Limoncello Summer Cocktail

Nicely chilled bottle of Limoncello

I am always on the hunt for something that will just scream summer on the beach or by the pool...I think I found it.

My sister spent last week in Italy so I was thinking about all things Italian. With the technology now I was able to keep in touch with her the whole time. Pretty much knowing what she was eating and doing all day long! Pretty sweet huh?

It was with her in mind that I went into our liquor store the other day to buy myself a bottle of Limoncello. I had never tasted it before and thought that is was about time I did. With my bottle in hand I raced home and poured myself some to taste over ice. (very sad face) I didn't like it. But in my true determined nature I was going to find a way that this was good! And did I ever...

Here is what I came up with:


Limoncello Summer Cocktail

Pour 3 ounces of Limoncello over ice. Top with fresh squeezed lemon juice and sparkling water (Perrier or San Pellagrino) to taste.

I can't wait to serve this to my girlfriends while we waste away the afternoon around the pool watching the kids play!!! This is now my knew favorite drink...Yummmmm!!!

Onto something totally different. We are all mourning the loss of Tastespotting but some wonderful individuals have come up with some really good options! I think my favorite is Foodgawker. The set up of this one is very similar to Tastespotting. My friend Robin at Caviar and Codfish has also set one up called FPDaily. Last but not least is Recipes2Share. Thanks to all of you who are running these new sites!

Be sure to check out all of these wonderful sites!!!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

A great Father's Day for all of us!!!

Osso is the first dog that we have had that is not a water dog. He does seem to enjoy the floaty though!!!

Yesterday was Father's Day and we spent a nice lazy day at home. We hung around the pool all day just soaking up the sun and relaxing. Life doesn't get much better...until dinner time that is!!!

Grilled Lamb with grilled eggplant and peppers!

Last night's dinner was incredible. I have been wanting a steak for a very long time now but they are so freaking expensive (no hormones, antibiotics, free range, humanely raised and slaughtered) but yesterday I broke down and bought one. This steak was incredible. T. and the girls had lamb. We used the same marinade on both of the eats and it was great on them both. Nice and fresh tasting. We served this along side some grilled peppers and some grilled eggplant. The peppers were just salted and grilled and the eggplant was smothered in Olive Oil, salt, garlic powder, pepper, and paprika. Yummmm!!!

Steak on the Grill with grilled eggplant and peppers!

Lamb and Beef Marinade

1 cup of Soy Sauce
2 Tbsp cilantro, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 inch of fresh ginger, sliced
salt and pepper

• Allow all the ingredients to blend together for about 1 hr. Add meat to a Ziploc bag and divide the marinade if you are doing what we did and using the marinade for 2 different meats.
  
• Allow to marinade for about 15 minutes.
  
• Grill until desired doneness is reached!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Happy Father's Day!!!

Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's out there! I wish I could be with mine on Father's day but the distance is just too great. Love you Dad!

My girls got up in the middle of the night last night and cleaned out our office as a Father's Day gift to T. Isn;t that sweet??? Unfortunately seeing as they did this from 3:30 in the morning until about 5 when I heard them, they are a little tired and cranky today!

Onto something totally not food related or Father's day related...the weather!

This video was taken from my front window looking towards the street. I couldn't even open the front door to get a better shot. I was startled when I was taking it by a strike of lightening which seemed like it was right out there!!!

This was right when the storm started. See my pool is already very full. I ended up with water up to my sliders but not any higher thank goodness!

We have been having really horrendous weather. Even worse then we normally get this time of year. Friday afternoon we had s storm develop right over top of us (we are on the coast and when the seabreeze coming off the water is not strong enough to push the developing storms inland they tend to build right above us). And was it wild. The lightening and thunder where just constant. The rain was so loud it sounded like a roar. We had tornadoes from these storm several days last week.

The one Friday though was the worst. Several homes were damaged. The flooding was so bad that when we went for dinner (meeting friends) and as we were driving down the main road I saw three coconuts floating past us on the road!!! LOL. The only way you could maneuver down the streets was by driving between the mailboxes! It was a bit drier yesterday and we didn't have any rain at our house. I guess it's either feast of famine...2 weeks ago we were the driest place in the state now officially we are the wettest!

