More is Better

We belong to a vegetable coop and this weeks bounty was red peppers - so I wanted to highlight them with this delicious recipe from The Pioneer Woman. We halved the recipe and it was fabulous! We did not use the tumeric as I didn't have it on hand. 8 cups  Chicken Broth, Low-Sodium 3 Tablespoons  Olive Oil 1/2 whole  Medium Onion, Diced 2 whole  Red Bell Peppers, Diced 1-3/4 cup  Arborio Rice 3/4 cups  Dry White Wine Salt To Taste 5 ounces, fluid  Goat Cheese 1/2 cup  Grated Parmesan 1/2 teaspoon  Turmeric (optional) INSTRUCTIONS Bring broth to a simmer in a medium pan. In a large skillet or dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium to medium-low heat. Add diced onions and cook until translucent, about 1 to 2 minutes. Add red peppers and cook for 8 to 10 minutes. Add uncooked rice and stir for a minute or two, allowing it to be coated with the other ingredients. Pour in wine and cook for a minute or two. Now, sta...

We were home this weekend and Kevin decided he felt like a bloody to sit and chill out on the deck and hot tub with. Of course I was like that's a great idea and go to pull our usual Zing Zang mix and SNAP we were out!! Hunted on the interwebs....and found this one by Emeril and it was really quite good --Kevin kicked it up with a little more hot sauce and we served it with slice of crispy bacon, celery and pepperoncini. Also this makes a quart of mix so we halved the recipe. 3 cups tomato juice 3 tablespoons lemon juice 3 tablespoons lime juice 1 tablespoon prepared horseradish 1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce, or to taste 1 teaspoon minced garlic 3/4 teaspoon hot sauce, or to taste (recommended: Tabasco) 3/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper Premium vodka Small jar pickled green beans Small jar pickled okra In a blender combine the tomato juice, lemon juice, lime juice, horseradish, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, and hot sauce and process until smooth. Tr...

We are in the height of fresh FIG season!!! So of course I am on the hunt for ways to enjoy them. Last night I made this delightful cocktail and then served it with Roast Chicken with Lemon and Figs found on this blog as well. The only substitute I made was not using Gingerale--I find that too sweet and substituted seltzer water instead. Very light and refreshing! 1 fresh whole, ripe fig 6 fresh mint leaves 2 to 3 brown sugar cubes 1/4 cup bourbon Ice cubes 1/2 cup ginger ale, chilled Garnish: mint sprig Muddle fig, mint leaves, and brown sugar cubes against sides of a cocktail shaker. (Fig needs to be fairly broken down.) Add bourbon and enough ice cubes to fill shaker (about 1 cup). Cover with lid, and shake vigorously until thoroughly chilled (about 30 seconds). Strain into a 10-oz. glass filled with ice cubes. Top with chilled ginger ale. Stir gently, and garnish, if desired. Serve immediately

Now don't shake your head this was really delicious --how did I decide to make this....well thanks for asking....originally had pastrami to make into sandwiches for lunch but ended up with a leftover pizza crust so I google pastrami pizza --then using what I had on hand came up with this. Don't leave out the pickles as they really add to the taste- just put them on the side for each to add to their own when served. Pizza crust shell precooked pastrami shredded Swiss cheese dill pickles chopped Bechamel mustard sauce** ** 2 T butter 2 T flour 3/4 c skim milk 1 heaping T grainy mustard 2-3 T Guldens Mustard Melt butter and add flour cook through add milk stir until thickened add mustard and stir Layer sauce across shell Top with Cheese Top with pastrami Bake  at 450 for 10 minutes served with chopped pickles

A few months back for our anniversary we went back to the site of our first date The Chart House and they had a new cocktail served in a porthole. Naturally we had one and then needed to be able to recreate it in our own home. Its fun and a great one to serve with a few friends as the presentation is fabulous. Ice in fancy glass along with a cinnamon stick 2 shots bourbon 1/2 shot sweet vermouth 1 jar  Maraschino Cherries, drained Follow manufacturer instructions and let the  liquor  and cherries steep for 30 minutes then pour over ice and cinnamon stick.

We needed to experience the official drink of Rio during the Olympics final weekend --liked it so much that we made it the next night as well. A bit puckery with the lime --almost like a margarita but with Brazilian Rum. Don't substitute it --also if you don't have superfine sugar you can grind up granulated in a blender or bullet blender. Found the recipe on food network from Bobby Flay 1 lime 1 tablespoon superfine sugar 2 ounces Cachaça* Crushed ice *Cachaça is a Brazilian brandy made from sugar cane. Cut up a lime into 8 wedges. Muddle the wedges in a rocks glass with sugar. Add Cachaça and top with ice. Stir and serve. Recipe courtesy of Bobby Flay

So Kevin is a huge fan of Cooks Illustrated and loves preparing their recipes. He made this on Saturday and it was really delicious and he was very pleased with his skills. Already looking to see what else he can smoke... Although we had a smaller roast he made the full batch of chutney and it was delicious  will serve it over chicken or something this week. I am apologizing in advance you can not down load the recipe even though we subscribe to the magazine so I had to resort to taking photos of the recipe in order to post ...sorry.