Michael and Jaspenelle

Blessed Lughnasadh!

Blessed Lughnasadh!

(I wrote about this sabbat last year if you would like to read more about it. I’ve learned more since that article but it is still a good general overview.)

Lughnasadh is going to be quite different for us this year since we now have Damian! His grandpa Tolman will be here to visit. I want to make an effort to celebrate all the sabbats with Damian but this one might wait till next weekend. I like that cross-quarter days are flexible like that! Heck my solstices and equinoxes kind of are too.

This year I am going to share my seasonal feast recipes with you. I haven’t tried to peach one yet so I will have to get back to you about how that ones goes. My recipes are all very loose and leave a lot of room for personal taste. I rarely follow instructions except if I am making bread… even then I tend to switch to whole wheat… Speaking of whole wheat, Lighnasadh does celebrate the grain harvest so how about some bread?

BREAD: Baguette

• 1 tbsp active dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 2 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 cup bread flour
• 3 cups whole wheat flour

- In a large bowl combine honey and warm water, stir in yeast. Let sit for 10 minutes, until foamy.
- Add salt. Add flours 1 cup at a time until dough starts to come together. Turn out onto a floured surface and kneed in the rest of the flour until smooth (about 10 minutes.)
- Place dough in an oiled and turn to coat the surface. Cover and let stand in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 to 2 hours.
- Punch down and form into long slender loaf (approx 21 inches long and 3 inches wide.) Place diagonally on a lightly greased large baking sheet and let rise uncovered for about 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 400 F.
- After loaf has risen make 3-6 diagonal slashes on it with sharp knife and lightly brush top with cool water. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden. Cool on wire rack. (If you can wait long enough for it to cool, warm baguette smothered in fresh butter or preserves, yum!)

APPETIZER: Bruschetta
There is about a dozen different ways to make this, but this is the way I grew up with, more or less. The ingredients are very flexible and can (and should!) be done to taste.

• 6 tomatoes, seeded and diced
• 2 to 4 cloves garlic, minced (I use a garlic press)
• a handful of fresh basil leaves, chopped
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1 baguette (homemade)
• Olive oil

- Toss together tomatoes, garlic and basil. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside to allow flavors to meld.
- Slice baguette into 1-inch pieces and toast. Drizzle with olive oil. (Alternately you can cut the garlic cloves in half and rub them against the toast before drizzling.)
- Top with tomato mixture and serve.

MAIN DISH: Grilled Chicken Salad

• 4 grilled chicken breasts, sliced
• Homemade raspberry vinaigrette
• 1 head lettuce, torn up - I like red leaf or romaine
• 2 cups spinach, torn up
• 2 cucumbers, seeded and diced
• 1 cup corn
• 2 or 3 or 4 tomatoes, seeded and diced
• 1 cup mozzarella, cubed or shredded

- Make vinaigrette. Mine uses about 8 tbsp olive oil, 3 tbsp raspberry vinegar, 1 to 2 tbsp local honey, 1 tsp dry mustard, 1 1/2 tsp lemon juice, 2 cloves garlic, salt and pepper. Still all that in a jar and shake. Viola vinaigrette. (I make my own raspberry vinegar but I have seen it in some stores, you could use any fruit vinegar, or apple cider vinegar, or balsamic for that matter.)
- Marinate chicken breasts in some vinaigrette for 30 minutes to and hour. Or you can be inpatient like me and stick some vinaigrette and the chicken in a ziplock and hit with with a rolling pin a few times until it flattens. Force marination.
- Grill chicken and slice. I like it left warm but you could certainly chill if that is your thing.
- In a large bowl toss together your chicken and your other ingredients with more vinaigrette. (Alternately, you could layer it lettuce, spinach, cucumbers, corn, tomatoes, cheese.)

DESSERT: Grilled Peaches
I can’t wait to try this. I saw it on the news awhile ago and since peaches are in season right now, what better way to celebrate the local harvest! Not sure if I see the point of the brown sugar, fresh local peaches are already very sweet.

• Peaches, 1 per personal
• 2 tsp brown sugar per peach
• Melted butter, enough to brush your peaches with
• Vanilla ice cream

- Cut peaches along the seam all the way around and twist off the pit. Brush cut sides with butter.
- Cook, cut side down, on a hot grill until fruit has grill marks, 3 to 4 minutes.
- Brush tops with butter, turn over, and move to indirect heat. Put 1 tsp of sugar in each peach where the pit was.
- Cover grill and cook until sugar is melted and fruit is tender, 5 to 10 minutes.
- Serve hot with vanilla ice cream.

