How Do You Get Your Bottles So Pretty?

Meh...it's Wednesday again. It's not that I haven't had a lot to talk about lately, I've just been busy and uninspired. I've been taking photography classes and still training with my running team. Good news is Hubs is down 11 lbs. and I'm down 8 lbs. since the beginning of January.

Woot!

So, today I am going to show you just how we go about bottling our wine and making the bottles look "pretty". I often get a lot of questions on how I make the bottles look like they were bottled professionally, so I thought I'd let you have a look. It may look like a lot of work, but Hubs and I have a sort of assembly line system down, plus it's fun to taste while we're working! The last time we bottled was around the holidays, but don't worry...there's always another batch-a-brewing, just waiting for the right time.

First I clean the bottles with a cleaning solution called BeBrite, which is basically an oxidizing solution like Oxyclean. It's safe and helps remove any seen and unseen debris, which can ruin wine. Like my sophisticated "Poison Control" label? Don't worry, we don't have kids.

After rinsing very well, I spray the inside of the bottles with potassium metabisulfite (kmeta), which is basically a sterilant used to help sterilize the bottles. Any bateria, residual yeast, or wild microorganisms that weren't removed with the BeBrite will be taken care of with this.

Next we add the wine and cork. We use a corking contraption that basically squeezes the corks into a size that can be pushed into the bottle neck. A lifesaver for sure!

After being corked, the bottles get a good wipe down with a damp rag, are dried, then labled. I do this by hand and "eyeball" the correct height and placement. I know there are little contraptions I can build with scrap wood that will help make this easier, but I haven't found the need for it for such small batches of wine.

Lastly, the bottles get their sleeves. The bottle sleeves are slid on the neck then shrink wrapped to the bottle using a heat gun. See? No fancy schmancy equipment here!

See how pretty they are? These babies are ready for some lovin'!

Bread!

Is it Wednesday already? These past two weeks have kept me as busy as a one-armed paper hanger on a windy day! I don't know where all the time goes, but homemade bread always has a way of slowing things down.

A few weeks ago, I visited another loverly blogger's website at Lindsey's Luscious and spied a tasty looking bread recipe. It looked good enough for me to brave snail-mail spam and order a bag of Harvest Grains Blend from King Aurthur Flour company.

Why is it that when you order something from one company, a thousand other companies send you junk mail for their junk? Anyway, the bread was worth the risk! Thanks Gina!

BTW, this makes the best damn toast you ever wrapped your lips around!

Ahem.


Honey Oatmeal Harvest Grains Bread
Recipe Source: Lindsey's Luscious

Makes 2 large loaves

1 cup prepared steel-cut Irish oatmeal (cooled)
4 tablespoons melted butter
1 cup whole milk
1 egg
1/2 cup honey
4 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 cup mixed nuts and seeds (I used KA's Harvest Grains Blend)
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup water (more or less/as needed)
egg wash (one egg beaten with a tablespoon of half-and-half)
rolled oats

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine all ingredients except the egg wash and rolled oats. Mix until fully combined, cover the mixer with a tea towel, and let sit for about 20 minutes to fully hydrate the dough before kneading.

After the dough rests, remove the towel, turn the mixer up to medium speed (about 4 on my Kitchen Aid) and knead with the dough hook for five minutes (it will seem a little soft and sticky, but that's okay).Turn the dough into a large, greased bowl (I spray mine), cover with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place until almost doubled.

Punch down the dough, divide in half, and on a well-floured work surface, shape into two rectangular loaves. Press each loaf into a well-greased pan. Cover the loaves loosely with sprayed plastic wrap, and let proof in a warm place for about a half hour, until about an inch over the top of the pans. While the loaves are proofing, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.When loaves have fully proofed, carefully remove the plastic wrap, brush the tops with egg wash and sprinkle liberally with rolled oats.

Bake for 40-45 minutes until the loaves are golden brown on the bottom. (You may need to cover the tops of the loaves with foil after 30 minutes to prevent over-browning.) Remove from the oven, and cool loaves in the pans on a rack for fifteen minutes or so. Then turn the loaves out of the pans and cool completely on the rack. Store in an airtight container, bag, or wrap.

Photo from Lindsey's Luscious

Clam Chowder!

Feeling a little chilly today? Well, I have the perfect thing for you! How 'bout a nice hot bowl of clam chowder with some crusty bread, or even some oyster crackers? A glass of white wine, a big ol' blanket to wrap around you, a good book or movie on the couch and I'm set. Baby, it's cold outside today!

Many people I know don't make clam chowder that often because it seems like a lot of work. I'm one of them. My typical recipe involves makeing a roux, and let's not even talk about whether to use real or canned clams. I'm already tired!

Well anyway, I had a hankering for clam chowder but didn't have the time to make it the way I usually do. I found this recipe on Recipezaar and it seemed easy enough to send to Hubs and let him take the lead.

Let me tell you, I've had A LOT of clam chowder in my time and this stuff ROCKED!! I was impressively surprised and it is so, so, so easy! Don't be a hater because of the Cream of Celery soup, trust me!

Clam Chowder
Recipe Source: Recipezaar

6-7 pieces bacon, cut into small pieces
1 medium onion, chopped
2 (5 ounce) cans baby clams, with juice reserved (drain juice into a bowl or cup)
1 bottle clam juice
5 potatoes, peeled and cubed into 2” chunks
2 (10 1/2 ounce) cans cream of celery soup
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup milk
1 ½ tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon dried dill weed (if you don’t have dill weed, use thyme)
1 tsp pepper
Salt to taste

Add bacon to dutch oven and cook on medium heat until crispy. Add onion and cook until translucent. Add clam juice from both cans plus bottle of clam juice. Add potatoes, bring to a simmer, and cover until potatoes are fork tender, about 15-20 minutes. Stir occasionally so potatoes won't stick. Add clams, soup, cream, milk, dill weed, and stir together. Add butter and let melt into the chowder, then add pepper. Simmer for about 30-45 minutes or until thickened. Stir occasionally and add salt to taste.

NOTE: This can be lightened by using 2 cups of milk instead of cream.

Image source: http://www.treehugger.com/

Superbowl Sangria

My head hurts a little today. Maybe it's because I drank too much of this last night:

Spanish Sangria
Recipe source: Barbara Hansen's Mexican Cookery (1981)

1 bottle, dry full bodied red wine
2 tablespoon orange liqueur (Grand Marnier)
1/3 cup of simple syrup
1 lime thinly sliced
1 orange thinly sliced
1 lemon thinly sliced
Juice of one orange
1 cup club soda

Combine wine, syrup, brandy and orange juice and stir. Add sliced fruit and just before serving add the soda water. Do not let the fruit slices sit in the Sangria for more than one hour before serving as the peels can cause the drink to be bitter.

Simple Syrup

1 cup sugar
1 cup water

Bring water and sugar to a boil and simmer until liquid is clear and the sugar has dissolved. Pour in to jar and refrigerate. Keep for 3 weeks.

