Friday Happy Hour: Scarlett O'Hara's Summer Breeze

I know I'm a little early on this post, but I'm leaving for the UK tonight and won't be able to post this tomorrow.

Some of you may know that I'm (slowly) making my way through Gone with the Wind on my Kindle for iPhone. I have a feeling that Scarlett O'Hara sat around on her porch sipping sweet tea and wondering what her life was all about. So this cocktail is inspired by her.

Scarlett O'Hara's Summer Breeze
2 ounces sweet tea vodka
lemonade (Today I cheated and bought Publix-brand lemonade, since I can't stand the lemonade that the soda companies make, but if you have the time, make some from scratch, it'll just make this drink that much better!)

Mix both over ice and garnish with a lemon. How easy is that?? And it tastes just like an Arnold Palmer--truly delicious.

Chocolate Cupcakes

One of the food blogs I follow is My Baking Addiction. The other day she posted about a chocolate cake with espresso buttercream frosting. I am not big on coffee-flavored anything, but the chocolate cake I can totally get down with. And I've been a bit timid to make cakes from scratch (usually I use a box.. I know, totally against my from scratch mindset, but you gotta do what you gotta do!). So I took the plunge and decided to make the chocolate cake part, but in cupcakes for my work buddies.

Chocolate Cake
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
6 tablespoons canola oil
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup very hot water

First, mix the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder & soda, and salt with a mixer using the whisk attachment. In another bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Mix into the dry ingredients, making sure to scrape down the edges of the bowl. When I made this, it didn't get completely mixed the first time. Add in the hot water (I just used water from my tap--it gets super hot). The batter will be really runny, a lot runnier than the batter that comes from the box mix. At first, I thought I did it wrong, but it's supposed to be like that!

I made cupcakes, and used a ladle to scoop the batter in. I filled them probably a little too full, because the cupcakes came out super round. Usually I use a large ice cream scooper to fill my cupcakes, but the batter was just too runny to do that, so I had to use a ladle instead. Also, I used silicon cupcake liners today, sprayed with baking Pam (you can never be too sure about them sticking!), but you can use paper too.

Bake at 375F for 15-18 minutes. Let cool before frosting.

I made a quick butter cream for frosting.

Vanilla Butter Cream Frosting
1/2 cup butter, softened (remember-unsalted!)
4 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch salt

Mix the butter until it's smooth. Add in the rest of the ingredients, mix until creamy.

You can be pretty generous frosting your cupcakes, since this makes a lot of frosting. You can add some food coloring or sprinkles to make your cupcakes a little prettier. But these are delicious plain without any decorations too!

Enjoy!

Friday Happy Hour: Canadian Princess Champagne Martini

In honor of the Olympics in Canada and America's own Olympic figure skating princess--Johnny Weir (sadly Johnny did not win a medal last night), today I decided to create my own Canadian Princess martini! Many of you know my love for champagne, and Johnny loves champies as well (I double-checked his website), so I made that a part of it! :)

(Yes, that is Johnny's outfit for his short program in the 2010 Olympics. Unfortunately from this angle you can't see his pink tassel. He also performed to Lady Gaga's Poker Face in an exhibition last year--I highly recommend you check it out on youtube!)

Canadian Princess Champagne Martini
1 ounce vodka
1 ounce peach nectar/juice
1 ounce pineapple juice
splash grenadine
champagne

In a cocktail shaker, mix the vodka, peach and pineapple juice and shake to chill. In the bottom of your martini glass, put a splash of grenadine (more if you like it sweeter). Pour in the juice mixture, and fill the rest of the glass up with cold champagne. Today I bought the little cans of peach and pineapple juices and the little bottles of champagne--that way I don't have to drink an entire bottle of champagne by myself and I can enjoy this delicious and fruity martini on demand. (The fruit is what makes it healthy, as Paula would say.)

Hope you enjoy the martini and the rest of the Olympics! GO USA!

Mac'n'Cheese

Yesterday I had a craving for homemade mac'n'cheese. Now, don't get me wrong--I LOVE the Kraft mac'n'cheese from the box. But sometimes, whipping up some homemade mac'n'cheese really hits the spot. And it's super easy. Claire, I better hear that you made this for Eden!!

