Love caramel apples, but hate how messy they are to eat? Well you can kiss the stick goodbye but still have your apple and eat it too. A Mouthful of Deliciousness over on Facebook posted a brilliant way to reverse the physical placement of the caramel to apple and thus creates an easy-to-eat and eye-appealing presentation.

Photo by A Mouthful of Deliciousness

You will want to select a firm apple variety, such as Granny Smith, Jonathan, Jonagold, Braeburn, or Fuji for this application.

Assembly:

• Cut apples into halves.
• Hallow out apple halves with a tool such as a melon baller or grapefruit spoon.
• If needed, apples can be balances in muffin tins.
• Fill halves with melted caramel and place in fridge to cool.
  Note: To keep exposed apple flesh frown browning, coat with lemon juice. The juice can be diluted up to 3:1 ratio to keep from changing any flavors.
• Slice and enjoy!

Yes, yes, I am a slacker on blog posting, blah blah, whatever.

So I use the notes app on my iPhone mobile smartphone quite often to store little tidbits I dont really have anywhere else to put. Movies I want to see, songs to download, recipes I have all the ingredients for on hand, costume design ideas, etc. Last year, when I was attending the locally famous Murder Mystery Party hosted by my friend and author Linda Sands, I met a lovely women named Robyn, who was making sangria to share. That act alone told me I would like her and we should be friends. The theme/setting for that particular party was Latin America, so sensibly sangria had to be invited!

While enjoying our yummy adult beverages and making conversation about our roles in the game, Robyn shared her wonderful recipe for the Skinny White Wine Sangria she was making with me. I quickly whipped out my phone, opened my Notes app, and jotted down her recipe.  I think this recipe was from one of those Real Housewives bitches or something, but I don’t watch that crap on TV, so I’m not really sure. And if that is the case, I wouldn’t want to give them any credit anyway, so my friend Robyn is getting all the kudos here.

This recipe has been just sitting in my phone for nearly a year now (291 days to be exact, as my app is telling me). I didn’t really have anywhere else to put it. I suppose I could have emailed to myself, but why? My phone is always with me and often I use it in the kitchen for cooking anyway. What’s to gain from pulling it up via email verses from my Notes app? So today I had the idea today to actually SHARE this recipe on here, thus preserving it for prosperity and letting others enjoy it as well. I know, I can be a little dense about this blogging thing sometimes. Now I can clean it out of my Notes app, and my sense of organization will be satiated.

Skinny White Wine Sangria

 

By:

Robyn S.

Type: Drink

Prep Time: 5 mins

Total Time: 5 mins

Print

 

Ingredients

• Sweet White Wine (such as Bay Bridge)
• Tropicana Trop50 Orange Juice
• Welch’s Orange Pineapple Apple Juice
• Vodka
• Splash of Sprite
• A few Oranges and Lemons, sliced into rounds

Instructions

1. There’s not really any measurements with this, as it can be scaled to any size pitcher you want to mix it in.
2. Start with a good portion of the wine as the base.
3. Mix in ¼ to ½ as much by volume of the OJ and Fruit Juice to wine used. (If you started with 2 cups of wine, add ½ a cup each of each juice) 2:1 wine to juice ratio.
4. Add enough Vodka to give it a little punch.
5. Pour in a healthy splash of Sprite to give it some tingle.
6. Garnish with Oranges and Lemons and even some pretty herbs, if handy (basil or mint for example).

Notes

I had been drinking this concoction when I wrote the recipe down, hence it’s a little vague. Really though, this is a great combination of flavors and you really would have to go out of your way to mess it up.

2.2.8

Photo by Kyndra Holley

I made this for dinner last night. I didn’t care that it was just going to be myself and my 2.5 year our daughter having dinner, as The Man had to work night shift. I had been sifting through Pinterest recipes all afternoon, and I had a container of mushrooms that needed to be used ASAP since I kinda forgot about them in the bottom crisper drawer (that happens to you too, right?). This immediately caught my eye, not just for the mushrooms, but for the balsamic cream sauce. I am a HUGE fan of balsamic vinegar and use it in mass quantities.This recipe simply looked delicious to me and I had to try it right away. There just wasn’t any debate about it.

This recipe did not fail to deliver! It was AMAZING! The flavor is rich and subtle. The mushrooms turn out in that just-right consistency of cooked, but not over cooked. The caramelized onion added a rich undertone to the entire dish. This will be going into my regular dinner rotation, for certain. I served this with mashed red potatoes, but you could also easily dice the chicken and server this over pasta also. In fact, I will probably do that next go-round.

