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Peachy Keen Cocktails!

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I know…it’s Labor Day Weekend and I should be deep into pumpkin, but I’m not ready for summer to end just yet. We’ve had amazing peaches lately, and if you still have nice peaches, why not infuse some booze? I used 8 ounces each of vodka, Captain Morgan Spiced Rum, and Pinot Grigio, and about 1/3 of a peach each, diced. Here they are hanging out in their jars (you can use any kind of closed container you have on hand).

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And a more artistic picture of the jars, just because the peaches look so pretty in there!

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I left them as shown (on the counter, not the windowsill) for a week and then tried out some cocktails with them. Just a note: when you’re making these drinks, be sure to include some of the peach cubes you’ve had soaking…so yummy!

First, a Peachy Vodka Lemonade:

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Combine 4 oz. lemonade and 4 oz. peach vodka in a tall glass. Fill with glass and garnish with peach slice.

Next, a Peachy Rum Sweet Tea:

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Combine 2 oz. peach Captain Morgan and 4 oz. sweet tea. Add ice and garnish with peach slice.

Then I tried a Peachy Wine Spritzer

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This one changes the proportions a little. Pour 4 oz. peach Pinot Grigio into a wine glass, add 2 oz. seltzer. Mix gently and add ice and a peach slice.

These are all pretty yummy and I recommend them all, but my favorite is what I’m calling Summer in a Glass!

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In a shaker, large glass, or pitcher, combine 2 oz. peach vodka, 2 oz. peach Pinot Grigio, 2 oz. lemonade. Mix well and add 2 oz. seltzer. Mix gently and pour into glass with ice.

Hope these peachy cocktails have inspired you to try some infusions! And don’t worry – I’ll be in total fall mode soon!

Peach Dinner Salad

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It’s National Peach Month, and I’m happy to celebrate it! Although Pumpkin Spice Lattes are coming back today and I know a lot of kids have gone back to school already, here in New York, it still definitely feels like summer – it’s supposed to be in the mid-90’s today! I like dinner salads in the summer, and I really like dinner salads with fruit! It’s also National Goat Cheese Month (who knew?) and this salad combines peaches, goat cheese, and chicken with a light vinaigrette for a cool, delicious, and easy  dinner!

Chicken and Peach Salad with Goat Cheese – serves 2-4

9 oz. cooked chicken
1 bag butter lettuce
2 peaches
1/4 cup goat cheese crumbles
1/4 cup peach balsamic vinegar (if you don’t have peach, white balsamic will work, but you might want to add a little sweetener and decrease the lime juice to 1/4 teaspoon)
1/8 cup vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon lime juice
1/8 teaspoon salt
Dash pepper

Dice chicken and peaches into 1/4 inch chunks. You don’t need to peel the peaches – I am not always crazy about the fuzzy skin, but it didn’t bother me at all in this. If it does bother you, feel free to peel away (or use nectarines).

Combine vinegar, oil, lime juice, salt and pepper and whisk well. Here it is during the whisking process, and doesn’t it look yummy already?

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Put lettuce, chicken and peaches in large salad bowl. Add vinaigrette and toss well. Top with goat cheese and enjoy!

A note about goat cheese: don’t let it scare you. I know I was scared of it for years – just the word “goat” kind of threw me off. It is a very mild, creamy, and downright delicious cheese, and it pairs wonderfully with any kind of fruit.

Hope you’re inspired to celebrate National Peach Month and the unofficial last week of summer with a dinner salad! I think I’m going to try to get a few more peach recipes in this week!

Grilling and Chilling!

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How do you feel about grilling? Not eating grilled foods, actually grilling? For years, I avoided it – I think I felt grilling was “men’s work”. A few years ago, I was planning dinner on the grill and JP got stuck late at work, so I gritted my teeth and tried cooking on the grill, and found (a) it’s really pretty easy and (b) I’m really pretty good at it!

So…yesterday was my birthday. JP’s been working crazy hours lately, so he took me out for dinner Sunday. Which was nice, but then I had to decide – what did I want to cook for my birthday dinner? As it happened, yesterday was a crazy work day for me, so he ended up taking me out for dinner, and I made my (grilled) “birthday” dinner tonight.

One of my favorite things to put on the grill is zucchini – I think grilling really brings out the flavor of the zucchini. I sliced two large zucchini lengthwise into fairly thick slices and marinated it for about 15 minutes in a mixture of 1/4 cup olive oil, 1/2 tablespoon garlic powder, 1 tablespoon parsley flakes, and salt and pepper.

