This is how I make hot chocolate at home and with a few simple changes, it makes your hot choco creamy with that campfire flavour.
Preparation
For two people, (perfect or your cutie bf, gf or whoever you share those special cuppas with) prep these:
4 marshmallows
2 mugs of milk
1 tin of hot chocolate powder or flakes
1 kitchen burner
1 coffee machine (milk steamer)
Froth your milk
The trick is to steam it using your coffee machine 🙂 Add in most of your chocolate powder into the milk and steam it like you would a coffee. You may need to do it twice for two mugs.
Toast your mallows
Grab your kitchen burner and burn the marshmallows. Buuuurrrrn them 🔥🔥 I usually do this on aluminium foil so they’re easy to pick up once they’re toasted and soft.
Combine your drink
Pour out your steamed milk into the mugs.
Chop up some chocolate bits or just use choco flakes and add them into your steamed milk.
Then just add the remaining choco powder, your marshmallows and whatever else you want into your mugs – yiiii ~~
Try it, it’s the fireee yummo campfire hot chocolate you’ve been craving! 🔥
Fig leaf tea has many potential health benefits and has flavours similar to rooibos or chamomile. So it may not be everyone’s …. I like it though! There’s something very earthy about it. It’s gotta be one of the earthiest teas I’ve tasted.
Here’s a couple of methods to make your own fig leaf tea, with the leaves from the fig tree in your garden.
What is fig leaf tea good for?
Fig leaves are a rich natural source of bioactive compounds and phytochemicals including antioxidants (also berries have these) phenolic compounds, unsaturated fatty acids and vitamin micronutrients. They include Manganese, Iron, Magnesium, Sodium, Calcium, Potassium, Zinc and vitamins, A, B1 and B2 to start. They can play a vital role against gut conditions, diabetes and cardiovascular conditions.
Whatever leaves you have available are fine. Preferably from your own garden so you know how they’ve been treated (no chemicals). The leaves can be fresh or yellowing. Wash them clean and then think about your steeping method.
Take care of the sap dripping from the stalks of the leaves if you harvest them fresh (preferred option). It can irritate some people’s skin. If the sap gets on your skin, wash it off as soon as you can. I harvest using rubber gardening gloves.
Steep your leaves
If you choose to steep your leaves fresh, they can go straight into the saucepan. Just cover the leaves with water and steep (bring to boil, then down to a low simmer) for one hour. Let the tea mix sit for a further hour and steep.
Chill your tea
If you like your tea hot, strain and drink it immediately. Otherwise strain it into a jug and fridge it for later on. I don’t mind it hot, especially in winter. But I generally prefer it cold, because the figs grow in summer time.
I’ve got a purple heart variety of fig that has massive heart shaped leaves. I only need one of those to make a good pot of tea.
Dry and store your leaves
If you choose to dry your fig leaves, put them in the oven for 20 minutes on a very low heat or use your dehydrator until dry and crunchy. Crunch them up and store in glass jars, just like other tea leaves.
It’s fig leaf tea time!
The dry leaves can be strained and steeped just like any other tea leaves, in a teapot, drink bottle or using a strainer.
Enjoy!
Other uses of the leaves
Food wrap
The leaves can be used as a food wrap like a spinach leaf. Simmer it in salt water for 15-20 minutes until it’s tender. Try wrapping steak, mushroom or other foods in it.
In preserves
I haven’t tried it yet, but some have mentioned that the leaves can be used in preserves to add flavour.
Leave a comment if you found this useful.
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The lemon tree gets heavier and heavier each year and I struggle to find ways to use them, very fortunate! Here’s this year’s first use and its homemade lemonade.
If you’re looking for an easy but super yummy recipe for making your own lemonade, try this one out. This recipe makes around 2 litres or around 70 oz, so halve it if it’s too much for you.
Ingredients
8 x fresh lemons
300 (1 1/4 cup)grams of sugar
150 (3/5 cup) grams of honey
Other erbs. You might try cloves, other aromatics
2 ltrs (70 oz) of water
Let’s get to it. Be aware that the flavour of the honey you use will affect the taste of your lemonade. Try experimenting with different honeys.
