Tag: alcohol

These recipes contain alcohol. It may or may not burn off in cooking.

Orange Chai Spiced Wine

To set the scene, it’s New Hampshire. It’s December. We got about a foot of snow in the past week and we’re expected to get a bit more soon. It’s freaking cold. So I need a hot drink, preferably with alcohol. I’ve been seeing posts about chai hot chocolate and hot chocolate red wine, but those sounded a bit heavy. So I decided to try an orange chai red wine, sort of like a mix between sangria and mulled wine, but with a chai spice flavor profile. I didn’t know that my idea was actually pretty close to a German spiced wine called Glühwein until I started poking around. Mine doesn’t have brandy or other spirits in it, and I have a few more spices in mine. It’s a pretty thing on a cold afternoon, and great for a wintry get-together. For those of you who are vegan, you’ll need to investigate your wine carefully, and for those of you who are more sensitive than I am corn-allergy wise, you’ll need to be careful in your wine choices. I do well about 75% of the time as long as I avoid American wines, but your mileage may vary.

Orange Chai Spiced Wine

The complete recipe is in the card below, but this is a pretty easy one. Juice and zest some oranges (I used a julienne peeler for removing the zest easily with a strainer), slice part of an orange, and throw the zest, juice, orange slices, spices, sugar and wine in a crock pot on low for a hour. After cooking, I strained out the spices and used the orange slices for garnishing the glasses. I have a bit left over, and I may braise some pork in it because it was totally delicious.

Using a julienne peeler to zest the oranges

Orange Chai Spiced Wine after cooking but before straining

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Orange Chai Spiced Wine

A lovely drink for cold winter parties in the crock pot.

CourseDrinks

Servings	Prep Time
6 people	5 minutes

Cook Time

1 hour

Servings	Prep Time
6 people	5 minutes

Cook Time

1 hour

Orange Chai Spiced Wine

A lovely drink for cold winter parties in the crock pot.

CourseDrinks

Servings	Prep Time
6 people	5 minutes

Cook Time

1 hour

Servings	Prep Time
6 people	5 minutes

Cook Time

1 hour

Ingredients

3-4 oranges
1 bottle red wine 24.5 ounce or 750 ml, fruity red wine such as Merlot, Zinfandel, or Cabernet Sauvignon
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp whole fennel seed
1/2 tsp whole cloves
2 whole black peppercorns
1 star anise whole
5 green cardamom pods, smashed
1/2 tsp cracked dried ginger
4 tbsp brown sugar
3-4 quart crock pot

Servings: people

Instructions

Wash your oranges carefully. Using a julienne peeler or a regular vegetable peeler, peel thin strips of the zest off of the orange, being careful not to peel too deeply and get into the white pith. Add about a tablespoon’s worth of peeled zest to the crock pot.
Cut one of the oranges in half, and slice one half thinly to add slices to the crockpot. Juice the remaining oranges until you have about 1 cup of orange juice to add to the crock pot.
Add all spices, brown sugar and wine to the crock pot, and put on low for 1 hour.
Strain out spices, but save orange slices for garnish. Add an orange slice to glass and pour wine into glass and serve. Enjoy!

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January 2, 2017

Watermelon White Wine Sorbet or Ice Pops
Watermelon White Wine Sorbet or Ice Pops

Sorbet is one of the things I miss terribly because almost all of the commercial versions have corn in some form in them. This is a fairly easy recipe, making it perfect for this weekend, when I was going away for my 20th college reunion. Also, just as a side note, you could also sub out the watermelon for a quart of strawberries or a quart of peeled sliced peaches. I bet they’d be awesome too.

Warning: Before you make sorbet, you need an ice cream maker and if it’s like mine, you need to have frozen the insert ahead of time. Also, it helps to make the simple syrup the day before and let it cool in the fridge overnight. If you’re just making ice pops, just cool the simple syrup to room temperature before mixing it with the watermelon juice.

