Category Archives: Recipe? What Recipe?

Because you asked.. this is where I try to recreate some of my memorable dishes.

Woohoo. Another win last night at dinner on the road. 

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Vegan adapted Carrot “Hummus” rocked it last night. Perfect starter to the Mexican inspired chix soup with all the toppings & a citrus, fennal & kale salad.

Starting this week you can also find all my “official” recipes here as I convert them from the blog posts for easier searching.

Adding in some great rustic sourdough bread, a homemade spelt loaf,  some cheese and good talk made for a full night.  Check for the full recipes here.

Heavy on the shredded chicken and smokey chipotle

Laying out the foundation for last minute prep

The rustic chop veggies circle its prey

How could anyone resist

Paul’s work dinner party tonight, time to get cracken with some old fav’s to warm up the night

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My partner, Paul and his colleague M, wanted to have a dinner party with some folks from work; so I was volunteered to help pull the dinner party off – I wonder if I can pull this look off?

Since were going to hold it at her house, my thoughts were to go simple with good standards fitting the weather; so that means;

  • A vegan Carrot “Hummus” with raw veggies as the chips
  • For the main course; since the Mexican chicken soup was such a hit two weeks ago at home and is slow cooker friendly –  it’s up again. Topped with all the fixings after a long slow cook and shredding the chicken – its a perfect rainy friday night dish.
  • For after supper, my favorite adaption of a black pepper biscotti and a new version of the old school italian “Ugly But Good” almond paste cookie should set the table for a great social tonight.
  • Others will bring salad, cheese and crackers, and we’ve got a fresh loaf of baked bread to round it all off.

 

Recipes:

I first made the Carrot Hummus at Easter and posted about it here. I found the recipe initially on the Joanne Weir website for CreateTV and adapted it some for my taste. For this version I adapted it as a fully vegan version with out oil.

 

Ingredients
  • 2 1/2 lbs  large carrots, roughly cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 4 pieces of pealed garlic whole
  • Kosher salt
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons Agave Nectar
  • 2 tablespoons tahini (sesame paste in a pinch peanut butter or almond butter will work too I bet), well stirred (I might use up to 2 teaspoons more next time)
  • 2 Tablespoons of sesame seeds, roasted and ground
  • 1 teaspoon light brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon toasted and ground cardamom
  • Pinch crushed red chili pepper, or cayenne  (or to taste)
  • Juice and peel of one lemon
  • Fresh squeezed lemon juice to taste
Note: for the next time I plan to try these with grilled carrots, garlic and ginger then puree.
Instructions
 
Heat up the oven to 375°F.
  • Place the carrots, salt, and agave on a large piece of foil or parchment paper. Toss together.  (I wanted a bit of a char on them so didn’t cover them, but it you wrap them up and seal the edges so the steam doesn’t escape. you will get a more mellow taste)
  • Bake in the oven until tender, 20 minutes. Stir and continue to roast for 20 minutes.
  • Remove from the oven and cool completely.
  • Pour the entire packet of carrots and oil into to the food processor with the remaining ingredients (except for the water and lemon juice).
  • Process until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl.
  • Add water if needed to make a thick dip the consistency of hummus.
  • Season with salt and lemon juice to taste. This is also when you can add more honey, spices etc.
Joanne Weir’s recipes calls for serving the dip with thin sliced root vegetable “chips” but few are going with fresh veggies.  To check out the original inspiration for this version, visit Joanne Weir’s recipe here
This will keep in the refrigerator for a few days but I take it out about 20 min before serving.

 

For the Soup

I first came across this on  Ree Drummond’s  Food Network show the Pioneer Woman but she also did a version on her blog back in 2015 here. I made a first batch a few weeks ago and was surprised at how good and easy it was. I have made some adaptions for our tastes below.

