Donna Noble

A few months ago I was headed out to the bar to meet up with a friend. Another friend had wished me a good night and suggested I try a drink, "Crown Royal and Ginger". I tried it. Not a bad drink, but I didn't fall in love with it. A week or so later I remembered I had some unopened vermouth and was looking to use the newly bought ginger-ale. So I thought, what the hell!

On the rocks with a twist or straight-up, Vermouth is probably my preferred drink of choice and has been since my University French Professor first introduced me to it. She was a great woman. Anyway, I made it sans wedge o' lime the first time and said, "Damn, this is the shyt! This will be even better when I put a lime in it. Vermouth is always better with lime or lemon.

A few weeks go by and I thought to myself, I should really give this drink a name. So I thought about its creation and ingredients and history, and couldn't come up with anything classy. I was a little bummed because I wanted to name it. I haven't found the drink in any listings yet for a name, and I am not going to spend more time looking, but it seems to fall under the "highball" drink category.

But I did come up with a name. I'm calling it a "Donna Noble", named after the character in Doctor Who played by Cathering Tate. "Donna Noble" can translate into "Noble Lady". The drink is fun, bubbly, exciting, "ginger", chill, smooth and delicious; all qualities that Donna Noble has. So I thought, well, for my drink, this is perfect.


Ingredients

• 1 eight oz can of ginger ale
• 1 wedge of lime or lemon
• 1-2 shots vermouth
• ice

Directions

1. In a 10-12 ounce highball glass or tumbler put in some ice (however much you want).
2. I like to squeeze some of the lime juice on the ice so it mixes well with the drink.
3. Pour on your Vermouth (truthfully I pour until the count of five is over).
4. Fill glass with ginger ale and stir gently.
   

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Tropical pancakes

After my Piña Colada New Year's celebration I found that I had a bit of Crema de coco left. It occurred to me later that I could use it in just about anything to coconut whatever up a bit. What goes great with coconut? Why banana's and Pinapple of course.

So, I am a lover of banana pancakes, so I thought, eh, why the Hell not.

Tropical pancakes

This recipe is easy.


Directions:

• Follow the directions for whatever pancake recipe you have, but add *one mashed banana and about 2-3 table spoons of crema de coco to the mix.
  
  
• If you have an coconut extract, you can add some too. Apply to your own taste.
  
  
• Cook the pancakes as normally you would until each side is a golden brown.
  
  
• Top with butter and pineapple rings and coconut is you like, pinapple jam if you have any.

Notes:

• You may have to increase the amoutn of dry mix to compensate for the new liquid, but that is something you have to figure out yourself.
• *I've based this of a halved recipe on a Bisquick box. You'll have to figure out how much banana you will need for more than a 6 pancake result.
  

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Spiced Cranberry Jelly

One of the recipes that Jody and I made over my annual visit to see here was a Spiced Cranberry Jelly. It turend out fairly well and is delicious.

Spiced Cranberry Jelly

Ingredients

• 48 ounces (or 3 pounds) of fresh or frozen cranberries
• 4 cups of water
• 3 cups of orange juice (or all orange juice or all apple cider)
• 6 cinnamon sticks
• 12 whole allspice
• 40 cloves
• 1 T butter
• 1 box regular Sure Jell for jelly making
• 5 cups sugar

Directions

1. Place cranberries, water, juice, cinnamon sticks, whole allspice, cloves, and butter in a large pan. Bring to a boil and simmer, covered for about 15-20 minutes to release juices of cranberries. Almost all berries should burst to know when it is finished simmering. Remove the cinnamon sticks before straining.
   
   
2. Rub through a screen strainer to remove skins and small seeds of cranberries.
   
   
3. At this point you have juice and can follow the directions of the Sure Jell. Which is to bring the juice to a full rolling boil along with the packet of pectin, add the sugar and bring to a full rolling boil for 1 minute.
   
   
4. Ladle into sterilized jars....
   
   
5. I usually end up with around 9 jars for one batch of jelly.

Notes:

• Jody and I agreed that it is a good idea to measure the amount of liquid you have strained to determine the appropriate amount of pectin you need. Yu might get a more liquid jelly like we did if you don't.

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Orange Yogurt Mousse

Yahoo! Food does have some good recipes. I found this one a few weeks ago. I haven't tried it yet, but it looks like a tasty and refreshing dessert. It's a Martha Stewart recipe.

Orange Yogurt Mousse

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup navel orange juice
• 1 navel orange, zested
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 (.25 ounce) envelope unflavored gelatin
• 1 (32 ounce) container plain low-fat yogurt
• 1/4 cup shelled pistachios, chopped
• Additional navel orange zest for garnish (optional)

Directions

1. In a saucepan, combine orange zest, 1/2 cup cream, sugar, and salt over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally, until sugar has dissolved, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and let steep 20 minutes.
   
   
2. Pour orange juice into a medium bowl; sprinkle with gelatin and let soften, 5 minutes. Bring cream and sugar mixture to a simmer again; pour through a fine-mesh sieve onto gelatin, pressing on zest to extract flavor. Discard zest. Whisk until gelatin has dissolved, about 1 minute. Gradually whisk in yogurt. Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes, or use quick-chill method (see note, below).
   
   
3. In a medium bowl, with an electric mixer, beat remaining 1 cup cream until soft peaks form. Fold gently into yogurt mixture. Divide among 6 glasses, and cover each with plastic wrap; refrigerate at least 6 hours or overnight. To serve, sprinkle with pistachios and, if desired, orange zest.

