I’m calling this “Bloody Mary Pt1″ because there WILL be a part two. I think there are two components to making a killer Bloody Mary, one is some good vodka, and the second is a good bloody mary mix. We’ve mastered the good vodka. In August, as we have the previous 2 years, we attended the East Nashville Tomato Arts Festival. I could try to explain it… but I won’t even try. Just check out their site, and if you’re a Nashvillian and you’ve never been, you’re really missing out. This year’s Tomato Arts Fest happened to be on a HOT HOT HOT day. The minute we parked (Thanks Travis!) and walked over to the festivities, we were like “DAMN we need some A/C and a drink!”
(This the The Boy sporting his “fro-hawk” as I like to call it.)
After I forced The Boy to let me stand in line for some free Tomato Basil Gelato and souvenior screenprint reusable grocery bag from Whole Foods we made our way over to one of our favorite East Nashville bars, Red Door East.
I wasn’t planning on drinking a Bloody Mary. To be perfectly honest, with my acid reflux, I usually can’t handle the acidic tomatoes PLUS the vodka for more than a few sips. Even if I DID double up on my omeprazole that day!
But while we were cooling off, someone down the bar ordered a Bloody Mary, and I saw the bartender reach for a golden bottle. I had to ask him “Are you putting tequila in that?!” And he showed me the bottle and explained it was a Ukranian Vodka, Neimeroff, their Honey Pepper variety.
Alright, that’s it! Interest piqued! I nudged The Boy, who was sipping a beer, and asked if he wanted to share a Bloody Mary. He was intrigued too, so I asked the bartender for ONE Bloody Mary. He fixed us two. At first I was mad, there’s no way I could drink the whole thing!
After I took my first sip I realized, this man knew what he was doing!! The Boy would of had to pry it outta my hands if he wanted a sip. Best Bloody Mary ever. It was smooth, and balanced, with the kick of the alcohol. Mmmm… A salad in a glass right there!
We sought out the vodka, and found it at one of our favorite liquor shops in town. I bought some organic vegetable juice, and left the recipe searching up to The Boy. Here’s the basic recipe he followed:
We like to mix these up on Sundays during football, because, unlike Saturday, The Boy doesn’t have to go into work that day! Stay tuned, as I said there WILL be a Part II to this story. One day soon, we’ll learn how to make our own Bloody Mary mix. Then I have a feeling we’re going to get lots more guests wanting to come over for Sunday visit!
Bloody Mary
adapted from DrinkMixNet
Yields 1
Ingredients:
1 1/2 ounces (1 jigger) vodka (we recommend Nemiroff Honey Pepper Vodka)
1/2 cup tomato juice
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
Worcestershire sauce to taste
Tabasco to taste
salt to taste
fresh cracked pepper to taste
1 celery stick for garnish
1 olive for garnish
1 banana pepper for garnish
Directions:
Combine the vodka, the tomato juice, the lemon juice, the Worcestershire sauce, the Tabasco, 1 cup ice cubes, and salt and pepper to taste, shake the mixture well, and strain it into a tall glass filled with ice cubes. Garnish the Bloody Mary with the celery stick, olive, and banana pepper.
The sad thing about this meal is, it doesn’t look the least bit as delicious at it tasted. Don’t you hate that? I found this recipe on Whole Foods website or newsletter (one of the two, I can’t remember), and was intrigued. I’m always looking for new ways to cook butternut squash, as I’ve received one in just about every CSA share for quite a few weeks. I’m pretty sure I’ve never made anything with coconut milk, so I was unsure of how it would pair with the squash and sage.
One thing is for sure, it smelled amazing when I was preparing it! The end result was warm, rich, nutty, and comforting. A perfect dish on a cold day. The sage is a traditional compliment to the squash, and the toasted nuts add a nice crunch. I was surprised to learn this dish is also vegan! As Lesley pointed out in my Cous Cous Salad with Butternut Squash and Cranberries post, vegan cooking doesn’t have to be difficult or tasteless. While I don’t plan on converting to vegan, or even vegetarian, I believe the more dishes I can enjoy that happen to fulfill those guidelines is fine with me! Also, this meal is dairy-free so if you need a dish to serve to a friend who is lactose intolerant, try this!
