Brazilian Limeade (Limonada)

This drink is especially good in summery weather, but it can be enjoyed year round. Buy limes that aren't thick skinned and firm as they likely don't have as much juice in them. Contrary to what I usually write about not buying sweetened condensed milk when I list "canned milk," this time you want SWEETENED CONDENSED MILK in a can. If you aren't familiar with it, it is thick and sweet, and a bit off-white in color. It is a commonly used by many people to make fudge. 

 

This drink is called "lemonade" by many, because in Portuguese (the language of Brazil), the word "limão" is often used for both "lemon" and "lime," and this drink, made with limes, is called "limonada," which can be translated as "lemonade," but it is more accurate to translate the drink name as "limeade," because of the fruit used to make it.

 

Ingredients (5 to 6 servings):

 

5 limes, washed and then each lime cut into 8 pieces

1/2 cup to 1 cup sweetened condensed milk, depending upon how tart you want the limeade

4 cups cold water

10 to 12 ice cubes

some lime pieces for garnish

Wash the limes well to remove any pesticide, wax and bacteria. (Wax is often put onto fruits and vegetables to help preserve them and to make them look shiny to shoppers.) Cut each lime in half lengthwise, then halve each of those pieces, then halve those pieces. Into a blender or processor, add the lime pieces and two cups water. You don't want to obliterate the lime pieces, just extract much of their juice; so, "pulse" the lime pieces about 15 to 18 times (that's what I do with my blender, but your blender may only require 12 pulses, so use some judgment). Anymore than that and the drink can become bitter. Strain the lime juice into a pitcher and add the other 2 cups water and stir. Add 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk and stir well to mix, then taste the drink to see how much more, if any, of the sweetened milk you want to add. So add any additional sweetened condensed milk, always stirring to mix it into the drink well. Add ice cubes and take a few of the lime pieces from the sieve you used to strain the juice and add them to the pitcher. 

 

WORD HISTORY:

Twinge-This word is related to "thong," a word from the Germanic roots of English. "Twinge" goes back to Indo European "twengh," which had the notion "to press, to put pressure on, to squeeze," and this gave Old Germanic "thwangjan(an)," with essentially the same meanings, but including "to pinch." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) the verb "twengan" meaning "to pinch," and the form then became "twengen," with the further meaning "twitch," then it became "twingen," before becoming "twinge," from which the noun "twinge" was formed in the mid 1500s, and it became more common in usage by the early 1600s, meaning "a pinch, a twitch, a sudden sharp pain (often, but not always, in the abdominal area), which causes one to wince or otherwise to show sudden discomfort (with a figurative use about sudden shock from hearing about or witnessing some bad event, or from feeling a sense of remorse or sympathy about something)." The verb "twinge" had become outdated by circa 1600. German has "zwingen" (pronounced as if 'tsvingen'), meaning "to force or compel" (from the notion of "to press or to put pressure onto someone/something"). The German form has had numerous spellings over the centuries including: "dwingan," "thwingan," "twingen," "dwingen," and even the unusual "quingen;" Low German and Dutch have "dwingen," also meaning "to force or compel," West Frisian has "twingen" (to force), Swedish has "tvinga" (to force), Danish and Norwegian have "tvinge" (to force) and Icelandic has "þvinga" (þ=th, and word meaning "to force").    

Lima Beans & Bacon

I've been making this dish since the mid 1990s and I use frozen green lima beans or frozen baby lima beans. Lima beans are named for the capital city of Peru, as the beans first were taken to Europe from Peru in around 1500. Of course, the interesting thing is, the Peruvian city name is pronounced as if "lee-mah," but the bean name is pronounced "lye-mah," as is the name of the city located in western Ohio. Why did this pronunciation difference came about? It may well have developed because the first exposure many English speakers had to the word was through the written word, which they then assumed to have a long 'i' sound, especially because not many English speakers were familiar with Spanish or Quechua, the South American Indian language of the Incas from which the word was derived.  

 

This is not a diet dish. Serve with boiled potatoes

 

Ingredients (6 side dish servings):

 

1 (12 ounce) bag frozen green lima beans or baby lima beans

1/3 cup finely chopped onion

3 tablespoons reserved liquid from the lima beans

12 slices smoked bacon

(optional) 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or other ground red pepper)

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons butter

 

Cook the beans separately first per the instructions on the package of the brand you use. Generally, the lima beans are put into a pan, covered with water and the water is brought to a steady simmer for about 20 to 25 minutes, with water added as needed. Drain, reserving three tablespoons of the cooking liquid.

To a shallow baking dish, add the lima beans, onion, cooking liquid, sprinkle on the cayenne pepper (if using), cover the beans with bacon slices, then sprinkle the brown sugar over the bacon, top with small pieces of butter scattered about. Bake in a preheated oven at 300 F for 40 to 50 minutes.

 

 

Lima Beans & Bacon along with fried potatoes and tomato slices ...

WORD HISTORY:
Truck/Truckle- "The most common modern meaning" of the noun is really American usage for a "hauling motor vehicle" (British usage for such a vehicle is "lorry"). This is only the history for the noun, for although the meaning of the verb form seems to tie in with the noun, they are really different words from different sources. The verb form means, "to deal or trade in something." The noun goes back to Indo European "dhregh," which had the notion, "to run, to move." This gave Greek "trekhein," which meant "to run," which then produced Greek "trokhos," meaning "wheel" (which made/makes devices move, run). This then produced Greek "trokhileia," which meant, "a collection of pulleys and wheels." This was borrowed by Latin as "trochlea," with the same general meaning. This gave French a form carried to England as "trocle," which was then borrowed into English and became "truckle," meaning "small roller type wheel." When cannons were put onto ships, they were mounted on "carts" on wheels, that also used a system of pulleys for a gun's recoil (the backward thrust of a gun when it is fired). The carts were termed "trucks," a short form of "truckle." The usage broadened to other carts and eventually was applied to heavy motor vehicles used for hauling in the United States prior to the outbreak of World War One in Europe.    

Indian Spiced Tomato Soup: Tamatar Shorba

For the tomatoes, you can use fresh tomatoes or canned, or a mixture of the two, and if you don't get all of the seeds removed, don't have a panic attack, because it won't end civilization. This recipe does not give you an intensely spicy hot soup, but if you like spicy hot foods, you can add a chili pepper or two to the tomatoes before putting them into the blender or processor; and, you can add another teaspoon or two of Indian chili powder (cayenne paper) to the soup, too. You can also add a teaspoon or two of sugar to take some of the edge off of the acidic tomatoes. And it is not totally uncommon for some Indians to add some cream to the soup for a cream of tomato soup.  

 

Ingredients (4 servings):

 

3 cups roughly chopped tomatoes (fresh or canned), seeds removed

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons grated ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon Indian chili powder or cayenne pepper

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 1/2 cups vegetable stock

1 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons chopped coriander (aka cilantro)

(optional) 1/3 cup heavy cream  

 

Add the chopped tomatoes to a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. In a pan/pot over medium heat, heat the oil, then add the grated ginger and minced garlic; cook, stirring it around, for about one minute. Add all the other ingredients, except the chopped coriander (cilantro), stir well and bring the mixture to a boil. Adjust heat to maintain a steady simmer for about 12 minutes. Stir in the chopped cilantro and heavy cream (if using), and simmer for just another 1 to 2 minutes. 

 

WORD HISTORY:

Steward (Stewardess)-The first part of this compound is related to "sty" (pen for animals), a word from the Germanic roots of English, and the second part is related to quite a number of words, including: "aware," "beware," "ware" (commonly in the plural, "wares," goods, merchandise), "wary," all from the Germanic roots of English, and to "guard" (verb), a word borrowed from French, which had it from Germanic Frankish (the noun of the same spelling is also from French, and it was formed in French from the verb). The "ste" part of the word goes back to Old English "stig," which later became "sti," and meant "animal pen, pig pen, house, hall," ( hall with its meaning of "room," as in "dining hall, dance hall, beer hall"). The "ward" part goes back to the Old English noun "weard," meaning "guard, watchman." The two parts gave Old English "stigweard," roughly meaning "keeper of a household," often of the Anglo-Saxon nobility, and this then became "stiward," which then became "steward." The Anglo-Norman nobility used the term with similar meaning, but often for "a manager of an entire estate for a noble." The 1400s saw the term also used for "an officer in charge of food and drink on a ship," a meaning that later transferred to trains and airplanes, although now usually replaced in American English with "flight attendant." The family name spelled with an ending 't' is from Scotland, where the royal house was "Stewart," which later Mary, Queen of Scots changed to the French spelling "Stuart" in the 1500s, apparently because her mother was from a French-speaking area of Lorraine, in those times still a part of the Old German Empire. The feminine form "stewardess" (initially "stewardesse?) is from the 1630s simply formed by the suffix "ess(e)" from French, which had it from Latin "issa," from transliterated Greek "issa" (perhaps related to the Old English female denoting suffix "icge" and Dutch "egge." The verb "steward" came from the noun in the first quarter of the 1600s with the meaning "to carry out the duties of a steward." Apparently only Icelandic has a related form of "steward" in the other Germanic languages, "stívarður" (meaning "steward").  

Canadian Bacon Grilled Cheese

Canadian bacon is the term used in American English for what other English speakers generally call "back bacon." Canadian bacon is from the lean pork loin on the back of the pig which is cured and usually smoked, making it taste very similar to ham (ham is from hind legs of pigs). American bacon is from the pork belly, with streaks of fat; and indeed, the term "streaky bacon" is used by some.

I often use a sourdough bread of mixed all-purpose flour and whole wheat flour, which is what I used when I took the pictures for this article. It is a little "sturdier" than regular sandwich bread, and it comes in loaves in which the slices are a bit longer (that is, taller) than regular sandwich bread.

You can most certainly adjust the amounts shown in the ingredients below, and naturally, the kind and size of the bread slices will determine the amounts needed.

 

Ingredients (per sandwich):

 

1 to 2 slices Canadian bacon (back bacon)

2 to 3 slices Cheddar cheese

2 or 3 pieces of pimento

1 or 2 slices tomato

2 pats of butter (1 for each slice of bread)

2 slices white or wheat bread, or mixed

pickle slices for garnish or to serve on the side

 

First, fry the Canadian bacon over medium heat (you will almost certainly need a little oil or butter to start). It's fine if you brown the Canadian bacon a little too. Remove the Canadian bacon to a plate momentarily and turn the heat to low. Butter one side of each bread slice with a pat of butter. Put one slice of bread, buttered side down, into the same skillet you used to fry the Canadian bacon. Add 2 slices of cheese, 1 or 2 slices of the Canadian bacon, a couple of small pieces of pimento, and 1 or 2 slices of tomato. Keep carefully checking the underside of the bread to see how toasted it is. Add the second slice of bread, buttered side up, to the top of the sandwich and press down with a spatula or turner. When the bottom slice of bread is browned, carefully flip the sandwich over and let that slice of bread toast, which "usually" takes less time. Slice the sandwiches across or diagonally and serve with some pickle slices on the side. A common accompaniment in the U.S. is a cup or bowl of tomato soup.  

 

 

  

 

With cream of tomato soup, a common American pairing ...

WORD HISTORY:
Fund-This word, distantly related to the English word "bottom" (a word from the Germanic roots of English), goes back to Indo European "bhundhm," which meant "base." This gave Latin "fundus" (the "bh" rendered in Latin as 'f'), which meant "bottom, base, foundation," and this gave French, a Latin-based language, "fond," which was borrowed by English in about 1675 with the meaning "a pool of money to be used for some purpose," which, by c. 1700, had expanded to "basic supply of money, often for establishment of business activities," and also later, "a business that manages money." The French spelling with the 'o' was replaced in English with the 'u' following the Latin of 'fundus." The term most certainly still has the "business" meaning, but it has broadened to include personal or family "business matters," as in, "home improvement fund," or "car repair fund," or "vacation fund," or "kids' college fund." The verb was derived from the noun in the 1660s or 1670s (I found conflicting dates), initially with the meaning "to have a supply of money to establish a business or to expand an existing business," but the verb broadened in meaning to, "have a sufficient amount of money to pay for something," and "to provide money to someone or some entity for some purpose;" that is, "to finance someone or something (to fund someone)."

Mashed Sweet Potatoes & Ham Gravy

Just as we often use the juices from roast beef, roast pork or roast chicken to make gravy, the juices from baked ham shouldn't be overlooked, and ham gravy is super. It should not be confused with "red-eye gravy," which is typically made from the drippings of ham fried in a skillet to which black coffee is added (the fatty ham drippings and coffee produce a reddish brown sauce that looks like a red eye).

 

These mashed potatoes are a great side dish next to some freshly baked ham. I like sweet potatoes to be sweetened further for sweet potato casserole, but I only use a small amount of sweetener when I have mashed sweet potatoes, and at times, I don't add any sweetener. So, you can certainly add sweetener in the amount you prefer. 

Ingredients:

 

1 1/4 pound sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 to 2 inch chunks

1 1/2 tablespoons butter

2 to 4 tablespoons canned milk (evaporated milk, NOT sweetened condensed milk)

1 or 2 tablespoons honey (or maple syrup)

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (or mace)

1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper

pinch of salt

 

For the gravy:

 

3 strips bacon, chopped

4 tablespoons flour

1 1/2 cups ham broth

1/4 cup canned milk

1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

2 tablespoons finely chopped ham

salt not needed due to broth and bacon

 

Cover the peeled and cut sweet potatoes with water in a pan over high heat, add a pinch of salt. Bring the water to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium to maintain a steady, but not a rolling boil. Cook the sweet potatoes for 8 to 10 minutes, then use a fork to see how close they are to being done; and proceed until they are tender, but not mushy. 

When the sweet potatoes are done, drain them and return them to the same pan over very low heat. I add the butter, honey and the 2 tablespoons of milk to the pan. If you add more milk  than that right off, you may end up with runny sweet potatoes, so it's best to add it a little at a time, if or as needed. Stir the ingredients around until the butter melts, then remove from the heat. Add the nutmeg, white pepper and a pinch of salt. Use a hand mixer to mash the sweet potatoes until they are smooth and creamy. During this process, if you feel they need more milk, add one tablespoon at a time and continue with the mixer. 

For the gravy: Add the chopped bacon to a pan or skillet over medium heat. Let the bacon cook to render the fat, then sprinkle in the flour and stir to make a roux (if there is not enough bacon fat to make the roux, add a tablespoon of butter, let it melt, mix it around, then add the flour). Cook the roux for just a minute or two to remove the raw flour taste. Use the liquid in the baking pan from the ham; that is, the ham juices, and add enough water to it to make 1 1/2 cups. Begin adding the ham broth (about 1/4 cup to start), and keep stirring to get it incorporated with the roux; then, add 1/2 cup broth and repeat the process, continue until all the broth is used and the gravy is smooth (except for the bacon bits), then add the milk and do the same process. Add the finely chopped ham and the white pepper and stir well to mix it all in.

 

Serve the ham gravy over the mashed sweet potatoes ...   

  

 

WORD HISTORY: 