Servings: 4

Warm Chicken Sandwiches with Spinach, Mushrooms, and Fontina

There's something to be said about a really good sandwich. The first time I saw the recipe for this sandwich in Bon Appetit, I just knew I had to make it. Something about it said, "You know I'm that good!"

Hubs and I have determined that really, all one needs to make any version of this sandwich are 4 things: a protein, some sort of sauteed or grilled veggie, a soft, meltable cheese, and a condiment.

I can't remember if the name for this sandwich is called Warm Chicken Sandwiches with Spinach, Mushroom, and Fontina, but I do remember that it had the word warm in it. That's all it took.

Warm Chicken Sandwiches with Spinach, Mushrooms, and Fontina
Recipe Source: Bon Appetit

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 T of olive oil
1 container fresh, sliced mushrooms (the ones found in the produce section)
1 bag fresh spinach
Spicey mustard (we used Zatarain's Creole)
2 cups shredded Fontina cheese
4 medium sized hoagie rolls

Take chicken breasts and flatten to about 1/2 inch thick. We put ours in a gallon sized ziplock, one at a time, and flatten/pound with the smooth side of a meat tenderizer. Season chicken breasts and sautee with olive oil in a medium/high skillet till cooked through. Remove chicken to a plate.

Add mushrooms to skillet and sautee till they release their juices, add spinach and sautee till wilted and cooked through. Preheat oven to 325°, slice hoagie rolls down the center without cutting through, and the toast rolls in oven.

When rolls are toasted, remove from oven and slather a tablespoon of spicey mustard in each roll. Cut chicken into pieces, add to rolls, top with mushroom spinach mixture, and top that with shredded cheese. Wrap each sandwich in tin foil and place in oven for 10-15 minutes.

Remove from oven, add salt and pepper if desired and dig in! These reheat in the oven very nicely.

Hey Ya'll, Back from Savannah

Before I got sick last week, hubs and I used the MLK holiday weekend to drive up to Savannah for some R&R. Of course we HAD to check out Paula Deen's The Lady & Sons restaurant. I would have to say the dinining experience there was more of a novelty than really good. The food was...meh. Okay. It came across as more Cracker Barrel than anything else, but it was one of those "try it once" experiences.

We checked out her gift store and I bought her memoire. That woman sure has worked hard for where she is today! She suffered from agoraphobia for almost 20 years. We also went to her brother's restaurant Uncle Bubba's Oyster House and it was FABULOUS!! It was so good, we went there twice! I highly recommend it, especially the chargrilled oysters!

We did a lot of touristy stuff, sight seeing and such. It was COLD for us Floridians, let me tell you! I had to buy a scarf and we layered up. Hey y'all up north, don't laugh!

I even got a picture of a ghost, I think. We were doing one of those ghost tours inside the Sorrel-Weed house, which is supposedly an actual proven and documented haunted house. The Sci-Fi channel did a story on this house or something. Anyway, we were in the basement and it was pitch black...there were no lights except the ones coming in from the patio. I took this picture in the dark with my flash and I think there is an "orb" right about where the door handle is (a little above to the left).

Either that or it's dust. :-)

Irony?

Was it irony, divine intervention, karma, or intuition that kept me home "sick" on Tuesday? I really wanted to stay home and watch the inauguration, so I called my boss and told him I wasn't feeling well. Cough. Party on!

Two hours later, I had my head in the toilet and my butt cheeks clenched tight. Something got a hold of me and I really WAS sick with some sort of intestinal bug. I felt perfectly fine that morning, thinking I'd be able to enjoy the day watching history being made. Three days later and I'm still unable to keep solids down. Bleh!

How does the universe know these things?

Wrapping Things Up

Like most red-blooded, patriotic Americans, I made a string of resolutions for the coming year, one of which I will be starting tonight. I signed up for a local walk/run training program that will meet twice a week and teach us how to go from 0 – 3 miles in 10 weeks! I did great on the Couch to 5K program, but got stuck on week 6. That whole, run-for-twenty-minutes-straight thing hung me up. Almost half fail.

Secondly, I signed up for a community education class in digital photography! I start that on the 26th and it’s 6 weeks of introducing myself to my new camera. I can’t help it; the thing scares me with its ISO settings, aperture, and what-nots. I really want to learn how to take good pictures, and I think I will. I need a mentor.

Thirdly, hubs and I have come to terms with our blubber and have started a NEW! IMPROVED! diet regimen. All the good cooking and drinking that’s been going on at our house has paid its toll. I think we’re off to a good start and he’s down 4 lbs. and I’m down 3.1 lbs. so far.

Forthly, I would like to turn JTRS into a real, honest-to-God website this year and free myself from the Blogspot oppression. Don’t get me wrong, it’s been great, it’s just I want more. We can be friends, o.k.? But I just need more and it’s not working for me. You’ll find something better Blogspot and I’ll never forget you. It's not you, it's me.

Fifthly, It’s time for me to rethink the path my life is going down. I know that sounds waaaay too heavy for a morning post and I appologize, but it has occurred to me that you, my dear readers, have no clue as to what I do for a living. I will talk all about that soon. Stay tuned!

It Gets Better!

I bet the principal came to work on Monday and was like "WTHOMFGBBQapocalypse! CHANGE IT NAOWWWW!!!"

"Hmmm...holli...holla...holly...Aw hell, NO SCHOOL"

"Fo' shizzal my dismisal"

Do they have Sonny Tannen filling out the announcement boards or something? This happens all the time. I weep for the future.

Also, is it me or does it seem like kids get waaaaaay more time off from school these days? We never got inauguration day off!

Why Some Florida Schools = Fail

What's wrong with this picture? I took it over the past weekend. For realz.

Happy New Year: Wine In Review

This past year has been an exciting journey into wine making. If you had asked me 5 years ago if I saw myself making wine, GOOD wine, I'd say you were crazy. So far (knock-on-wood), all my experiments have been delightful, with some even good enough to be repeated or improved upon. Of course, wine tastes are subjective and what I think is good could taste like the back of an L.A. schoolbus to another. Thankfully, I have good friends who are more than willing to be guinea pigs.

Here's to another great year filled with good friends, love, health, and good wine!


“Cock of the Walk” Cherry Red – A semi-dry, vanilla-oaked cherry wine made with organic cherry juice, dried cherries, cranberries, and raisins. This batch was made in June and when tasted in December, it had strong potential to age into a nice Pinot Noir type red. It is still very young and probably won’t be drinkable for at least a year. The original recipe said it would be “drinkable in 6 weeks”…HA!

Florida “Spiced Orange Meade” – A sweet honey wine made with Florida oranges, cinnamon, cloves, allspice and organic, Florida honey from Frederickson Apiaries in Eustis. This is a sweet desert wine that can be served chilled or heated for those frigid Florida winters! I made two batches of this meade this year, one with raw honey and one with filtered honey. Both turned out beautiful.

Florida “Strawberry Muscat” – A semi-dry, blush with a wonderful strawberry bouquet and a delicate strawberry flavor. I made and bottled this in April and it needed a good 6 months to age to perfection. This wine surprised people, as they expected a wine that was sweeter and not as complex. It was blended with a Black Muscat from Washington State and was outstanding when chilled. Will definitely make a bigger batch this year!

