Category Archives: Happy Hour

Cocktails / Dairy-Free / Drinks / Gluten-Free / Happy Hour / Sweet / Vegetarian

Mixed Citrus Margaritas

February 11, 2013

A quick post to start off your Valentine’s week.  This drink pairs perfectly with the recipe I’ll be posting later this week — a hot and spicy (not to mention easy) meal for you and your valentine.  Yum!

marg

Mixed Citrus Margaritas

makes 4 cocktails

  • 1/2 cup tequila (I recommend using a silver tequila in these — I like Milagro)
  • 1/2 cup triplesec or cointreau
  • 1/2 cup freshly-squeezed lime juice (plus extra lime wedges for serving)
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • juice of 1 orange (or other citrus of your choice — tangerine or 1/2 a grapefruit would be delish)
  • 1-2 cups ice (add 1 cup for an “on the rocks” margarita, add more for “blended”)
  • Optional: salt to rim the edge of your glasses
  1. Combine all ingredients in a blender, then blend to your desired consistency.
  2. Take a lime wedge and use it rim the edge of your cocktail glasses, then dip the edge into salt to create a salted rim (if desired).
  3. Pour margarita into a cocktail glass over ice, garnish with a lime wedge.

These margaritas are great because they’re fresh and citrusy, as opposed to thick and sugary (as I often find restaurant margaritas to be — blech).  And no added sugar means you can have as many as you want!

Let’s get schnockered and make out.

Dinner / Happy Hour / Lunch / Savory / Stay Healthy / Vegetarian

Spicy Summer Vegetable Flatbread

June 25, 2012

Well, now that we all know how to make pizza dough from scratch, let’s put something on that dough, shall we?  How about a crapload of summer veggies?  Yep, let’s do it.

*Side note: making pizza dough is not only super easy, but it saves well so you can make it ahead of time for a party.  Not to mention that people will think you’re so fancy when you tell them that yes, you made the dough.  Yourself!  Out of like flour and stuff!  What a domestic goddess you are.

As I’ve already disclosed, I make pizza dough basically all. the. time.  Which means that KC and I eat pizza all. the. time.  (No one’s complaining over here, mmk?)  That said, while I love me some traditional cheese pizza (margarita pizza recipe coming up on here a bit later!), it can get a bit… repetitive.  So, it’s nice to mix things up and jump out of that cheese-and-sauce mold now and then.

This pizza, or flatbread (which is just a fancy way of saying, hey, this pizza doesn’t have sauce on it), is based on a starter I had years ago at one of my favorite SF eateries, NOPA.  It’s super easy to make, but packs a big punch flavor-wise.  It’s also quite unexpected, as most people associate pizza and flatbreads with something a bit more savory and cheese-laden.

Trust me, this flatbread hits the spot on a hot summer night with a frosty beer or cold glass of crisp white wine.  And, you can feel good about eating it because it’s piled with veggies!  I mean, it’s basically a salad, right?  Go ahead and eat the whole thing!  Don’t mind if I do…

Recipe

Spicy Summer Vegetable Flatbread

  • 1 lb pizza dough (ideally homemade)
  • olive oil
  • zucchini (2 large or 3 medium), cut in half and sliced into half-moons
  • 1/2 yellow or red onion, sliced
  • 1 bell pepper (red, orange, or yellow), diced
  • handful of cherry or grape tomatoes, cut in half or quarters
  • 1/2 – 3/4ish cup fresh or frozen corn
  • salt and pepper
  • 1/2 – 1 tbsp. cumin
  • red pepper flakes/cayenne pepper/chili powder/hot sauce (like Tapatio)
  • cheese (cheddar/jack/pepper jack)
  1. Preheat oven to 475°
  2. Stretch out pizza dough and press into an oiled sheet pan or pizza pan.  Brush dough with olive oil.
  3. Blind-bake dough for 10 minutes, until just browned and crispy.
  4. While the dough bakes, chop all veggies and place in a bowl together.  Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper.  Add cumin and a mixture of any or all spices/hot sauces listed above and toss everything together.
  5. When the dough is done blind-baking, dump the veggies into the middle of the pizza and then spread into an even layer with a spatula.
  6. Cover the whole mess with a good amount of grated cheese.
  7. Place the sheet back in the oven and bake for another 8-10 minutes, til cheese is melted and veggies are just starting to brown on top.
  8. Let the pizza sit for 5 minutes before slicing, to allow all the cheesy goodness to come together.