Have a great day!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

My savory potato salad screw up!

Grilled Potatoes

The other night when I was making the stuffed grape leaves I saw that I had a bunch of potatoes that were sprouting eyes. I figured that I had better get hem used up. I also new that I had some beans so I originally had been looking for some inspiration in the way of a potato and bean salad. But when I decided on a nice easy light vinaigrette and got my beans out I realized this was not to be!! Those beans stunk...Enorma got those!

I finally decided on Potato salad with a vinaigrette dressing. Would have been really good to but I undercooked the potatoes???!!! Too many things going on at once. It wouldn't have been so bad but I didn't even notice it until I tasted it after I had it all dressed and ready to go in the fridge!!! I figured I could microwave it and then chill it again but that still sounded like a lot of work. I was grilling the goat cheese stuffed chicken anyway so I decided to add a bit more oil to the potatoes and put them in an aluminum foil packet and finish cooking them on the grill.

They actually turned out incredible and I would not hesitate to do this again. The nest time I might just microwave them and then do the dressing and then grill them. I have other ways that I grill my potatoes but this turned out very well with the vinegar adding something else to it! Here is how the recipe will go:

Grilled Potatoes

1-1/2 lbs potatoes, cooked and chopped into 1 inch cubes
2 + 2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp chopped fresh parsley
1 tsp chopped fresh oregano
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp dried summer savory
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1/4 tsp powdered mustard

Directions:

• Bake the potatoes in the microwave until done. Allow to cool until you can handle them well enough to cut them into 1 inch cubes.
• In a separate bowl mix together the first 2 Tbsp of olive oil, vinegar, parsley, oregano, garlic, savory, pepper and mustard.
• Add the dressing to the potato pieces and allow to soak in at room temperature.
• Prepare aluminum foil packet and oil the bottom with the remaining 2 Tbsp of olive oil. Add the potatoes and cook on the grill for about 10 minutes turning once during the cooking time.

These would be great served as a side dish to just about anything. I was thinking that you could even add cherry tomatoes to cook with it on the grill. This could be a very versatile dish with a bit of creativity!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Vine leaves stuffed with chicken and herbed goat cheese!

Yesterday was the first day since the girls finished school for the year that we didn't have a thousand things to do and I was actually able to make a meal for us. That is not to say that I still didn't face several challenges while doing this...dogs needing to go out, kids fighting in the pool, lawn guy asking me stupid questions, phone calls and the list goes on and on!!!

I had seen this recipe a week or so ago on Val's blog - More Than Burnt Toast and I knew that I could alter it to suit my tomato hater!

Here is Val's recipe as written. I have put my changes in italics in bold.

**Barbequed Chicken with Vine Leaves & Goat Cheese**

4 chicken legs or boneless, skinless breasts, without the bones (I used thighs)
200 g goat cheese
1 T freshly squeezed lemon juice
1- 2 tsp lemon zest
1 T snipped chives (I had no chives)
1 tsp finely chopped sun dried tomatoes (I used fresh chopped basil as we have a tomato hater)
20 vine leaves (canned in brine)
400 g tomatoes concassees (chopped or crushed)- concassees is seedless, skinless chopped tomatoes (see below for the sauce that I used)
¼ cup olive oil
salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp sugar
oregano
aluminum foil

****************************
In a small bowl combine goat cheese. lemon juice, lemon zest, snipped chives and sun dried tomatoes.

Using a sharp knife, carefully slice the chicken fillets in half but not cutting all the way through to form a pocket for the goat cheese filling. Lay four or five vine leaves (depending on their size)overlapping on a piece of aluminum foil to create a large square and lay one of the chicken fillets on top of the leaves. Add the goat cheese filling divided into 4 equal portions inside the pocket of the chicken breast. Sprinkle with freshly ground pepper and proceed to wrap the grape leaves around the chicken breast like an envelope. Then tightly wrap the aluminum foil around the fillet, giving it a candy like shape like a tamale or if you are British like a Christmas cracker.

