Tuesday, November 26, 2013
After the Music City Eats Festival I found myself in possession of a bottle of Jameson Black Barrel Select Reserve. (Jameson was one of the sponsors of the festival, and the primary sponsor of Pettyfest. They are NOT sponsoring this post. I’m just writing about a recipe I created using their product.) I’m familiar with the regular Jameson Whiskey, as I have a friend who likes it. But this Select Reserve is new to me. To be perfectly honest, while I enjoy whiskey a lot, in my heart I am a bourbon girl. Being born and raised in Kentucky, that’s where my alliance lies. So, when I looked up on Jameson’s website to find out what this special variety was all about, I was very pleased to discover it’s a special blend of whiskey matured in flame charred bourbon barrels. Hence the “Black Barrel” name. This is a mighty fine spirit, and I have truly been enjoying it.
One afternoon I found myself with some time on my hands and knew it had been a while since I made a cocktail. I used to experiment with cocktails once a week or so, now it seems like it’s once every 3 months. A quick glance in my fridge revealed some ingredients that resulted in this delicious seasonal drink. A little cranberry juice, a little orange juice, some delicious Jameson, and a dash of bitters. This would be a fantastic cocktail to serve on Thanksgiving day. (If you’re lucky enough to attend a Thanksgiving where a responsible amount of alcohol is welcomed. Sadly, mine will be a dry affair.) I’ve made this multiple times, and I think I will continue to do so even past Thanksgiving.
Click “More” for the recipe!
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Monday, November 25, 2013
Being a food blogger, I get a lot of emails with offers to sample products for review. Like multiple emails a day. Most of them I turn down, as in case you haven’t noticed, I pretty much strictly post recipes. Very rarely do I agree to review products, as I just typically don’t have time, nor the passion for it. Plus, I don’t like it when I read a blog and all they seem to talk about are the free stuff they got, free trips, etc. But every once in a while an opportunity comes my way to review a product I’ve always been curious about. So please know that I won’t be turning my blog into a big ol’ commercial site, I’m just going to take a rare moment and tell you about this awesome product!
I was offered the chance to review a ThermoWorks Chef Alarm Thermometer and the Pro Series Needle Probe. Before getting the chance to use this I only had the standard meat thermometer, and a standard candy thermometer. When cooking meat, I would pull it out of the oven, shove in the huge prong (and let so much juice ooze out) then wait and wait as the temperature needle slowly slowly climbed. Often the temperature would indicate that it needed to cook longer, so back in it went, and I would check again in 10 minutes. Same thing, it would read too low, back in. Next time I checked it I might check a different area, and this would read well over the desired temp, which meant I overcooked it! It was always so frustrating. We have two different standard meat thermometers and I would try both and get different readings. It always drove me nuts!
I read a lot of reviews on the ThermoWorks brand before I even accepted the offer. I found one group of people who fanatically endorse the brand, and that is Big Green Egg users. My friend’s dad has a Big Green Egg, and I know that’s almost like joining a cult. They become obsessed with their Big Green Egg, and the forum I read had everyone raving over their ThermoWorks thermometer, saying if you’re going to cook with the best, you ought to use the best thermometer. We don’t have a Big Green Egg, but we do grill with charcoal only. Nathan is opposed to gas grilling. We have also transitioned from standard charcoal briquettes to the natural lump charcoal. The taste difference is noticeable, and SO MUCH better. But there has been a little learning curve for Nathan (the grill master of the house) as far as experience with the heat retention and temperature. It seems lump charcoal burns a little faster. This is where the ThermoWorks thermometer has really come in handy! Sometimes the coals aren’t hot as long as Nathan expected, so things will need to cook a little longer. We love having instant accuracy with our ThermoWorks! My dad, who smokes brisket and pulled pork in his smoker was even a little jealous of my ThermoWorks. He said he has an instant read thermometer, but it’s not as good a brand as mine. Looks like I know what to get him for Christmas now!
With my very first use of the ThermoWorks Chef Alarm I was truly amazed at how fast & accurate it was! I used it when I was poaching a chicken breast, and I loved seeing the temperature instantly. Another time it came in super handy is when I was cooking meatloaf. I varied from my standard recipe as I was using ground beef (when I normally use turkey), and I misread the instructions and added an entire 8oz can of tomato sauce that was supposed to go on top as a glaze halfway through baking. My meatloaf was extra moist, and I knew it would need to cook longer than the instructions, but I didn’t know how much longer. The ThermoWorks thermometer was awesome because I could quickly take the temperature to determine whether or not it was safe to eat! It took an extra 20 minutes, and I’m so glad I was able to accurately know the meatloaf was finished.