Notes:

Step 3: As I’ve said, I like my pizza to be very crispy, so I always blind-bake my dough.  If you prefer a chewier crust, you could try making this without blind-baking, or cutting down the baking time in this step; however, the amount of veggies in this may make a less-crispy crust a bit soggy, so beware.

Step 4: I never measure the spices out in this recipe, so I can’t tell you exactly how much to add here — it’s really based on taste.  I like quite a bit of cumin for the depth of flavor it adds with it’s smokiness, so I add a good palm-full to the mix (probably about a tbsp).  Then I generally add about 1/2 tbsp red pepper flakes, about 1 tsp chili powder, and a healthy dash of cayenne(maybe a tsp? Maybe more?).  I have no clue what the actual measurements for these are (I just eyeball it), so that’s really just an estimation.  The amount you add will need to be a trial and error process of figuring out what flavors you like and how much heat you can handle.

Step 6: Any of the 3 cheeses listed would work — I always have cheddar on hand, so that’s what I use most often.  As a reference, I generally use about 1/4 of a Trader Joe’s size block; but really, I just grate it right over the veggies til they seem well-covered.

And lastly, this pizza is pretty messy to eat.  Inevitably, I end up spilling veggies all over myself while consuming it, so it’s probably not the best thing to serve on a first date (though I promise you, it’s way delicious).  However, I’m sure you’re much more refined and delicate than I am, so you’ll probably have no problem shoving this into your face and looking like a lady whilst doing it.  I, on the other hand, clearly don’t have that kind of dexterity.

Eat up!

Gluten-Free / Happy Hour / Savory / Vegetarian

Double Your Pleasure

May 20, 2010

Hi friends!

Ahh it’s almost the weekend!  And you know what that means…  Well, actually, you probably don’t know what that means.  It’s almost Alexis’ birthday!  That’s right, my very own big sister is just days away from being 2_ years old.  It will be a celebration indeed.

Not related to Alexis’ birthday, I had a happy hour last night.  Our friends Dan and Erik came over and watched most of the (very disappointing) A’s game with KC while I slaved in the kitchen.

And by slaved, I mean I threw together a cocktail and two appetizers in less than an hour.

I made a version of Giada’s apple thyme martinis and paired it with mini caprese salad and ricotta stuffed new potatoes.

Let’s start with the drinks, shall we?

Very attractive, yes.

Making these is pretty simple.  I made a thyme simple syrup by combining 1/4 cup of sugar with 1/4 cup of water and 2 sprigs of thyme on the stove.  I heated this up until it boiled and the sugar was completely dissolved, then removed the thyme and let the mix come to room temperature.

I combined the thyme simple syrup with 10 oz. vodka and 14 oz. unfiltered, unsweetened apple juice.  I chilled the mixture, then poured it into glasses and garnished it with slices of green apple and a sprig of thyme.

I originally added less apple juice to this, but it tasted like VODKA to me (which is not really ok with me when it’s vodka bought on my budget…) so I added more juice to the mix.

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but I really despise sweet drinks for the most part.  Sadly, this cocktail was no exception.  I really wanted to like it; I mean, look at it.  It looks like I should like it.  But, no.  I hate appletinis, and I really just couldn’t get on board with these either.

Dan and Erik downed their drinks, so I guess they were good enough to finish by their standards.  Thanks boys!

Ok, food!

