Thanksgiving, a Love Story

Thanksgiving might be my favorite holiday. All of the food without the let down of being a big kid on Christmas morning. Although after two awesome and food filled Thanksgivings this year, I'm really just craving some ham.

Detox with Wine?

Mr. Lawyer and I have been detoxing from our indulgent vacation. We've been eating copious amounts of oatmeal and salads in order to get back on track and while it might do a body good it makes for lame blogging. My problem with salads is I like all the stuff on them which obviously negates the health factor. My personal goal is to start cutting back on all the yummies, perhaps I will only slice up one piece of cheese on my salad and stay away from that brown sugar bacon. This beauty has Cabot Cheddar, dried cranberries, sunflower seeds, yellow pepper, tomatoes and is topped off with my sweet vinegar dressing.

However last night I made a wine slushie to celebrate my new job, woo! And the best part is you only really need one ingredients: wine! Using a sweet wine is essential, I used a sweet NYS red. I had my first wine slushie at the Great New York State Fair and it was heavenly. This is the first year in many that I didn't go to the Fair but I suppose it's healthier that way. At this point it's all about the food...wait who are we kidding, the Fair is *always* about the food!

Wine Slushies

(from the kitchen of some genius)

Ingredients:
Sweet Red or White Wine
Optional texture changers: ice cubes, fruit juice or spritzer
Directions:
1. Freeze the wine in ice cube trays.
2. Throw the frozen cubes into the blender.
3. Optional choices to alter texture: ice cubes for more crunchiness or juice/wine/spritzer for a beverage you don't need a spoon or straw for.

Bits of drink (and you?)

The other day my dad informed me that "you are what you drink" and for some reason I found that to be incredibly amusing and insightful. It may or may not have had something to do with the gin and tonic I was working on. I normally take pictures of our drinks but never have a real reason to post them until now. If you are what you drink then I'm dark (beer), sweet (wine) and off beat (gin). Mr. Lawyer would be light (beer), dry (wine), and fancy (scotch). Some odd truths there I think. Complete polar opposites when it comes to our beverage preferences and that's why it works so well (except when he steals my gin).

Mr. Lawyer's beer....My beer.

And just to prove it's not a fluke...

In fact, I like it when I can't find my beer.

I like my wines from New York.

Sweet, Sweet, Super Sweet, Alcoholic Grape Juice.

And if you've never tried my off beat gins, I'm okay with that. But you should give it a go.

The Sangria Bunny

In the past few years the Easter Bunny has gotten a wee bit alcoholic with his gift giving. This year he came early and left me with a bottle of Hazlitt Red Cat wine, cute little cocktail umbrellas and dark chocolate. Awesome. So I took advantage of my easter basket, the overabundance of random fruit in my kitchen, and the pleasantly warm weather to make some sangria. While there are many recipes for Sangria and I was inspired by the Food Network Magazine Article "Sangria Three Ways," I was feeling brave and winged it with whatever I had in the kitchen (Evidently this is how it was done back in the day).

Easter Bunny Sangria

(My Kitchen!)

Ingredients:
1 bottle of Hazlitt Red Cat wine
A couple of shots of Rum (or Brandy)
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 Plum
1/2 Mango
Some Blackberries
Left over Strawberries (from the Pavlovas)
Seltzer
Directions:
1. Mix together the wine, rum, sugar and fruit. Let it sit in the fridge for a couple of hours.
2. Before serving add the seltzer.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I started my morning by making surprise Almond Valentine Cookies. This recipe is also known as Candy Cane Cookies but I just shaped mine into hearts instead of candy canes. I was also trying out an almond emulsion instead of extract. Emulsions are often used by professional bakers for a more in your face flavor. They are alcohol free so the flavor doesn't bake off when it's heated. The cookies did come out pretty almond-y!

