IamSimplyTia

Berry Lime Cocktail

Simply Tia — Sun, 27 May 2012 16:11:53 +0000

This drink is one of the most delicious ones I’ve ever made on my own. There’s ao inspiration from another recipe with this one. I just had these ingredients lying around and whipped it up. Initially I wanted a mojito because I wanted to use up the going-bad mint leaves I had in the fridge but I had no rum on hand so I decided to improvise and take things up a notch. This made for a very refreshing and yummy cocktail. If you prefer, you can strain it to make it “less dirty”. Personally, I prefer the bits and pieces of everything swimming in my mouth. YUM!

Ingredients:
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup bitter lemon soda
simple syrup (to taste – you might need more)
2-3 tablespoons crushed berries ( I used raspberries, blueberries and strawberries)
a few mint leaves, torn
1 jigger of gin *or more*

Method:
1. Mix everything except soda in a cocktail shaker.
2. Fill the glass about 1/2 full of ice cubes and top off with bitter lemon soda.

Bye for Now…..

Strawberry Shortcakes

Simply Tia — Wed, 23 May 2012 02:06:50 +0000

Three words of advice concerning the biscuits for these shortcakes: White Lily Flour. My goodness! A couple months ago, I happened across an article that near waxed poetic about how good White Lily Flour is for Southern biscuits. Well naturally, I wanted to try White Lily Flour. Alas, there was NONE to be found in ANY supermarkets, Walmarts, Super Walmarts around here. It was quite depressing. I read another article that said that White Lily flour was mostly found in Southern states and some mid western states. Since this flour seemed so special, I texted my MIL to just ask her about what she thought of the flour. (Or was it called)…Anyways she said that it was the flour she uses for her baking. Would you know that very next week a box came in the mail and in it was White Lily flour?? Yes! My MIL paid almost $13 to send me 5lbs of flour without me even asking for the stuff. I love that woman! Long story short, I am digging up all recipes that involves biscuits, muffins or anything that calls for all purpose flour. I made some AMAZING banana muffins before making these but decided to share these shortcakes first. They’re soooo good!

Ingredients for Strawberry Sauce:

1 pound strawberries
2 tbsp Grand Marnier
juice from 1 half of a lemon
3 tbsp sugar

Method:
1. Mix strawberries with sugar, lemon and Grand Marnier and refrigerate while juices develop, at least 30 minutes.

Biscuits Ingredients:
1/4 cup sugar
4 tbsp cold butter
2 tbsp cold shortening
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup heavy cream
1 egg

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

2, Sift together the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. Add shortening and butter and use pastry blender to mix them together until the size of small peas.

3. Beat egg and heavy cream together and mix to flour until just combined.

4. Using a biscuit cutter and cut biscuits.

5. Place biscuits on baking sheet lined with parchment paper. I used some melted butter and brused this on top and sprinkled some brown sugar.

6. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

7. Remove shortcakes from oven and place on a rack to cool slightly.

Assembling Shortcakes:

1. Split warm shortcakes.

2. Spoon some of the strawberries with their juice onto each shortcake bottom. Top with a generous dollop of whipped cream and then the shortcake top. Spoon more strawberries over the top and serve.

Bye For Now…..

My Weekend In Food Pt 8

Simply Tia — Mon, 21 May 2012 09:43:22 +0000

This past weekend was alright. I had a very stressful Friday and was super happy to unwind. Someone stole our apartment key (with car key on keychain as well) right out of our door’s keyhole *shakes head*. Saturday, I had lunch with friends then made a quick run to grocery (commissary afterwards). Speaking of commissary, I was on my PIC’s (military) base a few weeks ago waiting on him and as I had time to spare, I made my way to the commissary. Oh my goodness!! Why did I wait that long to go. for those of you who aren’t familiar with commissaries, they’re basically military supermarkets/grocery stores. And everything is SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than in a regular supermarket. I got butter for just a little over $2.50. I was paying a little over $4 for four sticks of butter before. So, you know I’ll be living in the commissary from now on right? Sunday was spent cleaning up, watching Frasier and cooking. After all the stress from Friday had died down, the rest of the weekend wasn’t too bad. Friday’s dinner. The recipe is included….