These little bites are pretty darn easy to make, and both are seriously yummy.  They were a great pair together, as the cold, light caprese salad bites balanced out the warm, saltier, and heavier potato bites.

Let’s start with the caprese.  All you need for these is small tomatoes (cherry, grape, etc.), fresh mozzarella (I use ciliegine because it’s already bite sized), some fresh basil, and toothpicks.

For mine I cut the ciliegine mozzarella in half, skewered it on a toothpick, skewered a small piece of basil, and one of my heirloom grape tomatoes (from TJ’s).  Then repeat, repeat, repeat.

These little babies take a minute to put together, but they’re a perfect party food — easy to eat with no mess!

Once I had everything skewered, I drizzled the bites with olive oil and salt and pepper, and it was all ready to eat.  Fresh and delicious!

On to the potatoes…

I got this recipe from the latest issue of Everyday Food.  I saw it and thought, “I have to make those.”

My intuition was right — these little potatoes are supremely delicious.

Alright the how-to: I used a pound of teeny tiny potatoes from TJ’s (yes, that’s literally what they call them there.  You can use new potatoes or small fingerlings), I tossed them in olive oil, coarse salt and pepper, then wrapped them all up in a foil packet (basically, throw the potatoes on a big piece of foil, then crumple the edges together to form a sort of foil bag).  This went onto a sheet pan and into a 450° oven for 35-40 minutes.

While the potatoes were cooking, I combined 8 oz. (half a container) of ricotta cheese with 2 tbsp. finely grated parmesan, the zest of half a lemon, and salt and pepper.

When the potatoes were done, I cut a slit in each of the potatoes, popped the sucker open (basically the way you do with baked potatoes), then stuffed it with a little of the ricotta mixture.

Oh my goodness, I can’t say enough about these little potato bites.  They’re salty and creamy without being too heavy… ah, potato bliss!  I could’ve eaten the whole plate of them.

The perk of this pairing also, is everything is vegetarian and gluten-free — perfect for picky appetites.  Yum!

Alright, well I hope to have another pairing this weekend; but given the birthday festivities that are on the horizon, I’m not sure it’s in the cards.  I’ll do my best!

Hope you guys have some fun weekend plans of your own.  Hopefully it will be nice weather so we can all go OUTSIDE! 🙂

Dairy-Free / Gluten-Free / Happy Hour / Savory

A Happy Hour for the Ages

May 19, 2010

I know, The Real Housewives of New Jersey airs on Monday, and it’s now Wednesday.  I was in San Jose visiting my parents the last two days so I haven’t had any time post.  Sorry!

Alexis and I still did our Monday happy hour (we even included my mom and dad, since we were at their house.  Aren’t we thoughtful?).  This week we had a 1950s themed pairing: Orange-Mango Bellinis and good old-fashioned shrimp cocktails.

Y’all know I love bubbles, so I love a champagne cocktail.  Bellinis are a classic champagne cocktail generally made from peach puree and (obviously) champagne.  Unfortunately, TJ’s didn’t have any fresh or frozen peaches (since they’re not quite in season yet), so Alexis and I settled on a bag of frozen mango.  I combined the frozen mango with a little orange juice, and blended it up in the blender.

I added a little puree to each glass, then topped it with champagne.  Easy peasy.

Like the mimosas, these tend to want to fizz over when you pour them, so be careful with the champagne.

Isn’t it a nice color?  It’s perfect for warm weather.  Now if only California would get on it with the weather part…

Shrimp cocktails are just as easy as bellinis to make.  You can buy fresh or frozen shrimp, then either boil, saute or roast them (only for a couple minutes though — shrimp cook very quickly and get rubbery if you over-cook them, so be sure to keep an eye on them the whole time they’re cooking).  We actually bought frozen, fully-cooked shrimp at TJ’s that we just defrosted in some cool water.

We threw some cocktail sauce (you can make your own pretty easily, we were pressed for time and therefore just used store-bought) into little bowls, and served the shrimp over the sides.