If you celebrate Lughnasadh what do you intend of filling your family’s bellies with? Even if you don’t what are you having for dinner? Some local foods too I hope!

Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes

This recipe makes about 8 pancakes, enough to feed Michael and I, though I ate a double batch all by myself the other day. I have a feeling that may have been a craving though…

• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 tbsp safflower oil

1. Sift dry ingredients into a medium bowl (I usually add 2 heaping tablespoons of flaxseed here too, it is a very loose recipe, sometimes I only use whole wheat flour as well.) Add wet ingredients and mix until smooth, you can add a little water if you like flatter pancakes (like I do.) You can also fold in blueberries, banana slices or chocolate chips here if you want.

2. Heat a frying pan over medium heat with a little oil in it. (I always use a 10-inch cast iron skillet to make pancakes I find it cooks them most evenly and makes them that perfect brown color.)

3. Pour about 1/4 cup of batter into pan and cook until bubbles begin to appear on the surface of the batter. Flip and cook until a bit of steam comes from the side of the pancakes. Pancakes should be golden.

You can also put thinly sliced bananas in the pan and pour batter over them.

4. Serve warm with butter, maple syrup and jam.

Golden Squash Soup

Have you heard Into the Night by Santana and Chad Kroeger? Sexy Rwar!

Anyhow, soup…

Golden Squash Soup
servings 4

Ingredients:

• 1 large butternut squash, peeled and diced
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 2 3/4 cups vegetable or chicken broth
• 6 oz can coconut milk
• 2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Peel and cut up squash in a 1/2″ dice.
2. Heat 2 tbs broth in a medium soup pot and saute the onions until tender. Add garlic and ginger and saute for another minute. Stir in turmeric and curry powder. Mix well.
3. Pour in remaining broth and add the squash. Turn heat to high and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for about 10 minutes (or until the squash is tender.)
4. Pour the soup mixture into a blender and add coconut milk. Blend until smooth. Return mixture to the soup pot and add cilantro, salt and pepper. Reheat and serve hot.

The Apple

With the Autumn Equinox approaching, my thoughts turn towards the harvest, especially the Apple Festival in Greenbluff coming up. Michael and I have a little tradition of going out there with friends each year to picking apples, drinking fresh cider and go on a hay ride or two.

As far as apples go though, I admit that I have not always been too keen on apples. As a child I much preferred strawberries and other softer fruit. I still do not like eating apples raw and unsliced. Living in Washington State though has softened me to them a little. Anyhow with the Apple Festival near, I have been researching apples a little. I am the type of person who always likes to have tidbits of info to share, in and our of circle. This article in the sum of the information I have gathered.

General Info
The apple tree is in the species of Malus domestica of the rose family Rosaceae. It is one of the mostly widely cultivated tree fruits in the world. It is also one of the oldest fruit trees to have been cultivated. The petrified remains of apples have been found in tombs dating back as far as 5000 years. Though the modern apple came from a single variety in Asia, there are now about 7,500 varieties of apples in the world.

The fruit of the apple tree is, of course, the apple, which is full of nutrients and can be stored for long periods of time, this made it ideal for winter storage. The apples was an important stable in Europe and Asia because of this (and later in North and South American with the arrival of Europeans.)

The apple has long been valued for its healing properties, I doubt we would say “An apple a day keeps the doctor away” if it were any other way. Modern research suggests that many vitamins and antioxidants in apples can help reduce the risk of cancer (particularly colon, prostate and lung cancer) by preventing DNA damage. There are also some studies that suggest that a certain group of chemicals found in apples might help protect the brain from neurodegenerative diseases, such are Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

Folklore
The long history of traditions and legends associated with the apple can most likely be tied to the fact that it has been a stable of the human diet for so long. Sometimes it seems the apple is about as polarized in legend as the raven.

