Category: Recipes

This Sauce Has Balls

saucehasballsMy husband, although his Mother was 100% Italian, doesn’t care for much sauce on his pasta.  I, on the other hand, love a thick meaty sauce, no matter what style noodle (even gluten free) we are eating.

I’m in the mood for spaghetti which means sauce that’s nice and meaty, with extra spicy balls for good measure.  Just the way I like it.  😉

Hearty Pasta Sauce with Balls

  • 1 lb  Fresh Ground Pork Sausage
  • 1 lb  Fresh Ground Sirloin (90/10 or 85/15)
  • 1 1/2 TBLS Salt-Free Garlic & Herb Blend Seasoning (Mrs Dash or McCormick Perfect Pinch)
  • 1 tsp Ground Black Pepper
  • 2 tsp Dried Oregano
  • 2 tsp Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
  • 1 TBLS Garlic Powder
  • 1/4 Cup Grated Parmesan Romano Cheese
  • 1 TBLS Olive Oil
  1. In stand mixer, combine the pork and beef.
  2. Add the spices and cheese and mix until well combined.
  3. Pre-heat 1 TBLS Olive Oil in the pressure cooker pan. Set the machine to the Brown.
  4. Remove 1/2 of the meat mixture from the bowl and place in pressure cooker pan set to Brown.  Cook with the lid open, stirring to break the meat up, for 5-7 minutes then remove and drain off the fat.
  5. Replace pan on pressure cooker base and set to the Brown setting.
  6. Add the following to the pan, in order:
  • 1 TBLS Olive Oil
  • 3 Stalks Celery, finely diced
  • 1/2 Medium Onion, chopped
  • 1 Green Bell Pepper, chopped
  • 2 Cloves Garlic, chopped
  • 1 tsp Dried Oregano
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • 1 tsp Black Pepper
  1. When pressure cooker returns to temperature, cook for 6-8 minutes until vegetables are soft and onions are translucent.
  2. While vegetables are cooking, add 1 egg to the reserved half of the uncooked meat.  Form inch to inch and a half balls and set aside.
  3. Add 1 Can (6 oz) Tomato Paste to the vegetables, stirring until combined.
  4. Add 2 Cans (14.5 each) Diced Fire Roasted Tomatoes (with the juice) and stir well.
  5. Return the cooked meat to the pan.
  6. Add 1 Cup Good Red Wine (If you wouldn’t drink it, don’t cook with it!)
  7. Stir and add the meatballs to the pan.
  8. Close the pressure cooker, set to high and cook the sauce for the full 10 minute cycle.
  9. Let the pressure return naturally then serve over cooked pasta with garlic bread.

Are you on Facebook?  You might be interested in the things I may not devote an entire blog post to: recipes, food facts, nutritional information, photos and other things that make my mouth water. I may not write a blog post every day, but there are daily updates to my This Girl Loves To Eat community at: https://www.facebook.com/ThisGirlLovesHerFood

Creamy Poblano Chicken Soup

chickenpoblanosoupAfter another Southern California winter week with temperatures over 80 degrees, I was looking for any excuse to make soup.  Today the Santa Ana Winds blew in and dropped the temperature to a “Brisk” 69 degrees so I rushed to get the pressure cooker and Vitamix working so I could enjoy my favorite cool night meal:

Creamy Poblano Chicken Soup

  • 2 Roasted Poblano Peppers
  • 1 Roasted Sweet Potato (or Yam)
  • 1 Roasted Small Yellow Onion
  • 1 TBLS Olive Oil
  • 32 oz Chicken Stock (I use Emeril’s)
  • 4-5 Cloves Garlic Finely Chopped
  • 8 oz Cream Cheese (Room Temperature)
  • 1 lb diced chicken breast
  • 2 Cups Shredded Colby & Monterey Jack Cheese
  • Freshly Ground Sea Salt & Pepper to taste
  1. Roast the sweet potato in the pressure cooker for 15 minutes on high.  Remove and set aside.
  2. Using the Brown function on the pressure cooker, roast the Poblano peppers, the quartered onion and the garlic in the olive oil for 10 minutes after the cooker comes up to temperature.  Remove from pan when done.
  3. Add the chicken to the pressure cooker pan and again set it to the Brown function.  Cook the chicken for about 10 minutes, or until just cooked through.
  4. Remove the seeds and stems from the peppers.
  5. Add peppers, onion, sweet potato, garlic, 1 Cup of the broth, and cream cheese to the Vitamix container.  Process on low to medium speed until well combined and smooth.
  6. Add the chicken to the Vitamix container and process on the low setting until chicken shreds and is no longer in chunks.
  7. Pour contents of Vitamix container back into the pressure cooker pan.  Add remaining 3 cups of stock, the shredded cheese.  Stir until well combined.  Taste and adjust the seasoning if desired.
  8. Close the lid of the pressure cooker and select the Stew/Soup function.  After the machine reaches cooking temperature, cook for 10 minutes.
  9. When cooking is complete, release pressure, stir and serve soup while hot.

Serve with buttered toasted sourdough croutons, a dollop of sour cream and sliced avocado if desired.

**Vegetarian Option:  Don’t add the chicken if you would like to serve this as a side or keep it meat-free.

Are you on Facebook?  You might be interested in the things I may not devote an entire blog post to: recipes, food facts, nutritional information, photos and other things that make my mouth water. I may not write a blog post every day, but there are daily updates to my This Girl Loves To Eat community at: https://www.facebook.com/ThisGirlLovesHerFood

Meatless Monday Treat

It was a rough weekend.

First we had a two day basketball tournament that started early both days, meaning no sleeping in for me, and then we had a party we needed to go to Saturday night that turned into the proverbial shit show:

lamborghini_aventador_lp_720_yellow-800x600While standing around watching the rest of the party goers drinking themselves into oblivion and admiring the host’s new bright yellow half million dollar Lamborghini Aventador, the host, who’s a very tall, very large man, lost his tenuous hold on his balance and began sliding down the rear fender with only me (I’m not a big girl) between him and the hard concrete floor & wall.  I did my best to break his fall without breaking myself but he ended up landing on me in a very awkward position and, in the fiasco of the fall, I threw my red wine all over the back end of his gorgeous car.  In my defense, I kept him from hitting his head on the floor or the wall so there was that…LOL

Suffice it to say that I was in some pain and thus, in no mood to make dinner Sunday night.  I was very glad to remember that we had a leftover pizza in the refrigerator to reheat.  Tonight, due to the second day of pain being even worse, from my neck all the way down my right side, I wasn’t anxious to roll out a gourmet dinner either.  Thank God my husband is pretty easy to feed.

shishito1I can usually dress up a grilled cheese sandwich in a way to satisfy him and tonight was no different.  Real butter, a loaf of sourdough, some bacon that was already cooked & chilling in the meat drawer combined with some pepper jack cheese and we had a winner.  I didn’t want to just let him eat the Cheetos he favors with it, and he didn’t want any of the leftover coleslaw from the other night, so I threw together another quick side he loves:

Blistered Shishito Peppers

  1. Heat 1 TBLS olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat.
  2. Add 1 pkg of fresh Shishito peppers to the hot oil and cook, tossing them every minute or so, for 5 minutes or until the skins are blackened and blistered.
  3. Remove from heat and serve immediately.

shishito2Trader Joe’s sells Shishito peppers pre-bagged, you can get them at your local Asian grocery store (they are beloved in Japan), or your grocery store may have them in your produce section.

Shishito peppers are generally mild, but it seems like one in every batch will light you up! 😉

Are you on Facebook?  You might be interested in the things I may not devote an entire blog post to: recipes, food facts, nutritional information, photos and other things that make my mouth water. I may not write a blog post every day, but there are daily updates to my This Girl Loves To Eat community at: https://www.facebook.com/ThisGirlLovesHerFood

 

 

Bloody Angry Baby Back Ribs

ribssweetpotatoEnticing name, don’t you think?  I’m not English and spouting a profanity, nor am I intending to butcher and cook ribs while they’re still bloody, I’m too big a wuss for that! 😉

What I did do though, is combine the flavors of the blood oranges ripening on my tree with BBQ sauce & hard cider and put it all into the pressure cooker to see what would happen!

