Mint Iced Tea

I made a double batch of Mint Iced Tea this week to take to Mom and Dad's. We had family visiting and we ordered take out from Monjuni's. This tea was the first thing that came to mind for a beverage. I made it with granulated splenda for baking not sugar. It was very refreshing! In fact, as I type this I am finishing up the leftovers. Most Italian restaurants make mint tea in our area. The first place I remember ordering it was at Dominick’s Restaurant. They would serve it in large frosted globe shaped goblets. I looked it up and the globets are for beer, they are called schooners. I honestly think I remember more about the tea than the food? Dominick’s is long gone now, but other local restaurants like Notini's, Monjuni's and Fertitta's still serve it. It is always sweetened with sugar and very delicious. A few years ago I finally found an excellent recipe to bring back those memories of Italian food and ice cold mint tea. I don't remember whose's recipe it is. I do know it was passed down by an Italian grandmother to her grand daughter and she shared it on a message board I follow. I was thrilled when I found it; I had tried many times on my own to replicate the recipe but I could never get it quite right. It either taste like just mint or orange. This recipe is a perfect blend. It uses both orange and lemon juice. Using both does not compete with the mint. It is just delicious. Now I sweeten it to my taste. The original recipe called for 1-1/4 cups of sugar, I found that to be too much. But dear Dad and sister usually like it sweeter, so add sugar or splenda to your families' taste. This is a refreshing beverage for more than Italian food. It would be great at a BBQ or with Greek or Indian food. Heck it would be great all by it's self too. What are you waiting for, go pour a glass!

Mint Iced Tea

Ingredients

3 family size tea bags (6 regular size)
10-12 fresh mint leaves
3/4 cups sugar or granulated splenda (or 18 packets)
2 Tbsp. lemon juice (fresh or bottled)
4 Tbsp. orange juice (fresh or bottled)
Orange, sliced for garnish
Mint sprigs for garnish

Directions

Using a 12 cup coffee pot place tea bags and mint it pot. Brew 12 cups of water. When finished brewing turn pot of and let it steep 5 minutes. Meanwhile in a pitcher add sugar, lemon and orange juice. Pour hot tea in pitcher including mint leaves. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Serve over ice with an orange slice and mint sprig as a garnish. If any tea remains remove mint leaves before storing in the refrigerator.

Note: Some restaurants serve a spiced mint tea. I found that chai tea bags substituted in this recipe makes an excellent spiced mint tea.

A Schooner from Libbey Glass

Linking to:
Tumbleweed Contessa: What'd You Do This Weekend?
Love Bakes Good Cakes: The Ultimate List of Summer Drinks

Mango Tomato Gazpacho

This gazpacho recipe is inspired by a salad we make often when mangoes are in season. Mango, Tomato and Avocado Salad is a delicious mix of sweet, bright and creamy ingredients. Mangoes, tomatoes and avocados are just meant to go together in my humble opinion. I love the cilantro, onion and garlic with these fruits. It is what makes this salad savory too. I just knew this combo would make a great summer gazpacho. I was right. It is so smooth and well balanced. I decided to add jalapeno, sweet pepper and cucumber for crunch and texture. I really liked the sweet and spicy together. This would make a great starter for a fish or seafood meal. I added a lot more avocado to my serving than you see here in the photos. It was so good! Next time I see mangoes it will be hard to decided what to make salad or gazpacho?

Mango Tomato Gazpacho 
Make 1/2 gallon; 8 (1 cup) servings

Ingredients

2 ripe mango, peeled and diced
2 ripe tomatoes, diced 
1/2 English cucumber, seeded and diced 
1/2 purple onion, diced 
1 Jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced 
1 mini sweet pepper (red, yellow or orange), seeded and diced
1 clove garlic, minced 
1/2 bunch Cilantro, roughly chopped
1 cup low sodium V8 vegetable juice 
1 cup orange juice
2 or 3 dash of hot sauce 
Kosher salt, black pepper and red pepper flakes, to taste
Juice of 1 lime
2 Tbsp. white vinegar
2 Tbsp. olive oil 
Sliced avocado, jalapeno and more sweet pepper for garnish

Directions

Combine first eight ingredients in a large bowl. Place half of these ingredients in a blender with vegetable juice, pulse until the desire consistency. Place in a large pitcher or bowl (I use a one gallon pitcher). Place remaining ingredients except avocado in the blender, pulse until the desire consistency. Add to the pitcher and stir to combine. Refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight to blend. Serve garnished with sliced or chopped avocado, jalapeno and sweet pepper.

