I realized a few years ago that if you shake a martini with basil leaves in the shaker, it dyes the whole thing green. It’s like the perfect St. Patrick’s Day cocktail. Why? Because it’s green, it’s not going to cause beer-bloat, and it’s SO DELICIOUS. I can’t even. If basil isn’t your favorite then we probably aren’t friends.
You should probably mix one of these up tonight just to make sure you’re ready for next week.
I love corned beef. But I never love corned beef more than when you put it between two slices of rye bread smeared with thousand island dressing, oozing with cheese and piled high with sliced corned beef. A reuben sandwich is my favorite. Take me to a dive bar that serves a greasy reuben and I’m in heaven. It’s literally the best thing ever.
This time of year, a reuben sandwich is the perfect way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, but also not feel stressed out by the cooking portion of eating. Deli sliced corned beef is perfect - unless you make a giant slab of corned beef and you have leftovers, then leftovers are dreamy here.
Serves 4
1 lb sliced pastrami
8 slices rye bread
2 tbs butter
2 tbs Dijon mustard
1 cup Sauerkraut
8 slices Swiss cheese
½ cup mayonnaise
¼ cup ketchup
2 tbs lemon juice
STEP 1
Combine together mayonnaise, ketchup, and lemon juice. Let rest.
STEP 2
Butter one side of each piece of bread. Spread the other side with Dijon mustard.
STEP 3
Layer a slice of cheese on top of four slices of bread (on top of the Dijon). Add pastrami equally divided amongst sandwiches.
STEP 4
Top pastrami with sauerkraut and another slice of cheese.
STEP 5
Top cheese with remaining slices of bread and toast the sandwiches over medium heat in a skillet.
STEP 6
Slice and serve with homemade Thousand Island dipping sauce.
Rainbows and St. Patrick’s Day go hand in hand. Usually this time of year I make sugar cookie cut outs of shamrocks (don’t worry, I still will) but I thought it would be fun to mix it up. I don’t think anything is better than those fluffy soft cookies that stay soft and fluffy even when they’ve been out of the oven for more than an hour. These stay fluffy for a whole week. It’s like they’re fresh out of the oven even when they aren’t.
I’m addicted to these. And there’s nothing stopping you from having rainbow cookies all the time.
makes 3 dozen cookies
1 cup butter (at room temperature)
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoon vanilla
2 egg
2 1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sprinkles
STEP 1
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy.
STEP 2
Add egg and vanilla to the sugars and beat until combined.
STEP 3
Add flour, baking powder, cream of tartar, and salt. Mix to combine. Then add sprinkles and just combine. Don’t over mix!
STEP 4
Scoop out cookie dough and bake 12 minutes until just set. Let rest 5 more minutes on the baking sheet once the cookies are out of the oven. Store up to one week in an airtight container.
Gnocchi are the best! Do you agree? I’m such a fan of those little potato pillows and you can buy them - made - at almost any grocery store. I like to buy the ones in the fresh case, but they do sell them on the shelves as well - they just aren’t as tender and fresh.
This time of year when things are finally going to be ripe again, I get so excited about fresh vegetables like those tiny little spring zucchini and fresh peas! I just realized today I forgot to plant peas over the weekend so I need to pop out today and get those planted. My grandfather always planted peas on President’s weekend and it’s literally the only reason I remember when to plant them.
As soon as those little guys are ripe, this is one of the first things I make. Until then, you can always use frozen. Those frozen peas are actually pretty good. As long as you don’t over cook them! They just need a hot second.
Spring Gnocchi
Serves 4
16 oz Gnocchi
2 tbs olive oil
1 cup peas
1 zucchini, chopped
½ cup white wine
2 tbs fresh mint, chopped
2 tbs fresh basil, chopped
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
2 tbs olive oil
2 cloves garlic
½ cup bread crumbs
STEP 1
Cook gnocchi in 2 tbs olive oil and sauté until browned.
STEP 2
Add zucchini, peas, 2 tbs butter and white wine. Stir to incorporate then cover and cook until gnocchi is tender.
STEP 3
In a separate pan, heat olive oil and grate in garlic. Add breadcrumbs and stir until lightly toasted.
