Casual Enteraining: Ice Cream Sandwiches

I hope you all had a fabulous 4th of July holiday!  My family spent the whole weekend at our house so we had a house full and I feel like we did nothing but cook, eat, clean up and start all over again.  It's not entirely true, but not too far off the mark either.

These Ice Cream Sandwiches really hit the spot.  You can't beat ice cream for cooling you off in the summer!  They were small enough to be perfect for those who wanted a small bite of sweet after a full meal, but also small enough that you didn't feel guilty if you ate more than one (not that any of us would do such a thing!).

The key to these lovely treats is finding the perfect cookie.  One that is thin and crunchy, but not too delicate.  You can bake your own or save time, like we did, and use store-bought.  There are a couple of brands I really like for these - Marie is at the top of my list, followed closely by Nabisco Famous Wafers (which, sadly, I haven't been able to find lately), there are some other really great "biscuit" style cookies that work for these too, but I'm sorry to say the brand names aren't coming to mind right now.  For our 4th of July treats, we used Marie and Nyakers (these were Ginger Snaps) - both of which I happened to purchase at Cost Plus World Market on one of my Hauls.



This is the first time I've dressed them up around the edges with ice cream toppings.  I used salted, roasted peanuts that I chopped and miniature chocolate chips.  I especially enjoyed the addition of the nuts, they provided a nice balance with the sweet, creamy ice cream, the crunchy, slightly sweet cookies and that lovely, salty touch of nuts!

I shot some video when I made them - hope you enjoy it!

Do you have any treats you like to cool off with during the summer?  I'd love to hear about them!

Until next time - Ciao!

Gourmet at Home: Olive Tapenade

We love olives.  We do.  Because we love olives we almost always have a variety of them on hand in the fridge.  Recently, I was checking out the specialty items in the deli at my local grocery store and I noticed some Tapenade - it came in what might have been a 4 or 6 ounce jar - and they were charging $4.99 a jar!  I was both appalled at the price and reminded how easy it is to make yourself.  So I decided to show you how too.



There's really no recipe needed, just use 2 or 3 of your favorite types of olives, chop them up and serve with crackers or bread and your favorite cheeses, charcuterie and fruit or nuts and you have the perfect summer picnic, easy light dinner or cocktail party platter.  Check it out:

Ciao!

Casual Entertaining: Pulled Pork

Whether I'm gaming, crafting or just hanging out with friends and family, food is almost always included in the plans of the day.  I live out in the toolies, just close enough to civilization to be convenient and just far enough from civilization to be peaceful.  But this means guests are often on the road for an hour or more to get to my home for any kind of get together so a meal time is involved 99% of the time.

We're a pretty casual couple (big surprise being from Seattle, the casual capitol, right?) and we prefer meals to be casual as well.  We're big on having our guests make themselves at home and paper plates not an unusual occurrence - after all, who wants to worry about dishes when you can be visiting...or crafting... or gaming?  I ask you, who?!

Pulled Pork is an excellent recipe for casual entertaining.  I love foods that are versatile and Pulled Pork is definitely versatile.  You can pile it on a bun or roll with some BBQ sauce and some slaw for an excellent sandwich or use it as a topping for a baked potato.  (I like mine with pepper jack cheese, pulled pork, bbq sauce, bacon, scallions or chives and sour cream - YUM!)  It can be used as a topping for nachos or a filling for a quesadilla, wrap or burrito. See what I mean?  Versatile!

The best part about recipes like this one is you put a little effort into it at the beginning and then you can set it and forget it.

I used a pork shoulder for this, and started the night before - liberally applying a dry rub then wrapping it up tightly and placing it in the fridge until morning.  In the morning, I removed it from the fridge and let it sit on the counter about 30 minutes - all the major chefs will tell you this is an important step in cooking animal proteins, assuring the meat will retain moisture.  Preheat a cast iron skillet on medium high heat and sear the roast on all sides.



Once fully seared remove the roast to your crockpot or dutch oven and deglaze the pan.  Beer, apple cider, chicken stock and water will all work fine.  Just add 1/2 to 1 cup liquid and scrape all the lovely browned bits from the bottom of the pan and let it come to a boil.  Then turn off the heat and pour the liquid over the roast in your crockpot.  Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours.  The roast should be fork tender and falling apart, if not, keep cooking it for another hour and check it again.

Remove it to a shallow bowl and allow it to cool a bit.  It's easiest to pull it apart with your hands, but if it's still too hot to handle you can use a couple of forks to do the job.

Casual Entertaining: Baked Potato Bar

This past weekend was another gaming weekend for me.  My friends and I get together around noon and game until late night - usually wrapping up around 10:30 or 11:00 pm.  For us, this means that for every game session, we need to plan 2 meals, plus snacks. We usually start the day with lunch, almost as soon as my friend walk through my door. This gives us a chance to chat and visit before getting into game mode.  Luckily we like food, and we like to cook.  We handle the meals in a variety of ways sometimes potluck (with or without an overall theme or plan), more often than not I prepare one meal and they prepare the other.  Everyone provides their own snacks and drinks (for the most part) for munching throughout the day.

This game session we decided to go with a Baked Potato Bar for lunch (we both wanted photos from the potato bar for our blogs) and sandwiches for dinner.  Bars like this are really ideal for casual entertaining.  They set a festive atmosphere, while providing plenty of options to meat a wide variety of dietary needs and, bonus, they are a great way to deal with picky eaters - letting them choose what they want.  We generally handle sandwiches in this way too, everyone makes their own.  We've done taco bars as well with options to make crunchy or soft tacos, nachos, taco salad or a taco style rice bowl and they've all been a big hit.  

This time, I was in charge of baking the potatoes and we each provided a few of our favorite toppings to fill out the bar.  I planned one large russet baking potato per person (I knew we would have more than enough additional food choices to appease anyone with a larger appetite), which I washed...



... Then I poked each one with a fork.  This allows the potatoes to vent as they cook and prevents them from splitting open...



...Next, I rubbed butter all over them.  This allows them to develop a crispy skin so they hold together when you split them open...







... I placed them in a pan, rather than wrapping them in foil.  This also helps the potatoes to become crispy on the outside.  I baked them for an hour at 425 degrees, adding the pulled pork to the oven to reheat 30 minutes into the baking process,..



... Altogether we had chili, pulled pork, bacon, cheese, BBQ sauce, scallions and sour cream for toppings.







Each of us topped our potatoes with the toppings we wanted and we all enjoyed a delicious...



satisfying...



 and hearty lunch to get our Gaming Day off to a great start - YUM!