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Hosted by Barbara J Nosek
Summer Break! See you right back here Sept 9 Happy Labor Day!
Cocktail Hour Buzz 
🎈🎈 Brunch Edition 🎉 🎉
When Happy Hour goes early with snacks, drinks and chat
and maybe related resources & goodies on Amazon
whether for a crew, or for two, or just for you
{links within my items go to the sources shown in red – any links underneath items take you to Amazon unless otherwise indicated, and then only ones with the lock icon}
♦♦♦ What is it about bacon? For many of us, the idea of it, the appearance of it, the aroma of it, just 
makes everything seem better. And now we can go into happiness overload with these 33 Bacon Recipes for BLTs, Burgers and Beyond. The “Beyond” gives us other sandwiches, pasta and other entrees, salads and other side dishes, tarts, the great sounding beer bread with brown ale, cheddar and bacon, and within the mix snacks and preps that can become snacks. Including these great tasting beans that we chose, with the maple bacon all but stealing the show. Food & Wine
Serve the beans in small hot cups {be sure package specifies for hot foods & beverages} for snack time, and a little cheese on top can’t hurt
Recipe for Baked Beans with Maple-Glazed Bacon
While the original recipe would deliver the fullest flavor, shortcut possibilities all but leap off the page
Bean cookbooks, including one with recipes that all start with canned beans
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♦♦♦ To give credit where credit is due, the idea for this this fun s’mores-y treat for the sweet side of the Happy Hour table comes from a flyer in Sprouts Famers Market. Campfire Cones! No ice
cream, instead filling coconut cones with chocolate, marshmallow, other stuff like coconut if you want, wrapping in foil and grilling.
We took off on this two different ways, in both cases using cup style cones and going a bit more S’mores-y with the addition of graham cracker crumbs . For our baby cone {see pic} we stayed ice-cream-free, layering hot fudge, marshmallow creme, fudge, creme, fudge, crumbs. For the larger one that does use ice cream along with the marshmallow and fudge, you’d probably want to set up a fun diy S’mores buffet. CS
For the hot fudge the thicker ones work better like Hershey’s or Mrs. Richardson’s, either one OK right from the fridge. You don’t however want to refrigerate any filled cones as they will go soggy.
S’mores buffet set-ups on Google ♦ S’Mores maker on Amazon
Did you know? – Sprouts has pages & pages of great looking recipes on it site
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♦♦♦ In these lazy, hazy – OK, and HOT – days of summer, icy is nicy. Cooling off in the tastiest way is as close as these 12 Frozen Cocktails to sip into as long as the season lingers on. With one more colorful than the next and flavors galore there’s something for everyone to enjoy. Two I found particularly intriguing were the Miami Vice which uses frozen fruit instead of ice, and the Frozen Salted Espresso Martinis with all the interest right there in the title. Cheers! Food & Wine
And keep those Happy Hour beverages icy with these freezable glasses
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♦♦♦ Perfect summer fun. Any prep that starts with watermelon sure inspires further reading. And
this one, Watermelon Dessert Pizza, whimsically has a thick slice of the melon taking on the role of “crust.” It then further 
rewards us with an innovative creamy layer topped off with some if the star’s cousins. And so, so easy. Btw, I took a clue from the comment section and mixed the coconut cream with cream cheese for a sturdier texture. Tasty
Another tip in the comments suggests patting the watermelon dry so the cream doesn’t slide off
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porch or patio or, OK, tucked deep inside the a/c. And it looks like many of the ingredients just may already be resident in your pantry or fridge. Here’s the one I chose – and while I generally like avocados pretty much pure, this fabulous creamy avocado dip is velvety, flavorful and a ready companion for so many other goodies. The prep suggests tortilla or pita chips and crudities, but also calls it into service as a topping for tacos, burgers, and sandwiches. Or, hmmmm, how yum as one of the tiers in 7-layer dip? 
lightly pressed into muffin cups, baked until golden. The remaining two ingredients in this prep add up to the title, 
Would certainly be good as is. But just to gussy it up a bit, melted another 1/4 cup of chips to drizzle overall.
in both Food & Wine and Food Network Magazine , and both gave a nod to its creator Tom Bullock, active in the “spirits” world in the early 1900s. As bartender at the St. Louis Country Club, a fave of local notables, he created other drinks as well, eventually gathered into the 1917 book, 
fridge and used these to make a version of those ^. Baked according to
special in those glasses. Say, like one of these 
♦♦♦
Mary Bar. Whichever, the beverage can turn into a conversation piece with this 
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.” 
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. 
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. 
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. 
Loaded Vegetarian Nachos
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. 
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. 
pretty plate. It all began when I cam across this magnetic headline :
Lasagna Bites
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. 
cheese later in the process. A tip I learned for anything hasselback is to lay wooden spoons or chopsticks on each side to insure you don’t cut all the way through. 
Let’s Chat 
sisters brought together inside 
Oh CS-ers, these are good. The tender buttery crust is just the tasty start. After baked golden it’s spread with a filling reminiscent of pecan pie but instead of nuts a mix of coconut and other sweet treat goodies, in the case of ours here – chocolate chips, dates, and raisins. Then a final flurry of powdered sugar makes it pretty. As with many baked goods, even better the next day. 