Tag: recipe

Christmas, cocktails, recipe, thanksgiving

Holiday Cocktails Sampling, With Recipes

littleshoeprincess

Now that it’s November, I am in full-on holiday mode. And while Christmas is my most favorite time of the year, I have to give a little holiday love to Thanksgiving, especially since we host everyone on turkey day.

Every holiday needs a festive cocktail. This weekend, we put several recipes to the test to determine which cocktails would be the stars of the gathering for Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve. And you get a front row seat.

First up, the Brown Sugar Cranberry Bourbon Cocktail. This festive cocktail showed up in my Instagram feed from @cheesegal. She had me at sugared cranberries.

Brown Sugar Cranberry Bourbon Cocktail

INGREDIENTS:
3 ounces bourbon
2 ounces 100% cranberry juice (not cran cocktail)
1 ounce fresh lemon juice
3/4 ounce rosemary cranberry brown sugar simple syrup

DIRECTIONS:
First, make the simple syrup by bringing equal parts brown sugar and water to a quick boil until sugar dissolves. Turn off the heat, and throw in a few sprigs of fresh rosemary and cranberries. Let steep for at least 20 min.

She didn’t give exact measurements for the simple syrup so here’s what we used:

100g brown sugar
100g water
30g rosemary whole
150g fresh cranberries

Rim your cocktail glass with some of the simple syrup and dip into brown sugar, then add a festive ice cube*. Pour cranberry juice, bourbon, lemon juice and simple syrup into a cocktail shaker full of ice, and shake well. Strain + pour into prepared glass and garnish with rosemary + some frosted cranberries.

*We did not make festive ice cubes for taste testing but likely will do something for the real thing.

Ours was not as brightly colored as hers was, but the flavor was delicious.

Verdict: Definitely in the running.

Next up: the Spiced Cranberry Sparkler from @cocktails.

Spiced Cranberry Sparkler

Ingredients

1.5 oz bourbon
1 oz spiced honey syrup
Juice of 1/2 an orange
2 oz cranberry juice
2-3 dashes of orange bitters
3-4 oz Prosecco (we used club soda)
Ice
Garnish:
Dehydrated orange slice
Star anise
Rosemary
Cinnamon sugar rim (we skipped this for sampling)

Spiced Honey Syrup:

300 g honey
100 g water
Cinnamon stick
Ground nutmeg
Pumpkin pie spice
Ground cloves

Directions

Put all ingredients for spiced honey syrup in a small pan over heat. Still until all ingredients have melded and honey and water are fully combined. Remove from heat.

In a shaker with ice (she stirred in a pitcher but we were in a shaking mood), mix bourbon, syrup, orange juice, cranberry juice, bitters and shake. Strain into a rocks glass over ice and top with club soda (or prosecco, but we thought that would make the drink too sweet) and garnish.

Woah, this ones goes down easy. It’s the perfect mix of warmth and spice with a bubbly kick at the end.

Verdict: Perfect for Thanksgiving

Next up: Fall Old Fashioned. This recipe is from @thirsywhale_

Fall Old Fashioned with Pumpkin Spice Syrup

Ingredients

1.5 oz Rye or Bourbon
½ oz Aged Rum
½ oz Pumpkin Syrup
4 dashes Aromatic Bitters
2 dashes Orange Bitters
Orange Peel 

Pumpkin Syrup
1 can pumpkin pie
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup water
Pumpkin pie spice to taste (you may want more or none at all, up to you). Heat on stove and stir until incorporated, then fine strain.

Directions

Still all ingredients (except orange peel) in a cocktail pitcher with ice until blended and chilled. Strain over a giant ice cube and garnish with an orange peel.

Verdict: this one was a little too potent for me, but the guys really liked it. The pumpkin syrup, however, smelled divine and would be delicious over vanilla ice cream.

Our taste test was a success! The winners are:

Spiced Cranberry Sparkler for Thanksgiving.

Brown Sugar Cranberry Bourbon Cocktail for Christmas Eve.

Cheers!

food, NaBloPoMo, thanksgiving

2021 Thanksgiving in Photos

littleshoeprincess

Happy turkey day!

This was our Thanksgiving craft this year!

Well, in true KK fashion, things could NOT go smoothly. We started the morning with a non-working oven, but at 11am Mr. KK pulled through and replaced the lighter so we were back in business!

My oven. Taken apart. Just a mere 30 minutes before I had to preheat for the bird.

Did anyone else wake up at 5:13am and plan out the timing of the day? And then follow that up with timers set as reminders? No? Just me?