Almond Valentine Cookies

(Joy of Baking)

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsaltedbutter, room temperature
1 cup confectioners sugar
2 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract (or almond emulsion!)
1/2 teaspoon red food coloring
Directions:
1. In a bowl, whisk the flour with the salt.
2. In a second bowl beat the butter and sugar until creamy. Add the egg yolks and vanilla and almond extracts. Add the flour mixture and beat until you have a smooth dough.
3. Remove half of the dough from the mixing bowl. To the remaining half add the red food coloring and beat on low speed until well blended.
4. Take a walnut sized piece of red dough and a walnut sized piece of white dough. Separately, roll each color on a lightly floured surface, into a 4-5 inch long rope. Place the two ropes side by side, gently press together, and twist the two ropes to form a spiral. Place the cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet, spacing the cookies about 2 inches apart. Shape each cookie into a cane shape or a heart!
5. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and bake 8-10 minutes.

Almond cookies are a nice alternative to your overly sweet cookie. However, this dough is a pain in the butt to work with and you must have patience when twisting the shapes as it is prone to cracking. The cookies are also very fragile when baked so stick to smaller shapes, not giant hearts that break when you carry them all the way down to city hall.

I also made some chocolate covered strawberries! I had some leftover bittersweet chocolate from my birthday Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes so I heated it up, dipped in my strawberries and boom! I butchered up some milk chocolate with white chocolate Lindt truffles in order to get some white chocolate to decorate them with. Do you know how hard it is to scoop out the insides of a Lindt truffle? Outrageous. I combined these luscious berries with some Bacon Wrapped Scallops to created a platter 'o love and romance.

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

(just winging it)

Ingredients:
Strawberries
Dark Chocolate
White Chocolate
Directions:
1. Heat chocolate (I used my ghetto double boiler system consisting of a small frying pan over a pot), once melted dip your strawberries in, place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment or wax paper.
2. Let them cool a bit while you heat up your white chocolate. Drizzle your white chocolate over your strawberries.
3. Place in the fridge until time to serve.

And because Mr. Lawyer deserves some bonus points he shall be a special kitchen guest! He surprised me with a very yummy dinner of baked salmon (coated with butter, pepper, smoked danish salt and baked at 400 for 15 minutes), my most favorite asparagus (coated in olive oil, sprinkled with salt, pepper, garlic and baked at 350 until done), and some rice pilaf (from a box). Most impressive and yummy! All washed down with some Catawba wine from Torrey Ridge. (Go NY wine!)

Not food but I love my flowers!

A Refreshing Dinner Party!

Friday evening I hosted a dinner party for Mr. Lawyer's family. Six people total and no one got sick and we didn't run out of food! Everything was delicious and I'm psyched to host another gathering.

Appetizers: Cabot Cheddar, Swiss, and Yancy's Fancy Bacon Gouda with Onion Crackers (on my new cheese slate!). Kalamata and Red Pepper stuffed Green Olives. Artisan Bread with Pino's Press Tuscan Dipping Oil (on my new bread paddle!).
Wine: Wagner's Reserve Blush (yeah NY wines!) and a Zinfandel from Kuleto Estate, CA.
Main Course: Tortellini with Italian Sausage, Mushrooms and Fennel  (My home-run dish!)
Dessert: Refreshing Lemon Basil Ice!

Refreshing Lemon Basil Ice is one of my summer staples. It's nice and light, not heavy and filling which is perfect for a scorching summer day or after a big meal. Basil is also my new obsession which makes this recipe even better. Oh wait, top it off: it's super simple and requires only a few ingredients!

Refreshing Lemon Basil Ice

(Better Homes and Gardens)

Ingredients:
3 cups water
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup slivered fresh basil
2 tsp. finely shredded lemon peel
2 Tbsp. lemon juice

Directions:
1. In medium saucepan bring water and sugar to boiling, stirring to dissolve sugar. Remove from heat; cool slightly (about 20 minutes). Add basil and let stand 30 minutes more. Pour through a fine mesh sieve; discard basil. Stir lemon peel and juice into syrup. Pour into a shallow baking dish. Cover; freeze 2 hours (edges should be firm and center almost firm).
2. Transfer mixture, half at a time, to blender. Cover; blend until slushy, stopping to scrape down sides as needed. Spoon back into dish, spreading evenly. Cover; freeze 2 hours more or until firm.
3. To serve, with a small ice cream scoop scrape across surface of mixture. Place scoops in small dishes. Top with lemon slices, fresh mint leaves and/or edible flowers.