Watermelon Cosmopolitan

Deb brought this to us one Saturday afternoon.

Ingredients

Directions

To make melon juice, blend watermelon in a blender then strain. Combine all liquid ingredients in a martini shaker with ice and shake until chilled. Garnish with mint leaves or watermelon slices.

Steel Magnolia Martini

A magazine recipe that proved very nice.

Ingredients

Directions

Add ice and all ingredients to a martini shaker and shake to chill. Strain into a martini glass rimmed with sugar and cinnamon.

Pimento Cheese

This recipe came from a local restaurant that has since closed. You can use jarred pimentos or make your own.

Ingredients

Directions

Add mayonnaise and lemon juice to a mixing bowl and whisk until combined. Add grated cheese and pimentos and mix until ingredients are distributed. This stuff benefits greatly from being prepared in advance and overnighting in the fridge. Serve any dang way you want… just make sure you’re on good terms with your room mate if you choose “finger in bowl, finger to mouth” as your serving method.

Making your own Pimentos:
Pimentos are just roasted red peppers. If you want to make your own, just roast quartered red peppers in the oven (375° or so), skin side up, until the skin chars a little. Take them out of the oven and throw into a plastic baggie. After the bag steams up and sits for a minute, the skins will slide right off. Then just dice ‘em up.

Parmesan Crackers

I found this recipe in the local paper and they’ve become a hit both at home and at the office. They are amazing with pimento cheese or just on their own. You can substitute almost any hard white cheese; asiago, romano, etc.

Ingredients

Directions

Heat oven to 400°. Mix the flour, cheese, and butter with a food processor until blended. Add the cream/half-and-half and mix until the the dough balls up.

The trickiest part of this recipe is the rolling of the dough and the transferring of the dough to the baking sheet. Here’s how I worked that out:

First I get a piece of wax paper that’s the same size as my baking sheet. I tape this to my counter, spread a little flour on the paper an work the dough by hand until it’s roughly rectangular and about a half-inch thick. Sprinkle a little more flour on top and then proceed to roll the dough as thin as you possibly can. Lightly dust the baking sheet with flour. Carefully remove the tape from the wax paper and transfer the dough to the baking sheet, dough side down. Peel off the wax paper and ta daa! transfer achieved!

Score the dough with a pizza cutter into 1- to 1 1/2-inch squares. Sprinkle with coarse salt and bake 10-12 minutes or until the thinnest crackers are golden brown.

You can experiment with both the cheese and the sprinkles. We’ve successfully used romano and asiago cheeses instead of parmesan. Tried cheddar, but the higher oil content kept them from getting as crisp and flaky. Sprinkles can be pepper, sesame seeds, poppy seeds or minced garlic.

Outer Banks Banana Pudding

Courtesy of Wanda Dokken. A native to the Outer Banks, she shared this recipe from her family collection many years ago. It’s a bit different than the traditional meringue types but equally delicious.

Ingredients

Directions

Make pudding as directed on box. Fold pudding into sour cream. Fold this mixture into cool whip. Layer with wafers and bananas. Let it sit in refrigerator several hours.

Milwaukee Dinner

Comfort food at it’s best. A cold evening, a warm pot simmering on the stove. Dinner is ready in about 30 minutes. It’s all good.

Ingredients

Directions

Rinse and drain sauerkraut in several changes of water. Drain thoroughly. Place sauerkraut in the bottom of a dutch oven. Cover with sliced sausage and onion rings. Sprinkle with black pepper to taste. Pour both cans of chicken broth over the mixture. Cover. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes to mix flavors. Add apple slices and continue to simmer 5 minutes or until apples are tender, not mushy. Serve in bowls. Top with shredded Swiss cheese.