berry sangria spritzer

I have made this for a long time now and although I call it Sangria, it really is more of a spritzer.  I make this a gallon pitcher at a time and it will last me all week and then some.  Of course if I'm having a particularly shit week and then it will last about 2 days...Even though it is a lighter version of a usually strong drink, don't let that fool you, it packs quite a punch!  Already feeling a little buzzed...thank God for spell check!

Here are the ingredients:

1 bottle of inexpensive red wine.  I like a Cab for this.  It tends to be a little sweeter than a Merlot.  

1 2-liter bottle of Canada Dry Ginger Ale.  Now do not cheap out on this.  This is the best ginger ale out there.  The rest are crap.

1 small bag each of frozen strawberries, raspberries and blueberries.

A gallon pitcher to mix it all up in.

How to make this:

It's so difficult.  I don't think you can handle it...It took me YEARS to perfect this.  YEARS!!!!!

1.  Get pitcher.

2.  Pour frozen berries into pitcher, all of them.

3.  Pour bottle of wine into pitcher, all of it.

4.  Top off with ginger ale until the pitcher is full.

5.  Stir.

Voila!  You have Berry Sangria Spritzer.  I suggest leaving it in the fridge overnight because the fruit gets saturated with the wine and it's extra good, but you can drink this right away, like I've been...

Also, you can make a gazillion versions of this.  Just grab some frozen fruit and any kind of wine.  I like white wine with mango, pineapple and peaches a lot too.  So yum and perfect for hot summer nights!

Drink up peeps and enjoy!

banana bread

I had these very over-ripe bananas in my fridge from last week.  I've been saving them to make this banana bread.  It's so freaking good.  We seriously have already eaten half of it...

Very uncomplicated ingredients...

1/4 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup vegetable shortening, I prefer Crisco.  Now, if you want to make this vegan, David, you just use all shortening.

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs.  Again, you can use an egg substitute to keep this vegan.  It will work just as well.

1/2 cup sour cream.  I know, it's weird...Also, vegan version would be Tofutti's Sour Supreme.  I actually like that better sometimes.

1/2 cup chopped walnuts, if you like nuts.  If not, leave them out.

2 medium-large bananas mashed up

How to make this...

1.  In a bowl add the butter, shortening, and both sugars.  With a mixer, either stand or hand, although a stand mixer is easier because you can have your coffee, read a book and your hand won't feel like it's about to fall off after a few minutes, mix on medium speed until light and fluffy like so...

Check out the action shot!

Oh, and while you are waiting, go ahead and mash up your bananas...

Fun fact about bananas...the more you cut them the more sugary they get.  For the lowest calorie banana option, open it up and eat it.  Air will react with bananas and moisture you see accumulate on them is more of a syrup of banana sugars.  The more you slice it or mash it, the sweeter and more caloric it gets.

2.  After it looks like that, add the eggs and vanilla.  Make sure to scrape down the sides.  You don't want liquidy sugar & egg mixture and stiff sugar mixture unmixed.  Baking is a science and things need to be mixed up all the way.  When you are done it will look like this...

3.  In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt.  I like to add a little cinnamon and nutmeg in here too.  It's totally up to you.  I would add about 1/2 teaspoon of each if you like.  After that is all mixed together, add into the sugar/egg/butter mixture a little bit at a time at a low speed until it is just combined.  Just a warning, MAKE SURE IT IS AT A LOW SPEED!  Seriously, that deserves all caps.  I don't know anyone who likes to clean flour off of the cabinets, counters, floors, fridge...

4.  After that is all done, remove your bowl from the mixer and add the rest of the ingredients.

5.  Now FOLD in the ingredients.  Folding and mixing are 2 different things.  Folding is a lighter pressure way of mixing in ingredients that keeps the integrity of them more so than mixing.  The best way to fold is to start in the middle of the bowl and slowly work your way out.  Here are some shots of what folding should look like...

When you are done it should look like this...

6.  Pour the mixture into a greased loaf pan.  Place in the middle of the rack of a 350 degree oven for 50-60 minutes.  Test with a toothpick or cake tester after 50 minutes.  If it comes out clean, the bread is done.  If not, test every 5 minutes until it does.  When finished, remove from oven and let sit for at least 10-15 minutes.  Then dislodge it and eat.  It takes all of my willpower not to eat this right away.  It is SO GOOD hot.  We cut a piece, slop some butter on there and chow down!

Try not to eat it all in one sitting.  It's difficult, I know.

feta pasta

My original plan was to make a quiche, but Mr. Mc didn't want to wait that long to eat, so I had to make up something else. This is what I got...

Very simple ingredients...

Box of Pasta (any kind will work), cooked according to the box. Now, if you can't boil water and cook pasta, (you know who you are, cough:Sabe:cough) you might be SOL.

About 1-2 ounces of Feta cheese. Now I like the organic Whole Foods kind, but I'm kind of snotty like that. Any kind will do. You can even cheat it up and use the crumbled. Also, I say 1-2 because it really is to taste. Some people don't like too much and it is a strong cheese, so it can be overpowering.

Bag of Spinach. I prefer fresh because it tastes better, but you can use frozen too. Just cook it in the microwave first and drain out all the water.

Garlic to taste. I use 1 really large clove or a few small ones. Mince it up. Again, this is too taste. Mr. Mc doesn't like too much...

2 TBSP Olive Oil.

2-3 TBSP Pesto. Again, this is to taste.

Salt & Pepper, to taste. Yeah, big surprise there.

How to cook this...

1. Cook pasta in a large pot of salted water. Be sure to salt the water every time you cook pasta. This is the only time you can truly season the pasta, so do it now. You don't need too much. A couple large pinches will do.

2. In a sauté pan heat the olive oil over medium-hi heat. When hot reduce to medium and add the minced garlic. Cook about 1 minute until it starts to soften and get more of a golden color, but not brown. With garlic brown=burnt.

3. Add the spinach. If using fresh, cook until wilty, about 2-3 minutes, or until it looks like the picture below. If using frozen, just heat through. When done, remove the spinach from the heat.

4. While waiting for the pasta to finish, chop up the feta cheese. Or as Mr. Mc says "cut the cheese" and then giggles, because yes, he's 12...

5. Drain the pasta once it's done and put back into the hot pot. Add The feta, spinach mixture and pesto back into the pot.

6. Now just mix the whole thing up serve. Yeah, not too difficult, but it sure looks like it is!

One piece of advice, presentation means a lot when cooking. Use smaller plates or bowls and space things in an artful way. It makes it look like you slaved away for hours to make this fancy dinner and you can usually get out of doing the dishes then...

I hope you all enjoy! I'm going to try to post a couple of these a week, but we'll see how that works out...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

here we go!

So I had an idea...

I love to cook. Anyone who knows me knows how much I love to do it. (Ok, get your mind out of the gutter. I'm still talking about cooking...). I also love photography. I take pictures of EVERYTHING, especially my food. I make my dinner, take a pic if it's looking particularly appetizing and usually post it on Facebook.

I always seem to get positive comments along with recipe requests, so I figured, why not add it to my blog??

Now these recipes should be pretty easy. I work a lot and Mr. Mc has no idea how to cook, so I do all the cooking. Sometimes I get home very late. I cheat everything I can because in all reality, I'm kind of lazy like that. These recipes will use common ingredients and be pretty easy, but taste really freaking good.

I hope you laugh and maybe even learn a little.  Enjoy!