Coco and the Neighbor's Porch

Coco and the Neighbor's Porch

Sep 20, 2019 · 11 Comments

I am soooo over summer. I know I come on here every week and complain. I know people in parts of our country are flooded and facing horrific situations and in the grand scheme of things the fact that most of my flowers and trees are struggling to stay alive, is minor.

But still, I put a lot of time, effort and money into these flower beds and I am trying to do everything I can to keep them alive. We have had weeks and weeks without rain, temperatures in the high 90's and 100's. The lawn crunches when you walk on it.

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Double Cherry Old Fashioned

Sep 19, 2019 · 16 Comments

The classic old fashioned gets a delicious fruity twist in this Double Cherry Old Fashioned. Not too sweet, with just the right amount of lush cherry flavor! One sip and you'll be hooked.

The Old Fashioned Cocktail

The old fashioned cocktail was one of the first cocktails that I learned how to make. It's a simple cocktail. Elegant.

It's composed of 3 components: a spirit, a sweetener, and a bitters. The spirit is classically either a bourbon or a whiskey. The sweetener used to be a sugar cube, but now is frequently simple syrup. Bitters - usually Angostura. Garnished with an orange peel.

To make variations on an Old Fashioned you can play with any of those three components. In my Maple Old Fashioned instead of simple syrup, I used maple syrup. Then to play off the sweetness of the maple syrup, I switched out the bourbon for a rye whiskey. I kept the classic bitters the same.

Today I am back with a double cherry old fashioned, where I play with the spirit, the sweetener, and the spirit.

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Tabbouleh Salad with Chicken

Sep 17, 2019 · 27 Comments

Turn tabbouleh into a delicious main dish meal with chicken! This tabbouleh salad with chicken recipe is super simple and can be on the table in under 30 minutes. Lemony, herby, minty and oh so tasty!

What is Tabbouleh Salad?

A tabbouleh salad is a Mediterranean salad of finely chopped vegetables, bulgur and lemon juice and olive oil. There is no lettuce in it. It typically contains bulgur, tomatoes, parsley, mint, and onions. It is finely chopped giving you a burst of flavor from almost every ingredient in every bite.

While I love a classic tabbouleh salad, I wanted one that was a little more substantial to make a main dish salad.

Adding chicken, pine nuts and arugula and decreasing the amount of bulgur made for a tasty variation of a tabbouleh salad.

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Luscious Homemade Cherry Bourbon

Sep 16, 2019 · 25 Comments

This easy to make Cherry Bourbon is so good! The spice of the bourbon pairs so beautifully with the cherries! You'll definitely want to make several batches and give some as gifts!

Cherry Bourbon or Bourbon Cherries or Cherry Whiskey

When I came home from the grocery store clutching my bag of perfectly ripe sweet cherries, I knew they were going into some booze. I had already made an easy sorbet, so it was time to have some fun with some alcohol involved!

After coming back from our Bourbon Trail vacation, we are all about bourbon. I would show you our bourbon spreadsheet, but you might think we were a little crazy. My husband stalks bourbon releases the way cavemen stalked their dinner.

The big question was, did I want to make cherry bourbon or bourbon cherries. Sounds the same, but there is a difference. Bourbon cherries call for leaving the cherries in the bourbon and usually have some sort of sweetener involved. I already had a jar of Homemade Maraschinos in the fridge, so I didn't need any more boozy cherries.

What I wanted was cherry bourbon or cherry whiskey. You see all bourbon is whiskey, but not all whiskey is bourbon (I learned this on the trail!) But with our recent bourbon obsession, bourbon was the clear choice.

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Caprese Chicken Pasta Salad

Sep 15, 2019 · 41 Comments

All the flavors of a Caprese Salad in this Chicken Pasta Salad! So easy to make and so delicious! Using a rotisserie chicken means you can have this tasty dinner on the table in minutes! Make it in the summer with fresh basil and use pesto in the winter for a year round easy meal!

Caprese Salad

A Caprese salad is one of the simplest salads you can make and one of the most delicious. It is simply tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and basil, usually artfully arranged on a plate and drizzled with olive oil, and seasoned with salt and pepper. It's an Italian salad and contains the colors of the Italian flag!

Give me a Caprese salad, a chunk of bread and I can call it breakfast, lunch or dinner. But sometimes I want all the flavors of the Italian salad with a little more substantial ingredients.

That's where this easy pasta recipe comes in. By adding rotisserie chicken and your favorite pasta, you have an easy dinner recipe that everyone will love!

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Kitty on the Stairs

Sep 13, 2019 · 20 Comments

Luxie Kitty on the Stairs

No new kitty photos this week, I have spent what seems like hours every day moving the sprinkler around the yard. We have had record breaking high temperatures and no rain for weeks! Everything is struggling. Even though I water things every day, by midday they are all drooping again. We need a deep soaking rain.

