Summer Pie: Blueberry-Peach Schnapps Style

Sing with me, When I say "Colorado summer" you say… PEACHES!

Or, let's not sing and just head into The Kitchen. It is hot as an oven on Thanksgiving day, there is no sign of an afternoon thunderstorm to cool off the city and I have air-conditioning. Today is a great afternoon to blast the A/C and bake.

Plus, I haven't been around for a while and need to wear my apron again. Summer flies by with travels, pool days, getting things done because you can't do them during the school year and sleeping in. But, I miss drinking. Err, I miss baking and adding drinks to the recipes.

Which summer cocktails would you want to taste on your plate, too? 

still oozing hot blueberries after an hour in the oven

My wonderfully brilliant friend Kathleen is having a Pasta Party with her brand new pasta maker! Immediately I started to brainstorm. Pie? Summer cake? Cupcakes? To me, a berry pie is the essence of summer desserts. Plus, Colorado peaches are juicy, sweet, and in my budget.  Peaches are delicious and all, but I wanted to add the tangy and sweet taste of blueberries to the mix. Blueberries also do a great job in pies - and pies with alcohol.

Which brings me to my next ingredient: Peach Schnapps. I thought about Rum but I am averse to it after a few too many rum and cokes in college. That's a story for another day.




Let me tell you, the mixture of berries and Peach Schnapps smells like a summer sangria served while sitting on an outdoor patio overlooking a Caribbean ocean. Peach-a-licious!

Oh! I even made a batch of whipped cream. I can't wait to throw that on top of the vanilla- brown sugar crumble.

First order of business - STOP buying pie crust. If you do that, I will not eat when you invite me to your house. I can tell a pie crust from a factory-made pie shell. There is no reason to buy a pie shell. It takes 10 minutes, or less, to make one. Then, it hardens for 30 minutes in your fridge. Clean the dishes, take the pup for a walk and your pie crust is ready.

Pie Crust. for one pie crust
1 cup flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 stick of unsalted butter, cut into slices, then quarter the slices
5-6 tablespoons ice water**

**I added vodka to my water. We are going to see what happens when my friends and I eat the pie…tonight.

1 - mix flour, sugar, and salt. Pinch the butter into the mixture with your fingers (or be cool and use a pastry blender). Pinch together until it looks like course meal. Stir in the 5 tablespoons of vodka water, just until moistened. If it is dry, add another tablespoon. If you live in Colorado - you will probably use a total of 6-7 tablespoons.

2- Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead 3 times. That means fold. Pat into a 6-inch disk. About the size of salad plate. Wrap your disk in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Dough can be kept for 1 day in the fridge or 1 week frozen.
Thank you to Food & Wine for this fabulous crust, even though I modified. 

3 - Remove the plastic wrap (duh) and grab a rolling pin. Put some flour on that surface (again). Roll out the dough to fit into your pie dish. Make sure you have some overhang on your pie dish - that is the best part!

Tequila Avocado Soup

Disclaimer: You must be over 21 to read and cook and eat this recipe.

Tequila is a very inspirational ingredient in cooking. I saw a posting about an avocado soup and figured, why not just add tequila?

Tequila-Avocado Soup

3-4 avocados, sliced and pitted
1 cup tequila
1 cup chicken or vegetable stock
1 lime, juiced
bunch of green onions, chopped (save some to top the soup)
cilantro, chopped, about a handful
1 cup greek yogurt, plain
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp pepper

Add half the ingredients into a food processor or blender. Blend together for a few seconds. Add the next half the ingredients. It will smell like tequila! You may need to add more Greek yogurt for a thicker soup, or more avocado.

The great thing about this soup - and any soup - is that you don't really need to be proportional. I added a LOT of tequila because it was Sunday Funday.

Chill the soup. Serve in fun wine glasses, top with a few green onion slices, and sip away! It might be fun to add a tortilla chip to the glass right before you serve.

*Note: you are not cooking out the tequila so this soup can be dangerous. Do not serve to minors!

Tequila Fajitas

The good kick of tequila comes full force in these flavorful tequila fajitas. I love tequila. I don't have those horrible, crazy college memories that ruined it for me. Sure, people might say tequila makes....

