Golubka Kitchen

This weekend, we are off to a log cabin in the Appalachian Mountains with the whole family. Our kitchen is finally being taken apart in preparation for renovations, so we’re getting away from the dust and craziness for a week while the space gets stripped. The cabin is in a pretty remote and quiet place, and the leaves are turning – all great reasons to chill, hike, meditate, and get some much needed sleep. I’ve already packed up all the ingredients for this mocha to bring on the trip, since it’s been my favorite thing to drink in the mornings, and I can’t wait to sit on the cabin porch, sipping on this cozy herbal coffee.

The base for this drink is roasted chicory root, a common coffee substitute, which gives it the deep flavor and rich color. In the U.S., chicory coffee is known as New Orleans style coffee, where it became popular during the Civil War, when the importing of coffee was stalled due to blockades. Chicory is also very common throughout Europe, and I grew up in a culture, where it was highly regarded as a medicinal plant and foraged in the summer for making herbal tea. Chicory is easy to distinguish in the wild due to its bright blue flowers (pick some if it grows around you!) and is related to dandelion, so you can use Dandy Blend here if you can’t get your hands on pure chicory (Dandy Blend includes both dandelion and chicory roots). It contains no caffeine, is rich in vitamin C and has the highest concentration of inulin of all plants. When roasted and ground, chicory miraculously resembles the flavor and depth of coffee. These days, I mostly try to stay away from caffeine, so coming up with drinks that will provide some of that much-needed comfort in the morning, minus the jitters, makes me quite happy. I add raw cacao and maca powders here for an energy boost, which also contribute more wealth to the flavor and take this drink into the ‘mocha’ territory. I’m in love with this cozy sip and find myself craving it throughout the day. It’s great hot and equally as good chilled, after some time in the fridge, or even iced.

We’ve accumulated quite a few interesting links, which we are sharing today. We will be back with our weekend link roundups, along with all kinds of other good stuff very soon ;) Enjoy.