The Cyclist's Wife: Ginger People

Showing posts with label Ginger People. Show all posts

Pumpkin Madness Day Two - Spicy Pumpkin Hummus

Let's start at the end instead of the beginning....

Ladies & Gents, introducing Spicy Pumpkin Hummus....

YUM.

Why am I starting at the end?

For a few reasons.

1. It took me much longer to produce this result than I originally anticipated (SWS strikes again).... I imagined the idea on October 7th and shared it with the Twitterverse....

@TheCyclistsWifeThe Cyclist's Wife

A brilliant Fall recipe idea just popped into my mind. Can't wait to see if it tastes as good as it sounds!

7 Oct via webFavorite Reply Delete

....but didn't actually produce until now. Not exactly speedy.

2. When I finally got around to making this, The Cyclist was out of town with our camera...

(not bad right? The Cyclist is a better picture taker than me)

Anyway.

I was left at home with my iPhone. And Hipstamatic.

So I decided to get artistic and use the shake feature after each set of photos.

The result is the schizophrenic photo montage you will see below.

3. I sort of turned into a mad scientist while making this. Do you know how much it takes to get pumpkin spicy? Well, you'll see below.

So, with my delay, crazy photos and mad scientist approach, I figured you'd all be scared away if I showed you this ↓ hot mess first & I think you deserved to see the end result first after waiting so long.

Don't be scurred. The Spicy Pumpkin Hummus is goo-ood!

I roasted my own pumpkins and used 1 cup of fresh pumpkin.

You can probably use canned too...I saw some organic canned pumpkin at my local co-op the other day.

Some of the many spices.....

I used this method for preparing the Tahini.

I did not use the same ingredients or ingredient measurements though.

Curdled....

Smooth...

Tahini mix into pumpkin mix....

.....gotta have some garlic....

I crushed mine...

Cilantro...

I ♥ Ginger People

When I got this I wasn't anticipating using it in hummus, but it did the trick!

Red hot peppers...

...cut...

...cored & ready to roast...

....roasted...

...chopped up and being added to the mix...

Here is what my kitchen looked like upon completion.

Crazy town.

Let me just say, miracles do happen to hummus overnight. At this point in making the hummus, I though it was a recipe fail. I threw it in the fridge and said "I quit". The next day, it tasted good. The day after that, it tasted really good! Enjoy. Recipe below & at Tasty Kitchen What: 1 cup fresh pumpkin (or canned) 1 cup garbanzo beans (aka chick peas, drained) 1 tsp. allspice 1 tsp. garam masala 1 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. chili powder 1/2 tsp. garlic pepper 1/2 tsp. red cayenne pepper 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 1/4 tsp. cumin 1/4-1/2 cup water + 1 tbsp water
2 tbsp. tahini
3 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
2 cloves garlic (crushed)
2 tbsp. fresh cilantro (chopped)
2 tbsp. pickled ginger (or less fresh ginger)
2 tbsp. chopped roasted red hot pepper
2 tbsp. honey
4 tbsp. olive oil

How to:

Slice & core the hot pepper. Place it on a cookie sheet and high broil in your oven until the skins turn black. Put them in a plastic bag to steam for about 15 minutes.
While the peppers are roasting, put the pumpkin in a food processor.
Mix all of the dry spices and add it to the pumpkin, blend.
My pumpkin mix was not that smooth at this point, so I started adding water by the tablespoon. I used about 1/2 cup all together.
In a separate dish, mix the tahini with the lemon juice. It will start to curdle at first, then become smooth as you mix it. Add the additional 1 tbsp. of water to this mixture to help it become smooth. Once the mix is smoothed out, add it to the pumpkin mixture and blend.
Add the cilantro and pickled ginger to the mixture and blend.
Your peppers should be about done. I tried to peel the skin off of mine and it didn't work, so I chopped them, skin on, and added them to the pumpkin mixture, then blended.
You will have to blend this quite a bit, stirring in between, to make sure you don't have any chunks of ginger or red pepper.
Once the mixture is smoothed out, add the honey and blend.
Last, add the olive oil and blend well.
Put the completed hummus in a sealed container in the fridge overnight. The flavors will meld and it will be good to go the next day.

