Category — Recipes

I wish I had come up with the name for this pretty, refreshing, and perfect summer cocktail. Unfortunately, I didn’t and it is easily found all over social media.

Since I love rosé wine and it’s hotter than blue blazes, I had to put my spin on the Frosé sensation. I should have tried it sooner though, back when Rainier cherries were in season. Instead, I bought regular cherries and strawberries and made simple syrups from each fruit.

The cherry style was far too tart, so I went with the strawberries. Next summer, I’ll get on the ball earlier and make it with Rainiers. Already looking forward to that!

It’s recommended to use a darker shade of rosé since the wine will lose some of its colors and be diluted due to the blending, freezing, and the addition of other ingredients.

If you would like to make two batches (since only half of the strawberry simple syrup is used in this recipe) the instructions to do so are at the bottom of the recipe.

My “do as I say, not as I do” recommendation for today is to place the sheet pan in the freezer first and then add the wine to it. I poured the wine into the pan and tried to transfer it to the freezer. Way more difficult than it seems like it should be!

One last note before the recipe. Above are nine of the ten stacks of cookbooks for the blogiversary winners. I didn’t bother to package the tenth stack since it’s for my daughter, Marissa. She’ll pick hers up when she visits over Labor Day weekend.

I delivered six of the packages on Saturday. I’m waiting for the other three winners to be home. Those lucky ladies are out-of-town, enjoying some cooler weather. Yes, I’m jealous!

[Read more →]

For those of you who’ve already entered and commented, please go to the bottom of this post for a special note of thanks and some additional info.

Today is the last full day to enter and have one of seven chances to win a stack of Seven Cookbooks and/or a chance to win the opportunity to make YOUR favorite recipe in MY kitchen and be my VIP Guest Blogger!

Read THIS for all the nitty-gritty.

Deadline and Details

GRAND PRIZE:

Leave a comment with your favorite recipe (not from this blog) to have a chance to win and be my VIP Guest Blogger.

One of SEVEN INDIVIDUAL PRIZES:

Leave a comment with your favorite post from this blog from the past 7 years to have a chance to win a Stack of Seven Cookbooks from the “Overflow Cookbook Armoire” (sample stack is pictured above)

1. All eligible entries/comments must be posted by 8:00 a.m. PST on Thursday, August 18, 2016.
2. You may enter to win both the Grand Prize (by leaving a comment with your favorite recipe) AND one of the Individual Prizes (by leaving a comment with your favorite post from this blog). There is a chance that one person could win BOTH the Grand Prize and one of the Individual Prizes. Only one entry in each of the two categories of prizes though.
3. All eight winners will be announced (along with an accompanying prize-drawing video) in the Friday, August 19, 2016 post.
4. I will personally deliver the cookbook prizes to you if you are local. I will mail them to you if you are not.

[Read more →]

At last, the final post from the 4th of July Pot-Luck Pool Party. It only took two weeks to get all the recipes posted, that’s not so bad.

If you want to see the menu in its entirety, you can always go to the link over on the left column of this page, click on the “Menu and Party Ideas” page and you’ll find not only this party but many others.

The good news is that the recipes for all the desserts we served at the party are already posted on this site. There is one more fun idea though, so don’t go running off.

First up is Tram’s Famous Key Lime Pies! Tram brought the pies to my 4th party two years ago, so the recipe is posted HERE.

It’s fun to go back and read that post since Zak & Zoey were only 4 months old at that gathering.

So sweet! As is Tram’s pie.

Next, I baked my super easy All-American Berry-Cherry Flag Pie. It is going to be at every 4th party from here on out. Maybe next time I can convince someone else to make it though.

I posted the recipe for these Mason Jar Lid Hand Pies on July 3rd. But how cute is this bakery display stand? I found it at The Painted Fox, one of my favorite shopping websites. Love it!

Lastly, we have the Mason Jar Ice Cream Bar. Above you see the cute sprinkles and toppings displayed.

[Read more →]

This is the second of the two main courses from the 4th of July Pot-Luck Pool Party.

Have you heard of Frogmore Stew? How about Lowcountry Boil? The Boil, I knew about, the Stew I didn’t. Or at least I thought I didn’t. Turns out they are the same thing.

Here is the history of this dish, according to Coastal Living Magazine, “Once called Frogmore Stew, this one-pot wonder was created by a National Guardsman when he needed to cook a meal for 100 soldiers. Richard Gay, who learned the recipe from his family, had everyone remembering his stew. The dish was named Frogmore, where Richard was from, by the guards who teased him about home. The United States Postal Service eliminated the name Frogmore, which changed this popular dish to Lowcountry Boil.”

You can use whatever type of cooked sausage you would like. I prefer Aidells Pineapple & Bacon Smoked Chicken Sausage, which I find at Costco. I also get the shrimp at Costco. It is already deveined and ready to drop in the pot.

[Read more →]

The first of my two main-course dishes for the 4^th of July Pot-Luck Pool Party is a pulled pork recipe that came from Williams-Sonoma. I altered the recipe to fit my needs.

Need #1 – I did not want to buy a jar of the Williams-Sonoma pulled pork starter. It cost too much and after going online and looking at the list of ingredients, I had all of it on hand anyhow, so I made my own.

Need #2 – I buy my pork shoulder at Costco and a 2.5 pound piece (which is what the Williams-Sonoma recipe called for) would be a joke at Costco. Mine weighed in at a whopping 15 pounds. This meant I needed to quadruple the original recipe, which was more than fine because the original served only 4 to 6 and I had more than 24 mouths to feed. I realize that 15 pounds is 6x as much, but the remaining ingredients only needed to be 4x more.

The big trick to the thing was cooking it in a slow cooker in two batches. It wasn’t difficult and took less time and effort than I expected it would. I thought about calling a neighbor to borrow a second slow cooker, but I was too lazy. That is a good option though.

Another issue was that it never even crossed my mind to take a photo of even one sandwich. I have photos of the pork in the chafing dish and of the slaw on the platter. But no individual sandwiches pics or of the cute setup I had for the little sandwich baskets and paper liners that I worked super hard to get all fixed up. Darn it! As you can see, I had to improvise with those “close-up” images. Sad, but it’s all I got.

[Read more →]

I had an abundance of watermelon to use up at the 4^th of July Pot-Luck Pool Party. The week prior, I had purchased four small seedless watermelons to make these tasty treats. Kim, Peggy, Anne, and I were planning to get together at Kim’s new house for a little housewarming happy hour. At the last minute, plans changed. Without the party on the horizon, I don’t know what I would have done with them all!

I used them up in a non-alcoholic watermelon-strawberry-lemon slushy and in this refreshing watermelon salad.

[Read more →]

If you know me, you know that when I have a theme, I carry it out to the nth degree. Here is my train of thought, “Red, white & blue is the theme, so we absolutely have to have a RW&B salad!”  This one did not disappoint. Well, except for the fact that I forgot to add the almonds and didn’t remember until after I took the photos, and more discouraging until after nearly half of the people had made their plates. Oh well.

There was some left, although there probably wouldn’t have been if I’d remembered the darn almonds! Anyhow, I pulled out the lettuce leaves and packed them away in the fridge.

Two days later, I was home alone and thinking about dinner. I was looking at the container of leftover salad trying to decide if I should add new lettuce to it or just toss it in the trash. Suddenly I had an overwhelming craving for pancakes. Seriously, is there anything better than breakfast for dinner? So I whipped up a batch of pancakes and topped them with the leftover, kind of soggy, berries, burrata, and fresh (not soggy!) almonds – delish!

[Read more →]

I know that yesterday I mentioned that I’d highlight the 4th of July main courses and dessert next, but that was before I remembered that in addition to all the wonderful salads and sides my friends brought, I also made a few sides and salads myself. So let’s get to those first.

[Read more →]

Connor’s friend, Rachael, brought these super easy and super tasty little appetizer picks. Luckily I was able to snap a photo before they were all snapped up!

No one had signed up for chips and dip, so I asked Connor to provide those.

You have to have chips and dip!

I threw together a red, white, and blue flag snack tray using, red grapes, banana slices, strawberries, yogurt-covered pretzels, blueberries, and raspberries.

Lastly, I purchased a mock gingerbread house at Trader Joe’s, which was really a sugar cookie White House and I pretended like it was Christmas in July. I loved putting it together since our long family tradition of Marissa and Connor each assembling their own Christmas gingerbread houses has fallen by the wayside. Mostly because they hate it! Oh well, a mom can reminisce.

These were a few of the little extras at the 4^th of July Party Pot-Luck Pool Party. The main course and dessert details will follow in the coming days.

[Read more →]

George and Julie brought not only a tasty broccoli salad but their four beautiful children as well. Actually, the party more than doubled in size from when I originally lamented about it being so small, in this post. That made me happy. My motto when it comes to parties is always “the more the merrier!” When kids and teens are added to the mix, nothing could be truer!

Case in point – I asked Dave to please set up the ping-pong table and the lawn games; cornhole, ladder ball toss, and croquet.

He balked, saying that no one was going to play any of those things because it was too hot. I argued that people would hop in and out of the pool and I wanted there to be a variety of activities for them to choose from.

Um, do you want to take a wild guess at who was right? Those kids walked straight in the front door, through the house, and into the yard. All games and activities were played, not only the ones above but also the pool volleyball and basketball and the putting green. Take that 109 degrees!

Back to the broccoli salad. Julie said the recipe comes from a department store restaurant in Columbus, Ohio. The store was called Lazarus & Co. and although it is no longer there, the salad lives on. Thanks for sharing, Julie!

[Read more →]