Style Lush

Writer Round Up: Favorite Drinks

by Elizabeth

This week I'm thinking fond thoughts about some day being able to drink an adult beverage again, and so I thought I'd ask the writers if they have a favorite drink - and now I'm kind of wondering if it'd be inappropriate to have a pitcher of martinis and a big jar of olives on hand in the delivery room.  Too much?  Perhaps, perhaps.

1.  Corona.  "I am a tried and true beer girl, and that beer would be Corona.  I'll add a lime to go upscale when the occasion calls. Ha ha." -- Elisabeth.

2.  A Sidecar.  "Hennessey, Cointreau and lemon juice, shaken and then poured into a martini glass that's been rubbed around the rim with lemon and sugared." -- Amy. 

3.  Another beer drinker..."I'm a Miller Lite girl, or whatever someone's willing to buy me!" -- Kristie.

4.  Scotch.  "When I am getting my drink on, I favor Scotch. Scotchy, Scotch. Scotch. Get in my belly. I love Scotch! (sorry) Which you probably already knew from my post about it but it's true." -- Raven.

5.  There really is nothing like a gin and tonic.  "My go-to is a Sapphire tonic. (Double. In a short glass.)" - Sarah.  "ALSO a Sapphire tonic. Right now I need four." -- Maggie (who is trying to sell her house while living in it at the same time. With two toddlers. Better make that five.)

6.  Mojitos!  "For summer, I'm a mojito girl all the way... lots of mint, please! For winter, wine. Not too picky over here." -- Natalie. 

7.  And we have multiple fans of the Whiskey Sour as well.  "If I had to pick one signature, it would be a whiskey sour, easy on the ice and with extra cherries." - Leah. "I have two favorites! I'll take a whiskey sour (with Jack Daniels) or a margarita on the rocks with lots of salt. Obviously I love sour drinks!" -- Katie. 

8.  And more beer.  "I'm primarily a beer girl. It's in my genes! My maternal great, great grandparents owned a brewery and my dad's family owned a beer distributor. We keep the tradition alive (and classy) by playing beer pong at family gatherings.  My favorite beer is Guinness, although I only order it at places that pour a lot of it." -- Maura.  

9.  Wine.  "Red wine for me, and I have no taste so I don't care what kind.  I almost never drink liquor, but when I do it is a vodka tonic." -- Beth.

10.  The Martini.  "I'm a martini gal -- extra dry (no vermouth for me), extra, extra dirty, with extra olives. Like, half vodka, half olive juice, with five olives at LEAST. And if they're stuffed with blue cheese, you might as well peel me off the floor later." -- Jonna. 

11.  Don't forget the margarita!  "My favorite is a hot toddy with a splash of fresh squeezed orange in the winter but my all the time drink is a regular old Margarita on the rocks, lots of salt and 2 limes." -- Christina. 

12.  A Dirty Vodka Martini.  (As well as my personal laundry list of high maintenance specifications.)  "In the winter, I like to drink dirty vodka martinis but with onions instead of olives (technically a Gibson). In the summer, gin and tonics.  And when I'm pregnant, fizzy water mixed with cranberry juice and a twist of lime." -- Elizabeth.

{photo credits:  wikipedia.org, josecuervo.com, cocktailtimes.com, bourbonbuzz.com, recipezaar.com}

Pasta Salad Remix

By Sarah

Pasta salad is one of my favorite side dishes; I like to make a whole mess of it to snack on throughout the week. However, since I make it so often, I feel the need to mix it up a bit, using different pastas and vegetables and whatnot. Here is a recipe, inspired by my mother-in-law, for a delicious pasta salad that's currently my favorite.

What You'll Need:
1 package of dried or refrigerated tortellinis
1 jar of marinated artichoke hearts, halved
1 jar of sun-dried tomatoes, sliced
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
Shaved Parmesan cheese
Your favorite bottled Italian dressing (I used Newman's Own Family Recipe Italian Dressing)

What You'll Do:
Cook the tortellinis according to the directions on the package. While they cook, slice and dice all the vegetables. Once the cooked tortellinis have cooled a bit, mix them with all the vegetables and enough salad dressing to coat. Top with Parmesan cheese shavings and enjoy!

