Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte Martini

I’m not sure I have the vocabulary to describe how much I loved this drink. If you are anything like me, and counted down until the day Starbucks began serving their Pumpkin Spice Latte (Sept 1, in case you were wondering); and you like a good cocktail, YOU.WILL.LOVE.THIS.DRINK.
It was a Friday night, and I felt like making a nice cocktail. I opened up my liquor cabinet and the first thing that caught my eye was the vanilla vodka. I began to scour the cabinets for what to mix with it. To the left was pumpkin liqueur I had used on pumpkin martinis last year (good, but not great), and hidden in the back was Starbucks Cream Liqueur. Like all great ideas, this one hit me in an instant, and my mind quickly formed this drink. I just knew I had to make it. I love “concocting” cocktails, so I just guessed at how much of each ingredient I needed to make a drink to my liking. I’m a girl that can handle, and actually welcome the taste of alcohol. I don’t want a drink that’s straight up alcohol, but I don’t want a sugary sweet mess. I think this drink really draws the line right in the middle of the road, and would appeal to most adult tastes. (Yes, ADULT. Kids, don’t drink till you’re 21.) You could easily adjust the recipe by adding more milk and/or less vodka if you find it too strong.

My trusted martini shaker looks just like this one. I used the cap to measure my ingredients. 1 capful equals “1 part”. This is the easiest way to make them, in my opinion, because if you want to make a double batch of something, or more, it makes for easy conversion.

When I took my first sip, my tastebuds were quickly met with the exact flavor I was hoping for. It literally tasted like a Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte, but with alcohol. To me, that is a very, very good thing! It was creamy, & smooth, with the signature pumpkin flavor, spice, and even color. Wow… my mouth is watering just thinking about it again.

**2011 Update** They may have stopped producing the Starbucks Cream Liqueur, so any coffee cream liqueur will do, such as Kahlua, etc.

Pumpkin Spice Latte Martini

serves 1

Ingredients:

1 1/2 parts vanilla vodka
1 part pumpkin liqueur
1 part Starbucks Cream liqueur
1 part milk
dash of pumpkin pie spice

Directions:

Combine all ingredients except pumpkin pie spice in martini shaker over ice. Shake well and strain into martini glass. Sprinkle with Pumpkin Pie Spice. Serve immediately & enjoy.

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Braised Mediterranean Chicken with Polenta

As I preached about in my Blogiversary post, I think it’s important to step outside of your comfort zone in the kitchen. I love trying new things. One thing I’ve never cooked, and only ate in restaurants a few times, is polenta. When flipping through my newest issue of Martha Stewart Everyday Food the very first recipe was this one. I immediately folded the corner over because I saw it included cherry tomatoes and zucchini. It just so happened I had zucchini in my CSA share, and my friend Beth brought me a whole pint of cherry tomatoes from her sister’s garden in KY (a great state by the way). As I finished reading the recipe, I realized I actually had every single ingredient in my kitchen.

This meal came together in under an hour, and was very easy, as are most of the recipes in Everyday Food. And the flavors really balanced and complimented each other just perfectly. I was afraid this might be too heavy of a meal, but it was actually hearty and filling, without weighing you down. It was a great way to take advantage of this seasonal produce. And, it gave me another use for my cornmeal, because I don’t batter and fry with it too often! I can’t find this recipe on the website, so that’s why I can’t link to it.

Braised Mediterranean Chicken with Polenta

Martha Stewart Everyday Food - Sept 2009

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon olive oil
8 chicken thighs (about 2 1/2 pounds total)
course salt and ground pepper
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved if large
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh oregano leaves
1/2 cup dry white wine
3/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth
3 small zucchini, quartered lengthwise and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
3/4 cup cornmeal
2 Tablespoon unsalted butter

Directions:

In a large Dutch oven or heavy pot, heat oil over medium-high. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Working in two batches, cook chicken until browned on all sides, 6 to 8 minutes per batch. Transfer to a plate. Pour off all but 1 Tablespoon fat and return pot to heat.

Add garlic, tomatoes, and oregano; cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add wine and cook, scraping up browned bits, until almost evaporated, about 1 minute. Add broth; return chicken, skin side up, to pot. Bring to a boil; reduce to a simmer, cover and cook 15 minutes. (*At this point begin the polenta.) Add zucchini to chicken; season with salt and pepper. Cover; simmer until chicken is cooked through, 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in lemon juice.

