I know I promised that I would come back with my Champagne Ice Cream recipe -- and I will -- but I wanted to formally announce what I've been working on for the last month and a half. First, some back story:
Last October I did (yet another) food photoshoot for Wiregrass Living Magazine. The theme was easy Halloween party foods and the spread should come out in this September's magazine. I typically only do full-on spreads once a year... Actually, more like every year and a half... So, while we had bounced around some ideas for a future feature, I wasn't expecting anything any time soon.
Then in January the editor emailed me and asked if I'd be interested in going forward with a similar idea to the one we'd talked about. You see, I'd wanted to do an article with my husband about the recent legalization of homebrewing in Alabama. It would, of course, be complete with both beer and food recipes. The editor put it before the board, but I guess they're still a bit wary. Instead, we're going to ease into it by doing a spread which uses recipes made with commercially available beer.
She wanted to do it in February, but I was booked solid. Small mercies, as I normally have 3-4 months to prepare, not 1-2! This Friday is the shoot and everything looks like it'll go off without a hitch. There are 5 veggies/sides, 4 meats, 3 desserts, 2 breads, and 1 cocktail. If all that weren't enough to entice you to buy a copy when it hits shelves this summer, here's the recipe list:
Marinated Vegetable Kabobs
Steamed, Stuffed Artichokes
Red Potatoes au Gratin
Boston Baked Beans
Roasted Root Salad
Pulled BBQ Pork
Pecan Glazed Steak and Onions
Currywurst
Beer Battered Chicken Wings
Butterscotch Beer Pie
Mexican Chocolate Toffee Bark
Dark Chocolate Stout Cake
Cheddar Cornmeal Popovers
Orange Blossom & Cranberry Muffins
Summer Moon Cocktail
If you can successfully guess five of the beers used in these recipes (and there are multiple right answers for almost all of them because I like flexibility) I will give you a free copy of the magazine when it comes out. Good luck, and I'll see you next week when it's all over!!
7 Minute Avgolemono Ramen
Last year I posted my recipe for Avgolemono Soup -- that is, Greek Chicken Noodle Soup -- because I had a hard time finding the canned version that I loved and my recipe was pretty good if time-consuming. But today I bring you the lazy (wo)man's version: Now with 100% more ramen!
Ingredients:
1 pkg. chicken ramen
1 large egg yolk
1 1/2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 1/2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. olive oil
1 1/2 - 2 cups water
Directions:
Put dry ramen noodles into a bowl and cover with enough water to just barely cover the ramen. The ramen will float to the top, but make sure it's enough to cover it when pushed down. Microwave on high for about 4 minutes. Break up noodles and stir with a fork. Microwave for an additional 3 minutes. Beat the egg yolk with lemon juice and olive oil. When ramen is done, pour a little bit of the hot water into the egg mixture and combine thoroughly. Gently pour the egg mixture into the ramen. Sprinkle on chicken flavoring and stir well.
Is it exactly like Avgolemono? No. But it will satisfy a craving for something both savory and tangy in under 10 minutes!
Next time I'll bring you my famous Champagne Ice Cream. :)
Moving, Moving, Moved!
Not really. We're still in the process. We've only lived in this house, what? Almost six months. My poor long-suffering mother has been having to put up with our stuff for far longer than I'm sure she imagined. We've finally moved most of the furniture. I think we just have three bookshelves, two steamer trunks, and a coffee table to go. That'll have to wait until Sunday, though. In the meantime, I'm cleaning my house and hers trying to sort through and get rid of the last four years of not-quite-hoarding. I'm tired of living out of boxes and bags, and I'm tired of constantly finding things I don't give two figs about but not the things I actually need.
This goes for books, too, unfortunately. We are most definitely book hoarders! I've found books I haven't read in years with pages falling out and it has taken all my willpower to just THROW IT AWAY. There's an Office 2007 book that I keep thinking, "Gosh, we should donate this to the thrift store." And then I have to remind myself that that was SEVEN YEARS AGO. Goodness! Where did the time go? I finally threw away my Creative Suite 2 book. And Ruled Britannia which was molding. And Oliver Twist. And all my Harvard University Press catalogs of "really interesting book" porn. The last were admittedly the hardest, and that probably tells you way more about me than you ever needed to know. Nobody likes Oliver Twist anyway.
So now we've got probably five or six boxes worth of books sitting around in piles waiting to go to the thrift store. My plan had always been to sell them when I opened my used book store, but that dream's on hold for probably the next thirty-five years and these babies aren't getting any younger. We can't haul them off quite yet because I only want to make one trip to said Salvation Army and we still have a ton of clothes to go through. We've been doing laundry for two days now and the end is nowhere in sight.
We've had to rearrange quite a bit to accommodate things. When I realized I couldn't live without books in my living room, we had to move Casablanca. It's now behind the door, which bothered me until I realized that means it's out of direct UV light, preserving the colors better and also positioning Humphrey so that his soulful gaze rests more easily upon mine. The dresser and fan and recliner and end tables all ended up in places they had originally been unintended for, as well. C'est la vie.
I'm excited about getting everything over here, though. It's finally feeling more like a home and less like a half-empty apartment. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go rotate the wash.
This goes for books, too, unfortunately. We are most definitely book hoarders! I've found books I haven't read in years with pages falling out and it has taken all my willpower to just THROW IT AWAY. There's an Office 2007 book that I keep thinking, "Gosh, we should donate this to the thrift store." And then I have to remind myself that that was SEVEN YEARS AGO. Goodness! Where did the time go? I finally threw away my Creative Suite 2 book. And Ruled Britannia which was molding. And Oliver Twist. And all my Harvard University Press catalogs of "really interesting book" porn. The last were admittedly the hardest, and that probably tells you way more about me than you ever needed to know. Nobody likes Oliver Twist anyway.
So now we've got probably five or six boxes worth of books sitting around in piles waiting to go to the thrift store. My plan had always been to sell them when I opened my used book store, but that dream's on hold for probably the next thirty-five years and these babies aren't getting any younger. We can't haul them off quite yet because I only want to make one trip to said Salvation Army and we still have a ton of clothes to go through. We've been doing laundry for two days now and the end is nowhere in sight.
We've had to rearrange quite a bit to accommodate things. When I realized I couldn't live without books in my living room, we had to move Casablanca. It's now behind the door, which bothered me until I realized that means it's out of direct UV light, preserving the colors better and also positioning Humphrey so that his soulful gaze rests more easily upon mine. The dresser and fan and recliner and end tables all ended up in places they had originally been unintended for, as well. C'est la vie.
I'm excited about getting everything over here, though. It's finally feeling more like a home and less like a half-empty apartment. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go rotate the wash.
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