Honey Chipotle Wings

Ingredients:
1lb chicken wings, cut up
1 tsp salt
1 tsp paprika

1. Season chicken with salt and paprika and let marinate overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place wings on lightly oiled foil lined baking sheet.
3. Let wings bake for 40 minutes, turning once at the 20min mark

For the glaze:
2 chipotles in adobo
1 tablespoon of the adobo sauce
1/4 cup honey
2 tbsp fresh lime juice
2 tbsp soy sauce

1. Blend all ingredients in a blender
2. Coat chicken with this sauce. Soooo good!

Saturday’s lunch @ East Moon Restaurant

Spicy Salmon and a Philly roll…

(My dish) Basil Shrimp…

Beef Pad Thai…

Chicken with Broccoli…

Sunday morning, I woke up, picked up my Sunday morning paper. Read that and relaxed. There was no breakfast but I did manage to make Saltfish Cakes…

And I fried some semi-ripe plantains…

Sunday’s dinner consisted of grilled chicken (recipe coming), asparagus (and bacon) and Macaroni Pie.

Sunday’s dessert. I had made (and froze) a whipping cream pound cake a couple weeks ago and defrosted (and warmed a large slice, added some homestyle vanilla ice cream, some sliced strawberries and drizzled this super delicious strawberry sauce I made (it had a little rum in it) all over the sweets. YUMMMMMMMM!!!

Good ending to a rough starting weekend.

Bye For Now…..

Crème Brûlée Oatmeal

Simply Tia — Thu, 17 May 2012 11:14:56 +0000

Anyone who knows me personally or follows my blog (closely) will know how much I love crème brûlée. Just search for the stuff in this site’s search box and posts upon posts will pop up. Whether I just mention it or actually made a version of it, you’ll see my love for this classic French dessert. Sometimes, I make it and don’t even take photos. Otherwise, I’ll be taking photos all the time. Although I’m in loveeee with the custard part of a brûlée, it’s the crackly crust that does it every time for me. Mmmmmmmmm. But there are some days when I just don’t have the time and/or energy to make crème brûlée. That’s when I try to find ways to improvise. Last time it was Yogurt Brûlée and this time it’s with oatmeal. I’m not exaggerating when I say how darn good this was!!! Try. It. Soon!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
2 cups evaporated milk
1 cup water
1 tsp vanilla
berries of choice (I went with strawberries, raspberries and blueberries)
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp white sugar (to brûlée)

Method:
1. Place all ingredients, except berries, in a heavy saucepan and cook over medium to high heat, stirring frequently until it boils. Reduce heat and simmer for 5-10 minutes, or until milk has been absorbed and the oats have softened.

2. Spoon oatmeal into ramekins and fill up halfway. Add desired amount of berries on top of oatmeal like this….

3. Cover with more oatmeal. (I ended up mixing my berries and oatmeal up in the ramekin as opposed to having oatmeal, layer of berries, more oatmeal). Let sit and cool for about 5 minutes.

4. Sprinkle with sugar and whip out hand torch and burn sugar until light golden brown. Garnish as you wish.

My first spoonful…..O.M.G!

Bye For Now…..

Maryland Crab Cakes

Simply Tia — Wed, 16 May 2012 22:15:10 +0000

I absolutely love crab cakes. There was a year straight when whenever I went out, if crab cakes were on the menu, I would order them as my appetizer. Seriously, I love the stuff. BUT they can be pretty expensive. One crab cake with some fancy garnishes or two at most usually runs me between $16-$22 in a restaurant. Uh…right. I know it’s an appetizer and all but one hardly hits the spot no matter how delicious it is. So I gave up on buying crab cakes and I now find myself making them every now and again. At $10-$12 for a pound of lump crab meat, I can make at least 10 crab cakes myself. I think I much rather that.

