Island Mint Iced Tea

For July 4th this year I had it in my head to do a meal with a summery beach/tropical/island feel to it.  Most of my dishes were straight from recipes online.. focaccia with caramelized leeks (see below for more on this), green goddess dip with crudites, backyard jerk chicken (although we broiled it instead of grilling), grilled swordfish with cilantro, lemony olive roasted potatoes, summer creamed corn (see below for more on this), and key lime pie.

When planning the menu, I had an idea in mind for a drink, but I could find nothing online that sounded like what I wanted - I wanted something refreshing but everything was too fruity.  So Michael and I tested some ideas and the very first one we tried was spot on.  I LOVE this drink.  I’ve had one almost every night since the 4th.  It was just perfect - refreshing and light, but with a tropical twist.  And I’ve realized that I love cachaca!  It’s such a yummy rum.

Island Mint Iced Tea

(Makes 1 drink)

2 parts Mint & Honey Tea (we used Sweet Leaf)

1 part pineapple juice

Juice of ½ a lime

1 oz of Cachaca

Fill glass with ice, add tea, then pineapple juice, fresh lime juice, rum and stir well.  Garnish with pineapple wedge.

Go sit on a beach (or pretend you’re sitting on one) and relax.  :)

Extras...

I wanted to post the focaccia and the corn because those were my other favorite dishes.  For the focaccia I used this base recipe and then topped with caramelized leeks, fresh dill, fresh chives and WAY too much salt.  I used the large crystal salt and went a little overboard, but I really liked the basic flavors and the basic bread dough.  I was light with just the right chewiness.

And finally, the corn.  Oh My.  I did not think this dish would be this good.  I wanted to do a corn dish because corn is in season and what I'd seen at the grocery looked so good.  This dish has just a slight amount of cream and the lime juice makes it so light and fresh, with this tartness that you don’t usually get with corn.  And the pinch of cayenne was just enough to give it this little kick.  It was incredibly addictive and I may have to make it again this weekend.

Strawberry Cake Trifle

As I’ve mentioned in previous blogs, I’ve had a goal of recreating the strawberry cake my Maw Maw always made for my birthday, but from scratch.  I feel like I’ve accomplished that goal and I’m happy with my recipe.  But I have another version of the strawberry birthday cake that I came up with quite some years ago that I use for parties or potlucks because the original cake doesn’t travel very well.  This version uses most of the ingredients of the original (boxed cake mix, strawberry jello, vanilla pudding), but I’ve turned it into a trifle.  It’s super easy to make, pretty tasty and moist and perfect for a summer gathering.

Strawberry Cake Trifle

Ingredients:

1 box Pillsbury Strawberry cake mix

3 eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 cup water

1 (4 serving size) strawberry jello mix

1 pint strawberries, sliced (save a few large one for top)

8 oz whipped cream

1 tbsp powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 large package vanilla pudding mix

3 cups milk

Directions:

Make vanilla pudding according to package directions

Whip cream with powdered sugar and vanilla

Combine vanilla pudding and whipped cream, set aside

Dissolve gelatin in 1/2 amount of water called for in package

Take cooled cake and crumble on bottom of trifle bowl

Drizzle with gelatin

Cover with whipped pudding mixture

Cover with sliced strawberries

Repeat

Cover top layer with big strawberries

New Orleans Jambalaya

This is a fairly traditional, New Orleans jambalaya recipe.  I got the original recipe from my brother in law and I’ve tweaked it slightly.  It’s super easy and delicious!  And much better than the store bought variety.

New Orleans Jambalaya

Makes approx. 8 cups

Ingredients:

2 cups converted white rice (must use converted)

16 fl oz onion soup

16 fl oz chicken broth

1 (14 oz) can tomato sauce

3 tbsp olive oil

1 pound smoked sausage, sliced

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, diced into 1" cubes

1 bell pepper, diced

1/2 cup celery, sliced

2 stalks green onion, chopped

1/4 cup parsley, chopped

1/2 tbsp garlic powder

1 tbsp season all seasoning (or creole seasoning)

1/2 tsp cayenne

4 bay leaf

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. In a large, oven proof dutch oven, fry sausage for just a few mins to get crispy.  After about 5-8 mins, add all other ingredients and stir to combine.

