Recipes & Cooking
Friday, March 1, 2013
Chinese celery salad
Posted by Arielle Stevenson on Fri, Mar 1, 2013 at 5:34 PM
- Arielle Stevenson
- Chinese celery salad is a great side dish or topping for soba noodles.
Celery is the Gary Oldman of vegetables — constantly morphing in presentation but consistently doing great things throughout the ages. You can count on celery. Julia Childs always stuffed her Thanksgiving birds with celery leaves. A great tip, if you've never tried it by the way.
Consider the childhood snack made from celery stalks stuffed with peanut butter and topped with raisins. It was playful, simple and healthy.
We find it in stuffing, soup and as a vehicle for ranch dressing at parties. Presented with the challenge of getting creative with the celery from my co-op basket, I made an Asian-inspired cold celery salad.
What do I do with this celery?
Posted by Arielle Stevenson on Fri, Mar 1, 2013 at 5:11 PM
- Arielle Stevenson
- Garden Party cocktail with celery, cilantro, and grapefruit juice.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Spice up your coffee
Posted by Arielle Stevenson on Thu, Sep 13, 2012 at 11:28 AM
On a recent rainy Sunday, a dear friend made the greatest espresso I've ever tasted. She crushed herbs and roots, pressing them into the coffee grinds.
- Arielle Stevenson
- Try different spice combinations for an extra kick in your cup.
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Trying the Curious Traveler Shandy
Posted by Arielle Stevenson on Wed, Aug 22, 2012 at 11:11 AM
- houseofbeer.com
We got a package in the mail from the House of Beer Company that contained a bottle of its Curious Traveler Shandy, a pint glass, and several fake mustaches. Once the beer was chilled, and fake mustaches applied, I started the official tasting. I should say, I'm not one to spout the greatness of pre-mixed and pre-packaged drinks, but the Curious Traveler is a little different in that it is an ale brewed with lemon peel. There's no pre-mixing here.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Tonic water's secret trick
Posted by Arielle Stevenson on Wed, Jul 18, 2012 at 12:25 PM
- foodsnots.com
Ever wanted to make your cupcakes glow under a black light? Of course you did!
The secret behind making your delicate cakes glow like a light saber is a simple bubbly beverage, tonic water. The recipe was posted originally by FoodSnots and practically went viral on Pinterest this morning. Indeed my friends, those tiny bottles in your grandma's garage fridge can make your cupcakes glow like a pacifier at a rave.
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Patriotic Pudding Pops
Posted by Arielle Stevenson on Tue, Jul 3, 2012 at 1:17 PM
- Arielle Stevenson
- Patriotic Pudding Pops representing that red, white, and blue.
Vanilla Instant Pudding
Milk
Fresh blueberries
Fresh strawberries or raspberries
Spiced Rum or Vodka optional but encouraged
Mix pudding following box instructions. Then add berries to the mix. If you want a little kick in your pudding pops, add some spiced rum to the batter. The warm spices, mixed with creamy pudding, and fresh berries is fan-freaking-tastic.
For freezing, a simple popsicle mold is perfect. Don't use the plastic sticks it comes with though, buy a pack of old-fashioned wooden popsicle sticks.
Freeze at least six hours or overnight. To release popsicles from mold, rinse a little warm water over the outside and pops should slide right out. America! Popsicles! Pudding!
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Gin and Tonic Creamsicle Ice Cream Recipe
Posted by Arielle Stevenson on Wed, Jun 20, 2012 at 10:11 AM
- Arielle Stevenson
- Gin and Tonic Ice cream is the perfect boozey summer treat.
I'm a G+T girl, so when I saw a recipe for Gin and Tonic ice cream I knew I needed to get in the kitchen immediately. Incredibly, it tastes like G+T Creamsicle. The bitterness of the citrus, the floral juniper berries, everything working together in a mixture of creamy goodness.
Ripped and reworked this recipe from brit-mistress HungryandFrozen.com.