Linking to:
My Turn for Us: Freedom Fridays with All My Bloggy Friends
Snippets of Inspiration: Weekend Wind Down Link Party
The Tumbleweed Contessa: What'd You Do This Weekend?
Yesterfood: Treasure Box Tuesday
Stone Cottage Adventures: Tuesdays with a Twist
Anyonita Nibbles: #tastytuesdays
Buns In My Oven: What's Cookin' Wednesday
Miz Helen's Country Cottage: Full Plate Thursday

Apple Ale Rita

I am so impressionable. Yesterday I saw Clinton Kelley make an Apple Margarita on the Chew and the seed was planted. Then I had a late lunch meeting at Ruby Tuesdays. I noticed they had a Beer Rita on the menu. Another seed planted. By the time I left there I just had to go get tequila and apple juice. It wasn't until I got to the store that I saw the apple ale. I bought that too. I just knew I had seen a recipe that called for it too. There are tons of apple cocktail recipes on Pinterest now. Apple Sangria anyone? I have pinned them all.

Well let me jump on that band wagon. Here is one more apple cocktail. An Apple Ale Rita! It came to me as I tried to decide which recipe to try first. I have had a Beer Rita before. I liked the effervescence the beer added to the margarita. I bet apple ale would do the same for an apple margarita. Boy does it! It is so great. I don’t like sweet drinks. This drink is perfect not too sweet, it’s fresh or crisp and just a hint of warm fall spice. I like the lemon too. It is what makes the margarita part of the drink evident. I tried it without the lemon and cinnamon.  It was fine but taste just like an apple drink. Let me warn you this is definitely not just an apple drink, the inverted ale in the drink raises the technical drink-ability of this cocktail. Do not be tempted to pull the ale bottle out of the drink until you are sure what is in the bottle will fit in the glass. You have been sufficiently warned. I hope you will try it or at least pin it with all your other apple cocktails.

Apple Ale Rita

Serves 1

Ingredients

1 lemon wedge

1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

1 oz triple sec or orange liquor

2 oz silver tequila

2 oz 100% pure pressed apple juice

12 oz apple ale

1 cinnamon stick

Directions

Place lemon wedge and ground cinnamon in a pint glass. Muddle together and fill glass 3/4 full with ice. Add triple sec, tequila, apple juice and stir to combine. Carefully place your finger over the top of the ale bottle and invert into glass. Garnish with cinnamon stick and a straw. Place on a small plate with a napkin to catch any spills. Enjoy!

Linking to:
Love Bakes Good Cakes: It's Fall Y'all
My Mixing Spoon: Random Recipe Roundup Linkie Party
The Chicken Chick: Clever Chicks Blog Hop
This Gal Cooks: Marvelous Mondays
Ms. enPlace: See Ya the Gumbo
The Plaid and Paisley Kitchen: Show Me Your Plaid Mondays
The Tumbleweed Contessa: What'd You Do This Weekend?
Horrific Knits: Fall Into the Holidays
Cassidy's Cooking Collection: Linky & Drinky
Anyonita Nibbles: Tasty Tuesdays
Memories by the Mile: Tuesday Trivia-Delaware and Link Party
Love Bakes Good Cakes: All My Bloggy Friends
Buns in My Oven: What's Cookin' Wednesday
Miz Helen's Country Cottage: Full Plate Thursday
The Tumbleweed Contessa: Cinnamon Saturday Dishes
Carole's Chatter: Food on Fridays - Cocktails and Mocktails

Baja Beach Tacos Two Ways

You are about to see the laziest photos of some really good tacos. I guess I was too hungry for food styling. Does that ever happen to you? You want to share a recipe in the best possible way but you just want to get the delicious food in your mouth now! Anyway...

Saturday Mom came over to look at recipes for Labor Day. I decided to treat her to Baja Style Fish Tacos. The girls in the family love fish tacos. Dad not so much. So she doesn't make them at home and she rarely gets to our favorite place in Bossier City, LA. Don Juanz is a great surfer style taco bar. They serve very fresh and light Mexican fare. We love their Baja Beach Fish Tacos! This taco has sushi grade yellow fin tuna grilled rare and dressed with creamy lime cilantro dressing, cabbage, cilantro, and jack cheese in a fresh corn tortilla. So so good! This is my attempt at recreating their tacos at home.

I started by making the dressing first. That was the one ingredient I had not made before. I saw a lot of recipes out there, but I decided to pick my favorite ingredients from each. It turned out a little strong on it's own. I used a huge garlic clove and it gave the dressing a lot of heat. But it was perfect on the taco. I think next time I will use a smaller garlic clove and see what happens. Right now I would say reserve this dressing for tacos. I wouldn't go covering a bunch of lettuce with it. I am going to try a shrimp taco with it real soon.