  • 5 boneless, skinless whole chicken breasts (The original recipe called for 3 – but I needed family stye for men)
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • One 28-ounce can whole or diced tomatoes, with juice
  • 32 ounce low-sodium chicken broth (you can add less initially if you want it thicker)
  • 2  15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
  • One 10-ounce can diced tomatoes with green chiles, such as Ro*tel
  • 1 small can of tomato paste
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
  • 1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and chopped
  • 2 small or 1 large pepper chopped and  1 teaspoon of the adobo sauce from a canned chipotle pepper in adobo (you may add more peppers if you like but it has some heat – I will leave the rest as a garnish)
  • Juice of  1/2 to 1 lime, (to taste – you could end up using the whole lime or serve some as garnish)
  • 1 can of roasted corn (or fresh roasted off the grill if you have it)

Salt, Pepper and Cumin one side of the chicken and lay flat in the bottom of slow cooker. add more pepper salt, cumin and the chili powder.

In layers, add the tomatoes, black beans, tomatoes with chiles, tomato paste, onion, chipotle pepper and red and yellow peppers, chicken broth. Stir, place the lid on the slow cooker and cook for 5 hours on high or 8 hours on low.

Add in the corn (with out it’s liquid). Stir in the lime juice. Remove the chicken to a plate and use 2 forks to break it into chunks (or shred it finely). Return the chicken to the pot, taste and add more seasoning if necessary.
Serve piping hot in a bowl with avocado, sour cream, grated cheese, crushed tortilla chips and cilantro leaves on top!

Don’t forget to serve it with the fixings – it makes the whole dish: avocado, sour cream, crumbled cheese, crushed tortilla chips and fresh cilantro leaves

And of course the Cookies

Black Pepper, Vanilla & Orange peel  I wrote about on “the battle rages on” which is actually yet its own adapted recipe  Valerie Bertinelli’s Helen’s Black Pepper Biscotti is one I know Paul’s boss loves. So this was a remake for her.

Ingredients
  •  2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  •  1/2 teaspoon baking soda*
  •  1/2 teaspoon baking powder*
  •  1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper ( I use a mix of fine ground and course grind for taste and texture.)**
  •  Pinch kosher salt
  •  1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
  •  1 cup sugar
  •  3 large eggs, at room temperature
  •  2 teaspoons grated orange zest (I tend to get the organic ones or ones I pick from my pals garden- depending on size of orange this may be 1 -oranges )
  • The zest of one lemon
  •  1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  •  1/4 teaspoon almond extract
** To give these a visual pop – you can ground peppercorns that are other colors over the traditional black)

Sift together the flour, baking soda and baking powder in a medium bowl. Stir in the pepper and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on high speed until pale and light, have the patience to let it do it’s work – it could take several minutes. Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 7 minutes. Reduce the speed to low and add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the orange zest and vanilla and almond extract .

With the mixer on low, slowly pour in the flour mixture, and then the walnuts. Mix a few minutes till the dough texture is formed a sticky mess 😉 .

(You can also do this by hand and fold them in then work the dough by hand till smooth).

Pour the dough out on to a lightly floured plastic wrap covered surface or clean counter top. Gently knead the dough to shape with your hands to form a thick round ball shape. The dough is super easy to handle at this piont. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. (For this batch I omitted nuts).

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper ( nonstick silicone liners also work).

Remove from the refrigerator, unwrap and divide the dough in half,  and shape each piece into a 12-inch log, about 2 inches across and 1 inch tall. (note you can make these as wide or thick as you like – I find because of the texture and taste of these, I tend to like a finished bake that is about 3 inch long and 1.5 inch high you may have to play with it a few times). But they don’t need to be preferfect. In fact any uniform shape will work.

Because I wanted to use less space – I actually cooked this in old-school metal ice trays lined with parchment paper. Bake until the logs are cooked through and lightly browned on the bottom, about between 30 – 35 minutes, depending on your oven and pans.  Watch them the last 5- 10 minutes as this could differ based on your pan and stove temp.

Let the logs cool for about 5-7 minutes on the baking sheets (leave the oven on), then transfer them carefully to racks (remove the parchment paper) to cool 10-15 minutes more.

Using a serrated knife, slice each log either on the diagonal (to give you a fancy shape) or straight across into 3/4-inch-thick slices. Arrange the slices cut-side down on the baking sheets and return to the oven until well toasted, 10 to 15 minutes more. I general flip mine over about half way to get even color.

Note: These biscotti have a great golden color to them which will darker to as you “second bake”. If you want to keep them less brown; adjust time or instead of laying them on the cut sides, leave the standing cooked side down.