• To many Christians, the apple is often named as the forbidden fruit which Adam and Eve shared, leading to their expulsion from Eden. Naturally, this point is hotly debated by religious scholars, particularly since the word “apple” has been used as a generic term for many fruit, including berries and nuts, as late as the 17th century.
• In Norse folklore, the Apple is the tree of immortality. A sacred orchard was kept by the goddess Idunn. She fed the apples to the other gods keep them forever youthful. To the Norse, the apple represented long life, wisdom and love.
• In Greek folklore, Gaia gave Hera an apple tree when she married Zeus. That tree is kept in the Garden of the Hesperides, guarded by the dragon, Ladon.
• In Silesia (now modern day Poland) sleeping under the apple tree or with an apple under your pillow was said to induce dreams.
• In Celtic folklore, the apple symbolized life, death and rebirth as well as healing and youth. It was said that the apple tree was the bridge between the realm of the living and the dead.
• In Arthurian legend, the isle of Avalon (or Avallach) is believed to mean “Isle of Apples”. It is ruled by the Fairy Queen, Morgan le Fey.
• Irish folklore, the god Óengus gave three miraculous apple trees as a wedding gift for the one of the Milesians. One was in full bloom, one shedding its blossoms, and one in fruit.
  It was also said that if a woman should peel the apple skin in one continuous ribbon and throw it over her shoulder, it would land in the shape of her future husband’s initials.
• In Druidism, “tuiloc” (mistletoe) is a sacred plant. Because it was often in apple trees, this also made apples sacred. They also had a sacred apple tree from which the Silver Bough was cut and from it hung silver apples which sounded like bells and could lull because into a trance-like state. It was said that the Druids could make contact with the other world through these trances.
• In South West England the Apple Wassail is a traditional form of wassailing still practiced in some cider orchards, it is sometimes called “howling”. It is thought that this practice originated from Pagan practices as offering to the Gods for a fruitful harvest. On Twelfth Night, men would go to the cider orchards with their wassail bowls and sliced of bread. Bread was laid at the roots of each tree and a cider libation was also poured over the tree roots. The ceremony is said to “bless” the trees to produce a good crop in the forthcoming season. Sometimes certain songs were sung (this is thought to be one of the origins of Christmas Caroling.) A few of the traditional ones are (from Wikipedia):

“Here’s to thee, old apple tree,
Whence thou mayst bud
And whence thou mayst blow!
And whence thou mayst bear apples enow!
Hats full! Caps full!
Bushel–bushel–sacks full,
And my pockets full too! Huzza!”
(South Hams of Devon, 1871)

“Stand fast root, bear well top
Pray the God send us a howling good crop.
Every twig, apples big.
Every bough, apples now.”
(19th century Sussex, Surrey)

“Here we come a wassailing
Among the leaves so green,
Here we come a wandering
So fair to be seen.
Love and joy come to you,
And to you your wassail too,
And God bless you and send you a happy New Year.
And God send you a happy New Year.”
(Somerset, 1871)

Some deities associated with the apple in legend and lore are:

• Celtic: Cerridwen, Morgan le Fay, Olwen
• Norse: Freyja, Idunn
• Greek: Aphrodite, Dionysus, Gaia, Hera
• Roman: Cupid, Pomona, Venus
• Middle Eastern: Ashtarath, Astarte, Ishtar, Shekinah

Modern Paganism
Different circles and families have their own unique traditions too, like Michael and I going out to the Apple Festival each Equinox. I know a lady who buries a few apples each Samhain with her children. She tells them it is to honor the fey and spirits. She also uses it as a stepping stone to talk to her kids about family ancestors and the cycle of life.

There is one thing I have heard mentioned more often then anything else when it comes to the apple and it has little to do with folklore and more to do with the appearance of the apple.

When you cut an apple in half on it’s equator, it’s seed casings are revealed. The arrangement of these form a five-pointed star. This symbol, the pentagram, is an ancient symbol for occult knowledge and the love goddess, Venus. The seed pentagram turns into a pentacle when you factor in the circular shape of the apple’s flesh. The pentacle often used as a the symbol of protection, the earth, sacred knowledge and sometimes the Goddess (it represents a lot of other things too but that is for another essay.)

Magical Uses
Apple wood is often used to make magical items like wands, besoms, pendulums, wreaths and pentacles. This is probably because of its ties to primarily female deities and many Pagans tend to be more Goddess oriented. I personally use a lot of apple wood because I have easy access to it, I love its energy vibration and it looks beautiful.

Apple blossoms have five petals (again like the pentagram), are white or pale pink and being a flower, associated with female energies. To many this ties them with the love goddesses Venus and Aphrodite, and makes them good for love spells and sachets.

Apples often adorn festive harvest altars along side of pumpkins and corn. Cut crosswise they can be used and natural or impromptu pentacles and representations of Earth and fertility. Of course if you celebrate a particular deity who is linked to the apple it makes sense to place them on your altar. Sometimes they are made into apple dolls. A great tutorial for making apple dolls can be found here.