We enjoyed this with Indian Naan bread from Trader Joe's.

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Ginger People Freebie!!

Click here for the freebie!

It is super good on pancakes and we used it as a glaze for salmon too!

Moscow Mule's

It's cocktail week in Sac-Town! Let's make us some Moscow Mule's!

I first heard about Moscow Mule's when Oprah was making them for other campers in Yosemite. If you have not seen this, you should watch it - it is hilarious.

Anyway, when I featured the Ginger People Drinks and discovered all the sweet drink recipes the Ginger People site, I knew I wanted to make me some Moscow Mule's Ginger People style!

We are of course going to use some Ginger Beer....

....along with this other good stuff.....

Now, please note - the Ginger People's Moscow Mule recipe calls for the following:

2oz vodka

3oz The Ginger People Ginger Beer

1oz lime juice

The Cyclist went to the store and found that the Absolut Citron vodka was on sale, so he bought that instead of regular vodka. Additionally, he could not find the lime juice, so he instead got limeade and limes.

Although our Moscow Mule's were pretty tasty, I think they would have been better with plain vodka. There is something about the Citron that is just no bueno to me and I think it killed the ginger taste a bit. The limeade and limes were fine.

So, using ingredients you prefer with the measurements above, shake it up and....

...viola! A tasty and refreshing cocktail for summertime!

Also to note, Oprah's recipe is a little different, but can still be made with our favorite Ginger Beer.

Enjoy cocktail week!

Chicken & Vegetables with Ginger Peanut Sauce over Coconut Infused Brown Rice

That is quite the recipe title! This was my first creation with the some of the Ginger People stuff I scored.

I saw this Ginger Peanut Dipping and Cooking Sauce.....

...and immediately thought "skewers!" However, the BBQ scares me....I cannot control open flame of that caliber. The BBQ is assigned to The Cyclist, who is an excellent BBQ chef.

On said night of cooking this dish, the BBQ chef was not available, so I came up with something slightly different than my original idea of skewers....this is kind of indoor skewers...or...whatever.

Anyway, here goes....

First, I apologize I don't have my normal recipe photo of "The Suspects" for the dish, I was throwing this out on the fly, so here is a nifty list instead:

1 Jar of Ginger Peanut Dipping and Cooking Sauce
2 cans of coconut milk (Note - buy this at Trader Joe's if you can. I got it at the regular grocery store and it was seriously about $2 more per can. Wow!)
Brown Rice - I used organic
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 Bell Pepper (any color) - I used green
3 large carrots
1/2 a red onion
2-3 cloves of garlic
Red Chili Pepper
Salt
Pepper

Start the rice first....

(This probably seems obvious, but I often forget to get my rice going first and it always takes longer than I expect.)

The rice I used called for 1 part rice to 2 parts water. To give it the coconut infusion, I substituted 1/2 of the water for coconut milk, then added half a measurement more of water.

For example, if you are doing 1 cup of rice to 2 cups of water, instead do 1 cup of rice, 1 cup of coconut milk and 1 and 1/2 cups of water. The coconut milk cooks down more than the water, which is why you want to throw in some extra agua, or else your rice will be a little hard.

Trust.

My rice also called for some butter, so I threw that in too. This photo is not very appealing. It did taste good when it was done though. I promise.

Next, chop up your carrots and get them ready to steam...

...this is where I screwed up a little bit. Put your carrots on to steam just after you start up that rice. I waited and they were not ready in time, I had to hold everything else up to wait for them.

So, steam now brown cow!

Sorry, couldn't resist the rhyme action.

Next, chop up some bell pepper...

...and some onion...

...saute them together...

...don't forget to throw some garlic in the mix...