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 butternut squash (about 2 pounds), peeled, seeded and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 (15-ounce) can light coconut milk
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon chopped sage
¾ pound dried whole wheat penne
½ cup chopped toasted walnuts
½ cup bread crumbs (I used Panko)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly oil a 9- x 13-inch casserole dish; set aside.
Heat oil in a medium pot over medium heat. Add onions and cook, stirring often, until softened, 5 to 7 minutes. Add squash, coconut milk, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to medium low and simmer until squash is tender, about 20 minutes. Stir in sage and simmer 1 minute more. (This part can be made ahead, up to 1 day in advance.)
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook until tender but still firm, about 8 minutes. Rinse in cold water, drain well and transfer to a large bowl. Transfer squash mixture to bowl with penne. Add walnuts, salt and pepper and toss to combine. Transfer to prepared dish and top with bread crumbs. Bake until just golden brown and hot throughout, about 30 minutes.
Want to hear a confession? Until recently, I had no idea what a scone was. Seriously. Maybe it’s my raising, I grew up in KY; we had muffins, and biscuits, cookies, pies, tarts… but I never had a scone.
I “discovered” them on people’s food blogs, and then realized they served them at Starbucks. I never EVER buy anything in the pastries case there, so I suppose that’s why I never noticed them. Once I realized what they were (basically like a sweet biscuit), it took a while before they appealed to me. They just looked dry and tasteless. And yet… I kept seeing them and seeing them. (Isn’t it funny how you never know something exists, but once you do, it’s EVERYWHERE?) My curiousity was finally piqued and one Sunday morning I finally set to it. Are you at all surprised I chose Pumpkin Scones as my first venture?
I’m happy to report, these babies are FAR from tasteless or dry! They are decadently delicious. They are moist and soft, with just enough pumpkin to appease my tastes. And let me suggest the perfect pairing, a pumpkin spice latte! I have enough self control to limit myself to just one. The Boy ate one, and asked for another. Then I went to the park for a couple hours and came home to discover ANOTHER one missing. HE ATE THREE! What ever shall I do with him?
Pumpkin Scones
from Pinch My Salt
Ingredients:
1 C. all purpose flour
1 C. cake flour
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. ground nutmeg
1/4 t. ground allspice
1/4 t. ground ginger
6 T. unsalted butter
1/2 C. raisins (optional)
1/3 C. pumpkin puree
1/3 C. heavy cream
6 T. brown sugar
1 t. vanilla
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Get out a baking sheet and line with parchment paper (not required but makes cleanup easy!). Cut the butter into small pieces, put it in a small bowl and put it back in the refridgerator. In a medium bowl, combine both flours, baking powder, salt, and all spices. Whisk together well. Place bowl in freezer (refrigerator is fine if you have no room in freezer).
2. In a separate bowl, combine pumpkin, heavy cream, brown sugar, and vanilla. Whisk together well. Put this bowl in freezer (or refrigerator) and take the other bowl back out. Get the butter pieces out of the fridge and dump them into the bowl with the flour mixture. Cut the butter into the flour using a pastry blender or rub it in with your fingertips until it resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the raisins if you are using them.
3. Get the liquid mixture out of the freezer and pour into the flour mixture all at once. Stir with a wooden spoon until everything is just moistened. The dough will be very crumbly, this is the way it should be. Turn the mixture out onto the counter and push the pile together with your hands. It should stick together fairly well. Knead it just a couple of times until everything is together. Don’t knead it too much or the dough will get too sticky.
4. Pat the dough out into a rough circle, 3/4 to 1 inch thick. Cut it like a pie into 8 pieces. Place pieces on the baking sheet so that they are not touching. Bake scones for about 15 minutes at 425 degrees. They should be light brown on the bottom, the tops will darken as they cool.
For cinnamon icing, mix together 1 C. powdered sugar, 2 T. milk, 1/4 – 1/2 t. cinnamon (to taste). Adjust the amount of sugar or milk to make the icing the consistency you want. It should be pretty thick. Icing can be brushed on or drizzled.
Is it just me or are there literally babies everywhere? Everywhere I turn someone new has a baby or is pregnant. This is great for me, because it means I’ll have lots of babies to visit! I think it has to do more with the time in my life (I’m barely a week from being 26), than just a sheer coincidence that so many people around me are expecting.
