beautiful things

Summertime drinks

So, the Secret Pal 12 Swap (or Secret Pal Swap 12?!!) is going to have a question of the week, and this week's question is: what is your favorite summertime drink?

I would have to say... mojitos.  Sweet and refreshing and, unlike cosmopolitans, which I also enjoy, I've found they are a lot more consistently good.  I really don't recall ever having a bad mojito, but yes, I have had bad cosmos.  Also, I think of cosmos as more year round for some reason... 

For something more traditionally British, there's always Pimm's, with all the stuff, although it's been quite a while since I had one of those.  And of course, there is never anything wrong with champagne!  Definitely not just a summer drink though...

For something non-alcoholic, I love fresh lemonade.  And last summer, my husband and I started making white sangria... hmmm, delicious and refreshing and with all that fruit, it almost tastes healthy!!!  I could have sworn I posted these photos last year but I can't seem to find them so, from a batch we made last July...

 

Here is the recipe:

White Sangria

1 bottle white wine (riesling or chardonnay)

2 cups white grape juice

1/2-1 cup peach schnapps

1 cup oj (or mango juice)

juice of one orange

2 spoonfuls of sugar

1 orange

1 apple (fuji or gala)

1 peach

1/2 a package of raspberries

Other:

peach brandy

freeze the fruit

other fruit: apricot, passion fruit, grapefruit, kiwi, lime, star fruit, pineapple

But basically you can improvise and put whatever fruit takes your fancy in.  If you are transporting it, prepare the fruit beforehand but don't add any of the liquids - take the liquids separately in the containers they come in and mix when you get there!  You can even save some of the fruit for fruit salad the next morning!

I knew that package of tofu would come in handy some day

So, what's a girl to do when she's been on vacation for a week, hasn't done any shopping, doesn't feel like going out in 22F weather and is home alone for lunch? She discovers the package of tofu she bought, oh, weeks ago when she read that it was good to have non-animal protein, checks the "best by date"... and yay! It has a couple of days left!

I am by no means a fan of tofu, but I whipped up a revised version of this recipe and I have to say, it was incredibly tasty! Delicious even. My version had tofu sauteed in olive oil with some minced garlic. I then added a mixture of white wine (not having sake on hand), soy sauce, sesame oil and ground ginger and I also threw in some hastily defrosted chicken pieces but I actually liked the tofu better than the chicken! I also managed to find a still serviceable tomato and some celery and baby carrots that I had on the side, and all in all it turned out to be a pretty good scrounged together meal.

I have to say that I think ground ginger is the new secret ingredient - it makes anything taste good!

More cooking

So, I hope everyone had a good thanksgiving. We did!

Actually, we ended up having not one but two thanksgiving dinners. We had actual thanksgiving with my husband's side of the family. My brother-in-law is a professional chef and always puts on an amazing spread.

My parents didn't arrive until that night (only flight they could get) so the next day we had my in-laws and them over for dinner and we cooked... goose!

Well, my husband did the cooking actually, and made an amazing stuffing with olives, sun-dried tomatoes, apples, bacon, sausage... it was practically like pate!

Speaking of cooking, I've been continuing with the home cooked meals and it's been working out quite well. Our fridge actually looks like a real family lives here! I've made spicy honey-brushed chicken thighs, citrus chicken, peach spiced lamp chops and chicken and mushrooms in garlic white wine sauce. I think the pork chops were still the best but everything was quick and easy to make and very tasty.

I also have been really getting into couscous, especially a version I made where I added dried cherries and fresh parmesan - delicious!

Apple caramel crumb pie ready to go in the oven

Happy American Thanksgiving!

Things that are delicious (literally)

I have been trying to cook more lately. "Cook more" is kind of a nice way of saying "cook" because really, I very rarely cook these days. My husband cooks more than I do (he is very good with the grill).

The other day, we saw an article and recipe for Bacon-Topped Meatloaf Burgers in the New York Times, along with a very enticing photo (not that much more beyond "Bacon-Topped..." is really necessary to be enticing).

We particularly enjoyed the directive to toss aside lean and extra-lean ground beef in favor of at least 20 percent fat. Of course, at Whole Foods the best I could do was 15 percent fat and we later realized it was kind of superflous anyway as the entire burger was drenched in bacon fat. Yes that's right, the burgers are broiled with the bacon on top.

Moist, delicious... and requiring of a nap immediately afterwards.

I think half or a third of a strip of bacon on each burger would work nicely. You can cook more separately and add it afterwards if you need more bacon. The fresh thyme was a really nice touch and made it more meat-loafy.

Encouraged, I picked up a copy of "Quick and Easy Weeknights: the best of CookingLight" on my next trip to Whole Foods (if we had a Whole Foods next door I would probably cook every night) and a few nights ago, I tried Pork Chops with Ginger-Cherry Sauce. I'm so glad the recipe is online and I can share it because oh my goodness these pork chops were delicious! Even if I say so myself! My husband declared them the best pork chops he ever had in his life. (It helped that I bought really good thick pork chops that probably would have tasted amazing just cooked plain.)

I'm telling you, you have to try making these because not only are they delicious, but they are super easy and fast to make. (And yes, slightly healthier than the burgers drenched in bacon fat.)

I think the two ingredients that really made this recipe were the delicious smelling ground ginger and the yuzu rice vinegar (which by the way is available on amazon). The recipe didn't call for yuzu rice vinegar per se but that was all they had.

Mine ended up a lot, well, blacker than the photo because the pork chops were so thin I had to cook them for a long time. The sauce had a slightly caramelized/burnt taste to it but that was one of the things I liked about it.

Anyway, I can't recommend this recipe enough.

The only recent cooking adventure photos I have though (it seems a little strange to photograph one's dinner) are of the fresh guacamole I made a few weeks ago. I followed this recipe. I love fresh cilantro.

And finally, I didn't make these but oh my, Lily O'Brien's Sticky Toffee (also available from amazon) is delicious! Treat yourself!

Apple crisp

So yes, we went apple picking, what, last weekend I think? Yes, last weekend. It seems a lot longer ago.

Today, I turned some of those apples into an apple crips, using a mixed we also picked up at the farm. It was super easy, slice the apples and place in a dish, add melted butter to the mix and spread the mix around on top, cook at 375F for 30 minutes and voila!

Chocolate-glazed toffee bars

So last night I whipped up a batch (a double batch actually) of chocolate-glazed toffee bars from The Joy of Cooking.

I've made these a few times before and they are pretty easy for how delicious they are. Unfortunately this time I forgot to cut them while they were still warm and soft but luckily I had used parchment paper in the pan so I was able to pop the whole thing out, stick it on a chopping board and take a cleaver to it!

Here they are:

(I hate using flash but it's so hard to take photos inside without it that are in focus. I need to learn how to use some of the manual settings on my camera.)