french 75-ish [porter]

Next week is our first anniversary! What better way is there to commemorate than share the drink I was enjoying on the big day? Here it is, folks: the French 75. Our best man concocted on of these babies for me in the limo between the ceremony and the reception. It was refreshing and sophisticated--just what I needed to toast the day. Upon ample sampling in the past year, I can report that it wasn't just the excitement of the day: this drink brings an air of elegance whether for a fancy-schmancy cocktail party or a casual night in.

Ingredients:
Champagne (dry)
Gin
Orange or Lemon twist (sliver of peel)

The how to:
Fill champagne flute 3/4 full with champagne. Add a splash of gin--if you are a measuring type, use 1/2 jigger of gin. Twist the lemon or orange twist over top of glass to release the oils from the peel and drop in. Drink up!

Side notes:
The real French 75 includes simple syrup and cucumber and is served over ice in a tall glass.  See here from Gourmet. The original recipe was first published in 1930 in the Savoy Cocktail Book and is named for a French 75 millimeter cannon. Be sure to drink slowly because it might hit you like a cannon :) Enjoy responsibly!

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honey-peppered pear + prosciutto bites [porter]

Unbridge club -- where a group of my mother's friends get together and play anything but bridge -- is starting to encompass the younger generation: the daughters and nieces of the core group. It was my turn to host last night and amid the concern of having a spotless house and the worry that 50 and 60 year old women would enjoy laser tag (like I said, anything but bridge!), I knew I needed to have simple, filling and delicious finger food that would hold to my nickname of 'Martha.'

I do not have endless hostessing experience. One of my best friends LOVES to play hostess, so the majority of our casual get-togethers take place at her house. Pulling together a menu other than take and bake pizza that would allow me to interact with my guests immediately upon their arrival requires a bit of planning ahead and avoiding foods that are still delectable when not piping hot.

I bring you to pear + prosciutto! A quick, tasty, and surprising appetizer/snack/finger food that will earn you some serious host/hostess cred.

Ingredients:
makes 32 bites [serves 8-10]
4 bartlett pears
1/3 lbs, very thinly sliced prosciutto [8-10 slices, some tend to go missing in the process :) )
1T honey
1/4 c warm water
2 t fine black pepper, plus plenty for finishing presentation plate

The how to:
Heat oven to 375. Slice the pears into 8 equal segments, removing the core from each slice as you go. In a medium to large bowl, combine the honey, warm water and 2 t black pepper, stirring until uniformly combined. Add pear segments to the honey-water and toss to coat. Let sit while prepping prosciutto. Cut each prosciutto slice into 4 even strips, as best you can. I ended up with some odd shaped pieces and it worked out fine as long as the pieces are long enough to wrap around a pear slice. Wrap each pear slice with a strip of prosciutto and place seam down on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, let cool slightly and arrange on a serving platter. Sprinkle the whole platter uniformly with pepper.

Side notes:
First and foremost, I apologize for the lack of photo. In the midst of hostessing, snapping a picture unfortunately did not cross my mind. Now on to the real notes. I left the prosciutto off of a few of the slices to accommodate a vegetarian who was attending; it turns out that the honey and pepper work surprisingly well without the salty offset. To keep the pears warm until guests arrived, I kept the serving platter on the stove top to absorb some of the peripheral heat. These are still good when not super hot, or even warm, but I did not enjoy them as much 3 hours later at room temperature. Luckily, they will probably be gone by then (I had reserved some on the side for my hubby).

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Kat Edmonson [paisley]

Kat Edmonson - photo credit to The Austin Chronicle

Fiance and I got a call a few years ago from a friend who needed us to go to a jazz show with him that night because he met the musician once, had a nice chat with her, got her number and subsequently lost the number.  This woman was the girl of his dreams and he needed to meet her again.  Being good friends, we went to the Elephant Room to see Kat Edmonson.  We were blown away by Kat, which is pretty special because you expect good things from the artists that play the Elephant Room to begin with--it's a great intimate venue.  In the 8 months since our friend had gotten the first chance to chat with her, Kat had grown a bit of a name for herself around town with the likes of Ray Benson of Asleep at the Wheel championing her along.  Needless to say, our friend was too intimidated to approach her again (he is a pretty humble and sometimes shy guy).

Her 1940s-esque jazzy voice came naturally as she serenaded us with known tunes, all sounding as if they were written for her.  Musicians seemed to gravitate towards her, resulting in collaborations with Lyle Lovett for example.  Her latest album Way Down Low is fantastic. Funded through the crowd-funding platform Kickstarter and written while melding into her new life in Brooklyn, this project is the successful combination of mid-20th century jazz sounds with lyrics that somehow apply to my twenty-something life while transcending age groups and genres.

I don't know what else to say other than give her a listen.  Lucky and Champagne are two of my favorites, but the whole album is great for listening straight through.  I put this album on to clean the house, chill out while driving, cooking dinner and even while getting ready for a night out.