Ingredients:
1 large egg
2 1/2 tbsp mayonnaise (I like Hellman’s Real)
1 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard (I like Maille brand)
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp Old Bay seasoning
1/2 cup finely diced celery (you’ll need one stalk)
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley
1 pound lump crab meat
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
Canola oil

Method:
1. Combine the egg, mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, Worcestershire, Old Bay, salt, celery, and parsley in a large bowl and mix well. Add the crab meat (be sure to check the meat for any hard and sharp cartilage) and panko; gently fold mixture together until just combined, being careful not to shred the crab meat. Let mixture sit, covered, in refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

2. Shape into desired size crab cakes (about 1/2 cup each) and place on prepared baking sheet.
3. Preheat a large nonstick pan to medium heat and coat with canola oil. When oil is hot, place crab cakes in pan and cook until golden brown, about 3-5 minutes per side. Be careful as oil may splatter. Serve immediately with tartar sauce (if you wish)

I made a little slider with one of mine…YUM!

Bye For Now…..

Bacon, Cheddar, Sausage and Tomato Strata

Simply Tia — Tue, 15 May 2012 13:52:40 +0000

I am so far behind on posts it’s not funny. Take for example this strata. I made this since mid March (as can be told by the expiration date on the milk in the ingredients photo) and I’m finally getting around to posting it. I believe I made it the very next day after seeing the recipe. I love these filling breakfast meals because they’re perfect to hold us over on Sundays as I usually don’t serve lunch early. Plus, all the leftovers get packaged up so that my PIC can take to work for breakfast the following days. Can’t go wrong, right? This one has Italian sausage, bacon, cheese and tomatoes it in and they all blend together perfectly to make a meaty and scrumptious meal.

Modified from Ezra Poundcake

Ingredients:
4 cups cubed leftover bread (I used sandwich bread)
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, grated
4 Italian sausage links, cut into small pieces and cooked
8 slices bacon, cooked and chopped
1/2 cup grape tomatoes, sauteed in butter for about 3 minutes
10 large eggs
3 cups whole milk
1 tbsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp parika
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

Method:
1. Grease a 9 x 13-inch baking dish with butter or nonstick spray.
2. Put the bread cubes in the dish, and sprinkle them with cheese. Set aside.
3. In a small, whisk together the eggs, milk, pepper, italian seasoning, mustard, and salt. After this is well blended, add cooked sausage and bacon and sauteed tomatoes to the bowl. Then add grated cheese.
4. Pour the egg mixture over the bread cubes. Make sure everything is moistened.
5. Cover with plastic wrap, and chill for at least 4 hours and up to 24 hours.

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Uncover the baking dish, and bake for 60 minutes, until the mixture has puffed up slightly and is golden brown on top, and the strata doesn’t wiggle back and forth when you shake the pan. Tent the dish with foil if the top is browning too quickly.
3. Let cool for 5 minutes before serving. Serve using a large serving spoon.

A jumbo piece for my PIC…

Bye For Now…..

Homemade Pizza Sauce

Simply Tia — Mon, 14 May 2012 21:33:42 +0000

Who doesn’t love pizza? Raise your hand if you don’t. Thought so. Everyone (or mostly everyone) loves the stuff. And as good as Dominos, Papa John and all those fabulous pizza companies are, sometimes I just want to make my own pizza. I haven’t faced my fear of yeast yet so I still use Pilsbury’s pizza dough for my homemade pizza. The pizza sauce though, I’ve got that covered!

Adapated from Two Tarts

Ingredients:
1 can tomato sauce
1 can tomato paste
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp salt
4 cloves garlic, minced

Method:
1. Combine all of the ingredients in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium.
2. Simmer for 15 minutes.
3. Add mixture to blender and pulse until you reach your desired consistency.

Now time to make a semi-homemade pizza

I’m no good at making crust.

One slice for me (it’s missing from the photo). T’was soooooo good!

Bye For Now…..