For the tuna I chose to use frozen fillets that I thawed. That is what my store had that day. It worked out really well. I seasoned them really simply with my spiced salt blend and grilled them. This is where the fun begins. The toppings! Don Juanz has two different tacos the Baja Beach I described earlier and the Pacific Rim which is topped with lettuce, mandarin oranges, jack cheese and cilantro. I could not pick one, so I made both. I still can't pick which one I like best. They are both great. The Baja Beach style is crunchy from the cabbage and the lime cilantro dressing is more notable. The Pacific Rim style is sweet and juicy from the mandarin oranges. The best thing to do is have one of each.

All in all I think this copycat recipe was a success. Mom loved them and dear sister popped in a little later to try one. She asked how did I find Don Juanz's recipes. So I think this recipe is close enough for my family. I hope you will enjoy them as well.

Baja Beach Tacos Two Ways

Serves 4

Ingredients

8 corn tortillas

2 tuna steaks (less than 8 oz each)

Olive oil

Spiced Salt, to taste (click here for recipe)

Creamy Lime Cilantro Dressing (recipe follows)

Toppings for Baja Beach Fish Taco:

Green cabbage, shredded or coleslaw mix

Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

Cilantro, roughly chopped

Toppings for Pacific Rim Fish Taco:

Iceberg lettuce, shredded

1 (11 oz) can Mandarin oranges, drained

Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

Cilantro, roughly chopped

Directions

Preheat grill to high heat for 10 minutes. Pat tuna steaks dry with a paper towel. Rub tuna with olive oil. Season tuna with spiced salt (or salt, black pepper and red pepper flakes). Grill for 2 to 2-1/2 minutes a side on an open grill for rare. Place corn tortillas on the grill to warm about 1 minute. Remove tuna and tortillas from grill. Slice tuna against the grain into thin slices. Spread a heaping teaspoon of dressing in the center of tortilla. Top with several slices of tuna and add your choice of toppings from above.

Creamy Lime Cilantro Dressing

Makes about 1 cup

Ingredients

1/4 cup light mayonnaise

1/4 cup light sour cream

1 lime, zest and juice

1 garlic clove, minced or grated

1 green onion, minced

1/4 cup cilantro, minced

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp white vinegar

1/2 tsp Kosher salt, or to taste

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Mix well and refrigerate until ready to use.

Baja Beach Fish Tacos

Pacific Rim Fish Tacos

Linking to:
Ms. enPlace: See Ya in the Gumbo
The Tumbleweed Contessa: What'd you do this weekend?
This Gal Cooks: Marvelous Mondays
Jam Hands: Recipe Sharing Monday
With a Blast: All My Bloggy Friends
Memories by the Mile: Tuesday Trivia-Vermont and Link Party
Anyonita's Nibbles: Tasty Tuesdays
My Turn for Us: Freedom Fridays
Law Student's Cookbook: Pantry Party September 2013
Carole's Chatter: Food on Fridays - Tuna
Food of the World: Mexico
The Lazy Gastronome: Taco Tuesday Link Party

Sangrita Salad

Have you heard of Sangrita? Well let me tell you about it. Sangrita is a mixture of tomato, orange and lime juice all spiced up. In Mexico, they sip it alternately with good tequila. I think it taste like a Bloody Mary and a Margarita all mashed together. So delicious and spicy! I like it just as a mock-tail  But I did try it with tequila and it totally changes the tequila. It taste a little more smoky to me, also very delicious.

I decided that if this was a great beverage, why wouldn't it be a great salad? Well I was right, I love the orange and tomato together. It is a very refreshing flavor but has a spicy kick too. I garnished the salad with a little red onion and cilantro. It made for a beautiful plate and the red onion adds a little heat of it's own.

I made the salad twice slicing the tomato and orange in different ways each time. Both were delicious and very pretty. Next time, I plan to chop everything in a small dice. I think it would make a great pico for chicken or fish.

Sangrita Salad

Serves 2

Ingredients

1 orange, peeled and sliced

1 tomato, sliced

Spiced Salt, to taste (or salt, black pepper and red pepper flakes)

2 Tbsp red onion, thinly sliced

2 Tbsp cilantro, roughly chopped

2 Tbsp vegetable juice (V8)

2 Tbsp orange juice

1 Tbsp lime juice

2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1-1/2 to 2 tsp hot sauce

1 Tbsp olive oil

Directions

To slice the orange, start by trimming off the very top and bottom of the orange with a sharp knife. Next, set the orange on end, and carefully cut the skin from its flesh, beginning at the top and following the curves down. There should be no white pith left just orange flesh. Then, carefully slice the orange into 8-10 round slices.

Slice the tomato into 8-10 slices. Arrange the slices of tomato and orange alternating on two salad plates. Sprinkle with spiced salt, red onion and cilantro. Combine remaining ingredients in a small bowl, whisking well. Drizzle or spoon over each salad. Place in refrigerator until chilled. Serve chilled.

Note: Another way to plate this salad would be to supreme or segment the orange and slice the tomato into wedges (see photo below). Here is a link to a how to on supreme an orange.