Bake @ 350 for 1 1/2 hours. Stir every 1/2 hour for the first hour and every 15 mins for the last 1/2 hour.

Cauliflower “Dirty Rice”

For months now I’ve been seeing all of these recipes for replacing various grains with grated cauliflower.  I like these recipes because 1) I LOVE cauliflower! and 2) it’s so very healthy.

I finally decided to try one but the problem was, nothing I had saved/pinned to try had quite what I was looking for.  So, I kind of made it up.

It was super easy and super delicious!  I was going for a “rice-a-roni” flavor, but it came out more like a dirty rice.  My husband thought it tasted like Popeyes dirty rice, so that’s what I’m calling it.  In fact, he was several bites into it before he realized there was no actual rice in the dish.

I have since investigated rice-a-roni flavoring and I want to try again with different spices and herbs.  I also want to try a Mexican style rice with maybe chorizo and chili powder.  Honestly, I want to replace rice with cauliflower in just about everything.  It was that good.

And the best part, the entire dish (the whole bowl you see below) is only 300 calories!!  That is my kind of dish!

Cauliflower “Dirty Rice”
Yield 5 cups

Ingredients
1 tsp Butter
1/4 cup Chicken Stock
1 tsp Chicken Bouillon
1/2 Onion, chopped
2 Carrots, chopped
1 Bell Pepper, chopped
3/4 head Cauliflower
1 tsp Dried Parsley
1 1/2 tsp Onion Powder
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
1/4 tsp Poultry Seasoning, (or dried thyme)
1/2 tsp Paprika
1 tsp Seasoning Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper

Directions
Dissolve bouillon in stock and heat in microwave for about 30 seconds to dissolve the bouillon.  Set aside.

Melt butter in pan

Add onion, carrots, bell pepper and stock mixture to pan and cook veggies until translucent.  About 5 minutes.

Add cauliflower and cook until slightly tender - 5 more minutes

Add all the seasoning and cook for a few minutes more until everything is nicely melded.

Serve

Catch up...

I’ve gotten a bit behind on the blog.  The holidays always overwhelm me.  Here are some of the things I’ve made over the past few months....

Crispy Cauliflower With Turkey, Capers, Raisins, And Breadcrumbs
- This was adapted from this recipe
- I added ½ pound ground turkey
- I decreased the olive oil to 1-2 tablespoons
- I decreased the breadcrumbs to ¼ cup, but I think next time I will skip the breadcrumbs altogether
- I used balsamic, worcestershire, and poultry seasoning for seasoning
- I added a splash of broth and a few flavored vinegars (cider, oregano, balsamic)
- It was higher in calories than I wanted, but I think I have a few areas where I can adjust
- Really, you could add just about any herbs and seasoning to this


Winterized Greek Salad
- This was adapted from this recipe
- It was delicious!
- I wanted to use this as a weeknight salad, so I needed to get the calories down to about 100 cals per serving.  So...

- I sauteed the sprouts in chicken broth instead of oil (not as crispy, but still tasty)

- And I skipped the cheese

Pumpkin Chai cookies
- This was the recipe
- I think these would be better with a pumpkin frosting
- The cookie is good and moist but not very sweet.  It’s a little cakey, almost like a scone


We also had an Inter holiday dinner (since we weren’t here for Thanksgiving).  I pretty much followed all of these recipes exactly.
Baked Brie and Cranberry Sauce (Incredibly good and easy!  This will become a staple on my Thanksgiving table from now on)

Mushroom dressing (Also, very good.  I did use a rosemary bread for a little more flavor)

Turkey Wellington (Jamie Oliver recipe... this was very good, but so complicated to make that I think I would prefer just doing a basic turkey)

Double chocolate mint cookies (Really yummy, esp if you like chocolate and mint!)