To prepare polenta: In a large saucepan, combine 4 1/2 cups water, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and bring to a boil. Whisking constantly, slowly add cornmeal. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, whisking frequently, until polenta has thickened, 20 to 25 minutes. Whisk in butter. Serve chicken and vegetables over polenta.

Serves 4; Per Serving: 556 calories; 30.1g fat (9.9g sat fat); 36.9g protein; 32.8g carb; 3.6g fiber

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Peanut Butter Maple Cookies

There’s a lot of food blog talk back and forth about whether or not it’s too early for pumpkin. I know, I know, technically it’s still summer, but did you know Starbucks brought their much-loved “Pumpkin Spice Latte” back on Sept 1st? While I’m dying to add some new pumpkin treats to my pumpkin tag (OMG have you seen my posts for pumpkin fudge, pumpkin cream cheese truffles, or pumpkin white chocolate bars?), I might hold off just a bit longer.

Luckily, I haven’t heard any petitioning for patience in using maple syrup! While on my recent trip to NYC (I keep meaning to work on that blog post), I picked up a jar of Peanut Butter & Co.‘s Mighty Maple flavored peanut butter. I’m a peanut butter addict. I was so excited to pick up this flavor, as well as their Cinnamon Raisin flavor. (I can already profess the deliciousness of their Dark Chocolate Dreams, and White Chocolate Wonderful flavors) I knew I wanted to ration these and use them for a baked good or two. Unfortunately, Cinnamon Raisin just tasted too delicious on mini-bagels, and is almost gone. But I managed to hide the Mighty Maple from myself long enough to research a recipe.

After my first test-taste of the Mighty Maple I loved the subtle maple flavor. I think this would taste great on waffles or toast, or even in oatmeal. When tasting this, I was also hit with how much sweeter it is than my usual choice in peanut butters. I often get the peanut butter that is fresh ground right there in the store, or at least the all-natural kind that lists just one ingredient, “whole roasted peanuts”. And at most two ingredients, “peanuts, salt”. I chose this Taste of Home recipe for Peanut Butter Maple Cookies, and decided to halve the recipe. My first change while adjusting the measurements, was to reduce the sugar. The original recipe seemed to call for a LOT of it, and as I said before, this peanut butter seemed really sweet to me to begin with. The reduced amount of sugar was perfect. Also the Taste of Home recipe called for 1 Tablespoon of maple syrup, so half of that would be 1.5 teaspoons. I thought with using maple flavored peanut butter, I’d be alright reducing the maple syrup to 1 teaspoon, but I don’t think the maple flavor of the finished cookie was as pronounced as I’d hoped. When making these again, I’ll be sure to use 2 teaspoons of maple syrup, and I’ve reflected that in the recipe below.

These cookies were so fantastic, The Boy & I couldn’t part with them. I love that this is more than your average peanut butter cookie, with the addition of the maple syrup, oats, and peanut butter chips. It’s unlike any other cookie, yet the flavors on their own are so comforting and familiar, you’ll feel like home when you take a bite. The original plan was to send them into work with him, but when I noticed the speed in which they disappeared, I knew that wasn’t going to happen. I’m embarrassed to say between the two of us, we ate them in the span of 4 days. My favorite part, was opening the plastic container I was storing them in, and just SMELLING the wonderful peanut butter AND maple aromas! *Sigh* I need to make these again!

Peanut Butter Maple Cookies

adapted from Taste of Home
yields 18 cookies (using Pampered Chef's medium cookie scoop, approx 2 Tablespoons)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 eggs
2 teaspoons maple syrup
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
heaping 1/3 cup quick-cooking oats
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 package (5 ounces) peanut butter chips

Taste of Home's note: Reduced-fat or generic brands of peanut butter are not recommended for this recipe.
Erin's note: Peanut Butter & Co.'s Mighty Maple Peanut Butter is definitely recommended if you can find it, but it's not a requirement if you can't. Don't let that stop you from making these cookies!

Directions:

In a large bowl, cream the butter, peanut butter and sugars. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in syrup and vanilla. Combine the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to the creamed mixture. Stir in peanut butter chips.

Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls 2 in. apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 325° for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 1 minute before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

Taste of Home's note: Reduced-fat or generic brands of peanut butter are not recommended for this recipe.
Erin's note: Peanut Butter & Co.'s Mighty Maple Peanut Butter is definitely recommended if you can find it, but it's not a requirement if you can't. Don't let that stop you from making these cookies!

