Sauces and Vegetables

Yesterday was a day of much vegetable chopping. I probably bought more vegetables than I needed but they'll definitely get nommed before they go off so that's fine. We had Plowman's share for dinner which was made up of:

2 onions
5 zucchini
3 carrots
2 bell peppers

You cook all these vegetables in whatever way makes you happy, make a baked potato, throw the vegetables on top with some sour cream and butter and chow down. This happily fed four of us.

Unfortunately the grill was out of commission so there was no delicious chargrilled veggies to be had this time round but we had Asparagus with Saffron Aioli anyway. The Saffron Aioli was incredibly easy to make and tasted heavenly. It's definitely replacing Hollandaise sauce in this house. The best part was that you could actually taste the saffron. It would probably taste amazing as a sandwich spread as well. I may try that this afternoon.

Also had some Lime Butter Sauce to go with corn on the cob. It wasn't as lime flavored as I would have preferred but then, I'm pretty much addicted to limes and anything lime flavored. It did contrast incredibly with the sweetness of the corn and brought out other flavors that you don't normally taste.

For my next feat of cooking daring do, I want to make some minestrone because it's starting to get a bit cooler and I want to have an excuse to buy more vegetables. Also, joy of joys, it can be made in just one pot! Hurrah!

So keep your eyes peeled for Summer Minestrone with Pesto here next.

Drinkies!

There was a BBQ on Labor Day Monday at a friend's house and I was encouraged, possibly begged, into bringing Sangria. I made waaaaay more of it than I probably should have, but there we are. I used this recipe and found that after the required 24 hours it was absolutely the perfect blend of tart and sweet.

Unfortunately adding any soda water to that completely took away the deliciousness of the sweet and tart. I swore that I would avoid using Sprite in a Sangria recipe but adding a little bit of Sprite to a glass of Sangria made it perfect beyond measure. I still have tons of the stuff left over but I'm glad to know that I've found the Sangria recipe I'll be bringing to BBQs for the rest of my life. I may try a white wine one at some point though. I like the fact that white ones use peaches which are the loveliest fruit in the universe except perhaps for pluots.

I also brought to the party a mini of a brand of alcohol called Jeremiah Weed Sweet Tea Vodka because one of the hosts is from West Texas and is a big fan of sweet tea. That mini was gone almost instantly as each of us at the BBQ tried a sip of it and found it to be amazing. It's not available everywhere unfortunately but it has to be one of the best kept secrets I've ever tasted. I'm already planning an original recipe (I know I said not to expect any, but this totally calls for it) for sweet tea cupcakes and this liquor is definitely going to be the star of it. School is getting a little hairy right now but once it calms down a bit again, I'll be trying my hand at original baking.

Tonight's recipe for asparagus sounds pretty simple but also pretty damn delicious. I think the main course is going to be something my dad calls plowman's share. It's basically whatever vegetables you have on hand cooked up in whichever way is easiest and then piled onto a baked potato with some sour cream. Since grilling is already happening for the asparagus, I'm going to chop up some other vegetables and get them into the grilling action as well.

I shall report back!