Watermelon White Wine Sorbet

Makes about 10 or so half cup servings (who ever eats just half a cup though??)
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 1 1/4 cups water
- 1/2 cup of chilled white wine (anything will do, but a nice bright citrus-y Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio would work well. Also, don’t spend a ton of money on this wine, you’re mixing it with watermelon and sugar. Or if you don’t want to use wine because you’re unsure of the wheat or corn ingredients in your wine, you could use a vodka made only from potatoes, but I’d cut it down to a quarter cup. Or not, if you’re not driving. Also, if you don’t want to use alcohol, substitute the wine with some safe-for-you lime or lemon or other fruit juice.)
- 1 quart of watermelon, peeled and cubed
Again, make sure that your ice cream maker is ready to go according to the manufacturer’s instructions, whether that means your insert is frozen or whatever else you might have to do.

The day before you are going to do your sorbet, make the simple syrup. Place the sugar and water in a sauce pan and bring it to a boil without stirring. Turn it down to a low simmer and simmer until all the sugar has dissolved to make a simple syrup. Pour the simple syrup into a heat resistant bowl and put it into the fridge to cool.

Place watermelon in a food processor or blender (in batches if necessary) and blend until smooth. Pour the liquid through a strainer to remove any seeds making sure that you press any large fruit bits remaining through the strainer. You don’t want to waste any of the watermelon. Add the wine and the simple syrup to the watermelon mixture and mix until combined thoroughly.

Follow your ice cream maker’s instructions to make the sorbet, or make ice pops with the mixture by using paper or plastic cups or ice pop molds and placing them in the freezer until frozen.

Hope you enjoy it!

Watermelon White Wine Sorbet or Ice Pops
June 9, 2014
Quick-ish Marinara Sauce
Quick-ish Marinara with Meatballs and Gluten Free Penne

One of the things I really miss is a great meatball sub with gobs of cheese. Since I’m allergic to dairy, wheat, and eggs (in addition to what feels like 50 million other things) that’s a little hard. I haven’t totally figured it out yet, because there isn’t a vegan cheese that works for me because of my coconut, almond, and corn allergies. I’m also missing a sub roll, as I’m still trying to figure out gluten-free, corn-free, dairy-free, and egg-free bread, but I’ve gotten two steps on the way. This week I’ll be posting a marinara sauce you can use for meatball subs, pasta, or for anything else that you need tomato sauce. In two weeks, I’ll be posting a recipe for meatballs. For those of you that have a safe bread and a safe cheese you can use, you’ll have everything you need for a meatball sub. I’m totally jealous of all of you, and while I’m working on it, I’m just going to eat the meatballs and sauce over pasta, which isn’t bad either.

The reason that this is a quick-ish marinara sauce is that I’m using crushed canned tomatoes and canned tomato paste (Cento brand – no citric acid in crushed, tomato puree or paste, but watch out as other Cento canned tomato varieties do have citric acid, which can be corn derived), rather than starting from tomatoes. It still takes some time to simmer, making it a weekend dish, but you can freeze the leftovers and use it for a meal or two during the week with little to no prep.

Quick-ish Marinara Sauce
- 1 large onion, diced very finely
- 3 stalks of celery, diced finely
- 4 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 carrot (use a vegetable peeler or a micro planer to peel or zest until the carrot’s just a pile of peels or zest)
- 1 Tablespoon of olive oil
- 1 – 8 ounce can of tomato paste
- 2 – 28 cans of crushed tomatoes or tomato puree
- 1 cup of vegetable stock or water
- 1/2 cup of white or red wine (your preference, I used white becuse my tomatoes needed brightening) or use additional vegetable stock or water
- 1/4 teaspoon of oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon of marjoram
- 1/4 teaspoon of thyme
- 1/4 teaspoon of dried basil (if not using fresh basil below, double the amount)
- 1/4 teaspoon of rosemary
- 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper
- 10 fresh leaves of basil, chopped
- salt to taste (I used about a teaspoon this time to get it where I like it)
Dice your onions and celery, mince your garlic, and zest or peel your carrot.

Diced Onions

Diced Celery

In a large stock pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat and add your onions, celery, garlic and carrots. Saute them until the onions and celery are somewhat translucent.