Mac'n'Cheese
3/4 box macaroni
2 1/4 cup milk/cream (use whatever you have, but the more cream you use, the richer it will be, I think I used about 3/4 cup cream, and the rest milk)
2 teaspoons flour
1/4 cup cheddar cheese, grated
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
1 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1/4 teaspoon salt
fresh ground pepper

For the cheeses, just use whatever you have on hand. The ingredients I listed were actually what I had on hand, and turned out to be a good combo, but if you want to mix it up, feel free. Just be careful with stronger cheeses (blue cheese, etc), because those will overpower your dish if you use too much. I think if I were going to use blue cheese, I would probably just use it in the topping, rather than in the mixture too.

Topping:
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/4-1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 cup breadcrumbs

Boil the macaroni in salted water. Take out and drain when they are still firm to the bite.

In the mean time, whisk the milk/cream, flour, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Stir in the cheeses. Mix in the pasta after it's finished cooking. Pour mixture into large greased baking dish. You probably need a deep 9"x9" pan. I used, of course, a Le Creuset baking dish.

For the topping, mix the ingredients together. You should have a thick but crumbly mixture. Add more breadcrumbs if it isn't crumbly enough. Crumble over your pasta mixture.

Bake for 20-30 minutes at 400F, or until the top is browned and crispy and the liquid is bubbly. If your pan is very full, you may want to place the baking dish on a aluminum foil-lined half-sheet pan (with sides) just in case it spills over in the oven, you won't have a big milky mess at the bottom.

There's no picture with this one either because this was so good that Ryan and I gobbled this up before I could photograph it! This is also very good reheated in the microwave for breakfast the next morning! ;) Hope you enjoy!

Valentine's Day Cocktail--Pomegranate Champagne Punch

So I've been super busy this week, and didn't get a chance to write the usual Friday Happy Hour Cocktail....so instead, I'll write one that you can share with your honey on Valentine's Day. I made this one for Christmas and it was delish!

For a larger batch you can double this.

Pomegranate Champagne Punch
1/4 cup water + 1/4 cup sugar: make simple syrup (if you've forgotten, check out this blog to remind yourself!)
1 750-ml bottle champagne, chilled
3/4 cup white rum
5/8 cup pomegranate juice
1 lemon, sliced
pomegranate seeds
chopped mint leaves

Make sure all your liquids are chilled, and mix together. If you want, you can create some ice cubs with chunks of lemon or pomegranate seeds or mint leaves in them to keep your punch cold while you're serving it.

Check out this website if you need help getting the seeds out of your pomegranate.

I didn't take a picture when I made this for Christmas, but here's a pic I stole from Bon Appetit (where I found the recipe):

Enjoy!

Adobo

So I made homemade Adobo on Friday to share with you all, but a big malfunction happened when I transferred the photos from my camera to the computer. I thought the pictures were transferred on my computer, so I deleted them off my camera. Turns out they didn't transfer right and I lost all my pictures. So, that's why there's no pictures to accompany this post. :(

Adobo
1/4 cup paparika
3 tablespoons ground black pepper
2 tablespoons onion powder
2 tablespoons dried oregano
2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon chipotle chili powder
1 tablespoon garlic powder

Mix everything and store until you need it!

I try to always grind my spices fresh whenever I need them. You can get bags of whole cumin seeds and black peppercorns (and a lot of other spices!) at Sam's Club, the local spice store, or an ethnic store -- think Indian market, Bravo, etc. Then, go purchase a cheap coffee grinder, I got mine for $10 from Walmart. You definitely don't want to use the same grinder you use for your coffee. Then, you can grind your own spices whenever you need them! I also keep extra jars for the spices, like empty spaghetti sauce jars. You can keep the whole spices in them, or if you want to make your own spice mixes (like adobo or jerk mix, just google spice mixes) you can make extra and store the mixes in the jars until you need to use them.

A picture of the completed product--this is what yours should look like!

Salsa -- aka Pico de Gallo

After you try this easy and fresh pico de gallo, you'll never serve store-bought salsa again.

Pico de Gallo
2 large tomatoes
1 jalapeno
1/2 small onion

Jalapeno-Popper Cheesy Dip

Need a last minute, easy and fast dip to take to your superbowl party? I got one for you!

Jalapeno-Popper Cheesy Dip
8 ounce contained cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup cheddar cheese, grated
1/4 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
4 ounce can of diced chiles, drained
8 ounce can of Spicy Rotel tomatoes with habaneros, drained

Topping:
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1 cup panko breadcrumbs

Mix the cream cheese & mayo. Add in the cheeses and drained chiles and Rotel tomatoes. Put mixture into greased baking dish.

