Smoked Salmon

Today we are attempting our first batch of smoked salmon.  The above picture is around hour 15 of the process... air drying the salmon after it brined for about 12 hours.  Once it is dry we'll begin the smoking process. We're crossing our fingers that it works because it smells so good!

Fresh from the Garden

I was very proud to serve our salads tonight.  Everything was fresh from our garden! So cool.  Lettuce, cucumbers and snap peas.  Blake told me how cool it was that the basic Bisquick biscuits I made came from the garden too.  Hmmm, I wish!

Bisquick Biscuits

1/3 c. butter
2 1/2 c. Original Bisquick® mix
2/3 c. milk
Butter or margarine, melted

Heat oven to 450ºF.

Cut firm butter into 1/4-inch pieces. Toss Bisquick mix and butter pieces with fork until coated. Add milk; stir just until milk is absorbed (do not overstir).

Turn dough onto surface dusted with Bisquick mix. Knead 5 times. Pat to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut with 3-inch cutter. Place on ungreased cookie sheet with sides touching for soft sides or 2 inches apart for crispy sides.

Bake about 9 minutes or until golden brown. Brush with melted butter.

Oh, Snap!

Clearly I should have been paying more attention to my snap peas in the garden.  Blake helped me pick a big bucket full, and many were the size of my hand!  oops.  Note to self, check peas daily...

Margs and Ribs

Today I surprised Tony with homemade margaritas and slow cooked ribs.  It turned out he was having a rough day, so this was the perfect pick-me-up.

What I like to call margarita eggs...

Ribs.  Oh heaven.  Just rub your favorite bbq spices (I'd have to kill you if I shared my secret recipe) on the ribs the night prior.  Start up the bbq (and yes, you can use gas, charcoal, or smoker) on low so the meat will have indirect heat. No direct heat please!  Slowly cook until the ribs are tender - depending on your cooking method it can take anywhere from 4-8 hours.  I mop the ribs every 30-45min with a apple cider/apple vinegar/water mix to help keep them moist and add a slight 'crust' to the spices. When meat starts shrinking back from end of the bone you know they're getting close to done.

Serve with your favorite bbq sauce and sides.  I prefer my ribs 'dry' with only the rub.  But, if using sauce I prefer using B-Man's BBQ or Pete's BBQ (both are local and available at QFC). Oh, and a fresh margarita of course!

Los Brisos (or Las Brisas?)

My mom's infamous cocktail.  It is so refreshing and so deadly - you can't taste the alcohol... And one is never enough.  I believe the correct spelling is Las Brisas (the breeze in spanish - though if you Google this version there is a totally different drink recipe), but it is my mom's drink so she gets to name it whatever she wants!

There really isn't a recipe, just a list of ingredients:

Limeade concentrate

Anejo Rum

Splash of club soda or water

Wedge of lime

Place above ingredients in a glass with ice and enjoy!

4th of July Cake

Today I was excited to attempt the patriotic flag cake I posted about earlier.  After baking two red, one white, one blue round cakes I ended up with a pretty awesome finished product. I'll definitely do similar cakes in the future! 

So tasty, and so cool to cut in to and see everyone's reactions!  The perfect end to a fun patriotic pool party!

Rosemary Lemonade

I've talked about this recipe before, and have to post it again.  It is that good.  I made this rosemary lemonade recipe for our pool party.  Its a nice change from the usual yellow or pink lemonades, and a little more adult oriented (kids don't always love the rosemary taste).

I finally used our electric juicer.  We received it as a wedding gift and I have NO idea why I haven't used it until now.  I mean, its only been in our pantry for almost five years!

Making the simple syrup and adding rosemary to flavor the mixture only takes a few minutes.

Rosemary Lemonade2 c. sugar

2 c. water
4 large sprigs of rosemary
2 c. fresh lemon juice (do not use store bought lemon juice)
4 c. water
rosemary sprigs for garnish

Stir together sugar and two cups of water in saucepan to make simple syrup.  Add rosemary sprigs.  Stirring constantly, bring to a boil.  Remove from heat and let cool.  Strain syrup.  Mix together syrup, lemon juice and four cups water.  Add fresh rosemary sprigs.  Chill.  Serve with ice.