Archive for the ‘Holidays’ category

BOURBON BALLS

December 24th, 2011

Merry Christmas!
What a sexy, decandent and lovely little ball to have around during the toasts tonight. These go very well with champagne. They are so easy to make and you can roll them in different toppings. My mom always made these at Christmas and rolled them in confectionars sugar but I have added dark cocoa and pistachios. There are a lot of recipes around for bourbon balls and rum balls but I think this is one of the best I’ve come across and very similar to my friend Karen French’s extraordinary bourbon balls. Here’s to all of you with chocolate and champagne!

Bourbon Balls

  • 1 cup of pecans or walnuts – toasted
  • 2 cups of vanilla wafers
  • 1/2 cup of confectionars sugar
  • 2 tab of cocoa powder
  • 1 1/2 tab of light corn syrup
  • 1/4 cup of bourbon

Toppings: pistaschios, cocoa powder & confectionars sugar

Toast the nuts in a small saucepan

In a food processor chop the vanilla wafers and nuts. Add the sugar to combine, then the corn syrup and bourbon. Mix all well and refridgerate for a couple of hours. Now the fun, roll the balls into small rounds and then into desired topping.

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Posted in Desserts, Holidays, Holidays and Special Occasions, Recipes

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Book Club & Oven Roasted Tomatoes

September 6th, 2009

Oven dried tomatoesOnce a month I get together with 10 or so brilliant, witty and beautiful womem to discuss a book that we’ve read. We all bring wine and or an appetizer and some of the most delicious desserts I’ve ever tasted. This month it’s at my house so I’m serving an olive plate and roma tomatoes. I baked the tomatoes slowly for hours and then added some buffalo mozzerella and fresh basil. This is a good recipe for store bought tomatoes that don’t always have a lot of flavor. It’s kind of like making them into sun dried tomatoes but in the oven.

Tomatoes

  • 10 roma tomatoes, cut in half
  • Olive oil, about 2 tablespoons
  • 1/4 pound of fresh buffallo mozzerella

Bake for 3 hours at 325 degrees or a little longer depending on your oven. You want the tomatoes to collapse and be all gushy. Let them cool and sprinkle with salt and pepper. You could then use oregano, or fresh basil or thyme. I like dried oregano because that is the way my mom and Aunt Angie would eat garden tomatoes in New York and the taste has stayed with me.  FYI–I tried to lessen the three hour cooking process by turning on the confection oven and it dried the tomatoes out and made them like sun-dried. So if you want them to be like that; then go for the confection oven.

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Posted in Appetizers and Sides, Holidays, Recipes, Soups and Salads, Uncategorized, Vegetarian

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Memorial Day

May 25th, 2009

spareribsToday is Memorial Day and the Grovers are coming over for a late lunch. My mom’s coming too. She is a fantastic Italian cook that doesn’t cook anymore due to her age. She asked me to make German Potato Salad and I did. More on that in a minute. Memorial Day means barbecuing, at least the food part of the day signifies that. The day itself should make us remember all of the soldiers that fought for our freedom. My wonderful dad fought in World War 2 and I’m thankful to him for risking his life and to all of the others that did so as well. Otherwise we may not be blogging, Facebooking, emailing, etc. This is a food blog so on with our menu for today.

  • Watermelon Daiquiris
  • Chips with Green Salsa
  • BBQ Pork Ribs
  • German Potato Salad
  • Baked Beans
  • Cole Slaw
The Grovers are bringing the dessert and I think it will be a cobbler but I’ll let you know for sure later.
coleslaw

I prepared all of the recipes in advance which is awesome when you are having guests over and you want to start with a daiquiri when they arrive. I mean one or two of those and no telling how the food would turn out.

That morning prepare the babyback ribs.

Season well, I use coarse black pepper, kosher salt & garlic powder. Sprinkle all of the seasonings all over the ribs. Bake in a 300 degree oven for 1 hour & 15 minutes. Cover with foil and when you are ready to eat heat a grill, sauce one side and grill for 3 minutes, turn over do the same. Oh, I love Hoover’s BBQ sauce, buy some. At this point the only place to buy it is his restaurant.

German Potato Salad

  • potatoes
  • bacon
  • onions
  • celery seed
Boil the potatoes, cool, slice. To make the sauce, saute onions in olive oil, the recipe calls for bacon dripping but I don’t go there. It’s olive oil for me. Add the celery seed, salt, pepper and 2 tablespoons of sugar to the onions. Then add 1/4 cup of vinegar. I think Japanese rice vinegar is best, and 1 cup of water and 2 tablespoons of flour. Cook until thick and add the potatoes and bacon. You now have German Potato salad! Serve at room temperture.

potatosalad

Baked Beans

Open a can and saute 1/4 cup of onion, add some dijon mustard to cut the sweetness and add 2 slices of bacon; cooked and chopped. Heat & Serve.
This is not really the kind of food that I usually cook and this is my first post so I’m a little nervous so keep checking me out because it’s going to get better. I will cook a lot of Italian recipes from my Mom and food with a French twist.

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Posted in Appetizers and Sides, Chicken, Beef, Pork, Cocktails and Wine, Holidays, Recipes, Soups and Salads