Transfer the biscotti to cooling racks to cool completely. The longer they bake the harder they become. Note: they will continue to harden as they cool. Store in tins or air tight containers (QVC favorite Lock & Lock rock for this). They will keep, tightly covered, up to 1 week.

This Cook’s Note came from the recipe website and I thought worth sharing: To toast the walnuts  or most nuts on the stove top, put them in a dry skillet over medium heat and cook, stirring, until golden and fragrant. To toast them in the oven, spread in a single layer on a baking sheet and roast at 350 degrees F until golden and fragrant. In either case- the minute you smell them – get them off the heat.

Ugly But Good Cookies (aka Brutti Ma Buoni)

These quick and simple almond cookie are a old-school cookie that adapts well. I have made version chocolate covered cherries, candied ginger, gluten free etc. they are pretty forgiving. Pack a lot of flavor and is a nice “host” gift if you are going to someones for dinner.

Ingredients

Preheat the over to 300 degrees.

In a food processor; blend almond paste and egg white until smooth, add rest of the ingredients until just mixed.

On a parchment paper covered pan, drop  teaspoon sized scoops of the mix. Don’t bother trying to make them pretty – they will grow and cook organically which is what is why they named it that way.

If you are using chocolate or cherries, you could top with a one on the top it try and dress it up.

Bake for 25 minutes till golden. Cool and serve. they should keep about a week in an air tight container.

Sunday breakfast in front of the TV

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Been watching the tv and the complete idiocracy of what has been done with a swipe of a pen in the hands of the “wannabe” leader. So needed a breakfast I could make and eat easily, and still have leftovers for the week. These crustless (gluten free), “Egg-ffins” (yeah its just what call them..) where the perfect low drama fix.


They couldn’t be simpler to make and easy adapt to what ever you have in the house.

  1. Preheat oven to 365 (350 is fine just cook linger)
  2. Crack 12 large eggs in a bowl; 12 will fill a regular muffin pan. 
  3. Using a fork, blend, add a splash water or cream, salt & pepper to taste, stir and add in 1 teaspoon of dried parsely. Note: you can use any fresh or dried herbs you have available. This is a great way to use jarred herb blends as well. 
  4. Dice up cooked meat, leftover vegatables, deli meats, set aside.  In this case I used stir fried chicked & broccoli from earlier in the week. Hint: this works great with leftover steak or beef. You will need about 1-1 1/2 cups, depending on your taste.
  5. Use cooking spray on the pan, then pour the eggs mixture into each cup.   From half to 3/4 full. Then add the meat & veggies. Top with shredded cheddar cheese.
  6. Using the back of a fork, poke and gently stir each egg and cheese mixture, then top with more shredded cheese.
  7. Bake 12-15 min at 365 degrees until set and solid and it pushes back to the touch.


You can also pop these under the broiler for the last few minutes of cooking if you want the top more crisp. Hint: Especially good if you add some grated parm cheese on it just before hitting the broiler. 


FYI: if you use mini muffin pans, this same mix works great for appetizers or for a party. It can be pre-mixed and kept in the refrigerator until cooking (take out 30 min before)  at the last minute or even better cooking them earlier in the day and serve room temperature.

Hint: no time to make dinner? Pair the larger Egg-ffins with some fresh greens or spinach, diced tomatoes, pear etc and toss with a simple vinegrette and you have dinner.

Multi-level cooking

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Wanted to make a simple oven roasted vegatable and turkey tenderlions and only use one pan!


1a- cut and coat rhe potatoes and veggies in evoo, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and dried parsely

1b- marinate turkey with oil, honey, vinegar, pepper, lemon or orange juice and fresh herbs. 

2- start the veggies in the oven at 375 for 15 min. 


3- add a cooking spray, coated cookie rack over the veggies and lay marinated turkey on it. Bake 20 min more, remove from the oven, turn veggies, flip turkey and bake 20 more min. 


4- remove from the oven and move veggies to each end of the pan, take rack off and place turkey directly on the pan. Bale for 5 min on top shelf, flip turkey and bake 5 more min. 


5- remove from oven, check internal temp for doneness. If done, squirt veggies and turkey with lemon and eat!