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crease-free twistband [paisley]

Twistband: the crease-free hair tie

I recently subscribed to Birchbox and I love it! [Bridesmaids, if you have figured out this is me, don't get your own subscription yet :)]  I've only received one box so far and one of the many things inside is this Twistband that Birchbox has been pushing.  I first thought it was pretty lame: a hair tie, really??  I thought maybe I could do my hair some cool new way with it, but no, it's just a normal hair tie.  So why is it so cool that it requires me to write this post (i.e. my first product post in a while)?  No creases.  At all. 

Case #1:  If you are anything like me, you throw your hair back at work.  I tend to twist my hair around my finger when really focused, so a pulled-back hair is my way of keeping up the professional front.  Plus twisting your hair isn't good for your hair either.  Now, I can let my hair down after work without any creases!  Hello pretty-haired happy hour!

Case #2:  I have long hair and don't like to sleep with it down because it mats to my face or gets tangly (lovely description of the mess that my fiance gets to wake up to).  My hair has a decent curl to it, so I shower at night and let the curls form with a touch of product and air drying.  I regularly pull my hair back while sleeping and am forced into a pony tail all the next day due to the awful creases.  Now, I can go to bed with my semi-dry hair pulled back and can wake up with crease-less curls.

The site advertises that they look good on your wrist when not in use, however that is not a look I can typically pull off as a twenty-something professional.  The Twistband stands up to a moderate workout, but it might not hold a ponytail for a long bouncy run--I've yet to give it that test and will update this post if it proves to be a reliable running buddy.

Twistbands are a bit expensive at $2 a pop or $10 for 6.  For some like me, that's a small price to pay for a hair tie that doesn't leave creases and doesn't pull out your hair. 

full disclosure: I am so not getting paid for this Twistband endorsement.  It's just that cool!  The Birchbox link does get me referral points, but that is not the focus nor the motive for this post.

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feel-good morning smoothie [porter]

Feel-good morning smoothie

There are precisely three reasons why I drink this smoothie: 1) I am on a mission to actually meet the recommended daily intake of 5 servings of fruits and vegetables 2) A good friend of mine picked up "juicing" (like with a juicer, not steroids :) ) and reported that she no longer felt tired in the afternoons, could easily go until lunch without being hungry, and no longer felt like a slave to coffee 3) A family friend who is a cancer survivor swears by a similar version of this smoothie.

I make this smoothie usually 2-3 mornings per week and I honestly do feel good.  I feel good about my eating habits.  I feel good that this is the type of food that feeds my body well and therefore gives me more energy for longer.  I feel good that a body that gets the right nutrients enables a healthy immune system.  However, I have zero plans to give up coffee--it tastes so good and has lots of antioxidants--but I no longer crave caffeine and sometimes opt for decaf.

Getting in the habit to buy the ingredients for this smoothie on a regular basis was the hard part.  Not being a fan of letting food go to waste, I had to learn how to buy the right amounts, and, to choosing to buy larger portions to be more economical, I worked into our routine other uses for the same ingredients.

Ingredients:
makes 2 smoothies
1 c apple juice
2 generous handfuls of spinach or kale
1 carrot, chopped or 1 handful baby carrots
1 banana
1 c frozen fruit
1/2 c Greek yogurt
1 squeeze honey
1 lime, juice only

The how to:
In a blender combine juice, spinach and/or kale, and carrot.  Blend until the carrot is chopped well.  Add banana and frozen fruit.  Blend until smooth (may have to use pulse function if you have one).  Add yogurt, honey and lime.  Blend until the yogurt is well incorporated (same color through whole smoothie).  Pour and enjoy!

Side notes:
I use apple juice, but feel free to try other juices.  I will say that I don't like this smoothie as much with orange juice.  Kale is the more antioxidant-packed leaf, but it is more bitter than spinach so I suggest starting with spinach and changing the mix to include kale to your liking.  Spinach is only a 20 cent difference between a small and a large container at my grocer, so I tend to get the large spinach and have it around for salads, too.  I don't get kale very often because we don't have meals that use it often enough to justify the large container.  Again, I hate for food to go bad and I like to meal plan economically!  Our grocer carries carrots that are cut for stir fry for the same price as baby carrots so we get the stir-fry cut bag, well, so we can use them in stir fry, too (see where I'm going with this :) ).  I use fresh banana, but if we have bananas that are about to go bad, I'll cut them up, freeze them on a cookie tray, then put them in Tupperware in the freezer (freezing first on a cookie tray means they are less likely to stick together and you can portion it out later).  Pick any frozen fruit to your liking, but know that mango will give it a grittier texture.  We like blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and peaches.  Recently we started using flavored Greek yogurt (honey and blueberry), so I've been leaving out the raw honey.  I might go back to plain Greek yogurt because the flavored one has a lot of sugar.  I especially like to drink these with a straw.