Apple juice is often used as a substitute for wine in circles, particularly when underage people are present. I see no problem with the substitution, though I find it to be something that is almost only done in the United States (probably because of the stigma attached to alcohol.)

Rituals and Meditations
I have these on my grimoire (which is membership only) but I will post a couple of them on my blog later this week. This article was written for my grimoire but I love to share too much to keep it all hidden.

Recipes
If you have a tried and true apple recipe to share, let me know!

• Apple Pie in a Jar
• Apple Sweet Potato Bake
• Autumn Jam

Miscellaneous Tidbits

• Herbalists have long used apple juice fasts to flush out gallstones.
• The Chinese associate the apple with Yin (female energy.)
• In astrology the apple is associated with the planet Venus.
• Apple wood is one of the nine woods traditionally placed in the Wiccan balefire.
• In the modern Reclaiming tradition, (which, from what I understand is heavily influenced by Celtic and Arthurian lore) the dead journey to the Isle of Apples to await rebirth.

Sources

• Druidry.org
• Sacred Spiral
• Wikipedia

Whole Wheat and Flax Banana Nut Bread

In Sunday’s blog entry I talked about grinding wheat and flax to make banana bread. I made some yesterday and this is my recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• ¼ cup all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup ground flaxseed
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 2 eggs
• ¼ cup milk
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1 cup mashed bananas
• ½ tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup chopped walnuts (I used almonds this time)

(Question: Do you think this recipe would still work if I substituted brown sugar or honey for the white sugar?)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a loaf pan.
2. Sift flours, flax, sugar, baking powder and salt into a large bowl.
3. In another bowl, mash bananas. Beat in eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla. Stir into dry ingredients until moistened. Stir in nuts. Pour into loaf pan.
4. Bake for 50-55 minutes.

Enjoy!

(PS: One of my wisdom teeth is breaking through, that explains my headaches from the past few days. Why do we even have these damn things, hurts like a bitch… I need a teething ring!)

Jaspenelle’s Breakfast

My typical breakfast:
- A bowl of plain yogurt (mmm probiotics) usually mixed with some homemade jam, topped with fruit and homemade almond oat granola. Sometimes I munch on an extra piece of fruit too.
- A homemade muffin of slice of quick bread topped jam or honey butter.
- A glass or organic 2% milk, vanilla soymilk or juice.

Now to share a couple recipes.

Almond Oat Granola
I made granola for the first time this weekend, rather then buying it. I couldn’t believe how easy it was and it is suppose to be able to store for a long while in the fridge.

• 4 c. rolled oats
• ½ c. almonds, slivered
• ½ c. honey or maple syrup
• ¼ c. olive oil
• ½ tsp salt
• ¾ c. raisins or craisins (Optional)

Preheat oven to 350F.

Toss together dry ingredients (except the dried fruit) and then mix in the wet ingredients. Coat the oats throughly. Spread the mixture on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes, then flip over and bake 10 more. Keep turning until the oats start to brown, about 30 minutes (the granola will harden as it cools.) Remove from oven and stir in dried fruit. Cool.

Store in airtight container in the fridge.

~~~

Maple Blueberry Conserve with Almonds
This is modified from “The Complete Book of Year-Round Small-Batch Preserving“. I love it but I would probably use only ¼ tsp. of ginger next time.

• 2 c. frozen or fresh blueberries
• ½ c. water
• ¼ c. maple syrup
• 1 tbs. lemon juice
• 1 c. white sugar
• ½ raisins
• ¼ c. chopped almonds
• ½ tsp. allspice
• ½ tsp. ground ginger

Combine blueberries, water, maple syrup and lemon juice in a medium stainless steel or enamel saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat then cover and reduce heat. Gently boil for about 5 minutes, or until the fruit is tender. Stirring occasionally.

Stir in sugar and raisins. Return to a boil, reduce heat and boil gently, uncovered this time for about 15 minutes, or until the mixture has formed a light gel. Stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and stir in almonds and spices.

Pour into sterilized jars and waterboil for 5 minutes.

This makes 1 1/2 cups of conserve.

~~~

So what do you eat for breakfast?

Autumn Jam

A few people have been asking me for this recipe lately. It is from The Complete Book of Year-Round Small-Batch Preserving. I really recommend the recipe book, I think it is lovely for anyone who loves homemade preserves but doesn’t want 100 jars.