So little time, but so many ways to make cheesy sausage snacks

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So last month I found a Low Country recipe for a cheesy sausage biscuit snack from Hoppin Johns Low Country cookbook; unlike a regular fluffy biscuit these are a much more dense & compact bite that are meant to be a  cross between a savory “cookie” and a snack bite. 

The only change I made after making it a couple times is the addition of a topping of pepper jelly, almost making it like a “thumbprint cookie”. The bite and coolness of the jelly on the dense snack adds a nice break in the flavor.

But there was still a taste of “flour” to it that I didn’t care for, so I kept looking for an alternative which I found in a recent more Italian style version from Valerie Bertinelli’s cookbook.

This cheesy sausage snack uses Bisquick instead of flour, uncooked bulk sasuage and a tablespoon of Tabasco sauce with a result that comes out hot, crisp, dark-golden brown and gooey good

Ingredients

  • Oil, for greasing the baking sheets (cooking spray is fine)
  • 3 cups biscuit mix, such as Bisquick
  • 1 pound spicy sausage (uncooked)

Note: you can use so use a pound of mild or sweet sausage and add in several links of hot sausage or any combination of sausage that meets your preference. The key here us it needs to be in bulk or taken out of the casing).

  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
  • 8 ounces aged white Cheddar, grated
  • 8 ounces sharp yellow Cheddar, grated
  • 2 tablespoons of parmesan  cheese, grated (this is in addition I added to the Recipe)
  • 1 tablespoon hot sauce, such as Tabasco (or to taste)
  • Ground pepper to taste

Directions

  • Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Grease 2 baking or cookie sheets and set aside.

Note: I think the oven I use runs hot so 400 actually made them darker than I like, when I cook them in the future I’ll be doing them at 350.

  • Combine the biscuit mix, sausage and rosemary in a large bowl. 

  • Mix with your hands, then work in the white and yellow Cheddars and hot sauce. 

Note: this actually may take longer than you think. Because of the limited liquid, its the fat from the sausage as it warms up with your hands that ads to the binding from  the mixing. So be prepared to knead this until it’s really well combined. One trick is to make sure that your sausage isnt ice cold when you mix it together.  

  • Form into balls the size of walnuts and place on the prepared baking sheets.

Note:  I used a small ice cream scooper to divide them out and I tried both just scooping it onto the tray as well as shaping them into balls with my hands and ultimately they both look the same after cooking. 

  • Bake until cooked through, about 18-20 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature. 

Italian Spice Fruit & Nut Cookies

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This is a repost for someone who asked about the recipe. . 

My attempt at holiday banking; italian spice cookies. All that is needed is to dip the suckers in suger glaze. 

Did I mention I hate baking. I would much rather cook then bake. So much better to leave the baking to the people who know how to do it like Paul Burke, Will Armstrong, etc

These ugly little suckers are based on an old Italian recipe full of cloves, nutmeg, vanilla, cinnamon, candied fruit and cocoa powder. This year I tossed in some chocolate chips because everything is better with chocolate. 

Recipe

  
Note: cooking times will vary based on pans used.  Eggs for my mom usually means XL. 

    
    
  

Note: for my batch I omitted the nuts and replaced them with chocolate chips
 

Note: she isn’t kidding when she says “mix with your hands” the dough was really heavy and messy imitially. You will know when to stop because it starts to feel like it’s coming together. But expect to be mixing it for a good five to seven minutes
   

Note: they do expand after they are l baked some. I used a small scoop and even that made these larger than I expected so you might want to scale your first batch a bit

  

Bookclub weekend; so worked out a new recipe for Pickled Shrimp

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Since our bookclub was reading the Elementals and I wanted somethings with a water-based, southern flair, I remembered that I had a copy of  Hoppin’ John’s Lowcountry Cooking,  which a friend had given me last xmas. So while reviewing it, I saw the Pickled Shrimp one and thought perfect! You can his actual recipe here

For my version – I followed it pretty true with a few adaptions

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon salt (I used kosher salt)
  • 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1/4 cup of good quality infused oil
  • 1/4 cup of good quality infused lemon oil
  • 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (his recipe used less.. but I wanted the bite)
  • 2 teaspoons white vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
  • 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
  • 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
  • 1 teaspoon of celery salt
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 pounds shrimp (Since this was a small group – I went with the medium-large pre-cooked which yielded about 40 ( his recipe recommends small to medium (45 to 50 per pound), cooked and peeled). I purchased mine cooked, but you could get fresh, boil then peel. But leave the tails on.
  • 1 medium onion, thinly sliced (about ½ cup)img_4436
  • 25 to 30 bay leaves (fresh not dried)

Had I a few more days to think about it – I would have addd some fresh fennel tips  to it as well.