One of my first memories of tequila involves my friend Vanessa Jimenez and her dad, Ricardo. My mom and Ricardo were dedicated basketball parents that took their girls to basketball games all over the state and needed some time to relax. Seeing my mom have so much fun, inspired me. I can't tell you anything else, or else I would not do justice to the story. It led me to make a great American-Mexican dinner, so thanks!

The marinade is as important as salt and a lime wedge when you take a tequila shot so dive in, and find a new reason to love tequila. My friend Sarah (first roommate in Colorado and rockin' climber) joined me in the kitchen with her fancy pants camera so we have some cool photos this time! 

For some reason,  I planned to feed 8 people in my mind and I don't really measure things. Especially when drinking the ingredients. The marinade was plenty for 2 packages of meat (see below)! 

 

The marinade: 1 finely chopped red onion, 1 shallot, 2 chopped jalapenos, garlic cloves (as many as you want!), a bunch of cilantro, the juice of 2 limes, 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil, and a few pinches of salt and pepper. Oh - and the tequila. I poured in about 1/4 cup. Let the marinade sit with the meat for 30 minutes or more at room temperature. 

Unfortunately, you do not get drunk eating these tequila lime steak fajitas. The tequila flavor is absorbed into the meat and the alcohol is cooked out. 

Pre-heat your oven to 450 degrees. You will be roasting vegetables and warming up your tortillas in a few minutes. 

I never buy meat - so buy what you want for fajitas

You want the marinade to be juicy - with tequila, olive oil and lime juice. Taste test to make sure that the tequila and lime overpower the olive oil. Let it sit for at least 30 minutes with the meat. 

Caution: don't drink the marinade. That is gross and you will get drunk and forget to finish making these. You need to make these! 

Cook the steak strips in a pan with a little olive oil. 

Multi-task: As you cook the meat, heat up the tortillas and roast your vegetables. Then, take a shot! In Spanish we say, "arriba, abajo, al centro, al dentro." 

Spray your pan with cooking spray or a few drops of olive oil. Heat the pan to medium-heat heat before placing the meat strips. The meat needs its space, so don't overcrowd your pan. 

I wish you could smell this right now. The smell of cilantro, tequila, garlic, and lime juice. Turn up some salsa music, give me a guapo and a few more shots of tequila. 

Meat only needs to cook 3-4 minutes on a side. You don't want to overcook the meat or it is chewy and tough like jerky. Save the leftover marinade from cooking to saute onions. 

While the meat is cooking, you need to prepare your vegetables for the fajitas! We used red and yellow bell peppers. Did I already say that? 

To roast vegetables, place them on a cookie sheet and spray them with non-stick cooking spray. Sprinkle with loads of pepper, some sea salt and toss them so they are coated. If you are ambitious, add cayenne pepper, or cumin to add some spice! 

Roasting vegetables is a new PASSION of mine! Roasted cauliflower is SO good, so just made some for fun. 

Roast the vegetables until they are soft, and smell done. After a few margaritas, you might forget to check. Set the timer for 12 minutes and do a spot check. Every oven is different and I live @ altitude, so who knows how long it takes for you... 

Saute a red onion in the left-over marinade from cooking the steaks. YUM.  

Be tempted to eat ALL the vegetables before you even make a fajita. I found out that I can eat a whole head of roasted cauliflower. In one sitting. Oops! 

Now, you have warmed tortillas (don't burn them!), cooked meat, and roasted vegetables. Make another margarita, or take another shot! 

Ready to eat? Easy dinner, right? 

Thanks to Jose Cuervo, you are about to eat the best tequila-marinated steak fajitas. Have slices of avocado, tomato and green onion on the side for your ravenously drunk friends to add to their fajita. 

Tequila Lime Steak Fajitas: 

Marinade: 

1/2 red onion, finely chopped

3-4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 shallot, finely chopped

bunch of cilantro, chopped

2 jalapenos, chopped

1-2 tbsp olive oil

juice of 2 limes, squeezed

1/4 + c of tequila

Pepper, salt, to taste 

Mix all the ingredients in a medium bowl. Taste test: tequila and lime should be the first flavors, then the spices and vegetables. 