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Easy Homemade Créme de Mure Blackberry Liqueur

Sep 12, 2019 · 22 Comments

This Blackberry Liqueur, also known as Creme de Mure, is so easy to make and so delicious! Add a fruity richness to your cocktails. Sweet with loads of blackberry flavor!

Bottle filled with deep red liquid and tag reading Blackberry Liqueur.

Blackberry Liqueur (creme de mure)

Before you shake your head saying, "Oh boy, here is Pam again with another homemade liqueur," let me tell you my tale.

I kept seeing the Bramble cocktail popping up in my cocktail searches. It was created in 1984 by Dick Bradsell. It is basically a gin sour with the addition of creme de mure.

I wanted one.

So, I began searching the liquor stores in town for the elusive blackberry liqueur. One of the women at a larger store, pulled up something on her computer and said, rather dramatically, "You won't find it in this town."

Thinking she was a bit of a drama queen, I continued looking. Turns out she wasn't dramatic, she was right.

Then, as fate sometimes does, all the planets aligned and organic blackberries went on sale. The rest, as they say, is history.

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Fruit Compote

Sep 10, 2019 · 14 Comments

These fruit compote recipes are so easy and so delicious! You can use fruit compote on pancakes, oatmeal, to top ice cream or cake and my favorite which is to make your own fruit on the bottom yogurt.

What is a Fruit Compote?

A fruit compote is one of my favorite things to do with fresh (or frozen) fruit. It is basically fruit cooked with sugar until it forms a delicious sauce. It may or may not have additional liquid and spices.

It is super easy to make, just one pot and ready in about 20 minutes. You can serve a compote warm or chilled.

A fruit compote doesn't require any canning, however it should last about 2 weeks in the fridge. It's a great way to preserve the fruit and make it last a little longer.

Today I am showing you two basic fruit compotes: a raspberry and an apricot.

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Homemade Limoncello

Sep 9, 2019 · 25 Comments

Homemade Limoncello is so easy and delicious, you'll want to do what I do, which is start a new batch as soon as the first batch is finished! One of our favorite homemade liqueurs! Makes a great gift!

Homemade Limoncello

Sometimes when I make a homemade liqueur, I like it, I use it in cocktails and then I don't make it again.

There is one liqueur that I make all the time and that is limoncello. It is so delicious and so easy.

It is one the most versatile liqueurs that you can make. It can be both the sweet and the citrus component of a cocktail. Use it in place of simple syrup or lemon juice for a quick and easy change up. It's also great added to lemonade for a little bit of a kick. I like it stirred into a gin and tonic. It's also great just to sip.

Also, it makes an amazing gift for your cocktail loving friends!

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Curried Mango Rice

Sep 8, 2019 · 32 Comments

This Curried Mango Rice bakes up so easily in the oven! The coconut milk makes it so creamy and the ginger and curry brings a little spice, while the mango adds a touch of sweetness. It goes great with everything!

Rice Side Dishes

While there are few things I love more in this world than an easy one pot meal, there are times when I need a side dish. I can't live on sheet pan suppers alone. Well, I could, but then I would miss this delicious rice side dish!

I originally posted this recipe back in 2009 when I was looking for a side dish to go with some salmon. The salmon was roasted with green beans for an almost sheet pan supper. It needed something with a little more oomph. A little more filling. We do not live by fish and veggies alone at this house, we need a grain, a pasta, a carb, a starch.

This rice side dish has it all. It's loaded with flavor from the coconut milk, ginger and curry powder. The mangoes had a touch of sweetness, be sure and save some mangoes for an easy fruit compote recipe!

It goes with everything. I absolutely love it with salmon and it's my go to side dish for rotisserie chicken.

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Apple Pie Ice Cream Sundae

Sep 7, 2019 · 17 Comments

Use your slow cooker to make a delicious apple pie sauce that you can spoon over ice cream to make this Apple Pie Ice Cream Sundae! It tastes just like apple pie à la mode.

Slow Cooker Fall Desserts!

The other day I found myself with some apples that I needed to use quickly. They had come from my CSA and they weren't very pretty. Bruises and bug bites dotted the skin. But I knew I could peel them and cut off the bad parts. I noticed that I still had some vanilla ice cream in the freezer.

An apple pie topped with ice cream sounded great, but way too much work! Using a slow cooker to make an apple pie sauce that I could spoon over the ice cream was just the ticket!

The slow cooker does most of the work, your house smells amazing and you get the easiest fall dessert ever!

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Coco Sleeping

Sep 6, 2019 · 20 Comments

What is it about my laptop case that Coco finds so irresistible? It's funny because non of my cats are "box kitties." If we put an empty box down, they'll smell it, maybe jump in it for a minute or two, but then they are over it.

