Winter Pesto Crostinis

Makes 20 to 25 crostinis

This is a great seasonal recipe that you can eat year round.  It is so flavorful you wouldn’t even know there was no basil in it.  It is also incredibly healthy.

Ingredients

1 cup kale, torn into small pieces and stems removed
1 cup spinach, loosely packed
½ cup parsley, loosely packed
½ cup nuts (pine nuts, hazelnuts, macadamia, any mild nut will work)
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 tsp fresh rosemary, stem removed
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
½ tsp salt
Pinch red pepper flakes
delicious bread or crackers (I like a crusty baguette)


Instructions

Prepare an ice bath in a large bowl to cool the kale after cooking.  Bring a pot of water to a boil then add kale and blanch for 4 minutes.  Remove kale with slotted spoon and place immediately in ice bath to cool down.  Once cool, drain excess water from kale.

Add everything except bread and olive oil to a food processor.  Drizzle olive oil into the processor while pulsing.  Do not over process; we’re not making baby food here.

Spoon about 1 tsp of the pesto on each crostini and grate fresh Parmesan over the top.

Video: Principles of a Good Salad

Watch as Jamie Oliver gives a good lesson on how to make a simple fresh salad. Anyone can learn a few tips from this video, amateur or pro.

Homemade Bread and Butter Pickles

Makes 4 pint jars

Ever wonder if you could make your own pickles at home. It's actually easier than you think. Most store bought pickles are laced with things that you don't really want in there, like high fructose corn syrup, Polysorbate 80 and Yellow #5. I prefer to use ingredients in my food that don't have a number after their name. These pickles were pretty easy and came out pretty delicious.

Here is what you will need to make your homemade pickles:

Equipment:

4 pint jars w/ lids
large pot

Ingredients:

4 medium cucumbers, scrubbed and sliced 1/8 inch thick

1/2 cup onion, sliced

1/2 cup kosher salt

4 cloves garlic, peeled

3 tsp Pickling spice
1 tsp turmeric

1 1/2 cups white wine vinegar
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar

2 cups hot water

1 cup sugar

Watch this video before you make the pickles. It's helpful and the guy is hilarious:

fyi, that's not me...but this guy knows what he's doing. He's a "blue ribbon prize-winning pickle maker." I didn't have a canning kit; but tongs, a ladle and an extra towel sufficed for every thing I needed to make these pickles.

Add salt to the cucumbers and onions to remove water. This helps make them crisp and crunchy.

Simmering cucumbers in vinegar and spices

Jars loaded with cucumber 1/2 inch below the top, looking good already

Simmering jars for 15 minutes to seal for prolonged storage. Never let jars touch the bottom of the pot to prevent breakage. Use a rack or kitchen towel to act as a barrier between the pot and the jars.

B&B Pickles

Ingredients

4 medium cucumbers, scrubbed and sliced 1/8 inch thick

1/2 cup onion, sliced

1/2 cup kosher salt

4 cloves garlic, peeled

3 tsp Pickling spice
1 tsp turmeric

1 1/2 cups white wine vinegar
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar

2 cups hot water

1 cup sugar

Directions

Run your jars and lids through the dishwasher.

Combine cucumbers and onions in a large colander. Toss with salt and let drain over a bowl for 2-3 hours and cover them with a clean kitchen towel and a tray of ice which help keep them crisp. Combine remaining ingredients in a large pot(3-4 qts) and bring to a boil. Rinse salt off the cucumbers then add them to the pot and cook for 8 minutes over medium high heat keeping the temperature just below boiling.

Line jars up in a row on a towel to prevent spillage(turmeric will stain). Ladle the cucumber, vinegar, spice mixture into each jar. Do your best to get a piece of garlic in each jar. Fill to 1/2 inch below the top of the jar. Seal jars.

At this point if you're planning on eating your pickles in the next 3 weeks, you can let your jars cool then put them in the fridge. Further processing will allow you to keep the pickles for up to a year.

To process jars, bring a large pot of water to a simmer. Place a rack or kitchen towel at the bottom of the pot to prevent jars from touching bottom. Add jars and make sure they're covered with an inch of water. Heat for an additional 10 minutes(15 minutes if you live above 5,000 ft). Remove jars and allow to cool.

Store in a cool, dark place for up to a year. They will taste good in just a few hours but will taste even better in a day or two. Once opened, they should be refrigerated and will keep for about another 3 months.

Notes: I recommend watching a video tutorial on how to do this on YouTube.

Drunken Monkey Cupcakes

This recipe is sort of a fusion of traditional banana bread and cupcakes. Some ginger and spices add a welcome complexity to these, while still maintaining a great banana flavor. The beer in the recipe provides a subtle sweet roasty flavor with a unique fluffiness from its' carbonation. The frosting is based on a canoli filling recipe I stumbled across when I was looking to do the frosting a little bit differently. These cupcakes make a great snack for any time of the year.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups flour

2 cups ripe bananas (3-4 bananas), mashed

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 tbsp molasses

1 tsp fresh ginger, grated

2 eggs(preferably free range), beaten

6 oz 70% cocoa bitter sweet chocolate, chopped(I used a food processor)

6 oz unsalted organic butter(1 1/2 sticks)

1 cup stout beer (I used an Espresso Stout from Twisted Pine)

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp vanilla

1 tsp nutmeg

Ricotta Frosting (recipe follows)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a medium bowl combine flour, baking soda, salt, chocolate chips, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Stir to combine.

In a large bowl cream together butter, brown sugar and molasses until there are no more lumps. Add mashed banana, eggs, ginger, stout, vanilla. Whisk until smooth. Add dry mixture to wet mixture, stirring just until everything is combined.

Spoon into a cupcake pan with wrappers lining the pan filling each about 3/4 full.

Bake for 17-20 minutes until a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. Allow to cool for 40 minutes then add ricotta frosting.

Make the Ricotta Frosting:

Ingredients

1/4 cup coffee

1 tbsp kahlua

2 tbsp 70% cocoa bittersweet chocolate, chopped into small chips

1 tsp lemon zest

2 tbsp Ricotta Salata(or regular ricotta drained in a fine sieve)

1 tsp cinnamon

2 cups powdered sugar(add less or more depending on desired sweetness)

3 tbsp butter, melted

Directions

Combine all ingredients and whisk until proper consistency, adding more sugar or coffee as needed. Refrigerate for 30 minutes before spreading on cupcakes.

Mashed Potato Casserole

Serves 6

Ingredients

5 cups of your favorite mashed potatoes(warm)

1 cup shredded sharp cheddar

1 cup panko bread crumbs

½ cup shredded parmesan

1 tbsp paprika

fresh ground pepper

1 tbsp butter, for greasing pan

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Spread mashed potatoes evenly in a buttered 13 x 9 baking pan. In a medium bowl mix together cheddar, bread crumbs, parmesan, paprika and pepper. Top mashed potatoes with cheese and bread crumb mixture and bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes if the casserole is not brown on the top, turn on the broiler for a minute or two and remove from oven when browned. Allow to cool for 5 minutes and serve.

FREE THE HOPS!