Food « (y)our food choices™

After seeing Star Wars The Last Jedi twice over the holiday season, we’ve decided to take a lesson from our beloved Carrie Fisher and not give a fuck what people think and just say what’s on our minds. We’ve loved Carrie since we were kids but it’s only been in the last 12 months since her death that we’ve discovered what a bad ass she really was.

2017 has been a year of sticking our heads in the sand. No blog posts. No tweets. A few instagrams. And a lot of alcohol. The 2016 election sucked ass (and not in a good way). Then with the deaths of Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds we just couldn’t face the world. Our funk went deeper and deeper. Even with three trips to Hawaii we still couldn’t bring ourselves out of being depressed. It seemed like nothing would get better and the world would end in a giant nuclear war.

It wasn’t as bad as we were expecting. The stock market didn’t crash, North Korea didn’t launch any missles at the U.S. (directly), and women (and men) we’re finally given a platform to discuss the rampant problem of sexual harassment and abuse without being brushed to the side by the same men that are the problem. Of course, we still have the predator in chief in the White House and a bunch of white privileged men controlling congress, but as 2017 ends there seems to be a light of hope with the coming of 2018.

As for food—since this is a food blog—our food habits have changed for the better since starting this blog. We turned vegan last September in 2017 and then gave up alcohol in November, which our bodies have thanked us for doing, especially our livers. We started with a 30-day vegan challenge and found after a week that the challenge turned out to be not only easy but enjoyable and cheap. Food tastes better. Intestinal issues are all cleared up. We have more energy and we’re exercising more. It’s amazing what a little positive change in one’s life can do to create a snowball effect. In 2018 we plan to reduce the amount of sugar and caffenine we consume and exercise even more than we do now. Maybe they’re the same resolutions as everyone else, but when you start with just one, it’s easy to add another one after a month or two.

We’ll do our best to write more posts and recipes. At least one a week. We’ll also try to include humor in our posts, the occasional political rant, and maybe a reference or two to a movie we love. We’ll also be tweeting and instagraming a lot more but we left facebook last year with no regrets. That shit takes too much time anyway. We’ll leave FB to our mothers to enjoy. [Note: our mothers have never read one of our blogs.]

For our first recipe of 2018 we turn back to Star Wars The Last Jedi. Spoiler: there’s a scene where Luke milks some creature and then drinks the green liquid, most of which goes down his beard, as Rey looks at him in disgust. We’re not attempting to make any green milk product here, although hemp seed milk does sound interesting. Instead here’s our version of cashew milk. Better tasting than store bought nut milk and regular cow’s milk. If Luke only had cashews on his island he wouldn’t have to drink that green stuff.

So, Cheers and May the Force Kick Some Ass in 2018!

Cashew Milk

A high speed blender like Vitamix makes the job easy, but any blender will work if you blend it long enough, I think.

3/4 cup cashews (soaked overnight covered with water and a pinch of salt)

3 1/2 cups filtered water

Optional: 1 tablespoon maple syrup

Drain the soaked cashews. Add them to the blender along with 2 cups of water. Blend for a minute or two until smooth. Add the rest of the water and maple syrup if using. Blend until combined, just a few seconds. If the milk isn’t smooth enough for you, strain through a fine mesh stained. Use as you normally would regular milk. Keeps for at least 3-4 days or longer in the back of the fridge where it’s coldest.

It’s Halloween! While we’re not the type of guys that like getting dressed up and partying until the sun comes up, we do find All-Hallows-Eve a mysterious and monstrous night to just hang out with some chocolate, red wine, and a good scary film. This year, the rage seems to be all about red wine hot chocolate. It’s essentially a good homemade hot chocolate recipe and a good amount of red wine. That’s it! I could end the post now to give you more time to go out trick-or-treating with the kids to pick up candy, but let me just add a few more words first before you’re out the door.

The best thing about this recipe is that it’s so damn easy. Which means, it’s also easy to mess it up. First rule, don’t skimp on the quality of the chocolate. While you can use a lesser quality bar like say, Hershey’s Milk chocolate, don’t. If you’re about to add wine to your hot chocolate, choose chocolate that’s on the dark and slightly bittersweet side. There is plenty of sugar in the wine and in the dark chocolate to give it the right amount of sweetness, and since there is already milk added to the hot chocolate why add more? Let the kids have the milk chocolate.

Next rule: use the right kind of wine. This is where you can save a little cash and go for something a little sub-par. A good everyday drinking blended red wine is the perfect accompaniment. Going for a single varietal may seem like the right choice, but after adding milk and chocolate, that Cabernet or Pinot Noir may only be a one note wonder. Although, since this is our first venture into the whole hot chocolate red wine thing, it might be good to explore our options. Since it’s Halloween, we chose to use Apothic Red. It’s a good winemaker’s blend that tastes great on it’s own and pares perfectly with dark chocolate.

Milk is also an important component to this recipe. Here, the best option is going to be whole-fat and organic. A little fat is a good thing now and again, and it’s also used here in a dessert drink which adds to the decadence, so go big. Skim and low-fat milk just wouldn’t cut it in our opinion. We’d rather just drink the wine and eat the chocolate than add either of them to those tasteless, low-fat milks. If you’re going for a non-dairy milk, maybe a cashew or almond milk variety would work and may even make it better. Steer clear of coconut milk. While tropical flavors do exist in wines, those flavors mostly come through in white wines and we wouldn’t want to waste chocolate, red wine, and coconut milk on something we weren’t sure would taste delicious. Lastly, add salt. A pinch of salt brings out the flavors of the chocolate and the wine. Not too much though or it will be a salt bomb.

There’s a million places on the web to find this recipe. We discovered it on thekichn.com which has links to many more sites. Now grab that bar of chocolate, bottle of wine, and whole milk and whip up a batch of this brew. Enjoy it while the kiddies are out trick-or-treating, or if you must join the kids on tonight’s excursion, put the batch in a thermos and enjoy your warm treat while everyone else is freezing.

And one more thing, if this election cycle is causing you to drink (more), add more wine to your hot chocolate and enjoy it with one of our 420 cookies (or a dozen).

Happy Halloween!

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Blood Red Hot Chocolate
serves 3
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
2/3 cup fruity red wine, (we used Apothic Red)
1 cup milk
a pinch salt

Stovetop Method:
Bring chocolate and water to a simmer in a small saucepan over low heat; cook, whisking, until melted, about 3 minutes. Add milk and salt, whisk and simmer until desired heat; about 2 minutes. Pour into mugs, top each with red wine and serve.

Milk Frother Method (single serving):
Bring chocolate and water to a simmer in a small saucepan over low heat; cook, whisking, until melted, about 3 minutes. Pour 1/3 of the chocolate and 1/3 the milk into an electric milk frother. Press go. When finished pour into a mug and top with red wine.

Optional: Top with whipped cream or marshmallows.