4th of July Pretzel Sticks! (A Pin a Day #7)

Huzzah! I did it! 7 days of trying pins and making ish work! Woot!

So anyway, this last one is kind of a cheater one... but technically is was a pin I saw...there just isn't a tutorial, because 1. it's kind of self explanatory, and 2. someone needs to learn how to Pin things *cough cough*.

Anyway, I saw the picture and I decided to make this another fun thing to do with Audrey while she was visiting us for a few days. The kid is 6, so she's got the attention span of a commercial break, so the projects we do have to be quick and easy, or she will just rush through them to get back to the Disney Channel and drive me insane with the amount of work I put into it verses the amount of care she put into it. But like I said, she's 6...

We don't have her this year for 4th of July, so I figured we should do a fun holiday project for the BBQ we're going to on Wednesday, and since it involves licking the spoon and sprinkles, plus a trip to Micheal's she was totally into it.

Auntie Anne's Pretzel Copy Cat recipe! (A Pin a Day #6)

You know what I love about going to the mall? Hint: It's not the parking lot situation.

It's the food court. And even more so, it's the soft hot, freshly baked pretzels, with butter and salt and even though they run you like freaking $4 each, I don't think I can turn one down if I tried.

I figured there had to be a recipe on Pinterest of a tired and true Mall style pretzel shop pretzel, and after sorting through a page or 2 of results, I decided on the Copy Cat version of an Auntie Anne's Pretzel, because good old Auntie Anne is who I was trying to be today.

I had promised Audrey that we would make cinnamon pretzels when I picked her up from day care on Friday, I figured we could make them together and then blog about them. We had a fun day of learning about yeast, and how dough rises and what makes the dough feel so soft and spongy when we roll it out. I think the recipe below is pretty spot on in taste to a mall style pretzel, but we obviously do not have the skill that goes into rolling out and twisting the dough into the famous Auntie Anne's shape. Instead of being big, and thin, ours were more thick and chubby, but they tasted delicious just the same.



 

Meatballs! (A Pin a Day #5)

My family loves meat. We are 100% total meat eaters and you would be hard pressed to find another family who loves meat as much as we do. Half of us also love fruits and veggies, so I think it evens it out. In fact! Charlie can not even fathom a meal without meat, he even puts bacon on his grilled cheese (which is really good BTW). I am always on the look out for different ways to prepare the same old chub'o'burger that I buy at the store and always have on hand in the freezer at a moments notice (that reminds me, add chub'o'burger to my shopping list...)

I came across this meal while trying to figure out what I would make for dinner for the #5 blog post. These meatballs looked too delicious to pass up, and trust me, I looked through A LOT of meatball pins...

Homemade Strawberry Lemonade Cocktails! (A Pin a Day #3)

Welcome to the third installment of my A Pin A Day project! Today's pin is actually a mash up of 3 different pins I've seen floating around, so I thought I'd test them out for you and see how well they actually work!

I bring to you...

Homemade Strawberry Lemonade (Cocktails)! Or for a kid friendly version, just omit the booze people. Family friendly recipes from me to you!

Strawberry Lemonade Caipirinha!

So here's a great thing to do with all those strawberries and lemons before they go bad. And on that note, here's the first tried and true pin of the day... How to keep Strawberries Fresh! and it really does work! It's just a simple rinse with 1 part white vinegar to 10 parts clean water, soak for a few minutes, drain and let dry! Simple and easy tip that I will actually use, and I did, and it worked like a charm. I bought these strawberries last week and here they are, still fresh and not even kinda moldy!

So! Back to the drink I know you're dying to try in this heat...

You will need;

• 2 lemons (plus one more for garnish)
• 10-15 strawberries (plus another handful for garnish)
• sweetener of your choice (I used agave nectar)
• water

That's it!

Quarter the lemons, and throw them into the blender, half the strawberries and put them in there too. Add your sweetener, and 2 cups water and blend until pretty smooth.

Next you need to strain out the pulp, trust me you're going to want to do this, unless you like drinking bitter bits of rind and zest. Every time I have to strain something I always curse myself for not having a fine mesh strainer. DAMN IT! SO I had to do it the old fashioned way and sit there with my wire skimmer and strain it slowly.

After you've removed the bulk of the pulp, you will want to add more water, taste and adjust the sweetness. We like things pretty sweet around here, so I added quite a bit more agave to it. Now comes the fancy part. If you plan on just sitting in your undies on the couch drinking this alone, I'm sure you could forgo the fancy part, unless you like feeling fancy, then by all means...

