Homemade Sports Drink, Julie's on demand version

This is a variation of a recipe from the June 2011 print edition of Yoga Journal which doesn't require chilling drink prior to consuming. 

1 cup hot water 

2 tablespoons lemon juice 

Pinch of salt 

1 teaspoon honey, maple syrup or agave nectar 

1 cup cold or room temperature water 

In a heat safe container which can hold just over 2 cups, combine hot water, lemon juice, salt, honey, maple syrup or agave nectar. Let sit for 90 seconds. Gradually stir in cold water. Serve.

Pink Purse Cake

Many years ago while shopping at local discount retailer Ocean State Job Lot with friends, we came across a cookbook titled “All-New Cake Mix Magic” where on the back of the cookbook was photo a “pink purse” cake. Encouraged to make this cake by these friends for our next pot luck, I gave it a try. 

Pink Purse Cake 

1 package (about 18 ounces) yellow cake mix, plus ingredients to prepare mix 

½ cup seedless raspberry preserves 

1 container (16 ounces) white frosting Red food coloring 

Black string licorice or Twizzlers twist black licorice

(Optional) licorice candies (like Good & Plenty), black jelly beans, pastel egg sprinkles 

Place oven rack on middle run.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees farenheit. 

Prepare cake mix according to package directions for 13x9-inch cake. Bake cake according to package directions. Cool cake in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove cake from pan to wire rack; cool cake completely. 

From short (9 inch) end use wooden pick to divide the 13 inch length cake into 4 sections with ½ inch scrap: 2 ½ inches, 3 inches, 3 ¼ inches, 3 ¾ inches or 2 ¼ inches, 2 ¾ inches, 3 inches, 3 ½ inches if cake receded from edges of pan during baking or shrunk during cooling process (which happened to me). Use serrated knife to cut cake into these 4 sections. Discard ½ inch strip of excess cake. 

Place widest section of cake cut side down on cake board or serving platter. Spread left side of this piece with preserves; attach next widest section cut side down to left of widest section (the preserves is acting as “glue” for these two pieces as top becomes a downward angled slope). Spread left side of section just attached with preserves; attach next widest section cut side down to left of this section. Spread left side of this section with preserves; attaching smallest section of cake to left. Cake should gradually slope downward from right to left. 

To make purse shape, measure 1 inch from side of smallest cake section. Using serrated knife, cut back to corner of tallest section making smallest section shorter than tallest section. Repeat on other side of cake. Discard scraps. 

Cover cake with foil or plastic wrap and freeze cake for several hours before frosting. 

Tint frosting pink using red food coloring. Remove cake from freezer. Frost cake on top and all sides.

To decorate cake, use string of black licorice and gently press into frosting to outline purse flap or strap. Cut ½ inch pieces of black licorice to resemble stitching. Use 5 Good & Plenty pieces to create flower petals and cut a 6th in half to create flower center. To make strap, use another string of black licorice, pushing ends of licorice string into bottom of short end of cake.

Pink Purse Cake decorated with 

Twizzlers twist black licorice 

and 

Good & Plenty Flowers

Hermit Cookies (makes about 18 cookies)

 My first introduction to Hermit Cookies was when I was in college and bought a package of Archway Hermit Cookies. These were soft, chewy rectangular cookies. I can't remember if they contained nuts, raisins or both. I just remember they were soft and chewy. Craving these cookies many years later, I went searching on-line for a recipe and found this one, which according to hard print copy I have “.... dates back to Sun-Maid's 1923 cookbook.” 

In writing up this post, I went searching on-line again for this Sun-Maid recipe. After multiple searches, sadly, I could not find it as this recipe is a variation of this Sun-Maid version. 

According to a 2016 article from Bon Appetit, there' no clear answer how this cookie got this name nor where it originated from. There are many varieties as a current search for “hermit cookie recipe” yielded over 3,000 results. If anything, this is a versatile cookie. 

Hermit Cookies 

¼ cup shortenting or butter, softened 

¼ cup sugar ¼ cup firmly packed brown sugar 

1 egg 

1 cup all purpose flour 

1 teaspoon baking powder 

1 teaspoon cinnamon 

½ teaspoon nutmeg 

1/8 teaspoon cloves (optional) 

½ cup raisins 

½ cup chopped walnuts 

Place oven rack on middle run setting. Preheat oven to 350 degrees farenheit. 

In a large mixing bowl, combine shortening or butter, sugar, brown sugar and eggs; beat until light and fluffy. 

