Why do we stay in on Valentines day? Because it is February, and February is the worst month. Also, we often find that the price fixed menus and crowds are overrated. We prefer to make a restaurant style meal at home and enjoy a nice bottle of wine. 

For Valentines Day this year, we are drooling over Eruption, Sexual Chocolate, and Reckless Love to get us in the mood. 

Preheat the oven to 350 and put a heavy skillet on the stove on medium heat.

First, pat the steaks dry with a paper towel, then generously salt and pepper the steaks by pressing the salt and pepper into the meat.

Add about two tablespoons of butter to the skillet. Sear the steak 5 minutes per side and get them nice and brown.

Transfer the steaks to a baking sheet and top with a small pad of butter. Put the baking sheet in the oven. Bake five minutes for rare, and add a minute or two to up the doneness level you desire. Let the steaks rest for about 5 minutes.Enjoy with our suggested wines and paired with sides. 

  

Smoking Goose Tasso and Andouille Jambalaya

This Smoking Goose Tasso and Andouille is out of this world. Tasso is a spicy and peppery lean smoked ham which adds an awesome depth of flavor. If you haven't had the andouille, you are missing out. This is not the easiest recipe, but the labor is certainly worth it. 

Ingredients:

Smoking Goose Tasso Rough Chop

Smoking Goose Andouille Sliced in rounds

Boneless skinless Chicken thighs, dried, and sprinkled with salt and pepper

3 Red Bell Peppers Chopped

2 Jalapeños Chopped

1 Chopped Onion

3 Cloves Garlic

1 Can of Diced Tomatoes

2 tablespoons tomato paste

2 teaspoons oregano

1 teaspoon thyme

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

5 cups of chicken stock

1 cup dry white wine

3 cups of brown rice

Instructions: 

Heat the dutch oven over medium heat

Add about 1 tablespoon olive oil

Brown the Andouille Sausage and Brown slightly. Remove from pan. 

Brown Tasso about 1 minute. Remove from pan. 

Add chicken thighs and brown about five minutes per side. Remove from pan and shred. 

Add 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter and melt. 

Add chopped onions and chopped jalapeno. Cook until onions are translucent. 

Add the garlic and bell pepper and cook for 5 minutes. 

Add tomatoes, tomato paste, cayenne, thyme, oregano and 1 teaspoon of salt cook for another 2 minutes. 

Add wine and deglaze the brown bits at the bottom of the pan. Reduce 3 minutes. 

Add all of the meat back to the pan, and add the chicken broth and rice. Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer. 

Tasteful Times Big Game Drinking Game

Tasteful Times Super Bowl Drinking Game

Don’t Drink & Drive!  Get the Uber app prior to playing! Stay safe and don’t binge this is just for fun.

Pre-game
- Coin-toss is heads, take a drink.

During The Game

- Take a drink for every touchback.

- Take a drink every time deflate gate is mentioned. Then say Go Colts or Go Steelers (These are the only appropriate answers) 

-Take a drink from now until the end, if you believe the Patriots did not know what was going on.

- Take a drink of wine anytime Tom Brady whines

- Take a drink whenever Sherman or Chancellor’s toughness is brought up.

- Finish your glass any time “Beast Mode” goes beast mode.

- Hand out a drink to everyone who doesn’t know what Beast mode is

- Chug a beer for 15 seconds after every play of 50 yards.

- Take a drink anytime Peyton Manning is shown. Then say Go Colts

- Hand out 1 drink at any mention of the "12th man." Drink if you do not know what the 12th man is

- Take a drink at any mention of “Legion of Boom"

- Make those who didn’t say Go Colts, Go Horse, or Go Indy take a drink every time they forget within 20 seconds of the original infraction.

End Game

-Everyone picks an Over/Under at 47.5 if you win hand out a drink if you lose you take a drink.

-Decide final scores if anyone hits the score correctly gets to make everyone chug something!

Halftime Commercials

- If you happen to be drinking the type of beer that commercial is on for, hand out 10 drinks. Then proceed to open up a better beer!

