Garden Salad Cocktail

I know this doesn't sound too appetizing but it is! If you like garden salads and vodka together? lol. It's refreshing and goes down nice and smooth if you are in the mood for something crisp, fresh and light. I started making this drink last summer and I've even tried it with carrots, different types of herbs like cilantro and dill, lots of tomatoes and cucumbers and it's all good! Stay cool and get those veggies in., I think this counts as a serving. lol ;)

For one cocktail you'll need:

• 2 oz. cucumber vodka
• 1 good medium size tomato
• 1/4 green pepper
• 6 oz. seltzer
• 1 slice cucumber, for garnish
• 1 leaf of parsley for garnish
• fresh ground pepper *optional
• ice cubes

Muddle the green pepper to get all the pepper flavor out. Once you have muddled it, squeeze the pulp so you get all the juice out. Next take your tomato, (it's really important to use a good tomato because this is where you are getting your sweetness from)  half it and take all of the tomato seeds and put them in your glass. Give your tomato a slight squeeze to get any juice out. You can save the rest of the tomato to use for your morning egg scramble or to saute with garlic for a quick tomato sauce. Pour in the vodka and the seltzer and add some ice cubes. Give it a nice stir and top with fresh ground pepper, it gives it a little bit of a kick. Cut a slit in your cucumber slice and top with your parsley leaf. Add your garnish to your glass and enjoy!

Potato Chip Platter

There is something about summertime that pulls me to chips and dip. And you can make the humble potato chip a little fancier when paired with super creamy sour cream, smoked Nova salmon, salty capers and specialty mustard. If your budget allows, add some caviar to this platter and you have got yourself a little fancy feast. This can be great to munch on while you sip on some Prosecco or beer on a Saturday night with some friends or as a little starter to a main course where you are serving fish for company. I made this once before but made the mistake to have the chips premade with dollops of sour cream and as it sat around, it got really mushy and no one really likes a mushy chip. So this is great where everyone can make their own little chip with all the fixins.

I use shot glasses for condiments all the time and this is one of the platters that could really use them. Great to hold the mustard, horseradish and capers. For this platter gather together:

• 1 bag of hearty kettle cooked chips, about a 6 oz. bag
• 3 oz. package of smoked Nova salmon
• 1 pint sour cream
• 5 tablespoons heavy cream
• capers, I used two kinds, one in brine and one packed in salt
• horseradish in a jar
• baby dill pickles, cut lengthwise
• any specialty mustard, I used champagne dill (found in the mustard aisle)
• fresh dill

I love that this is so easy to make and so good! Combine the sour cream and the heavy cream and put in a bowl. Sprinkle the salted capers around the sour cream. Put the mustard, capers, drained from the brine and the horseradish in your shot glasses or any small bowls. Rip up the salmon into bite size pieces and put on a plate, spread some freshly chopped dill on the side. Arrange your platter with the bowl of sour cream, the salmon, condiments, and the pickles and chips. Spread out some cocktail knives and forks and enjoy!

Shrimp & Grits

This isn't really the traditional shrimp and grits recipe with bacon and green pepper sauteed with the shrimp, this is more of a shrimp scampi and grits. And the grits have Parmesan and ricotta cheeses folded in it instead of the Cheddar cheese. I know, I know I am typing as fast as I can so you get the ingredients you need to make this tonight, lol. It's really good especially when the wine and butter garlic sauce meets the cheesy grits on your fork! What's good about this dish is it's quick enough for dinner when you are in a rush and nice enough for company, especially when paired with a caesar salad with chunky croutons and a flourless chocolate torte for dessert. Enjoy!

• 1 pound shelled and deveined shrimp
• 7 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 cup Moscato wine
• 1/2 cup roughly chopped parsley
• 1/2 cup stone ground corn grits
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1.2 cup ricotta cheese
• freshly ground pepper
• sea salt

In a dutch oven, saute the garlic, 1 tablespoon butter and the olive oil. Heat this on low heat, stirring often and make sure you don't burn it. Once your garlic is soft, stir in the shrimp until it turns pink around the edges. This happens quickly. Next add in the wine and let it come to a boil and flip the shrimp over. Increase the heat and add in the parsley and one tablespoon of butter. Stir and make sure the biggest piece of shrimp is cooked through and opaque. Season with salt and pepper. Taste and adjust the seasonings as needed. Meanwhile, you can make the grits according to package. Once they are done, keep the heat on low and stir in one tablespoon of butter, the Parmesan and ricotta cheeses. Season with salt and pepper according to taste. This serves about 4 people. Spoon the shrimp alongside the grits with lots of wine butter sauce. Serve with fresh ground pepper.

Grilled Poundcake with Blueberry Chamomile Butter

My favorite part of any holiday including the fourth of July is the morning of. I love the quietness of it and just taking it nice and easy. And this grilled pound cake with blueberry butter that has a hint of chamomile and vanilla is just the thing to enjoy in the calm of the morning. Enjoy and I hope you have a great 4th of July!

• 1 pint whipping cream
• 3/4 cup blueberries
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 bags of chamomile tea or loose tea about about 2 tablespoons
• 1/4 cup confectioners sugar
• 1 pound cake, cut into thick slices
• butter flavored cooking spray
• raspberries on the side

Bring the whipping cream and the chamomile tea bags to a light boil. Remove and let it cool. Once cool, let it sit in the fridge overnight. Use bags that don't have metal staples in them. Once you bring it out of the fridge, this gets a little messy but it's worth it, remove the tea bags scraping any cream that has surrounded them. Squeeze the tea bags well, you want all of the chamomile essence in the cream. I ended up breaking one of the bags and left some of the chamomile leaves in the cream. Stir in the blueberries, vanilla extract and the confectioners sugar in and with a hand blender combine well until it begins separating. Once you see that the cream has come together into a consistency of butter, you want to strain it in a cheesecloth, (I used a paper towel) to get all of the liquids out. Once all you have is butter, you can use it right away or form it. You can put it into a decorative bowl and cover or form it into a log and roll in parchment paper. Fire up the grill and spray your poundcake slices and grill them until you get some nice marks. They grill up quickly. Spread your butter on them and it's a yummy start to a day of celebrating independence. :)

Homestyle Red, White & Blue Salad

Time is just flying by, I can't believe half of the "new" year is already over and we are in July. The fourth is just a few days away! Time for barbecues, dips in the lake, fireworks and good times to celebrate Americas' independence. When I was a little kid, I went through a "food separation stage," lol, you know what I talking about, where all your food had to be separate on the plate. My mashed potatoes could not touch the corn and the corn could not touch the meatloaf and gravy. That meeting on the plate equalled getting the cooties, lol. As I got a little older, I got over that stage and secretly loved when my potato salad and my macaroni salad met. A little potato with macaroni creaminess...Mmm. So if you have that little secret love too, this is a great salad to make for your Fourth of July celebration.

• 1 1/2 pounds purple potatoes, cubed (about an inch in size) and cooked
• 1 1/2 pounds red potatoes, skin left on, cubed and cooked
• 1 pound of trottole pasta, or any fun pasta that is about an inch in size, cooked al dente
• 3 stalks celery, finely chopped
• 3/4 cup grated carrots
• 3 soft boiled eggs, finely chopped
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 heaping teaspoon deli style mustard
• 2 heaping tablespoons relish
• a few splashes Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon Vegeta or any all purpose seasoning that you like

Combine all of your ingredients well and adjust the seasoning, if needed. This salad is even better when it's left to sit overnight in the fridge, so the flavors get to mingle. Enjoy!