...once that is going, start getting your chicken ready. I pounded mine out with a mallet, then added some salt pepper and red pepper flakes for extra spice...

...I cooked it in this super awesome grill pan we got as a wedding gift. I really love this thing!

Once the chicken was done, I chopped it up and added it and those steamed carrots to the other veggies...

...then added the Ginger People Ginger Peanut Sauce and some coconut milk...

I did equal parts Ginger People Ginger Peanut Sauce and coconut milk, but when I make this again I would do more Ginger People Ginger Peanut Sauce and less coconut milk. More spicy, less sweet.

The finished product...

(that drip on the side of the plate was strategically placed as an artistic piece in this work of food art)

Yum!

Overall this turned out pretty good. It was a nice alternative to regular stir fry and I liked the spicy peanut-coconut combo. I put the entire recipe on Tasty Kitchen.

Bon Appetit!

Ginger People Drinks!

If you recall, our friend Mr. Bestie recently hooked me up with a whole bunch of Ginger People goodness. Today I want to share the love on the Ginger People's Ginger Soother and Ginger enerGizer.

Let's get started, shall we?

Ginger Soother

This stuff is really good on a hot day! It's been close to 100 in these parts this week and riding my bike home even a short distance gets me pretty overheated. I broke into one of these the other day and it hit the spot! This ginger drink as a bit of sweetness with lemon and honey. It's not too sweet though and still has a nice ginger flavor. The label also says "drink it hot/drink it cold". I would not have thought to drink this hot, especially in 100 degree weather, but I'm glad it's suggested on the label. This would be a really good hot drink and probably especially good if you weren't feeling well.
Ginger Soother gets a thumbs up from me. :)

Next up:
Ginger enerGizer

The Ginger enerGizer is a little spicier than the Ginger Soother. I actually liked this a little better, probably because I love the taste of ginger. This drink has "a splash of apple" which is also tasty on a hot day!

What's really cool is the Ginger People have a whole bunch of drink recipes on their website that you can make with both Ginger Soother and Ginger enerGizer. I'd like to try these out, but I'll need to get more, The Cyclist and I demolished all of our stash straight! I thought these looked good:

Ginger Pomegranate Champagne

If you try any out, please comment!

Recipe Find - Pan Seared Cod Over Vegetable Ragout

The Cyclist and I are trying to add more fish to our diet. I am not an experienced fish chef, but I do OK with cod. (At some point I will share my fish taco recipe.) So, I went in search of a cod recipe that looked healthy and easy. Key word being "easy". I know better than to try and get crazy in the kitchen when the ultimate goal is to make dinner after work. This behavior only results in late night meals that aren't that great. "Easy" as defined by me = not a ton of ingredients, nothing I can't buy in a regular grocery and no cooking words that I do not understand.

Anyway, in looking for my healthy and easy cod recipe I went straight to Cooking Light. This is one of my favorite places to find recipes, I have yet to be steered wrong. My search found:

Pan-Seared Cod Over Vegetable Ragout

Ta-Da!

This recipe was really, really good, like seriously good. The Cyclist did most of the prep work, which was super helpful. I don't know what the deal is with prep-time on recipes (this one did not list any), but it always takes me way longer than it says. Part of the issue are my crappy knife skills and continued attempts at not cutting my finger off, but...I swear, some of those recipe prep-times are just silly!

OK, moving on.

So, with the Cyclist's help, we put this dish together (together!). Here is our version:

and an up-close:

It was very, very good and not totally difficult to make. More importantly, our 7 year old nephew (DD), who can be a bit of a Mr. Picky McPickerson devoured his entire plate and declared that I should make this for him every time he comes over. The Munchkin slapped his plate up too, as did the Cyclist and I. There was nothing left, anywhere.

I give this recipe 5 stars for being super good, easy (as defined by me) and healthy! It also gets an honorable mention for being a fish and veggie dish that kids love.

Coming soon: Pizza Night! And Ginger People Eats (I'm really excited about this one!)