Sparkling Wine Recommendation

Fun Fact: Unless the grapes/bubbly come from Champagne, France, it is technically not champagne, but simply sparkling wine. This explains why reputable American wineries say Sparkling Wine and not Champagne on their bottles.

Go Blue dad and I enjoy California sparkling wine and a couple of French Champagnes. Based on a wine spectator recommendation and rating of 90 points, we decided to try the Gloria Ferrer Sonoma Brut sparkling wine. It didn't disappoint!



Go Blue dad and I enjoyed this wine very much, especially for the price ($18 - $20). It was dry (our preference) with a tasty balance of fruit and nuttiness. It had a nice finish as well.



Fun Fact: The three common varietals used in sparkling wine/Champagne are Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Menoir. If the bottle says Blanc de Blanc -it uses 100% Chardonnay grapes. Blanc de Noir means that the wine is 100% Pinot Noir. Even if it is 100% Pinot Noir, it may still have a clear light color b/c the winemaker pulled the skins of the Pinot Noir grapes before they imparted their color.

The grapes in this sparkling wine are a blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. It goes through a secondary fermentation in the bottle, hence the note of Methode Champenoise on the bottle.

Fun Fact: When you see Extra Dry or Semi Dry on a sparkling wine bottle, it is actually telling you that it is a sweet tasting sparkling wine. When the bottle says Brut, it means that it is a dry sparkling wine.

It also notes on the bottle that it is a Sonoma County sparkling wine, which means that at least 75% of the grapes came from Sonoma County. I did not see a year on the bottle, so this means that the grapes may have been harvested over a couple of years.

Healthy Snack Ideas

Since this blog may not always share the healthiest of our meals or treats, I thought I would pass on a few of our healthier snack ideas. Some of these are kid friendly too. These are simple ideas that we discovered on our own, were passed on to us from parents or friends, or we read about in a magazine or on the web.

• Grapefruit: eat a whole grapefruit for breakfast or just half of one for a snack. Older kids might enjoy cutting in between the wedges while the younger kids, like Kaitlyn, enjoy spooning out and sipping the juice once enough wedges have disappeared. You could even work on fractions with your kids using the grapefruit halves.
• Celery and Peanut Butter: get a little protein from the peanut butter and vitamin C from the celery. The crunchy texture of the celery and smooth, creamy texture of the peanut butter is sure to please anyone. If you have kids, add a few raisins on top of the peanut butter also know as "Ants on a log."
• Roasted Garbanzo beans: see previous blog - appetizer challenge. We are playing with the seasoning as the Cajun/creole seasoning has to much salt, but if you roast (switch oven temp to 400 degrees F) the beans to a nice crunchy texture, they're a dynamite munchie and much better than chips or candy.
  
• Ranch Sour Cream: a friend of mine in the DC metro area taught me this trick. Buy a packet of dry ranch seasoning (in salad dressing isle) and add it to 8 ounces of sour cream. Use it to dip vegetables or pretzels. Depending on your health preference, you can use regular sour cream, low fat sour cream or fat free sour cream. It's not as creamy as ranch dressing, but it tastes pretty good and isn't nearly as fattening.
  
• Hummus and whole wheat pita chips: Hummus is a Middle Eastern recipe that combines chickpeas, tahini, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice and salt to make a rich, thick dip for breads, vegetables, etc. Go Blue dad and I enjoy toasted pita bread on our grill, cutting it into wedges and dipping it in the hummus. If you don't want to use the grill, cut the pita bread in half and put it in the toaster or toast it in your oven. Kaitlyn enjoys dipping bread into hummus again and again and again.
• Bruschetta Triscuit: Layer a slice of tomato, a thin slice of mozzarella and some fresh chopped basil on top of a reduce fat triscuit for a refreshing treat. Go Blue dad and I also enjoy traditional bruschetta for an appetizer on a crostini. We chop the tomato (medium size), add some minced garlic, olive oil, oregano and basil and serve on top of the mozzarella and crostini. Go Blue dad prefers his mozzarella melted, but I like it cold. Sometimes we'll add additional basil on top for that really fresh, green flavor. Did you know...it's easier to grate mozzarella cheese after you put it in the freezer for 10 to 15 minutes.
  
• Apples with Cinnamon (optional: nutmeg): Kaitlyn and I enjoy slicing up and apple and sprinkling cinnamon on top of it for a snack. She'll use the apple wedge to scribble on the plate and pick up extra cinnamon. Sometimes I add a dash of nutmeg on top to make it a little more savory. This is a nice alternative to peanut butter since she isn't old enough to eat it yet. A really nice, but not necessarily a healthy treat is to saute apple slices (I end up cubing it into 1/4" pieces) in a little butter with Cinnamon and sugar until the apples are soft and the sugar almost caramelized. Your kids are sure to eat apples this way. Yum!
• Granola Yogurt: Yes, I recognize that you can buy yogurt with granola on top, but if you want a fun thing to make with your kids, download a granola recipe and make homemade granola. They can eat it for breakfast with milk or as a snack with yogurt. You can also buy granola that is much tastier than what comes on top of the individual yogurt cups and add it to plain or vanilla yogurt.
  