Kathy’s “Lemongrass Mint” – An herbal wine made from my own recipe of organic lemongrass and spearmint. It turned out to be very crisp, dry, with a clean lemon flavor, and was spectacular with any kind of seafood, or spicy dish such as Latin, Thai, or curries. However, I felt it needed some more body, a little less acidity, and more of the mint to shine through. I’m starting my second batch this week, which will be made out of lemon balm and mint from my garden.

Mary’s “Harvest Fig Blush” – This wine was inspired by a dear friend that lives in Deland. Every year she blesses me with fresh figs grown on her property, so it seemed perfectly fitting to make a wine in her honor. This wine was started in August and bottled in October and we haven’t tried it since bottling, but it appeared to be drinkable even then! I can’t wait to really taste it in a few months. It was made with fresh figs, brown sugar, cinnamon, allspice, ginger, oranges, lemons, and dried fruit.

Kathy’s “Banana Grigio” – This wine should really be called a banana Chardonnay, as it is extremely full bodied. I made this in May and when tried in July, it nearly punched me in the mouth! I didn’t like it! However, after 6 months of aging, we tried it again and were completely BLOWN away at how good it turned out. It mellowed out into a full bodied, almost-desertish fruit wine. The banana is definitely there, but it’s not cloying and would be phenomenal with any kind of Latin food.

Hello, Nice to Meet You

I have to apologize for my little absence, but you see, the holidays were a blur and there’s very little left of 2008. Christmas turned out to be deliciously lazy, as hubs and I stayed home instead of driving the 8-10 hours to visit the fandamily. We enjoyed every slothful moment!

Speaking of delicious, I made some Peppermint Candy ice cream courtesy of David Lebovitz and Williams and Sonoma. Every year, we pick up a jar or two of the Chocolate Filled Peppermint Snaps from W&S, as they are very addictive, perfectly minty without being too much so, and have a sinful chocolate center. Earlier this year, it dawned on me that these darlings would make an AWESOME ice cream. I was right.

Peppermint Candy Ice Cream
Recipe adapted from The Perfect Scoop

1 cup whole milk
¾ cup sugar
2 cups heavy cream
Pinch of salt
6 large egg yolks
½ tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp peppermint extract
½ cup crushed, hard peppermint candies (or more or less depending on your taste)

Warm the milk, sugar, and 1 cup of cream in a saucepan over medium heat. Pour other cup of cream into a large bowl with a mesh strainer on top. Beat the eggs in a small bowl and temper the egg mixture into the warm milk mixture. Stir warm milk and egg mixture until it thickens and coats the back of a spatula. Pour warm milk and egg custard through the mesh strainer and into the bowl of the remaining cream. Add vanilla and peppermint extract. Chill mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator. When ready to churn, add crushed peppermint candies.

The Perfect Weekend

I think I quite possibly had the perfect weekend. On Friday night, I baked up a big-ol-batch of Cinnamon, Chocolate, and Egg Nog bread that was destined to be delivered to the staff and volunteers at the SPCA.

So Saturday, hubs and I got up, did exactly 1 hour of yard work (which is unheard of…we usually work until we drop of exhaustion, heat, or bugs), we cleaned up, delivered the bread, and then went to go have a ONE! HOUR! MASSAGE!

Le sigh!

Feeling all loosey-goosey, we then had a nice, late lunch, came home, and I proceeded to take a NAP! Later, we went to go look at Christmas lights.

Yesterday, we went for an hour long bike ride, drank coffee and read the newspaper, did more yard work, THE! DOLPHINS! WON!, and then we met some friends for a festive German dinner.

What’s wrong with this picture? Shouldn’t we be running around like chickens with our heads off right about now?

I’m gonna go have another cup of coffee.

Things that Make Me Laugh

Every time I look at one of these Scared of Santa pictures, I think of that scene in "A Christmas Story" where the kid is plopped on Santa's lap and he immediately lets out an ear-piercing scream.

Call me evil, but I can't help but laugh every time!

Things that Make Me Feel Good

I know I’ve been a little MIA this week, but life has been a blur. The holidays are acoming and I’ve been busier than a one legged man in a butt kicking contest! Not to mention that I have a brand new camera that I need to figure out how to use before the return policy expires, and I’ve yet to take one picture!

But I have a lot to be grateful for, and no I don’t need any cheese to go with my whine!

Hubby and I completed the 5K run last month and I’m proud to say I wasn’t the last person over the finish line! Actually, he ran his in a little over 30 minutes, and I ran/walked mine at around 40 minutes. We’re very grateful that we are healthy enough to participate in such a thing and want to do more in the future!






I am also grateful that another loverly blogger, Sol, elected me for a blogger award. This makes me feel all sorts of tingly inside. Thank you Sol! And to spread the love, I am nominating the following bloggers for the same award:

FC over at Pure Florida: He’s a teacher, philosopher, critter wrangler, handyman, and an all around neato kind of guy. Ch-ch-check him out!

Gina at Lindsey’s Luscious: Another teacher over here. She lives precariously close to Canada in northern New York and is an exceptional pie maker, canner, and promoter of all things yummy.

Jojo at Goodness Gracious Acres (a.k.a Goings on at Jojos): Another Florida blogger who loves all critters and anything in the form of a dragonfly! She’s a marketing designer with a knack for bringing up controversial topics or in a jiffy, she’ll learn ‘ya about some goats!

Ohiomom at Cooking in Cleveland: Another yummy blogger who seems to have an endless supply of enthusiasm for good, old fashioned home cooking! A supporter of her community in Ohio, she promotes green living, healthy fare, and helping others. Don’t pass up on the Granny Cake!

Here are the rules for the recipients:

1. The award may be displayed on a winner’s blog.
2. Add a link to the person you received the award from.
3. Nominate up to seven other blogs.
4. Add their links to your blog.
5. Add a message to each person that you have passed the award on in the comments section of their blog.

Another Mouth to Feed - Chocolate Amish Bread

To make a segue from Pricey the Home Seeking Squirrel ~ We've temporarily started parking the car in the garage and have removed the tempting bird feeders from the back yard. We think his/her fuzzy little butt was sleeping in a warm bed at night and setting his/her little squirrel alarm to commute to the back yard every day.

We've placed Havahart traps to capture and release somplace else. I know, KNOW! I'm not going to kill these buggers even though I'm very tempted! Let them live out overfed lives in some park versus squirrel stew or swimming wit' da' fishies. Right now they're doing drive-bys in the Havahart and taunting my husband.

O.k., back on the ranch.

Someone gave me some Amish Bread Starter a few months ago and I've been feeding it and giving away it's offspring like unwanted kittens and puppies. "Take one home, pleeeeease!" I've exhausted my workplace like some sort of twisted (yet yummy) chain letter.

The original Cinnamon Amish Bread recipe is DEVINE; me gusta mucho! But, I've been playing around with the recipe and have been making Chocolate Amish Bread. Incidentally, this is the same starter for the infamous Amish Friendship Bread. I've not seen any recipes online for a chocolate version, so I'm hoping to start something new.