Ahhh I love shrimp.  Shrimp cocktail is obviously not a modern invention, but it’s just as delicious now as it was during it’s heyday.

I also know someone else who loves shrimp…

Lula just loves a shrimp treat.

That’s some 1950s happy hour bliss right there.

Ok, well I’ve got another happy hour planned for tonight that I must attend to.  I asked Seuss to help.  You can guess what her answer was.

Leave me alone, I’m busy.

Breakfast / Brunch / Happy Hour / Savory

Mid-Day Drunk

May 17, 2010

Hey all!

I hope you all had a fabulous weekend.  And, if you participated in Bay to Breakers, I hope your hangover has subsided by now.

In honor of B2B, this weekend I decided to have a daytime happy hour.  Because there’s nothing like a mid-day drunk to get you through a Saturday…

Anyway, on Friday KC got off work early and we decided to walk around Lake Merritt.  Um, can you tell it’s spring yet??

Hmm maybe just a little?

Our walk was very nice.  We enjoyed the sunshine and all the lake wildlife.  I did have to make a detour to Whole Foods mid-way through our walk to grab a snack…  I get hungry, I can’t help it!

After our walk, KC and I headed to Alexis and Carey’s apartment since they live right by the lake.  We decided to head to happy hour at Adesso over on Piedmont.  There aren’t any drink specials for happy hour (I don’t think…), but they do have a buffet of free snacks set up.  Score!  I’m all about free.

The snacks were delicious with our drinks; so we hung out for awhile, and then headed home for the night.

Yesterday I threw together the mid-day happy hour and invited Alexis and Carey over to partake.

I figured I’d go with a classic brunch drink and appetizer for my pre-five o’clock boozing.  I made mimosas with fresh-squeezed orange juice and bagels with cream cheese and smoked salmon.

If you’re ever looking for an easy brunch spread, look no further than this.  This is quite possibly the easiest thing to throw together in 5 minutes or less, and completely delicious.

Alright, the appetizer.  Everything was store-bought for this.  I know, I know, I didn’t make anything myself; but sometimes it’s nice to rely on what’s ready and available.

I bought mini bagels and Trader Joes and just cut them into fourths.  I served these with cream cheese, smoked salmon, and some red onion.

If I were making this for a party, I’d probably make a dip out of the cream cheese to make it seem more homemade, and to make assembling the bagels easier.  Making the dip for this is really easy and delicious.  You mix cream cheese with some diced red onion, some fresh dill, and capers.  Serve that alongside the bagels and the smoked salmon and voila, everyone at the party is your new best friend and wants your dip recipe.  All the fame with none of the effort.

Let’s get down to business, then.  Drinks.

Mimosas are quite possibly the easiest cocktail ever invented.  Well aside from shots, I suppose.  Everything you need for mimosas is in that picture: champagne and orange juice.  Basically, combine those into a glass to taste and you’re good to go.  Couldn’t be simpler.

Watch out when you add the orange juice, as the champagne tends to want to fizz over — so add it slowly!  My tablecloth is in need of a wash because I was a little hasty in pouring the orange juice in.  Woops.

I like mimosas because a. they have bubbles, and b. you can purchase cheaper champagne than if you were drinking it straight (at least, that’s my philosophy…).

If you want to make things even easier on yourself, you can obviously use store-bought orange juice, rather than squeezing your own.  I just think fresh-squeezed is far superior to any store brand, so it’s worth the effort in my book.

If you’d like to dress up your cocktail, consider adding a slice of orange as a garnish, or even a splash of grenadine.  If you’re throwing a big brunch, consider having a champagne cocktail table where your guests can pour their own mimosas.  That’s always a fun way to liven up a party.

Alright well it’s late so I’d better be getting to bed!  As a treat, I’ll leave you with a picture of Seuss.  Clearly she hasn’t been listening to me and continues to do whatever the heck she wants…

Night!