• Tortilla Pizza: Great for an after school snack! Using leftover tortillas, stick them in the oven to toast for a few minutes at 350 degrees F. Once they are nicely toasted and firm, pull the tortillas out of the oven and coat each with a thin layer of tomato/pizza sauce, add some reduced fat mozzarella cheese and some vegetables on top. Put back in the oven until the cheese melts and viola - the kids have a fun treat. It's not an ultra healthy snack, but it beats cookies and chips.
  
• Dark Chocolate: I have recently read in multiple magazines (fitness and parenting) that a little dark chocolate isn't bad for you provided it is consumed in moderation. So if you need to satisfy your sweet tooth, eat a piece of dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate or white chocolate. Sounds good to me!!
  
• Chocolate Sorbet: if you can find it, I recently read that this is a great substitute for ice cream. If you just can't resist a small bowl of chocolate ice cream, keep chocolate sorbet in your fridge instead. It's apparently healthier for us. If you're not a fan of chocolate, I recommend lemon sorbet - it's amazingly refreshing and you only need a small scoop to satisfy your sweet tooth.
  
• Edamame (baby soy beans) - you may see this soon on my appetizer challenge. Kaitlyn grandparents recently steamed some edamame for us and sprinkled just a little salt on the pods for us for a snack. They tasted great! You do not eat the pod, but suck out the beans, so you get a little salt taste followed by the nice flavor of the soy bean. I'm at a loss for words as to how to describe the flavor, but none the less, Go Blue dad and I went out and bought some edamame after they left. Older kids would have fun popping out the beans to eat.
  

Gotta run! I hope to post some more healthy snack ideas as time goes on. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. Bon Apetite!

An Unexpected Dinner Treat

Goblue dad and I received a call on Thursday from my aunt and uncle to let us know that they would be traveling through the area. As such, we eagerly invited them over for the day and of course, for dinner. For years, they cooked meals for us, so it was finally our turn to return the favor. It was a lovely evening!!


On the menu...

• Salami Cone Appetizer
• Toasted Cheese Ravioli, Chicken Scaloppini and Summer Squash
• Grilled Pound Cake with Marscapone Cheese and Honey

The salami cone and toasted ravioli recipes are available on my Appetizer Challenge blogs. My step dad made the chicken scaloppini. The boys made the marinara sauce to dip the ravioli and for the scaloppini from scratch (recipe will come in the future).

Summer Squash
- 2 green squash
- 2 yellow squash
- 1 medium yellow onion
- dried basil and oregano
- olive oil
- salt and pepper

Chop the squash into large cubes and set aside. Chop the onion separately and set aside. Heat a tablespoon or so of oil in a saute pan and add the squash, herbs, salt and pepper. Saute for approximately seven minutes before adding onion. Saute until the onion softens - approximately two to three minutes. Serve and enjoy.

Grilled Poundcake with Marscapone Cheese and Honey
- 1 pound cake
- butter
- honey
- marscapone cheese flavored with Sherry wine (not cooking Sherry wine)
- dark chocolate
- raspberries (optional)

Mix the marscapone cheese and sherry at least 1/2 hour before serving. Refrigerate the cheese if you will not be serving dessert for a long period of time. Preheat grill and pull marscapone cheese out of refrigerator to soften for serving. Melt one or two tablespoons of butter in the microwave. Cut pound cake into 1" slices and brush each side with melted butter. Grill until 'grill' marks show up on each side of pound cake. Bring in a place on serving plates. Add a dollop of marscapone cheese to each plate. Drizzle with honey and using a microplaner, add chocolate shavings on top. Garnish with a few fresh raspberries if desired.

Helping in the Kitchen

There's nothing better than finding ways for Kaitlyn to safely help us in the kitchen. She helped us chop onion and garlic for our Valentine's dinner. She comes running when she hears or sees the chopper in the kitchen.

Sinfully Delicious!

To continue with our Valentine's Day festivities, we decided to make our first homemade Macaroni and Cheese. This recipe was sinfully delicious.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/cheese-lovers-5-cheese-mac-and-cheese-recipe/index.html

We highly recommend you give this is a try. It is so rich and flavorful that one piece will satisfy you. You can easily serve eight people one slice with this recipe. We hope to try it in small ramekins on a future date as a side dish. We know it's not a healthy recipe, but this is a treat worth trying!

Heating/flavoring the cream, milk, onion and seasonings to eventually mix with the cheese

The uncooked macaroni and cheese mixture

Nothing like more cheese for a crispy topping

Bon Appetite!

