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By mlb, on December 2nd, 2007%
I have always been fruitcake-curious. So, this year, I decided what the hell, I’ll make one. The recipe is Alton Brown’s Free Range Fruitcake. And I made a special trip (to Trader Joe’s) for all the dried fruit and everything. We had the rum and the brandy already. Go figure.
This is a Part I, as I will have to baste the fruitcake(s) with brandy every 2-3 days for the next 2-3 weeks. How fun! It’s like an ongoing project with alcohol.
AB’s Free Range Fruitcake
1 cup golden raisins
1 cup currants
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup dried blueberries
1/2 cup dried cherries
1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped (I used dried peaches)
Zest of one lemon, chopped coarsely
Zest of one orange, chopped coarsely
1/4 cup candied ginger, chopped
1 cup gold rum (I used dark rum)
1 cup sugar
1 1/4 sticks (not cups!) unsalted butter (that’s 10 tbsp)
1 cup apple juice
1/4 tsp ground cloves (or 6 . . . → Read More: Don’t Fear the Fruitcake…No, Really! (Part I)
By mlb, on July 28th, 2007%
A while ago (okay, like 1999), I remembered seeing a recipe in Sunset magazine for lavender-blueberry margaritas. I recently spent some time searching for it, found it, and then was like, huh. Coconut milk? In margaritas? Besides adding fat and making it kind of like a marga-colada, I wasn’t quite sure what the coconut milk did for the drink. So, anyway, I futzed around with the recipe a bit and came up with this one. jwa and I both thought they were really good. Plus, if you make extra lavender syrup, I’m sure there are many other lavender cocktails that you could make with it.
Lavender-Blueberry Margaritas
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp dried lavender
1/2 cup tequila
1/3 cup triple sec
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
ice
sugar for rimming glasses
lime wedge
sprigs of fresh lavender
Add the water, dried lavender and sugar to a small pan. Heat and bring to a boil until the sugar dissolves. . . . → Read More: Lavender-Blueberry Margaritas + Super Cute Cocktail Napkins
By mlb, on June 21st, 2007%
The other night we pulled the little Weber grill out of the garage again and grilled some chicken, caramelized some bell peppers and onions (inside, in a pan, with a little salt, cumin and chili powder), made some guacamole and to accompany it all there was a pitcher of tasty, tasty sangria.
The sangria recipe is from the old red and white checked Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. This is probably one of the only recipes I still use this cookbook for, but that alone makes it worth the shelf space, imho. I’m not sure how completely authentic it is, but it is dependably good.
Really Good Summer Sangria
1 bottle red wine (I used $4 barefoot merlot)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 lemon, sliced
1 orange, sliced
1 lime, sliced
1-2 cups sparkling water
Add the sugar, water and the end fruit slices (6 total from the ends of the lemon, lime and orange) . . . → Read More: Sangria + Grilled Chicken is a Great Summer Combo
By mlb, on November 26th, 2006%
Wondering what to do with the leftover turkey and other side dishes from Thursday, I came across this recipe from Giada of Everyday Italian. Although this recipe was originally intended as a Thanksgiving meal for two, I figured it would work well enough with leftover, cooked turkey (as opposed to the raw, ground turkey she uses). It did. I made one other alteration to the original recipe — I added some ricotta cheese to make it a bit creamier. I was quite pleased with the way these ravioli turned out.
Oh and speaking of Everyday Italian, whenever I watch that show and she talks about her husband, Todd, I visualize him as The Todd from Scrubs. And then I laugh and laugh.
Turkey and Cranberry Ravioli
1 cup diced leftover turkey, a mix of dark and white meat (my turkey had fresh herbs — parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme under . . . → Read More: Leftover Madness: Turkey-Cranberry Ravioli
By mlb, on November 6th, 2006%
This is part two of my post for Sara’s spotlight on the cookbook, Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. Except, it’s not baking at all! Ha! It’s cooking and chilling. That’s right, I cook and then I chill.
Okay, then. When I saw this recipe (in fact, I spotted this recipe before yesterday’s Swedish Visiting Cake, while browsing the book), I just knew I would be making it. Even better, we already had a bottle of scotch in the house, so there was no extra trip to the liquor store necessary. The resulting flavor has a bit of a bite but it is definitely delicious and butterscotchy. Butter + scotch = great flavor.
The only issue I had, and it was minor, is that the directions are really geared towards someone with a full-sized food processor. I have the medium sized one and I . . . → Read More: Spotlight On Baking: From My Home To Yours #2: Real Butterscotch Pudding
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About Me I like to cook. I like to eat. I like to take photos. I live in SE Portland with my husband jwa and a grumpy, old lady cat named Chelsea. That is all.
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