Scooby Snack

Even though a drink isn't cooking .... it still has a recipe!  This one is so good, I just had to share.  I don't know why it's called a Scooby Snack, but a friend gave this to me a few years ago and I'm so grateful!  You will be too, once you give it a try. 

I live in Washington State where we've been under prohibition style liquor laws since, well, the end of prohibition.  We could only buy liquor from state run liquor stores at incredibly high prices.  I moved here from Arizona and I'm used to buying Costco-sized bottles (from Costco) for $20.  The same thing was about $60 here.  These laws have now been lifted, and we can buy liquor from all large grocery stores and Costco!!  To celebrate, I share with you The Scooby Snack:

Mix 4 ounces coconut rum, 4 ounces midori, 6 ounces pineapple juice, and 2 ounces half and half (or cream).  Serve over ice and...

~ Enjoy ~

Please drink responsibly, and don't drink and drive.

Italian Beef

My husband is from Wisconsin, and he loves a good italian beef sandwich.  He used to frequent some of the greats like Portillo's and Martino's.  Once he moved to Arizona, it was hard finding a place to get this great sandwich.  Dad's Dog House (now closed) in Mesa was the best he'd found.  Now we're in Washington state and rather than hunt down a good Vienna Beef hot dog joint, we decided to make our own 'gravy' recipe.  This is a pretty common meal while camping since it's quick and doesn't dirty a lot of dishes.  While it is not Vienna Beef, I think we've perfected a pretty darn good substitute.  Are you a fan of italian beef?  I would love to hear your thoughts!

Chicago Style Italian Beef
3 cups water
1 tablespoon beef base
1.5 tsp black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp - italian seasoning (or oregano)
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

1 pound london broil roast beef, deli sliced
4 Italian deli rolls (or outdoor rolls)
8 slices Mozzarella/Provolone Cheese
**1/2 cup olive relish (see below)

Combine top 7 ingredients, bring to a boil and let cook for about 10 - 15 minutes until all seasonings are fully incorporated.  Add beef and let cook for about 5 -10 minutes.  My husband likes his bun layered with meat, cheese and relish.  I like mine cheese, meat, relish.  Make sure to use the 'gravy'.  The traditional way to eat it is 'wet'.  Either drown the bun or dip (like a french dip). 

**Italian beef sandwiches are traditionally served with giardiniere, but we didn't have any so we tried an olive relish since we had the ingredients on hand.  It is just as good as using giardiniere.  You will need one thing to make the relish: Mezzetta: Napa Valley Bistro - Italian Olive Antipasto.  Finely chop each of the items found in this jar to make the olive relish (I omit the pepperocini since I don't like them).

~ Enjoy! ~

Quilt #5 - Allie's blanket

A friend of mine was having a baby girl and I wanted to make a blanket baby Allie could grow into.  With that in mind, when my friend Dionne and I went shopping we looked for girlie fabrics, not necessarily nursery patterns.  Also, I didn't know what colors my friend would be choosing for Allie's room so I went with a mix.  The back is done in a nice light green flannel.  Also on the back, I made hearts using two of the fabrics from the blanket and hand embroidered Allie's name and birthdate, then appliqued it on.  Since the blanket was finished before she was born I had to hand stitch the applique.  Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the hearts.  Next time.  :)

Summer-y Dessert

To go along with my theme of a quick, light, fresh dinner tonight here's dessert.  Since we've had summer temps, I thought this would be a perfect pairing.  Pound cake from Costco, topped with lemon glaze and blueberries.  Mmmm, YUM!

Lemon Glaze:
Zest of one lemon
Juice of one lemon
1 Tablespoon water
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Put all together in a bowl, mix or whisk until combined and free of lumps.

~ Enjoy!

Bowl-O-Pasta

This was just one of those days when a quick, easy dinner was what I needed (think field trip to downtown Seattle with 6th graders).  Rather than turn to boxed or frozen meals packed with preservatives and sodium, I make something fresher with ingredients I always have on hand.  There are a few different variations of this meal, it just depends on what's in the fridge (and someday there will be a Bowl-O-Pasta II post showing pasta with more of a sauce).

