Source:  http://www.kcet.org/living/food/the-public-kitchen/recipe-lebanese-garlic-sauce-toum.html

Jean-Paul Sartre at a French Cafe

Jean-Paul Sartre is sitting at a French cafe, revising his draft of Being and Nothingness. He says to the waitress, "I'd like a cup of coffee, please, with no cream." The waitress replies, "I'm sorry, Monsieur, but we're out of cream. How about with no milk?"
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre; (21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was a French philosopher, playwright, novelist, political activist, biographer, and literary critic. He was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism and phenomenology, and one of the leading figures in 20th-century French philosophy and Marxism.

Source:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Paul_Sartre

Toasted Almond Rice Pudding

Toasted Almond Rice Pudding 
For best flavor and texture, be sure this pudding is thoroughly chilled before serving. If you like cinnamon, sprinkle a generous amount on top.
Ingredients 1 ¼ cups blanched slivered almonds (5 oz.) ¼ tsp. salt ½ cup uncooked rice (such as arborio, basmati or jasmine) 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, or 2 tsp. vanilla extract ¼ cup plus 1 Tbs. maple syrup or ¼ cup plus 2 Tbs. maple sugar Fresh strawberries and mint sprigs for garnish
Directions 1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spread almonds on baking sheet and bake until golden, about 8 minutes. Remove from oven; set aside to cool.
2. In medium saucepan, bring 1 cup water and salt to a boil over high heat. Add rice, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until water is absorbed and rice is tender, 16 to 20 minutes, depending on type of rice.
3. Meanwhile, chop 1/4 cup toasted almonds and set aside for garnish. In blender, combine remaining 1 cup toasted almonds and 1 cup water. Blend until mixture is smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Add 1 3/4 cups water and blend until smooth, about 1 minute.
4. Strain almond “milk” through cheesecloth into cooked rice in saucepan, squeezing out as much liquid as possible. (Or, strain “milk” through fine-mesh sieve several times before adding to rice.)
5. If using vanilla bean, scrape seeds into rice mixture with tip of knife then add bean, or stir in vanilla extract. Stir in maple syrup, return to a simmer and cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, until thickened slightly, about 8 minutes. Remove from heat; cool slightly. Transfer pudding to a bowl, removing vanilla bean if using. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
6. To serve, spoon rice pudding into dessert dishes, sprinkle with reserved almonds and garnish with strawberries and mint sprigs.


Source:  http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipe/toasted-almond-rice-pudding/

Strawberry Shortcake

Strawberry Shortcake
Ingredients
Original recipe makes 1 8-inch round cake 3 pints fresh strawberries 1/2 cup white sugar 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 4 teaspoons baking powder 2 tablespoons white sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/3 cup shortening 1 egg 2/3 cup milk 2 cups whipped heavy cream

Directions Slice the strawberries and toss them with 1/2 cup of white sugar. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Grease and flour one 8 inch round cake pan.
In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, 2 tablespoons white sugar and the salt. With a pastry blender cut in the shortening until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Make a well in the center and add the beaten egg and milk. Stir until just combined.
Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Bake at 425 degrees F (220 degrees C) for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool partially in pan on wire rack.
Slice partially cooled cake in half, making two layers. 
Place half of the strawberries on one layer and top with the other layer. Top with remaining strawberries and cover with the whipped cream.


Source:  http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Strawberry-Shortcake/?prop24=hn_slide1_Strawberry-Shortcake&evt19=1

Baked Ziti

Ingredients 1 pound dry ziti pasta 1 onion, chopped 1 pound lean ground beef 2 (26 ounce) jars spaghetti sauce 6 ounces provolone cheese, sliced 1 1/2 cups sour cream 6 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese Directions 1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add ziti pasta, and cook until al dente, about 8 minutes; drain. 2. In a large skillet, brown onion and ground beef over medium heat. Add spaghetti sauce, and simmer 15 minutes. 3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter a 9x13 inch baking dish. Layer as follows: 1/2 of the ziti, Provolone cheese, sour cream, 1/2 sauce mixture, remaining ziti, mozzarella cheese and remaining sauce mixture. Top with grated Parmesan cheese. 4. Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until cheeses are melted. Source: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chinese-buffet-green-beans/kitchenview.aspx

The Pumpkin Martini

Ingredients: 3 ounces Bols Pumpkin Smash liqueur 1 ounce Captain Morgan Original Spiced Rum 1 dash half-and-half Ground cinnamon, for garnish
Instructions: Shake the ingredients over ice, and strain into a cocktail glass rimmed with sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle a little more cinnamon on top.
Nutrition Information:
PER SERVING: 375 calories, 0 protein, 38 g carbohydrate, 0 fat, 1 mg cholesterol, 6 mg sodium, 0 fiber.





