Cocktail Time!!

 

Pomegranate Champagne Cocktail

A festive drink for the holidays plus the benefits of pomegranate juice!

For each cocktail, pour 1 fl. oz. pomegranate juice and 1/2 fl. oz. Grand Marnier into a champagne glass.  Top with sparkling wine and garnish with pomegranate seeds.

Thanksgiving 2012

Kim’s Saltine Crack

Ingredients

• Cooking spray
• 35 to 40 saltine crackers
• 2 sticks (1 cup) butter
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips (about 1 1/3 cups)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Line 1 large or 2 small jelly-roll pans with aluminum foil, spray with nonstick spray and arrange the saltines salt-side down in a single layer. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and brown sugar together and boil until it turns a caramel color, a few minutes. Remove from the heat and pour over the crackers, covering them evenly.
Put the jelly-roll pan into the oven and bake for 3 to 5 minutes, or until just bubbly, watching carefully. Remove from the oven and pour the chocolate chips over the crackers. When the chips melt a bit, spread them over the crackers with a knife.
Transfer the pan to the freezer for 15 to 20 minutes, or until completely cold. They will form one big sheet. Break up into pieces. Store in an airtight container.

Thanksgiving 2012

 

Emily’s Beerarita (Best Beer Margarita)

Ingredients

• 1 (12 ounce) cans frozen limeade concentrate ( semi-thawed)
• 12 fluid ounces tequila
• 12 fluid ounces Sprite
• 12 fluid ounces beer
• ice ( lots of ice!)
• 1 limes ( cut into wedges)

Directions

1. Pour the limeade, tequila, Sprite and beer into a large glass pitcher; stir with a long-handled spoon until completely blended and the frozen limeade has completely melted.
2. Add in lots of ice.
3. Adjust with water if the mixture is too sweet.
4. Serve each glass with a lime wedge on the end.

Thanksgiving Recipes

Caramel Apple Pie

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-challenge/caramel-apple-pie-2003-1st-place-apple-recipe/index.html

Herb stuffed turkey breast

http://www.rachaelray.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=841

Brined turkeyhttp://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/good-eats-roast-turkey-recipe/index.html

Sausage and kale stuffing

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sausage-and-kale-thanksgiving-dressing-recipe2/index.html

Brunch: sausage and grits casserole 

http://www.plainchicken.com/2011/02/sausage-cheese-grits-casserole.html - I add peppers, onions, mushrooms and fresh garlic (cook with sausage)

Hi Fall Food Fans,

So, if you are looking for a fall squash or sweet potato recipe, this one is a keeper!  I'm serving it this year on Thanksgiving Day.  I miss you all.
P.S. It comes from Aunt Jan Leadon

Baked Spiced Butternut Squash/Sweet Potato with Apples and Maple Syrup

8 to 10 Servings

1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/4 cup apple juice
1 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t ground allspice
1/2 t salt
Pepper to taste

3 small butternut squashes, peeled, halved lengthwise, seeded , cut into 1/3-inch slices.  Or same of sweet potatoes (yams fine, whatever).
4 Granny Smith Apples, peeled, halved, cored, and cut into 1/4-inch thick slices.

1.  Preheat oven to 400.  Butter 13x9 glass baking dish.  Stir butter, maple syrup and apple juice in small sauce pan over medium-low heat until butter melts.  Increase heat and boil until mixture is slightly reduced, about 5 minutes.  Remove from heat; whisk in cinnamon, allspice and salt.
2.  Arrange 1/3 of squash slices in prepared dish.  Top with half of apple slices, then 1/3 of squash slices.  Arrange remaining slices of squash and apple atop, alternating.  Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper when done.  Pour maple syrup mixture over.  Cover baking dish tightly with foil.
3.  Bake casserole until squash is almost tender, about 50 minutes.  Uncover and bake until squash is tender, basting occasionally with syrup about 20 minutes longer. 
(Can be made one day ahead.  Cover with foil and refrig.  Rewarm, covered in 350 oven about 25 minutes or in microwave for 8 minutes.)

Healthy muffin recipe

I am looking for a muffin recipe that is healthy, yet substantial enough for breakfast on it's own, i.e., a guy's breakfast!

Hi Familia!!

I have a Quinoa issue.  I tried to prepare it once and found it pretty bad and unacceptable for consumption.  I can think of 3 potential reasons for this:  1)  I hate Quinoa; 2) the box I purchased from Trader Joes was rancid, or  3) I had a poor recipe.  Can anyone help?  Does anyone actually like quinoa?
Love you all,
Marilynne

Key Lime Pie

1 (14 oz) can nonfat sweetened condensed milk
12 oz fat free cool whip, thawed
1/2 C key lime juice
1 (9 inch) graham cracker pie shell, baked

Combine all ingredients and beat.  Spoon into pie shell.  Chill for 8-10 hours.