While I normally like to do this with homemade pasta - tonight was all about quick, and stuff I already have available.  Here is the start:

Boil whole wheat pasta to al dente in salted water (enough for 2 dinner sized portions)
While boiling:

• warm about 1/8 - 1/4 cup light olive oil with approx 1/8tsp - 1/2tsp crushed red pepper and 3 cloves chopped fresh garlic.  When it's warm and you can smell the fragrance of garlic, turn off heat and let sit;
• chop olives and red pepper (I use Mezzetta Napa Valley Bistro), put into large mixing bowl;
• grate 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, set aside;
• Gently toast 1/4 cup pine nuts

When the pasta is done cooking, strain from water and place directly in mixing bowl.  Pour oil/garlic mix, 1/2tsp - 1tsp Italian seasoning, and parmesan over the top (doing this now will allow the parmesan to melt and cling to the pasta).  Mix with tongs.  Divide into 2 serving bowls and lightly top with extra virgin olive oil, grated parmesan and toasted pine nuts.

Variations:

• Add fresh chopped basil or basil pesto (fresh or jarred), omit Italian seasoning from above;
• Add crumbled goat cheese (may need to use a bit of pasta water so it doesn't get sticky and allows the goat cheese to become slightly creamy as it melts);
• Top with sliced pepperocini from the Mezzetta jar.

Notes: To toast pine nuts, place in skillet over low heat and stir every few minutes so they don't burn.

Oh, and I did enjoy the field trip - a lot - but I was tired and not in the mood to make a big or complicated meal.  :)

Feel free to share your ideas for variations... and if you try this, come back and let me know how you liked it!

Camping Meal: Chicken & Asparagus

Camping season is approaching and often we eat better than when we're at home!  The main reason is that I carefully plan our meals and prep the food before we leave.  This past weekend I brought skinless, boneless chicken breast and aspargus.  Before we left, I prepared both sides of the chicken with a little bit of light olive oil, and a modest to heavy dose of Kirkland Signature Organic No Salt Seasoning.  To that I added a bit of sea salt, some crushed red pepper and a pinch of turbinado sugar (which is basically coarse ground raw sugar).  I put it into a ziploc and packed it for the trip.  I did this on a Wednesday and cooked it Friday, so the flavors had plenty of time to develop and 'get into' the meat. 

For the asparagus, I cleaned it, drizzled it with a little olive oil, and a small amount of sea salt and pepper.  I grilled it for about 5-6 minutes and it was perfectly cooked.  Oh my, what a fabulous meal ...

Delicious food can be had on the road.  A part of camping that I look forward to is finding more great meals I can whip up in an outdoor kitchen.  :) 

Are you a camp cook?  I'd love to hear your meal ideas! 

Enjoy!

Merry Merry Snowman - Block One

I know it's been awhile since I posted... I have been working on some sewing projects for a client, and I finished one blanket that I can't post yet because it hasn't been given to the recipient.  I will get back to quilting soon, my projects are piling up! 

In the meantime, I did join a quilt block of the month club.  Pacific Fabrics in Everett, WA is doing one that doesn't involve going to a class every month.  This quilt will be made up of 9 blocks and includes embroidery and applique.  This is my first time doing either.  Thanks (again) to my friend Judi who helped me through the first block. 

The snowman, hat, cupcake holder, table and sign are applique.  The words, sign string, arms, eyes, and nose are embroidered.  I used a padded satin stitch for the eyes and nose.  I used a basic backstitch for the lettering.  I learned how to do both from videos on the internet!  Now I'm anxious to get started on the second block, which I will post when I'm finished.  :)

Hippy Blanket - Quilt #4

At first I thought I misspelled hippy... but a little research by my husband assured me that I did not.  In the process, we learned that there is a difference in the people that are a hippy or hippie.  My friend Renee is a hippy.  She had a milestone birthday recently, with a rockin' party to celebrate it, and I couldn't think of anything better to give her than a homemade lap blanket.  She is warm, kind, giving, funny, and does so much for the people that touch her life in one way or another.  So, one more time - Happy Birthday my friend!