What happened was a tender, tasty rib that absorbed the sweetness of the orange slices, the ginger-apple crispness of the cider before finishing with the smoky-spicy BBQ sauce!  I don’t usually enjoy pork ribs, but these I ate with gusto.  So much so that I only grudgingly encouraged my husband to eat the last slab on the serving plate.  I wanted the ribs to be the star of the show, so I served them beside baked sweet potatoes.

About an hour and 30 minutes before you’re ready to eat dinner:

  1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
  2. Wash and prick the skins of 2 medium sweet potatoes with a fork and place them on a baking sheet.
  3. Bake for 50 minutes then remove from the oven, place them in a bowl and tent with foil to keep them warm while you’re finishing the ribs.

Bloody Angry Baby Back Ribs

  • 2 Medium Ripe Blood Oranges
  • 1 – 12 oz Bottle Angry Orchard Apple Ginger Hard Cider
  • 2 Lbs Pork Loin Back Ribs
  • BBQ Sauce (whatever brand you prefer)
  1. Slice the oranges and place into the bottom of the pressure cooker pan.
  2. Cut your ribs apart into 3-4 pieces and stand them around the perimeter of the pan.
  3. Pour the bottle of Hard Cider into the middle of the ribs, over the top of the oranges.
  4. Immediately close and lock the lid and set the pressure cooker to Medium for 15 minutes and hit the start button.
  5. When the timer goes off, release the pressure and open the top.
  6. Remove the ribs from the pressure cooker pan and place them (bone side down) on a baking sheet lined with foil.
  7. Brush your favorite BBQ sauce on them as lightly or generously as you desire.
  8. Place the baking sheet back into the 400 degree oven you used for your sweet potatoes and cook the ribs another 15 – 20 minutes to bake the sauce in.

Serve with the baked sweet potatoes (with plenty of butter and brown sugar) and, if you’ve prepared some (or bought it) ahead of time, some crisp cold coleslaw.  If you don’t have a recipe for coleslaw, you might want to give my recipe from September 2015 a try: Lisa’s Kicked Up Memphis Coleslaw. Enjoy!

Are you on Facebook?  You might be interested in the things I may not devote an entire blog post to: recipes, food facts, nutritional information, photos and other things that make my mouth water. I may not write a blog post every day, but there are daily updates to my This Girl Loves To Eat community at: https://www.facebook.com/ThisGirlLovesHerFood

Hawaiian BBQ Chicken & Pineapple Risotto

pressurecookerIn case you’ve missed my posts from the last two days, I’m in love with my new T-Fal 6 quart electric pressure cooker!

Most nights my husband makes a brief stop at home after work before heading to the gym, then back home to spend some quality time on his stationary bike while I’m holding down the fort and figuring out/preparing (or ordering) what we’ll be eating for dinner.  That didn’t leave me a lot of time (if any) to get my early evening workout in and I felt more like a short order cook than a valued member of my household.  Realizing how much time & effort the pressure cooker saves me has changed my attitude and freed me up to get back to my post-work workouts too!

hawaiianbbqTonight’s dinner did take some extra time because it involved cooking two separate dishes in the slow cooker, but the short time needed for the risotto to cook allowed me to prep the main dish for it’s turn in the pot!  Next time I will prepare the rice/grain/potato side earlier in the day and reheat so dinner can still be prepped in one step.

Pineapple Risotto

  1. Preheat the pressure cooker to the brown setting.
  2. Pour contents of 20 ounce can of crushed pineapple (in juice not syrup) in to a 4 cup measuring cup.  Add water to equal 4 cups + an additional cup and set aside.
  3. Add 1 TBLS Olive Oil to the pressure cooker then 2 cups Arborio Rice and lightly toast it.  The rice will turn from solid white to translucent as it absorbs the oil, then back to white. When a couple of grains look golden your rice is toasted!
  4. Add about 2 TBLS of sweet wine (like Moscato) and stir the rice until the wine has fully evaporated.
  5. Pour the contents of the measuring cup and the additional water to the pressure cooker, mix, close and lock the lid.  Set to cook on high for 6 minutes.

