Day 9-31 Days of Samhuinn Cooking-Mama Moon's Garlic Stuffed Pork Roast

Over the years our mandatory staple at our Samhuinn feast has been garlic-stuffed pork roast.  I'm not a big pork eater until October hits and then I am known to have it at least a few times over the course of the season.


Mama Moon's Garlic Stuffed Pork Roast with Rosemary and Onion

1 pork roast, boneless (tenderloin works too)
garlic cloves, sliced lengthwise (amount is dependent on the size of the roast and your preference)

with a sharp knife pierce the flesh about an inch or so all over and stuff with garlic slivers

in a small bowl mix; (depends on size of roast, measurements below are for a 3-5lb roast)

2 TB chopped rosemary
1 tsp chopped or dried sage
1 tsp chopped or dried thyme
sea salt
pepper

blend and rub down roast with mixture, throw away any extra if cross contaminated by your hands.  Then rub down roast with

3TB olive oil

and top roast with

1 onion, sliced into thin rings

Cook in a 325* oven for roughly 20min per pound and until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the cut registers a temperature of 160°F for medium doneness (165°F to 170°F for well done).

Day 13-44 Days of Witchery-What are some of the witchy books that influenced you?

The very first book I read on anything remotely witchy was a Scott Cunningham book when I was 21 and five years into my pagan path.  Seems odd? Yeah, probably, however at the time there were not a lot of reading materials out there for the young witch, or at least any that appealed to me or that I felt comfortable with.  Some of the old still gave me the willies and still does, so I listened to that and just did not read the "must reads" that all good pagans feel must be read.

While I thoroughly enjoy Laurie Cabot's Celebrate the Earth I have never recommended it to anyone new to the path.  This book has lovely ideas and inspiration to it however I found too much speculation treated as fact in it and to someone new to the path with no background in history, Celtic or otherwise, this book can be misleading.  Still, by the state of the book in the photo you can see it has been well read  This book represents to me my need to think critically and question everything.  Put simply, find your own truth.

Ceisiwr Serith's The Pagan Family gets the honor of my absolute favorite and most influential book. I purchased it while pregnant with Pixie and integrated several parts of it into my celebrations.  I have been publicly praising this book for years and when I learned that it was no longer in print I wrote to the author in hopes he would have a reprint at some point.  This was 5-6 years ago and at that time the answer was sadly no.  Still, should you ever find this book, snap it up because it's a wonderful read and resource.

Green Witchcraft by Ann Moura (Aoumiel) is my second favorite, actually her entire green series however I only own the first and will borrow my sister's books (and the Grimoire) when the urge strikes.  Of course it has been years.

This is only a small selection of books that have influenced me as it should have read "what witchy authors have influenced you"  Scott Cunningham, clearly one of the most influential authors for pagans new and established.  Patricia Telesco, Kristen Madden, Margie McArthur, and Ann Moura are my top five.

This post is part of the 44 Days of Witchery 

Day 12-44 Days of Witchery-Picture of nature (air element)

These were taken at a butterfly conservatory but as I managed to use all my other *airy* photos on a similar posting a few days back I'll tuck these in and call it Day 12.

This post is part of the 44 Days of Witchery

Day 8-31 Days of Samhuinn Cooking-Dark of the Moon Triple Chocolate Muffins

My Pixie and I are chocolate lovers. Pixie is a chocoholic, truth be told, so I came up with this recipe to feed her chocolate cravings and my need for flavor and texture. Hazelnuts are optional or can be subbed with toasted walnuts. My other version of these is to replace the milk chocolate chips with 1/4c. of nutella for that added hazelnutty flavor. Still tinkering with that recipe though, it's a bit sweet

Dark of the Moon Triple Chocolate Muffins

1/2 c butter
3 oz unsweetened chocolate
2 1/4 c flour
1 t baking soda
1/4 ts salt
1 c buttermilk
1 c sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground mace
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
6 oz milk chocolate chips
6 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 c toasted hazelnuts, chopped

Slowly melt butter and unsweetened chocolate over medium heat in double boiler. Let cool slightly. (or microwave butter at low temp and stir in chocolate, microwaving and stirring until chocolate is melted)
While chocolate melts, blend sugar,eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla. Beat until smooth.
Sift flour, baking soda, salt, and spices together.
Add chocolate mixture to egg mixture and blend well. (Do this by slowly adding a bit of chocolate to the egg at a time, stirring quickly so as not to scramble the egg.
Add flour mixture and beat until smooth.
Fold in chocolate bits and nuts.
Line muffin tins with paper cups, filling each cup 2/3 full with batter.