I wanted a bit of pulpiness to my lemonade, so I added some macerated strawberries to it. Easy peasy... check it out.

Take those extra strawberries you set aside for garnish, and roughly chop them. Add about a tablespoon of sugar - the granules help break down the fruit because of the abrasiveness of them - and mash with a fork until syrupy. Then add to the pitcher! And if you wanna get even MORE fancy...

You can make these adorable lemon slice flowers! Our next tried and true pin! Simply take the big part of your fruit zester, the scorer I think it's called, and peel away strips of the zest to create petals. I made 8 by first doing it into quarters, then eighths. Then simply thinly slice slices and you've got pretty little flowers to garnish your beverages!

Add ice, taste, adjust, stir, serve. We added cachaca, a Brazilian rum, but feel free to experiment with other boozes. I think this is a nice refreshing drink, with or without alcohol, Charlie was expecting a more "strawberry flavor" because I think he thinks artificial flavors are what fruit really taste like... I like it.

Fancy!

Crock Pot BBQ Ribs (A Pin a Day #2)

Let me start this off by saying that I LOVE BBQ, and Charlie just thinks it's OK. I could eat ribs all day and never get enough, but my biggest complaint is how expensive they can get when you order them out. I never really attempted to make them, probably because I didn't know where to start, so every time I saw ribs on a menu, I was all over them. Then I found a pin for ribs cooked in a slow cooker, and I thought, "YES! I can do this!".

I love using my crock pot, I don't care what season it is. I love putting the food in and 8 hours later, pulling my dinner out with little to no work involved. It's great for a busy mom like myself. So ribs in a crock pot was like 2 of my favorite things ever having a delicious smutty relationship and dinner was going to be the bastard son result of the tryst. I bought a rack of ribs when they were on sale, figuring 1 rack was enough for 2 people, but these ribs were so tasty I totally regretted not getting 2 racks and will in the future (maybe even 3, nom nom nom). Heed this warning, 1 rack just barely satisfies 2 people, so do your math people.

It's so easy! Plus it's the week before 4th of July, so you KNOW your local grocery store has ribs on sale right now. Albertson's has them for 2.99/lb.




I adapted this recipe from MMM is for Mommy, and she adapted it from America's Test Kitchen, so feel free to add and subtract at will.

You will need;

• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tbsp smoked paprika (the smoky flavor really helps here!)
• salt  & pepper
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 racks of Baby Back Pork Ribs
• Favorite BBQ sauce of your choice, homemade or store bought

Combine the dry ingredients and run all along the outside of the ribs, coating them well. Place them into your slow cooker on LOW heat and cover with BBQ sauce. Cook for 6-8 hours.

Here is where my recipe differs, only because my broiler hates me and I really love utilizing cooking on the BBQ outside in the summer.

Carefully remove your ribs from the crock pot and put onto a plate to rest. Transfer the juices and BBQ sauce in the crock pot into a sauce pot and simmer until reduced and thickened.

If you want to use the broiler, follow her directions for broiling the ribs, if you want a smokier flavor, keep reading.

Preheat your BBQ on HIGH for a few minutes and clean the grates with a wire brush. Reduce heat to MEDIUM and place the ribs bone side down on the grill. Baste the ribs with reduced BBQ sauce mixture every couple minutes until sauce becomes thick and sticky, about 10 minutes. Remove from grill, pour extra sauce on top if you wish and serve.

Charlie said they were THE BEST ribs he's ever eaten, which is saying a lot because as I said before, he doesn't really care for ribs. The meat LITERALLY fell off the bone, and by that I mean, when I picked up a bone to bite into it, all that I pulled up, was a bone. The meat was tender, smoky and delicious, like I had paid $20 for the plate at a BBQ joint. I did it!! Abbey loved them too.

We served ours with some Bush's Grillin' Beans in Bourbon and Brown Sugar and some mustard potato salad from the deli. Delish!

Boozey Rainbow Jello Cake (A Pin a Day #1)

 I went to lunch with my cousin the other day and she told me about a great idea she had using a blog, and Pinterest. She wants to try a pin a day and blog her successes and fails, and I thought that would be a great project for me too, except I'd mostly be doing food since this is a food blog (duh). So here is my first post in my week of blogging a pin a day! Enjoy!