Pan-Seared Chicken with Balsamic Cream Sauce, Mushrooms and Onions

 

By:

Adapted from recipe by Kyndra Holley

Type: Main

Serves: 4

Prep Time: 10 mins

Cook Time: 50 mins

Total Time: 1 hour

Print

 

Ingredients

• 1½ lb. Bonesless Skinless Chicken Breasts
• ½ of a Large Onion – Thinly sliced
• 1 Package of Whole Mushrooms – sliced
• ½ Cup of Chicken Broth
• 1 Cup Heavy Cream
• 3 Tbs. Butter – Divided
• ½ Cup of Parmesan Cheese
• 2 Tbs. Balsamic Vinegar
• Salt and Pepper

Instructions

1. Saute onions over medium heat in 1 Tbs of butter until they are nice and caramelized – About 15 Minutes. When they are a nice golden brown, remove from the heat and set aside
2. In the same pan, heat the remaining 2 Tbs. of butter over medium-high heat. Place the chicken breasts in the pan. Brown on both sides, remove from the pan and set aside (Note – they will not be all the way cooked at this stage)
3. De-glaze the pan with the chicken stock. Make sure you get all the chicken bits and butter off the pan. This helps to flavor your sauce
4. Add the heavy cream and the balsamic vinegar and stir.
5. Add mushrooms and a little salt and pepper, reduce heat to low and let simmer for 10 minutes
6. Add the chicken back to the pan, turn heat back up to medium and saute until the chicken is cooked all the way through. About 10-15 minutes
7. Remove chicken breasts from the pan and plate. Add the Parmesan and caramelized onions to the sauce and keep stirring until the cheese is completely melted in.
8. Cover the chicken breasts with the sauce and serve.

2.2.8

The Man, The Bean, and I took a quick snowbird trip down to Pensacola, FL over Thanksgiving weekend. We are so fortunate to have great friends who offered to share their beach house with us for the holiday weekend. While we were there, we heard tales of a great seafood market that sells fresh caught gulf seafood and also has international supplies flown in fresh. We couldn’t leave town without stopping by to check this place out, thus we were introduced to Joe Patti’s Seafood.

Photo by Joe Patti's

The one most startling thing I realized as we were perusing the long back wall of many potential delicacies, was there was absolutely ZERO fish odor. If you were wearing a blindfold and walked into this place, you’d never know there was fish filets, shrimp, crabs, etc just feet from your face. We were really impressed with there selection and wanted to take much more home then we did, but with a 5+ hour drive, it just wasn’t practical to load up. We settled for several pounds of fresh shrimp and  a few pounds of live mussels. If we go back to the Pensacola area (which I can assure you we will), another visit to Joe Patti’s will be on the agenda.

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Now you can pretend you don’t do this, but we wont believe you. Everyone, at some point in their lives, has licked the cake batter of the spoon/spatula/mixer attachment and savored that sweet primordial concoction of raw ingredients mixed together. (Yes, yes, uncooked eggs may cause salmonella, blah blah). I freely admit,  I still do this anytime I am making a dessert batter.

By the recent surge in availability and popularity of cake batter flavored treats, I think I am not alone in my spoon lickin’ ways. Cake Batter Ice Cream, Birthday Cake flavor Milkshakes, and Cake Flavored Vodka, are just a few options now available to satisfy your sweet-tooth. When I happened across these Cake Batter Martinis by How Sweet It Is, not only was my eye delighted by the colorful sprinkles, but my mouth watered a little bit at the thought of drinking this sweet solution.

Cake Batter Martini by How Sweet It Is

Cake Batter Martinis

makes a single serving, is easily multiplied

1 ounce amaretto

1 1/2 ounces Pinnacle whipped cream vodka

1 1/2 ounces creme de cacao

1/2 ounce Godiva white chocolate liqueur

1 ounce heavy cream

assorted sprinkles (nonpareils work best)

frosting

Using your finger, coat the rim of your glass with frosting – make sure not to miss any spots! Dump sprinkles on a plate and press glass rim into sprinkles, pressing to adhere. Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake for about 30 seconds. Strain into glass and drink!

There is already a trip to the liquor store in the near future in my plans (got to stock up for Dragon*con next weekend), and after seeing this, I think I’ll be adding a few more things to my list!