The Mystery Pack

One of Jamie's birthday gifts was this "Mystery Pack" from Trader Joe's. They give you 6 beers in a brown paper sack, charge you $6, and then you get to find out what is in it when you get home. Here is what we got!

Sierra Nevada Porter,

Mission St. Blonde Ale,

Kennebunkport Pumpkin Ale,

Newcastle Brown Ale,

Sam Adams Boston Lager,

and one of my favorites... Blue Moon!

Caramelized Pecans

For Jamie's birthday on Saturday, I made his favorite meal of grape leaves with a special salad. I usually make grape leaves with a Greek salad, but this time I made it with extra-special salad! The extra-special salad is topped with amazing caramelized pecans.

To start, heat up a couple tablespoons of butter in a skillet.

Mix together:

2/3 c. chopped pecans

1 T sugar

1/2 t. salt

1/4 t. cayenne pepper

sprinkle of black pepper

Stir it into the hot butter, and keep stirring until it caramelizes. Don't let it burn!

Let them cool on a brown paper sack. Really, use a paper sack. If you use paper towels, you'll end up eating the paper towels along with the pecans. If you just put them on a plate, they will be all sticky and make a mess. The paper sack is definitely the best choice!

I put them on top of the salad, and they were amazing! They are also a delicious snack. 

A Golden Birthday

Baked Stuffed Shrimp

The only downside to living in our apartment is the MIT cable, and more specifically the lack of Food Network (and HGTV). Way back when I didn't live at MIT, I liked to watch Paula Deen pound on the butter, Rachael Ray whip up meals in 30 minutes, and Alton Brown show me why foods do what they do.

The closest thing I have to Food Network now is Cook's Country on PBS, which I really appreciate, especially in HD! They are part of America's Test Kitchen, a New England based company that tests recipes and makes improvements to them so that the end result produces the best possible product. Cook's Country is sort of a Paula Deen meets Alton Brown kind of thing - they make good, wholesome, home cooking, but also explain why they chose the ingredients and methods they did.

Most things I watch them make on the show are more complicated than I am willing to try, but upon browsing their website at cookscountrytv.com, I came across a recipe for Baked Stuffed Shrimp that looked delicious and not to difficult. I scaled down the recipe for 2, and it came out wonderfully. I served it with garlic mashed potatoes, which were scrumptious! Here is the recipe I used:

2 slices white bread
1/4 c. mayonnaise, w/ olive oil variety
1/8 c. chicken stock
1/8 c. finely chopped parsley
2 scallions, chopped fine
1 garlic clove, minced
1 t. grated lemon zest
2 t. lemon juice
1 1/2 t. Dijon mustard
1/16 t. cayenne pepper
Salt
15 medium-large shrimp

1. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Pulse bread in food chopper to coarse crumbs. Transfer crumbs to large pan with edges and bake until golden and dry, 8 to 10 minutes, stirring halfway through cooking time. Remove crumbs from oven and reduce oven temperature to 275 degrees.

2. Combine toasted bread crumbs, mayonnaise, chicken stock, parsley, scallions, garlic, lemon zest and juice, mustard, cayenne, and a sprinkle of salt in large bowl. Mix together well.

3. Pat shrimp dry with paper towels and season lightly with salt. Grease large pan. Butterfly and cut hole through center of each shrimp and arrange cut-side down on prepared pan. Divide bread crumb mixture among shrimp, pressing to adhere. Bake until shrimp are opaque, about 20 minutes.

4. Remove shrimp from oven and heat broiler. Broil shrimp until crumbs are deep golden brown and crispy, 1 to 3 minutes. Serve.

Looking back, I accidentally omitted step four from the process, and I think the topping would have been tastier had I broiled them at the end. They were good without it, though. Also, I would also recommend turning the heat even lower than 275 because the shrimp were cooked in about 15 minutes. I encourage you to try this one out... it's really good!

 

Easy Apple Cake

Last night, inspired by the four apples we picked at Cider Hill Farms, I made apple cake. The recipe is one my mom used to make when I was younger, and it is extremely delicious!

I decided to substitute some of the sugar for Splenda, since I'm a Splenda freak and use SmartBalance oil instead of regular. Little things like that can make a big difference in reducing the amount of sugar and fats that we eat everyday. Enjoy!

2c. diced apples               
1/2c. sugar
1/4c. Splenda                        
l/3c. SmartBalance oil                               
l/2t. vanilla                         
l egg                                  
l l/2c. unsifted flour
l t. baking powder
l t. baking soda
l t. cinnamon

Combine apples, sugar, and Splenda in a mixing bowl and let stand 10 min.  Mix together oil, vanilla and egg. Stir into apples and sugar. Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Mix together liquid and dry ingredients, and stir until combined. Pour in a greased 8-inch square pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.    

Just another Saturday...

On Saturday, after waking up leisurely at noon and lying around for a couple of hours, Jamie and I decided to get outside and enjoy the beautiful weather! Our friend Kristina told us about an apple picking farm in Amesbury, MA, and so we decided we'd check it out. On the way, we stopped at Jewell Towne Vineyards, a winery that lies in both Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

It is convenient that the winery store is in New Hampshire because we didn't have to pay tax that way! While we were there, we discovered some lovely new wines.Our favorites were "Marechal Foch" and "Seyval Blanc". Their seyval is unique because they have a private reserve label that is made with grapes grown 100% from their vineyards. Most wineries in the New England area have to contract out their grapes because the climate here is not ideal for grape-growing.

Jamie and I enjoyed walking through their beautiful vineyards before heading off on our apple-picking adventure!

Oh yeah, and did I mention that UT beat Texas Tech later that evening? I think it was all because of Jamie's shirt...

We went apple picking at Cider Hill Farm in Amesbury. It was our first time apple picking, and it was lots of fun! Our favorite apple by far was the honeycrisp. If you haven't tried one, please do! They were really yummy! The picture below is not of a honeycrisp, so don't get confused!

Before we left, Jamie went crazy taking pictures of chickens, turkeys, and goats. I'll share his beautiful photos with you!

All in all, it was a beautiful Saturday afternoon!

Wineries

We love to visit wineries! Not only do we enjoy tasting wines, but the locations of the wineries are always beautiful. This past weekend, we visited Zorvino Vineyards in New Hampshire with Jamie's cousin, Rami.

Their location featured a beautiful vineyard and event space for weddings. It made me really want to get married again! It's normal to have more than one wedding to the same person, right?

We even got to play Bocce Ball, a game we have recently discovered and greatly enjoy!

It was a beautiful day!

Below, I'm taking you back three years in my magic time machine to the time we visited Canada, and had our first experience exploring wineries. The Niagra Wine Region is absolutely breathtaking, especially after spending time at Niagra Falls. It was the perfect place to begin our wine adventures. Enjoy the trip!