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While the zucchini was hanging out letting the oil and spices sink in, I preheated the grill by leaving the top closed and turning all burners on high till the temperature is as high as it can go, went over it with a wire grill brush to remove anything burned onto the grates , turned it down till the temperature was about 450, and put my sausage on to grill. After about ten minutes, I put the zucchini on, turned the sausage, and in about 20 minutes total, we had a delicious dinner! By the way, I left the grill closed when the sausage was on there alone, and then finished the sausage and made the zucchini with the grill open (it gets too hot for the zucchini with the top closed).

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(Yes, part of the sausage is indeed burned – that’s the way I like it, and it’s (still) my day, so that’s what I did!)

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To go with our sausage and zucchini, I made a quick Caprese salad with 15 cherry tomatoes and 4 oz. fresh mozzarella. The dressing was 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, a little salt and pepper, and 1/4 tablespoon dried basil. I would have preferred fresh basil, but I wanted to pick that up yesterday, and as I said… the last two days at work have been busy and I never made it to the store! It still tasted pretty good, but I’d recommend fresh basil any day!

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Hope this has inspired you to try grilling for yourself!

Taco Casserole

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Do you love tacos but think you can’t have them because you’re trying to watch carbs? Or are you just looking for a way to get more tacos into your life? Well, if that’s the case, here’s a delicious and easy taco casserole!

I’ve been a little obsessed with cauliflower casseroles lately – JP actually told me yesterday that I have to make something without cauliflower, but then he said, “but not this, this is really good”.  Don’t be scared off by the amount of seasoning – the cauliflower and dairy kind of overwhelms it, and if you use less, you’ll lose that “taco” taste.

And a quick story about tacos and cheese: I recently met some college friends of a friend of mine who passed last year, and they started sharing stories about him. One of them said that when they had tacos in the dining hall, my friend would get the taco shell, put the cheese in, and then put the meat on top, because isn’t the point of the cheese to melt, and wouldn’t it melt better with the hot meat on top of the cheese instead of the other way around? Everyone was laughing and I was thinking, “wow, that is a brilliant idea”. So although I say the cheese on top is optional, I’d recommend it (but I personally think most things are better with more cheese, especially if it’s melted)! I mean, just look at all that cheesy goodness on the plate!

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Taco Casserole

1 lb ground beef (you can use ground turkey if you prefer)
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 and 1/2 teaspoons cumin
Salt and pepper to taste
12 oz. cauliflower (I use the kind that comes frozen and steams in its bag)
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup salsa
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup shredded cheddar, plus 1/2 cup shredded cheddar for top (if desired)

Brown ground beef in skillet with chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, salt and pepper. While the ground beef is browning, steam cauliflower as directed on bag less 30 seconds (if you prefer fresh cauliflower, steam until just tender). Put cauliflower in microwave and oven safe casserole dish and add cream cheese. Microwave cauliflower and cream cheese for 30 seconds and mix well. Add cooked and drained ground beef, salsa, sour cream, and one cup cheddar cheese.

If desired, top with 1/2 cup cheddar cheese. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until cheese is melted and casserole is bubbly.

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Christmas in August!

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Part of my job (ok, my favorite part of my job) is throwing parties, and my personal favorite was Christmas in August. Everyone loves the holidays and it’s a fun way to do something unexpected. And it’s not that hard. With August 25th approaching, this is a good time to revisit the idea! Unfortunately, no one took pictures at this party, but hopefully the description will inspire you to try it yourself!

Decor

You probably have some holiday decorations in a closet. Pull them out – you don’t need to put up a tree (unless you really want to), but a little garland goes a long way towards setting up a holiday atmosphere. If your holiday decorations are in storage or just don’t exist, try an image search for “tropical Christmas” and print out some pictures of Santa on the beach and decorated palm trees. Of course, if you live in a climate where palm trees are decorated in December, it may not seem quite as unusual as it does in New York, but it still works. Center each picture, align it to the bottom margin of your page, and fold each page over towards the top of the page. Glue to a ribbon or garland, and voila – a fun holiday decoration that you won’t feel bad tossing after the party!

I also made the sign shown above using an old picture frame I had on hand. This took absolutely no lettering skills – I printed out the saying in a pretty font on several sheets of paper, taped the paper to the back of the glass in the picture frame, and traced over it with a paint pen. Once it dried, I removed the paper, and I looked like I had mad calligraphy skills.