STEP 4
Remove gnocchi from heat and toss in basil, mint, and parm.
STEP 5
Serve with breadcrumbs on top and additional parmesan cheese.
I had the most amazing realization this week - if I muddle some green things together it will turn the drink a lovely shade of green! Which means it’s perfect for St. Patrick’s Day without being dyed green or filled with something gross.
This isn’t just a St. Patrick’s Day drink that’s not gross - this is your new favorite spring cocktail. It’s light and refreshing, it’s made with all that mint growing in your yard, and it has a vegetable in it - healthy! I cannot wait for you to drink this. Tonight is the perfect night for it - or tomorrow - or the next day.
makes 2 drinks
6 slices of cucumber
10-12 mint leaves
4 ounces Hendricks Gin
Sparkling water
In a cocktail shaker, muddle together mint and cucumber using a muddler or the back of a wooden spoon. Add ice and gin. Shake well. Strain into two glasses and top with bubbly water (try Too Chico if you haven’t already)
Garnish with cucumber wheels and mint leaves.
Cheers!
It seems like every St. Patrick’s Day the interwebs are full of green food. While I’m here for pesto and vegetables, I don’t know that we need to dye EVERYTHING green just to be festive. Which is what got me thinking about adding Guinness to a stew! It’s festive and fun - but also not green. So it’s a perfect dinner for St. Patrick’s Day!
Serves 4
1lb sirloin steak, cubed
2 tbs olive oil
2 carrots, chopped
4 stalks celery, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic
2 tbs flour
1 20-oz can Guinness beer
2 cups beef stock
4 cups red potatoes, chopped
1 package puff pastry, defrosted
¼ cup grated white cheddar cheese
1 egg yolk
Salt
Pepper
STEP 1
In a stock pot, cook steak and garlic in olive oil until browned on all sides.
STEP 2
Add carrots, celery, and onion and cook until the onions have softened and the fond stuck to the bottom of the pan has come up. Season with salt and pepper. (5 mins)
STEP 3
Sprinkle the flour over the top of the vegetables and stir well until completely coated.
STEP 4
Pour the Guinness into the pan and stir to completely incorporate all of the pot. Bring to a boil, then add beef stock. Add potatoes and cook until the potatoes are fork tender. Season with salt and pepper as needed.
STEP 5
Roll out puff pastry and cut into four shamrock shapes. Brush the tops of each shamrock with the egg yolk then top with cheese. Bake 10-15 minutes until golden brown. Serve on top of soup!
Since you only use one beer in the stew, that leaves you three left for dinner! Cheers! Have a wonderful St. Patrick’s Day.
When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, That’s Amore!
Is pesto gorgonzola a thing in your house? If not, it should be! Pesto Gorgonzola is A T.H.I.N.G. in our house. My mom used to make it all the time for parties. It’s the ultimate simple appetizer and if you don’t know about it - here’s a link where I made it for an appetizer. You need to have this in your tool kit.
Is make-your-own pizza the best thing ever? It’s definitely my children’s favorite dinner which is probably why we end up making it for Valentine’s Day almost every year. We shape the dough into hearts if we’re feeling cheeky. The kids like theirs with pepperoni and black olives - but I only like when it’s delivery. If I’m making my own, I want something more interesting. That’s when I thought… Pesto Gorgonzola pizza! It’s amazing. I added bacon (because, bacon) and green onions to spice things up.
I can’t tell you how good this pizza is. It’s a super indulgent dinner - or a delish appetizer.
You can absolutely make your own dough - the one here is a 30 minute dough - or just buy it done already. It’s super simple either way. You do you.
makes four small pizzas
For the pizza dough
1 package active dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup very warm water
2 ½ cups flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup pesto
1 cup crumbled gorgonzola cheese
4 strips cooked bacon
4 sliced green onions
STEP 1
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
In a small bowl, combine yeast, sugar, and water. Let sit 10 minutes until foamy. Stir flour and salt together and add yeast mixture and olive oil to dry ingredients. Combine until smooth dough has formed. Let rest for five minutes.