Pineapple Limeade Cocktail

Simply Tia — Sat, 12 May 2012 19:00:25 +0000

Pineapple juice used to be my favorite drink ever (before I discovered alcohol). Now my favorite drink ever is an Amaretto Sour but anything with pineapple comes in right after. This pineapple limeade with rum and Grand Marnier is a delicious and refreshing cocktail that is just perfect for a gorgeous summery day.

Ingredients (2 servings):
1 cup pineapple juice
1/2 cup juice from lime
1/4 cup Grand Marnier
1/4 cup rum
1/4 cup ginger ale
Ice
Lime Wheels

Method:
1. Pour the pineapple juice, lime juice, Grand Marnier, ginger ale in the shaker and shake over.
2. Pour into 2 glasses with ice.
2. Add a few slices of lime wheels into the glasses.
4. Garnish with pineapple wedge and cherry

Hubby and I watched Frasier while sipping on these yesterday evening. I couldn’t stop laughing.

Bye For Now…..

B.A.L.T Salad

Simply Tia — Fri, 11 May 2012 15:38:37 +0000

As much as classic recipes are good and fun, one ingredient addition can take things to a whole different level. Years ago, if you gave me a BLT Sandwich, I would be the happiest person ever but one day I tried it with avocado and have never looked back. Every time I make a BLT Sandwich I add avocado to the mix. BALT sandwiches are so delicious. Remember THIS ONE? It was so scrumptious. Recently, I was craving a BALT sandwich but had no bread on hand. I wasn’t upset because the less carbs, the better. No? I went ahead and made this salad. Can someone say YUM?! It’d be the perfect the perfect accompaniment to steak or even chicken. I found it just great on its own.

Ingredients:
4 sliced thick sliced bacon, oven cooked
1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes
1/4 red onion, sliced
1 large avocado, peeled and diced
2 small heads green leaf lettuce, washed and chopped
If you want dressing, blue cheese or ranch dressing would be a good choice (optional)

Method:
1. Combine salad ingredients, serve.
2. Drizzle with dressing if you so wish. I had mine without dressing. It was soooo good!

The other day I made a B.A.S.T sandwich. Bacon, avocado, shrimp and tomato. How good does it look? It was just as tasty as it looks.

Bye For Now…..

La Paloma

Simply Tia — Wed, 02 May 2012 21:23:51 +0000

Cinco de Mayo is a few days from now and I, happily, join in celebrating with the Mexicans, their achievement of freedom and democracy on that day 150 years ago. I’ve been seeing this drink floating all over the webverse in the past few weeks and the description (and its appearance) kept tempting me until I just had to give in. Traditionally, it is made with grapefruit soda but if grapefruit soda is hard to come by, then one can always use fresh grapefruit juice and club soda in its place. Luckily for me, I had in my possession, several Jamaican grapefruit sodas. The name of the soda which traditionally comes in a green bottle is “Ting” (and the beverage is the color of ginger ale). However, I had pink Ting so I knew it would be PERFECT for my palomas. Let me tell you how refreshingly delicious this cocktail is. Next time, I think I may jazz it up a little with some Grand Marnier. I know that would be out-of-this-world GOOD!

Recipe that I used

Ingredients:
2 oz reposado tequila (silver tequila would work excellently here too)
5-6 oz grapefruit soda
Juice of a lime (about 1/2 oz)
Pinch of salt (I omitted this)

Method:
1. Combine tequila, lime juice, and a pinch of salt into a highball or Collins glass.
2. Add ice and top with grapefruit soda. Stir gently.
3. Throw in lime wedges for garnish.

If you have no grapefruit soda -

Ingredients:
2 oz tequila blanco (silver)
3 oz white grapefruit juice
1/2 oz lime juice
1/2 oz agave nectar
Club soda
Pinch of salt

Method:
1. Combine tequila, grapefruit juice, lime juice, agave nectar, and salt into a cocktail shaker half-filled with ice.
2. Shake and strain into a highball or Collins glass filled with ice.
3. Top with club soda and add some lime wedges

(Photo of my original paloma – not the second recipe)

Bye For Now…..