Irish Soda Bread

By Katie

Just in time for St. Patrick's Day, here is my go-to recipe for Irish Soda Bread. Even if you've never made bread before, this is the perfect recipe to get started on because there's no yeast involved making it very baker friendly. It's best served warm with a generous pat of butter on top!

IRISH SODA BREAD

(recipe and photo found at www.landolakes.com)

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup cold butter
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup currants or raisins

Directions:

Heat oven to 375°F. Combine all ingredients except buttermilk and currants in large bowl; cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in buttermilk and currants just until moistened.
Turn dough onto lightly floured surface; knead gently 10 times. Shape into ball. Place onto greased baking sheet. Pat into 6-inch circle. Cut 1/2-inch deep “X” in top of dough with sharp knife.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.

Elizabeth's Giant Salad Cheat Sheet

by Elizabeth

Although I am not one of those people who will ever complain about eating salad - I LOVE SALAD - I have noticed it can be one of those things (also see: sandwiches) that are a lot better when someone else makes it for you.  I once worked practically next door to a bagel store and I found myself eating their salads all the time - it was one of those places where you could walk along a counter and point to a staggering array of add ons - and that's when I realized the difference between my sad home attempts at delicious salads and what you get at a restaurant. It's not the lettuce - it's all the delicious extras. 

Some extra time at my boring office job combined with my deep love of the checklist (seriously, I have a mega crush on this guy) meant I had a lot of time to come up with an exhaustive list of all the good stuff you can combine (maybe not all at once) to make yourself a truly stupendous salad in the comfort of your very own home.  I try to have some, if not all, of this stuff on hand most of the time so I can just toss this together at a moment's notice, and I keep a print out of this list on my fridge so I can consult it when I'm feeling uninspired.  Viva la delicious salad!

Download Elizabeth's Giant Salad Cheat Sheet

Elizabeth's Giant Salad Cheat Sheet

GREENS
Romaine
Spinach
Spring Mix
Napa Cabbage
Mache
Iceberg Lettuce
Butter Lettuce
Shredded red or green cabbage

EXTRA VEGGIES
bell peppers
artichoke hearts
tomatoes
carrot shreds
snow peas
jicama
celery
peas
jicama
celery
peas (frozen and thawed)
sprouts
mushrooms
olives
cucumbers
roasted red peppers
sun dried tomatoes
canned corn
red onions
broccoli
cold cooked green beans
mint
cilantro
jalapeno

FRUIT
oranges
mandarin oranges (canned)
craisins
raisins
apples
pears
mangoes
pineapple bits
strawberries
avocado
pomegranate seeds
diced fresh peaches

PROTEIN
grilled chicken
poached egg
sliced turkey or ham
Parmesan cheese shavings
sunflower seeds
cheddar bits
asiago cheese
Mozzarella
beans of any kind
walnuts or pecans (plain, toasted, or spiced)
almond slices
tuna
feta
shrimp
hard boiled egg

MISC EXTRAS
sesame seeds
croutons
chinese noodles
rice noodles (cooked)
soba noodles

DRESSING
oil and vingar
Annie's raspberry vinaigrette
balsamic vinaigrette
maple vinaigrette
honey mustard
home made ranch
Kraft ceasar
Kraft italian
asian sesame dressing
peanut sauce

Did I miss anything you just can't live without on your salad?

{photo credit: Yours Truly}

Writer Round-up: The best pizza you ever ate

By Jennie

Do YOU watch The Best Thing I Ever Ate? Well, you should, that's for sure. Today, we're letting that show inspire our writer round-up while we poll our writers with the question: what's the best pizza you ever ate?

(Also, bookmark this post for future travel plans!)

1. Yia Yia's Pizza and Beer in Lincoln, Nebraska. "I still dream about their pizza to this day and I had to get one to go the day we moved away, that's how much I loved it." -- Elizabeth.