Welcome to Crazy Town, folks. Population: 1.

So once the oven was fixed we could get this day started! Not pictured below are the 1,000,000 cocktails I had.

Homemade pasta from the chef! We always look forward to the first course!

My dad – MY DAD – made stuffed artichokes this year. They were delicious! He’s hired!

This year we once again decided to fry a turkey. Oh, except the pan we fry in had holes in it (which we discovered once Mr. KK put the oil in it). And we didn’t have another pan big enough to hold the oil and the turkey so we had to improvise. Broken-down fried turkey parts it is! And they were delicious!

Our oven turkey breast – came out perfect!

We added a few new dishes to our repertoire this year:

Ina Garten’s Leek and Mushroom bread pudding replaced our usual stuffing. Highly recommend!

For appetizers, I made hummus that I put out with pita chips and veggies. Creamy and delicious!

I am so thankful that we were able to be together, and that we’re all healthy. 2021 was a weird year, and here’s hoping to be back to “normal” in 2022.

Cheers, y’all!

cooking, food, recipe

Ode to the Potato

littleshoeprincess

Potatoes are one of the most perfect foods on the planet.

They are so versatile: you can bake them, roast them, hasselback them, mash them, french fry them, hash brown them, and even turn the into pasta. Very few foods an claim this amazingness.

As much as I love potatoes, I don’t eat the as often as I would like. This short, pear-shaped body would likely morph into a pineapple if I got the fries instead of salad every time.

But everyone once and I while, I treat myself (and, indirectly, Mr. KK). Last night was one of those nights. I busted out the big guns and made Gorgonzola Twice Baked Potatoes.

Gorgonzola Twice Baked Potatoes Recipe

Ingredients

2 Russet baking potatoes
Crumbled gorgonzola cheese (exact amount depends on your taste; I tend to use maybe 1/2 a cup or a little more)
2-3TBSP of sour cream
Milk
Salt and Pepper

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
  2. Wash and completely dry potatoes. Place them on a baking sheet and piece them with a knife (about 5 good pierces per potato)
  3. Bake the potatoes in the oven until they are crispy on the outside and a paring knife glides in easily, about an hour
  4. Remove from the oven and let cool until you can handle them (reduce oven temp to 400 degrees)
  5. Hold the warm potato in your palm, and using a knife, slide off a little oval flap of potato. This will be the opening you will use to scoop out the potato. I usually do one that’s about a few inched long and an inch or two wide. It should just be across the length of the top of the potato (see photo below)
  6. Scoop out potato from both potatoes into a bowl. Mash with a potato masher to remove any lumps.
  7. Add cheese, sour cream, salt and pepper. Mix slowly. Add milk as needed to loosen the mixture just a bit – it should still have a very thick consistency and hold together.
  8. Put the stuffing back into the potato shells, place stuffed potatoes back on the baking sheet.*
  9. Warm and slightly brown the tops of the potatoes in the over for about 10 minutes (or as long as you need to get the filling hot and the cheese a little melty).

*At this stage, you can wrap the potatoes in foil and refrigerate for a day and then bake the next day in the oven at 350 until the are hot, then increase to 400 to brown the tops a bit.

Steps 4 and 5: the hollowed out potatoes. Just slide a small flap of the top so the potato holds its shape when it’s empty.
Scooped out potato and gorgonzola cheese.
Add sour cream, salt and pepper. After mixing start to add a little bit of milk to moisten the mixture just a little bit!
Refill your potatoes and brown them in the oven!

Are these good for you? Not likely. Are they delicious? YOU BET.

These are probably one of my favorite ways to enjoy a potato. Though roasted baby potatoes with oil, garlic and rosemary are a close second. And the french fries from our favorite beer bar. Oh, and gnocchi. Who am I kidding? I like ALL potatoes. Except scalloped potatoes, which I feel are that second cousin of the potato that no one wants to invite to family reunions.

Speaking of adoring potatoes, my child doesn’t like mashed potatoes. Let me repeat that: my child does not like mashed potatoes. I’m not quite sure how this relationship is going to turn out, to be honest.

cooking, Entertaining, food, NaBloPoMo, recipe

The Only Appetizer Recipe You’ll Need

littleshoeprincess

Mr. KK and I have always been big fans of visiting Portland, Maine. Aside from the fact that it reminds us a bit of Boston with it’s cobblestone ankle-breaking sidewalks and amazing restaurants (can you say lobstah rolls?), but the beer scene is top notch.

