This post was sponsored by OLD BAY. All opinions and recipes are my own. I've spent most of my adult life living within an easy drive of the Chesapeake Bay, where OLD BAY seasoning is a fixture in cooking. I can't remember a time when I didn't know what OLD BAY was. It's been a regular seasoning option for seafood for what seems like forever. I have a lot of fond memories of OLD BAY and beach weekends from college onward. It seemed like OLD BAY always brought us together for fun times and good food. But it's not just a seafood seasoning. When I asked my Facebook friends what they like to use OLD BAY on, one actually responded with "wouldn't the list be shorter if I just told you what I DON'T use it on?" OK, then. Suggestions … [Read more...]
DuClaw Devil’s Milk Chicken Cremini
Thank you DuClaw Brewing for sponsoring this post and sending me the DuClaw Devil's Milk Barleywine. All opinions and the Chicken Cremini recipe are my own. Welcome to the December edition of “Cooking with Beer”! Each month DuClaw Brewing sends me a beer and a friend and I create a recipe. It's a fun time to think outside the box and try a new beer and new food. This month's beer is "Devil's Milk Barleywine", `a hoppy barleywine that will warm you up quick with it's 10% ABV. I like barleywine's but they tend to be higher alcohol than I drink on a regular basis. This version was tasty, but had a bit more "hop bite" than I would usually choose. The hop flavor ruled out my original idea of some type of dessert. Instead, I decided to "hop … [Read more...]
DuClaw Sour Me This Blueberry Cheesecake Parfait
Thank you DuClaw Brewing for sponsoring this post and sending me the DuClaw Sour Me This. All opinions and the Blueberry Cheesecake Parfait recipe are my own. Welcome to another edition of “Cooking with Beer”! Each month DuClaw Brewing sends me a beer and a friend and I create a recipe. It’s a fun time to think outside the box and try a new beer and new food. This month’s beer is “Sour Me This”, a sour beer that starts sweet and ends with a pucker. I'm learning to love sour beers, mostly because one of my favorite bartenders thinks I already love them and keeps giving me new ones to try. So, I have a much greater appreciation for Sour Me This than I did last year when I made it into a granita. For some reason, the sourness in … [Read more...]
Potato Leek Soup to warm you on a cold day
Soup is one of my favorite foods. Yes, the entire category. In fact, when I was pregnant with Jones, I craved soup at every meal. Since Virginia has decided that today is winter, this potato leek soup is on the menu. I need to make it while it's actually cold enough to enjoy it. You think I'm kidding that we are getting one day of winter? Yesterday it was in the mid-60s and I ran in a skirt and short sleeve shirt! Today it's a high in the 30s. Sunday it will be in the 60s again. Go home, Mother Nature, you are drunk! Anyways, I love this potato leek soup as it is super easy to make, has lots of veggies, and is quite tasty. Add a scoop of Greek yogurt and you've got some extra protein as well. Win/Win! Potato Leek … [Read more...]
Turkey Sweet Potato Soup and more
It's almost Thanksgiving day and we all know what that means! Leftovers! I enjoy turkey dinner on Thanksgiving, but I'm not one to sit down to meal after meal of leftover turkey, sweet potatoes, and the various other sides. So, I immediately turn the leftovers into other meals if I can. Since today's Friday Five 2.0 topic with Running on Happy and Fairytales and Fitness is "Holiday Foods", I'm going to share some of my favorite ways to use up the leftovers. Soup! I make a wicked good turkey and sweet potato soup. I've never tried it with mashed sweet potatoes, but I bet that would work as well.[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:48] Sweet Potatoes with candied walnuts - OK, this is totally cheating. I intend this to be on my T'day table. And I … [Read more...]
DuClaw Mad Bishop Spicy Beer Cheese Soup
Thank you DuClaw Brewing for sponsoring this post and sending me the DuClaw Mad Bishop. All opinions and the Spicy Beer Cheese Soup recipe are my own. Welcome to the August edition of “Cooking with Beer”! Each month DuClaw Brewing sends me a beer and a friend and I create a recipe. It's a fun time to think outside the box and try a new beer and new food. This month's beer is the DuClaw Mad Bishop, a German Style Oktoberfest. I'm always excited to see Oktoberfest beers start coming out. It means that summer heat is coming to an end and soon it will be my favorite time of year. I love cooler weather, the colors of the leaves, and the darker beers that start gracing the shelves. The DuClaw Mad Bishop nicely fills the niche between … [Read more...]