Sides: 

1 red bell pepper, sliced horizontally 

1 yellow bell pepper, sliced horizontally 

1/2 red onion, sliced

Roast the bell peppers @ 450 degrees for 15 - 25 minutes, turning 2-3 times. Take out when they are soft, and look slightly charred. 

Saute the onion in the pan with the marinade. SO good! 

Toppings: 

1 avocado, sliced

1 red tomato, chopped 

Tortilla - warmed up 

Colorado Stout Cupcakes with Porter Frosting

In Colorado, we like to say that we earn our beer here. How? On any given Colorado weekend, we hike a few hours in the Flat Irons, ski in the Rockies, ride 70 miles on our bikes in one day (not me, though) or run the stairs at Red Rocks early in the morning. 

This weekend, if you want to know, I had an amazing Colorado weekend. I ran Red Rocks with a friend in the morning on Saturday, took a nap then drove to Boulder to meet with another friend for another trail run. I earned my Prickle Pear margarita! Sunday afternoon, I went hiking off the 285 in Bailey, Colorado for a few hours. I earned my beer this weekend! 

Sometimes, beer comes in the form of chocolate cupcakes. 

I came across a great pairing: Stout chocolate cupcakes and Vanilla Porter frosting. In a conversation with some Michigan family friends, I shared my new passion for food blogging and my aspirations. They, of course, are friends with the bar manager at the Breck Brewery in Breckenridge. And, Easter was coming up. The Ralstons invited me to join in the Easter celebration and so I offered to whip up some Easter cupcakes. I think we all enjoyed these cupcakes after a hard day of playing in Breckenridge! These cupcakes are a celebration of great Colorado beer and living the good life in the Colorado Rockies. 

Chocolate-Stout mixture: I added more Stout to account for being so high in the sky! 

My friend Katherine, who is a phenomenal Spanish tutor in the kitchen, was helping me out. It would NOT have been possible without her help! 

We started by making the liquids: stout-chocolate mixture. First, mix the butter and sour cream together in a large bowl (this will eventually house the completed batter). This makes for some dense, doughy cupcakes. Yum. 

Kitchen-Aids are amazing. So easy! 

Combine the liquids: chocolate pours its love all over those eggs. 

 

Chocolate, butter, and beer. Stick a spoon in there and taste!


 Mix the dry into the liquid using a mixer. It's okay to take your time and stop the mixer. Actually, stop the mixer, mix in half the flour at slow speed. Stop, top it off.

Add chocolate chips to the batter for extra chocolate taste!

I learned a new baking trick: use an ice cream scoop for even amounts of cake batter. If you have uneven amounts of batter in your cupcake foils, the baking is uneven. Duh, Jaclyn. 

While these bake, you can work on the frosting. Or, take a walk outside and do some lunges. You are about to consume a few too many calories. But, act NOW. Do a quick circuit: 25 push-ups, 50 crunches, 25 lunges. Repeat 2-3 times in 15 minutes while these bake and you are golden. 

Definitely take a walk outside just to open the door and walk back into the kitchen. It smells like you live in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. If it doesn't, you did something wrong. 

Now, for the frosting. I made some major mistakes. I LOVED this whole beer-frosting idea that I ignored the 2 tablespoons part of the recipe and just splashed lots of beer and butter together. No bueno. The correct frosting directions are given below...

Epic failure: runny sugary, buttery beer flavored liquid. Failure? NOT. chunky frosting is the beer-liquid frosting that my friends loved! But, it is a little weird looking. Until you taste it. 

Making the frosting starts with boiling the vanilla porter down to 1/2 of what you started with. You will NOT use all the porter in the frosting mixture~! 

It smells a little off, and simmering porter is not edible.

The porter is used like vanilla extract - a little bit goes a long way. 

Beat the porter and the butter together until it is fluffy looking. 

this is actually TOO much porter - this is the failed attempt.

Add the powdered sugar in batches. 

creamy frosting is spreadable. want more creaminess? stick the frosting in the freezer for a few minutes

I am not meticulous and lack a certain baker's quality: the ability to make frosting look pretty. How the hell do people have the patience to make frosting look perfect? I couldn't wait to unravel the paper and take a bite. 