Ingredients:

• 5 plums (pitted and sliced)
• 2 medium apples (peeled and cored)
• 2 medium pears (peeled and cored)
• 1 cup water
• 2 tsp lemon rind (grated)
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 3 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger

Instructions:

1. Combine plums, apples, pears, water, lemon rind and juice in a non-reactive saucepan (I use an enamel camping one.) Bring mixture to a boil over high heat. Cover and reduce heat - cook for 10 minutes until the fruit softens.
2. Add sugar and return to boil - stirring constantly until the sugar dissolves (this burns really easily make sure you use a wood or even better - metal - spatula to scrap the bottom of the pan.)
3. Boil rapidly and uncovered (still stirring but not to vigorously) until the mixture gels. It takes about 30 minutes.
4. Pour mixture into canning jars with 1/2″ of head space, screw on lids and water bath for 5 minutes (10 for me since I am up on the South Hill…) Let cool for 24 hours.

This recipe makes 4 cups.

Sugar & Spice Nuts

I got this from the newspaper awhile ago and tweaked it a little. Since these are going to be gone before Yule I will have to make another batch for our little gathering, Michael loves them.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2tsp each: cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 8 oz mixed nuts (unsalted)
• 1 large egg white

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Combine sugar, spices and salt in a little bowl, set aside.
3. In another bowl coat the nuts with egg white (I just toss them around with a fork for awhile.) Add sugar mixture and toss again.
4. Spread the nuts out on a baking sheet as evenly as possible, try to separate them as much as you can - it saves work later.
5. Bake for 15 minutes, remove from oven and break them apart with a wooden spoon. Return them to oven for another 5 or 6 minutes to dry them well. Remove from oven and break them up again. Let cool in a dry cool place for at least an hour so they can fully harden. Store them in an airtight container (I just put them back in the nut tin I bought.)

Caramel

Michael and my beautiful caramel.

If you would like to make caramel, it is so easy! This makes 2 1/2 pounds.

You’ll need:

• 1 cup butter or margarine
• 1 pound brown sugar
• 1 cup light corn syrup
• 1 15oz can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• A dash of salt

Notes:
A candy thermometer is an important tool. You can buy them at most groccery stores. You just clip them to the side of the pot (make sure the bottom of it is not touching the bottom of the pot.) Use a wooden spoon, plastic ones will melt.

Instructions:

1. Melt the butter in a heavy 3 quart saucepan. It may go without saying to some but I usually always cook over medium heat, it might take longer but there is less of a chance of the sugar scorching to the pan (and just me, that is a pain to clean.
2. Once the butter is completely melted add the sugar, mix throughly. Add the corn syrup and mix it in well. Slowly add the sweetened condensed milk.
3. It is important to stir constantly or it will burn. You want the carmel to reach the firm ball stage which is about 245F. This will take about 15 minutes of cook time. Stir constantly.
4. Once the firm ball stage has been reached remove from heat, stir in vanilla and pour into a buttered 9×9x2 pan. Let it cool (we just let it cool on the counter) turn it out of the pan and cut it up how you would like.
5. Viola, caramel!

Nectarine Chutney

Labels aren’t attached yet because I ran out of glue…

Michael brought me 20lbs of nectarines home the other day from work. Half are still sitting out in the living room but I used some to make chutney. While I normally used peaches for this, I really like the way it turned out this nectarines.

In Indian cuisine, a chutney or chatni is a term for a variety of sweet and spicy condiments, originally from the Indo-Pakistani subcontinent. I use mine on meat as well as in pastas. Sometimes I just eat it on saltine crackers.

You’ll need:

• 8 cups of peeled and pitted nectarines (I think it was about 10lbs)
• 3 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
• 2 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 1 medium onion
• 1 cup of seedless raisins
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 tbsp ginger
• 1 tbsp ground cayenne
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp allspice

Instructions:

1. Cut up nectarines (I actually mashed them loosely with a potato masher since I like chunky chutney), onions and garlic and put in the large non-reactive pot (I use a big enameled camping pot.)
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring the pot to the boiling point (chutney is to thick to get to a boil like water does.) Stir until the sugar is dissolved.
3. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered while stirring occasionally until the chutney is a desired consistency and is deep brown in colour. My nectarines this time where very juicy so it took 2 hours. It can be as little as one though.
4. Bottle in 6 sterilized pint jars. Process in boiling water for about 10 minutes.