But my laptop case is another story. Whenever I am working on the laptop, she immediately heads over. Then it's a toss up as to whether laying on the actual laptop or laying on the laptop case is better.

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French 77 Cocktail

Sep 5, 2019 · 16 Comments

The French 77 is a delicious sparkling cocktail that replaces the gin in a French 75 with St. Germaine a lovely floral elderflower liqueur. So delicate and flavorful.

French 77 Cocktail

Did you see my post a couple of days ago on the French 76 cocktail? Basically I was talking about finding out that there are variations of the classic French 75 cocktail.

Since I had a whole bottle of sparkling wine, I thought it might be fun to try them all.

And it was.

I have to say, while I liked them all, this last one the French 77 might be my favorite. There is something about that floral flavor from the elderflower liqueur. The sweetness is tampered a bit from the lemon juice and then the bubbles just add to the fun!

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French 76

Sep 2, 2019 · 14 Comments

The French 76 Cocktail is not as well known as the French 75, but it is equally delicious! It uses vodka instead of gin for a more delicately flavored cocktail!

French 76 Cocktail

The French 75 Cocktail is one of my favorite brunch cocktails, not that there is anything wrong with a mimosa. Actually I guess I love them equally!

After doing some reading (reading cocktail books has become my new favorite hobby!) I found that there were two variations of the French 75 - a French 76 and a French 77.

Well, after learning that, I just had to make them both. Had to, I tell you.

It was a fun experiment and one that I will probably repeat often.

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Instant Pot Quinoa Pilaf

Sep 1, 2019 · 21 Comments

This Instant Pot Quinoa Pilaf makes a quick and easy side dish! Loads of flavor from the sauteed mushrooms, onions and garlic, this pilaf goes with everything from chicken, pork, beef or even fish! Once you see how easy it is, you'll make it all the time!

Instant Pot Side Dishes

We all know that the Instant Pot makes amazing fast dinners. Everything from Instant Pot Pasta alla Vodka to Instant Pot Red Wine Beef Stew.

Lately though, I've been playing around with using the Instant Pot for my side dish recipes. It is absolutely perfect for those times when I'm cooking my main dish in the oven, but it needs a side dish.

Pressure cooker side dishes are also perfect when I bring home a rotisserie chicken. I can heat up the chicken in the oven and serve it with a quick and easy side dish!

The quinoa pilaf is so delicious and versatile! It goes with everything - chicken, pork, beef or seafood!

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Luxie and Her Socksery Socks

Aug 30, 2019 · 15 Comments

We Won Socksery Socks!

A little while back, the lovely kitties at 15andmeowing had a contest to win some socks from Socksery and we won!

I have been trying to get photos of the socks, with Luxie that I am happy with and it has been impossible. I finally decided I should just share the ones that I had taken and if I ever get some better ones, I'll share them!

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Apple Maple Dark and Stormy

Aug 29, 2019 · 13 Comments

Ease a Dark and Stormy Cocktail into fall and winter with apple and maple! The flavors of apple, maple and ginger all pair so beautifully with the rum! You'll want to make a pitcher of these!

Easy Cocktails

I am all about easy cocktails. Give me a two ingredient cocktail and I am in love. One of my favorite two ingredient cocktails is a Dark and Stormy.

I can barely remember what I had for breakfast, but I can remember how to make a dark and stormy. It's just rum topped with ginger beer. So easy and so good.

With it's heat and spiciness, I love ginger year round. Put it with something light and bubbly and it feels springy, pair it with something dark and rich and it feels fall and winter.

For today's recipe, I took a Dark and Stormy and added some apple juice and maple syrup. Easy peasy, but oh so good!

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Slow Cooker Minestrone

Aug 27, 2019 · 25 Comments

The Slow Cooker Minestrone is so delicious! Every bite is filled with vegetables, beans and pasta in this one pot meal. Hearty and filling, it's a classic Italian Soup!

What is Minestrone?

Like me, you might have wondered what exactly is minestrone soup? It's a thick Italian vegetable soup. It contain vegetables, also usually beans and pasta or rice. The broth is a rich tomato broth.

Basically it's a vegetable soup with pasta or rice added.

If you look at it like that, you realize that you can make it all year long. In the summer use fresh tomatoes and summer squash from your garden. In the fall, butternut squash and even apples are delicious. Winter brings even heartier vegetables like cabbage, kale, and your basics like carrots, celery and onions. In the spring, use fresh green peas and asparagus.

Today's version is the version I make most often. It's my favorite transition from summer to fall soup!

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Maple Old Fashioned

Aug 26, 2019 · 12 Comments

Take a classic Old Fashioned Cocktail to a new level with maple! This Maple Old Fashioned is a great fall and winter cocktail, but we drink it all year long!