When timer sounds, release the pressure and open the cooker.   Remove the inner pot from the cooker immediately to keep the rice from over-cooking.  The rice may still be slightly liquid.  Stir, and the rice will absorb the extra liquid in about 30 seconds. If the rice is still very wet, put the open pressure cooker back in the base unit set to brown, and finish cooking it this way.  It’s ok if it’s a little sticky for this recipe.

Hawaiian BBQ Chicken

  • 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, chopped into 2″ chunks
  • 2 Cups Fresh Pineapple Chunks (or 1 – 20 oz can chunks in juice)
  • 1/2 Cup Water (if using fresh or frozen pineapple chunks)
  • 1 Cup Light Coconut Milk (in the can)
  • 1 Cup Spicy-Sweet BBQ Sauce (I use Guy Fieri Kansas City Smoky & Sweet)
  • Dried Crushed Red Peppers to taste
  • Diced Scallion (about 1/4 Cup) green and white parts
  • Shredded Coconut (if desired)
  1. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the coconut milk, BBQ sauce and crushed red peppers.  If you are using canned pineapples, drain 1/2 of the juice into the BBQ sauce mixture.
  2. Add the chicken pieces to the measuring and stir to coat.
  3. Layer the pineapple on the bottom of the pressure cooker pan.  If using fresh or frozen pineapple chunks add 1/2 cup water.
  4. Pile the chicken on top of the pineapple but do not mix together.
  5. Pour the remaining sauce over the top of everything and close/lock the lid.
  6. Cook on medium for 9 minutes then push button to release steam/pressure and unlock lid.
  7. Remove the chicken & pineapple from the pressure cooker with tongs and turn unit to the brown setting.
  8. Add 1 1/2 TBLS Cornstarch to 1/4 cup or so cold water then pour into sauce and whisk for about 1 minute to thicken.
  9. Pour thickened sauce over the removed chicken and pineapple.

Pile a good amount of the pineapple risotto on the plate and cover it with some of the chicken, pineapple and sauce.  Sprinkle a bit of coconut and green onions on top and enjoy!

Are you on Facebook?  You might be interested in the things I may not devote an entire blog post to: recipes, food facts, nutritional information, photos and other things that make my mouth water. I may not write a blog post every day, but there are daily updates to my This Girl Loves To Eat community at: https://www.facebook.com/ThisGirlLovesHerFood

 

What Goes With Quinoa?

So my first foray into pressure cooking went off without me getting maimed or burned, so I guess I’ll be using my new toy again soon!  I made a huge batch of quinoa that turned out light, fluffy and quite tasty.  Just one problem: we aren’t big eaters of any grain at dinner time outside of rice, so I was left at a bit of a loss as to what to do with my big bowl of quinoa.

lemonchickenquinoaThe cupboards, refrigerator and freezer were rather bare due to the two week vacation we had just returned from, so I was left with very few options.  A lemon, Roma tomato, small avocado, a bag of frozen edamame, and 1/2 lb of frozen diced chicken breast were all I could salvage to throw together some kind of dinner hearty enough to satisfy my husband.

Lemon Chicken with Avocado & Tomato Quinoa

  • 1 1/2 Cups Cooked Quinoa (See yesterday’s post)
  • 1 Small Roma Tomato (diced)
  • 1 Small Ripe Avocado (diced)
  • 1 Cup Frozen Shelled Edamame (Soybeans) Cooked
  • Juice of 1 Large Lemon
  • 2 Tbls Olive Oil
  • 1/2 Lb Fresh Diced Chicken Breast
  • 1 tsp Minced Garlic
  • 1/8 tsp Dried Dill
  • 1/8 tsp +/- Arrowroot (to thicken the sauce)
  • Pinch Cayenne Pepper
  • Freshly Ground Salt & Pepper

Juice the lemon, stir in the arrowroot and set aside.  In a medium frying pan, heat 2 TBLS olive oil and the minced garlic over medium-high heat.  Add the diced chicken, season with freshly ground sea salt and pepper, and brown for about 2 minutes per side.  Add the edamame, dill, cayenne pepper and lemon juice mixture to the pan and continue cooking about 3 minutes until edamame and chicken are done and sauce is well incorporated.