Add flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, if using. Mix well. Stir in raisins and walnuts.

Drop dough by rounded teaspoons onto non-stick cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake in oven for 12 – 15 minutes or until lightly browned. 

Cool cookies on wire rack. Store cooled cookies in airtight container.

Oven Roasted Green Beans (serves 2 – 4)

If you've perused any of my recipes, you've noticed I roast a lot of vegetables,--eggplant, baby carrots, roma tomatoes. Until it was mentioned to me a couple of months ago I would've never thought of roasting green beans. Of course, I had to try it. This is a variation on the Roasted Green Bean recipe from the Healthy Recipes Blog. 

Oven Roasted Green Beans (serves 2 – 4) 

¼ – ½ pound green beans 

1 tablespoon olive oil 

½ teaspoon onion powder 

½ teaspoon garlic power 

1) Wash green beans, remove any stems, palce in airtight container and refrigerate 5 hours to overnight. 

2) Place oven rack on middle run setting. Preheat oven to 425 degrees farenheit. 

3) Line a 15 inch by 10 inch baking sheet with aluminum foil (this make cleaup easier). 

4) In a medium bowl, coat green beans with olive oil. 

5) Spread beans in a single layer on baking sheet. 

6) Sprinkle onion powder and garlic powder atop beans. 

7) Bake 10 – 15 minutes in oven. Beans will make “sizzle” sound as they cook. 

8) Cool 1-2 minutes. Serve.

9) Store any leftovers in airtight container in refrigerator.  

Roasted Green Beans Ready to Eat

Baked Blue Hubbard Squash (whole and pieces)

On a first glance Hubbard squash look like a big, overgrown gourd. They are an edible winter squash and per Food Network are “a large winter squash, typically about 1 foot wide and 15 to 20 pounds in weight. It has very bumpy skin that comes in different colors: dark green, pale blue-green, orange or yellow. Inside, the flesh ranges from yellow to orange.” 

The flavor of cooked blue Hubbard squash is tarter than butternut but milder than pumpkin and can vary based on the color of the flesh. To my palette the yellow flesh reminds me of spaghetti squash while the orange is closer to butternut squash. Cooked blue Hubbard squash can be used and eaten like other winter squashes such as butternut or acorn squash. 

If you've never had Blue Hubbard Squash (or cooked whole one) I suggest looking for pieces or quarters as a way to start/try this since the pieces are smaller, lighter and easier to handle due to how large this squash can be and how tough the skin is. 

Recipes for cooking both a whole and pieces of Blue Hubbard Squash are presented here. The recipe for cooking the whole squash is a combination of the one from Food Network's website and the approach I took to cook pieces of this squash two years earlier. For both recipes, I recommend using a roasting pan with handles as I found it helped getting the squash in and out of the oven. 

Baked Blue Hubbard Squash Pieces 

1) Place oven rack on middle rung. 

2) Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees farenheit. 

3) Place squash, skin side down in roasting pan. 

4) Fill baking dish/roasting pan with 1/8” water. 

5) Loosely cover (tent) roasting pan with aluminum foil. 

6) Place in oven and cook 35 minutes - 1 hour 15 minutes or until squash in center of dish/pan is easily pierced with a fork. 

7) When squash is cooked to desired tenderness, remove from oven and let cool uncovered in pan for 5 minutes. 

8) Transfer squash to cutting board and let cool until it can be comfortably touched with your fingers. 

9) Remove the cooked squash from the skin. 

10) Serve or use as you would in other winter squash recipes. Store any unused cooked squash in airtight container in refrigerator. 

Baked Blue Hubbard Squash (Whole Squash) 

1) Place oven rack on middle rung. 

2) Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees farenheit. 

3) Rinse squash with water. Pat dry. 

4) Place wash and dried squash on flat surface. Using a paring knife, pierce squash 10 times in multiple places as this will prevent squash from exploding while it's in the oven. 

5) Place squash deep baking dish/roasting pan. 

6) Fill roasting pan with 1/8” water. 

7) Place in oven and cook 35 minutes - 1 hour 15 minutes or until squash is easily pierced with fork in three places. Skin of the squash may brown or bubble from baking. 

8) When squash is cooked to desired tenderness, remove from oven and let cool uncovered in pan for 15 minutes or until it can be comfortably touched with your fingers. 

