Move over Sandra Lee. Martha Stewart is taking cocktail to the tech world with her new App. I just bought it and the interface is slick. Future cocktails are available as in app purchases. Read more about it at CNET.

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Crab Cucumber Rounds

Sorry it's been a while. I totally fell off track. Here's a simple recipe using crabmeat from the can again. Just mayo, horseradish, Worcestershire sauce, and mustard. I could have put more horseradish and Worcestershire sauce to give it more of a kick. But still, quick, easy, and tasty.

Pesto-Stuffed Mushrooms

I've never had pesto and have only heard that people don't like it. So that's why I haven't tried it. But this recipe isn't that pesto heavy. Mostly Stove Top stuffing and ricotta cheese. The filling is delicious. The recipe calls for 24 mushrooms. I had about 12, so I had all this extra filling. I had extra phyllo dough from the mini chicken pot pies. So I buttered up some of that and use the pesto stuffing. It ended up being long tubes because the dough had split in the freezer. Both versions came out tasty.

Cocktail Time #4: Flirtini

This recipe calls for citrus vodka. I didn't have any so i just used the raspberry vodka I had from the last drink. This is a nice and sweet cocktail with pineapple juice and cranberry juice. Mix in some coconut rum and flavored vodka and this cocktail goes down nice and easy.

Mini Biscuit Pizza

This is another simple and easy recipe. Who would ever think of making little pizzas on buttermilk biscuits? You just cook the biscuits, split them in half, then put tomato sauce, onion, cheese, fresh basil, and prosciutto and pop them back into the oven. These came out so tasty. But then again everyone loves biscuits. I could have just made the biscuits and I would have been happy. The only problem I had was the prosciutto I had wasn't that salty and lacked flavor. I think slicing little pieces of pepperoni into slivers would have worked too.

Cocktail Time #3: Raspberry Cosmo

This drink is a bit strong. Rasberry vodka, Grand Marnier, splash of lime juice and splash of cranberry juice. And to get a nice pinkish color, I was a little heavy handed with the cranberry. Plus, I'm a girl drink drunk, so adding more lime and cranberry juice made the drink more tasty and sweet.

Vienna Sausage Pop Tarts

The recipe really calls for foie gras mousse pâté. I'm not a big fan of pâté. I figured i could take some vienna sausages and just mash them up, to get a similar consistency. I started mushing them with a fork, but that wasn't enough so i stuck them in my magic bullet, and that did the trick.
This recipe also uses pizza crust mix, where the the directions on the package says to add 1/2 cup of water. Sandra Lee always finds a way to use booze in a recipe. I made the dough with 1/4 cup of water and 1/4 cup of cognac.
I liked this recipe, it's not for everyone, but filipinos have a love of salty cured meats in a can. We love vienna sausage and Spam. Next time maybe i'll throw some spam in the magic bullet.

Balsamic Roasted Tomatoes

Sandra Lee does it again with something simple and tasty. Just tomatoes, some balsamic vinegar, cheese and fresh basil. I could have put more cheese on these and i think i need to learn how to cute even tomato slices. I've never used fresh basil before. It's gives these tomatoes a nice flavor.

Hot Crab Rangoon Dip

Whenever Rus and I order Chinese food, we always get crab rangoons. So when I saw this recipe in the book, I just had to give it a try. The fun part was that I got to use my crock pot. You can half the recipe and it still makes plenty of dip.
This was the first time I've had crabmeat from a can and it wasn't that bad. The dip basically crabmeat and cream cheese slowly cooked for 2 hours. It's delicious. 

Cocktail Time at Work!

Not wanting to be a big drunk at home. I brought in the fixings for the first two cocktails to work. So I can share the JOY of Sandra Lee with everyone.

Cocktail Time #2: PB&J Martini

I love peanut butter. I eat it straight out of the jar with a spoon. So a cocktail  named PB&J, I just had to try. I've never had hazelnut liquor. But hey, I LOVE Nutella. Simple recipe, just 3 ingredients: Raspberry vodka (Smirnoff), hazelnut liquor (Frangelico), and grape juice. And some raspberries for garnish.

I'm used to sweet & fruity cocktails. This one has a nutty flavor that at first sip wasn't too pleasant. But this drink grew on me sip after sip. I appreciated the delicious combination and savored the drink. It's not a chugging drink, it's meant to be enjoyed.

Mini Chicken Pot Pies

This recipe was for really mini chicken pot pies, using demitasse cups. I don't own demitasse cups so I decided to use the same ramekins I made the souffle in. This recipe uses chicken in a can, so it kind of resembles tuna fish. The preparation of this dish was pretty straight forward. The hardest thing for me was working with the phyllo sheets and buttering them.