Best Chocolate Chip Cookies EVER

First Blog....ever.  Feel very Julie and Julia.  Will I eventually become a famous writer and earn millions of dollars through this Leadon Family Food blog?  It is entirely possible.


                          The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies EVER

(Is this a real photo of the aforesaid mentioned cookies? No. But they look darn close)

Preheat oven to 375, and line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat.

14 T unsalted butter, divided use
1/2 cup white sugar
3/4 cup dark brown sugar (critical to recipe in my mind and mouth)
One large egg
One large egg yolk
2 t vanilla
1 t salt
1 3/4 cups flour
1 t baking soda
1 1/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips.

1.  Put 4 T of the butter in a big bowl so that it becomes room temp.
2.  Melt the remaining 10 T butter in a skillet until just brown.
3.  Add melted butter to room temp butter and whisk until butter melts.
4.  Add both sugars.  Using a rubber spatula, mix until all blended.  Let stand 30 seconds, mix again and repeat.
5.  Add the eggs, vanilla and salt and mix until well blended.
6.  Add dry ingredients and mix until combined. 
7.  Mix in chocolate chips.

This makes 24 cookies.  Bake until slightly brown, 8 minutes.

Baked Eggs with Wilted Baby Spinach

I found this recipe on one of my favorite blogs, Skinnytaste.  Ryan and I usually eat some form of eggs for breakfast on the weekends but we had never baked eggs before.  Please excuse the poor quality photo taken on my phone:

They turned out to be pretty tasty!  The Skinnytaste recipe calls for shallots, which I didn't have.  Instead, I used a little red onion and yellow onion (from our garden!) AND one clove of garlic.  Spinach should never NOT have garlic, in my opinion.  Here is the originial recipe:

Ingredients:

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1/4 cup diced shallots
• 1 1/2 lb baby spinach, large stems removed
• 4 large eggs
• salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 2 tbsp shredded Asagio cheese
• baking spray

Directions:

Preheat an oven to 400°F. Lightly spray four oven-safe dishes or ramekins with cooking spray.

Heat a large skillet over medium-low heat, add oil, shallots and cook 2-3 minutes. Add spinach, salt and pepper and cook until the spinach wilts, about 2-3 minutes. Mix in Asagio cheese and remove from heat.

Divide the wilted spinach among the oven-safe dishes, making a well in the center of each. Break an egg into each dish and season with salt and pepper. Place the ramekins on one or two rimmed baking sheets and bake until the whites are set and the yolks are firm around the edges but still soft in the center, about 17 minutes or to your liking. Serve immediately.

Arugula and Burrata Pasta

Marilynne introduced us to burrata, which is mozzarella with cream on the inside.  It is delicious.

 

An easy to put together vegetarian pasta with peppery arugula and creamy burrata cheese. The barely cooked tomato and garlic add a nice punch.

Serves 2

• 1 cup seeded diced plum tomatoes (small dice)
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 6 ounces dry spaghetti
• 2 cups torn arugula leaves
• 4 ounces burrata cheese torn in small pieces
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. In a small bowl combine the diced tomatoes, minced garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, oregano and basil. Park the bowl on the kitchen counter for about an hour (or more) to let the flavors mingle.
2. When ready to cook, boil the spaghetti in salted water about 2 minutes shy of al dente. While the pasta is cooking, heat the tomato mixture in a large saute pan. Drain the pasta, saving about a cup of the cooking liquid. Add the pasta to the tomatoes and stir in the arugula leaves. Continue to cook, adding some of the pasta cooking liquid, until the arugula has wilted. Off the heat, stir in the burrata and re-season with salt and pepper.

First recipe

So after successfully creating posts, it's time for an actual recipe (right, Tony?).  And there's no better way to start a recipe blog than to post a bacon recipe.  

Without further ado, I present "How to make bacon flavored olive oil":

Ingredients: 

• 1 bacon strip per cup of olive oil

• 1 cups of olive oil

Steps: 

1. Assemble the ingredients and the items needed. 

2. Fry one strip of bacon per one cup of olive oil. Remove from the heat and place on paper towel to remove excess grease 

3. Chop up the cooled down, cooked bacon strip. 

4. Pour 1 cup of olive oil into a bowl

5. Spoon the chopped bacon bits into the olive oil in the bowl

6. Mix thoroughly. Let sit for about 2 hours. This will allow the bacon flavor to infuse the oil.

7. Strain the olive oil into a storage bottle. Label it clearly so that the cook and everyone else knows that this is the bacon infused olive oil. It is best used within a few days of making.  

Watch out world...

This is the start of a new blog.

Still learning how to blog

I am still learning how to do this and here is a picture of how I feel:

This is a test

This is a test since I have never done a blog post before.

This is a funny picture of a baby: