Dark and Stormy

I went to Nashville, TN for work in April 2018.  One of the nights they had a reception at ACME Feed and Seed, which by the way is a great place to go on the waterfront.  One of the drink specials that they had that night was called a dark and stormy.  I took a picture of the drinks so that I could try to recreate this.  When I go back to Raleigh, my husband and I went out to dinner at Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar.  I asked for a Dark and Stormy drink and they said they could make it.  Well, it was nothing like the one I had in Nashville.  In fact, I am surprised that I could even get the entire drink down over the course of dinner.

Next I went to the ABC store in Raleigh, because that is what NC has.  Wish there was competition in NC for alcohol, but alas, there is not.  Alcohol is highly regulated in this state.  So I tried to find smoked rum.  Well, after 10 minutes of looking, I finally asked one of the guys working there.  He told me that they didn’t have smoked rum, and he had never heard of it, but all dark rum is inherently smoky because of the way it is distilled, etc.  Long story short, he showed me a few dark rums that he said other customers really liked.  Some of these were way out of my price range just to make a drink that I had in Nashville.  I finally picked a rum that I thought was a good deal, had a great name, and he had recommended.  I picked Plantation Artisanal Rum that is double aged and dark.  It has a really great flavor if you are looking for a dark rum.

The other ingredient that goes into a Dark and Stormy is Ginger Beer.  Now probably the reason I love this drink so much is that I love the taste of ginger.  Ginger Beer isn’t always easy to find, but Trader Joe’s has a great Ginger Beer.  It isn’t expensive and tastes great!

The third ingredient is bitters.  I do not have a picture of the bottle, but you can get bitters in any grocery store.  You must have this ingredient for this drink.  It really rounds out the flavor. 


Recipe:

Tall glass 3/4 filled with ice
5 dashes of bitters
2 shots of Rum
Fill the remainder of the glass with ginger beer

Peach Cobbler

I made this Peach Cobble last night, and didn't get a chance to take a pic until someone in the house had already dug in, LOL!  However, you can still get the idea of what this dish looked like.

I love the the taste of ginger!  Well, to be truthful, I love everything about ginger - taste, smell, everything.  The peach and the ginger are perfect together in this dish.  This is more like a peach cake than a cobbler, but it is so incredibly good.  This is a must try!

The recipe is as follows:

Ingredients

4 cups fresh peaches, peeled and sliced
3/4 cups sugar - I use beet sugar or coconut sugar
Juice of one lemon, should be about 2 T
2 tsp fresh ginger, peeled and minced
1 tsp cinnamon

For the batter:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 cup King Arthur Whole Wheat flour
3/4 cup sugar - I use beet sugar or coconut sugar
1 T baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 cup whole milk

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Place peach slices in a large bowl.  Add sugar, lemon juice, ginger and cinnamon.  Toss well to coat fruit.  Allow mixture to sit for at least 5 minutes.

Place butter in a baking dish (I use an oval stoneware Pampered Chef Dish) and warm in oven until butter melts completely, about 5 to 10 minutes.  In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Add milk and stir until a wet batter forms.  PLour batter over melted butter (do not stir).  Spoon peach mixture evenly over batter (do not stir).

Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until top is golden brown.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Bagels

BAGELS

If you are like me, and I think a lot of you are, you love bagels.  I can eat them in the morning with breakfast, at lunch as the bread for a sandwich, in the evening with my dinner - anytime and anywhere!

It is always nice if you can make items yourself since you know the ingredients and can make as many, or as few, as you want to.  These are easy to whip up and have just a few ingredients.  I originally found this recipe online and knew that it was a good one.

Ingredients:

1 cup King Arthur whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp Himalayan pink salt
1 cup Greek yogurt
1 beaten egg, with a tsp of water
Trader Joe's Everything Bagel Seasoning

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Place parchment paper on a baking sheet.

In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt with a wire whisk.  Add the yogurt and mix with a wooden spoon until well combined.

Lightly dust the flour on a work surface and knead the dough on the work surface a few times.  Divide into 4 equal balls.  Roll each into a rope, joining the ends to form the bagel.

Top with egg wash and sprinkle with the Everything Bagel Seasoning.

Bake in the oven for 25 minutes.  Let cool 10 minutes.

 If you have an air fryer, preheat the air fryer to 325 degrees.  Once preheated, cook for 12 minutes.  Let cool for 10 minutes.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp

 The combination of strawberry and rhubarb has always been my husband's favorite.  I had never had it together until I married him.  I have to say, it is a combination made in Heaven!  Usually I make a Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie but this time I decided to try a crisp.  My husband loved it and even said he thinks he likes this better than a pie.  I have to admit, not having all of that crust, and having a crispy top layer, was my favorite as well.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp

Serves approximately 8

Filling:

2 pints of strawberries, washed, hulled, and quartered
3 large stalks of rhubarb, pull off outer strings and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 small orange, zested and juiced
1 T cornstarch
1/4 cup honey

Topping:

3/4 cup quick oats
1/3 cup King Arthur whole wheat flour
1/3 cup coconut sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
3 T melted butter

Directions:

Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Combine strawberries and rhubarb in a medium sized bowl.  Add the honey, orange juice and orange zest.  Toss.  Sprinkle cornstarch and toss again until fruit is well coated.

Butter a large round oven safe baking dish.  Pour the fruit mixture into the dish.

Mix the topping ingredients together in a small bowl and spread over the fruit mixture.

Bake 40 minutes until the fruit is bubbly and the topping is golden brown. 

Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream, if desired.

I actually think this was even better the next day when it was reheated.

Enjoy!

Hugs, Meg

Jalapeno Pimento Cheese

Pimento cheese has always been a favorite in the Farris household.  We love it with pita chips, crackers, on bread, in a grilled cheese, on a burger, etc.  There are so many possibilities!

Spicy food is also very popular in our household.  We will post a great recipe for stuffed, grilled jalapeños at a later date.  Right now, this recipe has become one of my favorite items to make and have available in the frig at all times.

I took a recipe that I saw online, and adapted it a bit for my taste.  Hopefully you will like it as much as I do.

I will add a picture at a later date, but right now I just wanted to make sure that you have the recipe.  I am on travel in Nashville, TN and cannot figure out how to get a pic at the moment.

Jalapeño Pimento Cheese

Prep time is about 10 minutes

Ingredients

4 cups of shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese - I buy a block of cheese and shred it myself in my Kitchen Aid Food Processor.  I don’t think the pre-shredded cheese works as well.
4 oz of cream cheese, softened
1 container of jalapeño cream cheese
1/2 cup mayonnaise - I use Duke’s mayonnaise
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and finely minced
1 (4 oz) jar diced pimentos, drained
Salt and pepper, to taste

Place all ingredients in a large bowl.  Stir well until combined.  Put in a container in the refrigerator.  This is best made ahead and refrigerated for several hours before eating to let the flavors mingle.


I hope you enjoy this as much as we do!

Hugs, Meg and Brittany

The Beginning

The Beginning

Everything must start somewhere and Brittany and I have had a vision for this blog but have not set it in motion yet.  So, I am going to start with describing our vision for this blog.  We want to post all of our travels, all the wonderful meals we create or partake in and the projects that we do.  Brittany alone has done a lot of traveling over the last year and we need to document that in this blog.  We both love to cook and eat great food so we need to document our recipes and adventures in food.  

One of the things that we are trying to do is document all of the crafts that we make that we will sell or are just doing for ourselves.  Things that we sell will be posted on Backporchcrafting.blogspot.com.  We will highlight some of the items here but will promote them on the other site and maybe even Etsy.  We will keep you updated on that here as well.  We feel like we have a lot of talent between the two of us but we will let you make that determination for yourself.  

We want to share this adventure, call Life, with all of you so I hope you enjoy Planes, Plates and Projects!  Let us know if there is anything you would like to see!

Hugs,

Meg and Brittany