Can you eat green tea?

Can you eat green tea? I just proved this, and they backed me up. I like this explanation. Because the main reason I make Green Tea Herbal Extracts is to get all the poly- phenols out that cannot be extracted by boiling water alone. So by cooking it with a bit of oil, well you really get more benefits by eating the leaves too.

Does anyone "eat" the steeped green tea leaves? - General ChowhoundingTopics - Chowhound

Does anyone "eat" the steeped green tea leaves? - General Chowhounding Topics - Chowhound

I do all the time. I call it my "instant greens". I make a casserole cooking...

• 1 cup rice with about  4 Tbsp.  dried green tea.
•  I add a little coconut milk in the water to equal 2 cups liquid. I then
•  add, 5 spiced tofu  (optional, but you can add chicken or beef) .
• Add sesame seeds (optional, but it pumps up the nutritional content) 
• soy sauce to taste, a few dashes. 
• one tsp sugar or sweetener, just to bring out the flavors.
• 1 tbsp oil, I used sesame 

 I first bring the liquid to a boil, add all the ingredients and cook this in a one pot casserole for 15 minutes covered on low.  I do use Gen Mai Cha as it is my favorite for cooking this dish because of the sweet flavors the roasted rice gives. Its quick, easy, healthy, and a cheap way to get your greens. And you don't even feel like you are eating veggies. Which is great if you are not a veggie lover, or you don't have any greens on hand. One more thing. It's absolutely delicious!! Sometimes I even make patties and you can deep fry these babies too, for a variety. So yes you can eat green tea leaves. Most of my herbs I use for cooking are made from leaves. Right? right.  You can also add other veggies like peas, edename etc., chicken, whatever you want.    My herbalist told me to drink/eat lots of green tea to detox my body from all its impurities. This is just one way to eat your Greens.
I hope you have fun exploring the wonderful ways to add simple healthy ingredients to your simple recipes.  Your turn.  Have fun.

NOTE:  This not my prettiest casserole today, but it's health and tasty

Quick APPLE CIDER VINEGAR using bakers yeast

Im back!! Bwa hahahaa. Just kidding, had to add some humor to life right? And since i've been brewing, and fermenting, I felt compelled to say bwa hahahaha:) Only because I feel bewitched. Just kidding folks. Stop me now please:))

The good news is I made my first batch of RAW ORGANIC APPLE CIDER VINEGAR. The bad news, well there isn't any! The other good news is it didn't take months like the other recipes I researched. You know me by now, I can't stay true to a recipe without tweeking it for health right? Good. So the difference as to why mine came out wonderfully smelling, and tasting just like the way it should in less time?
I used bakers yeast and waste matter from the apples. Huh? you heard me. Save the apple part for pie or apple sauce. Actually I pureed and canned mine. Yes I did and so can you. Remember my motto, "waste not, want not":)

Using bakers yeast. that alone took off 5 weeks of wait time. I opted for bakers yeast because it is readily available to anyone at most local stores. Note: another way to speed up the process is to find someone who makes vinegar and have them give/buy a piece of their "mother" to share. I couldn't find anyone. And I have a friend who has an apple orchard in her family too. I ought to tell her about the health benefits of Raw Organic Apple Cider Vinegar.

I also decided to use the apple's waste matter only. Again, using waste matter instead of the juice took off another 4 weeks. This consisted of peels, cores, stems from 4 sweet washed apples, not sour. Make sure they are sweet as they have more sugar and that is what the yeast needs to feed off of

• I blender CHOPPED IT into small pieces and the air browned it perfectly which is what you want.
• I put this in a squeeky clean canning jar, and added about 4 cups water. Leave plenty of airspace on top just in case of overflow.
• cover with a clean paper towel and wrap a rubber band or string around it. This will help to eliminate any dust, or bugs.
• I put  mine near a sunny window in a brown paper bag to ferment.  Works just fine.
• you can stir it once daily (I jiggle mine slightly for a couple seconds)
• When you see a white film covering over the top, stop stirring and let it ferment This is your "mother", take very good care of her and she will take care of you by producing good brew a lot quicker.
• Keep the liquid at the same level by adding distilled or purified water when needed. Try to not disturb "mother".
• By the 3rd week it smells like its starting to vinegar. (no more rotten apple smell)
• Week 4, I can't take this smell. It needs to be bottled, because it has me salivating:). But by the looks of it, i'm not quite ready to give it a taste test.
• Week 5, I't smells good, and I just took a taste (only because of the smell) and it's ready. Now look whos smiling now.:)))

Note:  I also canned the apple puree lemonade I made using the 4 small apples.  I rendered 40 oz of tangy apple puree ready to drink as is. (I will blog this next)
It's very tasty.

***WARNING***

Use your better judgement. You ought to know what vinegar looks and smells like. If you see, green, black, or white fungus. Don't you dare try it. Throw it out. I had to throw my first batch out 10 years ago. It was green, moldy, black and fuzzy! And I kept growing it because I couldn't find any pics, so I didn't know. And I had no internet to go to like today. Thankfully, I used my better judgement and, t'was so disgusting I threw it out. Ha! and it took me this long for my second attempt. Darn! Oh, well, better late than never.

