New Cocktail Hour Buzz, CooksSalon, Jan 28-Feb 3, 2022

New Salon every Friday – and you’re invited

C’mon in and help yourself to tasty resources

Hosted by Barbara J Nosek

 Cocktail Hour Buzz

sundowner snacks, drinks, chat, and . . .

whenever I can, related resources & goodies on Amazon

whether for a crew, or for two, or just for you

♦♦♦  Phooey on the calendar. Stir up {OK, or shake} these “Gin Cocktails for Year-Round Sipping.” Fill the glass with, e.g., a warming Spiced Maple Gimlet, refreshing Concord Grape Fizz, or the season-spanning Felicitation Punch, 10 in all.  Food & Wine

And then, serendipitously, saw another tasty possibility on “Valerie’s Home Cooking” on Food Network.

Valerie Bertinelli’s cantaloupe gin fizz

♦♦♦  A couple of articles here and there started me thinking about what a great and easy appetizer hides in a grilled cheese sandwich. Make ’em, cut ’em in fours, done. But the real magic here is all the possible variations. Tomatoes, bacon and additional cheeses have earned classic status. But what about ham, egg, salami, pepperoni, pureed veggies, grilled onions, avocado, chopped olives or gherkins, and combos thereof. Our version adds in charred bell pepper strips and fresh parsley, and also reprised here a griller we’d made with spinach puree – that was created as a regular sandwich but just needs a whack! whack! and voila! snacks. Meanwhile, grilled cheese goes wild right here on one of our favorite sites.  AllRecipes

♦♦♦  Please note I have not tried this {well not totally}, but sure find it interesting enough to pass along. The wine.com site, mainly a really big online store, has a link on the page to connect with Your Personal Wine Concierge, where you can “Chat with our wine experts for tailored recommendations or explore curated guides in the ‘Discover’ Menu.” So what happened – I inadvertently engaged the link and I can tell you their response was immediate. Nice.

Top rated wine books that are currently discounted    wine decanters

{all on Amazon}

♦♦♦  How cool is it to find an snack-y intersection between cute and easy. Talking here about the Micro Pop Popcorn Popper. Adorable! Wondering if it could be safe to just plop on a trivet on the happy hour table and let folks pour out servings. But even better is the convenience. Pops the stuff in a flash in the nuker without butter or oil. But want to add butter? – melt it right in the cover, which also serves as a measurer for the kernels. Dishwasher safe, 1- and 3-qt sizes, color choices, Prime eligible. And reasonable!  Amazon

Popcorn cookbooks

♦♦♦  Food talk. Thinking for an enhancement or to cover up an oopsie, and in the process adding a welcome note of freshness. “Parsley makes everything pretty”Ree Drummond on her Food Network Show, Pioneer Woman

Ree Drummond cookbooks    Drummond’s page on Food Network

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This week’s Cocktail Hour Buzz in CooksSalon, Jan 21-Jan 27, 2022

New Salon every Friday – and you’re invited

C’mon in and help yourself to tasty resources

Hosted by Barbara J Nosek

 C’mon in right here for . . . 

sundowner snacks, drinks, chat, and . . .

whenever I can, related resources & goodies on Amazon

whether for a crew, or for two, or just for you

  Usually when I see a title with “healthy & snack” my first instinct is “pass.” A snack has to make up for limited quantity with maximum comfort. But curiosity won out when the subtitle promised “Smart-choice snacks that will fill you up with goodness.” Some nice stuff here – baked herbed parsnip {love parsnip!} fries with roasted garlic lemon aioli, everything bagel chick peas, blueberry yogurt bark, and dark chocolate almond granola, 11 in all. Worth a look.  From FoodTalkDaily

Don’t want to make your own? – Healthy Snacks on Amazon

 Have you heard of the Adonis cocktail? Vintage indeed, first poured in the mid 1880s. It’s basically sherry and sweet vermouth, with some preps adding in orange bitters or an orange garnish. And some, somewhat roguishly, adding club soda, turning it into an Adonis Spritz. The link takes you to a full page of possibilities, where among the selections you’ll see a youtube entry calling it “a must-try cocktail.” Linked page above on Google

Backstory from Liqour.com    Youtube demo

   For many of us, a snack table just isn’t complete without cheese. But what a bummer when it goes bad in the fridge. Here’s an idea – move it to the freezer. Whaaaaat? This story on freezing cheese tells us which kinds do best and in what form. It also radically suggests still-frozen cheese is a boon for salads. Btw, when it talks about how to do this, note that the guidelines actually apply to all freeze-able cheeses.   From MyRecipes