By the time I figured out what I'd be doing as her birthday gift, I had 3 weeks to get fabric picked out and the quilt made.  In that time, our cat got sick and ultimately went to heaven so I ended up taking a week off from any sewing.  In my haste to get the blanket finished for the party, I forgot to take measurements, but it's approximately 40" x 50".  There are 9 geese across the top/bottom and 12 geese on both sides.   It has a hot pink flannel backing.  To attach the three layers (top, batting, backing) in the large center area, I used felt flower buttons... so fun. 

Fabric choices... oh this was hard.  Renee likes the peace sign, vibrant colors, tie-dye, etc.  The large inner rectangle was my focus fabric and I spent 2 days at 3 different fabric stores finding coordinating items.  I had something like 5 or 6 fabrics picked out, all of them had a pattern.  It was really bothering me, it was too busy and just didn't work.  One final evening, on my way out to dinner with my husband, I stopped into a quilt shop called The Needle and I in Everett.  I needed at least one solid color to pull this all together.  The gals in that shop were great, and they had exactly what I needed.  We talked some fabric strategy and I left with a better plan than I went in with.  Finally, I could get started feeling good about my choices.

For the finished product, I packed it into a large plastic bag and made a 'label' out of card stock so it would look a little like something bought in a store.  We looked up 60's lingo to try and make it look like it came from that time. I downloaded some hippy fonts and we were set!  The 'advertising' I put on the label said:

• Use of this blanket guaranteed to provide peaceful naps
• Made from all "natural" materials
• It's so boss
• Sport this and you will be groovy
• Great for picnics with friends or Grateful Dead concerts
• Handmade in the USA
• The colors, like wow man
• It's a far out birthday gift

This was a really fun project.

Beef Stew

Mmmmmmmm, a perfect homestyle comfort food.  I usually like this on a chilly, cloudy day - but today ended up sunny and nice.  Oh well... the stew was still delish.  My husband doesn't like potato so I leave it out.  He likes his portion served over egg noodles and I like mine over mashed potato or brown rice.  There are many different vessels in which to make stew, but I prefer a porcelain coated cast iron dutch oven; one pot, stovetop to oven.

2 pounds stew meat
2 tablespoons light olive oil, divided
2 teaspoons butter (not margarine), divided
1-2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 onion, chopped
4 celery stalks, chopped
2-3 large carrots, chunked
4-5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup red wine
1 can diced tomato
1 1/2 cups beef broth
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 tsp italian seasoning
Salt and pepper to taste
Rice, potato or pasta for serving

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix flour, salt and pepper.  Coat stew meat well with flour mixture, set aside.  Add 1 tablespoon oil and 1 teaspoon butter in a 5 quart dutch oven over high heat.  Brown stew meat in 2 batches, adding more oil/butter between batches.  If you add all the meat at once it won't brown properly.  Set browned meat aside and add onion, celery carrot.  Cook for about 3 minutes, stirring often.  Add garlic, cook for about 1 minute more.  Add red wine, scrape up all the browned bits, and let it reduce by at least half, then add tomatoes, broth and seasoning.  Stir, cover and move to oven.  Cook for about 2 hours, checking for doneness at 1.5 hours.  Season with salt and pepper as needed.  If you got the meat coated well before browning, your stew should not need any thickening.  Serve stew over rice, pasta or potato.

~ Enjoy ~

Pina Colada Oatmeal

In a previous post, I mentioned how I really enjoy oatmeal for breakfast but need to find new ways to keep it interesting.  Costco recently had some good looking pineapples so I thought I'd make a variation of the pina colada.  The result was very good!  Do you have your own themes with oatmeal?  I'd love to hear about them!

1 cup water
1/2 cup milk
dash salt
3/4 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup fresh pineapple, diced
1-2 tablespoons toasted coconut
1-2 tablespoons cream
1 teaspoon agave nectar

Bring milk, water and salt to a boil.  Add oatmeal and pineapple, reduce heat and simmer until desired consistency, about 3-5 minutes.  While simmering, toast coconut in a skillet over medium heat, stirring often to prevent burning.  Serve oatmeal topped with coconut, stir in cream and agave nectar.

~ Enjoy ~