Gindi Cafe

Archive for December, 2011

Many people say there’s nothing more American than apple pie. However there is another sweet treat that’s one hundred percent red, white, and blue.

From coast to coast, Americans are wild about iced tea. What many don’t realize is that although it’s based on an Asian brew, iced tea is an American innovation.

Iced tea’s popularity can be traced to the heat wave of 1904 when tea merchant Richard Blechynden decided to serve tea over ice at an exposition in St. Louis. Americans have since perfected different methods of making iced tea, along with several innovate recipes.

Black teas from Ceylon, China and Java are most commonly used to make iced tea. Flavored teas such as lemon green tea, peach black tea, Formosa oolong, or Japanese sencha may also be used.

While some prefer their chilly brew without sugar, iced tea can also be taken sweet. Superfine baking sugar or bartender’s sugar should be used to sweeten the flavour. Other options including preparing sugar syrup on the stove using a 1:1 water and sugar and simmering the mixture for a few minutes. The sugar syrup will keep in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

Iced tea may be made by cold or hot steeping. In cold steeping, dry tea leaves are placed in a clean jug filled with an appropriate amount of cold water. The infusion is refrigerated for at least six hours or overnight, and then strained into a second jug or container. Sugar or lemon may be added prior to serving.

To brew iced tea using the hot steeping method, three options are available:

Method 1
Use twice the quantity of dry tealeaves that you would ordinarily use for hot tea. Infuse in hot water for five minutes, and then pour over a full glass of ice. For best results, let the tea cool before pouring it over ice to prevent clouding or creaming down.

Method 2
Double the tealeaf amount, steep for 5 minutes in hot water, and then pour the infusion into a container with the same amount of cold water. This method dilutes the strong tea and prevents clouding.

Method 3
Steep black tea in boiling water for 5-8 minutes. Strain the brewed tea into a container containing cold water, and then add sugar or lemon to taste. If you brewed too strong a concentrate, it will be diluted when poured over ice. If you still find the tea too strong, you may add a little water until you have the perfect iced brew.

Many people enjoy mixing their iced tea with an equal amount of lemonade or other fruit juices. Take care that the juice does not overpower the flavour of the tea. Sweetened, flavoured, hot or cold brewed, iced tea is an age-old American tradition. Brew up a pot today and for a real taste of America, serve it with a big slice of apple pie.

Camping provides a great escape from the weekday routine. You can enhance your camping experience with innovative camping recipe. A camping recipe can be as easy or as complicated as you want as there’s no reason to fear camping cooking.

Start your day off with a hearty breakfast that’s easy to make. A breakfast that’s satisfying and easy to make is pancakes. You can speed things up while camping by using a pancake mix, however, if you like to make your own pancakes from scratch then pre-measure your dry ingredients, for example flour, baking powder, sugar and salt, and seal the ingredients into a ziplock bag. At your campsite you can easily add your wet ingredients and have a hearty pancake breakfast on the table in no time. An easy camping recipe for breakfast will allow you to enjoy a satisfying meal that will fuel you for your day outdoors while being easy and quick to prepare so that you don’t miss out on fun time.

Camping recipes are great way to have delicious and nutritious meals while camping. Many camping and outdoors websites have camping recipe ideas and also have areas where you can share your favorite camping recipe with other campers.

Family Camping

If you’re camping with your friends or family, make sure that you get everyone to participate in the preparation of meals. Camping recipes don’t have to be restricted to meat-filled classics, and there are many vegetarian camping recipes for kids and the whole family to make and enjoy. Fun camp cooking recipes are an especially great activity for family camp outs. On a family camping trip, fun camp cooking recipes can be tried at the end of a day while you are enjoying the campfire. Camping dessert recipes are also fun and easy for kids to make, and the whole family enjoys eating them. Have a favorite family camping recipe that the kids love to cook. Blend your family’s favorite tastes into camping meals they will savor.

Dutch Oven Camping Recipes

Cooking on camping trips can be the most enjoyable part of the experience, especially if you are not too keen on spending the entire day hiking or playing cards.

Dutch oven campfire cooking is one of the best ways to make meals on camping trips. A large and deep Dutch oven will have room for many serving sizes so that you can feed an entire family. Dutch oven camping recipes are great for breakfast – not just dinner – since all ingredients can be cooked in the Dutch oven. Easy Dutch oven camping recipes for delicious meals around the campfire are available at many websites. Shallow Dutch ovens can also be used to cook breakfasts on a smaller scale. And don’t forget that you can bake fresh bread in your Dutch over although a handing camping tip is to take along pita bread instead of regular bread, as it will hold up longer.

Campfire Cooking

All you need is a campfire, and you will have a hot meal in minutes. Everyone seems to work up a huge appetite while camping, so you’ll want to be able to easily whip up some quick and tasty camping dinner recipes to satisfy everyone’s hunger. Campfire dinner recipes can be as simple as old favorites like macaroni and cheese or more exotic pasta dishes. Any grill recipe will usually work well over the campfire and the kids will enjoy cooking their own hot dogs over the campfire.

Everyone can partake in campfire favorites such as smores, or try a new campfire dessert recipe that is both simple and fun to prepare.

Do you have a favorite camping recipe? Share your favorite camping recipe with your fellow campers. Camping websites can quickly give you a choice of easy camping recipes for breakfast lunch and dinner to browse and add to your camp cooking menu or just give you ideas for your own.