Happy Easter!

What a glorious day it has been. Sometimes I think Fall is my favorite season, but now that we’re enjoying Spring…it really might be my favorite. Spring is so easy to be excited about. When it’s a beautiful day you can’t help but to be in a good mood! After winter everyone is excited to enjoy the warmer weather and this Easter weekend did not disappoint! We headed to Sanford for church, then Easter lunch. I brought what I thought was a new Macaroni and Cheese by Paula Deen, but turns out I made it for Ben’s 28th Birthday party and it’s one of his favorite. Ever since Julie, Johnny and the boys sent us the most amazing Mac & Cheese all the way from Seattle, (the perfect comfort food) I’ve been on a quest to replicate the recipe. The secret ingredient is Pepper Jack cheese.

After a few modifications I made something very close to Beecher’s Mac & Cheese. It cooks in the Crockpot and we timed it perfectly to be ready after church.

Creamy Macaroni & Cheese

• 2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni (an 8-ounce box isn't quite 2 cups)
• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stuck) butter, cut into pieces
• 2 cups (about 10 ounces) grated sharp Cheddar cheese
• 1 cup grated Pepper Jack cheese
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 (10 3/4-ounce) can condensed Cheddar cheese soup
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Boil the macaroni in a 2 quart saucepan in plenty of water until tender, about 7 minutes. Drain. In a medium saucepan, mix butter and cheese. Stir until the cheese melts. In a slow cooker, combine cheese/butter mixture and add the eggs, sour cream, soup, salt, milk, mustard and pepper and stir well. Then add drained macaroni and stir again. Set the slow cooker on low setting and cook for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Easter Dinner!

Saturday evening my brothers and I all got together at my mom’s for an Easter dinner. A perfect ending to a pretty perfect day! My mom baked a ham, made a new baked macaroni and cheese recipe, green bean casserole and steamed broccoli.

I knew I wanted to bring a dessert since I have not made one in quite a while. I also knew I wanted it to include fresh berries now that they are back in season. After spending almost an hour searching for the perfect recipe…I finally stumbled across Tyler Florence’s trifle recipe. It calls for homemade lemon curd and while it does not have a lot of ingredients, whisking the curd for 10 minutes constantly almost made me change my mind. But it was worth every minute of vigorously whisking! Trifles are always pretty easy desserts that usually do not require baking…they are always beautiful in a glass bowl! This one did not disappoint and the lemon flavor with the berries was a perfect Easter flavor.

Lemon Curd Trifle with Fresh Berries

• 6 large egg yolks
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 lemons, zested and juiced
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut in chunks
• 1 pint fresh strawberries, stemmed and halved lengthwise
• 1 pint fresh blueberries
• 1 pint fresh blackberries
• 2 cups sweetened whipped cream
• 1 prepared lemon pound cake, sliced
• 1/4 cup Lemoncello or Grand Marnier liqueur (optional)
• Fresh mint leaves, for garnish

To make the lemon curd: Bring a pot of water to a simmer over medium-low heat. Combine the egg yolks, sugar, lemon juice, and zest in a metal or glass heat-resistant bowl and whisk until smooth. Set the bowl over the simmering water, without letting the bottom touch, and continue to whisk. Keep working-out that arm and whisk it vigorously for a good 10 minutes, until the curd has doubled in volume and is very thick and yellow. Don't let it boil. Remove the bowl from heat and whisk in the butter, a couple of chunks at a time, until melted. Refrigerate until the custard is cold and firm.

To build the trifle: put the berries in a mixing bowl and toss them together so they are evenly distributed. Fold the whipped cream into the chilled lemon curd to lighten it up into a mousse. Line a glass trifle bowl with pieces of pound cake to fit. Drizzle or brush the cake with the Lemoncello, spoon a layer of the lemon curd over the cake, and then a layer of mixed berries. Repeat the layers until the ingredients are used up, the last layer looks best if it's the berries. Chill before serving. Garnish with fresh mint.

Lazy Sundays on the Beach

The last full day of our Adult Spring Break was spent on the beach. It was a beautiful day, although slightly chilly due to the wind coming off the water. By 11am we packed up the cooler…it could have been the most expensive selection of beach beer we’ve ever taken out to the beach! We decided to bring a few of the beers we bought the day before on a surprise shopping spree at the Piggly Wiggly of all places.

Our Relaxed Beach Beer Tasting:

Terrapin Side Project #2: Roggenrauchbeir

Flying Dog Wild Dog Collaborator Doppelbock

Weyerbacher Blasphemy Quad Belgian

Well’s Banana Bread

Sam Adam’s Blackberry Witbier

In between beer tastings we went across the street to our favorite pizzeria at the beach…Basil’s. Other than eating and drinking we spent the afternoon wrapped up in towels while reading, chatting and taking walks. Tara and I were not exactly smart when it came to remembering that the sun was quite strong and we ended up with a nasty sunburn on our feet. So we headed back to the beach house and set out for ingredients for dinner.

We threw together the most amazing dinner of grilled scallops, NY strips, chipotle lime shrimp, asparagus and the last of the Beecher’s Mac & Cheese. AMAZING!! Dinner was followed by more beer tasting!! Hitachino Nest Espresso Stout, De Struise Black Albert, Dogfish Head Immort Ale, Great Divide Espresso Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout and Southern Tier Imperial Choklat Stout. Our last day at the beach was exactly what we needed…it was so nice to do nothing and no one cared that we did that!

Myrtle Beach Beer Fest

Our long weekend at the beach was centered around the Myrtle Beach Beer Fest. Even though it was cloudy and we had a round of spinkly rain, the beer fest was really fun. This was the first year it was held. We’ve been to several other Beer Fests and while this was smaller, it was also less crowded and much more relaxing and enjoyable. Despite a lot of your typical domestic beers, we were able to try a few local brews as well as others we just have not had the chance to try for one reason or another. It was also a great way to try different styles that I don’t normally like such as IPAs. Tara and I were the talk of the festival with our Foothills Sexual Chocolate Imperial Stout shirts! Rick decided to the be the oddball and wear and Dogfish Head t-shirt.

My favorites were Clipper City Loose Cannon, Hook & Ladder Backdraft Brown, New Holland Poet Stout, Foothills Peoples Porter, RJ Rockers Buckwheat, Stone Smoked Porter, New South Nut Brown Ale and Thomas Creek Deepwater Dopplebock.

The festival was held in the new Market Street Commons. Afterwards, we ate at Gordon Biersch for a late lunch where I had the beer sampler, then walked around the shops. The trip was not complete without a beer-buying spree in the Piggly Wiggly of all places. What a great selection…we came out with Founder’s Kentucky Bourbon Stout, Southern Tier Java, Wild Dog Collaborator, New Holland Dragon’s Milk and Great Divide Espresso Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout!

We were pretty exhausted from beer tasting, so dinner consisted of leftovers and the most amazing Mac & Cheese from Beecher’s in Pike Place Market…all the way from Seattle. My sister in law, Julie sent it to us since it’s the best comfort food she knew of. We were instant fans and plan on ordering more. It’s shipped fresh and ready to bake! DELICOUS!

Beachin' & Shoppin’

Thursday evening, we departed for a great vacation at the beach with our friends Tara and Rick. Even after arriving at almost 11pm, the night would not have been complete without a very tastings of beer!

Friday morning, we were pretty lazy getting up and relishing in the fact our coworkers had been at work for quite awhile while we enjoyed Lemon Poppy seed muffins and fruit salad in our pjs. Our morning also included a quick walk on the beach.

Since it was cloudy and raining we decided on shopping for the day's activity...a little retail therapy was really needed after the week I'd had! The boys were not too thrilled and dropped us off while they went to the movies. Bad mistake! Two girls running around the outlets for almost 4 hours...we did some damage. We ended up buying out most of Ann Taylor Loft, but there were some amazing deals. We each ended up with a new spring wardrobe and I found dresses for the upcoming bridal showers and weddings in the next few months. Ben and Rick were pleasantly surprised when they picked us up that we had gifts for them too! They got a lot of matching things (including matching cowboy hats and beer boxers)!

For dinner, Ben and I introduce the Kups to T-Bonz...our absolute favorite place to eat the beach. The meal would not be complete without an appetizer of Tommy Fries, baked potato wedges smothered with cheese, bacon and ranch dressing. I could barely eat my dinner! We all brought home leftovers.

Friday night was our official beer tasting night. We tried 8 different beers and different they were. It always seems our beer  tastings end up with all Stouts and Porters, but we had quite a few Belgians included this time. For several hours we spent hovered over tasting sheets, making notes and discussing beers like a bunch of nerds!  Here's our list:

Drunkin' Punkin'
1809 Berliner Style Weisse
Thristy Dog Raspberry Ale
Stone Vertical Epic
Struise Pannepot
Żywiec Porter
Terrapin Side Project #4 Dos Cocoas Chocolate Porter
Thristy Dog Siberian Night Imperial Stout

Human Treats!

After a scare with Freddie earlier this week and his hind leg injured, we went for a check up to the vet. This is another chore I absolutely hate. I love my dog to death, but we tend to put off his annual check ups for as long as possible! Freddie hates the vet, freaks out and becomes a Tasmanian Devil as soon as they touch him. Today was no different! Freddie is only 25 lbs and it still took three people to give him his shots, drawn some blood and cut his nails. In fact, our vet said he’s the only dog under 50lbs that takes 3 people to get anything done to him. I think it affects me more than him. Once he was done and got treats, although he really did not earn them, he was the vet’s best friend.

After we paid our $222 vet bill for them to tell us his hip is tight and he probably hurt it jumping off the bed…we decided we needed a treat of our own for enduring Freddie acting out. So on the way home we stopped at Dunkin’ Donuts for a dozen and a Coffee Coolatta…DELICIOUS!

The boys dug right in before I could get a picture of the colorful dozen. I enjoyed a Berries and Cream, but can’t wait to bite into a lemon filled, or the plain, or the Boston Cream. Ben might open the box to find a bit taken out of each one!

Great Weather, Great Grilling

Last weekend we had fabulous weather…highs were in the 80’s and it such a reprieve from the freezing temperatures and snow we had just 4 days earlier. Of course we got the itch to grill and I had a flank steak just waiting for us in the freezer. In the latest issue of Cooking Light was a recipe for Asian-Marinated Flank Steak. It takes a little forethought as it needs to marinate for 24 hours. After a trip to the store and no luck finding all the ingredients, I had to improvise with what I had on hand in my pantry. While Ben grilled the steak, I boiled potatoes and threw together ingredients to make horseradish-style mashed potatoes and dressed up frozen snap peas with sesame oil and ginger. It turned out to be an excellent spring dinner!

Asian-Marinated Flank Steak (Cooking Light)

• 3 tablespoons hoisin sauce
• 2 tablespoons water
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons grated peeled fresh ginger
• 1 teaspoon dark sesame oil
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 (1-pound) flank steak, trimmed
• Cooking spray

Combine first 9 ingredients in a small bowl. Reserve 1/4 cup hoisin mixture; spoon remaining mixture into a large zip-top plastic bag. Add steak to bag; seal and marinate in refrigerator 24 hours, turning bag occasionally. Remove steak from bag; discard marinade.

Prepare grill or grill pan to medium-high heat.

Place steak on grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 4 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Let stand 5 minutes. Cut steak diagonally across the grain into thin slices. Serve with reserved 1/4 cup sauce.

Happy Birthday Ben!!!

Ben is celebrating the last year of his 20’s! Friday he turned 29 and we started off the day with cake and presents. He always requests such unique cake ideas for his birthdays and this year was no different. He wanted a strawberry cake, but not the homemade strawberry cream cheese icing that came with it. His reason was the pink colored icing is too girly. Instead he decided on chocolate! I thought it’d be a little weird, but it ended up like a Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cake…delicious! We enjoyed the cake for breakfast after he opened his gifts from me. I got home a 3 month subscription to a Beer of the Month Club, a quick beer chiller and new running clothes.

Simply Delicious Strawberry Cake (Paula Deen)

• 1 (18.25-ounce) box white cake mix
• 1 (3-ounce) box strawberry-flavored instant gelatin
• 1 (15-ounce) package frozen strawberries in syrup, thawed and pureed
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup water
• Strawberry cream cheese frosting, recipe follows
• Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 (10-ounce) package frozen strawberries in syrup, thawed and pureed
• 1/2 teaspoon strawberry extract
• 7 cups confectioners' sugar
• Freshly sliced strawberries, for garnish, optional

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease 2 (9-inch) round cake pans.

In a large bowl, combine cake mix and gelatin. Add pureed strawberries, eggs, oil, and water; beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Pour into prepared pans, and bake for 20 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans, and cool completely on wire racks.

For the frosting:

In a large bowl, beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Beat in 1/4 cup of the strawberry puree and the vanilla extract. (The rest of the puree is leftover but can be used in smoothies or on ice cream for a delicious treat.) Gradually add confectioners' sugar, beating until smooth.

Spread frosting in between layers and on top and sides of cake. Garnish with sliced fresh strawberries, if desired.

For the rest of the night we went to the Hurricane’s game and enjoyed hotdogs, nachos and beer. It was an exciting game with a win! The ‘canes always lose every time we’ve been to see them until last year on Ben’s birthday, so it’s sort of a Birthday tradition that we only go on Ben’s birthday…and they’ve always won since!

Snowy Baking Day

Well, it was not so much snowy, but rainy and the snow was on it’s way. After a somewhat quick and crowded trip to the grocery store Sunday morning I got the urge too cook up a few yummy things.

A cold day was begging for hot piping lasagna. I love making this and now my recipe is a combination of all our favorite lasagna recipes….lots of veggies, a little meat, cabernet marinara and a yummy cheese mixture.

After I assembled the lasagna and cleaned up, it was only 3pm. Ben brought home some ginger cookies a coworker made and they were so delicious I had to have more. For things like this, my go-to website is allrecipes.com. I usually go by ratings and reviews and this recipe did not disappoint with 1,601 reviews and rated 5 stars!

Big Soft Ginger Cookies (Allrecipes)

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup margarine, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 2 tablespoons white sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, then stir in the water and molasses. Gradually stir the sifted ingredients into the molasses mixture. Shape dough into walnut sized balls, and roll them in the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar. Place the cookies 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet, and flatten slightly.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Quick Shrimp…

I received the newest copy of Cooking Light last week and this quick and easy Shrimp Scampi dish caught my eye. We’ve had a bag of frozen shrimp in the freezer that’s been begging to be used up. This recipe is definitely going into the rotation. This was the first time I made Orzo it was super quick and easy. This had just the right amount of butter too since sometimes scampi means the shrimp is swimming in the fat.

The only modifications I made to the recipe were I added lemon zest in addition to the lemon zest. If you have any spinach on hand, this would be a great stir in for the green color. We served it with side salad, but grilled asparagus or steamed broccoli would also make a great side. Enjoy!

Lemon Pepper Shrimp Scampi (Cooking Light)

• 1 cup uncooked orzo
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
• 7 teaspoons unsalted butter, divided
• 1 1/2 pounds peeled and deveined jumbo shrimp
• 2 teaspoons bottled minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Cook orzo according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain. Place orzo in a medium bowl. Stir in parsley and 1/4 teaspoon salt; cover and keep warm.

While orzo cooks, melt 1 tablespoon butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle shrimp with remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt. Add half of shrimp to pan; sauté 2 minutes or until almost done. Transfer shrimp to a plate. Melt 1 teaspoon butter in pan. Add remaining shrimp to pan; sauté 2 minutes or until almost done. Transfer to plate.

Melt remaining 1 tablespoon butter in pan. Add garlic to pan; cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Stir in shrimp, juice, and pepper; cook 1 minute or until shrimp are done.

A Mexican Fiesta

In honor of the Oscar’s tonight and my Mexican craving…we made a Mexican themed dinner complete with Margaritas! I found a simple recipe for Chicken Enchiladas with a 5 star rating and tons of reviews. I have a recipe we’ve used many times in the past that is more salsa-based and I think we enjoyed the new recipe better.

On our weekly grocery shopping trip today we picked up a rotisserie chicken to use, which saves a lot of time and the chicken has tons of flavor. This version was a little drier than I’m used to for enchiladas. Next time I think I’ll top them with extra cheese before baking…anything can be more cheesier!

Chicken Enchiladas (Southern Living)

• 3 cups chopped cooked chicken
• 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese with peppers
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 (4.5-ounce) can chopped green chiles, drained
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 8 (8-inch) flour tortillas
• Vegetable cooking spray
• 1 (8-ounce) container sour cream
• 1 (8-ounce) bottle green taco sauce
• Toppings: diced tomato, chopped avocado, chopped green onions, sliced ripe olives, chopped cilantro

Stir together first 5 ingredients. Spoon chicken mixture evenly over each tortilla, and roll up. Arrange in a lightly greased 13- x 9-inch baking dish. Coat tortillas with vegetable cooking spray.

Bake at 350° for 35 to 40 minutes or until golden brown.

Stir together sour cream and taco sauce. Spoon over hot enchiladas, and sprinkle with toppings.

Foothills Brewing Company

Earlier this month we took a day trip to Foothills Brewing Company in Winston Salem with Tara and Rick. We were very fortunate enough to get 8 of 600 limited release bottles of their Sexual Chocolate Imperial Stout…which equates to 1.3% of the World’s supply (yeah I’m a math dork).

You know we’re beer snobs when we wake up at 5am to make the drive to Winston Salem and stand in line for 3 hours just for one particular beer. It was definitely worth the trip and the fun times we had in line meeting other beer snobs. And beer snobs are always nice and hospitable – offering tastings of rare beers they brought, such as The Dark Lord Imperial Stout, Abyss, Cottonwood Hazelnut Stout, Highland Kashmir and Mikkellar Black Hole. After we purchased our 8 bottles of Sexual Chocolate, we enjoyed a glass on tap, lunch and a flight tasting of their other brews. Ben had an amazing Cuban sandwich with pulled pork, while I enjoyed a Buffalo Chicken Wrap. As far as their other beers we were all in agreement that Torch Pilsner was not good at all…most of the other beers are just ok, however the Total Eclipse Stout was pretty good too. Of course there is no disputing how great the Sexual Chocolate Imperial Stout is. After lunch we took a short drive a few blocks down the street to City Beverage and bought even more beer. This was a great store with an amazing selection of beer. They had an in-house bar with 3 different beers on tap that you could try. Also, they have great deals on cases at rock bottom prices.

Ale to the Chief

Ben and I have been watching the Inauguration events all day today. Neither of us felt like making dinner tonight…I think we both had a little Cabin Fever and were itching to leave the house. The roads were clear, so we placed an order for pizza at Namoli’s NY Pizza and set out for the pick up.

Of course the night wouldn’t be the same without a special beer. Ben purchased the Avery Ale to the Chief, made specifically for the Inauguration today. When he bought it several months ago, no one knew who we’d be toasting to January 20, 2009, but regardless it was a fun occasion. It was pretty neat to have our own little piece of celebration for this historic day. As for the beer, it was a “Presidential” Pale Ale: Not an “Imperial” pale ale, this is a democracy. It’s Presidential! Take the all-American pale ale, a bipartisan blend of malt of hops, increase both the Avery Brewing standards, and then of course, dry hop the result with that most quintessential of American hops, Cascades, and you get this…Ale to the Chief. A brew worth of the Oval Office!