Second Captain

Sometimes, a mom's just gotta drink.



Once upon a time (2009, actually), Senpai and I went on our honeymoon in Waikiki, Hawaii. We had been married for two years already and thought we should get the honeymoon out of the way before, you know, having kids.


On our last night in paradise, we walked along the beach until we stumbled into Duke's Waikiki bar. We sat outside on the patio and listened to a Jack Johnson lookalike while we sipped delicious cocktails, one of which was called "Second Captain." We fell in love.  



When we returned to the Midwest, I scoured the internet in search of the recipe but couldn't find it. I made a few failed attempts based on the description I remembered from the menu and then gave up.

Fast forward to this Memorial Day weekend. Senpai and I had a romantic evening to celebrate our 6 year anniversary... and then the rest of the weekend fell to pieces. By Monday night I was running out to the liquor store, determined to enjoy a refreshing drink that might turn our frazzled moods around. I found this "I'm Bananas Over You" cream liquor and knew it was the missing ingredient to our elusive drink. I raced home, got the blender going, and then sat down to taste paradise once again. When I gave Senpai a sip, he said it was the closest he's been to Hawaii in a long time.

I know exactly how long.


Second Captain

Ingredients:
Raspberries
Bananas
Banana Cream Liquor
Captain Morgan
Passion Juice
Ice



Directions:
1. Blend raspberries. You may need to add a little water to process them. Pour into a separate container and set aside.

2. In a clean blender, combine 1 banana, 1 shot banana cream liquor, 1 shot Captain Morgan, a splash of passion juice (Dole Paradise Blend works well), and 1 cup of ice. Blend thoroughly.

3. Line the bottom of a hurricane glass with the raspberry puree (you won't use all of the puree... save the rest for another glass). Fill the remainder of the glass with the banana mixture. Garnish with a fresh pineapple wedge.

Makes 1 drink.


Sadly enough, "Second Captain" is no longer on Duke's menu. All the more reason to enjoy it at home.

Just close your eyes, put your feet up, and imagine that gentle Hawaiian breeze.

Homemade Chicken Soup

I felt so accomplished yesterday! I was giddy as all heck by nightfall and Senpai wondered what had gotten into me. I'll tell you what it was.... SOUP!

Yes, I made homemade chicken soup last night. I used to make it all the time years ago (before I met Senpai, even) when I was a poor college student. I just hadn't had the urge since then. But last week when I was sick, it hit me hard. MUST. MAKE. SOUP. I kept buying the vegetables for the stock... then composting them cause they went bad... then buying more... and last night it finally all came together. We had a late, but much needed, trip to the grocery store, and we picked up a rotisserie chicken for a quick dinner. After dinner I set to work.


First I melted two tablespoons of butter in a large stock pot, and then sautéed a finely chopped onion until translucent. While the onion was cooking, I roughly chopped up two celery stalks (heads included) and two carrots, and threw them in the pot as well. I added ten cups of water, two bay leaves, and about two tablespoons of black peppercorns. While I was waiting for the water to boil, I picked all of the meat off of the chicken, set it aside, then threw the carcass (is there a nicer way of saying that? Body? Bones?) into the pot. I let it all simmer for forty minutes.


I threw away the carcass, then strained the rest of the broth into another large pot that was covered in cheesecloth. I composted the strained veggies (or, at least, I will. Right now they're still sitting in that pot in that sink).


Finished soup! I added a good sprinkling of dehydrated parsley flakes, two more chopped fresh carrots and celery stalks (no celery tops this time), cute little stelline noodles, about a cup of frozen peas, and the nicely chopped chicken meat that I had removed from the body earlier, and simmered it all until the noodles were done. I had gone back and forth about whether or not to strain the broth, but I'm really glad I did. The new carrot and celery pieces really rounded out the flavor, and it's nice to not have the onion bits floating around. This is hands down the best batch of chicken soup I have ever made.



I'm souper (:-p) glad to have lots of leftovers (first-overs, technically, since we had already eaten dinner when I made it last night). There are two large containers in the fridge, and then 4 cups stored in the freezer. I am SO looking forward to lunch today!

That rotisserie chicken is such a deal! We spent $5.49 on it, and we're getting three separate meals out of it, two of which will have leftovers! When we ate it with stuffing and cranberry sauce last night, we did not hold back at all. Two hungry adults and one toddler ate their fill of chicken. From what was leftover, half of the meat was plenty to add to the soup, and then there's still meat left to make chicken pot pie! We'll have that for dinner tomorrow night. I'm so excited. :-)

Fruit Leather

I'm making a batch of spiced peach leather right now, so I figured I'd better upload the pics I took of my last batch of strawberry leather.