The smell of these chocolate-stout cupcakes baking is out of this world. It smells like a chocolate factory. If you make it until the end of frosting these to eat one, I commend you! 

Your frosting should just be the thicker, creamy frosting!  Unless, you like very beer-y frosting.

The recipe I found was for a LARGE quantity of cakes & cupcakes so I halved everything - and it worked! 

Ingredients: 

1 cup stout (milk stout); add a few more splashes at high altitude  

1 cup unsalted butter

3/4 c unsweetened cocoa powder 

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar; 1/3 c less @ high altitude

a few pinches of baking soda; less at a higher altitude

1 1/2 tsp salt 

2 eggs 

2/3 c sour cream 

1/2 c chocolate chips (or more, if you want really chocolate-y cupcakes) 

I made these at the ski condo, and Silverthorne sits at an altitude of more than 7,000 feet above sea level. Adjustments were made, sometimes made up. It worked. 

Frosting: 

1/2 c vanilla porter 

1/2 c butter @ room temperature

1 c powdered sugar 

Let's Bake! 

1) Preheat oven to 350; high altitude above 7500 feet means 375 

2) Prepare your cake pan or cupcake foils & spay 'em with nonstick 

3) Bring the stout and cup of butter to a simmer in a large saucepan on medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk just until smooth. Cool. 

4) Sift together: flour, sugar, baking soda, salt in a large bowl and set aside. 

5) Beat eggs in an electric mixer (if you're lucky, or just do it the old-fashioned way) with the sour cream in their own big bowl. HIGH ALTITUDE: DO NOT over-beat the eggs! Add stout/chocolate liquid to the egg mixture and beat until just combined. Stop. Add flour mixture and beat on slow speed until just combined. Add chocolate chips, if you wish. 

6) Divide the batter into the cupcake foils and bake between 12 - 18 minutes. Altitude and ovens vary across the country. 

7) Let them cool completely before frosting. 

Frosting: 

1) Boil vanilla porter to reduce to 1/2 of what you've got

2) Beat only 2 tablespoons of the porter with the butter until fluffy. Add the powdered sugar in 2-3 even intervals and beat with a mixer until you've got a creamy consistency. Add more sugar if you need to, it never hurts to add more sugar. Taste, if you want more porter flavor, add some more butter and whip. 

3) Frost and serve!  

Colorado IPA beer-battered shrimp.

This isn't your Ma and Pa fish 'n chips from the family-run restaurant in town. It also isn't the freshly caught fish thrown into a deep-fryer. I'm a little land-locked here in Denver so I made due with what I had - frozen shrimp from a grocery store. When I was little, my dad used to take us to this great place in Lake Fenton for fish and chips. Think of a small town, make it smaller. Then, add old, mostly overweight men in overalls, the smell of beer and cigarettes and a decade-old dock sitting on top of a calm lake. And, you are in some sort of trailer house turned restaurant. That is where I used to have fish 'n chips growing up. I think my mom was conveniently busy or "sick" those days.... now, I understand.

My version of deep-fried beer-battered shrimp didn't have the smell of engine fuel from boats and we didn't wear overalls and smoke cigarettes. Although, we could do a costume-themed party in the future.

So, I'm a high school teacher by day and my spring break freedom today meant devising a dinner menu so I could cook for my friends: Emily, Crystal, Nate, and Beth. Plus, it was Luke's birthday! He luckily walked into a party and had a fried Oreo for his birthday!

beer-battered friend Oreo stays afloat amidst so many frying shrimp

First, I wanted the beer batter to sit for a few hours so that the flour and the beer could do their thing.

 I wish I knew what that meant, so let's pretend that the flour and yeast in the beer latch onto each other and do something important. I mixed 2 cups of flour, a bottle of Colorado's Odell's India Pale Ale IPA, some cayenne pepper and cumin, and a dash of baking powder together. I mixed it all together and set it in the fridge for a few hours. Minimum time? 30 minutes to set.