DuClaw German Pilsner Barley Salad
Thank you DuClaw Brewing for sponsoring this post and sending me the DuClaw German Pilsner. All opinions and recipe are my own. Welcome to the May edition of “Cooking with Beer”! Each month DuClaw Brewing sends me a beer and a friend and I create a recipe. It's a fun time to think outside the box and try a new beer and new food. This month's beer is the DuClaw German Pilsner that is part of their Foundation Series. This is a traditional German pilsner, so it tastes, well, like a traditional German pilsner. This is not one of DuClaw's push the limits beers, but rather a tasty, true to style, beer. When I first saw this beer, the first thing that came to mind (of course) was beer and brats. This would be the perfect beer to soak … [Read more...]
DuClaw Blood Orange Neon Gypsy Ceviche
Welcome to the May edition of “Cooking with Beer”! Each month DuClaw Brewing sends me a beer and a friend and I create a recipe. It's a fun time to think outside the box and try a new beer and new food. This month DuClaw sent me a variety of their Neon Gypsy IPA - Blood Orange Neon Gypsy. In honor of Cinco de Mayo, we created a recipe with a Mexican flair. You all know that IPA's are not my favorite style of beer. I'll drink it, but I'm not a huge fan of hoppy flavor. Beer Geek and my co-chef, on the other hand, are huge hopheads. They both love Neon Gypsy and thought that the Blood Orange variety was quite tasty. I liked the slight orange smell and flavor that contrasted with the bitterness of the hops, but as I … [Read more...]
DuClaw Funk Pancakes with Dirty Little Freak Syrup
Welcome to the April edition of “Cooking with Beer”! Once again, I am featuring a beer that DuClaw Brewing sent me. This month DuClaw sent me one of their spring beers, Funk. DuClaw Funk is a blueberry citrus wheat ale. It's a traditional American wheat ale with Meyer lemon and blueberries added. With a light refreshing taste and an ABV of only 5%, this is the perfect summer session beer. Take it with you on a summer picnic, enjoy it by the fire pit on a summer night, or simply grab one after a hot afternoon mowing the lawn. Whatever the summer occasion, this beer makes a great accompaniment. As far as recipes go, we decide to do something a little funky (pun intended) this time. A friend suggested we make pancakes and we ran with … [Read more...]
DuClaw El Kabong Lamb Tagine
Welcome to the March edition of “Cooking with Beer”! Once again, I am featuring a beer that DuClaw Brewing sent me. This month DuClaw sent me a lovely beer called El Kabong. El Kabong is an apricot chili beer clocking in at 6% ABV. I know you are thinking "Chili beer???" (I know I was), but it was actually quite tasty. The chili flavor was not overly strong and paired nicely with the sweetness that came from the apricot flavor. In the past, I haven't been a fan of chili beers, but every once in a while I find one I like. This beer was tasty with a little chili kick but it did not slap you in the face with the chile flavor. I did find this beer a little more challenging to cook with, but I think the tagine recipe came out great. I'm … [Read more...]
DuClaw Quick Start My Heart Balsamic Vinaigrette
Welcome to the February edition of "Cooking with Beer"! Once again, I am featuring a beer that DuClaw Brewing sent me. Since February is National Heart Month, it's appropriate that the beer I'm featuring is called Quick Start My Heart. DuClaw Quick Start My Heart is a strawberry milk stout with 6.8% ABV and a medium body. It has flavors and aromas of chocolate and strawberry with a hint of coffee. You all know I love my dark beers and this is a tasty beer that answers the question of "beer or dessert" with a resounding yes! As you might imagine, this is another beer that could easily work well with in the recipe I created for beer cupcakes. I think it would be great combined with a strawberry glaze on top. I had a lot of fun with … [Read more...]
Slow Cooker Vegetarian Chili
It's Monday and my kids are home with me for the 12th day in a row. Granted, this was a planned teacher work day and we haven't used up all of our snow days, so they did not reschedule it. But, wow, I'm ready for a normal life. Thankfully, the weather here has been super warm, so we should be snow free by the middle of this week. This weekend Jones had Honors Orchestra. They lost two of their practice days so they ended up practicing for 9 hours over two days. It was a lovely concert and they played really well, but that pretty much took everything out of my introverted musician. Shoo also had a futsal game and a birthday party, so I feel like I spent most of my weekend driving people places. Thankfully my dad and I got in a 10K run. … [Read more...]