Source: http://www.sfgate.com/food/recipes/detail/?p=detail&rid=14359&sorig=qs

Super Chili Recipe

Super Chilli Recipe By Arms Bumanlag from CKLW & CTV Windsor
Ingredients: 1 x Red pepper 1 x Yellow pepper 1 x Orange Pepper 2 x Jalapeno Peppers *Adjust Qnt to taste. 1 Can of Black Turtle Beans 1 x Can of Red Navy Beans 1 Can of Corn Niblets. 4 diced tomatoes Tomato Paste Diced Red Onion Chopped Mushrooms Black pepper *To taste Paprika *to taste Ground Turkey cooked to brown color then seasoned with Chili Powder. Mix all in Crock Pot on high for 4 hours.


Source:  https://www.facebook.com/Armsfanpage/photos/a.10150285144505872.338599.12535735871/10152472750635872/?type=1&permPage=1

Should you refrigerate your eggs?

Should You Refrigerate Your Eggs? 
Here’s the Final Answer
We asked the USDA and the country’s largest producer of the kitchen staple. This is what they said.
Walk into a British supermarket, and you may be surprised, even horrified, by what you’ll see: cartons of eggs sitting next to canned meats and baked beans—at room temperature. Europeans don’t refrigerate their eggs, but Americans need to. Why? In a word: salmonella.
Because of the way the nation’s factory farms produce and distribute eggs, American consumers must take additional measures to prevent contamination from salmonella—that sneaky little pathogen that causes 1.2 million illnesses in the U.S. each year.
When it comes to minimizing salmonella infections, American producers focus on the eggshells, which could get sullied with organic matter, such as chicken feces. The USDA requires producers to rinse, dry, and mist the eggs with chlorine before sending them to market. 
Europeans, on the other hand, focus on inhibiting salmonella infections in the hens themselves. In the United Kingdom, farmers began vaccinating their hens against the bacteria in 1998 so that no salmonella gets transferred from chicken to egg. How about feces on shells? Farmers depend on the eggs’ natural, thin coating to stop bacteria from seeping in. (This protective layer goes out the window when American eggs go through the rinsing process.)
England and Wales recorded 14,771 cases of a salmonella strain in 1997 before farmers started vaccinating their hens. The number dropped to 581 in 2009.
“We have pretty much eliminated salmonella as a human problem in the U.K.,” the British Egg Information Service’s director, Amanda Cryer, told The New York Times. 
Thus far, the Food and Drug Administration has found insufficient evidence that mandating hen vaccination in the U.S. would be effective in keeping people from getting sick. However, Nega Beru, director of the agency’s Office of Food Safety, told the Times that FDA rules “encourage producers to vaccinate if they think it will help fight salmonella.”
“Vaccines can be a very effective component of a [Salmonella enteritidis] prevention program,” according to the FDA’s guidelines. “However, the efficacy of a vaccination program depends on various parameters, some of which include the vaccination program used, effectiveness of administration by the vaccination crew, age of the birds when the vaccine is administered, and the environmental load of SE in pullet or layer houses.... Individual producers who choose to use a vaccine should determine which program is most effective for the particular set of circumstances that exist at their farm.”
Cal-Maine Foods Inc., which last year sold Americans more than a billion eggs, vaccinates its hens. 
“The FDA doesn’t say that if you vaccinate, it’ll do fewer inspections. But it’s something that we felt was important,” says Ryn Laster Divine, director of food safety at Cal-Maine, which is the largest producer and distributor of fresh shell eggs in the country. Because the agency requires all producers to wash their eggs, however, consumers still have to refrigerate Cal-Maine’s products.
So yes, Americans have to keep their eggs in the fridge—at least until the FDA changes its policies.
“Eggs shouldn’t be left at room temperature for more than two hours,” says Marianne Gravely, technical information specialist at the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service. “There is no way to know if a shell egg is pathogen-free. Food poisoning bacteria don’t affect the taste, smell, or appearance of a food. You can’t tell if a chicken is infected with salmonella, so any egg, whether it came from a grocery store, a farmers market, or from your neighbor’s backyard hens, could contain salmonella.”
~ By Kristina Bravo Kristina Bravo is Assistant Editor at TakePart.

Monks Blend Tea

The incredible deep colour of Monks Blend tea. Come and get a cup or bring a friend and share a pot

For best results:
Brew for 3-7 minutes

Ingredients: Black tea, calendula petals, sunflower petals, natural flavours


 Cup Characteristics: Medium bodied and flavour with piquant Ceylon character. Blended with natural flavour oils of vanilla and grenadine, which impart a smooth and unique heavenly flavour.
Infusions: Bright and Coppery

Calendula:

Drink Calendula tea nearly 3 times a day works as a body cleanser. It acts as a detox, protects your liver, gall bladder and other internal organs from long-term failure or damage. It is also noted for reducing sore throat and fever associated with common cold and other infections. Also, it aids the body in absorbing food, particularly fatty food items. Calendula tea, if consumed after you eat, can prevent symptoms of heartburn as well.

