Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Dirty Shirley Temple

I'm so excited that I just HAD to share.


One of my favorite memories as a kid was sitting at the bar with cousins and watching my Pop-Pop make shirley temples. Those cherries were just the icing on the cake and I always had to have extras. 

Now that I'm a grown up (most days) I think that a good Dirty Shirley Temple is in order. 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 part cherry vodka (Grey Goose makes a Cherry Noir, Schmirnoff and 3 Olives make Cherry as well)
3 1/2 part Sprite
1/2 part Grenadine

Of course you have to garnish it with a cherry. 

Enjoy!


Friday, July 6, 2012

Cherry Limeade Vinaigrette

Ever been to Sonic and have a cherry limeade? No? Bummer. That was the highlight of my summer nights growing up. Haven't had them here up North until recently, but it got me thinking... what else could I have in the summer that would remind me of the same flavors? 

Cherries are in season right? 

And limes? 

Oh, and I got the greatest thing... a cherry pitter. Who knew!??! Cherries are such a pain to eat when you don't have one of these... I can't believe I've been doing it all this time!! 


A little scary looking, I know.  

Ingredients:

10-15 Cherries, pitted
Juice of 1 lime
Mint leaves (5 -8, depending on your taste)
Vegetable Oil


Ok. So, I pitted about 10 cherries and threw them in a blender. I tossed in the juice of a whole lime. and some fresh mint from the garden.  While I was blending I trickled in about half a cup of vegetable oil. Note it's vegetable oil and not EVOO... EVOO is too harsh a taste for the sweet and sour tastes of this vinaigrette.


 Easy right? Toss it on a salad or dip fresh veggies and voila! Grown up cherry limeade. :) 


Olive and Cream Cheese Spread

So... I had a craving for olives, which never happens... and happened to have some garlic, pepper relish and cream cheese in the fridge, so I um... mixed them all together. 


I experimented a bit and actually wrapped the garlic in tin foil and tossed it on the grill as I made dinner for a semi-roasted garlic glove. It wasn't as squishy, but it was tasty.

Here's what you do, it's complicated, so pay attention. 

Toss half a brick of low fat cream cheese, half a can of pitted black olives, your roasted garlic clove, and red pepper relish (to taste) in a food processor. 

Here comes the tricky part. 

Push the "on" switch. 

Hard wasn't it? 


Thick, creamy, spicy and full of flavor. It is really good with wheat thins but would also pair well with pita chips (and wine, white wine). 

Enjoy!

Cream Cheese Poundcake

 I'd like to show you a picture of the finished product, but uh... this is all that's left.


Really... that's it. That's all she wrote. Because I ate it all. To cheesy cakey bliss... follow Southern Livings recipe below.

Cream Cheese Pound Cake
Yield
1 (10-inch) cake

Ingredients
  • 1 1/2 cups butter, softened at room temp
  • 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened at room temp
  • 3 cups sugar
  • 6 large eggs
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Preparation
Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy (do not over beat);
gradually add sugar, beating well.

Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until combined. Crack eggs into a bowl first before adding to the mixture to make sure you avoid shells in the cake mix.

Sift 3 cups of flour. Combine flour and salt; gradually add to butter mixture, beating at low speed just until blended after each addition. Stir in vanilla from the huge 1 liter Mexican vanilla bottle my mother in law shared with me. 

Pour batter into a greased and floured 10-inch Bundt pan (I used a meatloaf pan). 

Smooth the top of the cake or bottom of the cake (depending how you look at it) with a spatula to even it out.

Bake at 300° for 1 hour and 30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack 10 to 15 minutes; remove from pan, and let cool completely on wire rack. The outside will be sweet and crunchy while the inside will be rich and oh so tasty...

So good with fresh fruit and coffee for breakfast. :)