Mabon Recipe!

Most sabbats are accompanied by food... it just so happens that Mabon is, to me, an extra special food day! This is a recipe I got off of allrecipes.com many years ago, and it is really fantastic for Mabon (I think). In taking part of a blog hop with The Pagan Mom Blog, I figured I would post this fabulous main dish!

Check back for more recipes soon...

Cranberry Glazed Pork Loin Roast!

Ingredients

• 1 (14.5 ounce) can whole berry cranberry sauce
• 1 cup apple jelly
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 4 cubes chicken bouillon, crushed
• 1 teaspoon prepared horseradish
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
• 1 (4 pound) boneless pork loin roast
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• (I pretty much eyeball all the "extras" like garlic, mustard and all that jazz!)

Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
2. Combine the cranberry sauce, apple jelly, mustard, crushed bouillon, horseradish, garlic powder, and thyme in a saucepan; bring to a boil.
3. Line a large baking pan with foil. Place pork loin in pan, fat side up. Sprinkle evenly with salt and pepper. Use a pastry brush and a small spoon to completely coat the pork with sauce.
4. Cook until the pork is no longer pink in the center, about 45 minutes, basting every 10 minutes with remaining sauce. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read 160 degrees F (70 degrees C). 

Teaching the ways of the Path to a Toddler...

During my child's infancy, I spent a lot of time thinking about when I would be able to start teaching my little girl how to follow an earth based path, and how I would teach her. First of all, teaching can and does begin at infancy, sometimes it's just harder to see and understand because babies lack the use of words to tell us in a voice that we easily understand. That aside though, we're now growing through our toddler years, and I'm steadily getting my daughter more involved so she can learn over time. Like most two year olds, she has the attention span of a gnat and frequently likes to turn her listening ears into the "off" position. So, having her take part in a longer ritual with a lot of speaking parts but little movement is next to impossible, and as the phrase "sit still" still translates into "jump up and down and act like a little heathen" working on breathing and meditation is also out. However, my daughter LOVES to help me in the kitchen. She has her own little apron and set of mixing spoons/whisks/spatulas to cook with. While I don't let her in there when I'm cooking on the stove (as I don't want her to accidentally set her hand on a burner) I have her come in and help me bake. While we bake, I go through the list of ingredients and we make it part of the recipe to look up those ingredients in one of my magical reference books. The two I use are Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Wicca in the Kitchen and The Encyclopedia of Magickal Ingredients: A Wiccan Guide to Spellcasting . The first one gets used much more frequently in this setting, but it never hurts to have a back up reference book. =) So, doing this, she is having fun, I am baking something which I love to do, and my daughter is learning something about the path she is being raised on. It's nothing huge, but the same goes for children and adults, it takes small steps to learn big things.

Today we made Spiced Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (recipe courtesy of Duncan Hines):

Ingredients:

• 1 pkg Duncan Hines® Moist Deluxe® Spice Cake Mix
• 4 large egg whites
• 1 cup uncooked quick-cooking oats
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup raisins

Baking Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease cookie sheets.
2. Combine cake mix, egg whites, oats and oil in large mixing bowl. Beat at low speed with electric mixer until blended. Stir in raisins. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheets.

3. Bake 7 to 9 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets. Remove to cooling racks; cool completely.

Oats are known for money and prosperity, while Raisins are ruled by the sun and fire and eaten to open the conscious mind.

Go bake and enjoy!

Pagan on a Diet

That's right folks, even pagan's go on diet's. =)

I spent the month of January purging my body of all the things of that I love... namely, anything that falls under the carbs, dairy, fat, and sugar categories (can anyone say Cheese Danish?!). This diet, called the HCG diet, took my normal 2000 calories a day diet and dropped it to a mear 500 calories a day. Yup. 500. So, now that I am off the drops and starting to up my calorie intake, I feel compelled to write a little something for my fellows who find themselves in need of shedding some pounds, regardless of it being for health reasons or just the desire to loose a few. And besides, let's face it, pagan's like to feast! I don't know about you guys, but when my circle gets together for a ritual we always have a potluck styled feast (everyone signs up for dishes in advanced so we don't end up with 3 cakes and a a thing of rolls!), and it is a very grand affair, with most people bringing two or three dishes with several servings available for everyone. It always ends with people taking home "doggie bags" of everyones food offering so it can be enjoyed again later.