Trips to Portland became a little harder when the Little Mister came along, and as much as we were raising a bar baby, it was getting hard to ignore the stink eye we’d get from the hipsters.

One summer we rented a beach house for the three of us in South Portland, a 10-minute drive over the bridge. We were just close enough to enjoy an afternoon in our favorite city, with the luxury of being walking distance to a great little beach. Our house was conveniently located next to a Scratch Baking Company, a bakery that had somewhat of a cult following. Every morning at 6am people would start lining up waiting for the bakery to open, just to get their hands on their famous bagels. With the line of people came chit chat, so every morning we were up at the crack of dawn listening to everyone in line.

Now, having a husband with a sweet tooth and a toddler who loved all things cake and cookie, being next to the bakery was a very convenient spot for us. I could literally roll out of bed, walk out the front door, and be in line in my pajamas. Not being much a bagel person myself, they had a coffee cake that was to die for.

My favorite item from this bakery, however, was not a baked good at all. Tucked into the cooler with the cream cheese were containers of homemade pimento cheese spread.

Now, if you’re from the south, you are well aware of how life-changing pimento cheese is. If you don’t know what pimento cheese spread is, well, I’m sorry. You’ve barely enjoyed life up until this point.

First off, it’s made with cheese. If you’re a cheese whore like I am, that should be enough of a selling point. Second, it’s cheese mixed with cream cheese. (I mean, COME ON.) But perhaps the best selling point, is that you can eat it on almost anything. Crackers? Sure. Pita chips? My favorite. As a grilled cheese. Woah. Spread on a chicken cutlet on a roll? Shut the front door.

The day I discovered the pimento cheese spread at Scratch Baking Company, my entire vacation changed. I bought a container every single day, and ate the entire thing throughout the day. I had dreams about this pimento cheese. We went back to South Portland a second summer and the first thing I did was go to this bakery and secure pimento cheese for the week.

But you don’t have to live in the south or visit South Portland in order to enjoy pimento cheese. In fact, I have made pimento cheese spread many times (is there anything better to enjoy at a Kentucky Derby Party?). However, I have discovered the best of the best pimento cheese recipe; the créme de le cream cheese, if you will.

And who other to give us this amazing recipe than my girl crush: Ina Garten.

In her latest cookbook Modern Comfort Food, Ina shares her take on this amazing appetizer. In fact, once you make this and serve it, you’ll never need another appetizer recipe again.

Ina’s Spicy Pimento Cheese Spread

Recipe and photos courtesy of Ina Garten.

Click here for the recipe and a video.

Ingredients

8 ounces cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup mayonnaise 
1 1/2 tsp granulated onion (not onion powder)
2 large garlic gloves
1 teaspoon celery seed 
Kosher salt
3/4 cup pickled jalapenos, drained and chopped 
1/2 cup chopped scallions, white and green parts (3 to 4 scallions)
1/2 cup chopped roasted red peppers, drained (4 ounces)
4 cups shredded sharp while cheddar (10 ounces)
1 tablespoon Sriracha

Crackers and/or crudités for serving

Directions

In a large bowl, combine the cream cheese, mayonnaise, onion, garlic, celery seed and 1/2 tsp salt with a wooden spoon. Add the pickled jalapenos, scallions and red peppers and grated Cheddar. Add the Sriracha and combine. Taste for seasonings and serve with crackers, corn chips or crudités. (Or with my favorite: pita chips).

I highly recommend you make a double batch: one batch for your guests, and the other to hide in the back of your fridge so you can shame it any time no one is looking.

You’re welcome.

Uncategorized

The day Ina Garten and I become BFFs

littleshoeprincess

This post is written in the future tense because it hasn’t happened yet…but it will.

My girl crush just published a new cookbook (I already have mine!) and is currently on tour, promoting the book, sharing stories, answering questions and just being all-around awesome. My favorite cook in my favorite city.

And guess who’s going to see her? THIS GIRL.

Ina Garten book tour Boston
I’m even sitting in row KK – talk about fate!

Why I love Ina Garten

Back in my younger, pre-child days, when I would spend hours on the weekends cooking special dinners, or prepping meals for the week, the Food Network was always on. And my favorite television chef to watch was always Ina.

There’s just something open and honest and real about Ina. From the way she talks about her marriage to Jeffrey (who works at Yale down the street from me…Hey, Jeffrey, can I hitch a ride to the Hamptons with you??) to her friendships with other chefs and celebrities (I mean, Taylor Swift and Ina together? COME ON, PEOPLE, it doesn’t get much better than that.) And her recipes are easy to follow, and her food is just plain good.

