Sweet Potato Sausage Skewers with Lemon Garlic Mayonnaise

Here's a great skewered appetizer that's tasty and easy!

First: The Lemon-Garlic Mayonnaise...
Ingredients:
1 C mayonnaise
2 T chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
2 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp lemon zest
2 T fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp salt

Directions:
Stir all ingredients together.
*Can store in an airtight container for up to 7 days.

 

Skewers' Ingredients:
2 lbs sweet potatoes, peeled, cut into 32, 1" cubes
2 T olive oil
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 lb smoked sausage* cut into 32, 1/2" pieces
32 wooden picks

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 450.  Place sweet potato cubes on lightly greased pan.  Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Toss to coat.
2. Bake at 450 for 15-20 minutes, turning cubes twice.
3. Cook sausage over medium/high heat 3-4 minutes to brown.  Drain on paper towels.
4. Place 1 sasauge slice on 1 sweet potato cube on a wooden pick  Serve with Lemon Garlic Mayo.

* For the sausage, I used one I found at Costco.  It was an herbed mozzarella herb chicken sausage.  Amazing!

Thirsty Thursday: Strawberry Lemonade

 I think one of the BEST parts about living in Southern California is the strawberry season.  You can start getting (semi) local strawberries by the end of January, and you can milk that season through when everyone else in the country eats them.

It seems as though the local stands sell them for about 8 straight months.

Consequently, I can't always make the same strawberry shortcakes, strawberry jams, and strawberries with cream every day.  Even though I would love to eat strawberries every day of my life, my husband doesn't quite align with my sentiment.

So?  I found a recipe for a lemonade concentrate.  So "easy," and simple, plus you don't have to worry about any added preservatives or gross-ness.

Ingredients:
6 cups of strawberry puree (about 2-3lbs whole fruit)
4 cups of fresh lemon juice (about 3-4lbs whole fruit)
1/4 cup of sugar - 6 cups of sugar depending on the sweetness.  Original recipe called for 6, I used 1/4 cup.  You're call, obviously.
5+ freezable containers.
Liquid to un-concentrate later (Sprite, Ginger Ale, Water, Seltzer Water, or whatever you'd like).

Directions:
1. Stem and hull strawberries.  Throw into your food processor and blend until smooth.
2. Juice a lot of lemons.  Add to strawberry puree.
3. Add sugar to taste.
4.  Place into freezable containers.  After the concentrate freezes, you can pop the cubes out and place them in a zip-lock bag.
5. When you're ready to enjoy the beverage, thaw your concentrate and use an equal proportion (or more) of the liquid (I used about 3/4 C Diet Sprite to 1/2 C concentrate, and loved it).

* You can also process the concentrate through a water boil method for canning, but I didn't want to waste the jars on something so easily frozen.
** These would also make a good smoothie base.

A Tuesday for Thomas

I always brag about Thomas' skills, but I never really showcase him.  Sorry about that, I just hardly ever catch him in the action.  He's on like Donkey Kong and then gone, baby, gone.  So, I snuck into the kitchen this past weekend to catch him making one of our favorites - asparagus!  There's hardly a week that goes by without asparagus in our household, so I thought I'd share one of Thomas' new recipes he's been trying from the Food Network Magazine. 

As you can see, Thomas is already a firm believer in a Pampered Chef kitchen...  Here, he's using the much abused Food Chopper (not a meal goes by where this one gets any rest), and one of our two cup prep bowls, with lid.  That way he can prep the drizzle and take it with him to our cook out and leave the rest of the mess at home!

For this asparagus, Thomas also pulled out the garlic press and our microplane adjustable grater/zester.  These are also staples in the kitchen.  He is not, however, using one of our flexible cutting mats, but I think that's because this one warped in the dishwasher and so it holds the lemon juice in!

As Thomas was peeling the asparagus, I noticed him putting them into iced water.  I know that asparagus grow well in sandy soil, so I know soaking them helps to get them clean, but the ice?  I had no idea.  Thomas, first of all, told me that he was cleaning them in salt water.  He added salt to the water to help kill of any other nasty that still might be on the asparagus.  As for the ice?  He said it seemed like a great way to keep them fresh and crisp.  Seeing as he makes asparagus all the time, I had to trust him on this one!

Finally, when we got to the cookout, he cooked them quite quickly, and then added his drizzle on top.

Yummy!!

Thirsty Thursday, multiple liquor edition!

It's been that kind of week where we need a drink.  Or two.  In fact, we're having such a versatile drink this week, that you can serve it with a multitude of liquors, and it's great with every one...

Behold, the ingredients for a Sparkling Citrus Cooler!

Once again, I can't follow a recipe to save my soul. Well, maybe I can, but I have this thing about left over ingredients.  If I can't throw in a whole can, or find the right amount, I don't like saving the leftovers.  They usually go bad before I get a chance to use them again.  This generally stems from me not knowing how to throw random ingredients together to "create" a recipe, but I can admit my weaknesses, and therefore don't feel too bad if I fudge a current recipe to save me from the excess waste.  Long story short (too late!), I doubled up on the frozen orange juice because that was the only sized can I could find.

This drink is so easy to make, and it's quite versatile.  I tried it with tequila, with vodka, and with no booze at all (gasp!).  All three were winners, plus I think if there had been any Malibu or Parrot Bay on hand, rum would have been a great addition as well.  And, unlike the Sangria, I wasn't afraid to have leftovers for the next day, or the day after that.  The sparkling water added to it, but didn't leave a "flat" taste, like I was worried about with the Sprite Zero.

The only downfall, if you let it be one, was the fruit cocktail left over in the bottom of the pitcher.  Unlike Sangria (although this doesn't have to be the case), you don't soak the fruit in the alcohol before serving it up, so there's no "bonus" benefit from chomping down on the lemons or limes.  So, make a plan.  Serve up your drinks with the fruit mixed in, or leave them in the pitcher and have a sweetened dessert after your meal.  Either way, drink up, and enjoy the extra dose of vitamin C!

God Bless the Safe House!

Cheers!

Happy Thirsty Thursday, everyone!

Work week got you down?  Thinking that the three day weekend we had only three days ago is now just a figment of your imagination?  Ready to kick off the weekend grad school style?  (I have to say grad school instead of college, since I think the college weekend began on Wednesday.)

Well, have no fear: Thirsty Thursday is here!!  It's almost time to kick off from work for the day (although you lucky East Coasters may already be on your way), so let's have a virtual sip with an awesome summer beverage that is easy to make, and quite simply refreshing...

The Sparkling Sangria!

Ingredients for fun!

I have to admit, this recipe took me a little longer to make than necessary, because I was trying to preserve my manicure, which made peeling the fruits difficult.  However, the fruits of my labor (haha) were well worth it.

The recipe calls for non-alcoholic red wine.  I went fully loaded (the Barefoot Sweet Red is on sale at the Jewels/Albertsons), and threw in an extra orange for good measure.  I also used the Splenda Sugar Blend equivalent (2 TBS) instead of sugar (1/4 C), and Sprite Zero.  This doesn't make this a diet drink by any stretch of the imagination, especially when two people drink the whole batch, but I have to imagine that it helps a little.

Also, you're supposed to let the fruit sit in the alcohol for 3-4 hours, but dinner only took an hour to create.  I'm sure it would be even more impressive if I didn't have the patience of a two year old crack baby.

That's all I have for this week, but I have a few other drink recipes I'm dying to try out.  Until then,

Cheers!