This is a probiotic product and has potassium, pectin, malic acid, calcium, ash, acetic acid. But wait thats not all. Google it, learn for yourself. Friend if you can't afford to buy it, then make it...to take it. I cannot tell you enough all the health benefits from drinking RAW ORGANIC APPLE CIDER VINEGAR. They do not sell this in your local markets. Not even Trader Joe's. Sad for me because it's downstairs. I searched online for it and was going to order it and pay triple to have them ship it.  Trader Joes does sell organic apple cider vinegar but it's now raw.  Raw has all the nutrients we are looking for and that's why we do this.  If it's not raw, might as well drink white distilled vinegar for that matter.  Yucky cause it has no life once it has been heat processed.  (distilled).

Anyway, I thought to myself, if I make it, I could then share.

And that's part of what i'm about:)

Many blessings, and joy.

Mary Helen

2/8/12

love

you

CANNING BLACK BEANS

HOME CANNED BLACK BEANS

I just realized I titled this canning black beans while in fact you can can any beans using the same method.  Silly me.  Well yesterday I put my black beans to soak for 24 hours.

 Why soak beans?

1. It will boost the nutritional value up 20%. And that is a lot more protein, calcium and minerals by just soaking.
2. You get rid of some of the indigestible complex sugars that cause gas.
3. It also allows for quicker cooking. We do know that quicker cooking equals less nutritional loss right? Good.:)

NOTE:

Usually I soak my beans to a almost a sprouting level which takes anywhere from 24-48 hours. You do have to rinse the beans with fresh water at least 3-4 times a day.

Why can my beans? They are so cheap. Why?

1. Cooking beans properly takes at least 24 hours, so it saves a lot of prep time.
2. It's a lot cheaper than buying canned beans.
3. A good source of instant protein
4. It's energy efficient
5. It's healthy fast food

CANNING:
Note:  Make sure all jars lids and rims are clean and sterile to avoid any bacterial growth.
I have my lids simmering till ready for use.

• Filled jar 3/4 full with beans. Topped with bean broth leaving one in head-space (follow your canner's instructions)
• Remove any air bubbles around the edges.
• Wipe rims clean with a damp not wet towel.  (Very important)
• Fill canner 3-4 inches water simmering, adding 1 tbsp vinegar to prevent jar from getting cloudy
• Cover jars with hot lids, and seal tightly by hand only.
• I used 12 ounce jars so I am pressure canning for 70 minutes on high.
• Once the safety lock has released, remove jars with proper utensils and put on towel. Be careful not to burn yourself.
• Now anytime soon if not already you should hear that all time favorite canners sound... Pop!  That's the sign of a good seal.

Note: the picture below is a sign of a properly sealed jar.  See the indentation in the middle?  Good.:)

Note:  The picture below if you look carefully the middle of the lid has a round bump.  It hasn't sealed yet.  But it will.  However if you still see that bump once it has cooled.  Something went wrong.  It is best to refrigerate the goods and use it as soon as possible

Well for 2 lbs of beans which cost me a couple of dollars I got 9, 12 ounce jars of canned black beans.  8 jars fit in the canner and I froze the other one.  You can do that with canning jars IF you leave head space.   Otherwise it would burst.  I also got  another 16 oz of cooked black beans that I didn't can and is ready to use any way I wan't.  

I'm thinking tortilla soup for one.

Folks I hope this helps any then i'm a happy camper...

Peace and happy canning.:))

LDS Church News - Church opens cannery doors to help ease pangs of hunger

Just thought i'd share. Are you prepared to take care of yourself or your loved ones for 3 month, a month, a week, a day??Are you a prepper? All it takes is one can at a time, don't rush, but don't wait to be despaired either. Do it for yourself and your loved ones please!!! Just do it! Take 5 minutes make a supply list, like water, batteries, canned/dry food, first aid, and such. Just do. Tis better to be safe than sorry.

LDS Church News - Church opens cannery doors to help ease pangs of hunger

Quick Sweet Potato Pie

preheat oven to 350

1 sweet potato large or 1 small can
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 dash salt
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup sugar or sweeten to taste with your favorite sweetener.
Spices

Spices like cinnamon, cloves, ginger,or nutmeg. You can add one or all. It's all to your liking. note: pumpkin pie spice has all the above.

Well I had this one large sweet potato in the fridge for a while so I microwaved it and let it cool. Add the egg, milk, butter, sugar and spices. I used cloves, and pumpkin pie spice. Cinnamon is also very good. Blend all ingredients and put in pie crust. Personally I use my never fail pie crust. I love it because its a never fail pie crust, (lol) and whenever I need to make a pie of some sort voila! ;there it is. Bake till crust is browned.

Hmmm. my guestimate is about $2.00 for the whole lot of this. Serves about 8-10 nice slices.
btw the taste is as good as it smells.
Enjoy

I'm back with many blessings:))

Hi everyone I'm back. I've been so very busy trying not to spread myself so thin. Lol. I hope you had a wonderfully Blessed Holiday. Looks like everything is back to normal. My home is thank the Lord. Only thing is my clothes are fitting a little tighter this week than last month. Oh oh. If I don't get a grip on it now, my clothes won't fit at all.
Ok. Check. However I know I'm not alone here right? Especially after the holidays.

I also want to share some of my New Years Resolutions with you. Funny cause I never make one, and now I have a few. Probably because I end up never keeping them. However I feel so strong about these. They are...

1. Get healthier physically, mentally, and spiritually.
2. Be more of service
3. Go to Hawaii/business/temple. Lol So anyway, dear friends, let's get
Mary Helens Test Kitchen going.

Psst. Thanks for coming back:)))