So now that summer is here, and BBQ's are a-plenty, it's time to make some really show stopping stuff to bring to your potlucks! If you're like me, then it doesn't matter how much time you spend doing something if the end result produces a "WOW! Factor" of epic proportions. I had seen this recipe online and thought it was just too beautiful not to make, I just needed the right occasion, so for our last family BBQ, I made it. I bring to you, the Boozey Rainbow Jello Cake!

A few years ago, my sister worked at a bar at the beach and she was the Jello Shot girl. She got to be really good at making Jello Shots and would always being them over to family get togethers (we're quite the troop of lushes). Hers, although tasty, we're so plain and boring in their little monochrome single serving cups. I decided to step it up a notch after a trip to The Jelly Shot Test Kitchen and viewing some of the most beautiful creations you would swear they couldn't be made of Jello.

Rainbow Jello Cake from Jelly Shot Test Kitchen

I became such a fan of JSTK, that I started buying boxes of Jello every time I saw them on sale at my local grocery store, and eventually had a huge stash of them (check the local ads and coupon savers, you can find them as low as 33 cents a box!). These treats are cheap, pretty and a total showstopper. Warning though, this does take up a good chunk of your afternoon  (or evening) to assemble and then an additional 24 hours in the fridge to firm up, so don't think 2 hours from now you'll be feasting on this. If you opt for an alcohol free version of this "cake", just substitute your favorite juice for vodka. Every step is incredibly important so if you're not of the directions-reading-patient-and diligent variety, do not attempt or it will look something like this.

You will need;

• 4 1/2 cups water, divided
• 6 3oz packages gelatin dessert mix (colors and flavors of your liking - I used Cherry, Orange, Lemon, Lime, Blue Raspberry, and Grape for the rainbow effect)
• 3 envelopes plain Knox gelatin (6 teaspoons of gelatin powder total)
• 3 cups vodka(or your favorite alcohol, flavored or unflavored)
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk (yogurt or cool whip will also work, you'll need about 12 tbsp)
• a bundt pan
• cooking spray or oil to coat pan

Place your vodka in the freezer to keep it chilled. Prepare your pan by lightly spraying it with cooking spray or oil, and wiping out the excess.



Start with your first layer (I used grape first)

1. Heat 3/4 cup of water in a small sauce pan over low heat and sprinkle with 1 tsp (half a package) of unflavored gelatin. Stir to dissolve.
2. Wisk in package of flavored Jello, stir to dissolve, about 5 minutes.
3. Remove of heat and add 1/2 cup of alcohol.
4. Pour half of the mixture, about 3/4 cup into the mold and return to refrigerator to set up, about 20-30 minutes. Transfer remaining mixture to a separate cup and place in the fridge to cool about 5 minutes.
5. Add 2 tbsp sweetened condensed milk to mixture in separate cup and stir to combine. Let cool and thicken slightly, about 5-10 minutes.
6. Test the Jello in the mold. Place your finger on the top. If the mixture is sticky, but releases from your finger, it is ready for the next layer. Slowly pour the 2nd mixture on top of the Jello in the mold and return to the fridge to cool and set up. 
7. Wash your sauce pan, and get ready to repeat steps 1-7 with the next flavor.

*TIPS*
Make sure the layers are still sticky before pouring the next layer on top of the layers will not stick. Make sure when pouring the mixture into the mold that the Jello is not too hot, or it will melt the layer below and you will not get a defined line, which is the most striking element of this dessert.  If you plan on using yogurt or whipped cream instead of condensed milk, make sure the mixture is completely cooled, or you will get a lumpy curdled effect in your creamy layers. You should have 12 alternating creamy and clear layers at the end. As you work up to the top of the dessert the chilling time will shorten due to the dessert becoming more cold, so double check the stickiness frequently.

When you are finished, let the mold sit in the fridge for at least 24 hours. This allows the Jello to set and thicken so it's easier to remove from the mold, and cut into slices.

To remove the cake from the mold, dip into warm water for about 10 seconds. Make sure the water isn't too hot, or you leave it in the water too long as the Jello will melt and make an unsightly mess (Trust me haha). Place a plate on top of the mold, and flip over to release. There might be a bit of melty jello, so just clean it up with a paper towel and place back into the fridge until ready to serve so it can firm up one more time.

Your cake, if you followed all the directions above, should look like this.

Remove from fridge.

Revel in the awe.

Slice.

Enjoy!