Phew that was a lot of side note!  Even fiance loves this smoothie and it holds him over to a late lunch on the weekends after dog training class--that's impressive.  Try it this week I tell you!  It's good!

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creamy cilantro-lime dressing [porter]

Creamy cilantro-lime dressing on taco salad

Fiance and I have taco night on a regular rotation.  We brown up some ground turkey with diced onions, simmer it in a layer of pre-made taco seasoning, and slap it in to a warm tortilla with fresh diced onion, cilantro, a dollop of plain Greek yogurt, and grated cheddar cheese.  We always have leftovers and changing it up a little to not have the same meal twice in a row, we threw most of the same ingredients on top of a bed of lettuce (plus chopped carrots and tortilla chips, less Greek yogurt).  Typically this bed of lettuce would be mixed greens, but spinach is all we had (there's always spinach in the fridge for our smoothies).  Wanting to hedge the non-traditional spinach factor, I experimented for a killer dressing.  Fiance commented, "bottle this one up and I'll have it over and over again."

The Ingredients:

dresses 2 large salads

1 lime, juice only (about 1 T)

1/8 c cilantro, leaves only

2 T light miracle whip

2 T olive oil

1 dash onion powder
pepper to taste

The how to:
In a food processor, first process the lime juice and cilantro together.  You may have to stop processing and scrape down the sides once or twice to get the cilantro evenly chopped.  Next, add the miracle whip, olive oil, onion powder and pepper to the cilantro-lime mixture and process until smooth.  If you would like a thinner dressing, add more oil to preference.

Side notes:
I strongly suggest fresh lime juice for this dressing as it brings the right amount of sour kick and provides vitamin C.  Lime juice from those squeeze bottles will do the trick if that's all that's on hand, but you may have to add a touch more to get the same taste.  Light Miracle Whip is my "mayonnaise" of choice so it's always around, but feel free to try with regular mayonnaise or plain Greek yogurt (will not provide the same tangy taste, so may need a small pinch of salt and extra lime to compensate).

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Greek pasta salad [porter]

Greek pasta salad

To give full credit, I subscribe to a twice-weekly recipe newsletter from PureWow.  Usually I don't have good applications for these recipes because they are designed to impress friends at a dinner party (read: strawberry soup), and often times they call for expensive or rare ingredients.  Just when I thought I might unsubscribe, this Greek pasta salad popped into my inbox.  With relatively attainable ingredients and a prep time that fits into my schedule, I gave it a shot.  The grocery bill came out a bit steep (about $25 for the ingredients I didn't already have), but it fed 2 mouths last night and probably will make 3-4 more individual meals this week (fantastic leftovers for lunch!).  That math comes out to about $4 per meal per person...not too shabby.

Adopted from Susie Middleton's The Fresh & Green Table
Ingredients:
1/4 c olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
zest from one lemon
1 tsp honey
1 tsp dried dill (optional)
1 tsp salt, divided
pepper to taste
1 sm red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 can or jar of artichoke hearts, drained and quartered (can use whole can...I wanted left over artichoke)
1 pint small grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 c pitted kalamata olives, quartered lengthwise
4 oz feta cheese, crumbled
2 tbsp fresh oregano, chopped and divided (dried will probably work, but the fresh was delicious)
12oz fusilli pasta (any curly pasta works)
5 handfuls of spinach
1/3 c chopped walnuts
12 small pepperoncini, drained and thickly sliced

The how to:
Combine olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, lemon zest, honey, dill, 1/2 tsp salt, and pepper in a large bowl.

Add red onion, artichoke hearts, tomatoes, olives, feta, and 1 tbsp oregano. Stir to coat ingredients and let sit for about 20 min.  Prepare pasta according to package instructions.  Right before pasta is done, add spinach, walnuts, and pepperoncini to the top of the large bowl (do not mix in).  Drain the pasta and pour on top of the ingredients in the large bowl.  Add remaining salt and oregano.  The heat from the pasta will slightly wilt/cook the spinach.  After 2 min, stir spinach and pasta to evenly incorporate and coat in dressing.

Side notes:
The original recipe called for some tapenade in the dressing, but since Fiance doesn't like olives that much, I left it out (I figured he could pick out the whole olives if inclined).  The first 8 ingredients make a great salad dressing on their own.    For the remaining ingredients, you can increase, decrease, or omit based on your tastes.  For example, I only used half of the artichoke hearts recommended in the original recipe because I hope Fiance and I will make chicken and artichoke pizza with the remainder.  I didn't think of it until I left the grocery, but cucumber might be a nice addition to this salad.  I also used more pasta than the original recipe because I wanted to make sure this made multiple meals.  Zesting the lemon and not using the juice seemed like a waste, so we made gin and tonics with the juice from half a lemon in each.  The gin competed a bit with the balsamic in the recipe so I'd make this a before dinner or an after dinner drink.  Lastly, we added sliced peppered salami to serve because the Fiance doesn't like to call it a main dish if there isn't protein.

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