Everyone is welcome. This savory dish will be the talk of your dinner party, the unforeseen star of the show, the recipe that everyone will ask for.
The bacon grease slipping the sides of the pears, the savory coating of the salt and pepper, the tangy cut of the vinegar and mustard is, well, chef’s kiss.
ENJOY!
Part of Wild Wednesdays is the permission to try something new and guess what, you don’t even have to be good at it.
I’ve never made any kind of spring roll or egg roll, until I go through the process it can seem intimidating and then once the steps are strode though I usually wonder where it has been all my life (remember how LONG it took me to even try making a martini because the simplicity of it was mountainous in trepidation?!)
These Summer Flower Rolls are insanely easy, if you don’t have access to edible flower, ask around! Just make you know if they have been sprayed or not. For this recipe I used pansies, bachelor buttons and yarrow, with some garnish of the little white daisy ones that I wouldn’t recommend only because they are super bitter!
And, as you can see by the lack of my skills, they don’t have to be perfect or show worthy, they just have to make it from the plate to your mouth. Feel free to substitute with other things that you might have in your fridge or want to try!
Just do it.
The sun is back, summer is coming, Kat is happy again.
Woof, I don’t know about y’all but winter hits me harder e v e r y year and I am sick of it. But the last two weeks have played games with our hearts here in Nashville and inspiration and creativity is returning, along with a full heart.
Easy summer appetizer? Beautiful handiwork that takes 10 minutes? Go play. Here ya go.
I really cannot take credit for this, because until our group text received a message from my friend Kate that stated, “I put a container outside to catch the sleet for sno cones, you can thank me later,” I really had no idea.
So, thank you, Kate.
So that afternoon, post sleeting, now with a bucket about a quarter of the way full of the most tiny, perfect spheres of ice, I braved the cold and it was time to play. Kitty’s Cigar + Cocktail Lounge was open for business, even if just for myself since my roommate and boyfriend refused to come outside. I decided to go three different ways with this, to touch on a few different flavor profiles, I would just recommend to make sure all liquids are as cold as you can get them before pouring over so that the ice doesn’t melt as much.
We’ve got Chocolate + Bourbon, Pineapple Honey + Tequila, and a touch of the warmer weather with Banana Cream Rum.
So, bundle up yourself (and the kids, if you must) and head outside to enjoy. Pro tip, wear gloves. Recipes are at the bottom.
Don’t slip.
I really dislike reading long, over explanatory paragraphs when the recipe I want and desire is hidden in-between or at the bottom. So, you won’t find that here.
But it’s the end of summer and tomato season so we’re gonna say a goodbye to our summer love with this simple dinner.
A take on Bruschetta, with a twist of course. I’m a sucker for veggies roasted and slightly charred and the mix of asparagus with the freshly picked tomatoes is swoon-worthy, also be prepared with a drop cloth because the delicious butter and savory oil will be dripping down your hands and face in a split second. Worth it though.
Live well. Love wild.
Holidays are obviously full of gift giving, food devouring, drink swilling and lots of family time, with some those ensuing more-so around family than usual.
If you’re friends with me then it’s fair to say at some point I’ll either make you a gift or food object at some point. I’ll be honest, sometimes it is me trying to save money but other times it’s because I tried something awesome and I want to share it with everyone. Literally.
So, infusing gin. I love gin as a base for cocktails because you can do a lot with it and it’s easy to play around with. I got the idea to do an infusion when I wanted to add some flavor to fin but couldn’t find the right type of liqueur or bitters to do it and thought there had to be a way to infuse it into the gin. Turns out there is.
For my gin infusions I tried to think of my friends and what their personalities evoked when I thought of them/what flavors they like and what ones would work well with gin. My synopsis? Lemon, grapefruit, chamomile and ginger.
And it’s SUPER easy. Almost way too easy.
Pick your poison. Then pick your infusion.
Chamomile:
1 mason jar of gin
2 tea bags
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Let steep for 1 day and take out tea bags. Keep in jar or transfer to resalable , airtight container. Store in a cool, dry place.
Lemon/Grapefruit/Ginger
1 mason jar of gin
Peel rind of one lemon
Juice lemon and pour into jar
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Let sit for 1-2 days, then take out rind, strain gin with a fine mesh strainer (I used a fine cotton cloth) and transfer gin back to jar or reseal-able airtight container. Store in a cool, dry place.
CHEERS.
Enjoy Responsibly.
Last January, during a bout of sickness where, for a few days, I did believe that I was not going to survive the winter, I made up this recipe. I was housesitting and didn’t have access to my arsenal of voodoo stuff at home so I was making do with what they had in their pantry for whatever I could think of that could help me. So, this was born.
As always, you can adjust this for your own taste. I prefer bold flavors with a good deal of heat and spice but I also know if I gave that to my roommate she might throw up. So feel free to make this a version of your own! If you are feeling a cold coming on I would add two cloves of garlic and healthy amounts of freshly grated ginger (or dry spices if you have to) to really nip things in the bud.
Enjoy.
1 cup (8 oz) of broth (vegetable, bone or chicken, preferable low sodium)
½ tsp Himalayan rock salt
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 clove fresh garlic
Pinch of green onion tops
1 tsp of freshly grated ginger
*Pour broth into small saucepan and turn heat to medium/low. You just want to heat the broth, it doesn’t need to boil.
When broth is beginning to simmer, add the rest of ingredients.
Enjoy.
When people think of baking bread they think of hot kitchens, hours of watching, waiting, kneading and all for the potential chance to screw things up.
Luckily for everyone, my amazing mom is coming to the rescue once again.
Beer Bread (otherwise known as Bachelor Bread), is a simple, easy, fool proof recipe that I make so often I can usually just take some out of the fridge and heat up if a friend decides to pop over unexpectedly.
I love telling people that I’m just taking bread out of the oven because they expect you to have been slaving away for hours when in reality it took me 10 minutes. While this bread does include beer (helps with that one can that always happens to be in the fridge) you really can’t taste the beer because it gets baked out of it. That being said, I do prefer using a stout or porter, something about the thickness and richness of the brew affects the bread in the best way.
There isn’t a lot of sugar but the little bit of brown sugar that you put and it combines with the heavier beer is just the touch of heaven that you are looking for. Then dipping this in the olive oil dipping oil I’ve included as well is the perfect appetizer or light dinner. My friends request beer bread all the time!
The best part? This literally takes about 10 minutes to mix up and then only 45 minutes to bake, enough time to finish getting ready for guests and have it come piping hot out of the oven! And no one is going to believe you when you say how easy it was.
This also makes a GREAT present! My mom will wrap this up and give to all of the older bachelors in their church and community and it’s something that is useful, not a thing that’s going to take up more space and it makes you bake!
It’s also great the following days after when you get home late from work and don’t feel like cooking, just break some off and toast it up, grab that dipping oil and pray there’s a bit of cheese left and you’ll be living like a queen.
#carbsforlife