Onions, celery, garlic, and carrots being sauted

Add the contents of the can of tomato paste and stir it into the vegetables so it is equally distributed throughout. Then add your cans of crushed tomatoes, the vegetable stock, and the white wine. Stir thoroughly. Reduce the heat to medium low (about 3-4 on my burner dial).

Add your oregano, marjoram, thyme, dried basil, rosemary and black pepper to the sauce and stir to incorporate the spices into the sauce. Chop your basil if you have not already, and add it to the sauce, again stirring thoroughly.

Marinara simmering

Continue to simmer your sauce on medium low until the carrot has dissolved completely into the sauce and the sauce is the consistency you prefer (for me, this is about an hour or so). Once you have reached that point, taste your sauce to see if it needs any salt and add it at that time. I found that I needed about 1/2 of a teaspoon. If you find that your sauce is too acidic, sometimes I will add about a teaspoon of brown sugar and that helps.

Stay tuned for the meatball recipe to be posted in two weeks!

Yummy Quick-ish Marinara
September 16, 2013
Margarita Tropical Fruit Salad
Margarita Tropical Fruit Salad

So, last weekend it snowed in New Hampshire, and this weekend it’s been 95°F all weekend. Hilarious. I don’t handle the heat well, if at all, nor do I handle the crazy freaking changes well. The humidity and corresponding air quality in New Hampshire has been known to send me right into an asthma attack. We’ve got the air conditioners cranked, but I don’t want to heat the apartment up any more than necessary, so we’ve been eating salads and fruit. And since it’s the time of year that you might be heading to potluck type gatherings, here’s a spruced up fruit salad you can take with you. Also, this can be made much much easier by doing what I did and buying a fruit tray and some berries and using it, so you don’t have to peel melons and pineapple. You can do it the night before and let the dressing soak in, but it’s yummy either way.

Margarita Tropical Fruit Salad
- 1/2 cup of freshly squeezed lime juice (about 4-5 limes)
- 1/2 cup of agave syrup
- 1/2 cup of tequila
- 2 1/2 teaspoons of arrowroot
- 2 Tablespoons of water
- About 6-8 cups of fruit cut in bite size pieces, filling a large salad bowl. The mixture is up to you, but I used cantaloupe, watermelon, strawberries, pineapple, kiwi, strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries.
First, wash your limes carefully under hot water to get rid of the wax they put on them. To get the most juice out of them, I’ve found two tips that really help. Put your limes in a microwave safe container and nuke them on high for one minute.

Limes in microwave safe bowl

Then put them on a cutting board, and using the palm of your hand roll the limes back and forth, putting enough pressure on them so that you can feel the lime squeeze against the board, but not enough so you break the lime against the cutting board. Now juice your limes.

Denise awkwardly rolling limes with her left while she takes pictures with her right

Make sure you don’t have any seeds in with the lime juice and pour it into a sauce pan. Add the agave syrup and the tequila to the sauce pan, mix until thoroughly combined, and then bring it to a boil for about two minutes. Turn the heat to low, and in a small container (I used a glass measuring cup) mix the arrowroot and water together. Pour the water and arrowroot mixture into the sauce pan, stirring quickly so that it doesn’t clump. Turn to medium low heat and let it simmer for 15 minutes or so, and then remove from the heat.

Agave Lime Tequila dressing in sauce pan

When the agave lime tequila dressing has cooled (you can cheat by sticking it the freezer for a few minutes if you need to), pour it over the cut fruit and toss to combine. Enjoy!!

Margarita Tropical Fruit Salad
June 3, 2013
Whatever Wednesday: Farmer’s Almanac Cough Syrup
Tea & Cat

So my mother discovered the Farmer’s Almanac a few years ago (or possibly re-discovered, I’ve never asked — I just assumed that city kids didn’t read the Farmer’s Almanac), and this year has a page-a-day calendar version. Despite living many states away from my mother, I always know what page-a-day she has because she mails me the ones she thinks I’ll find interesting. So I thought I’d share this one with you all, even though it won’t work for Denise (I am somewhat sure that flax seed allergies aren’t incredibly common, but if you have one, don’t make this).
To treat a nagging cough:
- Boil 3T whole flax seed in 1 pint water
- Strain
- Stir in 3T sugar [I’d use honey]
- Add juice of two lemons
- Cool the mixture
- Sip as needed
This sounds to me as though it would work well.