If anyone is interested in a cup of Amish Friendship Bread starter, let me know and I'll mail you some!

This chocolate version, BTW, is fabulous! Dark and chocolatey without being too sweet.

Chocolate Amish Bread

2 cups of Amish Bread Starter
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk
1 cup light brown sugar
2 T of instant expresso powder (I use International Delights Swiss Mocha)
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp of baking power
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups all purpose flour
1 box Jello chocolate instant pudding
Cocoa powder sugar (explained below)

For cocoa powder sugar: mix 1/2 cup of regular white sugar with 2 rounded tablespoons of cocoa powder and set aside.

Mix all bread ingredients in a glass or plastic bowl using either a plastic, wooden, or rubber spatula. Do NOT use any metal utensils or bowls!! Mix well until there are no lumps in the batter. Preheat oven to 325 °.

Take 2 regular loaf baking pans and spray with Pam, add just enought cocoa sugar to coat the bottom and sides of pans. Pour bread batter equally into both pans and sprinkle the remaining cocoa sugar over the batter. Bake for 1 hour, or until butter knife inserted comes out clean.

A Squirrel Ate My Car!

So, I drive a PT Cruiser. I love that car! It's small, but big when I need it, and it's cute with lot's of tailgating potential. I take good care of it, so when it started acting funny the past day or two, I told hubs to take it in to Chrysler for an oil change and to have it checked out.

He called me later and told me that a squirrel had gotten under the hood and decided it looked awful homey, so it built a nest using ohh, insulation and wiring it managed to gnaw from the ENGINE!

WTF? I drive my car everyday, so it's not idle. We don't have any trees around our house and we live in a subdivision, not the boonies. This is going to cost mayjah $$ to fix, but the worst part is the little *&%^$#er will come back and rebuild! This isn't New Orleans, you squirrely little bastard!

I've heard of this happening up north, but not in Florida! Does anyone know what I should do?

Santa Came Early

All right people, get your minds out of the gutter. Seriously!

The photography at Just the Right Size will be greatly improved over the coming months. You see, I've been going to the Central Florida Camera Society meetings on and off for the past few months, but it's kinda lame if you don't have a good camera. I've been using a Sony Mavica, which has its purpose, but it's not a Nikon D60!!!!

I was like Jesus Christ Acapella Reprisal when I got it! Now I gotta figure out how to use it!

And Then There Was Ina

I was having a little pre-Thanksgiving meltdown last night about side dishes. First, let me mention that we are having TWO dinners this year, one at my sister-in-law's-sister-in-law's house (yes, that's correct), and one at our house on Saturday. See, hubs and I agree that one of the best things about Turkey Day, besides family and friends, are the leftovers.

Now going to someone else's house for Turkey Day is great, but no leftovers at home! So, we're having our own throw down with some friends on Saturday. So, back to the side dishes...

I always find myself in a rut about vegetables. There's always so many rich, gravied, smothered, and sugared things on the table for Turkey Day already, and I like to keep a few things simple. I panicked. I was already making roasted beets and butternut squash, and I was CERTAINLY not going to have a nasty, green bean casserole.

Then I remembered Ina. I have every one of her cookbooks, and every one of her recipes are pure, simple, let-the-food-shine-through gold.

Have a happy, safe, and wonderful Thanksgiving!

Green Beans with Shallots
Recipe sourse: Family Style by Ina Garten

1 lb. fresh green beans, cleaned
3 shallots, sliced thin
2-3 tablespoons of butter
Kosher salt to taste
Pepper to taste

Blanche the green beans in boiling water 2-3 minutes, then plunge into cold water to stop the cooking process. In a sautee pan, melt the butter and sautee the shallots over medium/high heat until they start to caramelize, toss the green beans with the shallots just enough to reheat. Season with salt & pepper, serve hot.

Meet Mr. or Mrs. Burns!

To save you from the constant onslaught of food porn that is pouring in from other foodies this week, I bring you Mr. or Mrs. Burns the Black Racer!

We've seen this little guy (girl?) zipping around our property for some time. Maybe a year or so. But lately we've seen a few babies here and there, so we've considered renaming him/her to Mrs. Burns (anyone a Simpson's fan?).

She's sweet and sleepy lately due to the cool weather, but she still manages to give me a good jump every now and again when I least expect it. She's about 4 foot long and a nice addition to our cache of critters.

Anyone know anything about snakes? Is this a black racer? (I hope!)

BRRrrrrr!

Do you feel that? The temperatures got down into the 30's last night here in Central Florida! I was lucky though, it hovered just above freezing and I didn't have to do the Bedsheet Boogey for my more sensitive plants.

I LOVE it though! Even though hubs and I are Florida natives, we both have families that are only one or two generations off the boat from Europe. We both LOVE the cold, so we can blame it on our Norwegian ancestry.

Last night, we built a fire outside in our fire pit and had a big bowl of this chili to keep us warm. This is a really good "chili", although it's more of a soup. Either way, it'll warm you up!

Kathy’s White Bean, Chicken, & Corn Chili

2 poblano peppers, diced (or 2 green bell peppers)
1 habanero pepper, diced (or 1 jalapeno)
1 onion, chopped
1 T olive oil
4 cans navy beans
4 cups frozen whole kernel corn
1 7.5 oz can chipotle peppers w/adobo, chopped (I usually use only 1 chili from the can, but you can add more or less depending on the "heat" factor you like)
1 32 oz. Chicken broth (or 2 if you want a bigger pot of chili)
2 T chili seasoning mix
1 cup chopped, fresh cilantro
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, chopped and cooked

Saute diced poblano, habanero and onion in olive oil until tender (2 minutes). Add navy beans and next 4 ingredients and bring to a boil over med-high heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce temp, cover, and simmer 15 minutes. Add cooked chicken and cilantro, simmer 5 – 10 minutes more.

Brandied Cherries

If any ol' stranger would to stumble upon this blog and say, "Oh what's over here?" then they'd surely think I have a drinking problem.

I give you dear readers, yet ANOTHER recipe that contains alcohol! Yay me! Actually, don't let these sweet, innocent maraschino cherries fool you, they contain quite a punch. It's simple, batta-bing-batta-boom. Two step wonders over here! The best part is making these into chocolate covered cherries for the holidays!

Step 1: Buy a large, Big Box store jar of maraschino cherries and dump out half of the juice.


Step 2: Back fill with brandy. Put lid on, and stick in the refrigerator to marinate for several weeks. Enjoy at own risk!

Meade Making 101 (Continued)

So after 7 weeks, your meade should have stopped fermenting and cleared up nicely. In this picture, you can see where the fruit is still floating on the top and the sediment (the lees) have settled to the bottom. Mine is still a bit dark, as I mentioned that I used unfiltered honey. If you used the typical, storebought filtered honey, your meade will be perfectly clear at this point.

When your ready, put a hose into the clear part of your meade and siphon off the golden nectar. You can put a small cloth at the end of your hose for a filter, but I've never had to do that. I'm just careful to not siphon up any of the sediment and stop when I'm close to the bottom. It helps to move your meade jug to the "siphoning spot" several days before you siphon. That way, any sediment stirred up during moving will have a chance to settle at the bottom.