So, to begin with, if you want to use the drops and check out the system I used, go to http://www.hcgkey.com/ . It really does work well, as I lost 12lbs in just over 3 weeks.

On to the recipes! Hope you enjoy!
Here are a few that I found to be lifesavers"

Mock Chicken Nuggets:
1 chicken breast
Yellow Mustard
3-4 Garlic Melba Crackers
Italian Seasoning to taste
a pinch of Cayenne (if you like some heat)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Take your chicken breast and cut it into nugget size piece then throw them in a zip lock baggies with just enough yellow mustard to cover them. Let them sit in the mustard and continue on...
Crush your Melba crackers (I use my mortar and pestle) so that they look like bread crumbs then add the seasonings. Mix well then use these "bread crumbs" to coat the chicken. Put the nuggets on a baking sheet and cook at 400 for 15-20 minutes (depending on nugget size).
Serve and enjoy! (recipe makes enough for 1 person at about 170 calories).

Whey Protein "Pancakes" (especially good when you want to eat bread, but can't):
1 scoop whey protein powder
1 egg
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
Sweeten to taste (if desired) with Stevia

Mix all of it together, adding just enough water to get a pancake like consistency. Cook on a skillet that has been lightly dusted with Pam or some other cooking spray. Eat with fresh fruit or a sugar free/ low calorie syrup. (The whole batch is roughly 200 calories, depending on the brands used).

Chocolate Strawberry Shake:
1 Scoop Egg White Protein Powder (I used Egg White Protein Vanilla 24 oz from Jay Robb).
6 large strawberries (de-stemmed)
1 tsp baking cocoa

Blend it all together and enjoy! (about 150 Calories)

Beef "Taco":
4 oz Lean ground beef
1 Tomato
Taco Seasoning
Cabbage leaves

Cook the ground beef in a medium skillet and add in the taco seasoning. If you're worried about sodium, use the "less sodium" variety that's available in most stores or simple make your own. While the beef is cooking, take several large cabbage leaves and rinse them off, just lightly patting them with a towel to dry, and place them on a plate. Chop the tomato and set aside. When the beef is cooked through, add it to the cabbage leaf (like it's the taco shell). Put your chopped tomatoes on top, garnish with a little hot sauce if you want, and enjoy!

Imbolc Feasting Recipes!

Good afternoon everyone!
I will be posting the recipes (with proper credits) as they are emailed to me from circle members!

My Slow Cooker Beef Stew (recipe from Taste of Home):

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 pounds potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 6 medium carrots, cut into 1-inch slices
• 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
• 3 celery ribs, coarsely chopped
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 can (14-1/2 ounces) Hunt’s® Original Diced Tomatoes, undrained
• 1 cup beef broth
• 1 teaspoon ground mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon browning sauce

Directions

• Layer the potatoes, carrots, onion and celery in a 5-qt. slow cooker. Place flour in a large resealable plastic bag. Add stew meat; seal and toss to coat evenly. In a large skillet, brown meat in oil in batches. Place over vegetables.
• In a large bowl, combine the tomatoes, broth, mustard, salt, pepper, thyme and browning sauce. Pour over beef. Cover and cook on high for 1-1/2 hours. Reduce heat to low; cook 7-8 hours longer or until the meat and vegetables are tender. Yield: 8 servings.

Nutrition Facts: 1 serving (1 cup) equals 272 calories, 11 g fat (3 g saturated fat), 53 mg cholesterol, 381 mg sodium, 23 g carbohydrate, 4 g fiber, 19 g protein.

Corn Bread with Lavender Honey:

I totally cheated and used the Jiffy Boxed Corn Bread. =)

For the Honey, you take:

1 bottle (small) of a light honey

2 tbs dried lavender flowers

1 reusable steeping bag

Heat honey in a double boiler, put lavender in steeping bag then toss the bag into the honey. Keep over medium heat for 30 minutes with occasional stirring. Let the honey cool down to a thicker consistancy (will be almost like water when you take it off the heat) then pour back into the bottle. Super easy and super yummy!

Easy Quiche (thank you Tina!)

3-4 eggs (depending on size and extra filling)
1 1/2 C milk
1/2 C Bisquick
2-3 C shredded cheese of your choice
2 C whatever you want (Bacon, spinach, ham, etc.)

Mix it all together and dump it into a 9 inch ungreased pie dish and bake at 350 for 45-55 minutes (45 minutes if only used 3 eggs, 55 if used 4).
Let cool for 5 minutes then serve!