9) Carefully cut the squash, removing the skin and scooping out the seeds. (Note, the same paring knife used to pierce squash in step 4 can be used for cutting.) 

10) Serve or use as you would in other winter squash recipes. Store any unused cooked squash in airtight container in refrigerator. 

11) If any part of the squash didn't cook to desired tenderness, follow recipe above to bake Blue Hubbard Squash Pieces to get desired tenderness.

Baked Blue Hubbard Squash

ready to be served or used in 

other winter squash recipes

Shortbread Kiss Cookies

When I was a teenager one of my friends at the time made the classic peanut butter blossom cookies and shared them with us. I don't remember how many of these cookies I ate but being a fan of peanut butter and chocolate I remember they were really good. This experience inspired me years later to create a peanut butter chocolate chip cookie recipe as well as this one which is a variation on the “Russian Tea Cake” recipe from my 1992 edition of “Mrs. Fields Cookie Book”. 

This recipe makes about two dozen cookies and because the Hershey Kiss is inverted or placed pointed side down into the cookie dough it's an easy cookie to transport. I've only used the original milk chocolate Hershey Kiss in this recipe and recommend using any Hershey kiss which is solid throughout like the original. 

Shortbread Kiss Cookies (makes two dozen/24 cookies) 

1 cup (two sticks) butter at room temperature 

½ cup confectioners' sugar 

2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

2 cups flour, all-purpose recommended 

Place oven rack on middle run setting. 

Preheat oven to 325 degrees farenheit. 

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until blended. Add vanilla extract. Mix. Add flour. Mix until thorough combined. 

Shape tablespoon's worth of dough into a ball about 1 inch in diameter.  Place on non-stick cookie sheet about 1 inch apart. 

Remove foil wrapper from Hershey Kisses. Place kiss pointed side down into center of each ball. 

Bake in pre-heated oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool cookies on wire rack. Serve. 

If transporting cookies, make sure they are thoroughly cooled and place wax paper between each layer of cookies to keep them from sticking.

“Rough and Quick” Roasted Tomato Sauce (makes about 1 ½ cups of sauce)

I found myself at the end of last summer with an abudance of local tomatoes which were not of the Roma or Italian Plum variety. The thought of making slow roast tomatoes crossed my mind followed by the thought of making a roasted tomato sauce which would take far less time, under 2 hours from start to finish, and could be portioned out and frozen for later use. Only the third batch made it to the freezer. The first batch was completely consumed within an hour of coming out of the oven, the second lasted one week in the refrigerator and its remainder was consumed while the third batch was being cooked being the reason why the third batch made it to the freezer. 

This recipe uses all of the tomato,--skin, seeds, etc. If this is not your idea of tomato sauce feel free to stop reading here and go to the National Center for Home Food Preservation and check out their tomato sauce recipes. 

If you're planning to consume this sauce 1-2 weeks from making I recommend storing in an appropriate container in the back of the refrigerator. If you're planning to consume this sauce several months from making I recommend portioning out the batch to size(s) which work for your meal planning, place in freezer-safe bags or containers and freeze. To thaw, let sauce sit on the on the counter top for a few minutes if portion is small enough or place in luke warm water to thaw slowly. If you end up consuming this as soon as it comes out of the oven I recommend waiting at least 10-15 minutes for sauce to cool before eating. This is good as is, on homemade foccia bread or added to pasta. 

“Rough and Quick” Roasted Tomato Sauce (makes about 1 ½ cups of sauce) 

4 cups diced tomatoes (about 4 large or 6 medium size tomatoes) 

¼ cup olive or canola oil 

1 – 1 ½ teaspoons minced garlic or 1 – 2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced 

1 ¼ teaspoons dried italian seasoning 

1) Place oven rack on middle rung. 

2) Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees farenheit. 

3) Wash and dry tomatoes. Dice and place in 13-inch by 9-inch baking dish. 

4) Add oil, garlic and italian seasoning to baking dish. 

5) Stir all ingredients in baking dish two to five times or until coarsely mixed. 

6) Place in oven and cook 35 minutes – 1 hour until sauce is desired consistency, checking every 20 minutes and turning dish as needed to get an even roast.  

7) Remove sauce from oven and let cool for 10-15 minutes if serving immediately. Otherwise, let sauce cool completely, about 1-3 hours, store in refrigerator for 1-2 weeks or portion out to freezer-safe bags or containers and freeze for later use.

The portion of the second batch which made 

it to the refrigerator and lasted for one week