Tag Archives: honey

Christmas Dinner: Hot Toddies

5 Jan

Honey Bourbon Hot Toddy

Don’t get me wrong, hot toddies are great, but I’ve always been more of a spiced cider, egg nog or hot chocolate kind of person.  This recipe from Bon Appetit’s December 2011 issue caught my eye because the picture was SO pretty and I could totally envision my family drinking these while sitting around the fire Christmas afternoon opening presents and relaxing after dinner.  I watered down the BA recipe a LOT because it was really strong.  My adaptation of their recipe is below.

Honey-Bourbon Hot Toddy
Adapted from Bon Appetit, December 2011 Issue
Serves 2

Ingredients
2 tbsp. honey
2 cups water
6 tbsp. bourbon
Lemon juice
Lemon peel, for garnish
Cinnamon stick, for garnish

Directions
1. Heat water on stove until just about to boil.  Take 1 cup of water and mix it with honey.  Stir until honey dissolves.
2. Add bourbon and mix.  Add a squeeze of lemon juice right and mix again.
3.  Divide between 2 mugs or Toddy glasses.  Add remaining water to mugs until you have reached desired strength of drink.  (I filled ours all the way to the top).
4. Add a lemon peel and cinnamon stick to each drink for garnish.  Serve warm.

Honey-Bourbon-Toddy-646

Honey Bourbon Toddy (Photo Courtesy of Bon Appetit, December 2011) - See what I mean about this picture? It's stunning!

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Christmas Dinner

26 Dec

Christmas Hearth

Merry Christmas everyone!  I hope you had a happy holiday and Santa was good to you and your families!  My family decided to do something different from turkey this Christmas and make a standing rib roast instead.  Serving red meat versus poultry required a total overhaul of our menu from Thanksgiving.  Listed below are the dishes that we made today for Christmas dinner.  Over the course of the next two weeks, I will post each of these recipes.

– Hot Toddies
– Christmas Crostini
– Dad’s Cream of Chestnut Soup
– Mom’s Standing Rib Roast
– Asparagus Wrapped in Bacon
– Potato & Celery Root Mash
– Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Creme Anglaise

To round out our meal, we served Sister Shubert’s Wheat Dinner Yeast Rolls and a bottle of Illumination Sauvignon Blanc from Quintessa Winery (see Napa Travelogue post for more info on CA wineries!).  Red wine probably would have gone better with this meal, but my mom generally only drinks white and I had just given my parents a case of this wine for Christmas so we had to try it!

Christmas Dinner Plate

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Asian-Inspired Salmon

13 Nov

I’m straying from Southern cooking here, but this is my “go to” dinner recipe when I want a home-cooked meal, but don’t have time to follow a recipe or search around the grocery store for a bunch of new ingredients.  My friend Kate made this a few years ago at a dinner party she hosted and she was nice enough to share her recipe with me.  I like serving this salmon with rice pilaf or basmati rice, green beans and a cold glass of sauvignon blanc.  This recipe is a true crowd-pleaser.  Everyone I’ve made this for comes back for seconds (and thirds!).

Asian-Inspired Salmon
(adapted from my friend Kate’s recipe)
Serves 4

Ingredients
2 pounds fresh salmon fillet
4 tbsp. rice wine vinegar (find this in the Asian foods section of your grocery store)
8 tbsp. soy sauce (I prefer the low sodium version)
4 tbsp. honey
4 tsp. fresh grated ginger (using fresh ginger makes a huge difference here, but if you are pressed for time, dried is OK)
4 scallions, finely chopped

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Place salmon skin down in a baking dish.  For easier clean up and to keep the skin from sticking to the bottom of the pan, line the pan with tinfoil.
3. Mix vinegar and soy sauce.  Add honey while stirring vigorously so it mixes evenly.  Add ginger and scallions last.
4. Spoon/pour mixture onto salmon in pan.  Be sure to coat the entire fillet evenly.
5. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until salmon has turned a light, opaque pink and easily flakes with a fork.

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