Tag Archives: clove

Spiced Irish Beef

Posted on July 2, 2012 | Leave a comment

Can you believe it? We are still waiting to move into that house we were supposed to get at the end of May. Crazy. Now we are stuck in our old place waiting for a closing date. So, no hobbit videos until we get this all sorted out, especially since my list of hobbit recipes and their notes are already packed. For now how about some tasty beef? This one is traditionally served around the holidays in winter but it sure is tasty with a side of colcannon or on a nice summer salad. Warm or cold it is delicious! I think I may be fondest of it as a cold cut though. Ready for some tasty?

  • 4 lbs eye of round or sirloin (your choice really)
  • 12 cloves, ground
  • 1 tsp ground mace
  • 1 tsp ground juniper berries
  • 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
  • 1 tbl ground black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 4 tbl brown sugar
  • 1 clove garlic, pressed
  • 1 cup guiness beer or water
  1. Combine the spices and sugar.
  2. Rub into the meat and cover. Refrigerate overnight.
  3. This is best left to marinate for a couple of days, traditionally it is done for a week. Overnight is good too. Turn the meat and cover every 12 hours if possible. Should end up looking like this:
  4. Preheat oven to 350F. Remove from marinade. Place in a baking dish as close to the size of your cut of meat as possible. Cover with the water or beer. Bake for 30-40 minutes.
  5. Serve warm or allow to cool, either way slice thinly.

Makes 8 hearty servings. Each serving contains (if you used water) 305 calories, 8.8 grams fat, 2 grams carbs, no fibre, 51.7 grams protein. Great for a dinner before or after hiking. Have some of this waiting in your fridge already made and sliced for your salad and you are set! Or for a special treat, colcannon! I suggest slicing thinner than I have in the picture for a salad topper.

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Posted in Comfort Foods, Dinner

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Hardcore Hobbit: Blackberry Jam

Posted on August 31, 2011 | Leave a comment

This tasty jam can certainly be enjoyed in a variety of ways. This is an ingredient recipe in LOTRO. According to the game it is made with blackberries, water, and mixed spice. This then goes on to be the ingredient for so many other hardcore hobbit recipes. I can’t wait! I have been anxiously watching our blackberry bushes all summer. You won’t believe how busy the bees were! Now we have oodles of blackberries and the first thing that absolutely had to be made was this blackberry jam. I like the tartness of the berry so I did not add much sugar at all. If you like a sweeter jam you may want to add more than I did. With the success of this basic jam I am definitely going back to make more. I think the next will be a blackberry lavender jam and a blackberry passionfruit jam. Num! Definitely harvest season around here.

  • 4 cups crushed blackberries
  • 1 cup unsweetened apple juice (I made my own by juicing a few fuji apples)
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp ground cloves
  • 1/2 tsp light cooking margarine
  • 1 pkg no sugar needed pectin (I call it insurance in case my apple juice doesn’t come through)
  • 1 cup sweetener of choice (I used splenda but honey would be divine)
  • 4 small canning jars
  1. Boil the jars, lids, and seals to sterilize and prep for the jam. Keep them hot until ready for filling.
  2. Strain 2 or 3 cups of the berries to remove the seeds. Blend the strained liquid with the remaining crushed berries in a pot.
  3. Add the apple juice, margarine, cinnamon, and cloves to the berries.
  4. Stir in the pectin until dissolved.
  5. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat. Add the sweetner of choice.
  6. Stir constantly while boiling for 3 minutes then remove from heat.
  7. One at a time remove jars from the hot liquid, ladle in the jam, leaving about 1/2 inch from the top. Wipe the rim clean. Top with the sealing disk. Screw down the top. Repeat for the rest of the jars.
  8. Return the filled jars to the boiling water, make sure the jars are covered by atleast an inch of water. Boil for 10 minutes or longer if you are at higher altitudes.
  9. Remove the jars from the water without tilting them. Allow to sit upright and undisturbed for 24 hours.

Makes 4 250 ml jars. 1 tbl of jam sweetened with splenda is 7 calories, .1 gram fat, .5 gram fibre, 2.1 carb, and .1 gram protein. 1 tbl of jam sweetened with honey is 22 calories, .1 gram fat, .5 gram fibre, 5.7 carbs, and .1 gram protein. Contains all the num needed to last through winter for two hungry hobbits.

 

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Posted in Breakfast, Comfort Foods, Craving Buster, Ingredient, Sidedish, Snack, The Hardcore Hobbit

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