Cheesekeepers on Amazon

  Is this a slam dunk {sorry, and it’s just gets worse below}. You may well know that basketball great Scottie Pippin already has a prize-winning bourbon on the market But here’s the news. He’s now debuting a limited-release Bourbon Barrel Aged Tea. And yes along with a blend of three black teas, there is a whisper of bourbon, low enough though for the sip to still qualify as non-alcoholic. Both bear the name DIGITS. The full story, linked here, about production, flavors and uses is quite interesting.   From Food & Wine

The difference between bourbon & whiskey, also from F&W

Bourbon flavored items on Amazon

  When do bakers share their secrets? “On a knead the dough basis” {blame Alexa!!!}

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Cocktail Hour Buzz, Jan 14-20, 2022

New Salon every Friday – and you’re invited

C’mon in and help yourself to tasty resources

Hosted by Barbara J Nosek

   Cocktail Hour Buzz   

Sundowner snacks, drinks, talk – whether for a crew, or for two, or just for you

  Flying high takes on a whole new meaning as the New Zealand winery Invivo launches what is being called “the worlds first winery airline,”  which will operate within the country. A chartered plane will deliver guests to destination towns where they can enjoy exploration time, an overnight stay, and a visit to origin vineyards.  From Food & Wine

  Shrimp toasts are a’comin {oops, age-busted by a song}. These traditional Asian appetizers are always just so satisfying, and now you can make them at home with a pretty easy process. A whirl in the processor with fairly familiar ingredients, a quick dip in hot oil and voila! Shrimp Toasts. The story calls them a cocktail hour staple.  From msn.com

 This quesadilla is actually an encore, originally appearing as a Feature Recipe in CS over a year ago. It’s here partly because it’s a perfect cold weather snack, which it can so easily become with smaller slices and maybe sans the egg. But mostly because it’s just so full of flavor, exactly as you’d expect from a Bobby Flay creation, loaded with bacon, hash browns, onions, peppers, cheese, salsa and chives – and deserved another time in the spotlight. From Food Network site

Flay’s cookbooks on Amazon    Flay items & other celeb chef items on our CS page

  Another round of desserts for everyone. OK, so these boozy confections were posted as holiday treats, but thinking they could make any day a holiday. Among the goodies, Mudslide Pie, Grasshopper Cheesecake, and Rum Truffles. Great for the sweet side of the snack table, many already individual servings, and the rest can be cut down to size. You should be able to scroll down on the site and see all the recipes listed rather than doing the slideshow.  From AllRecipes

  Finish off the season in tasty style with these “16 Best Snacks for Game Day.” Wowsie, 7-layer taco dip, firecracker shrimp with bleu cheese dressing, mini brioche lobster rolls, lots more. Here too, should be able to scroll to full list.  From Food & Wine

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Jan 7-Jan 13, 2022, Favorite Recipes from a Year of CS

Join us next week as we temporarily skinny down to a weekly Cocktail Hour Buzz while we explore an exciting new CooksSalon project

Hosted by Barbara J Nosek

 

Deconstructed Tamales – Pulled Pork  Cheese Grit Cake   Leave it to Trisha Yearwood to turn grits into a funfest. The dish starts with fried cheesy grits cakes. Then Mexi-seasoned pulled pork. And then on with the corn salsa, sour cream, green onions and cilantro. I did use the thick and creamy grits right from the pot rather than chilling and frying. Avocados make a great accompaniment. And, any leftover pulled pork makes a mighty fine sandwich or tortilla wrap.   Recipe    Trisha Yearwood Cookbooks    From 01.15.21 Salon

          

Cherry Cream Cheese Coffeecake   The base of this cake s a buttery marvel. Add the rich cream cheese layer and the flavor bombs that are cherries, and it’s destined to be a crowd pleaser. And, yep, it’s big enough to serve a crowd too. As you can see, I used a rectangular pan instead of the springform, though. Great for breakfast of course, but add a big scoop of ice cream and it transforms right into dessert. You really do want to let it cool completely before removing it from the pan.   Recipe    From 05.14.21 Salon

Loaded Mashed Potato Cups   This is such a perfect fit with all we love here at CS and it’s easy to see why. First, mashed potatoes just on their own qualify for the comfort food hall of fame. But here they’re joined by more good stuff – bacon, chives, parm and seasonings, cheese stuffing, sour cream topping. And it’s an easy prep. Ingredients that are few, familiar, likely already at hand. No complicated techniques. And a pan probably pretty much all of us already own. And by varying its platemates it can move from breakfast/brunch to lunch to dinner. Btw, also a great opp to use up leftover mashed.   Recipe  ♦  Top potato cookbooks on Amazon  ♦  From 01.29.21 Salon

