Wordless Wednesday

Lemoncello Tutorial and Gas Tank Martini's

Well I've been threatening to for about a year and finally bought a bottle of Lemoncello.
An Italian liquor...Lemon.

I love anything lemon.
I first heard of this on Rachael Ray's 30 Minute Meals show.
She drizzled it over a store bought sponge cake, added lemon curd then covered it in fruit.

I like liquors. I use Triple Sec in drinks and I also add a tablespoon to my cheesecake batter, really smooths the taste out.
So I had to try this.

And when we returned home from our trip to the big city (it's not that big, I just call it that because there is a Lowe's and a Wal-Mart there) I just had to Google Lemoncello to see what I could make with it.
And I found this over at Hope Studiosa tutorial for making your own Lemoncello.
I also found via Google, a bunch of recipes for drinks and desserts using Lemoncello.

We already brew beer and make wine. And I did make cranberry liquor about 20 years ago to give as Christmas gifts. It was awesome. Pretty much the same as they did in the linked tutorial.

Well it's almost 5 PM here and since you're immune from being labeled a "problem drinker" as long as you wait until after 5 for your first drink (this is an old family joke),

I shall gather my implements to partake of a "Lemoncello Martini". Yes, even those of us who choose to live out where "turn left at the pigs" is part of the directions to our place, drink martini's.
Even though this is my first lemoncello one, and all the martini's I have had up to this point have tasted like something I want to pour into the tank of the riding lawnmower.

Well there was the time I got creative and added cranberry juice to a batch and it made them better. Larry laughs at this.
He says "it's pretty bad when you add cranberry juice to something to make it taste better (he does not like cranberry juice, and also said "it's like adding a dog turd to something and it actually improves the flavor")

Ahhh Lemoncello, your lemony color attracts me like no other liquor can. Just this side of neon.

I have my stainless steel shaker and my martini glass. And look, just to be on the safe side, I have sugared the rim of the glass.


Well my camera's battery needs to go to the charger for the rest of the evening, so no pics of the actual martini, but suffice to say....the grass shall be cut at least one more time.
(Wonder what a set of Martini glasses are going for on Ebay....)

Larry is a huge fan of Baileys Irish Cream. So I am looking up a recipe for that. A little drink of that, late evening, for a nightcap. Sitting by the fire. A little Sade or Chris Botti playing. Oh I'm in the moooood for loooove.......

Anyone else out there ever brew beer or make a liquor?

Suet cakes are a hit, plus a recipe for Orzo

Just take a look at these crazy Cardinals. They are cuckoo over suet cakes.


There are 5 couples that have all but hogged the suet cake in the past few days. We had three couples that have been here for years but there are more that have moved in.
this picture was snapped from inside the house. Look how fat these females are hahaha\

Thats also a bird feeder with seed inside leaning up against the house. The suet cake is inside the red onion bag. well whats left of it.Going to put a fresh one out tomorrow as the snow is still falling and it is hard for them to find food right now.
I took this pic out my studio window across the whole yard about 70 feet. Love that "zoom" feature on my cannon Powershot.


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Have you ever had Orzo?



It is a rice shaped pasta. A good alternative to potatoes, regular pasta or rice.

Here is a recipe I made up. Now I did not measure so I have to "guesstimate".




Orzo with Whatever

About 3-4 cups whatever veggies you have on hand. I used fresh cauliflower, green onions, mushrooms, baby carrots, yellow onions, frozen artichoke hearts, and frozen asparagus.(squash, green peppers, and spinach are good if you have any)
3 Tbsp. Olive oil ( or canola)
3 C. fresh chicken broth or 2 cans (14 oz. fat free)of broth
2-3 C. water
1 Tbsp.Chicken bullion ( this is all the salt I use, what"s already in the bullion)

2 nice size boneless skinless chicken breasts (shrimp or pork are good too)
1/2 lemon
1/4 white wine --optional ( I use white zinfandel as that is what I usually use, or any white wine is fine...but it is optional)
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 nice bay leaf
Some ground pepper
12 oz. Orzo
Fresh Parmesan to sprinkle over top
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1. Cut veggies into bite size pieces.
2. Heat up 1 1/2 olive oil in dutch over or very large skillet.
3. Saute' veggies, longest to cook to fastest cooking. just till tender.

While cooking,
4. Cut chicken breast into bite size pieces.
Season with garlic powder and a couple grinds of pepper.



5. Remove veggies into large bowl.
6. Put pan back over heat, add other 1 1/2 tbsp. olive oil and saute chicken breast.
When just done on all sides ( about 5 min.)
7. Stir veggies back in.


Pour in all broth and water and bullion. Add any herbs you like in stew I had bay leaf, oregano (just a bit) is good.

8. Bring to a low boil.
9. Stir in Orzo. Halfway cover and set timer.





Cook about 8 min... test that orzo till al dente' that means "just done".
Stir in wine if using, and lemon juice.



Turn heat to low and fully cover till most liquid is absorbed. Dish into serving bowls or platter. Sprinkle with fresh ( or packaged) Parmesan cheese.

