Aisle Twelve

Here's a holiday recipe that will be sure to bring plenty of cheer. Mulled wine will warm your belly, and not just because it's served warm. The smell alone will get you in a festive mood. Be sure not to break the bank on extravagant wine. With all the spice and other flavors in this drink, the nuances of the wine will be masked. An inexpensive wine will be more than fine. I can't think of a better way to drink this than curled up by the fireplace with a nice blanket and good conversation. Cheers to the holidays! Mulled Wine 3/4 cup sugar 2 cups water 1 cup apple cider 1 cinnamon stick 12 cloves peel of 1 lemon 2 bottles dry red wine 1/2 cup brandy or spiced rum Combine water, sugar, cinnamon stick,cloves and lemon peel in large sauce pan. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add brandy, cider and wine. Do not boil. Bring to temperature of coffee.

It's that time of year again: slow cooker season. There is no better feeling than coming home to a rich, flavorful dinner that you hardly had to lift a finger for. That is why slow cookers should be called life savers, or sanity savers, or good smell factories. They are the best. I've mentioned before though that it can be challenging to find a slow cooker recipe that is not a soup, stew or chili. Here's one that's a little different and just as rib stickingly delicious. Ropa Vieja literally translates to old clothes. I'm not quite sure why. Is it because the shreds of beef look like old tattered clothing? Or because you gobble it up so fast you make a hot mess of your shirt which now becomes old clothes? Either way, this meal is delicious. Think pot roast with a little Spanish flair. Being married to a Cuban, I find that I am frequently requested to make Cuban dishes.  The problem is, I haven't had much experience in authentic Cuban food.  That chang

Late summer, early fall is my favorite time of year to go to the farmer's market. It's the perfect time of year to stock up on sweet corn. I over bought a little last week and came home with about three too many ears of corn. I didn't want to just freeze it so I decided to make some chowder. Only, I had never made a chowder before. To my pleasant surprise, this chowder was just the perfect way to use up the corn. It was sweet, and creamy and hit the spot. Joe even told me it was in his top 5 meals that I have ever made. I take that as a pretty high compliment. This is something I will be making time and time again. I adapted this recipe by taking a few things here and there from many recipes that I read on the internet. I made just enough for the three of us, but the recipes I read served more like 6 people, so I will put those measurements in here. Also, most recipes called for white wine. I didn't have any. I wanted to use a beer instead; something with a lit

Now I know what you're thinking, why go to the trouble of making pizza when its just so darn easy to pick up the phone and have a perfectly good one delivered?  I'll tell you why.  Once you discover the fun and the flavor of making your own homemade pizza, you'll never want to order a delivery pizza again.  The drawback of making your own is of  course the time factor.  But if you do it in steps, then it is possible to make your own faster than it would be to call in your order and have it delivered.  I do it like this:  on a weekend or a day when I am lucky enough to have time sans crawling toddler at my feet, then I make the pizza dough.  Making pizza dough is pretty fast and simple.  You take a handful of ingredients, mix it up and then let it sit in a bowl for an hour.  After it rises, you have not one, but two large (14 inch) pizza crusts.  That means if you freeze the other crust, all you have to do is pop the dough out of the freezer in the morning, pull it

Every year I seem to fall in love with a new herb.  I grow it, I use it as much as I can, and I wonder how I've never used it before.  Although there has been torrential downpours just about everyday, I already know that I am going to be growing dill in my garden this spring.  I'm in love with it ever since I made this potato salad.  I want to put dill in everything.  I love it's tangy savory-ness.  It's a perfect herb - a perfect compliment to any dish.  Dill, where have you been all my life?  It's been way too long.  Try this simplistic, French inspired potato salad and you too will fall dill-eriously in love with dill. Dill Potato Salad (Makes 4 side servings) 1 1/2 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes juice from 1/2 lemon 2 sprigs dill, chopped about 1/2 tsp garlic powder salt and pepper about 1 generous tbs mayo about 1 generous tsp Dijon mustard Boil potatoes in pot and drain.  Cut potatoes into large cubes and transfer to large bowl.  While potatoes are

I love anything parmesan: eggplant parmesan, chicken parmesan and now portabella parmesan.  This dinner speaks for itself.  It's a great meatless dinner option, which is something I try to get in at least one dinner a week.  I wish I could say that it was a healthier option, but really with all that cheese, it's hardly low fat.  But who cares when it's cheese.  Cheese is worth the calories.  Cheese is the best, most perfect food on Earth.  And that is all I have to say about this meal.  Make it.  Eat it.  It is good.  Portabella Parmesan (Based on recipe from Everyday Italian) 5 portabella mushrooms 1  jar marinara sauce 1/2 cup (more or less) shredded mozzarella cheese Italian breadcrumbs 1/4 cup (more or less) grated Parmesan cheese olive oil Grease a 9x13 baking dish and preheat oven to 400. Clean mushrooms with a damp cloth and scoop out the "gills" of the mushroom gently with a spoon.  Cut off stems.  On a ligh