Once you're done, cork your gallon jug and stick it in the refrigerator! As I said, this is a very sweet, complex dessert wine, so it's best to drink in very small amounts as if you would a cordial. It can be served chilled or warmed (for those frigid Floriday nights), and you will find that it has a wonderful honey/orange flavor with hints of spice.

Your meade should look like this (in the pictures above, mine still has a way to go before it's perfectly clear). What's up with my husband's pinky finger????

And that's it! A lot of people like meade for the fact that you don't have to add sulfites. Honey is an amazing preserving agent all on its own, which makes this experiment so darn easy and forgiving. We bottle ours in small bottles (since it is so sweet) and plan to give them as gifts this year for Christmas.

Meade Making 101

Recently, I've had a few people ask me how I am making my Orange Spiced Meade, and I've promised to give a demonstration. For those of you who aren't meade savvy, meade is wine made with honey. Sometimes it can be as dry and complex as a top-notch wine, and sometimes it is as sweet as a cordial.

In this case, I am making a very sweet dessert wine, which has flavorings of oranges and spice and everything nice. This was my very first meade, and from my experience, it is the easiest to make. From start to finish, this meade will take approximately 8 weeks.

For this example, I am using unfiltered, raw honey, but I recommend that a beginner use filtered honey. This is my second batch; the first batch I made with filtered honey, was much easier to clear and not as finicky. You can buy a gallon of filtered honey from any Big Box store like Sam's for around $20.

Orange Spiced Meade - 1 Gallon
Recipe from: Joe Mattioli

Ingredients:
3 1/2 lbs (56 oz) Clover or your choice honey or blend
1 Navel or other seedless orange (later cut in eights or smaller rind and all)
1 small handful of raisins (25 if you count)
1 stick of cinnamon
1 whole clove (or 2 if you like - these are potent critters)
3 allspice berries
1 teaspoon of Fleishmann’s bread yeast (Active dry)
Balance water to one gallon

Equipment:
- 1 gallon glass jug
- 1 wine airlock – you can either find these online at either wine or beer hobby sites for around $3, or see if there is a wine/beer hobby shop near you.
- An airlock rubber cork (this is basically a rubber cork with a hole in it where the airlock fits).

Process:
Use a clean 1 gallon carboy (a carboy is the same thing as a glass jug) . In these pictures, I am using a 3 gallon carboy...hey we do things big around here!

Wash orange well to remove any pesticides and slice in eights -- add orange, rinds and all to carboy.

Dissolve honey in some warm water and pour in carboy using a clean, food-use only funnel (please don't use the one from your dad/husband's garage).

Put in raisins, clove, cinnamon stick, and allspice berries. Fill carboy with water to 3 inches from the top with cold water. (leave room for some foam -- you can top off with more water after the first few day yeastie frenzy).

Shake the heck out of the jug with top on, of course. This is your sophisticated aeration process.

When at room temperature in your kitchen, put in 1 teaspoon of bread yeast. Don't use grandma's bread yeast she bought years before she passed away in the 90's! You don't have to rehydrate it first. Give water mixture a gentle swirl.

Install water airlock. Put in dark place (in my case, the spare bathroom). It will start working in about an hour. After major foaming stops in a few days, add some water and then keep your hands off of it. (Don't shake it! Don't mess with them yeasties! Leave them alone except to remove the airlock to smell every once in a while.)

Racking --- Don't you dare
Additional feeding --- NO NO
More stirring or shaking -- You're not listening, don't touch!

Leave your meade alone for 7 weeks (do not leave longer on the fruit for more than 7 weeks or the meade will taste bitter)

STAY TUNED FOR WHAT HAPPENS NEXT....!!!

Thank You!

Thank you California!

Thank you Oregon!

Thank you Washington!

This is a good day indeed!

Everyone is Boo-ti-ful

In their own waaaaay.

Ahem.

Did you have a nice Halloween? We sure did. We had lots of kiddies come to the house and we had a blast. Hubs dresses up in the same costume every year and sits very still in a chair on the driveway. All the kids think he is a "dummy" and try to poke him or get the nerve to go up to him. When they get bored...MUWA-HA-HA-HA! He jumps up and scares the bejeezus out of them.

We never do that to the younger kids, but the older ones are totally free game. Especially the ones with facial hair.

Fruitcake! - Part 2

Whew, what a week! Hubs and I have been busy getting ready for tomorrow, which is Halloween (in case you forgot!). :-)

Every year, we put on a big display in the yard for the neighborhood. So much that I have to take the day off work to help set it up, and we build most of what we display ourselves. We have animatronics, and sound, and lots of fun stuff. It's very Disney-esque. We also dress up and hand out candy on the driveway.

We've become that house!

Anywho, have you made your fruitcake? If so, it's time to baste babies! Be sure to baste every week, so they're nice and boozey (this also helps keep them moist)! Here's the second recipe and this one is my favorite. I love the other one just as well, but I have a soft spot for gingerbread, and basically all things gingery.

Gingerbread Forest "Rum Cake"

Ingredients:
½ to ¾ liter brandy or cherry brandy
1 large box (1 lb) of golden, seedless raisins
½ lb chopped, toasted pecans or walnuts
2 ½ cups sifted, all purpose flour
1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened
1 cup sugar
½ cup molasses
5 eggs
¾ tsp salt
½ tsp baking soda
1 ½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp cloves
½ tsp nutmeg
½ cup orange juice
1 cup seedless, blackberry jam

24 hours before baking: Pour brandy, raisins, and nuts into a glass dish and let macerate for 24 hours.

When ready to bake: Strain fruit and nut mixture and reserve infused brandy for basting. Preheat oven at 275°. Beat butter and sugar till very light and fluffy, then add molasses. Beat in eggs. Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, and spices. Mix in half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, then add orange juice and jam, then add the rest of the flour mixture.

Add strained fruit and nut mixture to batter and mix with a wooden spoon. Take two loaf pans and line them with parchment paper (this is important). If you do not use parchment paper, the cakes will stick, even with non-stick pans! Spray parchment paper with Pam and spoon batter into loaf pans. Bake for 3 ½ hours.

Cool in pans until they reach room temp. Poke holes in the top of the cakes with a toothpick and basted cakes liberally with reserved, infused brandy. Unwrap cakes, turn over, poke holes in the bottom of cakes, and baste. Wrap cakes in parchment, place in Rubbermaid containers in the refrigerator.

Baste cakes on top and bottom with reserved, infused brandy once a week until Christmas.

Status Check

The C25K (Couch to 5K) training is still on! I’m actually doing quite well and have only stopped ONCE during a training regimen where I just didn’t have the energy to run that last ½ mile. From here on though, it’s going to be tough. Now, I’m not running fast at ALL mind you, but I’m not stopping during my runs (knock-on-wood). By the end of this week, I’m supposed to be able to run 2 miles without stopping (gulp).