Anti-cancer benefits
Many recent researches have revealed that Calendula tea can have properties and components that make it effective at preventing and curing cancer. This is due to the presence of particular flavonoids and antioxidants that are found in this herbal tea which can stop the oxidation as well as abnormal development of cells.

Prevents gastrointestinal problems
Calendula tea is usually beneficial to those struggling with gastrointestinal problems. Calendula can shield the linings of the intestines and stomach by suppressing the prostaglandin-E1 (PGE). Also, it can help limit the negative impacts related to gastritis, stomach cancer and peptic ulcer.

Why Does Mint Taste Cold?

Mints are aromatic, almost exclusively perennial, rarely annual, herbs. They have wide-spreading underground and overground stolons and erect, square, branched stems. The leaves are arranged in opposite pairs, from oblong to lanceolate, often downy, and with a serrated margin. Leaf colors range from dark green and gray-green to purple, blue, and sometimes pale yellow. The flowers are white to purple and produced in false whorls called verticillasters. The corolla is two-lipped with four subequal lobes, the upper lobe usually the largest. The fruit is a nutlet, containing one to four seeds.

So, why does mint taste cold?

Similar to why peppers taste hot, what's going on here is a chemical in mint called menthol, tricks the brain into thinking that the area the menthol is applied to, is cold;  even though, in fact, it's the same as it was before.  Specifically, menthol binds with cold sensitive receptors in your skin; these receptors contain things called "ion channels", in this case TRPM8.  The menthol makes these much more sensitive normal and thus tricks your brain into thinking you are feeling a cold sensation, when in fact, everything is more or less the same temperature as before.

Moroccan Tea  (a blend of black and mint tea) is available through our shop online

Source:  Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mentha

Zebra Ice Box Cake

WAFERS 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened 1 cup light brown sugar 3/4 cup granulated sugar 1 tablespoon honey 1/4 cup milk 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 3/4 cup whole wheat flour 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-process) 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
FILLING 1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin 1 1/2 tablespoons cold water 6 large egg yolks 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar 1/4 cup Marsala Pinch of salt 8 ounces mascarpone cheese 1 cup heavy cream, chilled
MERINGUE 6 large egg whites 1 cup sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin 2 tablespoons cold water 1 1/2 teaspoons finely ground espresso

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. In a standing mixer fitted with a paddle, beat the butter, sugars and honey at medium speed until smooth. Beat in the milk and vanilla. Add both flours, the cocoa, baking soda and salt and beat at low until combined. Flatten the dough into 2 disks, wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.
2. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll out each piece of dough between 2 sheets of plastic wrap to an 11-inch square. Trim to form 2 neat 10-inch squares. Transfer the squares to the baking sheets. Bake for about 20 minutes, shifting the pans, until the dough is slightly springy. Let the dough cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then slide the parchment onto a work surface. While the squares are still warm, cut each one into 4 strips, about 2 1/2 inches wide. Trim the edges; you should have eight 9-by-2 1/2-inch wafers. Let cool.
3. In a small bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water and let stand until softened, 2 minutes. In a large metal bowl set over a pan of simmering water, whisk the egg yolks, confectioners' sugar, Marsala and salt until tripled in volume, about 4 minutes. Whisk in the gelatin until melted. Scrape the mixture into a standing mixer fitted with a whisk and beat at medium-high until cool, 5 minutes. Add the mascarpone and beat just until combined; transfer to another bowl.
4. Wipe out the mixer. Add the cream and whip until soft peaks form. Fold the cream into the Marsala-mascarpone filling.
5. Line a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with enough plastic wrap to hang over on all sides. Tip the loaf pan on its side. Arrange the wafers on a work surface. Spread the filling thickly on all but 1 of the wafers. Stack the cream-topped wafers and top with the plain wafer. Slide the stack into the tilted loaf pan. Return the pan to its upright position so the wafers stand vertically. Fold the plastic tightly over the cake. Refrigerate for 24 hours, until the center wafers are softened.
6. In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a whisk, combine the egg whites and sugar. Set the bowl over a pan of simmering water and whisk until warm to the touch and the sugar is dissolved. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water and let stand until softened, 2 to 3 minutes. Whisk the softened gelatin into the egg whites along with the espresso and beat at high speed until thick and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
7. Unwrap the cake and invert it onto a plate. Remove the plastic wrap. Using an offset spatula, spread the filling to fill any gaps. Spread about one-third of the meringue all over the cake and refrigerate until firm, 10 minutes. Spoon the remaining meringue into a large pastry bag fitted with a star tip. Pipe lengthwise stripes of meringue along the top and long sides of the cake, starting from the bottom and working up as you go. Refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes.
8. Using a blow torch, toast the meringue until golden. Serve.

Source:  http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/zebra-icebox-cake