  • img_4442Making it
    Cut the online into thin slices
  • Mix the wet ingredients, add the seeds and powdered ones, then the garlic, whisk in a small bowl
  • Essentially – its pretty easy to assemble, most recipes use a glass jar – which looks great and perfect as a gift, ju
    st make sure it is sterilized if you plan to keep it for more than a few days. Otherwise my trusty lock-n-lock did the job just fine.   Layer the shrimp, bay leaves and thin sliced onions, then repeat until you have it all in. Then cover with the mixture and refrigerate for 18-24 hours (but I checked mine at 12 hours and they were pretty good too). They should keep for several days and just get more pickled.  As long as they are covered oil, they should keep for week over a week. img_4440

To fancy up the serving of it; I used some shells I picked up in Provincetown and to carry over the “sand” theme from the book; I used plain old Progresso bread crumbs.

“Harvest Chili” for that t-day feeling in a one pot meal 

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Worth reposting from a 2014 entry,  as I was talking about it with a pal recently and think I will be remaking it myself soon. A

Every so often I want a hearty meal reminiscent of all the traditional flavors of thanksgiving — but a) don’t want to make all the parts or b) its the middle of the summer. So what to do? Figure out how to get all the flavors in a simpler delivery process.  After thinking on this for a few days – I came up with this simple recipe for a “Harvest” chili. Its easy to swap out flavors that suit your tastes was well. This is a “working” recipe. Which means it is in progress-so open to hearing suggestions from folks as well. I’m working on a slow cooker varation as well.

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 tbsp of real butter
  • 1 large onion, chopped, small dice
  • 3-4 Ribs of celery, chopped, small dice
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2  pounds ground turkey
  • 1/2  lb of ground sausage (maple or Italian will work too) bulk style Jimmie Dean style breakfast sausage is my preference here. (You can use the precooked as well – just add in later)
  • 1 teaspoon salt, plus more for seasoning
  • 2 tablespoons commercial poultry seasoning
  • 1 – 1-1/2 tablespoon fennel seeds
  • 1 tablespoon dried parsley (or ½ cup fresh chopped)
  • 2-3 tablespoons corn starch (or flour)
  • 2 cans, rinsed  and drained red kidney beans
  • 1 -2 pealed & cubed sweet potatoes (raw with skin on- cube them around the same size as the beans)
  • 1 bunch (about 1 pound) Swiss chard, (or spinach or other greens) stems removed, leaves chopped rough
  • 1-1/2 cups frozen corn, thawed (worked with frozen ok – and I used the whole bag  large kernels)
  • Chicken base to equal 4 cups low-sodium chicken stock (even better if you have turkey stock)
  • 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  •  Freshly ground black pepper for seasoning
  •  1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (as garnish)
  • Cranberry sauce or chutney (as garnish)
  • Breadcrumbs or crutons (as garnish)

Directions
In a large heavy-bottomed saucepan or dutch oven, add oil and butter.
Turn on and heat the oil/butter over medium-high heat.
Add the onions and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes.
Add chopped celery stir until soft.
Stir in  fennel seeds, stir well to allow the fennel seeds to get warm and mix with vegetables.
Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds.
Add poultry seasoning, salt, dried parsley, and red pepper flakes.
Cook until its well incorporated and hot (2- 5 minutes).

Remove from the pan and set aside.
Add oil to the same pan, heat and add the ground turkey and sausage to the pan, cook, stirring frequently, until the turkey is cooked through, about 8 minutes. You want a but if a brown sear. (You can also cook these in two steps)

Drain the oil and return the turkey and sausage to the pot. 

