Brussel Sprouts

While we grilled the salmon, we also threw some brussel sprouts that had been halved on the grill. I had a few left over and have been meaning to try other ways to cook them.

When grilling: half brussel sprouts, sprinkle with olive oil and sprinkle a little sugar on top

Another way (adapted from Cooking Lite)
-4 or 5 brussel sprouts, sliced into quarters
-olive oil
-salt n pepper
-1/2 a shallot, thinly sliced
-1 clove garlic, minced
-balsamic to taste

1. Heat pan, add oil and shallot, cook until shallot gets soft
2. Add brussel sprouts.
3. Add garlic.
4. Cook until brussel sprouts soften, but still have a crunch.
5. Remove from heat, drizzle with balsamic. Enjoy with a glass of chardonnay.

Things To Do WIth Extra Salmon

The other day I got a 12 lb salmon. Yes, 12 pounds. My friend lives near a bunch of Russian immigrants and I guess one of them goes out and catches salmon and then sells it for $1/lb. Unfortunately for me (or fortunately for my friends) you have to buy a whole fish. My friend took a few lbs off for herself (it was originally 14 lbs I guess), and gave me the rest. It came gutted but not scaled or filleted so that was an interesting and messy experience that I'm not eager to relive...I ended up grilling the salmon with a bunch of people. We went through a lot of it but 12 lbs is quite a lot of fish so we had leftovers. We did rosemary, garlic, and lemon, an asiany marinade with pineapple on skewers, and a maple syrup glaze too.

Salmon-Potato Salad (note: we had the most of the rosemary, lemon, garlic marinaded salmon left over, so that helped me come up with this idea)
-about 5 little potatoes (fingerling or whichever kind you prefer)
-1 T mayo*
-1 T spicy mustard*
-juice of 1/2 a lemon
-1 T german mustard*
-salt n pepper
-1 large stalk celery, finely diced
-1/3 small onion, finely diced
-1 T or so of canola oil
-salmon to taste*

1. Cook the potatoes in boiling water until tender, cool completely (or they'll get mushy when you try to cut them).
2. Dice celery, cut onion, place in large bowl.
3. Mix mustards, mayo, oil, salt n pepper, lemon juice in a small bowl.
4. Chop potatoes, add to larger bowl.
5. Add dressing to everything else.
6. Add salmon in and mix all together!

*No idea how much of all of these things I actually added, so my proportions might be kind of off...feel free to adapt as needed, with more mustard than mayo, and as much salmon as you like.

Baked Eggs

This is a 2-for-1 post. So a while ago at this point (yes, I'm delayed at keeping up with this) I came across a recipe for eggs baked with asparagus here . I love both eggs and asparagus so I was instantly intrigued. The other day I was in the mood for brunch but since it was just me, I didn't wanna go too crazy cooking up a lot of food. I remembered that asparagus-egg dish but then realized I didn't have any asparagus. Fail! Luckily I did happen to have some spinach on hand so i figured I could play around with the baked egg thing and use my cute little ramekins that I got for my birthday: win-win! This was a good idea on my part. I ended up making the asparagus one too later, so I'm including both.

Eggs Baked In Spinach
-1 egg
-3/4 c chopped spinach or more (I think that's about all I had, so more wouldn't hurt)
-1 T finely chopped onion
-1/2 garlic clove, smashed and finely chopped
-salt n pepper to taste
-olive oil
-1 T milk
-grated cheese to taste (any kind works, I would suggest cheddar or jack though)--maybe 1 T or so
-baguette, sliced on the diagonal, toasted and buttered (to eat with the egg)

1. Heat a heavy pan, add oil and onion and cook until onion becomes soft and translucent.
2. Add spinach and garlic and cook until spinach is done to your liking.
3. Remove from heat and put into a buttered ramekin
4. Grate cheese, preheat oven to about 450.
5. Carefully crack egg onto the spinach in the ramekin, add milk around it and salt n pepper.
6. Bake until whites begin to set (I still haven't mastered this step, I tend to overcook my eggs a bit), according to Shutter Bean, 5-7 min. Toast the toast.
7. Top with cheese and cook until cheese is bubbly.
8. Eat with the toast.