The most awesome thing though about the ThermoWorks Chef Alarm thermometer is that it can be used for more than just cooking with meat! As the holiday season approaches, I forsee lots of use of it to replace my clunky candy thermometer. This is where the Pro Series Needle Probe comes in handy, as it works in instances other (thicker) probes cannot. You can use it for making:
- candy
- marshmallows
- fudge
- yogurt
- bread
This Thanksgiving if it’s your job to cook the turkey this year and you’re a bit nervous about it, I suggest picking up one of these. On the ThermoWorks website, the Chef Alarm is only $59 and comes with the Pro Series High Temp Cooking Probe. The thinner Pro Series Needle Probe is an additional accessory for only $15. And their Superfast Thermapen is $96, but they are running a promotion right now where you can get 2 for $85 each. I was recently reading some tips in preparation of Thanksgiving on Top 10 Thanksgiving Tips Solved on About.com and even that article recommends ThermoWorks! Most recently we used it for Beer Can Chicken, one of Nathan’s favorite simply & easy things to put on the grill. Click below for the recipe!
**This is not a sponsored post, as I was not compensated. I was however provided the Chef Alarm, and the Pro Series Needle Probe for review. As you can tell I was highly impressed with this product. This post contains affiliate links, and I get a small referral compensation if you purchase.**
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Tuesday, November 19, 2013
As the weather has turned crisp, we haven’t completely abandoned the grill. I recently found short ribs on sale, and thought I’d treat Nathan to a nice meal. We only go out to eat about once a week, both to save money, and because Elliott’s behavior in restaurants can mean we spend more time trying to get him to behave, than we spend enjoying our meal. I could easily see these short ribs costing $18 or more at a restaurant. It’s nice to enjoy a restaurant quality meal from the comfort of our own home!
I marinated these overnight, then following some of the commenters suggestions, I cooked these in the slow cooker for about 4 hours. Afterwards I reserved the remaining marinade and reduced it on the stovetop. Nathan finished these off on the grill for that great grilled taste. It was the perfect lazy Sunday meal, requiring little actual effort. These had fantastic flavor, and were perfectly tender. I loved the sweet/tangy flavor combo. It wasn’t too strong of a flavor either. I paired them with coconut rice (jasmine rice cooked in coconut milk), and some steamed broccoli. I feel like I never seem to post dinner recipes these days, so it was important for me to share this!
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Friday, October 25, 2013
As it turns out, my infant who happily munched broccoli, gobbled up asparagus, chowed down on Winter Squash Quinoa Chicken Stew, and would pretty much at least try anything has slowly morphed into a toddler that will eat almost nothing. Ok, so not QUITE almost nothing. He does have a list of approved foods, things like: strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, peaches, pears, bananas, kiwi, bananas, & raisins. Sense a theme here? Fruit fruit fruit. There are a handful of non-fruit things he’ll eat, such as pizza, full fat greek yogurt, muffins, crackers, granola bars, cheerios, bacon, lunchmeat & cheese (but only about 30-40% of the time I offer it), and spaghetti (sometimes). I very much did not want to raise a picky eater, but here I am. Because he will eat muffins, I wanted to offer him a breakfast option similar to muffins, but perhaps a bit healthier. Also, I was curious to see if he inherited his momma’s love of pumpkin.
This baked pumpkin oatmeal recipe originally called for it to be made in muffin tins. I ended up baking mine in a mini loaf pan and I’m glad I did. I still had a portable breakfast (when wrapped in foil), but I could slice off exactly the portion I wanted. I worried with muffins I might end up eating 2, when 1 1/2 would satisfy me. I certainly loved this breakfast treat! It was similar to a muffin, as I expected, but heartier. This really kept me full all morning long. And as I would heat it up in the break room each morning at work, I often got compliments of “That smells amazing!”
Now, you’re probably wondering how my little picky eater liked it. Well… in true Elliott fashion, one day he ate about 1/2 of what I gave him (which meant he liked it), the following two days he refused to eat any of it, and the fourth day he ate 3 bites. Sheesh. All I know is, I’m definitely making this again in the future, whether he eats any of it or not!
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