When Little Mister came along, he developed a crush on Ina almost immediately. He would sit and stare at her on TV mesmerized. There was this one issue of Food Network Magazine that he would always pull off the shelf with Ina on the cover. When I would ask who that was on the cover, his little voice would answer, “Ina!”

Ina Garten's biggest fan

There’s a good chance she will see me, our eyes will lock, and she will invite me to the barn to cook alongside of her. I’m hoping she does a book signing after the event, because I will be there clutching my cookbook like a crazed groupie.

But in a cool way.

My top 5 favorite Ina recipes that you need to make right now:

Pan fried onion dip

Penne vodka

White beans and escarole

Skillet lemon chicken

Blondies

Happy cooking!

Uncategorized

Ode to the artichoke.

littleshoeprincess

stuffed artichoke recipeLast week I was out to dinner, and one of the appetizer specials was a stuffed artichoke.

I was immediately transported to my childhood. If you grew up in an Italian family, chances are, stuffed artichokes graced your Sunday dinner table at one time or another. There’s just something about the stuffing – and the effort to eat them, because Lord knows they are a ton of work for very little (delicious) reward – and gliding the leaves over your teeth to remove the ‘meat’.

In my family, my Grandma Rose was the stuffed artichoke expert. She was also the best roasted potato maker; so much so that we would joke that her oven had magical powers because every time she made them, they came out crispy and brown on the outside, and soft and chewy on the inside (but I digress).

Anyway, I’ll never forget one Sunday my grandmother had just taken the Corning Ware dish (the white one, with the blue flowers on the front) of stuffed artichokes out of the oven and placed them on the top of the stove to cool. We had both turned our backs for two seconds when all of a sudden we heard a giant CRACK! only to find that the Corning Ware dish (which is designed to withstand high oven heat) cracked apart, scattering shards of ceramic glass on the stove top, on the floor, and – unfortunately – in the artichokes.

Back then, I had no idea how much effort she had put into making those artichokes (not to mention the expense), and why she was so upset when she watched my dad toss them away. Now that I’m older, and I’ve made an artichoke or two in my life, I can appreciate how labor intensive artichokes are. In fact, when I make them, I only make them for me and Mr. KK. My grandmother used to make them for the entire family.

The stuffed artichoke I had at the restaurant the other night was delicious. With a few pieces of bread to dunk in the stuffing and juice, it was practically a meal in itself (when I go back in the near future to have it again, it will be). I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. So much so, that I made stuffed artichokes for dinner tonight. And I have to say, they were mighty delicious.

I’m going to try and share the recipe here, because they were that good. But, like any home cook, I made up the recipe as I went along. So, I’ll do my best…

kk’s Stuffed artichoke recipe

2 large artichokes
1 lemon, halved
4-5 slices of bread, processed into crumbs (I used wheat because it’s what I had)
1 clove of garlic, grated
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup grated pecorino cheese
salt
olive oil (maybe 1/4-1/2 cup)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

I parboiled the artichoke hearts so they didn’t take as long to cook. Before cooking, I cut the top of the artichoke off (maybe about the top 15%) until I could see the ‘choke’ inside. I then trimmed the coarse, pointy leaves on the outside. I put the artichokes with the lemon in a pot of water and brought it to a boil, cooking the artichokes about 20-25 mins until you can insert a knife into the base easily, but not until they start to fall apart.

While the artichokes are boiling I made the stuffing. Combine the bread crumbs, cheeses, garlic, salt and olive oil in a bowl. Stuffing should be moistened, but not too wet. Once the artichokes are out of the water, I cut the stems off, peel them, and then dice the soft flesh up and put it into the stuffing (that’s just me, you don’t have to do this).

When the artichokes are cooled, open them up slightly until you can use a spoon or tongs to remove the ‘choke’ (the interior prickly leaves, sometimes the ends are purple). Place the artichokes in a casserole dish (oven safe) and fill the middle cavity with stuffing. Then, open up the outer leaves slightly and put stuffing between as many leaves as you can until you use it all up. Drizzle the artichokes with olive oil. Put a bit of water in the casserole dish (I also put white wine in because, why not?) and then cook them in the oven for about 20 minutes until the stuffing is crispy.

Get ready to get messy, there is no sophisticated way to eat a stuffed artichoke. You will literally need a shower after you’re done.

But, man on man, do they remind me of my childhood, and my Grandma Rose.