I have a new friend I’ve just gotten to know within the past year or so, who discovered she was pregnant. WITH TRIPLETS. Yes. Three babies in her belly! Melissa and her husband moved for his job, and haven’t been living in TN very long. All her family and friends still live up north. She was discussing how they were having a shower for her at home, but she couldn’t travel. Well, I don’t know about you, but I don’t think it’s fair to have THREE LITTLE ONES coming, and not get to attend a shower! Me, and a couple other girls she knows put together a SURPRISE baby shower.
I decided to work around a “Sweet Pea” theme I saw on Hostess with the Mostess. I don’t have the time/money/skill to throw showers like they do on that blog, but it’s a great inspiration! When I mentioned this to my friend Jamie, (who is pregnant herself!), she told me about the garden cupcakes in her Hello Cupcake! book. One of the vegetables was peas! HOW PERFECT!
The shower was going to be a small affair, just 5 of us attending to so I turned to my Perfect Cupcakes book because all the recipes in the book make 6 cupcakes. I knew I wanted to use the pretty rainbow sprinkles on the frosting, but was excited to discover a “sprinkle” cupcake recipe that includes them IN the cupcake! It basically makes cupcakes just like the Funfetti kind in a box. And you know me, I’d rather bake something from scratch than I would a box.
Because this made such a small batch, I didn’t get to do a “taste-test” like I usually do, and eat one the night before, so I was worried the cupcakes would be dry or not taste good. But I was happy to discover they actually turned out great! They were moist, and sweet, but not too sweet, with a yummy vanilla flavor. And, the sprinkles inside turned out so bright and pretty! The frosting itself is now my favorite traditional buttercream. Usually buttercreams end up too sweet or too buttery for me, and this was a really great balance. I definitely recommend these cupcakes for a kid’s birthday, or any fun occasion. If you need more, just double the recipe for a full dozen.
Cake:
3/4 cup cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup multi-colored sprinkles
Frosting:
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-2 Tablespoons heavy cream
Decorations:
green fruit chews (I used Laffy Taffy)
green Skittles
Directions:
CAKE:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 6 cup muffin pan with liners.
In a small bowl, whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt. In a medium bowl, using a hand-held mixer on medium speed, cream together butter and sugar until well blended. Beat in the egg and vanilla until light. Gradually beat in half of the flour mixture. Bean in milk and then the remaining flour mixture until blended. Fold in half of the sprinkles. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared cups.
Bake until the tops spring back when lightly tapped, 20-25 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then turn out and cool completely.
FROSTING:
In a medium bowl, use a hand-held mixer on medium speed to beat together the confectioners' sugar and butter until blended. Beat in the vanilla, then beat in enough cream to achieve a soft consistency suitable for piping or spreading.
*I spread the frosting using an offset spatula, then rolled the edges around in a bowl of sprinkles.
For decorations, Roll out each of the green fruit chews into a 3 x 1-in. oval 1/8-in. thick. (If you're having a hard time rolling out the candy, 3-7 seconds in the microwave will soften it up.) Press 3 skittles onto one side of each oval. Fold the other side over to cover the candies slightly. Pinch the ends and place 1 pea pod on top of each of the cupcakes.
Pssst… And if you’re looking for a good salad to serve at a Peas in the Pod themed shower, check out this salad!
I made these Halloween cookies using this recipe. And I’m not even gonna lie, I had full intentions of doing royal icing and all that, but I fell under the “spell” of the tube of cookie frosting in Kroger, and took the easier way out. If you’re still scrambling for ideas to bring to a Halloween party, be sure to check out some of my previous posts:
The Boy and I have jetted off to Chicago for the weekend to catch our neighbor’s band, Cage the Elephant, play. I thought their recent hit seemed quite appropriate for this post, “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked”.
Check them out… Buy their CD, it’s really good! We also really like the song, “Back Against the Wall“.
Also, we’ll be reprising our 2008 Halloween costumes, because no one in Chicago knows we wore them last year, right? And I just couldn’t resist because my costume was just so freaking awesome.
“Good Morning Mr Draper.”
He told me all the quotes are dirty, so he is quoteless..
Hi, I’m Erin. Welcome to my food files. I love sharing recipes for food, drinks, & dessert; but also like to leave room for any food related posting I desire. Thanks for stopping by! ...more
Best Bloody Mary ever. It was smooth, and balanced, with the kick of the alcohol. Mmmm… A salad in a glass right there!
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