Egg Baked With Asparagus
1. Roast asparagus with olive oil, salt n lemon pepper (or however you like)
2. Follow steps 3-8.

Cocktails

I was at the Vern, my neighborhood bar, the other night and was in the mood for something other than beer or whiskey-ginger (my go-to well drink). I asked the bartender if she had any suggestions and she told me that lately after work she's been having raspberry kamikazes. For some reason I never think of kamikazes as a drink to get, not because I don't like them, but more because I always forget about them. A few days later I remembered that I had raspberry vodka, regular vodka, and limes lying around, so I figured I'd make one myself. If you're really feeling fancy, top with champagne and garnish with a lime wheel (I did).

Raspberry Kamikaze, but better:

-1 1/2 oz raspberry vodka or liqueur
-1 oz vodka
-1 oz lime juice
-1/2 oz triple sec
-champagne to taste

-Shake first 4 ingredients with ice, strain into a martini glass, top with champagne and a lime wheel.

*Note: for a less potent drink, leave out the regular vodka, I like both types because it cuts the sweetness of the raspberry liqueur a bit.

Raz-Straw-Black-Cherry-Berry Pie

A few weeks ago I was going through the fridge and realized I had a bunch of several pints of berries that I still hadn't eaten. I'd bought a half-flat of mixed berries because I wanted to make raspberry vodka/liqueur and have some fresh berries to eat too, but then I hadn't finished all of those berries. I haven't made a pie in some time, and I wanted to perfect my pie crust recipe anyway. I was going to make just a berry pie because there were some blueberries in the fridge too, but I've never cooked cherries and I figured, why not!

Pie Crust (makes a top and a bottom pie crust)
-2 1/2 c flour
-1 1/2 tbspn granulated sugar
-3/4 tsp salt
-1 c cold, unsalted butter
-1/2 c ice water (more as needed)
-1 tbspn freshly squeezed lemon

1. Put flour, sugar, salt in a bowl, stir to combine and place in freezer until really cold (like 10 min)
2. Cut butter into 1 inch cubes, add to flour, toss evenly (if it gets warm, put it back in the freezer)
3. Pulse in food processor until coarse and butter is the size of peas
4. Stir water and lemon together and drizzle into the butter/flour mixture a little at a time until pastry is shaggy and holds together when squeezed. Add more water as needed.
5. Dump dough onto floured work surface and fold over on itself a few times. Don't handle it too much because you want it as cold as possible. Divide pastry into two equal parts, wrap in plastic and chill for an hour.

Pie:
1 pint raspberries
1 pint blackberries
1 pint strawberries, chopped
1 pint cherries, pitted and sliced in half*
1/2 c sugar (or more to taste)
3 1/2 tblspns cornstarch
1 tblspn vanilla (if you want, I used less)
2 tblspns cold butter
fresh lemon juice to taste
*about 5-6 c fruit in all

1. Rub dry ingredients together in a large bowl, add berries and toss until evenly coated. Add the vanilla and lemon and set aside for 15 min.
2. Roll out one disk of pastry and place in 9 inch pan, stab dough with a fork several times and add berry mixture. Dot butter on top of berries.
3. Roll out second disk and place on pie, crimping edges, and slashing the top several times to create steam vents...or use cookie cutters to cut out shapes and place on top, or make a lattice crust (I did stars).
4. Chill the pie for an hour. I know this seems unnecessary but it keeps the crust really nice and flaky and solidifies the berry mixture, promise!
5. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, place the pie on a baking sheet and bake for 60-70 min (until the juices are thick and bubbling). Check the pie after 45 min and cover if it's getting too brown (mine was fine)
6. Cool for 3 hrs to let filling set. Eat.

*note: if you make it yourself, this whole pie takes forever, but it's worth it.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Bacon-Maple Frosting

Yes, I caved to the bacon craze. I've been trying to plan out these cupcakes for a while now thanks to a not-so-helpful suggestion from my dear little brother. I asked him for a suggestion of what I could pair with chocolate besides caramel or fruit and his first response was "BACON!" Now I must admit that I have never been a huge fan of bacon (I prefer sausage) but I do like it, especially with syrup or on burgers. I can't really say I've ever thought of it with chocolate, but my brother is a weird kid and he will eat anything.