Mix the Parmesan cheese and panko breadcrumbs, and sprinkle over cheese mixture.

Bake at 350F for 30 minutes, or until hot and bubbly. Enjoy!

Friday Happy Hour: Lemon Drop Martinis

It's Friday again, and that means it's cocktail time!

I truly love martinis, perhaps a little too much (judging from some of my behavior after a few). But a martini at the usual bar is at least $10, more if you're at a ritzy place! A few of those plus tip, and there goes a nice chunk of your weekly paycheck. My solution (as always): make them at home. Today I decided to make Lemon Drop Martinis, because who doesn't LOVE lemonade? Especially the kind you get at the fair with all the sugar at the bottom. And a Lemon Drop is basically the grown up version of lemonade. It's delicious, and made with four ingredients. How easy is that?

Lemon Drop Martini
1 1/2 ounces citrus vodka
1/2 ounce triple sec
3/4 ounce fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon superfine sugar
Rim: lemon juice & sugar

First, a word on the superfine sugar. You really want to use superfine sugar. If not, the sugar won't dissolve, and you'll end up with sugar crystals at the bottom of your drink. When you make things at home, you want them to come as close as possible to the "real thing" you get out at a restaurant or bar, or else, it won't be as appealing to stay in. So, go to the sugar aisle at your grocery store and pick up a small contain of the superfine sugar. It'll set you back a couple bucks, but make a huge difference in the final product. This is the only kind I found at Publix today, but if you can't find "superfine" look for "extra fine".

By now, you know I'm big on the 'use whatever you have at home' bit, which is totally true 99.999% of the time. The sugar is one where you need to get the right thing. For the vodka, well, that's up to you. But I just want you guys to know that I REALLY care about you all, so I made and taste-tested two lemon drops: one with regular vodka and one with citrus vodka (I know, it's a real rough life I live, huh?). Turns out, the one made with the citrus vodka did taste more lemony, which I liked. So if you have it, use it, if not, no worries, but next time you're at the liquor store, pick up a little (or large) bottle of the citrus vodka just to have on hand. It'll come in handy, I promise. Citrus vodka makes cosmos and vodka-cranberries taste better too. :)

Break out your cute martini glasses again, and juice and sugar the rims. I find if you let them sit a few minutes after that to "dry" it makes things easier, and you don't have sugar dripping down your glass. Officially, you're supposed to use a lemon peel twist as a garnish, but for all the gadgets I have in my kitchen, I do not have one of those fancy tools (come to find out it's called a citrus zester) that creates the pretty peel twists. So, in lieu, I just cut a thin slice of lemon and put that in.

When you go to shake this bad boy up, I put all the liquid in first so I could shimmy around the sugar with the liquid to help get it dissolved first. Add the ice, and shake away! Pour into your rimmed martini glass, and enjoy.

Bacon-Wrapped Filet Mignon

Ryan and I love steaks. But what we don't love is how much it costs to eat them at a restaurant! So we found the little bacon-wrapped filet mignons at Publix and have come to love them.

Look for something like this in the meat section. You can get 2 good-sized filets for about $5--try to find that at your favorite restaurant!

Broccoli-Mashed Potatoes

Admit it, how many of you have bought those frozen microwavable mashed potatoes? Or even worse, the boxed powdered kind? (Don't be ashamed, I've done the powdered once or twice in my life!) But, tell me how much better mashed potatoes taste when they are made fresh from REAL potatoes. And delicious, fancy, home-made mashed potatoes are as easy as boiling water. Today, I'm going to show you a recipe I got from the Neely's and added my own twists (of course)--Broccoli-Mashed Potatoes.

First start with a few washed potatoes (I had red the day I made this recipe, but like I always say, use whatever kind you have on hand). Scrub them really good, since we aren't going to peel them. (You can peel them if you are a super freak about potato skins, but all the nutrients live in the peels!)

Guacamole

For the first 23 years of my life, I was convinced I HATED guacamole. One day I had some at Chipotle and after that I was hooked. And avocados have the good kind of fat, so you can feel less guilty about eating it. Honestly, I don't even eat it with chips anymore, just with a spoon!

Let me show you how easy it is to make this healthy and fresh snack!

Guacamole
3 ripe avocados
1/4-1/2 cup onion, minced (red or white onions are fine)
1-2 cloves minced garlic