No one wants to just eat fried shrimp so I decided on shrimp tacos. I'm on spring break, so why not pretend I'm really in San Diego eating street tacos? Everyone gets to dream, no?

I had the fixings for a spicy 'slaw to go with the shrimp tacos: cabbage, carrots, onion and Siracha.

Most fish tacos have a cream sauce to slather on the tortilla. I absolutely hate mayonnaise.  Long story. That is the first and last time you'll see that nasty word on this blog. My sauce? Greek yogurt, fresh cilantro, lime juice, and a few dashes of salt. Just mix, and taste-test until you have the right amount of cilantro and lime.

We got a little fry-friendly so we beer-battered a few things we had laying around the kitchen: avocado, chicken, tortilla chips, and Oreos! We were about to beer-batter the last piece of the tres leches cake...

I spy...frying avocado and frying chicken

Emily got wide-eyed over frying so that was her station. She started as kitchen manager, then moved to line cook. You go girl.

If you have never fried before - do it! It is so much fun. A little dangerous at times. I about sprinted out of the kitchen to avoid burning skin. Crystal may have jumped 3 feet backwards to avoid popping oil. Be careful out there. Frying isn't for beginners. Just heat the oil up, test it out with a flick of water, then keep it a little bit cooler. Too hot and you've got smoke alarms and firefighters working overtime for you to eat a dinner.

that many bubbles is a sign it is TOO hot!

Once you are at the 'just-right' temperature, slide your battered goods into the oil and make sure you have something safe to remove them. Plus, have a paper towel lining your plate or platter to soak up some of that healthy frying oil.

You could say anything fried tastes great, but these shrimp tacos were "restaurant quality," according to a dinner party member. I'll heat up your oil anytime if I get compliments like that when I whisk some beer and flour together.

We resisted all temptation and didn't fry everything we sliced and diced.

All the frying really works up an appetite. Good thing because we were trigger-happy with our homemade deep fryer.

Cilantro-Greek yogurt, spicy 'slaw, Odell's battered shrimp on a tortilla

Here's what you need to do to feed 4 hungry people

Ingredients for the beer batter:
2 cups of flour
1.5 bottles of beer
cumin, cayenne pepper, and/or black pepper
1 tsp (?) baking powder
dash of kosher salt

Ingredients for the spicy 'slaw:
1/4 purple cabbage, sliced and diced
2 carrots, juliened
1/2 c onion, sliced and diced
 4-5 tbsps rice vinegar
4-5 tbsps red wine vinegar
2-3 squeezes of lime
Siracha, more or less depending on your tolerance for HOT
salt and pepper, to taste

Ingredients for Cilantro-Greek sauce:
1/4 c cilantro, chopped fine
1 c Greek yogurt (maybe more, maybe less?)
3 tbsps lime juice OR 1 whole real lime, squeeze all the juice
pinch of salt

Longest to Shortest Amount of Time - 

Beer Batter
1) mix flour, baking powder, spices together in a big bowl. Slowly stir in the beer until all clumps are gone. Set aside for 30 min; refrigerate for a few hours if you can

Ready to fry?
1)Heat oil in a deep frying pan. Test with a flick of water for bubbles. Bubbles are good. Too many bubbles accompanied with lots of popping oil means you need to cool it down.
2) Take your fish/shrimp/chicken/veggies and dip them into the batter. Slowly slide into the hot oil and let them cook. Golden brown = ready. Set onto a paper towel on a platter and let them cool. That's it.

Spicy 'Slaw
1) chop your onion and cabbage, juliene (love this word) the carrots. mix together
2) add rice vinegar and red wine vinegar. mix. taste. add more if you want it.
3) add Siracha - be careful, just a little goes a looooong way. Squeeze some lime and mix.

Cilantro-Greek yogurt sauce: 
1) mix the greek yogurt and cilantro in a small mixing bowl. add lime juice so that the yogurt thins a little (think regular yogurt consistency)
2) add a pinch of salt and the lime juice. mix.

FINALLY. Put it all together
1) spread the cilantro-yogurt sauce
2) add some 'slaw
3) top with your fried goodies
.... eat up! Watch your friends go wide-eyed and in for seconds, and thirds