2. The pear and Gorgonzola pizza from California Pizza Kitchen. "Caramelized pears, Gorgonzola, Fontina and Mozzarella cheeses, caramelized sweet onions and chopped hazelnuts. Topped with field greens tossed in Gorgonzola ranch dressing." -- Raven (whose mouth is watering? just mine?)

3. Zelda's pizza in Sacramento, Calif. "The waitresses are grumpy and it takes forever, but the deep-dish pizza is out of this world---I've never had anything better, even in Chicago." -- Amy

 

4. Hideaway Pizza in Tulsa, Okla. "Their Chicken Florentine is divine." -- Elisabeth

5. Zachary's in Berkeley, Calif. "The first meal I ever had when I moved to Berkeley was Zachary's stuffed chicken pizza (that's deep dish, yo), and it's still way up there on our list of places to take visitors to the Bay Area." -- Leah

 

6. Mellow Mushroom in Auburn, Ala. -- Emily

7. Crossroads Hotel in Hellertown, Penn. "Super-crunchy crust, plain-ish tomato sauce and a proprietary cheese blend that I've never tasted anywhere else." -- Jonna

8. Gino's East. "I'm a huge fan of thin crust, as far as Im concerned, its just the vehicle to get the cheese to my pie hole; one bite of this and I never wanted to eat any other kind of pizza again! Super thin crust, inches thick cheese and so much sauce you didnt need any extra for dipping." -- Christina 

 

9. Home Slice Pizza in Austin, Texas. "It's traditional New York style pizza, but they offer so many toppings I can't even begin to name them all. There's everything from broccoli to chopped clams, which sound horrible but are strangely delicious." -- Natalie

10. Plain cheese pizza from Pagliacci in Seattle. -- Maggie

11. John's Pizza in New York City. "Great brick oven pizza with perfectly cooked thin crust." -- Maura

12. Rusty's Pizza Parlor in Bakersfield, Calif. "Their pizza is the bomb (the perfect amount of cheese all melted and crispy-like on the crust), plus they have potato wedges with ranch dressing!" -- Sarah

13. Papa Del's Pizza in Champaign, Ill. "I crave this place in my old college town called Papa Del's. You could call in and order your pie ahead of time .... good idea because it took about an hour to be ready!" -- Manda

14. Pizza a'fetta in Cannon Beach, Ore. "Everything is made frsh, and you can buy a slice as big as your head. They're also nationally ranked for their yum factor." -- Kerri Anne

15. Papa John's. "Give me a no cheese, extra sauce, extra veggie pizza on thick crust and I'm a happy girl. But I can't even think of any pizza I love more than Papa John's pizza." -- Kristie

16. Bottom's Up Pizza in Richmond, Va. "You wait hours for a table on the weekends, but it is so worth it. The barbecue chicken pizza is divine (homemade BBQ sauce, sweet onions and fresh chicken topped with cheddar), but for something amazingly different, try the Chesapeake (fresh crab-meat and sweet onions seasoned with Old Bay)." -- Katie

*****

Tell us, what's the best pizza you ever ate?

Transform your sandwiches! Clog your arteries!

By Jonniker

I had another post planned for today, but I have to tell you guys, I could NOT keep this in, so delicious was this discovery. Since having my daughter, I make a lot of grilled cheese. A lot. A LOT. I've become an expert at it, if you will, and frankly, I'm bored out of my skull making them: butter skillet. Put on bread, cheese. Flip. Serve to tiny ingrate who throws half of it on the floor for dog to eat. Repeat. 

So! My friend Jen, whose husband is a chef, casually mentioned that he uses MAYONNAISE to crisp the bread in their sandwich maker. Mayo! Gross, right?

WRONG. DELICIOUS. And very effective if you're out of butter, as I discovered. But that's not why I'm here! There is MORE! And maybe you already know this, but MAN, you guys, if you want to kill yourself with high-calorie joy, this is the way to go.

