Yummy Fridays! Recipes from the Hippie Peaceniks Team on Etsy

One thing us hippies love is yummy food!  Every Friday we will be sharing some of our favorites from the Hippie Peacenik team on Etsy.

Vegan Risotto From Mellwaters Creative:

Take a sweet potato, and pierce all over with a fork. Bake in the oven at whatever temperature you like (I normally do about gas mark 6, but doing it slower should work as well) for an hour or so until it's soft. Look out for the resin/sap leaking out and caramelising (oh, and put foil under it! It's an absolute nightmare to clean up otherwise - I'm talking a big burnt lump of inflated sugar). A while after that, it's just perfect, but not for eating now - oh no, we have better plans than that! It might be tempting, but be strong and wait. Trust me!

While that's cooking away, start off your risotto. I like using whatever exotic mushrooms I can find, with some chestnut mushrooms added to bulk it out. Put some oil (I use virgin, cold-pressed organic coconut oil or olive oil. Try to avoid vegetable oil, and 'canola oil' is the worst possible thing out there.) into your pan, and heat it up on the lowest heat with the mushrooms. Be patient, and resist the urge to add more oil when it dries up a little - eventually the oil will come back out of the mushrooms, and they go all soft.

Then add your risotto rice, and some olive oil. Stir to coat all the grains, and add some water (it's supposed to be hot, but I manage with cold) a little at a time, along with a stock cube for every 500ml of water. Each time you add water, wait for it to be absorbed by the rice before adding more. Hopefully, your sweet potato will be ready about now. Take it out of the oven, cut into a few pieces and just stick it into the risotto pan, skin and all. The flesh will kind of melt into the stock and make everything really rich and amazing. Continue adding water and STIRRING, and putting some coconut milk in in place of some of the water as and when you feel like it. Also add your favourite herbs and spices (turmeric is one of my staples, and very healthy). The rice is cooked when it no longer tastes horrible and chalky (it's a game of chicken when you taste it first!), and then you can carry on until it's your preferred consistency. (Be careful not to make it too wet. You're aiming for a nice thick consistency, so that it can support itself in a heap. Season to taste.

Then, plonk yourself a good serving into your favourite bowl, and enjoy! The hardest part is sharing it with anyone else, or leaving any of it for the next day.

The B5 or Hungry Man Casserole from jclairep:

1 lb ground beef
1 small onion
1 cup of BBQ sauce
1 can of Baked Beans (I like the larger cans, but the smaller ones will do fine)
1 Tablespoon of Brown Sugar
1 can of refrigerated biscuits
salt and pepper

You will need a casserole dish.

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Cook onions in fry pan until clear, add beef and cook until done. Drain. Add salt and pepper to taste.

In casserole dish stir together Beans, BBQ sauce and Brown Sugar. Add Meat and onions and stir. On top place the biscuits and cook for at least 25 minutes until done. Mixture should be bubbly and MAKE SURE the biscuits are cooked through. They tend to take longer to cook on top of the mixture...and no one likes a mushy biscuits. 

The 5 B's are:
Beans, Beef, BBQ, Biscuits...and a Beer for a job well done!

Let us know what ones you try and how you like them!!!  See you next week with more delicious dinner ideas!

Much Love and (((HIPPIE HUGS)))

Luci

New Recipe: Lamb Pasta

From Luci
Idle Hands Yarn
Idle Hands Boutique

Ingredients:
2 lamb shanks
1 box of jumbo pasta shells
1 box beef broth
1 box chicken broth
6 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup romano cheese
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
2 jars of Alfredo sauce (classic or any flavor that you want)

Braise lamb shanks and 6 cloves of peeled garlic in the chicken and beef broth.  Add water as needed to keep the lamb shanks emerged in liquid.  The water is what evaporates, so you are not watering it down by adding water.  Let the shanks boil for 5-6 hours.  Keep the lid on the pot to minimize the evaporation of water, although some will still evaporate.  Check every hour to see if you need to add water.