This Time of Year is for the Birds

Usually when winter comes there are plenty of plants and weeds that have gone to seed so birds can have a good diet. However, if you live in a part of the country where winter lasts for months and snow and ice are a constant, it can be challenging for birds to forage. We have a family of Cardinals that were here before us that let us know when the feeders are empty.

Below I have posted a couple of recipes that can help feed your resident birds and provide hours of entertainment for you, your kids and probably your indoor cats who have window seats.



This is a great project to do with children.


Home made suet

* 1 cup crunchy peanut butter
* 1 cup lard
* 2 cups yellow corn meal
* 2 cups quick oats
* 1 cup flour
* 1/2 cup birdseed, dried cranberries, dried apple, crumbs from the bottom of the good cereal box etc. (optional)
Muffin pans, ziploc storage containers, cut down plastic bottles to 1 1/2" or half gallon milk containers cut down.
Twine or hemp if you are going to gift these or want to make hangers.
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Melt the lard and peanut butter on the stove top over low heat.

Then add the dry ingredients and stir till blended.

After mixing pour evenly into bottoms of cut down half gallon juice or milk containers. Or you can use those Ziploc plastic storage containers.. Set aside to cool, you can put in the fridge to cool quickly.

After cooled and set, pop the cakes out and fill your hangers.

Now I just save old onion bags that are sturdy, pop in the cake, and tie the top onto a heavy cord then hang in the trees.


If you are using the Ziploc containers,I have found that filled about half way was just the right size to make the suet cake to fit the square wire baskets you can buy at most places that sell birdseed in larger bags and have a good birding section. Make sure the baskets are dipped into plastic, or painted as birds can become stuck to frozen bare metal.


For gifts, you can get decorative pans or molds. Tie 8" of hemp into a circle and lay one end into the mold before you pour in the suet.
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Pine cone feeders. (almost like the recipe above, so you can make both)

*
3 cups corn meal
*
1/2 cup shelled seeds like sunflower or thistle
*
1 cup crunchy peanut butter (store brand is fine)
*
3/4 to 1 cup rendered fat. (lard, bacon drippings, etc.}
*
Several large pine cones
*
Optional: 1 cup chopped fruit and/or a cup of quick cooking oats

In a large bowl, mix the corn meal and seeds together. Using two forks cut in the peanut butter, as you would for a pie crust.

Melt the fat and pour into the corn meal and peanut butter mixture. Mix well and allow to cool. If it is too runny, add more corn meal or some oats.

Stuff the suet into a pine cone. Hang several of these stuffed cones from a limb (as in photo above.) In a few days your birds will love you. I hang mine near a feeder to speed this process.

This recipe is very flexible-and a good way to use grease and fruit. Store excess suet in the refrigerator.

3 Day Coconut Cake...Yeah Right.

I love coconut. Gosh, I love just about everything....and that can be a problem and a blessing.
Take this cake for instance. I have been making this for years. The name of it is '3 Day Coconut Cake'. "3 day" because it's actually SUPPOSED to SIT for 3 days before you cut into it.
Therein lies two problems. This cake has never in the 30 years I've been making it, sat for 3 days until being cut into.
Should it sit for 3 days? Yes.
It gets better and better with each passing hour.
The flavor of the coconut permeates the cake and the frosting and it is so much better than Pepperidge Farm Coconut Cake. Which, for store bought cake, I actually like.
But this 3 Day one, I love.
A problem and a blessing.
A problem because I do not have people around to share this with right now, only Larry and I in the immediate, half snowed in, area.
Our neighbor came by and plowed our driveway the other day, but he is getting married soon and is on a big diet.
So it is just us to eat this.
Guess I should not have made it...yeah, right.

3 day Coconut Cake

You're going to mix the filling the night before so plan accordingly. It is worth it.

Your best recipe for a yellow or white or whatever kind of cake you like. Or a cake mix. I use a yellow cake recipe. Lowfat is fine.
But use coconut milk if you can for the liquid. NOT 'Pepe Lopez' cream of coconut. Just plain coconut milk in the can like you would use for a curry. Or just use water.

14 oz. Unsweetened coconut if you can get it. I used sweet.
1 cup sour cream- lowfat is fine.
1 cup white sugar or sucanet or raw sugar
1 cup powdered sugar
12 oz.container frozen whipped topping, thawed- lowfat is fine.

Night before you bake the cake, Mix half the coconut with the sugars and sour cream. Cover and stick in the fridge. Chill over night.
Next day :
Bake that cake however you do. but use a bundt or tube pan or 2 8" round or square pans and cut the tube or bundt into 3 layers. If you do the 8" pans cut each into 2 layers.

Cool completely. Cut into layers.
Remove 1/2 cup of filling and put in bowl, set aside.

Smear filling between layers.

Fold whipped cream into reserved sour cream mixture. Fold gently. Then frost that cake.
Take the rest of the coconut and sprinkle all over cake. Keep in the fridge. Covered.
Now see if you can wait 3 days. (wait at LEAST till late in the evening, 10 hours if you can)