Let's say you're making steak sandwiches. Or burgers! Or chicken sandwiches! Or something kind of bland and boring!

Take a tablespoon of mayonnaise. Mix with an equal part of plain old parmesan cheese (FROM A CAN) and some fresh black pepper. Spread on some nice rolls and lay them down on a hot skillet until crisp and brown.

Put your sandwich toppings on bread. Wait for arterial hardening to set in, but totally enjoy the ride nonetheless. 

DIE HAPPY. 


(It's lowbrow crap, but man, is it delicious.)

{Photo credit: Kraft.com, baby}

Stuff I Love: Horta Wine Glasses

by Elizabeth

So, these wine glasses? All the reviews talk about how breakable they are. And I don't need wine glasses. And I'm 25 weeks pregnant, which means I can't even drink wine. And they're REALLY girly, which means my husband will probably hate them. (Not that I would let him use them anyway. AS IF.) Also they're TWELVE DOLLARS each. 

Which is to say, there are a lot of reasons why I don't need these wine glasses, and why I totally shouldn't buy them. But oh, aren't they still just so lovely? 

Someday, somehow, they will be mine. 

{image credit:  anthropologie.com}

What I'm Drinking: Sidecar Cocktail

By Amy

Call me crazy, but ever since I started watching Sex And The City, I've had this silly idea of having a signature drink. You know how Carrie and the girls religiously drank cosmopolitans? I had this vision of having a drink that was uniquely me, so that if I was ever meeting a friend at the bar, they'd know exactly what to order for me, because it was my drink.

I know, I know---a little silly and pretentious, but my drunken heart wants what it wants.

I went on a bit of an adventure, trying a million different drinks and cocktails of all sorts, but I think I've finally settled on my drink: a Sidecar.

Whenever I order one, there are one of two reactions I get: "What IS that?" and "Holy cow, that's a throwback!" It definitely is an older drink, long forgotten in the age of pom-tinis and lemon drops and a million other silly drinks, but they are ridiculously delicious.

The recipe is simple: 3/4 ounce Cointreau, 3/4 ounce lemon juice and 1 1/2 ounces cognac. Shake, and serve in a martini glass that's had it's rim rubbed in lemon and dipped in sugar. I like to add a cherry because I never turn down a maraschino cherry...I just don't.

So, the next time you're looking for an easy, classy party drink, or better yet, the next time you're drinkin' with me, order a Sidecar. And I'll have one too, thanks.

Do you have a drink you swear by? Leave it in the comments...you never know how I could be swayed.

{image and recipe from Esquire}

Fresh Mandarin Oranges

By Beth

Every winter, boxes of wee little citrus appear at my grocery store, and every year I ignore them.  I like oranges well enough, but what am I going to do with 50 mini-me oranges?  Until this week, when my two-year-old pitched a fit over the "owangetch" in Trader Joe's and I ended up coming home with a box full of fresh mandarin oranges.

I had never in my life seen fresh mandarin oranges, as far as I knew mandarin oranges came in cans with heavy syrup.  But they are delicious.  Sweet, mild, juicy, nearly seedless, nearly pithless, and easy to peel.   My youngest is eating about six a day (my oldest rejected them, but she rejects everything so don't take her word for it) and I am not far behind.

As an added bonus, when you put them in a bowl on your kitchen counter, you can almost start to hope that it will not be the frigid middle of February forever and that summer will, indeed, come again.   Here, see:

Worth it just for that, if you ask me. 

(Photo by yours truly.  Despised countertops by previous owners of my house.)

Nerd Pie

by Christina

Allow me to state upfront that I may be the only one who thinks this is really awesome. I'm married to a statistician and have a kid that rocks t-shirts that read "Dependant Variable," so there is that. This is an innocent looking piece of bake ware but holds a fun little surprise when you cut into the pie. One of my things to do in 2010 is make a pie from scratch, this little dish needs to come to my house. If only it would make the crust for me.

{photo credit: the wireless catalog dot com}