http://www.guavarose.com Mon, 20 Feb 2017 23:57:28 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 http://www.guavarose.com/2017/02/instant-potato-veggie-soup-packets/ http://www.guavarose.com/2017/02/instant-potato-veggie-soup-packets/#respond Mon, 20 Feb 2017 23:16:30 +0000 http://www.guavarose.com/?p=10653 It’s been rain, rain, rain in the whole state of California for weeks–definitely soup weather. Laurel, who’s away at college, requested I send her more soup packets to make in her dorm room. Last year I made her some Kale and Chickpea Soup Packets, which she and her friends loved. So I thought I’d stir up some hearty potato soup, starting with potato flakes. I chose Bob’s Red Mill brand since the only ingredient was dehydrated potatoes. I love these freeze dried vegetables. When you reconstitute them in soup they provide a nice chewy texture. This is my favorite brand of Nutritional Yeast. You can buy it at most natural food stores. Add simple seasonings: powdered vegetable or chicken bouillon, nutritional yeast, and sea salt to taste. Portion single size servings into little ziplock bags or plastic baggies closed with twistee ties. Last year I packaged each soup packet into pretty paper bags, but this year I simply threw several into larger ziplock bags and wrote the directions on the front of the ziplock bags. I did put everything into a neat wooden carrier though, with paper cups, plastic spoons, napkins, and some EPIC beef jerky/nut packets that would be easy for her […]]]> http://www.guavarose.com/2017/02/instant-potato-veggie-soup-packets/feed/ 0 http://www.guavarose.com/2017/02/dancing-bride-white-fudge/ http://www.guavarose.com/2017/02/dancing-bride-white-fudge/#respond Mon, 13 Feb 2017 22:47:21 +0000 http://www.guavarose.com/?p=9758 I love creating recipes inspired by things I have seen or read. This is one of my favorites that I made a while ago for my dear friend, Frances, author of the Wordsworth the Poet series. As tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, it seems appropriate to share this sweet, romantic recipe today. ~I spy swirling brides’ skirts and a bouquets of roses~ “Emily knew Wordsworth could see an entire castle in a piece of driftwood buried in the sand. She knew he could see a row of dancing brides in plain white crested waves. Because whenever she was with Wordsworth, Emily, too, could hear and feel the magic all around.” –from Wordsworth the Poet The rose petals can be eaten with the fudge, but you can take them off along with the rosebuds to make tea with them! Put them to steep in a little pot of black or green tea for a lovely rose scented tea.   You can also just put them in plain hot water for a nice herbal rose tea. What better way to see those brides dancing on the seawaves, than while eating a piece of sweet fudge and sipping a cup of rose tea? Dancing Bride White Fudge   Print Prep […]]]> http://www.guavarose.com/2017/02/dancing-bride-white-fudge/feed/ 0 http://www.guavarose.com/2016/11/stir-fried-bowl-of-gratitude-2/ http://www.guavarose.com/2016/11/stir-fried-bowl-of-gratitude-2/#respond Wed, 30 Nov 2016 06:09:32 +0000 http://www.guavarose.com/?p=10632 “I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual.” -Henry David Thoreau Remember to eat lots of vegetables~ Try these vegetable almost noodles =) Stir-fried Bowl of Gratitude   Print Prep time 5 mins Cook time 12 mins Total time 17 mins   Fresh, tasty stir-fried veggies Author: Guava Rose Serves: varies Ingredients 8 oz string beans 8 oz snow peas 2 T. oil ½ tsp. Spike seasoning 1 T. lower sodium soy sauce Instructions Wash vegetables. Snap ends of of beans and peas, removing strings. Julienne vegetables. Heat oil in a cast iron pan on medium high heat. When the oil is hot, add string beans and seasonings, and stir fry for 7-8 minutes until almost tender. Add in snow peas and cook another 3-4 minutes until the vegetables are at your desired tenderness. 3.4.3177]]> http://www.guavarose.com/2016/11/stir-fried-bowl-of-gratitude-2/feed/ 0 http://www.guavarose.com/2016/09/hawaiian-petroglyph-cookies/ http://www.guavarose.com/2016/09/hawaiian-petroglyph-cookies/#respond Thu, 29 Sep 2016 20:56:55 +0000 http://www.guavarose.com/?p=9769 Ki’i Pohaku (Stone Image) Cookies Petroglyphs can be found on all the Hawaiian Islands, but most of them are located on the Big Island of Hawaii. The ancient Hawaiians made pictures in fields of smooth pahoehoe lava rock, boulders, and cliffs. Some petroglyphs tell stories or events, while others are just pictures of people, animals, things or symbols. Cookies are a fun way to recreate some petroglyphs. I like to add nuts or seeds to make them more stone-like. They’re also pretty tasty! Mix the cookie ingredients together until the dough is smooth. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop cookies onto each baking sheet, using 1/4 c. batter for each cookie. Moisten your fingers with some water and pat down the scooped cookies to 1/2″ thickness. It’s okay if the cookies are not perfectly round or oval. Imperfect shapes will make the cookies look more like natural rocks. Bake for 50 minutes at 300 degrees, until the cookies are firm and browned on the bottom. Turn off the oven, then flip the cookies over bottom side up. Return the cookies to the oven for a few hours until the oven has cooled down. The cookies should be nice and crisp like biscotti. Cool completely before decorating. (A few good sources: Petroglyphs of Hawaii […]]]> http://www.guavarose.com/2016/09/hawaiian-petroglyph-cookies/feed/ 0 http://www.guavarose.com/2016/08/koi-musubi/ http://www.guavarose.com/2016/08/koi-musubi/#respond Tue, 30 Aug 2016 07:12:52 +0000 http://www.guavarose.com/?p=9732 I was inspired to make these cuties by a poem written by my lovely friend Frances, a most wonderful poet and author~ Fish Pond How still the waters. A red koi moves lazily. Pink cherry blossoms Slowly float to block my view. Oh, Mr. Koi, where are you? I dip my bare toes Sending ripples in the pond. Ah, how cool my toes. A splash of red suddenly Nips my toe and disappears. —by author Frances Kakugawa, from Wordsworth! Stop the Bulldozer! Tips: Pack the rice tightly into the molds so your koi musubi don’t fall apart. If you don’t have any fish molds, regular rectangular nigiri molds work well too. Koi Musubi   Print Author: Guava Rose Ingredients Cooked short grain white rice, still slightly warm, but not hot Goma (sesame seed) furikake Small pieces of sliced smoked salmon or lox Pieces of ume (pickled plum) Plastic fish molds or nigiri molds Instructions Rinse koi fish mold with cool water. Place small pieces of smoked salmon or ume on the bottom of each fish mold. Sprinkle a little furikake over the empty areas. These will make the colored areas on the koi fish. Sprinkle some furikake lightly over the cooked […]]]> http://www.guavarose.com/2016/08/koi-musubi/feed/ 0 http://www.guavarose.com/2016/05/lemon-dill-cashews/ http://www.guavarose.com/2016/05/lemon-dill-cashews/#respond Mon, 23 May 2016 20:35:51 +0000 http://www.guavarose.com/?p=10587 Anyone else love the flavor of dill pickle cashews? The first time I tried some I was hooked, but I could never bring myself to buy them after seeing the chemical filled ingredient list. Some brands don’t even have dill in them. Here’s my super easy version. My family loves them. You can decrease the amount of lemon juice according to your tastes–just remember that flavors intensify as the nuts dry. And psst….Father’s Day is coming up–this would make a nice little gift to give him! Lemon Dill Cashews   Print Prep time 5 mins Cook time 48 hours Total time 48 hours 5 mins   Author: Guava Rose Serves: varies Ingredients 5 lbs. raw whole cashews 2-1/2 c. fresh lemon juice 3-4 T. lemon zest 2 T. sea salt ¼ c. chopped fresh dill (~one small bunch) Instructions Place cashews in a large bowl and cover with water. Soak for 4-8 hours. Drain water from cashews. Stir in lemon juice, zest, salt and dill. Cover and refrigerate overnight, allowing nuts to marinate 10-12 hours. Drain liquid off, then spread nuts in single layers onto dehydrator racks. Dry at 110-120 degrees F, stirring intermittently, for 48 hours or until nuts are […]]]> http://www.guavarose.com/2016/05/lemon-dill-cashews/feed/ 0 http://www.guavarose.com/2016/04/giant-bakesale-snickerdoodles/ http://www.guavarose.com/2016/04/giant-bakesale-snickerdoodles/#respond Fri, 15 Apr 2016 23:44:11 +0000 http://www.guavarose.com/?p=10562 Sorry for the quietness on the blog lately. I’ve been really busy with the usual house and kid stuff. Use a 1/3 cup ice cream scoop to scoop the dough~ One thing for sure is, if you’ve got kids, you’ve been asked to bake something for a bake sale at school or for extracurricular fundraisers numerous times. Pat the dough down to ~3/4″ thickness Here’s a pretty easy one–giant snickerdoodles. Simple. Not necessarily the quickest, as you do need to refrigerate the dough, but their size is impressive! I am fond of using parchment lined baking sheets, as the baked cookies lift easily off the paper and have less of a tendency to burn. You could also just grease the pans, but I feel the cookies burn easier. If the