Food and Drink

The idea in planning the menu was to have foods that seem seasonal without being super heavy, cold-weather foods. Hopefully you have some holiday platters available, because even store-brand chips and dip look festive when they’re on holiday platters! If you have any leftover holiday paper goods, this is a great time to use them up. If not, just go for plain red and green plates, forks, and cups.

I made easy strombolis using pre-made pizza crust (the kind that comes in a ball, but if your supermarket doesn’t have them, the tubes sold by the biscuit area should work too – you just don’t want a frozen one), one filled with sliced pepperoni, mozzarella, and basil on one and the other with grilled zucchini, roasted red peppers and mozzarella – continuing the red and green theme!  These can be made in advance and heated up right before serving, and they don’t have to be served piping hot, which is always good for party food. In addition, I made a veggie tray in the shape of a tree (made easier by using a platter shaped like a tree) with broccoli, cauliflower, and yellow peppers cut into stars.

Of course, there were cookies – I just did slice and bake sugar cookies with red and green crystals. I also made these easy pineapple coconut snowballs from Just A Pinch:  https://www.justapinch.com/recipes/dessert/cookies/no-bake-cream-cheese-coconut-snowballs.html because what doesn’t say warm weather Christmas more than pineapple coconut snowballs?

To drink, we had strawberry sangria (recipe following) and frozen hot chocolate. To go with the hot chocolate, I put out whipped cream, crushed peppermint candies, mini marshmallows, and because this is a drinking crowd, Bailey’s and Kahlua. Of course, water and soft drinks were also served. If you’re doing this for kids, you might want to make a non-alcoholic red punch, and the frozen hot chocolate is a hit with all ages.

In conclusion, throwing a Christmas in August party may seem like a lot of work, but it’s not nearly as intensive as you might think and it’s a lot of fun!

Strawberry Sangria – makes 1 large punch bowl full

This is based on a recipe I found online, but I made some changes, because I thought the original was a little too sweet.

1 cup strawberry simple syrup (see below)
2 bottles prosecco, chilled
2 cups vanilla vodka (can use plain if you can’t find vanilla)
1 cup strawberries, washed, hulled, and halved

Prepare simple syrup. Put two cups washed and hulled strawberries, 1/2 cup sugar, and one cup water in a pot over high heat. Bring to a boil and let simmer about 15 minutes. If the strawberries look “washed out”, strain them out. With or without berries, let cool completely. This can be made a few days in advance – just keep in a well-sealed (especially if you made it at home and are carrying it to work) container.

Put strawberries in bottom of punch bowl. Add prosecco, vodka, and strawberry syrup. Mix well and serve. If desired, add ice.

Humble Pie and Peach Salsa

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Today was Family Mass Day at my parish, so we have Hospitality (a/k/a “Fellowship” or “Coffee Hour”) after the 11:00 am service. As the Family Mass Coordinator, I have to make sure we have food, and I always bring a few things myself. I’ve made many scratch goodies for my fellow parishioners, which they appreciate.

However, I’ve been asked for exactly one recipe – for my strawberry cake. Why am I not sharing that recipe today? No, it’s not a family secret (if I was that concerned about keeping my recipes secret, why would I be here?) And it’s not so difficult to make that I wouldn’t want to torture my readers with it. No…the reason is because “my” strawberry cake is Duncan Hines Strawberry Supreme cake mix prepared exactly per the directions on the box and baked in a Bundt pan! OOPS!

Every month, when I make the strawberry cake that I now have to bring for Family Mass Hospitality, I’m reminded of that little lesson in humility.

With that in mind, it seems like a good time to make something from scratch, not baked, and yummy, and peach salsa fits the bill! We’ve had some really nice peaches lately, and this is a fairly easy way to use them. It works nicely as a relish with fish, chicken, and pork – feel free to adjust the jalapeno up or down depending on your personal heat tolerance. As it is, it’s what I would consider a “medium” salsa.

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Peach Salsa – serves 4 (as a relish)

3 peaches
Honey
2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar (if you have peach balsamic vinegar, use it)
2 tablespoons diced red onion
1 tablespoon finely diced jalapeno pepper
Salt and pepper to taste

Peel and pit teaches. Brush one side of peach slices with honey. Grill until just starting to soften. While peaches are cooling, dice red onion and jalapeno. Cut peaches into 1/2 inch chunks. Mix peaches, red onion, and jalapeno with vinegar. Add salt and pepper. Transfer to plastic bowl and chill until ready to serve (around an hour or two before serving seems to work well).