April showers bring May flowers.  I know this but it's hard to stay optimistic when it has been day after day of cold rain.  That's the joy of living in Michigan. I try to remind myself as I look at the dreary scene out my window that this is what it would be like to live somewhere exciting like London or Scotland.  But really it makes me want to stay in pajamas and eat all day.  So that is what I'll do.  When in Rome (or Michigan), right?  If you want to hibernate and eat all day, then it is a good idea to make something not too decadent or your waistline will become bearlike.  Joe bought a giant jug of Greek yogurt at the store.  I do not like yogurt on its own.  It has to be very doctored up before I can choke it down.  I also have been trying to get rid of the last of the frozen berries from last summer.  I just hate to toss them out when they were frozen at such a nice ripeness.  So I looked to the internet for a recipe.  I found one on a blog and gave it a try

Raise your hand if you can't stand one more second of a basketball game.  (Hand raised high in air.)  Yes, March Madness has made its presence known in this household.  One way I can tolerate this much basketball is to make it an event, a food event naturally.  I made these meatballs for Superbowl Sunday but sadly, forgot to take a picture.  Luckily I remembered this time. These meatballs are definitely on the spicy side, so they are not something to make for the faint of heart.  I saw a couple different recipes for these on Pinterest, but when I made them, something was just off.  This recipe I created by using the recipe for my Grandma's meatballs, but instead of using ground beef I used ground chicken.  One of the recipes on Pinterest called for the meatballs to be baked.  While this sounds like a good idea to try to make them a little healthier, what I found is that the meatballs were baking in their own greasy, slimy juices and it just made for a weird texture w

I'm not Irish, but if there was one heritage I wish I could be its Irish; and French, and Greek, and Brazilian, and Argentinian...ok, so I admire a lot of heritages.  But Irish seems like a good thing to be, especially this time of year.  So on a particularly rainy and dreary Sunday, after a week of colds and sickness, beef and stout stew sounded like a good idea.  I searched the Internet for a recipe that I could use, but I didn't find one I liked.  Meaning: I wanted one that was simple and didn't take too long (so no slow cooker.)  So, I made up my own recipe.  I've only done this a handful of times with mixed success, so I was a little nervous.  But it turned out great!  I basically went with a beouf bourginon process, only with stout instead of red wine.  It might not be the most authentic Irish stew, but I hope it would make an Irish person proud.  Beef and Stout Stew (Serves 4) 1 lb beef stew meat, cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes* 1 bottle of

This was the first year that Joe and I didn't go out to eat for Valentine's Day.  I wanted to be able to put my baby to bed and wish him sweet dreams on his first Valentine's.  So I decided to bring the restaurant to us.  And guess what I discovered?  There are many advantages to fine dining at home.  Advantage #1:  Cheaper.  I know that Joe's favorite dinner is surf and turf.  I went all out and got two 4 oz beef tenderloins to make fillet mignon and two small Maine lobster tails (they were expensive ingredients, but buying the smaller portions made it a little more reasonable.)  I made the garlic butter sauce to dip the lobster in, made some herb butter for the fillet and even made  profiteroles  and espresso for dessert. The whole thing was cheaper than what it would have been going out.  Not to mention I could have had the whole bottle of the wine for less than one glass at a nice restaurant.  Advantage #2:  You finally have a reason to bust out the wed

This is a lesson in simplicity.  As in, some things are just so simple, they seem overwhelming.  One thing I have always thought to be decadent, fancy, over-the-top gourmet is profiteroles.  Maybe it's because you usually get them at a fancy restaurant or they are such a rarity that they seem out of reach.  Had I known just how fast and easy this dessert is, I would have made them a long time ago.  If I knew that I have most of the ingredients in the fridge on a regular basis, then I might be making these every week.  If I knew that I could make a batch and them freeze them and take them out whenever I needed them, then I'd probably eat them everyday.  The beautiful thing about profiteroles is how versatile they are.  Not only are they a blank canvas as a dessert, but they could be made into a savory appetizer.  It's just as easy to fill them with pistachio gelato and top with chocolate sauce as it is to fill them with goat cheese and top with a balsamic reduction.

With temperatures barely making it to positive digits today, it seemed like the perfect day to stay in sweatpants and bake something.  I decided it was a chocolate chip banana bread kind of day.  Banana bread, like apple pie, is not only a delicious treat for the mouth, but the nose as well.  My whole house is filled with comforting banana bread aromatherapy.  If looking at this doesn't make you feel instantly warmer, then you need to make this yourself to feel the warm comfort.  Chocolate Chip Banana Bread 1 3/4 cup flour 1/2 tsp baking soda 1 1/4 tsp baking powder 3/4 tsp salt 1/3 cup shortening 2/3 cup sugar 2 eggs, slightly broken 1 cup mashed bananas (2 to 3) chocolate chips (optional) Sift flour, add baking powder, baking soda and salt, sift again. In a large bowl, cream shortening and add sugar gradually and beat until light and fluffy. Add eggs and mix until smooth. Add dry ingredients alternating with the mashed bananas, stirring enough t