I'm not sure if my larger pot pies are different, but the recipe called for baking them for 25 minutes to get the top golden brown. I only baked mine for 11, it looked done to me.  I enjoyed the flavor of the chicken mixture although the consistency was a bit off. It was like the chicken was shredded, and I think the excess water from the chicken didn't make the pie as creamy as it could have been. If I were to make this again, I'd probably just use some pre-cooked Purdue chicken strips that I would cube.

Diversion #1: Dark Chocolate Souffle

Not a recipe in the cookbook. Rus got me some ramekins, so i was thinking of what i could make in them. And I thought of a souffle. I've never had one and just know what I hear about them from the TV, that they deflate. I found this recipe. And gave it a shot.

I successfully separate eggs for the first time. Also i whipped egg whites for the first time into stiff peaks. I was ready to give up and have Rus take over, but I kept at it for over 10 minutes and was finally done.

The souffle had risen, but i forgot to take a picture and by the time i remembered, It had deflated. I have to say that this is really simple and delicious. I'd definitely make it again.

Shrimp Puff Saved!

Dino suggested making a soup out of the shrimp puffs. So he just put them in some chicken stock. I just added some garlic. And I have to say it was really tasty. The noodles became soft and edible. The stock really took the shrimp flavor well. The puffs by themselves were kinda bland and really needed the dipping sauce. But in the stock, it was really tasty.

Cocktail Time #1: Coconut Ginger Mojito

Simple drink. Mojito mix, coconut rum, and a splash of ginger ale. My first time trying anything with coconut rum. It's very tasty not too sweet and surprisingly you can taste that splash of ginger ale.

1 TBS = 1 tablespoon

I'm not a good cook. I really don't know my way around the kitchen. I should have known this dish was doomed from the beginning when I couldn't complete the first task. "Chop the noodles." I tried to chop, the noodles wouldn't chop. I tried a bread knife to slice them. They wouldn't slice. I finally just dumped some in a blender to break them apart.

Thanks to the bf, Rus. He took the tails of the shrimp for me. I can't measure ingredients, I was thinking i was using something that was 1/2 teaspoon, but it was actually 1/2 tablespoon. So some of the first few ingredients, I put in way too much. Also I was confusing myself, thinking I was doubling the recipe, to make 40 shrimp puffs, but I wasn't.

I tried to be fancy and separate a yolk from the white like they do on tv, but it all just fell in. I don't have a food processor so just used a blender. It seemed my mixture was a little too wet and probably over blended. (Looking too much of a puree). So after forming the "balls" and rolling them in the noodles, I popped them in the freezer to help them maintain their shape. I wasn't planning on cooking them right away. Wanted to bring my fry daddy to my parents' house and fry them there. (The fry daddy made it to my parents' house. The cord to the fry daddy did not).

Also made an orange/ginger dipping sauce. I messed this up too. Not really paying attention to the amounts i was supposed to put in. So i messed up on the first two ingredients and tried to compensate.

Since I couldn't use my fry daddy, I don't think i was able to get the oil hot enough on the stove. It was at most, 320°F and I was supposed to cook these at 375°F. So these could have come out more golden brown. They did puff up a bit, the noodles on the outside were really hard and hard to eat. I think some bread crumbs or another type of noodle would have been better. The puffs themselves were a little bland and did need the dipping sauce.

New Year's Winner = Hot Date!

Simple and tasty. Pitted date, stuffed with a pineapple chunk then wrapped with bacon.
A special thanks to my brother, Dino, for his lovely photography skills and to Rus, who does all the shopping. I'm helpless in a grocery store. I'm still not even sure what a date is. Anyway this one was simple to prepare and cheap, about $9 to make 24 of these.

Cocktail Time! and Merry Christmas!

Taking inspiration from Julie & Julia (and no I haven't seen the movie yet), I've decided use one of the Christmas presents I got from Mark & Myra, Cocktail Time by Sandra Lee, of Semi-homemade fame. I am a big fan of her, and enjoy watching her tv show.
She always has at least 1 or 2 cocktail recipes and she seems to really enjoy them. Being almost completely ignorant of fine cocktails, I want to learn. And I can find no better teacher than Sandra.

Well you'll be pleasantly surprised that on my road to becoming a lush in 2010, there will be pit stops of appetizers. The book I'll be following is combination appetizer/cocktail recipe book separated by month. So it's perfect for this year long journey.

So who knows, maybe in 2011, I'll be drunk/brave enough to enter the world of TABLESCAPES! Who knew you could put a chair on top of your table and use it as a centerpiece.