Wild Wednesdays - Rustic Peach Galette

I just returned from being back home in Minnesota where the days are long, the time feels short, and someone is always in the kitchen! The farming and nostalgic recipes are rearin’ to be used so this pairing I created for Nashville Box Club, but one that uses my mom’s tried and true recipes!

Memories of her hands making this same dough, rolling it out, being in the kitchen. The pies cooking and radio on blast. Calling out to my Dad that it was time for supper after the 5 o’clock whistle blew.

The easiest pastry that can be used in multiple ways, this one as a galette. Don’t worry, she’s never been a lobbyist for the sugar board so this is minimal on added sugar and utilizes the natural flavor and juices of the fruit! Enjoy with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream and you’re set.

Wild Wednesdays - DIY Floral Ice

It’s hot, it’s muggy, everything and everyone is sweating. So much so that I feel like I’ve sweat past lives out onto the sidewalk while trudging to my destination in hopes of some cool relief.

Since we’re already going to be throwing ice into any drink we can, why not make it pretty?!

Find some edible flowers (ask friends/neighbors/etc if you don’t have any!), also use an app to identify and make sure you have the right ones, some varieties have sub species that are so similar but one is edible and one is not!

Buy some silicone ice trays - W+P Design has some good ones, Amazon of course, just follow your heart.

Fill the trays halfway with water. Add the flowers, let freeze for at least two hours, then take out and fill with ice cold water to the top. This way the flowers stay in the middle for that dramatic effect you want and won’t float to the top!

Et voilá! Spice up your 7th glass of water, your 5 o’clock cocktail or your kid’s lemonade.

Wild Wednesdays - Summer Supper Pt 1

Even with the weather being finicky and throwing us some serious shade (and cold), there have been enough brighter days to hold onto the beautiful fact that Spring is here and Summer is coming. Which makes me even more excited to eat outside basically every day and spend as much time as possible outside.

Last year during the throes of Covid, I got into playing with different grilled sandwich recipes and this one turned out to be one of my favorites, and when paired with the super easy Mediterranean-type salad it makes it complete. Cook together or make separately for a crowd!

So, pour yourself a drink, open the windows and let the summer roll around you as you make this delicious meal!

Pro tip: wait to add the fresh herbs if you are transporting to a friend’s house, adding them when you get there will look total baller and it will save the herbs from wilting too much in the salad!

Holiday Gift Guide - Part One

The holidays are upon us and who knew that we would still be in Pandemic mode and even more unsure of what the next year holds. While you are probably starting to put your Christmas lists and budgets together, sifting through names for Christmas Card lists and if you’ll be going home or not, the gift giving portion can be overwhelming.

While I waver between the idealistic simplicity of minimalism and the undoubted maximalist that I am (to be fair, I think I am smack dab in the middle) I can’t argue with anyone that I have many things and I do love a good piece. Servingware, vintage glasses, random antiques and nature I’ve collected and the thing is that no one can come at me because I have probably lent something completely random and obscure to half the people in Nashville at one time or the other.

But, I will say, the holidays can make people consumer crazy and I’m as guilty getting caught up in it as everyone else. Usually it’s a slow easing out of my tabs as I realize I just spent an hour googling a random item at 10:30 pm that in actuality I have no intention of buying and then taking some deep breaths and murmuring some words about being content with what I have.

So, here’s an idea for you. That beer bread from the second episode for Wild Wednesdays? It makes a great gift. Low number of ingredients, easy to mix and make, and is basically foolproof. Just combine all of the dry ingredients into a bag or cute containers ( can be all divided up), add in a can of beer and instructions, then package up (in a super cute stocking from Spark Vintage) and gift!

Great for someone who wants to get into baking but is intimidated, a group activity for kids, or a friend who wants the self care of being in the kitchen without the stress of a million things happening at once. It gets used, is practical and won’t take up shelf space.

Happy Holidays,

Kat

Holiday Spirit

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.

Healing Winter Broth Recipe

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.

Healing Winter Broth 

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.

Breaking (Bread)

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