The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

YULE Cookies
07:36 Nov 08 2005
Times Read: 484


Moon Cookies



Ingredients:



1 cup butter

1 1/4 cup sugar

2 tsp. grated lemon peel

1/4 tsp. salt

1 1/3 cup. flour

1 1/2 cups grated almonds (blanched)

1 tsp. vanilla



Icing:

2 cups sifted confectioner's sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

2 1/2 T. water



Procedure:



Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy and light. Add grated lemon peel, salt, flour, grated almonds, and 1 tsp. vanilla; mix thoroughly. Place dough in bowl. Cover and chill thoroughly. When dough is well chilled; or next day, roll out dough to 1/8" thickness and cut with moon/crescent cookie cutter. Place 1/2" apart on ungreased baking sheet. Bake in preheated 375 degree oven for 8 to 10 minutes.

Icing:

While cookies bake, combine confectioner's sugar, vanilla and water. Spread over tops of cookies while still warm, but not too hot as icing will melt. Thin with additional drops of water if glaze is too thick.

Allow cookies to cool. Yield: 10 dozen cookies.

YULE Chicken
07:33 Nov 08 2005
Times Read: 485


ORANGE-CRANBERRY CHICKEN WITH SWEET POTATOES



Ingredients:



1 Orange

1 4lb.Roasting Chicken

1/2 teaspoon Pepper

1 pound Sweet Potatoes

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

1 cup Chicken Broth

1 cup Whole berry Cranberry Sauce

2 Tablespoons White Wine Vinegar



Procedure:



Preheat oven to 375%.Grate rind from orange(don't include the bitter white part).Rinse chicken & pat dry.Sprinkle with salt,pepper & 1/2 the grated orange rind.Place,breast side up,on a rack in large roasting pan.Roast for 30 minutes.Meanwhile pare & cut the sweet potatoes into 1 inch slices,then toss with Olive oil.Place in single layer in the bottom of roasting pan.Continue roasting 1 hour & 45 minutes,turning potatoes occasionally & basting chicken & potatoes frequently,until the chicken juices run clear when the thickest part of the thigh is pierced with fork & leg moves freely. During the last 1/2 hour of roasting,combine Chicken broth,cranberry sauce & vinegar in a small saucepan.Bring to boiling over med.heat;boil 20 min. or until reduced to 1 1/2 cups.Peel white pith from orange,seed flesh & chop.Stir remaining rind & chopped orange into saucepan;simmer 5 min. Let Chicken rest for 20 minutes before carving.Cut chicken in half lengthwise down the middle.Spoon Cranberry Sauce mixture over chicken & serve with Sweet Potatoes.

Apple Dumplings for YULE
07:31 Nov 08 2005
Times Read: 486


Apple Dumplings



Ingredients:



2 cups Flour

4 teaspoons Baking powder

1 teaspoon Salt

4 Tablespoons Shortening

1 cup Milk

6 each Apple

Sugar

1 teaspoon Cinnamon



Procedure:



Pare and core apples. Sift flour, baking powder and salt; cut in shortening, add milk and mix to smooth dough. Turn onto floured board and divide into six portions. Roll each portion large enough to cover one apple. Place an apple on each piece of dough; fill with cinnamon and sugar; wet edges of dough and fold over apple. Place on greased baking sheet, and bake at 350-F until apples are tender (about 40 minutes).

Getting in the spirit of YULE
07:28 Nov 08 2005
Times Read: 487


Wassail- A Yule Beverage



Ingredients:



3 red apples

3 oz brown sugar

2 pints brown ale, apple cider, or hard cider

1/2 pint dry sherry or dry white wine

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ginger strips or lemon peel



Procedure



Core and heat apples with brown sugar and some of the ale or cider in an oven for 30 minutes. Put in large pan and add rest of spices and lemon peel, simmer on stove top of 5 minutes. Add most of the alcohol at the last minute so it heats up but does not evaporate. Burgundy and brandy can be substituted to the ale and sherry. White sugar and halved oranges may also be added to taste. Makes enough for eight. Voila Wassail!

Covenstead Bread Recipie
07:26 Nov 08 2005
Times Read: 488


Covenstead Bread



Ingredients:



3/4 cup water

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup finely chopped citron

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons anise seeds

2 1/3 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon allspice



Procedures:



Bring the water to boil in a saucepan. Add honey, citron, sugar, and anise seeds. Stir until the sugar completely dissolves and then remove from heat.

Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, spices, and fold into the hot honey mixture. Turn the butter into a well greased 9 X 5 X 3-inch loaf pan and bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for one hour. Turn out on a wire rack to cool. (This recipe yields one loaf of bread.)

Covenstead Bread improves if allowed to stand for a day, and its an ideal bread to serve during Lammas and Autumn Equinox Sabbats as well as at all coven meetings

Hopi Black Ritual Ink
08:31 Nov 06 2005
Times Read: 492

Items needed:

A lump of Yellow Ochre

Gum from the Pinyon pine

3 cups of black Sunflower seeds. (The little ones)

3 Tablespoons ground Native Alum

Start by burning the lump of yellow ochre with an equal amount of the pinyon gum. This will make a nice black soot. (Catch the soot on a cool ironstone plate that is held over the burning mixture.)Save the soot. Next, take the sunflower seeds, still in their shells, and boil them for twenty to thirty minutes in 8 cups of water. Remove the seeds just after splitting open. (Do not allow them to soak in it.)

