Red Wine Sangria

Everyone is exhausted it seems.  Fathers are exhausted.  Working mothers are exhausted.  Stay at home moms are exhausted.  Heck, I recently heard a stay at home wife comment on how exhausted she was.  So I won't bore you and pretend this working girl has any monopoly on exhaustion. 

I bet you thought I was going to offer some profound solution to the exhaustion right?  Sorry.  But I will offer up a wicked good sangria recipe.  Alcohol is not the solution.  Sangria sure is tasty though--and this is one of my favorites.  The Norwegian Sun has a tapas bar...I made a trip there almost every night for tapas and sangria. This "recipe" for the alcohol and fruit juice base is similar to a recipe they shared.  The fruit combinations are all yours--I can't think of one fruit that wouldn't be phenomenal in here.

Yep, everyone is exhausted.

Red Wine Sangria

One bottle red wine chilled--I use cheapo...3 buck chuck is perfect for this.

1/4 cup brandy

3/4 cup triple sec

1 can sprite (or ginger ale)

1 1/2 cups OJ

any combination of sliced/diced fruit

ice

1. mix

2. drink

Snickers Cupcakes

 

Food Network magazine had a feature on candy bar cupcakes quite awhile back  I fully intended to give it a go but time got away from me.  Not sure why...how bad does Butterfinger, Almond Joy, Reeses, Nestle Crunch or Peppermint Patty Cupcakes sound?  I find myself constantly surprised by food I forgot existed.  I haven't eaten one of those gooey candy bars from youth in ages.  I'm not sure how you can forget really, since the checkout aisle is one big candy bar lane, but I think I've zoned that whole aisle out.  So have to say I was super excited to buy some Snickers and give this recipe a go...I'd also forgotten how much I love those stinkin Snickers.

My one hesitation with the recipe was with the cupcake itself--I have dry cupcake fear.  Instead of taking the risk, I opted for a tried and true vanilla cupcake recipe, and then folded in the peanuts. 

Did it taste like a Snickers?  Yes and no.  The topping was very candy bar-esque but it was missing a bit of caramel.  And while the peanut cupcake was tasty, next time I make it, I think I'd opt for a chocolate cupcake and maybe a caramel drizzle.    But still, not too shabby as it was and since it called for salted peanuts, it had that chocolaty sweet salty combo that I love.

Snickers Cupcakes
adapted from Food Network magazine

Ingredients
Cupcakes:
2 sticks of butter at room temp
2 cups of sugar
4 eggs at room temp
1 1/2 cups self rising flour
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup of whole milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups chopped salted roasted peanuts

Nougat frosting:
2/3 cup peanut butter

2 jars marshmallow fluff 

Chocolate Frosting:
1 bag semisweet chocolate chips
2 1/2s cup powdered sugar confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup whole milk
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt

5-6 mini snickers bars chopped

Directions

1. Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line 24 muffin papers into 2 muffin pans .
2. In medium bowl whisk the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.
3. In large bowl beat the butter until smooth.  Add sugar and beat until fluffy.
4. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Beat in vanilla extract. 
5. With the mixer on low speed, add half of the flour mixture, the milk and then the remaining flour. Fold in the peanuts but don't overmix.
6. Using ice cream scoop, fill each muffin tin about half way. Bake until a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean or about 17 to 20 minutes.
7. Let cool in the pans 10 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool completely.
8. Make the nougat frosting: Beat the marshmallow creme, peanut butter with a mixer until smooth; set aside.
9. Make the chocolate frosting: Put both chocolates in a large microwave-safe bowl and microwave on 50 percent power until soft, about 1 minute. Stir, then continue to microwave until melted, 1 to 2 more minutes.
10. Add the confectioners' sugar, milk, butter, vanilla and salt and beat with a mixer until smooth and creamy.
11. Spread nougat frosting over each cupcake, then top with chocolate frosting, leaving some of the nougat exposed.
12. Garnish with chopped snickers

4th of July Tarts

Have you seen the little tart making tool-a-ma-thing from Pampered Chef?  I've been to many a party and come away with many a product that I rarely use or even remember I own.  The mini tart shell making thing (what is it called?!) is something that I grab often though....it makes mini tarts about as easy as they come.

