Bourbon Slush

Posted by Paula in Drinks | 10 comments

Bourbon Slush.

This is not for the under 21 crowd. They have plenty of slushy options this summer (and all year long for that matter) so I don’t feel too badly about this.

Your inner child is going to love this adult only version of a childhood favorite drink. Mine was pretty much jumping up and down. Now you have another option besides the margarita. Say hello to your new favorite summer drink. The Bourbon Slush. It’s an overnight-er so you’ll have to plan ahead. I know, waiting is torture but this makes a big ole batch so you’ll be good to go once it’s ready. Chilling it just a few hours won’t get her done.

White Wine Braised Carrots

Posted by Paula in Sides, Vegetarian | 39 comments

Apr 11, 17

White Wine Braised Carrots.

I love carrots. Always have. Whether they’re raw (dipped in ranch, cause RANCH), sauteed, braised or baked in the form of CARROT CAKE. What? There’s carrots in that cake, hence the name. I happen to also love it when a dish requires little to no dishes. Dishes are a thorn in my side and something I do a lot of, job hazard. Doesn’t mean I have to like it.

These white wine braised carrots are baked in a tinfoil pouch. IF you seal it like a champ it won’t even leak onto the rimmed baking sheet so you’ll have ZERO dishes. I can’t properly  tell you how giddy tinfoil pouch cooking makes me. I can tell you I will do a little kitchen cooking dance when it happens though. 

Classic Coconut Cake

Posted by Paula in Desserts | 3 comments

Classic Coconut Cake.

It’s all kinds of classy. I’m going to start off telling you that I’m not normally a big fan of coconut cake. If I see it on the menu It’s not high on my ordering list. I know, gasp. I might lose my Southern card. Before you write me off, it’s only because I’ve had a few absolutely mind blowingly delicious pieces of coconut cake in my life (Peninsula Grill in Charleston SC) and I compare all others to those quasi perfect slices. Most of the time they fall short and I’m disappointed, so I go for the sure dessert bet instead. But this cake, in all it’s coconut glory, I am a fan of. If you’re going to eat dessert it should be good right. It needs to be worth those extra miles I’m going to have to put in. This one is worth it.

Apricot Bourbon Glazed Ham

Posted by Paula in Pork | 9 comments

Apricot Bourbon Glazed Ham.

Are you ready for some HAM? I’m wondering how many hams are prepared on Easter Sunday? Do you know? It has to be a ridiculously large number. I wonder if it comes close to the number of turkeys basted and stuffed on Thanksgiving? Which one takes the holiday table tiara? These are the burning questions that sear my brain. I would ask Siri but she’s just hateful and doesn’t recognize my accent 99% of the time so I avoid the frustration of slamming my phone into the ground and just ponder useless information.

Not useless is this glaze. Did you catch BOURBON in the title? It always gets my attention too.

Easter Bread

Posted by Paula in Bread | 8 comments

Easter Bread.

I’m a fan of all things homemade bread. Especially sweet bread. But not sweetbreads. Let’s just be clear, that’s a WHOLE different thing and really should be called something different because one could easily be fooled into thinking that’s something it’s not. Anywho, I’ll jump out of that rabbit hole and get back to this Easter Bread, you can google it up if you’re not familiar with it.

I came to learn about and love Easter Bread while I was living in Italy. It’s traditionally made for Italian and Greek Easter celebrations, though others have adopted the tradition as well. It can be made into one large loaf (obviously you’ll need to adjust the cooking time for larger loaves) or several smaller loaves. I’ve seen it braided or twisted, and made with or without eggs. I liked the smaller ones even though it’s a little more work.

White Wine Braised Chicken with Bacon and Mushrooms

Posted by Paula in Poultry | 3 comments

White Wine Braised Chicken with Mushrooms and Bacon.

The saying that bacon makes everything better is really true for me. I will put bacon on all the things and not feel bad about it. I only feel bad when I don’t have bacon to put on all the things. I also have to always cook twice as much as I need, because snacking on bacon is mandatory. It just seems to disappear right before my eyes.

Bacon is not only a crunchy blissful garnish in this recipe it’s how we’ll crisp the chicken skin before popping it into the oven for braising. Yes, we’ll brown the chicken in the bacon grease. Not only does it cut back on dishes (y’all know how I feel about those), it adds a helluva lot of flavor to the chicken.