Fall Cocktails

I don't know about you, but I am ready for fall. So, so, so ready. It's been crazy hot here, with no rain. Oh, there's been rain. Rain so close to us that I could smell it, but never at our house.

So, I am done with summer. Complete and utterly done. Bring on fall. Pumpkins. Apples. Leaves.

I love the changing of the seasons, especially when it is changing into my favorite season. As I start cooking soups again, my cocktails are also taking a decidedly fall turn.

They go from light, bubbly, fruity drinks to warm fall cocktails. Fall cocktails are both warm in color and in flavor. Adding flavors like pumpkin, apples, and maple can turn almost any cocktail into a fall cocktail.

And, if you've welcomed fall with a cold or flu already, then you must make a hot toddy. So good!

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Pickled Peppers

Aug 25, 2019 · 14 Comments

These pickled peppers are so easy and delicious, you'll always want to have a jar in your fridge! Use them on salads, sandwiches and they are wonderful on an cheese board!

Sweet Peppers

Last week my grocery store had those bags of mini sweet peppers on sale, buy one get one for a penny. Of course, I came home with 4 bags and no idea what to do with them!

They languished in my fridge for a few days until I decided I'd better figure out what to do!

Then it hit me ... Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers! I'd pickle them.

Since it was a bazillion degrees outside and the thought of getting out the big canning pot was more than I could bear, I did my most favorite type of pickling - quick pickles - also known as refrigerator pickles.

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Coco in the Living Room

Aug 23, 2019 · 21 Comments

I didn't get a chance to take any new kitty photos this week, so I've pulled these from the folder of cat photos to edit. Judging by the fact that that it looks like the Christmas cactus is starting to bloom, it was probably either December or March. My Christmas cactus blooms both at Christmas and Easter.

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Bees Knees Cocktail

Aug 22, 2019 · 13 Comments

Bees Knees Cocktail is a delicious classic gin cocktail with only 3 ingredients! Easy to prepare and easy to sip!

The Bees Knees Cocktail

Okay, remember the honey simple syrup that I posted about on Tuesday? I made it with this Bees Knees Cocktail specifically in mind. It had been awhile since I had a bees knees and it was calling to me.

Drinking a Bees Knees always reminds me of watching the old black white movies, where they said things like, "He's the bees knees" and 'isn't she just swell" and "he is the cat's pajamas."

This cocktail is usually included in the list of classic prohibition cocktails, which include other favorites like the French 75, The White Lady and The Last Word.

I've made it a goal this year to try and make most of the well known prohibition cocktails. It's one of those made up tasks that I give myself. I enjoy it much more than the clean out the garage task and unlike the clean out the garage task, I'll probably complete this one!

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Mango Salad with Mint

Aug 20, 2019 · 11 Comments

This Mango Salad with Mint is so easy and so delicious! With only 3 ingredients, it comes together in minutes and is so refreshing. Mangoes, mint, and limes are all you need to make this easy side dish salad!

What Goes with Mango?

Whenever a store has mangoes on sale, I snap them up. I hate that I went through most of my life never knowing what a mango tasted like. I grew up when there were 3 television channels and our big excursions into food from other cultures was the Chef Boyardee Chow Mein.

Now, there is cilantro, mangoes, harissa paste, lemongrass....and so much more. Things I never even knew existed.

Anyway back to my haul of mangoes. I was trying to decide what to do with them, when I turned to the books that I turn to every time I'm looking for ideas: The Flavor Bible and The Vegetarian Flavor Bible. These books are not recipe books, rather they tell you what goes with what.

Glancing through the section on mangoes, I saw that mangoes go with beans, chiles, cilantro, coconut, ginger, lime, mint, onions, papayas and more, but I zeroed in on lime and mint. I had limes in my fridge and mint in my garden, so it was an easy choice.

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Honey Simple Syrup

Aug 19, 2019 · 10 Comments

This Honey Simple Syrup is an easy way to up your cocktail game. It adds such a richness of flavor to cocktails. It's also great in tea and other non alcohol drinks!

Fall and Winter Cocktails

I know it's not even September and I am already dreaming of and drinking some fall and winter cocktails! Just last week, I made The Hanky Panky Cocktail and The Last Word Cocktail. While there is nothing decidedly fall or winter about them, they don't have all the fruit, ice and bubbles that I associate with summer cocktails.

I do have plans for some fall cocktails featuring apples and maple - which scream fall to me. While you wait for them, you could try this Apple Rosemary Cocktail or this Maple Manhattan. Both delicious fall cocktails!

Another very easy way to give a cocktail a more fall or winter feel is with Honey Simple Syrup. It is so simple, but it really does add a certain lushness and richness to the cocktails that a regular simple syrup doesn't. The best part is that it's crazy easy!

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