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Chicken Sausage Patties

‘Round these parts, we love us some breakfast sandwiches. They might be made on an english muffin, homemade toasted bread, or a mini-bagel. They always include a fried egg, cheese (whatever I happen to have on hand), and meat. Most often, they are made with turkey bacon. But I recently saw Elly posted homemade chicken sausages. They seemed so incredibly simple and delicious. I’m happy to report, they definitely are what they seemed! These couldn’t of been easier to mix up. I only ran into trouble when trying to pat them out, as they kept sticking to my hands. I had better luck just forming them with a spoon.

These breakfast sausages make a great healthy alternative to pork sausage. Growing up I was always a sausage girl. When faced with both bacon and sausage at the breakfast table, I’d reach for the sausage every time. The past 5 or 6 years as I’ve begun eating healthier, I really thought I had left the world of sausage patties behind. Sure I love turkey bacon as a healthy alternative, but it didn’t replace my longing to smell that wonderful aroma of sausage cooking at breakfast time. These chicken sausages have filled that void! I’m pretty sure I’ll be whipping these up pretty frequently so that I always have them on hand. My only addition to this recipe was fennel seeds, as I really love the aromatic flavor you get from them.

Chicken Sausage Patties

from Elly Says Opa
Makes 16 1-oz. patties (or 8 2-oz. patties)

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground chicken*
1/2 tsp. dried sage
1/2 tsp. dried marjoram
1/2 to 3/4 tsp. dried thyme
1/4 tsp. ground cayenne pepper
heaping 1/4 tsp. ground allspice
1/4 tsp fennel seeds (my addition)
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
about 3/4 tsp. kosher salt
1 garlic clove, finely mincced or pressed
1/2 Tbsp. maple syrup
2-3 tsp. olive oil

Directions:

Lightly mix all ingredients together until the herbs/spices are well incorporated – make sure you don’t over mix!

Divide the mixture into 4 equal parts, and then make 4 (or 2, for 2-oz. patties) patties from each part.

Heat a nonstick pan over medium heat and add 1 tsp. of oil. Put 1/3 or 1/2 of the patties (depending how big your pan is and how much space your patties take up) into the pan and cook about 2 minutes per side or until browned and cooked through. Repeat with the next 1-2 batches, adding an additional teaspoon of olive oil per batch.

*Ground chicken breast will make a leaner patty, but dark (or a mixture of white and dark) meat will make a tastier patty.

Nutritional information for both is as follows:
Using all white meat (per 1 oz. patty, using 3 tsp. oil): Calories: 40.9 / Fat: 1.2g / Saturated Fat: 0.2g / Carbs: 0.6g / Fiber: 0.1g / Protein: 6.6g
Using dark meat (per 1 oz. patty, using 3 tsp. oil): Calories: 52 / Fat: 3.6g / Saturated Fat: 1.0g / Carbs: 0.6g / Fiber: 0.1g / Protein: 5.2g

McDonald’s ain’t got NOTHING on this breakfast sandwich!

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Cantaloupe Cocktail

When faced with another cantaloupe from my CSA share, rather that just cubing it up and eating it, I thought I’d make a drink! This was a simple, refreshing summer drink. I love the cool orange color especially when paired with the bright lime. The lime juice gives it a tart taste, and pairs really well with the cantaloupe’s sweetness. I wish I could convey through this post the wonderful smell of the cantaloupe in this drink. Every time I went in for a sip I was greeted with the sweet fragrance of the cantaloupe. YUM! This was a simple drink I just sort of made up on the spot, and was surprised with how great it came out on my first try.

Cantaloupe Cocktail

makes 1 drink

Ingredients:

*Cantaloupe Puree:
cubed cantaloupe
sugar

2 parts cantaloupe puree*
2 parts vodka
1 part Rose's Sweetened Lime Juice

Directions:

*Cantaloupe Puree:
Combine cubed cantaloupe in blender, add in a dash of sugar or simple syrup. Blend until smooth, and strain over mesh strainer into container. Use immediately, or refrigerate and use as needed. I used 1/2 a cantaloupe, and it lasted 2 days in the refrigerator, and was enough for 3-4 drinks.

Combine ingredients over ice in martini shaker. Shake to combine and strain into martini glass.

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