My own make at home cough syrup is a little different. A lot of the time, I just swig a spoonful of honey. If I’m feeling fancy or have a real cough, I will dissolve a few tablespoons of honey in a bit of boiling water, add a half shot of whiskey or brandy and a spare pinch of cayenne. There are no real measurements, as I’ve never made this while not sick. This works pretty well for me.

Here’s hoping you don’t need either recipe, but if you do, they’re here for you.
March 13, 2013
Stout Braised Corned Beef and Cabbage
Stout Braised Corned Beef and Cabbage

St. Patrick’s Day is coming, and what says St. Patrick’s day better than beer and corned beef and cabbage? Other than bedecking yourself with green leprechaun hats, buckled shoes, and carrying around fake pots of gold, not much. The recipe as I made it has gluten in it, because I used Guinness since I can have wheat, and I also used Beef Reduced Sodium Better than Bouillon to cheat and make my beef broth, which also has gluten in it. To make the recipe gluten free, try Pacific Natural Foods Organic Beef Broth which is gluten free, dairy free, wheat free and soy free, and Green’s Endeavor Double, which is a stout-like gluten free beer.

Stout Braised Corned Beef & Cabbage
- 1 large dutch oven
- 2 – 12 oz bottles of Guinness (or Green’s Endeavor Double, gluten free beer)
- 2 cups of beef broth (if you use commercially made, make sure it’s gluten free and dairy free)
- 1 Tablespoon of pickling spice (I used Penzey’s pickling spice blend) or use spice packet that came with corned beef if it’s safe for your allergies
  Garlic bulb cut so all cloves are open
- 1 bulb of garlic, cut as shown
- 1/2 a medium or large onion, or one small onion, peeled and sliced
- 3-4 lb corned beef (the one I used was Freirich Certified Angus Beef® Corned Beef Brisket, Mary Kate was awesome and called the company and the natural flavorings were only spices, and they verified that it was dairy, soy and gluten free)
- enough to water to cover corned beef in dutch oven
- 1-2 Tablespoons of bacon fat, shortening or cooking oil
- 4 red skinned potatoes, scrubbed and trimmed, but not peeled, cut into 1 inch pieces
- 3 carrots, peeled and trimmed, cut into 3/4 inch pieces
- 1 small turnip, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
- 3-4 stalks of celery, de-stringed, and cut into 3/4 inch pieces
- 1 large onion, skin removed and cut in half and then each half into quarters
- 1 small head of cabbage
Preheat oven to 300°F. Place dutch oven on large burner on top of stove. Add beer, beef broth, pickling spice, sliced onion, and garlic bulb to dutch oven. Stir to combine all ingredients. Carefully place corned beef into dutch oven, so as not to splash the beer mixture all over yourself like I did. If necessary add enough water that corned beef is covered with liquid.

Corned Beef with Braising Liquid

On the stove top, bring to a boil over medium high heat. When you have a big rolling boil, turn the burner off, place the lid on the dutch oven and put it in the oven.

Corned Beef in Braising Liquid at Rolling Boil

Bake in the oven for 1 and 1/2 hours, and then flip the corned beef over carefully in the dutch oven, add more water to cover if necessary, and bake for another 1 and 1/2 hours. You may need to add more time if your corned beef is larger than the one called for here.

Corned Beef after Braising in Oven for 3 hours

Once the corned beef is cooked, take it out of the braising liquid and put in an oven safe dish, cover it with a lid or foil, and place it back in the oven, turning it down to 200°F just to keep it warm until the veggies are cooked. Using a strainer, strain out 4 cups of braising liquid from the pan (removing the bits of onion and pickling spice) and set it aside.