Bake at 375 deg for 20 to 25 minutes.

Day 11-44 Days of Witchery-Witchy tools: oils

Oils are a large part of my life, both for home and career I work with oils frequently. I have been studying aromatherapy, flower essences, herbalism, medicinal oils and what not since I was a teenager. No *official* schooling unless you count reading through my grandmother's Bach flower therapy course. Everything I have learned I learned through my grandmother and my own self-led studies.

As a massage therapist I do work with oils during aromatherapy massages, which I don't often do unless requested and a full work up of allergies, etc. is done first. I cannot work with certain oils (rosemary, geranium) in a massage one due to my high blood pressure and the other due to a scent memory trigger that leads to full blown panic attack...So neither are a part of my massage repertoire. I do frequently, especially getting into this time of year, do sinus massage with eucalyptus, peppermint or tea tree. When working at a spa we had a high rate of people who were not regulars, just tourists, wanting a massage and not caring that being sick was a contraindication for massage (not to mention exposing said MT to their germs!). So, for their comfort and my self need for flow and quiet during my work. I would start with a sinus massage to clear them right up and then proceed.

As a mother and homekeeper oils are a must have for me. I use them in medicinal remedies for various ailments-some from bought essential oils and some from home made (ie garlic oil, mullein oil for ear aches). I buy all of my oils from Mountain Rose Herbs, while it goes against my buying local stance they are the best I have found and they are really earth conscious in how they obtain their oils. For the home I use them in cleaning and keeping the house pest free and smelling fresh. I add essential oils to my cleaning water when I mop and wash. Sometimes with laundry I'll add some eucalyptus to help kill dust mites in bedding and stuffed animals. I use a blend to disinfect the air and clean surfaces (great during cold and flu season) as well as spray mint oil blends to keep mice out.

My favorite spray blend is a night time/sweet dreams blend I made to help Pixie during her bedtime routine. It was some time before we learned she had a dark elf in her closet and it was scaring her something awful as she could sense it. I cleansed, attempted banishings of whatever was hiding out in her closet as I could feel it too. Nothing worked and shortly after a friend told us what was in there and that it was not leaving, however it was harmless and more a protector for Pixie so the atmosphere changed greatly. In the meantime I had been spritzing her room with a blend of spearmint, orange and a bit of lavender to help calm her at bed time. This was no matter where she ended up as she more often than not would end up sleeping with me.

What I don't do enough is use oils in a magical sense. I do not dress candles and have not in over 15 years, I rarely use them in ritual or annointings. I am definitely more a kitchen witch in my usage, hearth and home.

This post is part of the 44 Days of Witchery

Day 7-31 Days of Samhuinn Cooking-Date Bran Muffins

As it is nearing the month of Samhuinn I thought I would share a few family recipes. This recipe is the most well known in my family, my late grandmother's famous date bran muffins. She would often double the recipe and have bags full of muffins to hand out to visitors or to family at gatherings. What I love best about these is that the muffin size is what a serving size used to be, not the gargantuan muffins of today.

Gram's Date Bran Muffins

6c. bran cereal
1 lb chopped dates
2c. boiling water
1c. butter
1qt buttermilk
5c. flour
1tsp salt
1c. honey
5 tsp baking soda
5 eggs

Pour boiling water over bran cereal and dates and let stand. Cream butter, sift dry ingredients together and add to butter alternately with buttermilk. Stir in bran-date mixture. Beat in eggs.
Bake in greased muffin tins in 400* oven for 15 min.

Makes about 6 dozen muffins

Day 10-44 Days of Witchery-Your sun sign.

Born 29 September, my Sun sign (and rising sign) is Libra. It's never really fit well with me and because of that was one of two reasons I delved into the study of astrology over 15 years ago.I needed to know why Scorpio always sounded more like me. Since then I've learned one's sun sign is such a small piece of the puzzle and it can be such a superficial piece at that.

This post is part of the 44 Days of Witchery