Appetizer Challenge: Tuna Tartare - YIKES!

Since 2003, goblue dad and I have cooked a fun meal at home for Valentine's day instead of spending our money at a restaurant. It paid off this year... as we selected TUNA TARTARE for an appetizer.

This was a stretch for me because I have not fully jumped on the sushi/raw seafood bandwagon. However, I was committed to trying it again.


Yes, I'm lame, but I had to show this photo. We found these fun Japanese soup spoons at World Market and loved the idea of serving the tuna tartare in these instead of regular spoons. We envision using them for other appetizers in the future.

Here is goblue dad slicing the tuna - the recipe suggested we cut it into 3/16" to 1/4" cubes. We used 1 pound of tuna, which probably would have served six or eight people. Needless to say, we had a lot of leftover tartare.


The tartare recipe from Ted Allen's book The Food You Want to Eat calls for extra virgin olive oil, dark sesame oil, soy sauce, wasabi paste, sushi-quality tuna (above), cilantro, fresh lemon juice (1/2 lemon).

We mixed the ingredients together with the exception of the tuna and lemon juice. You want to wait until the last minute to add the lemon juice because the acid starts cooking the tuna once combined. Add the tuna followed by the lemon juice and prepare to serve to guests.


The finished product...
Surprisingly subtle, but tasty. It's amazing how different raw fish tastes in comparison to cooked fish. I have heard that if fish is overcooked, it will taste 'fishy,' which means I have eaten a lot of overcooked fish in my life at various restaurants. The sushi grade tuna that we bought had a subtle, enjoyable flavor to it. Frankly, I tasted more sesame oil than tuna. We both agreed that a little more wasabi paste would bring up the heat as we barely tasted it. Despite our criticisms, we still think it is a fun appetizer that we'll try again for those who are willing to eat it.

FYI's... we made this again for company this week and used a small bit of canola oil instead of sesame oil, added more wasabi paste and worcestshire sauce and it tasted even better than before. My stepdad showed us how to cut the tuna finer, which improved the texture upon eating it. If you try this recipe, play with it until it fits your tastes.

Appetizer Challenge - Salami Cones

Here is the recipe for salami cones*:
http://www.recipezaar.com/Salami-Cones-204646

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a few photos, but the link has some on the web site. Our review... we enjoyed them, but they didn't receive rave reviews.

If you are wondering, why salami? We always have some in the fridge, so I thought it would be fun to find a quick and easy appetizer to make out of it. I will let you know if we improve on this one or find a new one.

*Notes:

• FYI... capsicum means pepper. The catch... it does not specify bell pepper, red pepper, etc. If you look it up online, you'll find several different explanations. We used a red bell pepper and skipped on red pepper flakes for seasoning to avoid the heat in the cones. However, if I make these again I will try banana peppers for a little heat afterall.
  
• You definitely want a pepper of some sort b/c the crunch definitely added to the texture of the dish.
  
• Make sure you have salami sliced thick enough to roll into the cone and hold the filling.
  
• The mixture needs more seasoning. We added some dried Italian herbs, but next time I'm thinking fresh basil and/or oregano.
• I'd argue for less sour cream - the mixture was to soft, would have like to see it thicker.
  

Appetizer Challenge: Roasted Garbanzo Beans

We decided to try a simple, easy recipe for our appetizer this weekend.

Roasted Garbanzo Beans
www.recipezaar.com/recipe/print?id=331939

Ingredients
2 15 ounce cans garbanzo beans (chick peas)
1 T cajun seasoning or creole seasoning, heaping
1 t garlic powder (optional)
1 t onion powder (optional)
cayenne pepper, to taste
cooking spray



BE CAREFUL with the Cayenne!!! Unless you like your food extremely spicy, I would recommend a pinch or dusting (very little) cayenne. I accidentally put too much cayenne in and while they beans tasted good, we could only eat a few because they just got to hot for our mouths. We let them roast for an hour instead of 45 minutes in the oven to ensure they were crispy and crunchy.

These would make a great snack to keep around the house to munch on when hungry. They are healthy and have a little zestiness in the flavor.

Bon Apetite!!!

Red Striped Jello

Our neighbor recently had her tonsils removed, so this gave Kaitlyn and I the opportunity to make this fun red striped jello to share with her. It's just in time for Valentine's day too!

I found the recipe in a parenting magazine and it called for the following:

• 3 box 3 ounces cherry jello
• 3 0.25 ounce packets of unflavored gelatin
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons plain yogurt
• 1 1/4 cup white grape juice
• 2 cups water

In general, you add the two cups water to three boxes of cherry jello and 1 package of gelatin and bring to a boil for gelatin to dissolve. Pour 2/3 cup of cherry jello mixture into a separate bowl and mix with the yogurt to get your pink layer. In another bowl, combine 2 packets of gelatin with white grape juice for the white layer. Let sit for a few minutes and then microwave for one minute to dissolve gelatin.