I’m trying to decide if listening to music is helping or harming me while I run. On one hand, I like the distraction. On the other hand, the beat of the music makes me run faster; therefore, making me lose my breath and not pace myself. I did learn that you have to run more on the balls of your feet versus your heels. After week 2, my back was hurting terribly and after talking to a friend who used to be an Army drill sergeant, he told me to lean more into the run and run on the balls of my feet. And you KNOW he knew something about running!

Well we gave one more pumpkin ale a try and it was a FAIL too. We saw a 4 pack of Dogfish Head Punkin Ale at the store and thought, “WTH”. Sadly, we’ve tried all 5 pumpkin ales that are available in our area, so next year we’ll have to special order.

I guess I could just LEARN how to make beer, huh?

BTW, I still owe you a Fruitcake #2 post, plus some of you have been asking how I make my meade (I was supposed to post that this weekend, but the weather was sooooooooo nice). Fear not faithful readers! I will not let you down…stand by!

Fruit Cake! - Part 1

My house smells very yeasty right now. This past weekend, hubs and I bottled the Oaked Cherry wine I started back in June. It still needs a bit of aging, but I think it will be very nice. So, I started a batch of Harvest Fig Wine. So far, so good, but the yeasty beasties are having a party in my spare bathroom.

It's also time to make the Annual Besotted Fruitcakes. I know, I know, but these are unlike ANYTHING you've ever had and will develop a cult following. I call them "Holiday Rum Cakes" to avoid the stigma. It must be the booze.


Lemon Yellow "Holiday Rum Cake"

Ingredients:
- ½ to ¾ liter rum
- 1 lb. dried fruit mix (cherries, strawberries, cranberries, blueberries) – Do not use the candied “fruit cake” fruit mix you see in the store with those nasty red and green maraschino cherries! Do not use dried pineapple or citrus peel. Just dried fruit. Sam’s and Target carry a brand called Stoneridge that I’ve used every year.
- ½ lb of chopped, toasted pecans or walnuts
- 1 lb butter, softened
- 2 ¼ cups sugar
- 6 large eggs
- 4 cups white cake flour
- ¼ cup lemon extract (yes, ¼ cup)

24 hours before baking: Pour rum, dried fruit, and nuts into a glass dish and let macerate for 24 hours.

When ready to bake: Strain fruit and nut mixture, save infused rum for basting. Preheat oven to 300°. Beat butter and sugar until very light and fluffy. Beat in half of the eggs, then half of the flour, then the rest of the eggs, then the rest of the flour. Beat in lemon extract, add strained fruit and nuts to batter, and mix with a wooden spoon.

Take two loaf pans and line them with parchment paper (this is important). Spray parchment paper with Pam, then spoon batter into loaf pans. If you do not use the parchment, the cakes will stick, even with non-stick pans!

Bake for 45 minutes, then cover the pans with tin foil and bake for an additional 45 minutes. Watch carefully near the end of the cooking time. As soon as the cakes start to pull away from the edges or resist when you poke them gently, they are ready. It’s better to under bake than over bake. Let them rest on a rack until they’ve cooled to room temp.

When they are cooled but still in the pans, poke holes in the top of the cakes with a toothpick. Take a basting brush and brush the tops of the cakes very liberally with the infused rum. Pull cakes out of pans, unwrap and turn over, and do the same with the bottom. When through, wrap cakes with parchment, and store in Rubbermaid containers in the refrigerator.

Refrigerate remaining infused rum and baste the cakes with the rum on both sides, once a week till Christmas.

"R" is for Rutebaga

You know, it has dawned on me that I have NEVER eaten a rutabaga. At least none that I’m aware of, but I thought it would be a good, eye-catching title for this post!

Hi there! How are you today? Did anyone catch the absolutely GORGEOUS harvest or hunter’s moon we’ve had for the past night or two? Stunning! And the sunrise these past few mornings (here in Florida) have been pretty breathtaking as well.

Happy Fall ya’ll! I love this time of year! Even here in Florida, we know that “fall” is here when the temps only get in the 80s versus the life draining 90s that we’re used to. And the humidity has been really low as well. During these breaks, I feel like I could work out in the yard all day. There’s no WAY you could keep me inside the house when the weather is nice.

Another thing I love about fall is the abundance of gourds, squash, and root veggies at the market or grocery. Last year, I discovered that I absolutely adore roasted beets, especially golden beets. And this is the only time of year where you can buy beets or butternut squash at a reasonable price, so we have the most of it when we can.

I love, love, love this recipe. The original recipe calls for beets, parsnips, and sweet potatoes, but feel free to experiment. My favorite trio is golden beets, carrots, and butternut squash. A little much in the yellow color, but it’s all going to the same place: in my tummy!

The vinaigrette is smashing all on it’s own and it wonderful over a salad too.

Roasted Root Vegetables with Horseradish Vinaigrette
Recipe Source: I don't remember, Bon Appetit? Southern Living?

2 large sweet potatoes
4 large parsnips
6 med beets
3 T EVOO
1 ½ tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Peel potatoes and cut into cubes, peel parsnips and cut into slices, peel beets and cut into wedges. Toss potatoes & parsnips with oil, and preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place potatoes & parsnips on a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan and sprinkle w/ salt & pepper. Toss beets with oil in separate bowl and arrange on a separate cookie sheet/pan; sprinkle w/salt & pepper. Roast at 400 degrees for 20 – 25 min or until tender. Cool before adding vinaigrette. Drizzle vinaigrette to taste over vegetables before serving.

Horseradish Vinaigrette

1/3 cup white wine vinegar
1/c cup EVOO
2 T horseradish
1 T chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 T tarragon (fresh or ½ T of dried)
1 T Dijon mustard
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 ½ tsp honey
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper

Whisk together all ingredients. Serve immediately, or chill up to 4 days.

Can I Have 4 Beers?

I think most people start to become a little hedonistic around this time of year. I know my husband and I look forward to every tradition and special treat. We celebrate when we can get an ocassional Pumpkin Spice Latte from Fourbucks, or when our local diner, Applebaums, goes all out for Halloween decorations on the inside. Eating there is like eating at Vincent Price's house.

Another thing we look forward to is the pumpkin ale.

This year, we decided to do a little taste test. Now granted, we don't have access to some of the awesome micro-brewerys that are available up north, so beggars can't be choosy. Every year, we've gotten Shipyard's Pumpkinhead Ale, which we pick up at Wholefoods, so we wanted to see if there was something better out there.
Overall, our experiment was sadly disappointing. Michelob's Jack Pumpkin Spice Ale didn't taste like anything more than a strong amber beer. It "says" it is brewed with select spices, such as nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger and clove, but we didn't taste a damn thing. The same thing goes for Blue Moon's Harvest Moon Pumpkin Ale. Overall it was meh. We'll be boiling ribs with these losers.

Next is Weyerbacher's Imperial Pumpkin Ale. I couldn't put my finger on what this beer tasted like. The label gives the usual spice suspects; however, it uses cardamom, and not in a good way. It must be my imagination (or too many beers), but this beer tasted like sausage to me. This beer would be awesome with sausage, but then again, I don't like cardamom. Hubs didn't like it either.

Last is our trusted favorite, Shipyard's Pumpkinhead Ale. This beer TASTES like a pumpkin ale should. It has a nice pumpkin spice flavor in the front without it being so stout that it overwhelms. Guess we'll be back for more of this beer before they stop carrying it for the season.

This was fun, but we now have WAY too much beer. Is that even possible?

Happy Blogiversary!

Two years ago (has it been THAT long?), I started this blog as an outlet for thoughts and recipes. Little did I know that I would meet so many neat, wonderful, and talented people through the magic of the internets!

At first, I didn’t start out as strong, and even had a long hiatus or two thrown in, but now I try to “keep things regular” with 2-3 posts a week. Two years ago, I didn’t know how to make wine or how to use chicken feet in chicken stock. I didn’t know squat about bathroom remodeling or running (except to the store). There’s been hurricanes, recipes, and wedding anniversaries. Holidays, head colds, and new jobs. And I’ve shared it all with you!

Thanks everyone! I wonder what the next 2 years will bring?

Sfor-MAH-toa

Cookbooks are like old friends. I can flip through their pages and think, "Remember that party we threw?" or "My sister-in-law LOVED you!" or "What were you thinking?!"

When we had our garage sale, I got the chance to flip through a few old cookbooks that I had forgotten. At one point, I tried to collect the Christmas with Southern Living annual recipe cook books, but only made it three years, then skipped about eight years before buying another. When flipping through the 2001 issue, I found this yummy recipe.

The recipe says it's a souffle (here I go again with the eggs), but it really turned out to be more of a mashed potato pie. The recipe says it's known in Italy as a sformato,which is kind of a molded custard. Either way, it was a great change from mashed taters or rice and great with any kind of gravy.

Potato Souffle
Recipe Source: Christmas with Southern Living, 2001

2 lbs. baking potatoes, peeled and cubed
6 T of butter or margarine
1/2 cup APP flour
2 cups milk
3 T butter or margarine
1 large onion, chopped
4 egg yolks, lightly beaten
1/2 cup freshly shredded Parmesan cheese (I used cheddar)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
1 cup soft breadcrumbs
Garnish: fresh or dried thyme

Cook pototoes in boiling, salted water till tender. Drain and mash with a potato masher; set aside. Melt 6 tablespoons of butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat; whisk in flour until smooth. Cook 1 minute, whisking constantly; gradually whisk in milk. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until sauce is thickened and bubbly. Remove from heat and set aside.

Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over medium heat; add onion, and saute 10 minutes until tender and browned. Stir together mashed potato, onion, white sauce, beaten egg yolks, and next 4 ingredients.

Butter a 9" x 3 " springform pan. Add 1/2 cup breadcrumbs to pan, tilting to coat bottom and sides with the breadcrumbs. Freeze 1 minute to set crumbs. Spoon potato filling into pan; top with remaining 1/2 cup breadcrumbs.

Bake uncovered in a 400° oven for 50 minutes (mine took an hour) or until set. Cool 15 minutes before removing sides of pan. Garnish if desired; serve warm.

From Couch to 5K

Well, hubs and I have decided that we want to run in the annual Turkey Trot 5K run this year. This gives us 9 weeks to train, and I am definitely not too far above the couch stage.

Actually, we're really not that bad off. Basically, I want to learn how to run without feeling like my chest is going to explode.

Garage Sale and Banana Bread

Yesterday, we had our badly needed garage sale. We got our butts up at 5 a.m. to set everything up and fried out in the sun till 2 p.m. (even though we had SPF 50 on). BUT the good news is we made just under $400 and still have a few items we can put up on Craigslist to see if we can sell them there.

Afterwards, we got a truck and hauled everything to Goodwill and Habitat for Humanity. I took about a gazillion books we were trying to sell to a used bookstore to resell and donate to the Iraqi Veterans Hospital. Plus, we were selling cold drinks, Lemon Pound Cake, and Banana Nut Bread at the sale, so I took the leftovers to the Central Fla. SPCA to give to the staff. I sometimes do that as an appreciation for what they do everyday. Afterwards, we were pooped!

Good karma, we haz it!

Now about those cakes. We sold quite a bit of it and got some wonderful comments. The banana nut bread is a recipe from Southern Living that took me FOREVER to find. It seems all other banana nut breads I tried were too dense and dry, so I went of a quest one year to find THE RECIPE. When I first made this, I knew it was going to be a hit just by the way the batter tasted. Now, normally I am not a batter licker, but it smelled so good I couldn't help myself!

Cream Cheese Banana Nut Bread
Recipe source: Southern Living

3/4 cup butter, softened
1 (8 oz.) packaged of cream cheese
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
3 cups All purp. flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (I use over ripe bananas)
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pecans, toasted

Beat butter and cream cheese together until creamy. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, and beat until blended. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture until blended. Mix in bananas and vanilla until blended. Hand mix in pecans.

Preheat oven to 350. Spoon batter into two, greased & floured 8 x 4 inch loaf pans and bake for approximately 1 hour or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. When finished, cool in pans for 10 minutes, then remove and cool for 30 minutes before slicing (it's hard to do, I know!)

The Lemon Pound Cake is an Ina Garten recipe and I adore her. If she were so hopelessly devoted to Jeffrey, I'd marry her and have her babies. Every recipe I've ever made of hers has been a pure #1 hit. Again, the batter was a dead give away. I'll have to post that another time, cuz it's late and I'm still recovering.

Paradise Lost

Well, hubs and I made our hit-and-run to Key West this past weekend. We drove down on Friday, stayed Saturday, and drove back on Sunday. It's about an 8 hour drive from Orlando...or close to 6 if I drive.

When hubs tells people that he's from Key West, he inevitably gets some sort of response asking WHY in the WORLD would he ever move from such a wonderful place? Well, unless you have a major drinking problem or enjoy working three jobs to stay afloat, Key West isn't all that or a bag of chips. But, it's fun to visit every now and again.

Whenever we go down there, we HAVE to visit Sandy's and either drink a Buche or Colada Cuban coffee. Sandy's is both a laundry mat and a Cuban Deli, but they serve the best damn Cuban sandwiches and Cuban coffee on the island. Basically, Buches are served in the leetle, leetle 1 oz. cups because they are the equivalent of Cuban speed. Over the years, hubs and I have built up a tolerance for Coladas, which are about 4 or 5 Buches in one glass. After one Colada, we're flying for the rest of the day. Don't tell my cardiologist.

Saturday night, we went to dinner with his family for his mom's 85th birthday party. It was really interesting to listen to some of the old "Conchs" talk about what Key West was like back in the 70's and 80's. Waiters and waitresses used to get tipped in cocaine instead of money and the clubs had parties that were basically free-for-all orgies. Good times!

And of course, no visit to Key West would be complete without a picture of a chicken.

Off to Margaritaville

Well, we’re off this weekend to Key West for hubby’s family reunion, or as he likes to call it, “A Dysfunctional Odyssey”.

Hubby is from Key West and still has a good majority of his family living down there. They are a bunch of “conch-heads” and you would think living down there is da’ bomb, but alas, it is not. It fails.