1 package active dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup very warm water
2 ½ cups flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
STEP 2
Divide the dough into four equal portions. Shape, gently, into flat circles. Top with pesto, cheese, bacon and green onions. Pop into the oven and bake 10-12 minutes until the crust is brown and the pesto is bubbly.
Bon Appetit!
HAPPY SUPER BOWL WEEKEND! We’re so excited in our family. We watch football all fall. When it’s Monday night and football is in the background of dinner, my daughter rolls her eyes and says “football again?” But she still knows the players and teams, so it’s not like she hates it as much as she pretends. It started with my youngest’s obsession with football as a baby and has grown into a full blown preoccupation.
Super Bowl is literally the biggest thing at our house. Once it is over, my youngest sinks into a small depression when football ends and start watching reruns of games from the season. Then there’s combine, the draft, and the preseason. Do don’t worry about him too much. He’s already started setting up his mock draft for this off season.
For the kids cocktails this year I’ve been making fizzy lemonade. They love it. It’s just sparkling water that I stir in powdered lemonade. That’s what they’ll be drinking this Sunday. But it reminded me of beergaritas - also known as the Lemonade Shandy.
Lemonade Shandies are one of my favorite things to mix up when you host a party for a football game. They are boozy but not so boozy that you can’t keep up with the whole game (and the ads). Clearly we aren’t hosting parties this year thanks to the Covid which has literally ended all fun social interactions. I still left the ratios for the ingredients as punch bowl sized. I don’t recommend you drink the whole thing yourself. Think of it as ratios that you can adjust.
36 ounce corona beer
2 cups vodka
52 ounces lemonade
In a pitcher or a punch bowl, combine all of the ingredients and serve with a wedge of lemon.
SUPERBOWL! In our house it’s literally waiting for the Super Bowl. We are a big football family. It started with college ball. That’s my personal favorite. I started watching Husky football games as a child because my cousin played for them. I had a purple and yellow stripe outfit that I wore to cheer on the team every week. It was hot. It was a sleeveless turtleneck number with matching stretch pants. Welcome to 1988.
Then when my youngest was born, he became obsessed with football. Like as a one year old he watched games and cried when football season was over. He’d watch ‘talk about football’ in the off season (that’s Sportscenter). Nine years later, he’s more obsessed than anyone I’ve ever met. He knows every player and where they’ve gone to college and their stats. He’s ridiculous.
So we spend every weekend watching football games, playing fantasy football, and talking about who’s been traded. SuperBowl is literally the biggest thing in our house.
We’ve been talking about what we are going to eat for Super Bowl for at least a month now. Planning the food has been a paramount decision. Two weeks ago for playoff games we tested out WingStop to make sure they would be up to the task. I usually make my own wings but Jud had seen ads for WingStop and it became mandatory to see if they lived up to the hype. We’re planning a bucket of those to go along with the healthier options like this popcorn. And queso because it’s queso and there is no Super Bowl without queso.
1/2 cup popcorn kernels
2 tbs olive oil
2 tbs butter
2 tbs parmesan cheese
1 package powdered ranch dressing
1 tsp dried chives
1 tsp paprkia
STEP 1
In a pan or a stovetop popcorn popper, pour in olive oil and popcorn kernels. Shake the pan while cooking over high heat for 5-8 minutes until the popcorn stops popping. Let rest for one minute.
STEP 2
In a small bowl, combine all of the topping ingredients except the cheese.
STEP 3
Stir the butter into the hot popcorn to coat evenly. Then pour the seasoning on top and mix well. Add the cheese after all of the kernels are coated with ranch seasoning. Serve warm.
If I ate a sugar cookie while drinking a Manhattan I would literally go into a sugar coma. I haven’t had that much sugar in a really long time - but I cannot deny it is a dream of mine to eat sugar cookies and drink cocktails. If I had a restaurant, it would serve sugar cookies and boozy drinks - preferably vintage cocktails and champagne. Can you even? Wouldn’t that be the best? What would we name our restaurant? Should we serve charcuterie boards as well? Would that be the most bougie/basic thing ever? Probably.
Until I open my bougie/basic cookie bar (do we name it The Cookie Bar?!?!) I will have to settle for making my own. It’s not that big of a stretch. I make cookies for every holiday and send them around to friends. And there’s no denying I like a good cocktail.
