Cooking Magick

The kitchen and hearth is literally the heart of the home. Cooking can become a magickal act if you cook with intent. Visualize while you mix, chop, grind, stir and cook. When you are finished don't forget to garnish with powerful symbols.

Especially powerful? Using foods that we have grown and harvested ourselves.

Food Recipes

All of these recipes are catagorized in two ways - either where they would fit in the wheel of the year or by recipe type.

Summer

Jalapeno Dip

I got this recipe from a friend of a friend. It is just too good and too easy. Don't slave over a hot stove in the summer!

Ingredients: 1 can jalapeno relish, 2 packages cream cheese (8 oz. each), 1 bag of corn tortilla chips (optional) or fresh vegetables (optional)

Using a wire mesh strainer, allow the jalapeno relish to drain - removing the excess moisture. (This only takes from a half-hour to an hour.) While the relish is draining, take the cream cheese out of the refrigerator to soften. In a bowl, combine the relish and both packages of cream cheese together until well mixed. Serve with tortilla chips or fresh vegetables. You can make this ahead and just chill it until time to serve.
 

Orange-Cream Soother

Ingredients: Vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt, orange juice (fresh, not made from concentrate is best)

Dish up a regular serving of frozen yogurt or ice cream. Top with orange juice. That's it! This can be a really nice low-fat, low cal dessert if you use frozen yogurt instead of ice cream. And it is wonderfully refreshing. Don't let the strange combination fool you - it tastes a lot like those orange push-ups you had as a kid!
 

Spring

Yogurt Cheese

My friend, Leah, turned me on to yogurt cheese. Since I have been making it, I have run across other variations in cookbooks and the like. But what is yogurt cheese???

Anyone can make yogurt cheese by taking plain yogurt and letting it the liquid drain out of it. The longer you let it sit (I prefer at least 24 hours) the creamier the consistency of the cheese will be. There are commercial yogurt cheese strainers on the market. I bought one through the Williams-Sonoma catalog. But you don't need fancy equipment to make the cheese. All you need is a wire strainer (I prefer one with a handle) and some coffee filters or cheesecloth and a bowl.

Line the wire strainer with either coffee filters or cheesecloth. If you are using coffee filters, make sure that they overlap and the entire strainer is covered. Then put the wire strainer over a bowl (this is why it is good to have a handle). Fill the lined strainer with yogurt. Cover the yogurt with another filter or more cheesecloth and put into the refrigerator to drain. After a few hours you may want to discard any accumulated liquid out of the bowl. You will be amazed at how much liquid can come out of the yogurt!

Now plain old drained yogurt doesn't sound too appetizing to me. So here are a couple of options.

Option 1
After you have drained the cheese for 24 hours, mix 1 cup of cheese with 2 tablespoons of pesto paste. Garnish with toasted pine nuts and basil leaves and serve with your choice of crackers.

Option 2
Before you drain your yogurt, mix it with an assortment of finely chopped herbs. I use whatever is available in my garden and is a great way to thin out seedlings you may have planted. I have used basil, thyme, salad burnett, chives (both regular and garlic), savory, parsley, even various mints! Sometimes I add a touch of fresh, minced garlic. Oh - and don't forget to add a good helping of freshly ground pepper. I use whatever happens to be up in my garden and I vary the combinations that I use. Do not feel constrained to use only herbs on this list. Be creative and try your own combinations. Drain the cheese for 24 hours. Stir, shape, garnish and serve with your favorite cracker.

This is a great low-fat alternative and you get to use your early garden.
 

Winter

Snow Ice Cream

Ingredients: milk, sugar, vanilla, snow

In any sized bowl (depending on how much you want to eat, and how frozen you want your tongue) fill about 1/4 - 1/3  full of milk. Stir in sugar & vanilla to taste. You want to make a really sweet, vanilla-y milk. Don't put in so much sugar that it won't dissolve. Your milk should be a tan color from the vanilla.

Now, go outside with another bowl and get clean, fresh snow. (You really want this fresh. Snow that has been outside a while really isn't that good. If there is crust on top, you will want to get to the snow underneath.) When collecting the snow you don't want to scoop down to the ground, you want the stuff just under the surface, but above the grass level. You really only need to gather enough snow to fill your bowl. Once you take it inside it generally doesn't last to make a second bowl!

In your bowl with the milk mixture, add the fresh snow. Mix well.. If the snow ice cream seems too thick, don't add more milk - just wait. The snow will start to melt and will make the ice cream the right consistency.

You will need to experiment to get the right combination of ingredients. Different types of snow give the snow ice cream different textures. Also the water content of the snow will make a difference too! Just think, after a few winter storms, you too, can be a snow ice cream gourmet!

 - Sabrae

This page was last updated on March 26, 2000.