Shown in alternating slices

Shown in supreme segments and wedges

Linking to:
Ms. enPlace: See Ya in the Gumbo
The Tumbleweed Contessa: What'd you do this weekend?
This Gal Cooks: Marvelous Mondays
Jam Hands: Recipe Sharing Monday
With a Blast: All My Bloggy Friends
Memories by the Mile: Tuesday Trivia-Vermont and Link Party
Anyonita's Nibbles: Tasty Tuesdays
My Turn for Us: Freedom Fridays
Carole's Chatter: Food on Friday: Oranges, Mandarins & Grapefruit
My Pinterventures: Summer Salads Party

Baked Ham

This ham is usually on the table at Easter. But because we were having a Christmas Brunch it seemed the perfect solution for Christmas this year. It is easy and so good. The orange glaze is sweet and spicy from the mustard. The thyme is just a hint of herb, not enough to bother those who do not like herbs. Lets put it this way, it passes the Dad test. He really likes this recipe. If you line the pan with foil it is easy clean up.

Baked Ham

Source: Southern Living 2009 Annual Recipes

Makes 16 Servings

1 (10 lb) smoked ham

1 (13 oz) jar orange marmalade

1/4 cup stone ground mustard

1 Tbsp fresh thyme, chopped

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Wrap ham in aluminum foil, and place in a slightly greased 13 x 9 inch pan; bake at 300 for 2 hours.

Remove ham from oven, and unwrap. Remove skin and excess fat from ham. Score fat on ham in a diamond pattern.

Stir together marmalade and remaining ingredients in a small bowl. Spoon glaze over ham, and bake 1 hour, basting every 15 minutes or until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest portion registers 140. Let stand 15 minutes before slicing.

Linking to:

Carole's Chatter: Food on Friday - Easter Foods

Fruit Salad

This Fruit Salad is the brain child of my Mother. I am not sure where she came up with it. But it sure was good. You can find the jars of fruit in the refrigerated section near the bags of salad greens and jar salad dressings. The fruit juice from the jar fruit keeps the bananas from browning. Genius! And the coconut, well it was delicious. I think this salad should be called a Tropical Fruit Salad.

Fruit Salad

Serves: 6 to 8

Ingredients

1 jar mixed fruit, drained

1 jar mandarin oranges, drained

2 banana, peeled and sliced

Sweetened flake coconut

Directions

Drain almost all liquid from jar fruit. Slice one banana in a serving bowl, top with one jar of fruit. Sprinkle fruit with some coconut. Slice second banana, top with other jar of fruit and more coconut. Toss salad to combine just before serving.

Fun with Coffee

I grew up on Community Coffee a Louisiana original. My family always brews Community Dark Roast. I keep Dark Roast and Cafe Special in my house. Cafe Special is a little smoother than the Dark Roast. When it starts to get cold outside, my coffee consumption goes up. In fact, I am drinking Spiced Coffee made with Dark Roast Community right now. Here are a few things I like to do with coffee.

Coffee Tip

Sprinkle ground cinnamon over your coffee grounds when you brew your morning coffee. It is delicious! You may never make a pot without it again.

This Spiced Coffee is amazing. I got this recipe from Anne Thornton's show Dessert First. It makes the house smell like the holidays. It fits just perfectly in a half pint jar for giving too. Wrap the entire jar in a holiday tea towel, tie with a ribbon and the recipe. Makes the perfect hostess gift.

                       
 

Spiced Coffee
Serves: 8

8 Tbsp. Ground Coffee
1 Tbsp. Orange Zest
2 tsp. Cinnamon, ground
1 tsp. Nutmeg, ground
1 tsp. Cloves, ground
8 cups of Water

Combine all ingredients breaking up any clumps. Place mix in filter basket of coffee pot and brew with 8 cups water.

Note: Use dried orange zest if giving as a gift. You don't know when the recipient will be using the coffee and fresh may spoil the batch. Microwave the grated zest of orange on a paper towel-lined plate, tossing every 30 seconds, until dry, about 1 1/2 minutes. 

Diet Coke Blāk

Do you remember Coke Blāk?

It was a coke product with a slight flavor of coffee that was discontinued in the states.

Well .... I started freezing left over coffee in ice cube trays for iced coffee and blended coffee drinks. My sister reminded me of Coke Blāk. She suggest adding an ice cube to Diet Coke.

I tried it, and it is so good. It works best if you place the coffee ice cube on top of regular ice and pour a room temperature diet coke over the top. 1-1/2 Tbsp of black coffee added to 12 oz diet coke works too. I hope you enjoy this tip.

Linking to:
See Ya in the Gumbo
It's Fall Y'all
Fall Into the Holidays
The Tumbleweed Contessa: Cinnamon Saturday Dishes