For Valentines’s Day I paired up this natural (?) duo with a Manhattan and sugar cookies. My sugar cookies have become famous in the neighborhood. When everyone else “boo-s” with candy at Halloween, my kids “boo” with sugar cookies. The truth of my sugar cookies is that they are really a quick knock off of Jenny Cookies recipe. Her recipe has things like “refrigerate the dough” and “add the flour a little at a time.” I don’t have the patience for either of those things. Because her recipe is so easy to remember, it’s become mine too.
makes 2 dozen
1 cup sugar
1 cup butter (room temperature or slightly warmer)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
STEP 1
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
In a small bowl, combine the flour and the baking powder. Set aside.
STEP 2
In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until soft and totally incorporated. It’s important you don’t see ‘chunks’ of butter.
STEP 3
Add the eggs and vanilla and combine totally.
STEP 4
Add the flour mixture and combine on low speed until it looks ‘crumbly.’ Then turn up the mixer speed and beat until the dough forms a ball. It legitimately will form a ball and you’ll panic for a minute that you’ve ruined everything and why is it so crumbly, and then it just works.
STEP 5
Roll the dough out to 1/4 inch depth. I use rolling pin with guides on it so I know I’m at the same depth all the way around. If the cookies end up being different depths, you will end up with some cooked and some still raw.
STEP 6
Bake 6-8 minutes until just set. Let cool on the cookie sheet 5-10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Let cool completely before frosting.
The perfect Manhattan is not super hard. But there are lots of opinions on how to make the perfect Manhattan - even saying that is a problem because there’s a variation of Manhattan called “Perfect Manhattan.” {eyeroll}
I turned to my own personal cocktail expert - my friend Eric - who has strong opinions on the subject of cocktails for his opinion on what we would call the perfect Manhattan - the history of the drink seemed like a good place to start.
There’s no exact place the cocktail was invented - the only thing the stories all agree with is that it was developed in the 1880’s in NYC. One story is that it was created for the mother of Winston Churchill before he was born (the timeline doesn’t work) but I’m here for that story. It’s great.
The original drink was made with “American whiskey”, French vermouth and 3-4 dashes of bitters. The “American whiskey” is the critical part. That’s what we would call rye today. It’s not bourbon. You can make this with bourbon, but it’s a different drink. Eric says it sweeter, I say “it’s not as delicious.” Some early versions have a few dashes of gum syrup as well. Gum syrup (or gimme syrup) is basically a simple syrup but with gum arabic dissolved in it as well as sugar. Since that’s just a thickener/stabilizer, we can assume it had nothing to do with adding flavor so really, just a few dashes of simple syrup.
The recipe gets slightly more complicated during prohibition when American whiskey becomes a challenge to get in NYC but Canadian whiskey isn’t the same challenge (geography). Some recipes still use Canadian whiskey because of this hiccup in history.
Before I give you the recipe for a perfect (not Perfect) Manhattan, let me first say that Eric is dying right now that I made my Manhattans on the rocks. He would make them up. Only. And he’s going to call me for sure when he sees these pictures and tell me how wrong it is. So let me say - the correct way is served up like a Martini. But if you’re like me and you drink a neat drink WWAAAYYY too fast, then on the rocks is a liver saver.
Don’t worry, I didn’t shake it - I still stirred it which is the proper way to serve a Manhattan. It’s another controversy, but it’s not to be debated here. Stir it. Don’t shake it.
2 ounces Pikesville Rye
1 ounce Carpano Antica sweet vermouth
2-3 dashes Angostura bitters
luxardo cherries
In a cocktail pitcher filled with ice, combine the ingredients. Stir gently with a swizzle or bougie glass stir stick. Strain into glasses immediately (so it doesn’t dilute) and serve with a cherry for garnish.
While I wait to open my bougie/basic Cookie Bar, I made these for girlfriends this holiday since we can’t see each other. It’s a “happy hour” I can deliver and I’m wrapping the whole thing in the “That’s Amore” dishtowel. Aren’t they fun? I made them. If you want one, let me know. I’ll send you one too.