I started with my fav tart shell recipe from Dorie Greenspan. Food processor makes it easy peasy.

Then all you do to make these shells is just drop a ball into each mini muffin cup, dip the tool into powdered sugar and then press it firmly into each cup.  The dough will push up the sides. You'll want to press the the dough fairly thin as it rises slightly during baking.  I was able to make 30 shells with the one recipe and it took about 15 minutes.  Then you freeze and bake and fill with your favorite filling and fruit.  Lemon and lime curds make some pretty phenomenal fillings and you can't go wrong with any berry (I used the greek yogurt filling from my original tart post above.) Be warned though that mini tarts are a bit dangerous as they are just so easy to pop right in your mouth.  Oh how I do love fresh ripe summer berries...

Happy and safe 4th of July!

Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay

I love toddlers...I love the way they waddle and tip and swagger and well...toddle.  I also love how they start to assert their individualism and show their personalities.  They take their first steps, and they think they can take on the world.  Now that Chipmunk has started walking (and running really) she thinks that places such as the Shark Reef Aquarium inside Mandalay Bay were built just for her. Perhaps they were.

chicken lettuce wraps

Ahhh blogs.  Apparently they are not exempt to the dynamics of human personality.  I was reading recently about a huge uproar caused by some bloggers believing that others are "stealing their recipes" and posting it straight on their blogs...with a small "adapted by" line.  Can very many people really claim to have created a recipe in its entirety?  Most recipes out there are usually an adaptation at the least and even if we think we've created a new one, well, someone else has probably tried those twists too. I really don't get the drama.  I could see the frustration with creating a unique and popular concept and having others post it without linking back to to your site. That's just courtesy.   And if we've used another blog to find a recipe, then followed the recipe precisely and decided to post it, I'd agree that a link back to the original poster is appropriate.   I think adaptations outside of changing the vanilla from 1 tsp to 1.5 tsps, are indeed adaptations though, and pretty fair in the recipe world.

Let's take for instance a recipe that I found in my Food Network magazine for a version of PF Chang's lettuce wraps.  I'd clipped the recipe and finally got around to making it.  Of course, I made adaptations.  I cut a the oyster sauce in half, changed the veggies, added some honey to the sauce, cut the cornstarch,  etc.  I was going to say this recipe was an adaptation of the FN recipe...I think that's pretty fair.  Then I went back on my blog and saw that aside from the oyster sauce, these wraps are more similar to the lettuce wraps I posted a few years ago with the most atrocious photo.  So really, would it be an adaptation of my recipe?  Where did I get the idea for that recipe?  Did FN adapt my recipe for their magazine?  Can you see in that last question the ridiculousness of claiming that a recipe is stolen?  And really, don't most food bloggers blog to share recipes? That's just my two cents. 

Chicken lettuce wraps are pretty phenomenal even if the recipe is stolen from 13th century Mongol tribes.

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

adapted from: who knows

Ingredients

For the Chicken:
1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breasts, diced

For the Stir-Fry Sauce:
1 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 tbsp honey

For the Stir-Fry:
2 tablespoons peanut oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon minced peeled ginger
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
1 cup shredded carrots

Small lettuce leaves, for serving

Soy sauce and sweet chili sauce

Directions

1. Prepare the chicken: Dice chicken and toss with sherry Cover and refrigerate at least 30 minutes.
2. Make the stir-fry sauce: Whisk 1/3 cup water, the oyster, hoisin and soy sauces,  then whisk in the cornstarch until dissolved.
3. Make the stir-fry: Heat 2 tablespoons peanut oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook, stirring, 3 to 4 minutes.  Add  in the garlic, ginger and jalapeno and  then add  stir-fry 30 seconds. Add the carrots and stir-fry 2 minutes. Add the stir-fry sauce  and cook 1 minute.
4. Serve chicken with lettuce leaves and soy sauce and or sweet chili sauce for dipping.