Strained Braising Liquid

Vegetables

Chopped Veggies

If you have not already prepared the vegetables, now’s the time. Cut the potatoes into 1 inch pieces. Remove the ends and skin from the onion, then cut it in half, and then each half into quarters. If the carrots need to be peeled, peel them and then cut in to 3/4 inch pieces. String the celery and cut into 3/4 inch pieces. Peel the turnip and chop into 1 inch pieces. Cut the cabbage into halves and then each half into quarters.

Browned Vegetables in Fry Pan

Browned Vegetables in Fry Pan

Once the vegetables are chopped, take a frying pan and melt some of the bacon fat (or shortening or cooking oil) over medium low heat. In smaller batches, brown the vegetables, do not crowd them too much or they won’t get golden brown.

Deglazing frypan with braising liquid

Once you have browned all the vegetables, place all vegetables in a stock pot. Deglaze the fry pan with some of the reserved braising liquid, and then using the strainer, strain the deglazed liquid into the stock pot with the vegetables along with the remainder of the 4 cups of reserved braising liquid in the pot.

Bring to the vegetables to a simmer over medium heat and cook about 20 minutes or so until vegetables are tender. Once they are ready, turn the heat off, and slice the corned beef against the grain.

Cooked Corned Beef on Cutting Board
Sliced Corned Beef

Plate corned beef with cabbage and other vegetables, and some of the braising liquid used to cook the veggies. Enjoy!!

Stout Braised Corned Beef and Cabbage
March 4, 2013
Wine Smoothies
So, it’s Labor Day. If you have the day off, and if you imbibe alcohol, you might want to try some wine smoothies. You might note that neither of these recipes contain bananas which many smoothies do. That’s because I really, really HATE bananas. I know, it’s a weird thing, but I don’t even want them in our apartment because I can still smell them, even though I’m not going to touch them with a ten foot pole and my husband likes them. Also, Mary Kate is allergic to bananas, so really it’s all about her, and not my irrational hatred of them. So feel free to use these recipes as a starting point and then experiment on your own, adding other fruits or ingredients that you might enjoy. I also use frozen fruit, because (a) if it’s frozen, it’s always on hand; (b) I don’t have to plan ahead; and (c) you don’t have to use it up before it goes bad or do any prep work. Using the frozen fruit creates more of a daiquiri effect, but I’m cool with that. But if you want to use fresh fruit that works great too.

Sangria Red Wine Smoothie

Sangria Red Wine Smoothie
- 2/3 cup of red wine (A Merlot or a Shiraz would be nice, but don’t get anything expensive, it’s going to be blended with fruit. It’s time for that $6.00 bottle from the grocery store to shine.)
- 1/2 cup of fruit juice of your choice (I used Chiquita strawberry-kiwi because that’s what I had in the refrigerator on hand, but any fruit juice would work. Orange juice would be really nice to continue the sangria theme.)
- 1 Tablespoon of lime juice
- 2 Tablespoons of sugar, agave syrup, or honey, whatever sweetener you’d prefer.
- 1 cup of frozen peaches
- 1 cup of frozen mixed berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries)
Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Makes 2 servings. Or one really big serving as shown above, if you don’t want to share, and you don’t need to go anywhere for a bit. You may also want to strain out the seeds from the raspberries and blackberries, but I don’t bother.

Peachy Keen White Wine Smoothie

Peachy Keen White Wine Smoothie
- 2/3 cup of white wine (A Riesling or a Pinot Grigio would be nice. You could use Chardonnay, but I find it too oak-y for my taste. Again, don’t get anything expensive.)
- 1/2 cup of fruit juice of your choice (I used Chiquita strawberry-kiwi because that’s what I had in the refrigerator on hand, but any fruit juice would work. Apple, Orange or White Cranberry would be lovely too.)
- 2 Tablespoons of sugar, agave syrup, or honey, whatever sweetener you’d prefer.
- 2 cups of frozen peaches
Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Makes 2 servings.
September 3, 2012

Tag: alcohol

Orange Chai Spiced Wine

Watermelon White Wine Sorbet