Spoon about 1/2 Cup of the cooked quinoa and about 1/3 of the chicken mixture into a bowl. Top with the diced avocado and tomatoes and add more ground pepper to taste.

Light enough for my post-vacation diet yet hearty enough that 2 bowls satisfied my husband’s appetite.  Win-Win!

Are you on Facebook?  You might be interested in the things I may not devote an entire blog post to: recipes, food facts, nutritional information, photos and other things that make my mouth water. I may not write a blog post every day, but there are daily updates to my This Girl Loves To Eat community at: https://www.facebook.com/ThisGirlLovesHerFood

A New Kitchen Toy

pressurecookerIt seems I am always getting some kind of new kitchen gadget.  Something as small as a new pair of nesting measuring cups can make my day.  So imagine the glee I felt today when I opened the box from Amazon containing my new T-Fal 6 Quart Pressure Cooker!

To be honest, traditional pressure cookers have always scared me a bit.  I watched my grandma and mother-in-law fearlessly use them with ease and skill, but the unpredictable nature of the steam behind the pressure made me steer away from any recipes that even mentioned the need for pressure cooking.

After seeing more and more positive media about the joys of cooking in “no time” using the new electric pressure cookers with pre-programmed settings for as many as 25 different foods, the ability to steam, cook, simmer, an even slow cook in one compact unit, I took the plunge and ordered one for myself.

I also bought the two top rated pressure cooker cook books I could find on Amazon.com so I’d be ready to prepare a gourmet meal upon my return from vacation this week.  So what was my pressure cooker’s virginity breaking first meal?  I chickened out of doing anything that I might result in me wasting a lot of ingredients and made a big batch of  Quinoa!

Combine:

  • 1 3/4 Cups Quinoa
  • 2 1/2 Cups Chicken Broth (If I don’t have any canned broth on hand, I make my broth using 3 cups water boiled with 3 Wyler’s Herbed Chicken Bouillon Cubes)
  • Pinch of Freshly Ground Sea Salt
  • 1 TBLS Butter

Put pressure cooking pan/bowl back into the machine and secure the lid as per your instructions.  Turn your pressure cooker on and, if you have a setting for rice, select the rice setting and hit start.  If you do not have a rice setting, you can manually set your machine to cook for 9 minutes on medium then hit start and let the machine get warmed up to do its job.

When cooking has finished, follow your machine’s instructions for releasing steam/ returning to normal pressure before opening the lid.  My machine tells me to press the steam release button on the handle and wait until no more steam is escaping before turning the handle and opening the lid.

quinoaRemove the quinoa to a bowl and fluff to separate the grains.  If you aren’t eating all of the quinoa prepared, store in a sealed container and refrigerate to eat throughout the week.  Quinoa is fun because you can eat it as a side dish plain/with cheese/ or with vegetables, add some veggies to it as a salad, or add meat/chicken/fish/shellfish as a light main dish.

Are you on Facebook?  You might be interested in the things I may not devote an entire blog post to: recipes, food facts, nutritional information, photos and other things that make my mouth water. I may not write a blog post every day, but there are daily updates to my This Girl Loves To Eat community at: https://www.facebook.com/ThisGirlLovesHerFood

Spicy Shrimp Risotto

grillrenderWhat’s the best part about the day after a barbecue?  Leftovers of course!

Chicken went home with my girlfriend, the spicy Italian sausage and bacon wrapped jalapenos were devoured by everyone, but there were still some grilled vegetables and a dozen of the large freshwater shrimp left for me to toss into tonight’s dinner!