Add the native Alum after toasting it in an iron pan. Stir and simmer so that the Alum is completely dissolved. Simmer the liquid until it is reduced to six cups of liquid. Dip out a cup of the liquid and scrape the soot into it. Stir until it is dissolved. Add the soot-dye mixture back into the greater dye. Gently simmer until it is reduced to a desired consistency. Use with a 'quill' pen or fine lined paint brush.

Blood Inks
08:30 Nov 06 2005
Times Read: 493

Doves Blood Ink

Doves blood is typically used for writing love spells

1 part dragon's blood resin

2 drops cinnamon oil

2 drops bay oil

10 parts alcohol

1 part gum arabic

2 drops rose oil



Dragons Blood Ink

This ink is traditionally used in spells relating to power and spells of strength. Gives any magical working that extra kick

1 part dragon's blood resin

15 parts alcohol

1 part gum arabic



Bats Blood Ink

Bats Blood is for spellwork: directed toward discord, tension & havoc.

2 parts dragon's blood resin

1/2 part myrrh resin

2 drops cinnamon oil

2 drops indigo color

12 parts alcohol

1/2 part gum arabic

Magickal Inks
08:29 Nov 06 2005
Times Read: 494

Magical ink I

10oz Gall nuts

3oz Green Copperas

3oz Rock Alum or Gum Arabic

Reduce all ingredients to a powder and place in a newly glazed earthen pot with river water (doesn't say how much, enough to moisten I would guess). Make a fire of sprigs of fern gathered on St. Johns Eve (Midsummer)and vine twigs cut on the Full Moon in March. Add virgin paper to the fireand set the pot over it. When the water boils the ink will be made. I would guess baring everything else the ingredients boiled with some water would yield some sort of ink.

Magical Ink II

Frankincense "smoke"

Myrrh "smoke"

Rose Water

Sweet Wine Gum Arabic

* you get the "smoke" by holding a spoon over burning resin until blackening gathers on the spoon*, then tap spoon carefully into a bowl, this stuff is light to go easy. Mix the "smoke blacking" in a bowl with a little rose water and wine. Add enough gum Arabic to make the mixture thick enough to write with.

Magical Ink III

Fresh Pokeberries when crushed produce a purple ink. Again add some Gum Arabic to thicken the liquid to ink consistency. The seeds are poisonous so keep this ink out of your mouth. There are no measurements to these recipes as they are supposed to be from the 1600's but it suggests that you add water very very gradually especially when working with soot, maybe with an eye dropper.

Bath Salts... and they make a great gift too!
08:28 Nov 06 2005
Times Read: 495

What You Need



Large glass or metal mixing bowl

2 cups Epsom's salts

1 cup Sea salt, rock salt or coarse salt

Food coloring

1/4 teaspoon Glycerin

Essential oil for fragrance such as vanilla, citrus or peppermint, optional

Clean, dry jars with cork stoppers or metal screw-on lid





How To Make It



Try and do this on a day with low humidity, the salt will absorb moisture from the air.

Combine salts in bowl and mix well. Add a couple drops of food coloring and mix well.

Add glycerin and essential oil (4 or 5 drops) and mix well.

Spoon salts into the jars and close them.

Make a gift tag with the scent (if you used one) and suggesting using 1/3 to 1/2 cup in the bath.

Makes 3 cups of bath salts.

Fool proof instructions for making your own essential oils:
08:27 Nov 06 2005
Times Read: 496

If you have a flower or herb garden or have access to freshly cut flowers or herbs you can easily make your own essential oils using sweet almond oil.

I prefer to use Aura Cacia sweet almond oil with Vitamin E. It is a high quality product that is readily available at most health food stores. Vitamin E is useful as a natural preservative.

Assemble the following tools and supplies:

½ cup of sweet almond oil

1 cup of tightly packed flowers or 1/4 cup of packed fresh herbs or 1/4 cup of chopped fruit peel such as orange, grapefruit, lime or lemon. You will need a total of 4 cups of freshly cut flowers or 1 cup of herbs or chopped fruit peel. Thoroughly rinse your materials in cool water prior to using.

Plastic zip locked bags. I prefer to use the bags with the zipper attachment that runs across the top to securely close the bag.

Hammer or wooden kitchen mallet.

2 wide mouthed glass jars. All my glass jars have lived a previous life holding soup, fruit or vegetables. After you have emptied the jar, wash it thoroughly and it is ready for use. You could also buy mason jars or some similar type of jar as long as it has a wide mouthed top.

Funnel

Amber, Smoked or Cobalt Blue glass bottles with a stopper

Cheesecloth or Cotton Gauze

Each day for four days place 1 cup of flowers (1/4 cup of herbs or chopped fruit peel) in the plastic bag, close the bag and lightly tap the materials within the bag to bruise them slightly. Do not beat the material into a pulp, this is a gentle process.

Place the sweet almond oil and the flowers, herbs or citrus peel into one wide mouthed glass jar, replace the top and gently shake to mix. Make sure your materials have been saturated in the oil. Leave the bottle in a warm place, perhaps in your kitchen.

Each day using the cheesecloth as a strainer, transfer the oil from one bottle to the other collecting your material in the cheesecloth. Squeeze the cheesecloth to transfer as much of the oil as possible into the second bottle.

Throw away the old material and repeat the brusing procedure with a fresh batch of your flowers, herbs or citrus peel. Add the new material to the oil and gently shake.

When the four days have elapsed, strain the oil through the cheesecloth one final time and using the funnel transfer the oil into the colored glass bottles. Place the stopper on the bottles. Congratulations - You have now made your own essential oil.

The shelf life for your essential oil is 6 - 12 months if kept in a dry, dark, cool spot.