Hint: Add some additonal fennel seeds to the meat while its cooking.

Bring all the meat to heat, add the set aside vegatable mixture together in the larger of the pans. Stir the cornstarch (or flour) into the vegetable/meat mixture (I just add the flour and coat the mixture – but you can also make a slurry with the flour and warm water – then add it with the stock.)

Add chicken stock, kidney beans, chopped sweet potatoes, mix to incorporate – you may need to add more water so it just covers the mixture by an inch.

Bring it up to a simmer, scraping up the brown bits that cling to the bottom & sides of the pan with a wooden spoon. Simmer for 35 minutes and while you still have some moisture add the greens and corn. Cook another 10 – 15 minutes until the chili has thickens.

Turn off the heat or turn down to low,  toss in ¼ – ½ cup of cut (in half) sweet grape or cherry tomatoes, and fresh chopped parsley. I find that adding it at the end and letting the heat of the chili itself “cooks” the tomato and parsley just enough and the seetness of the tomatoes balance the cooked flavors. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste

Note – At this point it’s a personal preference how loose or thick you want the chili – you can add more broth or water – or to add a another layer – pour in a good quality low sodium  turkey gravy .

Alternatives to the recipe included adding Worchester sauce (about 2 tspn) when adding the stock and it gave a nice undertone – worked well with the all turkey version.

You can go for a more traditional touch, chopped Granny Smith apples or peeled chestnuts, raisins or currents and heating  them in it just long enough to get them warm – but still pop when you bite them.  

You can also add cooked rice or fresh tortellini or mini raviolis (cooked) if you want to make it more hardy. 

To serve, place in a bowl, top with croutons and a spoonfull of cranberry sauce or chutney or smoked nuts.

Note: Alternatively, you can toss in some dried “bread cubes” or cubed italian style bread crumbs to give you that “stuffing” feel earlier when you add the tomatoes as well. .

Sweet Potato Pound Cake

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Decided I would test run a new cake recipe today with one of my favorite foods; sweet potatoes.

Recipe is pretty easy and basic. I’m also thinking of a remake with some leftover sweet potato mash that I made for dinner to see if leftover sweet potato mash will work just as easy as custom made.  The original recipe is from FineCooking.com Magazine Oct/Nov 2016 issue.


The outcome..

It works. The dense and moist pound cake texture has a solid feel, very little crumb. The ginger leaves a nice warm after bite while the sweet potato brings a subtle sweetness reminiscent of the sweet potato biscuits at one of my local favorite restaurants.  Even after a few days  it stayed moist and the ginger flavor grew some..

In fact I bet a simple sugar glaze with either honey or maple syrup instead of the powdered sugar might even be a great alternative topping. I could also see a scoop of vanilla or cinnamon ice cream with a drizzle of carmel sauce. Also curious as to how this would taste studded with candied ginger pieces.

Only caveat is that I see so far is make sure you use the right size pan. The one I used, was smaller than the recipe called for and it definitely over flowed through the center hole.

Getting the lowdown on the “Arnold Palmer”

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Recently came across this lil’ tidbit on the story behind the hit drink “The Arnold Palmer”; now I tend to prefer plain old unsweetened,  iced tea over sofa most days, and on occasion the addition of lemonade can change it up – especially with spiciey meals when a beer may not be on the menu.

 But unlike others – I never really order it by name, rather I asked for with it is, iced tea and lemonade. Almost inevitably someone in my group will have a need to “correct” me and say, “you mean and Arnold Palmer”, to which depending on my sarcasm and snark level for the day can be met with any number of responses from “bitch please,  check yourself” to the alway special “silent look”.

Here is the reason I don’t order it by name unless it’s on the menu; too many folks think of it as a 1/2 & 1/2 drink – but according to common thought and legend; AP was said to express  “Iced tea has the dominant side, that dominates the drink. And, if it doesn’t, it isn’t really right.” . As I tend to agree, it’s the iced tea that is the star and the tart fresh lemonade is only the “spike“.

Drink in the History of the Great Arnold Palmer ; is the article that caught my eye from Tasting Table today

The link above has a cute YouTube clip as well. So in honor of his passing and his talent; raise a glass of a true Arnold Palmer at your next meal