Spicy Shrimp Risotto

  • 8 – 12 Grilled Large Freshwater Shrimp (Tails and Shells removed)
  • 1 TBLS Olive Oil
  • 1 Red Bell Pepper Chopped
  • 1 Large Portobello Mushroom Chopped
  • 1 -2 tsp Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
  • 1 Cup (dry) White Arborio Rice
  • 1 TBLS Butter
  • 2 1/2 Cups Low Sodium Chicken Broth

In a 2 qt saucepan combine the rice with the butter and 2 1/2 cups of the chicken broth. Bring to a boil then cover, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to steam another 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in another 2 qt saucepan, over medium heat saute the olive oil, mushrooms and bell pepper for about 8 minutes.  Chop the shrimp into chunks then add it and the red pepper flakes to the vegetables.  Simmer on low for about 5 to 7 minutes then cover and remove from the heat.

When the rice has finished steaming add it to the pan with the shrimp and vegetables. Season with salt, pepper and more crushed red pepper flakes if desired.  Serve with chopped avocado and your favorite hot sauce.

Are you on Facebook?  You might be interested in the things I may not devote an entire blog post to: recipes, food facts, nutritional information, photos and other things that make my mouth water. I may not write a blog post every day, but there are daily updates to my This Girl Loves To Eat community at: https://www.facebook.com/ThisGirlLovesHerFood

Poolside Valentine’s Day BBQ

elm-131167-Valentines-Day-1
Happy Valentine’s Day From Sunny Southern California

The threats and warnings of the “Fury” and strength of the approaching El Nino has, so far, failed to materialize in Southern California.  A week and a half ago we were seeing colder than normal temperatures in the mid-50’s followed by last weekend’s mid to high 70’s and then this week’s high 80’s to mid 90’s.  I had barely gotten the dust off of my boots & sweaters and had to dig my spring clothes back out to keep from sweating my ass off while visiting customers this week!

I am neither gloating or complaining, I would just really like the weather to make a decision.  I have a great fireplace in the living room (and another one out by the BBQ island), but it just hasn’t been cold enough to justify lighting them.  In fact, it’s been so warm and sunny that I turned the heater back on in the pool and invited a single girlfriend & her kids over to catch some rays and barbeque by the pool for Valentine’s Day.

Instead of making reservations for brunch we put together a menu that would need minimal prep, have no gluten and be able to be cooked & served in the backyard.

Backyard Bloody Marys:

  • Pour 1 1/2 to 2 ounces Tito’s or Smirnoff 21 Vodka (both are Gluten Free) into a glass (or in this case, red Solo cup) filled with ice
  • Fill the rest of the cup up with a homemade mix comprised of: Low Sodium V-8, a splash or two of juice from a jar of martini olives, a dash of your favorite hot sauce (we used Frank’s Red Hot), a dash or two of Lea & Perrin’s Worcestershire Sauce, a bit of fresh-full strength horseradish, an a dash of A-1 Steak Sauce.
  • Garnished with a slice of crisp bacon, a stalk of celery, a peeled mini carrot, a thick ring of red bell pepper, and a skewer with sweet peppers, onions, and pepperocini

The BBQ was kept busy with:

Two simple side dishes allowed us to spend a couple of hours absorbing some natural Vitamin D, courtesy of our friend The Sun!

  • A salad of sliced English cucumber, halved plum tomatoes, thinly sliced red onion, 2 TBLS light sour cream, a dash or two red wine vinegar, freshly ground pepper and some garlic salt
  • Chunks of cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelon, and pineapple, thinly sliced Kiwi, fresh blueberries and a few whole strawberries

All in all a great day!

Weather forecasters promise that we will still be seeing the long promised “Godzilla” rain storms of El Nino, the storms are just taking their sweet time.  Weather experts are “expecting a conveyor belt of squalls to enter stage left in late February and continue through March, possibly into April. This is a month or so later than original predictions for heavy rains.”  In the meantime I will enjoy a few more days with the top down on my car and the ability to tan myself back from the brink of pale-dom before I have to hunker down in sweaters and rain boots.