Gingerbread Trifle (I think this was my favorite of the night!  Everything about it was perfect - a really well put together recipe from Martha Stewart)

I have started making holiday cookie bags for family and friends.  Here is what I made this year:
Peppermint Chocolate Cake Balls (Devil’s Food chocolate cake, Dark chocolate frosting, peppermint patties)


Salted caramel and chocolate chip cookies (these were ok... not my favorite - cookie was a bit dry and crunchy)


Fruitcake Cookies (This was my favorite of the three.  It’s a good recipe with a nice, soft cookie that’s not overly sweet, which I find nice in the middle of the holidays when everything is sweet)


Finally, for New Year’s Eve/Day, I made the traditional foods...
Black-Eyed Peas (Texas Caviar - black-eyed peas, yellow and green bell pepper, cherry tomatoes, red onion, lime juice, green onion, and cilantro),


Cabbage (Cabbage and Olive Salad),


and ham (Fried Spam - yes, Spam.  And it was yummy!!)

I also made:
Beer and Cheddar Bread (and yes it is THAT good!!  wow - this was so yummy!!)



And Snow Pudding (this seemed like the perfect winter dessert and it was - light and snow like and perfectly sweet)

Halloween Dinner

Chocolate Wasted Cake

Halloween is, hands down, my favorite holiday.  I had a few larger parties for a couple of years, but Michael and I (mostly Michael) are too uptight about cleanliness and there was just too much glitter left everywhere.  So I switched to a small dinner party.  We like this much better - I can create a more focused menu and we can really catch up with our friends.

I like to try to create “dark” menus, but not too kitchy - just a little kitchy.  This year the menu was:
Appetizers:
- blue cheese spread with rosemary crackers
- guacamole with black beans (and chips)
- grapes with cheddar cheese and garlic and olive oil crackers (all bought)
Starter:
- french onion soup with rye bread and humbolt fog blue cheese
Main dishes:
- caramelized brussels sprouts with croutons and bacon
- balsamic roasted chicken
Dessert:
- chocolate wasted cake
Drink:
- autumn sangria

I was pretty happy with most of it.  The appetizers especially - the rosemary and parm crackers were super yummy.  And I used my halloween cookie cutters to cut them into pumpkins and bats.  The blue cheese spread was good, but strong and would’ve been better for a larger party.

Rosemary and Parmesan Crackers in Halloween shapes

Blue Cheese Spread

The guacamole was incredibly good!  I think I may use this as my go to guacamole recipe.  It’s a bit soupy because it was supposed to be “swamp like”, but the extra lime and black beans added such a depth of flavor.  Plus, it never turned brown!

Guacamole with Black Beans

I liked the soup, but I didn’t find it all that special.  It was a basic french onion soup.  I did like it with the rye bread.  The cheese I got was a goat blue and I felt the flavors went really well together.

French Onion soup with rye bread and goat cheese

For the main dishes I made caramelized brussels sprouts (see my previous post regarding my love of fall veggies) and Balsamic Roasted Chicken.  The brussels sprouts dish had promise, but it just didn’t quite deliver what I wanted.  I think I should’ve roasted the sprouts longer as they just weren’t caramelized enough for me.  Or maybe added some maple syrup.  And I would definitely use less bread next time.  I was in love with the bread idea and added WAY more than the recipe called for.  Next time - just stick to the recipe.

Caramelized Brussels Sprouts

The chicken was pretty tasty.  I used drumsticks and wings so that people could choose white or dark meat.  It was just slightly too dry I think - I still don’t have the cooking chicken thing down yet.  I always overcook it.  But the sauce was yummy and served on the side, made for a great sauce - all dark, thick and oozy.  The best part was the next day I shredded all the chicken off the bones and we ate it on sandwiches with the sauce.  That was super yummy!

For a drink I made an autumn sangria and I have to say, this was one of my favorites of the night.  I wasn’t sure if I would like it cause I’ve never been a huge sangria fan, but this was tasty.  We used all the fruits listed in the recipe and Marc Cellars Pinot Noir and Central Market’s sparkling pear and apple juice.  It was sweet and refreshing and tasted very fall.