Trek-This word, related to "drag" and to "draw," both original English words from Old Germanic, goes back to Indo European "dhragh," which had the notion of "to pull." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "dragan(an)," with the same meaning. This "seemingly" produced a somewhat later West Germanic variant form, "trakjanan," meaning, "to drag, to pull roughly, to scrape." I say, "somewhat later," because apparently English did not have a form, and the Germanic dialects that became English left the continental North Sea areas beginning in the mid 400s and into the 500s AD. The variant form gave Dutch "trecken," with the meaning, "to drag, to pull;" thus also, "to travel by cart/wagon" (which, of course, was pulled by animals). This then became "trekken." The Dutch began a strong colonial involvement in southern Africa in the mid 1600s. Many Dutch colonists settled there, and a Dutch dialect gradually developed in southern Africa, more recently declared to be a language in its own right, Afrikaans. Dutch "trekken" was naturally carried to the Dutch settlements in southern Africa; thus to early "Afrikaans," by which time, the word had come to mean the more generalized "to travel, to move from one area to another," and this then became "trek," in Afrikaans, also meaning, "to travel, to migrate, to transport," which also then developed the like spelled noun, meaning, "a migration, a journey." The verb and noun were borrowed into English in the mid 1800s, as English speaking colonists were also present in southern Africa by that time. Other relatives in the Germanic languages: German has "trecken" ^ (Treck is the noun form, from Low German in the later 1800s), verb form meaning, "to hike, to move/travel in a migration;" Low German Saxon "Treck" (noun, "migration;" the verb seems no longer to be used); Dutch "trekken" (to pull, to drag, to migrate, to travel; noun "trek," meaning "draught (air flow 'traveling through an opening'), migration"); West Frisian "trekke" (to pull, to drag); Danish "trække" (borrowed from Low German, "to drag, to pull").

^ The original German form was diminished to dialectal use, but it was revived, to some extent, as something of a borrowing, or reinforcement from Low German. Also, the Germans were involved in southern Africa, which provided some reinforcement from Dutch/Afrikaans.

Red Cabbage & Sausage Soup

Red cabbage is a nutritious vegetable often prepared with apples or applesauce or pears and various spices as a side dish or as part of a main dish where meat like sausages or pork are served on top of red cabbage. It is common in German cuisine; that is, German in the broad sense that includes not only in Germany, but also Austria, Switzerland and Alsace, but I'm not certain about Luxembourg or Liechtenstein), and also in German immigrant communities in the U.S. (and I "assume" Canada and perhaps Brazil).     

 

This recipe takes red cabbage in a little different direction by making it a big part of soup. By letting the sausage slices not just warm up, but actually remain in the soup for the last part of cooking, they will give give added flavor to the soup. 

 

 

Ingredients:

 

5 cups shredded red cabbage

5 cups beef broth

1 cup water 

4 cloves garlic, chopped

2 bay leaves

2 teaspoons ground allspice

1 1/2 tablespoons cider vinegar

3 tablespoons tomato ketchup 

1 or 2 frankfurters, sliced (slices of about 1/3 inch)

1 or 2 cooked bratwursts, sliced (slices of about 1/3 inch)

1 teaspoon ground black pepper  

1/2 teaspoon salt (if the beef broth is salty, you can skip adding this salt)

sour cream for garnish

 

You can easily make this in a crock pot or slow cooker by putting all of the ingredients, except the sausages and sour cream, into the cooker and cooking everything on high setting for one hour, then turn the heat to low and cook it for 4 to 5 hours, or until the cabbage is tender. Add the cut up sausages for the last 45 minutes. Otherwise, in a pot or large pan over high heat, you can do the same: add all of the ingredients except the sausages and sour cream. Bring the soup to a simmer, then adjust the heat to simply maintain a steady simmer. Cook until the cabbage is just about done, then add the sausage slices and stir well to mix. Let the soup come back to a simmer and let it cook for 30 minutes more. Serve with a dollop of sour cream in the middle of each serving.

The sausage slices get dyed from the red cabbage ...

 

 

WORD HISTORY:

 Ledger-This noun, related to "lay," "lie" (not the "untruth"), "lair" and "low" (all original English words from its Germanic roots), goes back to Indo European "legh," which meant, "to lie flat, to lie down, to lay;" thus also, "to sleep or rest in a flat position." This gave its Old Germanic offspring, "lagjan(an)," with the same basic meanings. This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "lecgan," meaning, "to make to lie down, to set or place." This then became "leggen," and this spawned the noun, "legger," meaning, "a book that lies in a particular place," often used in reference to religious writings centuries ago, but by the second half of the 14th Century, it was used as "ledger book," to mean, "a book of business transactions, business account book," although it was often simply used as "ledger." The word also was used in fishing for "ledger bait;" that is, "bait that was made to be kept in the same place." From what I can tell, English is the only language to use a form of the word in the account book context, which is an English invention. It has relatives in the other Germanic languages, but with other meanings, mainly "lay/lie," although some have borrowed "ledger" from English as a synonym for their own words, which often mean "main book." 