Are you on Facebook?  You might be interested in the things I may not devote an entire blog post to: recipes, food facts, nutritional information, photos and other things that make my mouth water. I may not write a blog post every day, but there are daily updates to my This Girl Loves To Eat community at: https://www.facebook.com/ThisGirlLovesHerFood

My Top 5 Bloody Marys

bloodymarybasicsThere are few things that are more satisfying on a lazy Sunday morning than a great Bloody Mary.  But, as we who enjoy them can agree, not all Bloody Marys are created equal.

Personally I like mine to not be so spicy as to rip my throat off as I swallow, or sting it so bad that I can’t enjoy more than the first sip or two.  I like a lot of flavor and really enjoy the presentation of a pretty AND tasty drink.

I also enjoy a little variety.  My favorites have featured chunks of crab amongst crisp, tall vegetables; entire lobster claws; thick strips of crispy bacon; antipasto on a skewer (tomato/mozzarella/basil/salami);  and crispy, fresh vegetables to munch while sipping a perfectly spiced drink.

My Top 5 Bloody Marys:

  1. The Crab House on Pier 39 – San Francisco, CA
  2. Lobster Me at The Palazzo in The Venetian – Las Vegas, NV
  3. Paul Martin’s – Irvine, CA
  4. Olive Garden – Santa Ana, CA (Mainplace Mall)
  5. The Signal Lounge – Orange, CA

After stumbling across a picture of a giant fried WHOLE CHICKEN hanging out of a giant Bloody Mary I decided that I need a list of places to visit just for my favorite Sunday morning cocktail!

Although I’ve been to Milwaukee before, somehow I managed to miss Sobelman’s Pub & Grill and their menu of “Beast” Bloody Marys.

My mouth waters thinking about their 80+ oz concoctions that are meant to be shared by at least 4 people.

chickenfried

The Chicken Fried:  $50 and topped with a whole fried 4 pound chicken from Ray’s Butcher Shop in Greenfield.  That is one intimidating presentation!  It’s a drink for a cause though!  During the last 4 months of 2014, for every Chicken Fried sold, the owners of Sobelman’s donated $5 to Milwaukee’s Hunger Task Force.

abc_heeseburger_bloodymary_jp_121212_msCheeseburger Bloody Mary:  Features a scallion, a stalk of celery, a colby cheese wedge, a Polish sausage, a pickled mushroom, onion & brussel sprout, a pickle & olive, a shrimp, cherry tomato & lemon wedge, a spear of asparagus and a bacon cheeseburger slider.

2012-08-30-bacon-thumbAnother Bloody Mary that is definitely on the “Must Try List” is this 32 ounce monster from The Nook in Atlanta:  The Bloody Best:  8 oz. of Absolut Peppar vodka mixed with a special Bloody Mary mix, garnished with pepperoncinis, jalapenos, Tater Tots, steak, a slice of toast, a hard-boiled egg and you drink it through a straw made of meat!

The list is in its infancy and recommendations from enthusiastic Bloody Mary adventurers are welcomed.

On the flip side, I know that there are those who only partake to quiet the ache in their head and swirling of their bellies after a night of over indulgence, to that end, Smirnoff shares their basic recipe for a pitcher of basic Bloody Marys:

  • 9 oz Smirnoff No. 21 Vodka
  • Tomato juice
  • 1 Lime juiced
  • 1 Lemon juiced
  • 4 tsp Hot sauce
  • 2 tbs Horseradish
  • 1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tsp Celery salt
  • 1 tsp Black pepper
  • ½ tsp Salt
  • 1 tsp Smoked paprika
  • 1 Lime wedge

Blend all ingredients except vodka. Pour into pitcher. Rub lemon or lime wedge around the rim of highball glasses and then roll glass in celery salt and add ice cubes. Fill glass 1/3 with vodka & top off with Bloody Mary mix. Serves 10.

Time for this girl to head to bed so I can wake up and create something somewhere in the middle of these to sip tomorrow!

Are you on Facebook?  You might be interested in the things I may not devote an entire blog post to: recipes, food facts, nutritional information, photos and other things that make my mouth water. I may not write a blog post every day, but there are daily updates to my This Girl Loves To Eat community at: https://www.facebook.com/ThisGirlLovesHerFood