It’s one thing to visit down there for a wild weekend or Fantasy Fest, but another if you live down there. Actually, it’s pretty boring and the locals avoid Duval Street like Mike Tyson taking a SAT.

BUT, we know of all the good local places for NOMs and good Cuban coffee. Mostly, it will be quasi relaxing and quiet. Oh wait, did I tell you that it’s ALSO Bike Week down there this weekend too? No? I did not?

Should be good for major LOLs. I’ll bring the camera.

Meal in a What???

Wanna a great recipe that will not only use up leftovers, but is also an awesome meal/snack to serve during football season?

Make a Meal In a Loaf!

It's a meal!
It's a loaf!

It's delicious!

Yep, this is another keeper I snagged from my ever resourceful Cooking Forum. Thank you Katie for such an awesome idea!

I used the ham, swiss, and pickle mixture, which tasted amazingly like a Cuban sandwich sans the roast pork. But I could imagine it with:

- Steak/chopped, cooked roast, provolone, sautéed onions with a horseradish spread
- Pepperoni, mozzarella, and roasted veggies with pizza sauce
- Cooked, chopped turkey, swiss, chopped tomatoes with a Ranch dressing

The possibilities are endless!

And don't be afraid of the yeast people! I didn't use my Kitchenaide for this either. Just mix the dough in a bowl, then turn it out on a floured cutting board and knead.

Meal in a Loaf
Recipe By : Katie, from The Cooking Forum
Serving Size : 8

4 cups flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 packages yeast
1 cup water
1/4 cup dijon mustard (I used an extra 1/4 cup to spread on dough)
2 tablespoons butter
1 - 2 cups chopped cooked ham -- (8 oz.)
1 cup shredded Swiss cheese -- or cheddar
1/2 - 1 cup chopped dill pickle
1 egg - beaten

Set aside 1 cup flour. Melt butter in a 2 cup, microwave safe measuring cup. Add water (hot tap is fine) to butter then add yeast and sugar. Mix well and let sit to activate the yeast. Mix water mixture into 3 cups of flour then add mustard and salt. Mix in enough reserved flour to make a soft dough and knead 4 minutes. *OR* Throw everything in the bread machine.

On a greased baking sheet, roll dough to 14"x12". Spread extra mustard down the center of dough, sprinkle ham, cheese, and pickle down 1/3 of dough length. Make cuts from filling to edges of dough at 1" intervals. Bring strips from opposite sides of filling together, twist, and place at an angle across filling. Cover. Let rise until almost double (about 1 hour). Brush loaf with egg. Bake @ 375° for 25 minutes or until browned (mine took about 45 minutes). Serve warm.

Oh, Snap!

I love food that fools you. Not in a bad way, mind you, but when your brain expects one thing and you’re delivered something else. It makes you think about expectations and perceptions. More importantly it lets the food you want to highlight really shine through.

These cookies are just the ticket. Oh yes, they’re gingersnaps alright, but just a little more “snappy” than what you’d expect. The kick comes from a touch of cayenne pepper, which really emphasizes the ginger’s finishing “snap”. Hence the extra snappy.

I make these every year for the holidays, but I’m careful of who I give these to. Some people are really sensitive to spicy food and don’t like them, but they really do rock. Or snap!

Extra Snappy Gingersnaps

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger, or more to taste
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
8 tablespoons (1 stick) cool unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/2 cup granulated sugar, plus extra for rolling
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup molasses (not blackstrap)
1/4 cup egg whites (from about 2 eggs)

Combine the flour, baking soda, and spices in a mixing bowl and set aside. Cream the butter until smooth and fluffy in a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or using a hand mixer). Add the sugars and mix. Add the molasses and mix. Add the egg whites
in 2 batches, mixing to combine after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in three batches, mixing to combine after each addition. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Spread a few tablespoons of granulated sugar on a small plate. Roll the dough into 3/4-inch balls, then roll each ball in the sugar until lightly coated. Transfer to parchment lined cookie sheets, leaving 1-inch of space between the cookies. Bake until browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Let cool on wire racks and store in an airtight
container. Yield: 60 cookies.

Projectus Interruptus

“By this time next week, things will be back to normal”
“We’ll have this all done by next month”
“By next Friday, all of these boxes will be outta here!”
“By this time next month, we’ll have our house back”

I’ve been spouting crap like that for the past 3 months! From July until this very moment, our life has been a non-stop project. And I know we bring it on ourselves; life wouldn’t be the same for hubs and me if we weren't tackling something major at least ONCE a year. :-)

So we decided to take the money we saved from our “stimulization” check and buy some badly needed office furniture. It came in this weekend (of course), which meant we had to rent a truck to go pick up the furniture. Oh, and while we were at it, let’s use said truck to haul all the crap we don’t want any more out of the storage unit for a huge, huge HUGE garage sale on the 27th. As hubs quoted from CCR, “And when the tax man comes, lord don’t the house look like a rummage sale.” Our house looks like an inside-out yard sale and the garage is chock-a-block stuffed with furniture, books, and boxed things that have no description.

By this time next month, things will be back to normal.

And on top of that, we’re having the carpets cleaned either today or tomorrow. So, everything that’s on the carpet had to be moved onto the tile. Hey, did you know that an old computer (that’s not running) will condense water on the bottom metal panel and soak your carpet?

Yeah, we didn’t know either.

Sigh.

Hey, Nice Buns!

Whew! It's been catch-as-catch-can around here lately. Quite honestly, these past three or four weeks have been a mess...what with remodeling both bathrooms, getting the same cold/flu virus TWICE, an annoying amount of wind and rain, courtesy of Fay, and being transferred at my job.

There hasn't been much going on food-wise. In case you haven't noticed!

But, life is about to get back to normal (whatever that is!) and it's time to get back in the kitchen. Last nite, I made the most AMAZING dinner rolls/buns ever. And trust me, I've baked a lot of bread in my time.

These were so easy, I didn't even have to lug the trusty-ol' Kitchenmaid out and use the dough hook. I just mixed this all up in a big bowl, then used my hands to finish kneading in the same bowl. I ended up using just a touch more flour called for, as I found the dough to be very shaggy.

This recipe made 20 HUGE buns (we wanted to use them for sandwiches) or will make 36 nice-sided dinner rolls.

The Spicery Rolls
(Again, another keeper from the Cooking Forum!)

1 1/2 cups boiling water
1/2 cup margarine (I use butter)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups water (hot but not boiling)
6 ounces evaporated milk
1/4 cup yeast (yes, that is correct...Active Dry is fine)
9 1/8 cups flour

In a large bowl, pour boiling water over butter. Add salt and sugar and stir well. When butter is melted, mix in additional water. Stir in evaporated milk. Slowly add flour and yeast. Turn out onto floured board and knead for about 10 minutes. Next grease a large bowl thoroughly, put the dough in it and turn it over so the surface will be greased. Let rise in a warm place until doubled, punching down twice, about an hour. Form into dinner-size rolls. Let rise until doubled. Bake 20-25 minutes at 375 degrees. Makes 36 large rolls.