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Vicki's Peach & Raspberry Crisp

This is another Vicki Lawrence recipe share with me by Jody. I haven't made it yet, but it seems delicious. If you do make it, take a picture and send me it and I will put it in the blog. ☺

Vicki's Peach & Raspberry Crisp

The Ingredients

• 10-12 large peaches (4-5lb)
• Zest of one orange
• 1 ¼ C granulated sugar
• 1 C light brown sugar, packed
• 1 ½ C plus 2-3 tbsp all purpose flour
• ½ pint raspberries or blueberries
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 C quick cooking oatmeal
• ½ lb cold unsalted butter, diced

The Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Butter the inside of a 10x15x2 ½ inch oval baking dish. Immerse the peaches in boiling water for 30 seconds, then put them in cold water. Peel the peaches and slice them into thick wedges and put them in a large bowl. Add orange zest, ¼ C granulated sugar, ½ C brown sugar, and 2 tbsp of flour. Toss well. Gently mix in the berries. Allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes. If there is a lot of liquid, add one more tbsp of flour. Pour the mixture into the baking dish and gently smooth the top.

Combine 1 ½ C of flour, 1 C granulated sugar, ½ C brown sugar, salt, oatmeal, and cold diced butter in a bowl. Mix on low speed with an electric mixer until the butter is pea sized and the mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle evenly over the top of the peaches and berries. Bake for one hour until the top is brown and crisp and the juices bubbly. Serve warm from the oven with vanilla ice cream.

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Bourbon Balls/Boules de bourbon

Jody and I made these last time I was down to visit. They were holiday favorites of hers from her youth, ::insert me gushing over the flavor::

Jody writes:

My mother made these when I was a kid, I remember the smell distinctly. This is my grandmother's recipe. The reason I'm posting this now is that these MUST be made several weeks in advance of eating them in order for the flavors to truly develop. Make sure you store them in something air tight.

Bourbon Balls/Boules de bourbon

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoon cocoa
• 3 tablespoon Karo corn syrup
• 1/2 cup pecans, chopped
• 1/2 cup dates, chopped
• 1 lb. vanilla wafers, crushed well
• 1/2 cup bourbon whiskey
• powdered sugar

Directions

• Combine sugar, cocoa and wafers in a food processor.
• Pulse until mixture is mostly free of large chunks.
• Rough chop and add to the mix the dates and then the pecans.
• Pulse until mixture is of the roughly same consistency.
• Slowly add the Karo syrup and whiskey
• Form into small (3/4") balls, then roll in powdered sugar.

Notes:

• I used some left over sugar and cinnamon mix to coat the balls.
• I think it is a good idea to chill the mix before rolling them into individual servings.
• It might make a good log.

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Lemonade | La Limonade

I have gone off the pop, sweety. I do have a glass occasionally maybe every few months or so when I eat out. But, I no longer buy it myself, and I am definitely not drinking it in the quantities I used to. I've lost some weight too from not taking on so much sugar.

Instead, I have replaced pop with more water, teas (hot and cold), lemonade and low-sugar juices (cranberry, pomegranate etc...).

So because of this, I decided to make some lemonade from scratch. I like tart lemonade, the kind where you can really taste the lemon rather than the sugar. I looked at a few recipes and came up with my own, and I thought I would take a moment to share it here.

Lemonade | La Limonade

Lemonade

• In a two quart container dissolve 3/4 to 1 cup of sugar in 2 cups of warm water and set aside.
• Seed and juice 7-8 fresh lemons. This will render about 1 3/4 to 2 cups of lemon juice ¹.
• Combine the sugar water and lemon juice.
• Add an additional 3 to 4 cups of cold water to fill the 2 qt. container
• Stir until will mixed and any remaining sugar is dissolved
  

Notes:

1. I like pulp so I leave it in, but you can strain it if you like.
2. Add fresh mint sprigs if desired.
3. Add ice-cubes before topping off with water for insta-cold lemonade.
   

¹ I went with a straight 1 cup of sugar and 2 cups of lemon juice, but you can modify according to individual taste.
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My Fruit Salad | La salade des fruits à moé

My Fruit Salad | La salade des fruits à moé

I threw this fruit salad together in need of using up some fruit quickly before it spoiled. It has gotten some small-town acclaim. Here's how I make it.

• 1 lg. Golden Delicious apple
• 1 lg.peach
• 1 lg. lemon
• 1 8oz can of chunk pineapple in its own juice
• 2-2 1/2 cups of red seedless grapes
• Vermouth
  

Syrup

In a 1 cup measuring cup...

• Seed and juice the entire lemon
• Combine with the pineapple juice from the canned pineapple ¹
  

This will give you about 1/2- 2/3 cup of juice.

• Fill to 3/4 cup with honey
• Top off to 1 cup with Vermouth ²

Stir until honey is well dissolved. Set aside.


Salad

• Put the drained pineapple chunks in a mixing bowl (with lid preferably).
• Core and pit the apple and the peach and dice into bite-size chunks, add to pineapple.
• Pick and wash thoroughly 2-2 1/2 cups of red seedless grapes. Add to the mixing bowl.

After you have chunked the fruit, pour the juice mixture over the fruit. Stir, cover and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours. Serve cold. Even better the next day. Serves 4-5.

Notes:

1. Add honey to sweeten.
2. The honey, lemon juice and alcohol will keep the salad fresh for days more than your typical fruit salad.
3. If peaches are out of season, you might substitute with Honeydew, Mango or Papaya.
   

¹ I have not used fresh pineapple with this before. I can only imagine it would be even more fantastic. If you do use fresh pineapple, be sure to pick up some pineapple juice.

² The syrup comes out to be approx. 1/4 cup each of honey, lemon juice, pineapple juice and vermouth.
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