I had never made fruit leather before this summer. Prepackaged fruit leather from the store was such a rare luxury that I didn't indulge much because of the price. Now, while my fifth batch is dehydrating, I can say making it yourself is fun, easy, cheap, and delicious! And you can take pride in your homemade, good-for-you treats.

It's the perfect healthy snack for little ones!


I first got the idea to try making fruit leather from Barefoot Childhood. Though that post got me on the path to making homemade fruit leather, in the end I didn't follow those directions. I chose to boil my fruit before blending it to get the natural sweetness from the fruit, thus eliminating any added sugar. Trust me, they taste plenty sweet without the extra sugar (this coming from the lady who threw away her own birthday cake because it was too sweet!). I also chose to run a dehydrator to dry the fruit out as opposed to baking on low heat in the oven. If you want to add sugar and cook/dry out in the oven, then go ahead and click the link above!


INGREDIENTS

Four apples, two pears, one lemon, and a good dose of flavoring fruit (I've used boxes of strawberries, a bag of cherries, a couple peaches, and half a bag of seedless grapes. All turned out yummy).

Rinse well.


DIRECTIONS

Prepare fruit to be cooked. Peel, core, and chunk apples and pears into small pieces.

Toss apple and pear chunks into a large pot with 1/2 a cup of water (to help get things started) and the juice of half of the lemon. Boil uncovered on medium heat.

Prepare flavoring fruit to be cooked. (Strawberries get sliced, cherries I just ripped in half to get the stones out, peaches get peeled and broken into pieces, and grapes get plucked from the vine and popped between your fingers.)

Toss flavoring fruit into the pot and boil down (still uncovered) about 20 minutes.

When it looks something like this, it's done.

BONUS STEP: While you wait, you can squeeze the other lemon half into a cup, add a couple of spoonfuls of that delicious juice from the pot, and have some rockin' flavored lemonade!

Blend.

BONUS STEP: Feed the baby fresh applesauce.

Pour sauce onto parchment paper cut to fit dehydrator trays, and spread in a thick layer with a spoon. (When I say "cut to fit" I mean Senpai traced the tray with a razor blade.)




Dehydrate overnight.

Check in the morning and then every couple of hours after that. Each tray will be done on its own time, usually the bottom layers dry completely before the top. I remove the empty trays to get the top trays closer to the heating element.


Peel leather away from the parchment paper, tear into strips, and store in a glass container on the counter. No need to refrigerate. I've heard that mold will eventually grow on fruit leather, but I haven't had that problem, I think because the dehydrator does such a good job of removing all liquid. I'd say your batch will last about two weeks, that is, if you don't eat them all first! ;-) We haven't made it past one week. :-P

One last thing: if you haven't guessed by now, this is a very flexible recipe. I've made it without the pears, and I've made it using the juice from the whole lemon. If you're really wondering how much flavoring fruit to add, the answer is, "How much have you got?" It's very hard to go wrong with fruit leather, so play around with the ingredients you have on hand.


Enjoy!

(Green Tea) Lactation Cookies

I've been using the following recipe to make Lactation Cookies:

Lactation Cookies

1 cup margarine
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
4 tbsp water
2 tbsp flaxseed meal*
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 generous Tbsp brewer's yeast**
3 cups oats (thick cut if you can find them)

Optional:
1 cup chocolate chips, raisins, etc.

*Can be found at any health food store.
**It MUST be brewer's yeast!


Directions
Preheat oven at 375 degrees F. Mix together flaxseed meal and water, set aside for 3-5 minutes. Cream (beat well) margarine and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, mix well. Stir flaxseed mixture and add with vanilla to the margarine mix. Beat until blended. Sift together dry ingredients, except oats and chocolate chips (if using). Add to margarine mixture. Stir in oats then chips. Scoop or drop onto baking sheet, preferably lined with parchment or silpat.

Bake 8-12 minutes, depending on size of cookies.

Yields: 6 dozen cookies


Yes, they work. I get an extra ounce of milk out of each breast when I eat these cookies, about two per pumping session. I'm a huge fan of white chocolate, but I don't like its standard cookie pair of macadamia nuts, so I throw a whole bag of white chocolate chips into the mix and then experiment with other additives. My favorite combination so far is white chocolate chips with 3 tbsp of matcha (powdered green tea, found at Asian markets). The yummy flavor of the matcha successfully overcomes the sour taste of the brewer's yeast. I highly recommend it!!!! I've also wanted to try brewing a green tea bag in the flaxseed water, but I forgot to do that this time. There's so little water that I'm not sure it will make much of a difference. Anyway, happy baking (and lactating)!