1 cup sugar
Juice from 2 lemons or 3 limes
A touch of zest from lemon or lime
3 tablespoons gin
1/2 cup tonic water
2 1/2 Cups of heavy whipping cream
Combine sugar, lemon juice, gin, and tonic water. Stir until dissolved, then pour in cream. Whisk until it has the consistency of a milkshake.
Beware of an overly heavy pour (is there such a thing?). Too much alcohol won't allow the ice cream to actually freeze. But if your wrist gives out and there is an extra tablespoon or two, no harm done.
I liked it with more lemon or lime, but that is how I like my G+T. Add a little zest from your chosen citrus to add some aroma.
Cool mixture in fridge for the first hour before freezing. If you don't, the ice cream will freeze in little shale-like shards. Cool first, then freeze. I cooled the mixture in the metal mixing bowl before pouring into the ice cream container. I used a ice cream maker, with the pre-frozen container. Freeze for several hours. This recipe freezes more like a creamy soft-serve.
Monday, June 18, 2012
How to: Grill with Charcoal
Posted by Cristian Feher on Mon, Jun 18, 2012 at 2:23 AM
Using charcoal to grill your meats takes longer than propane or electric grills, but the results are far superior.If you remember the last time you had really good BBQ it's likely that it was cooked over coals. And it's also likely that you followed the trail of smoke to find the place!
Here are some helpful tips on using charcoal in hopes of converting you from a Propane Peter to a Charcoal Charlie.
How do you choose charcoal? - People have been grilling with charcoal for hundreds of years, and it's only until recently that Man has begun to manufacture metal grills with lids and shiny handles - which means that even the most rudimentary charcoal should do the job. However, since you live in an age of modern technology and nice things, you might as well look for the following attributes when choosing your grill.
1. It should have a lid.
2. It should have an intake air vent, and an exhaust vent to allow you to control the flow of air.
3. You should be able to move the cooking grill, or charcoal pan, up and down to control the heat.
Once you have found a grill meeting the above criteria, decide how much to spend. Consider buying a $30 grill at your local bargain shop. Or, you can cancel Christmas, and spend several hundred dollars on a Big Green Egg grill. Keep in mind that, although the more expensive ones will have some advantages, they will both do pretty much the same thing - cook food over hot coals.
I use the Char-Griller 5050, a gas grill and a charcoal grill in one convenient package. It''s not the longest lasting grill, but the replacement parts are reasonably priced, and it was fun to put together.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
The Single Most Important Father's Day Gift
Dear Dad, we need to chat.
Posted by Christopher Dorsey on Tue, Jun 12, 2012 at 12:00 AM
Two weeks ago, my dad called and said that my mom’s brother, uncle Jerry, had experienced a mild heart attack.
“Is he alive?” I asked. We’d been down this road before.
She lost one of her brothers to his umpteenth heart attack in 2008. She lost her father to Parkinson’s. She lost her mother and stepmother to cancer. And now, out of the four children, only the two females have avoided diabetes (so far).
“He’s alive and should make a full recovery. Your mother is at the hospital. You should call her.”
Immediately, I phoned and listened to the sterile details. She maintained composure but I knew it was a facade. I knew that familiar voice all too well—that “I’m holding myself together only because I’m the strongest pillar in the family” voice—as her nieces and nephews sat nearby, hoping for good news.
“Was that his first?” I asked. There is no such thing as a good heart attack, but chances of survival are greatest for the first. “Yeah.” “He needs to switch to a plant-based diet,” I responded before I could filter myself.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Chef Alon Gontowski's Fat Elvis Chocolate Bread Pudding
Try this decadent dessert created by Tampa Bay's very own "sweet genius"
Posted by Juliette Cassistre on Thu, Apr 12, 2012 at 12:15 PM
- kitchen-chronicles.com
This week's episode of Sweet Genius, a Food Network dessert-inspired reality show, brings a win to Tampa Bay. The $10,000 "sweet genius" prize goes to Alon Gontowski, lead pastry chef at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tampa.
Chef Alon has shared one of his famous recipes, Fat Elvis Chocolate Bread Pudding. If you're not salivating yet, you will be by the end of the recipe.