Repeat the process with the rest of the chicken fillets. If the vine leaves you are using are preserved in brine, avoid adding extra salt to the chicken. The salt from the brine will be more than adequate and it will taste better this way.

Preheat barbecue to 350 F. Place foil-wrapped chicken in barbecue. Cook for 15 minutes, flip chicken and cook for another 10. Let rest for 5 -10 minutes. Carefully remove foil by cutting foil twists off end and exposing grape leaf wrapped chicken.

Meanwhile: To prepare the sauce add the crushed tomatoes, olive oil, salt, pepper, sugar and oregano in a pot and allow it to cook for 20 minutes once it comes to a boil.

*****Because of my tomato hater I decided to make a lemon cream sauce to go on top:

Lemon Cream Sauce

zest of one orange
zest of one lemon
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 Tbsp flour
1 Tbsp olive oil
juice of one lemon
1/4 C heavy cream

Combine zest and garlic in a skillet. Heat until aromatic and the flour and oil and cook the flour until just browning and add the lemon. Finish it with the heavy cream.

This was an incredible meal that everyone liked. The grape leaves added a wonderful, briny flavor to the chicken. One of the best new things I have tried!!! Thanks Val!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Goodbye to an old friend!

Today is a very sad day in our house. We have finally come to terms with the fact that we need to have our 16 year old black lab put to sleep. I am going to turn this around though and make this post a celebration of his crazy and very long life!!!

April of 2006 doing what he loved best!

This was February of this year (his eye didn't really glow like that)

This was last night as we were all saying our goodbyes...

T. and I got Beau back in 1992. He was a puffy little bundle of fur that seemed to never stop moving!!! And then he grew and ate EVERYTHING!!! Labs are chewers and this puppy was no exception. We had poison control and our emergency vet on speed dial! Here is a list of the things he ate:

a dresser
baseboards
glass candle stick holders
tin cans (chewed them up until they were in tiny little pieces and his gums were bloody)
prescription drugs (toradol (sp?) a migraine drug)
huge box of liquor filled chocolates (foil and all)
double stuffed fudge covered oreos
bags upon bags of Doritos
pizzas with the box and all
shoes (mainly mine but only one of each pair)
underwear

But he turned in a beautiful and wonderful dog. He was the perfect companion and protector. Everything a Lab should be. Once we had children his role changed but he took his new job of protecting the children very seriously.

Beau has gone on every single vacation that we have ever taken. He has hiked the mountains of the Carolina's. Swam the creeks, ponds and lakes of Pennsylvania. Walked the miles and miles of parkland in Canada. He has had a blessed life and now he is telling us he needs to go.

Goodbye my friend you will always be missed!

Hamburgers?

Look at that great burger all dressed up!

Last night was another one of my crazy rushed night. The girls had an hour long skating lesson and then my oldest had Karate. Just when we had to leave the skating rink we ended up caught in the worst thunderstorm I had seen in a while...welcome to summer in Florida. Rains everyday, usually pretty heavy but not everywhere. I got caught in it at the rink but at my house we barely had a drop???!!!

When we finally did get home T. had dinner ready for us. We were just having hamburgers (made from organic, all natural, no hormones or antibiotic) but we had some leftover pico de gallo and guacamole from our tacos the night before so he piled ours high! T. had some grilled cubanelle peppers to go along with his.This was one of the best burgers I have had in a while!!!

I also received an award from Nikki at Canarygirl.com. Nikki has an incredible blog which she writes from the Canary Islands, Spain. How cool is that? Check out her blog! And thanks Nikki!

To pass this on I am going to just give it to 5 of my favorite bloggers. I don't have time to check and see if they already have it as I am trying to get out the door to take the girls to the movies!

Jenn at The Leftover Queen
Danni at On the Way to Critter Farm
Robin at Caviar and Codfish
Heather at Gild the Voodoolily
and last but not least Brittany at Musings of a Barefoot Foodie

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy

www.nofearentertaining.com