cookies spread out too much when they bake, don’t press the dough down so much. Make way, Giant Cookies coming this way! Giant Bakesale Snickerdoodles   Print Prep time 20 mins Cook time 40 mins Total time 1 hour   Author: Guava Rose Serves: 23 Ingredients 2 c. salted butter 3 c. sugar 4 large eggs 4 tsp. vanilla 5-1/2 c. flour 4 tsp. cream of tartar 2 tsp. baking soda ½ tsp. […]]]> http://www.guavarose.com/2016/04/giant-bakesale-snickerdoodles/feed/ 0 http://www.guavarose.com/2016/02/chewy-chocolate-chip-cookies-make-ahead-dough/ http://www.guavarose.com/2016/02/chewy-chocolate-chip-cookies-make-ahead-dough/#respond Fri, 19 Feb 2016 20:26:25 +0000 http://www.guavarose.com/?p=10542 I’ve been perfecting my chewy chocolate chip cookie for a year, and I think I’ve got it this time. These have become my “go to” chewy chocolate chip cookies, and they are definitely a favorite with my family and friends. Chocolate Chip Rice Krispie Cookies   have been my crispy chocolate chip cookie, and now I have my chewy. Some tips: *Chill the dough at least 3 hours, or better yet overnight. *Bake the cookies on parchment paper lined sheets. Makes it easy to pull off the sheet, cookies and all, onto a cooling rack. *Between baking batches, rinse the back of baking sheets with cold water, wipe dry, then chill it so that it is not hot when rescooping dough onto the parchment lined sheets. *Keep baking sheets with scooped dough in the refrigerator until time to be baked. I usually can place sheets on top of evenly spaced cartons( i.e. milk and juice) and stacked items on the refrigerator shelves. *Parchment paper sheets may be reused. Bake the cookies until they are just done. The will look puffy, but as they cool they will squish down to chewy goodness. Hello…. Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies (Make Ahead Dough)   Print Prep […]]]> http://www.guavarose.com/2016/02/chewy-chocolate-chip-cookies-make-ahead-dough/feed/ 0 http://www.guavarose.com/2016/01/split-pea-miso-soup/ http://www.guavarose.com/2016/01/split-pea-miso-soup/#respond Wed, 13 Jan 2016 16:09:16 +0000 http://www.guavarose.com/?p=10531 Thunder is rumbling outside as I’m writing this. We’ve had a lot of much needed rain here lately. Soup weather seems here to stay for a while. I came up with an easy soup that requires very few ingredients: a small piece on kombu, 1 cup of split peas, a couple of stalks of celery, and some white miso and vinegar. Garnish with a few toasted pumpkin seeds if you like. A little scoop of pressure cooked brown rice sprinkled with gomashio (ground sesame seeds + sea salt) rounds out the meal. Stay warm and dry! Split Pea Miso Soup   Print Prep time 10 mins Cook time 60 mins Total time 1 hour 10 mins   Author: Guava Rose Serves: 8 Ingredients 1 c. dried split peas 3" piece of dried kombu seaweed 2 large stalks celery, diced into ¼" pieces 8 c. water, divided ½ tsp. sea salt ¼ c. white miso 4 T. rice vinegar Optional: toasted pumpkin seeds to garnish Instructions Soak kombu in the ½ c. water 10-20 minutes until softened. Save the water and dice the softened konbu into ¼" pieces. In a soup pot, rinse and drain the split peas. Add the diced […]]]> http://www.guavarose.com/2016/01/split-pea-miso-soup/feed/ 0 http://www.guavarose.com/2015/12/honey-caramel-nuts/ http://www.guavarose.com/2015/12/honey-caramel-nuts/#respond Thu, 24 Dec 2015 21:25:46 +0000 http://www.guavarose.com/?p=10516 A simple little treat for the holidays– just nuts, honey, coconut oil and sea salt baked at low heat in the oven. Heat the coconut oil and honey until just boiling, then pour over the nuts. Lining the baking sheet with parchment paper is a must, or stirring and clean up will be troublesome. Sprinkle with a little sea salt and mix the nuts to coat them all. Bake at 250 degrees F for about 80-90 minutes, stirring every 20 minutes. When honey coating is almost totally absorbed by the nuts, and very thick, remove the pan from the oven. Stir the nuts occasionally while they cool for the next 15-20 minutes. A rubber spatula works best for this, so that you can scoop up the extra bits of caramel back onto the nuts as they cool. Place the finished nuts onto a clean sheet of parchment paper. Break the sticky nuts off into small clusters and let cool and dry completely. I’ve made this with darker and lighter colored honeys, and it’s funny how the lighter colored honey produced a darker colored caramel. They were all equally delicious though. This honey caramel is pretty sticky when you eat it, so make sure […]]]> http://www.guavarose.com/2015/12/honey-caramel-nuts/feed/ 0