After lamb shanks are done (the meat should be falling off of the bone), place pasta shells in the boiling broth.  Cook for time on the instructions on the pasta.  Pasta should be soft, but firm.  You are going for al dente.  This usually takes about 10 minutes.  When pasta is al dente, drain broth from pasta.  Let the pasta cool for 5-10 minutes so you can handle it without burning yourself.  Pull the garlic cloves out and set aside.

While pasta is boiling, pull the meat from the lamb shanks off of the bones.  Add 1/4 cup each of romano, mozzarella, and parmesan cheese.  Mince the peeled garlic cloves.  Add to meat and cheese.  If you are making garlic bread to go with the pasta, leave some of the minced garlic for adding to the butter for the bread.  Mix the meat, cheese, and minced garlic together.

Once pasta has cooled, take each shell and place it in a casserole dish.  Fill the shells with the meat, cheese, and minced garlic mixture.

When all the shells are filled, top shells with 1/4 cup each of romano, mozzarella, and parmesan cheese.  Top with Alfredo sauce.

Place the casserole dishes in a 400 degree F oven.  Bake for 20-30 minutes.  You want to see the sauce bubbling around the edges, but not burning.  Once you see that, pull  the casserole dishes out of the oven and let them sit for about 10 minutes.

Then serve and enjoy!!

This recipe will feed about 4-5 people.

What's Happening on the HippieP Blog!!!

I wanted to give all you cool cats a rundown of what we have planned for the blog.  We have a lot of exciting stuff going on, and I am super excited to tell you about it!

First, we have made some changes to the pages.  Some disappeared, but we created some new ones!  The first one, and only one so far, is a page of recipes!  If you have a recipe you would like featured, please send it to hippiepeaceniks@gmail.com.  Include your link to your Etsy shop if you have one so I can include it with your recipe.

We have also set up a series of events for each day of the week!  Here is what you should be looking for:

Monday - This is Member Monday!  Lulu Divine writes up fabulous shop features of the talented artisans on the HippieP team.  I have really enjoyed reading them.  I love the feeling of knowing the person you are purchasing from.

Tuesday - This is Themed Blog Share Day.  We will give our team members a theme and whoever wants to participate can write about it on their blog.  We will then share a link to their blog and include a short blurb about the post.  I can't wait to see this!!  I am excited to link our member's blogs with ours.

Wednesday - Guest Blog Day.  This is the day that we will post an article written by one of our very own hippies.  They will be able to say what they want.  This is a censorship free zone.  I can't wait to read what is on our hippies minds.

Thursday - Thrifty Thursday!  I will be compiling a list of all sales that team members have going on.  There will be links to their shops and blurbs about them and their shops.  If you are looking for a deal you are going to want to check out our Thursday posts!

Friday - Recipes!  We will be posting recipes given to us by our hippies.  They will be posted in the main thread, and in the side page.  It is the perfect way to answer that question we all ask ourselves every day...  "What's for dinner?".

Saturday - Ask Luci.  This is an opportunity to ask questions about accounting, taxes, SEO, crochet, knitting, and eco friendly craft supplies and projects.  I worked as an accountant for a small search company for several years.  I know all about accounting best practices, taxes, SEO (working for a search company came in handy!), ecommerce (worked that for a mid sized company for about a year), and have been knitting, crocheting, and upcycling since I was 9.  For those of you trying to do algebra to figure out how old I am, I am 36.  lol  I have been crafting for 27 years.  I have managed to learn a thing or two in that time.  lol  So if you have a question, email askhippiepluci@gmail.com.

Sunday - Current Events Opinion Article.  This is where I sound off on what is pissing me off.  lol  It largely will center around politics, the economy, and the environment.  I will try to keep it funny, but let's face it, we have some serious problems!  The hippie life isn't all peace and love.  I mean, there is that, but we are also activists.  We openly oppose things that hurt people.  As far as I am concerned, sounding off on the things that are going wrong is totally in the hippie style.  I hope that you agree.

Well that is it!  You know what to expect and when to expect it!  Follow us for updates on our latest posts!

Much love to you all and (((HIPPIE HUGS)))

Luci

Announcing our new side bar with recipes!!!

We will now be posting members recipes on the side bar! You can find a fabulous recipe for Zucchini bread there now, and there will soon be a recipe for some killer lamb pasta!! Check back regularly for new recipes!
Luci