Artsy Confections   For these Tie Dye Cookies, Molly Yeh divides sugar cookie dough into three pieces, each blended with food color, then formed into “balls” that are slightly flattened and baked. The finishing touch is a sprinkling of sanding sugar. “Fessing up, I did use refrigerated dough.  Then, this Painted White Chocolate Bark comes not surprisingly from Trisha Yearwood who just excels at making food fun. The chocolate mingles with different colors of candy melting wafers, all merrily swirled together into these edible works of art.    Cookie Recipe from 02.05.21 Salon    Candy Recipe from 02.12.21 Salon  ♦  Food color on Amazon    Decorating sugar on Amazon

Loaded Vegetarian Nachos   Yes, indeedy, veggies can be tasty and fun and appetizing, here even a bit of a showpiece. In fact we vote for renaming them Fiesta Nachos because, as you can see it’s just such a celebration of colors and textures. It’s more ingredients than we usually feature but so worth it and you actually could if you want limit the toppings. And, yes, there actually are chips in there, and then all topped off sour a scoop of sour cream. One shortcut that I used was canned lentils, still stirring in though  all the seasonings.  Recipe    From 09.24.21 Salon

Oreo Cake Balls {or just cake as shown here}  Oh my. Oreo crumbs and cream cheese packed like little snow balls, quick freeze, dip in melted chocolate, refrigerate, done.  They are so, so, easy to make and that might be the bad news because, mercy, they are rich and even luxurious. And they’re fun, the round shape ready to become sports balls, funny heads, bling, and in fact star pastry chef Buddy Valastro turned them into pretty eyeballs. As an alternative, you can just pat the mixture into a pan and use the chocolate chips to make a ganache frosting, as seen here.  Like the richest ever brownie.   Recipe from 06.25.21 Salon    Redo in 08.06.21 Salon    Cake ball books on Amazon

Ham & Beef Tavern Chili   My great uncles owned taverns in the Chicago suburbs, and served cups of this chili gratis to their patrons. I don’t know the dates of operation for those establishments. The family was sort of vague about that. So, this was passed down to me by my Aunty Peggy who actually won a recipe contest with it conducted by the Chicago Tribune. I do like a bit more chili powder and a couple of tablespoons of cumin. And depending on the heat level in the chili beans, I may add some hot sauce. It’s even better with such toppings as cheddar, sour cream and a bit of green onion. Recipe    Chili cookbooks, 4 stars & up    From 02.26.21 Salon

Snacks for Dinner   This is not so much a recipe you’d cook or bake, but rather one for putting together a pretty plate. It all began when I cam across this magnetic headline :“Why Snack Dinner is the Best Thing You Can Make for Yourself Tonight”  Wow, there are some fine looking assemblies here. And in fact we were pretty much already on board with this array, shown, even though it was actually representing our cheese board featured in a previous Salon and, btw, this plateful indeed added up to to dinner.    The full article    From our 02.12.21 Salon   Cheese board story in our 01.22.21 Salon

Lasagna Bites   Yikes, these are good, and very lasagna-y even though there’s no pasta in sight. Rather, they’re made with wonton wrappers that are fitted into your muffin tin. The filling holds to tradition though with pretty much classic lasagna ingredients. It calls for ground turkey, but notes the original used ground beef, and so did I. As you can see, its versatility carries it all over the hours. A great appetizer for sure. But also, send it morningside with a poached egg, so satisfying for breakfast or brunch. Add some sides and it moves right on in for lunch or dinner.    Recipe  ♦  From 05.28.21 Salon  ♦  Italian appetizer cookbooks

Chocolate Peanut Butter No-Bake Cheesecake   Rich cheesecake goes even richer with one layer that blends in melted chocolate chips & a second one of sweetened peanut butter, each separately whirled in the food processor till silky smooth. I did add a drizzle of melted chips, also cut the prep in half and used a deep dish pie plate. FYI, Amazon offers a ready-made chocolate peanut butter cheesecake, quite showy but also quite pricey. What you might find surprising though are all the other choc/pb items on the page including even coffee.   Recipe   Chocolate peanut butter goodies on Amazon

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Cook with passion and a party spirit, whether for a crew, or for two, or just for you

All pages ©2022 CooksSalon.com

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