Monday, March 31, 2008

Soda Swizzler

Favorite can of soda pop
Fruit popcicle

On a hot summer day, take a can of your favorite soda pop and cool it down while giving it some flavor. Choose a cola or a lemon-lime (even diet). Pour the can into a pint glass. Take your favorite fruit popcicle (whole or half-bar style) and stick it upside-down into the glass of soda. Use it to stir and add flavor to your soda as it melts and cools your soda instead of ice.

Try these flavor combinations:
Cola soda & lime popcicle
Lemon-lime soda & cherry popcicle
Root beer soda & coconut popcicle
Orange soda & orange creamcicle
Cola soda & fudge popcicle

Monday, March 24, 2008

Brer Rabbit: Tar Baby style



Ingredients
1 rabbit (approx 3 lbs), quartered
1 bunch rainbow carrots

Tar Baby sauce
1/2 cup molasses
Juice of one large orange
A few spoons of brown sugar

Tangy Tar Baby rub (optional)
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp brown sugar
(this rub will cover one of the rabbit quarters. multiply the rub recipie by the number of quarters you wish to season)

Directions
Mix sauce ingredients in bowl. Set aside.

Combine rub ingredients and mix thourghly. Apply rub to rabbit. Press / rub thouroughly. You can do this a few hours ahead of time to allow it to marinate a bit. Keep refrigerated until ready to cook.

Set grill heat to low and place rabbit on grill. It's best to cook slowly and with indirect heat to prevent over drying of the meat. While grilling, brush on sauce. Brush on multiple coats as you flip, until covered. Cook about 20 minutes, but be sure to check with thermometer (~160 degrees) to determine doneness.

A carrots to grill and cook them as well. They will take about the same time to cook, depending on their size. Cut large carrots in half long-ways to cook quicker.

Grill over mesquite wood or with mesquite chips for extra flavor.


On left: with Tangy Tar Baby rub
On right: Tar Baby style (no rub)

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Looney Cake

This one was not created by me, but it's the family recipie that my mom has always made. Delicious!
***



Cashew / Peanut Brittle

This one was not created by me, but it's the family recipie that my dad has always made. It's not as hard as it may seem to make!
***

One candy thermometer

2.5 Cups of white sugar
1 Cup white Karo syrup
1 Cup water
3 Cup green/raw Cashews or Peanuts (must be raw and unsalted)
1 Teaspoon vanilla
1 Teaspoon baking soda (make sure this from a new box)

Have two cookie sheets or a large pan ready. butterer lightly.

Cook sugar, karo, and water to soft ball stage in heavy saucepan. Add nuts and cook till light brown string all the time untill temperature is exactly 327. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Stir well then add soda string very fast. Becareful not to stir with a plastic or meltable spoon. Make sure soda is all mixed in, brittle will turn light brown and get bigger in pan. Pour immediately on to butted pans string all the time. Do not get it on you for it is very, very
HOT and you will not be able to get it off your hand.

Let pans cool until it is cool to the touch. A cold garage or garage floor is a good place. Then break into pieces and eat!

Monday, March 10, 2008

Nutmeg Amaretto Pancakes

Pancake mix / Bisquick
Freshly ground nutmeg
1 shot Amaretto

Make your pancake mix as directed on the package. I like to use Bisquick. Add 8-10 grinds of the nutmeg from the nutmeg mill or grate it until you think it's enough. Add the Amaretto. Cook as directed.

This just adds a extra little hint of flavor to your pancakes (or waffles).

Frostbite

Lemon-lime soda
Beer of your choice
Pint glass

First make a snakebite... Choose your favorite beer. I think a wheat / hefeweizen works best. Probably not a flavored one, but you can give any beer a try. Pour 1 part beer and 1 part soda into your pint glass. Now this, by itself is a delicious snakebite.

Now to turn it into a frostbite. Just put your snakebite in the freezer! Put it in there for at least an hour. The beer will keep it from freezing solid. However, the longer you freeze the more slush you will get. This makes for a delicious summer or dessert treat. You can drink as it melts or spoon it up!