Slice your lemons
Slice your lemons into halves, then quarters and remove the seeds and white pith in the centre. I cut a shallow triangle in the centre to make it quick and easy.
Then I slice them really thin, about 5mm or about a 1/4 inch. It’s a good thickness for cooking them and also when you eventually eat a slice or two in your lemonade.
Cook your lemons
Throw the water into a large saucepan and then the lemons and the rest of the ingredients. Bring it to the boil and then down to a simmer for 20 – 30 minutes. I sometimes leave it in longer to soften up the lemons further.
Let it cool
Take it off the heat and let it cool down to room temperature. You could transfer it to a large glass jug or two at this point.
Then put it in the fridge to sit for at least 24 hours. This will let all of the goodness mix and the lemon and sugars mingle into a super strong lemony flavour.
Enjoy your lemonade
Your lemonade doesn’t have any fizz so grab some ice and soda water and mix it up. I use less sugar sometimes and use a ration of 1/3 lemonade to 2/3 soda water. Experiment to find your best ratio.
I love the natural flavour that this picks up from the lemon rind. It’s a very different taste to what you get in the bottle from the supermarket. Hope you like this and leave a comment if you made some and it worked for you!
Fruit leather is a great snack for at home or when on the road. It’s healthy and can be made entirely of fruit or vegetables. No need to add any sugar or flavours. These are great for saving a few dollars and stocking the kid’s lunchboxes.
Here’s a method to make your own and keep them stored for when you need them.
Peel your fruit (or vegetables)
Choose which combination of fruit or veggies you’d like in your fruit leather. Peel them and eat the peels or feed them to your worm farm or pets, ours go to the chickens.
Blend and blend
Remove all of the tough pith and seeds and put it all into the blender. If you’re using soft mushy fruit like bananas, leave those till later.
Squeeze the juice
Squeeze all of the juice out by pouring the mix into a cheesecloth and squeezing into a jug or bowl. Keep the fruit pulp, this is what we’ll use. The juice is for drinking, bottle it up.
Spread onto a tray
Spread the pulp onto baking paper in an oven tray. Get it down to a few mm in thickness.
Bake and cut it up
Bake this in the oven on a low heat around 110C or 230F for a couple of hours. Thickness, sugar and moisture content etc will change the time you need to bake. Grab your scissors and cut it up into strips for easy eating.
Store it for later
Store your fruit leather strips into a jar with a lid for later. Some people sprinkle these with sugar, I prefer them without. Enjoy with friends!
You can make your own cold brew coffee by grinding your own coffee grounds, mixing wth water and letting it steep for a while. It’s not too hard, let’s get started.
Grind your beans and mix your cold brew
You’re going to need your old coffee grounds or coffee beans, a grinder, water and something to steep your brew in. You can use anything. Something glass is ideal or use a coffee pot with a filter, like a Hario Mizudashi.
Grind your beans (or use the old grounds from your coffee efforts!) in whatever way suits you and add the grounds and water into your steeping pot. It’s easier to put the grounds in first and then the water. I use a ratio of 50 grams / 1.8 oz of coffee grounds to 600ml / 20 oz of water.
Steep your brew
Place the lid on your pot and steep it in the fridge for half or a full day. Test out the strength that suits you by taking it out at 12 hrs and tasting it. The longer the stronger, until at a certain point and then it becomes bitter.
Make coffee concentrate ice cubes
I’ve experimented with all sorts to improve the concentration and coffee ice cubes work well. Premake some espresso shots and pour them into a silicone ice cube mould that pops out easily. Freeze! This way your cold brew doesn’t get diluted, it get’s more concentrated.
Enjoy your cold brew
I pour two thirds of a cup of cold brew and then use concentrated cream (learnt that trick in Japan) or milk if it suits you better to top it up. Throw in your concentrated coffee ice cubes too and enjoy with someone special.
Leave a comment if this helped your cold brew making.