Pour the red cherry jello layer first into an 8x8 pan/glass bowl followed by the pink and then white layer. Pour one layer at a time until just set (10 - 15 minutes in refrigerator) before adding the next layer. The process will take about 1 1/2 hours to complete.

As you can see, the jello passed the quality assurance test phase and the jello was delivered to her friend next door.

Appetizer Challenge

Toasted Ravioli with Spicy Marinara
&
Italian Sausage Balls with Spicy Mustard Sauce

Over the course of the next month, Go Blue Dad and I plan to improve our appetizer repertoire. This weekend, we experimented and made hot appetizers. Our goal is to find several appetizers to serve either hot or cold.

Toasted Ravioli

• 1 package meat or cheese ravioli (or you can make your own fresh - yum!!)
• Italian breadcrumbs
• 2 eggs, beaten
• Parmesan Reggiano cheese, grated
• Marinara Sauce (if using store bought, we recommend adding some crushed red pepper flakes, oregano and basil to give it more flavor)

Bring pasta water to a boil and cook the ravioli until al dente. Drain and cool before breading. Heat oil in fryer or deep sauce pan to 375 degrees F (please be careful with hot oil!!). Place a cup or two of Italian bread crumbs in to a shallow bowl and beat two eggs in a separate bowl. When ravioli is room temperature, dip the ravioli in the egg wash, drop in the bread crumb bowl and coat ravioli with bread crumbs on both sides. Lay ravioli on parchment lined baking sheet. When all ravioli are coated, fry them until golden brown - approximately 1 minute per side. Set on wire rack to drain and sprinkle with grated Parmesan reggiano cheese.


For the dipping sauce: heat marinara sauce on range and if necessary add herbs to 'spice it up.' Pour into dipping bowl and serve with ravioli.

Italian Sausage Balls with Spicy Mustard Sauce

• 1 lb Italian sausage (mild or hot)
• 12 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
  
• 2 cups Bisquick
  

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Mix raw sausage, cheddar and Bisquick in bowl. When ingredients are combined, scoop mixture into 1 - 2 inch balls and place on parchment or tin foil lined jelly roll pan. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until sausage appears done. Remove from oven and place on paper towel to absorb grease. Serve with mustard sauce.

Mustard Sauce (made without measuring): mix spicy brown mustard with horseradish mustard (almost 1:1 ratio), add a bit of Worcestershire sauce and a tablespoon or two of brown sugar. Taste and adjust as necessary. The sauce should have a sweet kick to it.

If we had to pick between the two appetizers, our choice would be the toasted ravioli. The Italian sausage balls were good mainly because of the dipping sauce. Stay tuned for more appetizer adventures...

Wee Men - Wee What?!

Wee Men
http://www.recipezaar.com/Wee-Men-271824

If you like sugar sweets or chocolate, the Wee Men are sure to please! In a recent search for fun appetizer recipes, I came across the recipe for Wee Men. After reviewing it, I decided that this is one that I wanted to add to my kid friendly and fun recipes to one day make with Kaitlyn. When go blue dad got home, I showed it to him and he suggested we give it a test run while Kaitlyn was napping. They were simple and easy to make and tasted yummy!! We can't wait to make these with Kaitlyn one day when she is old enough.


Wee Men Recipe

• 8 ounces hershey's special dark chocolate

OR

• 8 ounces milk chocolate (kid's might prefer milk chocolate over dark chocolate)

• 1 bag regular size marshmellows

• 1 regular size bag M&M's (need about 30 M&M's)

• Parchment Paper

Making the Wee Men is as simple as it looks. You melt the chocolate bar, dip the marshmallows, place a small amount of melted chocolate on top, and add the M&M. I prefer to melt the chocolate on the stove in a metal bowl over a pot of simmering water, but you can do it in the microwave if you want to save time. Once melted, pull the bowl off the burner and start dipping the marshmallows. Dip marshmallows about 1/3 deep into the chocolate and set on parchment paper. Gently spoon a drop of chocolate on top of the marshmallows and place the M&M's on top of each one. After finishing, we put the Wee Men in a cool environment (cold garage in January or refrigerator) to allow the chocolate to set. We stored them in the refrigerator overnight. Enjoy!!

How to Involve the Kiddos...

• Melting Chocolate - adult task unless working with older kids due to burn potential
• Dipping & Dropping - One kiddo can dip the marshmallows into the melted chocolate and place on parchment paper while another kiddo adds the dollop of chocolate on the top of it
  
• Placing M&M's - Kiddo(s) can place the M&M's on top of the marshmallows once the teaspoon of chocolate has been added on top
  
• Indulging - all adults and kiddos can indulge!