White Sangria

You can never go wrong with a white sangria!  Thank you to my best friend, Tisha Shepherd, for a great recipe!

White Sangria

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Passion Fruit Rum
1 bottle white wine (Blanc or Grigio)
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups Sprite or Ginger Ale
Fruit suggestions: strawberries, apples, oranges, kiwis, limes, peaches, and nectarines
What to avoid: mangoes and coconut rum

Directions:
Dissolve sugar in rum and wine.  Add fruit and refrigerate for 24 hours.  Before serving, add soda.

Chicken Potato Salad

This recipe cam from my mother-in-law and is a great one for potlucks and summer BBQ meals.  Heck, my family likes it so much that we will even have it as a main course.  Why not, it has chicken, potatoes, and eggs in it.  Makes sense, right?  Warning, if you make this for a crowd, be prepared to hand out the recipe.

Chicken Potato Salad

Ingredients:
4 potatoes
1 whole rotisserie chicken, deboned and chopped
4 hard boiled eggs, peeled and chopped
4 dill pickles, chopped
1 2.25oz can sliced olives
1/3 cup green olives, pitted
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
4 tsp. dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1.  Wash, peel, and cut potato into chunks.  Place in a pot and fill with cold water until potatoes are covered by an inch.  Bring to a boil and let them boil until they are fork tender.  This means that you can easily stick a fork in one of the chunks but it doesn't fall apart.  Strain and let cool.

2.  In small mixing bowl, combine mayonnaise, sour cream, dijon mustard, salt, pepper and stir well.  Place the rest of your ingredients in a serving bowl, add mayonnaise mixture.  Stir until salad is evenly coated. 

3.  Refrigerate for 1 hour.  Serve.

Poutine: College Student Style

While in Canada this summer, my friends introduced me to this yummy Canadian treat called Poutine.  Pronounced "poo-teen."  It is basically french fries topped with gravy and cheese curds and is highly addictive.  I knew as soon as I tried it that I would one day be sharing it with you.  I am not joking, I was on the plane going home thinking to myself all the ways I could create this simple dish myself. 

I really wanted my first post (yes, I am sure there will be future posts) about Poutine to be completely homemade.  You know, like make my own french fries in the oven and use pan drippings to make my own gravy.  But because I have never made gravy or fries from scratch, I opted for a first timers short cut.  I went to the store and came home with this...

I baked the fries according to package directions, heated up gravy in microwave, poured on top fries, sprinkled with cheese, then topped with a little salt and pepper.  This recipe is just a quick fix to my Poutine addiction.  Stay tuned for Poutine: Country Club Style.

Poutine: College Student Style

Ingredients:

1 bag frozen french fries

1 jar turkey gravy

1 pkg. mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Bake french fries according to package instructions and heat gravy on stove top or microwave.  When fries are cooked, pour gravy on top and sprinkle with cheese.



Pineapple Infused Vodka

Hello, my new friend! If you are looking for the perfect drink for those summer celebrations, stop right now and look no further.  My Baking Addiction posted this drink recipe recently and I knew I was going to try it.  The original drink name is Stoli Doli.  Get it?  Stoli vodka and Dole pineapple.  I was not quite so lucky to title my drink with such a catchy name since my pineapple was Del Monte and I had Grey Goose vodka on hand.  Bummer, eh?  Well the results I am sure are just the same.  How can one go wrong with the Goose?  Please drink these with caution, although they will not taste like pure vodka, they are.  Enjoy!

Pineapple Infused Vodka A.K.A Stoli Doli

Ingredients:
1 whole pineapple
1 750ml bottle of vodka (do not discard bottle)
sugar for rimming the glasses

Directions:
Cut the pineapple into large chunks and place in a beverage container.  Fill container until pineapple is completely covered with vodka.  Let sit in refrigerator for 12 to 14 days.  When ready, strain pineapple from vodka and return the vodka to its original bottle.  Serve chilled in sugar rimmed glasses.  Store remaining vodka in refrigerator for two to three weeks.