No Cook Stuffed Peppers

This is a dish that requires no cooking, as it is a good way to use already cooked ham. Bright red bell  peppers have lots of Vitamin A and Vitamin C and you simply remove the tops of the peppers, the seeds and the pithy ribs.

For the cream cheese, you can use the low calorie or low fat type, if you'd like, but the thing to do is to have it somewhat softened. You can let it sit out to come to room temperature, unless you live within in an igloo inside the Arctic Circle; in which case, bringing it to room temperature likely won't help, or you can put it into a bowl and pop it into the microwave for maybe 10 to 12 seconds. You want to be able to have the cheese soft enough to mix the other ingredients into it without having to rent a cement mixer; on the other hand, you don't want it to be almost liquid, although you'll be putting the finished peppers into the refrigerator to have the cream cheese firm up again. You can adjust the amount of filling ingredients a little, if you'd like, as I've made these to just give a basic guideline. One other thing, fresh herbs are pretty easily available in stores today, so get some fresh thyme to use. Dried thyme is great in soups, stews and gravies, because it has hot liquid to soften it, but in this dish, dried thyme could have some sharp and pointed stems that will not be fun to bite into, as in "YEEOW!" 

Ingredients (4 to 6 servings):  

3 large red bell peppers

1/2 cup finely chopped already cooked ham

1/4 cup white Cheddar cheese, chopped or shredded

3 green onions, chopped (including green part)

12 green and black olives, sliced

3 tablespoons finely chopped pickles

1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves 

1 1/2 cups cream cheese, softened

1 or 2 teaspoons milk or cream

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon salt 

mustard and horseradish for serving

Cut the tops off of the peppers and remove all seeds and and the whitish colored ribs or veins inside the pepper (it's called pith). In a bowl, add the softened cream cheese and 1 teaspoon milk or cream. Use an electric hand mixer to whip the cheese. If needed, add another teaspoon of milk or cream and whip. Now add the other ingredients; mix carefully, but well with a large spoon; this can take a little time. Spoon the mixture into each pepper, pressing it down with the spoon so that it is tightly packed in. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours, if you are in a hurry, or preferably several hours otherwise. Cut the peppers into 1/2 to 1 inch slices for serving. Serve with mustard and horseradish on the side and I cut off the pepper parts around the stems and use them to garnish the pepper slices.  

 

 With some grainy mustard and horseradish ...

WORD HISTORY:

Icicle-This is a compound word formed from "ice" ^ and the addition of what was once spelled "ikel." This second part goes back to Indo European "eyhso" meaning, "frost, solidified water from cold." This gave Old Germanic "jeykilaz," which meant, "piece or chunk of ice," "seemingly" also with the secondary notion of  "cone or wedge shaped." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "gicel" (likely pronounced with a beginning "gy" or even "y" sound),^^ meaning, "piece of ice, icicle." This later became "ikil." It was put into a compound to give English "isikel," before the modern form, "icicle." There are (and were) Germanic relatives of the compound word and of the second part of the compound (naturally there are relatives of "ice" in the other Germanic languages, see link below): German once had "isilla, isel," and it has "Kegel" (cone, bowling pin, which is cone shaped), Low German has "Iesjökel" (icicle, Ies=ice + Jökel=icle), Dutch "ijskegel" (icicle), Icelandic has "jökull" (ice formation, glacier), Danish has the antiquated (dialect?) "jisegel" (icicle), Norwegian has "isjukel" (icicle). 

^ For the history of the word "ice," this is the link:  http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2011/01/german-question-part-seventy-one.html

^^ Low German is a close relative of English and its "g" is typically pronounced "y," a characteristic carried over to the dialect of Berlin ("Berlinerisch"), a former Low German speaking area, where certain Low German elements have survived for centuries since High German spread to Berlin.