Anyway, he did get me thinking about this bacon and sweets idea. I have a killer maple butter cream recipe and bacon and maple are a fairly obvious combo. I've done caramel butter cream with chocolate, so I figured maple would work pretty darn well as a substitute. That lead me to the brilliant plan of adding bacon to the maple frosting and using a not-too-sweet chocolate cupcake as the base. I started making the cupcakes and kept thinking about how to add the bacon to the frosting. Then I remembered I still had maple sugar which would be perfect to sprinkle on bacon as it was cooling and excellent in the frosting. After cooking the bacon and beginning the frosting I had the brilliant idea to add the bacon to the frosting. Best plan! It added more texture than just sprinkling it on top and it allowed me to add more bacon to each cupcake and keep it on top. So here is my masterpiece:

Chocolate-Buttermilk Cupcakes *makes about 24 cupcakes:

-2 C flour
-1 C unsweetened cocoa
-1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
-pinch of salt
-1 ½ C buttermilk
-2 teaspoons vanilla extract
-1 ¾ C sugar
-1/2-3/4 C butter
-3 eggs

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake pan with liners.

2.In a bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt. In 2-cup liquid measuring cup, mix buttermilk and vanilla; set aside.

3. In another, large bowl, with mixer on low speed, beat sugar and butter until blended. Increase speed to high; beat 3 minutes or until creamy, occasionally scraping bowl with rubber spatula. Reduce speed to low; add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.

4. Beat in flour mixture alternately with buttermilk mixture just until blended, beginning and ending with flour mixture, scraping bowl occasionally.

5. Pour batter into prepared tins. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean.

Bacon-Maple Frosting:

- 1/2 c butter
- 3 1/2 c confectioners (powdered) sugar...or 1/4 c maple sugar, the rest powdered, if you have it (but it's still yummy if you don't)
-1/4 milk
-1/4 c or more of decent maple syrup (I like the darker ones because the flavor is more intense but really whatever you have on hand)
-about 5 slices of well-cooked bacon, sprinkled with maple sugar (if you have it) crumbled

1. Cook the bacon: heat a cast iron pan over medium heat and cook bacon until crispy. Pat with paper towels to drain, sprinkle with maple sugar (if using).

2. Make the butter cream: with an electric mixer, mix the butter and about 1/3 c sugar at a time, adding more sugar once it has been incorporated, adding milk as needed to thin the frosting out. *You may need more sugar to taste, so taste as you go

3. Drizzle maple syrup into the frosting and taste as you go so it doesn't get too sweet.

4. Crumble or tear the bacon into little, tiny pieces and mix into the butter cream with a big frosting knife or a spoon (you don't need the mixer here).

5. Frost liberally and serve immediately!

It's finally sunny!

...and this calls for a celebratory cocktail!

Banana Daiquiris:
(makes maybe 4-6 drinks)
-4 ripe bananas*
-1 c ice or more as needed
-3 shots of white rum (or more or less depending on your preferences)
-the juice of 1/2 a lime
-a splash of triple sec (optional)
-a splash of pineapple malibu (optional)

-Put everything in the blender and blend until smooth. Serve immediately, adding more banana if the drink is too strong, more lime if it's too sweet, and more ice if it's too thick.

* While I prefer to eat my bananas when they are still a tiny bit green, in this you want really ripe ones since those are the sweetest. You could certainly add sugar, but I prefer to keep it simple and just go with ripe bananas. Also, if you're one of those people who buys more bananas than you manage to eat, toss the super-ripe ones in the freezer, skins and all! Then, when you're feeling the need for a refreshing drink on a gorgeous summer day, you can grab those frozen bananas, cut them in half, peel them, and toss them in the blender. Not only does this stop banana waste, it also cuts down on the ice needed! Surprisingly frozen bananas are really easy to peel. Mine defrosted a bit in the heat, but not much. They trick is to cut them in half and then in half again length-wise and pop the skins right off.