Autumn Sangria

And finally.. the cake.  This was the first recipe I decided on.  It was going to be my halloween party cake since I first pinned it in way back in like February.  And let me just say, it did not disappoint!  I wasn’t sure about the actual cake part since when I read the recipe there were no eggs - which I thought odd, but it was really, really good!  Almost like a brownie, but not overly sweet, which was good considering the rest of the stuff on the cake.  I forgot to drizzle it with liquor, which I can only imagine would have made it even better.  But like I said, it was fantastic and moist on it’s own.  And I added a layer of caramel to the middle since I knew I would be using Twix and I wanted to connect everything.  For the top I added Butterfingers, KitKat, Twix, Hershey’s miniatures, Reese’s Pieces, and Ghirardelli 60% dark chocolate chips.  And thanks to Patti at PattiCakes for the most delicious chocolate frosting ever.  Her frosting is so good, I thought ‘why try to make it myself, just get some of Patti’s!’  The cake is hard to cut, but it doesn’t really matter.  Everything tastes better all piled together anyway.  But it is a sugar rush!  I had SO much energy after my piece I made everyone play Just Dance for a few minutes.  :)  The energy was helpful though when I needed to clean up after everyone left.  If you’re a candy fan, I would highly recommend trying this cake, just once.  It’s just so decadent and fun!

Chocolate Wasted Cake

Roasted fall vegetable stew

I think fall is my favorite time of year for veggies.  I love love love cauliflower and potatoes and cabbage and kale and brussels sprouts and beets and turnips, etc etc etc.  And every time I make groceries I want to buy everything.  So, of course, I decided to make a soup.  I’ve been seeing various recipes using roasted vegetables and I thought a roasted veggie soup would be delicious.  But everything I looked at (as with most vegetable soup recipes) just did not live up to my needs.  I wanted LOTS of hardy, fall vegetables - a soup with ALL of my favorites.  So, I kind of made this one up.  And man oh man I love this soup!!!  I will say now that I don’t think it’s for everyone - it’s very vinegary, which I love, but I don’t think everyone would like that.  And the beets turn everything pink, as you can see, which may also turn people off, but it doesn’t bother me.  It is one of the most perfect soups for me.  So many chunky veggies in one bowl - I get giddy when I think about sitting down to enjoy it. It really is just a vehicle for me to enjoy all the fall veggies I like in one bowl, enhanced by a few autumn herbs and spices and with a slightly pickled flavor.

Roasted Fall Vegetable Soup
Yield: 8
Ingredients

3 small Beets, diced into small cubes

2 medium Turnips, diced into small cubes

3 Carrots, diced into small cubes

1 Onion, halved, ½ sliced into sliver, ½ diced

1 large Russet Potato, diced into small cubes

1 large Sweet Potato, diced into small cubes

½ head Cauliflower, broken into small florets

1 medium Sweet Apple, diced into small cubes

5 cloves Garlic, smashed 

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

2 Tbsp Sage, chopped

2 Tbsp Rosemary, chopped

1 Tbsp Thyme, chopped

1 Tbsp Salt

Any Other Seasonings, such as flavored salts and pepper

1 Tbsp Bacon Fat

1 bunch Swiss Chard, chopped and washed well

1 bunch Beet Greens, optional

6 cups Chicken Stock

1 Tbsp Chicken Bouillon

3 Bay Leaf

2 Lemons, juice only

Directions

Roast veggies:
Pre-heat oven to 425.

Combine beets, turnips, carrots, sliced ½ of onion, potato, sweet potato, cauliflower, apple, garlic, olive oil, sage, rosemary, thyme, salts, and other seasonings and mix well in a bowl until veggies are coated.

Put veggies into roasting pan and roast for 45 mins to an hour.  Stirring every 15 mins, until veggies and tender.

While veggies are cooking, start soup:
It large stock pot, on med. heat, melt bacon fat and add diced ½ onion.  Cook for about 1 min and then add a little chicken stock.  Saute until onions are translucent, about 5 mins.  Add greens and a little more stock (just the cover greens) and cook for about 8 mins until greens have started to soften.  Add rest of stock, bouillon, and bay leaves.  Stir well to dissolve bouillon.  Turn down heat and simmer until veggies are done.

When veggies are done, remove garlic cloves and add veggies to stew.  Stir well mixing all of the ingredients together.  Put garlic through garlic press and add to stew.  Stir again.

Continue to simmer for about 20 mins (or longer) until all the flavors have melded together.

When you are ready to serve (or store), add juice of 2 lemons and stir well.