-If you happen to be on the same beer for the next beer commercial, hand yourself 10 drinks to play catch up.

- Horses on a commercial? Take a sip.  Then say Go Horse!

- Car commercial that emphasizes horse power? Take a sip, yell Go Horse!

- Drink whenever someone makes reference to Cinna (Lenny Kravitz) or Hunger Games.  Take a drink if you don’t know who Cinna is. 

- If you don't like Katy Perry songs, kiss a girl. Just kidding now take a drink.

- Anytime someone references that Coke is better than Pepsi, agree with them but then take a drink.

DRINK RESPONSIBLY

5 Ridiculously Easy & Delicious Appetizers

1. Mathoo's Eggrolls- Place on cookie sheet or for a crispier roll directly on the oven rack then into a pre-heated oven at 350 for 30 minutes (We cannot make this easier or tastier!).

2. Tuscan Olive Oil Bread Dipping - Shake Salt Sisters Tuscan Farmhouse blend mix into a dish with Olive Oil and season to taste. Then serve with French baguette bites. If you want to get crazy warm up the bread!

3. Buffalo Blue Cheese dip or Artichoke Garlic & Parmesan - Mix these pre-made dips with an 8 oz pack of shredded cheese (Cheddar for the Buffalo and Parmesan for the latter) For an added challenge add a cooked and shredded chicken breast to the buffalo Blue cheese.  Mix thoroughly and place in baking dish. Place on middle rack of oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until browning on top occurs.  After you serve this, everyone will be coming to your house to party!

4. Savory Jelly with Cream Cheese - Simply let cream cheese soften and then top with your favorite savory jam. My personal favorites are Apple Jalapeno Jelly and Hot Pepper Peach but our current top seller is the ever reliable but boring Hot Pepper Jelly.
    *Creative Cut- Slice cream cheese diagonally, then create a Christmas tree with the 2 identical pieces. On 1 piece of cream cheese put apple jalapeno and on the other put hot pepper jelly. Now you have a delicious appetizer that is also a red and green tree!

5. Feridies 5 O'Clock Trail mix- put in bowl. Serve.

Stay Tuned for the next round of appetizers. We figured everyone needs quick and easy appetizers for the stressful Holiday Season, but next time we promise to step up the level of difficulty.

Cheers and Happy Holidays!

Italian Wedding Soup

This Italian Wedding Soup recipe is Italian comfort food at it's best. You can easily freeze half of the recipe for a quick reheat meal the following week.

Italian Wedding Soup

(image credit: fabfriday.com)

Ingredients: 

1 lb Ground Turkey
4 oz Diced Prosciutto
1 cup Bread crumbs
1/3 cup Milk
1 teaspoon Oregano
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
½ tablespoon of Salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 Egg

½ stick butter
¾ large onion, finely chopped
2-3 Tbps flour
14 cups of chicken broth
Parmesan Reggiano rind (optional)
½ a package of orzo.
1 head of kale, torn into pieces
1 head of spinach (or one package of frozen spinach), 
3 carrots (or twelve baby carrots), diced


Directions:

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees. Mix 1/3 cup of milk with 1 cup of bread crumbs and let sit. Add together ground turkey, prosciutto, oregano, salt, pepper, egg and bread crumb mixture. Lightly mix together and roll into one inch meatballs. Brush with olive oil and bake for 15 minutes on a lined baking sheet. (Note: for extra richness, or use in a pasta rather than soup, add two links of Italian sausage)


Melt ½ stick of butter in a large stock pan. Add chopped onion and cook until softened (about 6 minutes). Slowly whisk in flour to make roux and continually whisk (about 5 minutes). Add chicken broth and bring to a boil. Add parmesan rind.* Add Kale and carrots and cook 4 minutes. Add orzo and cook according to package instructions (usually 12 minutes or so) with 4 minutes left, add spinach and cooked meatballs.

Serve topped with grated parmesan cheese. It is a treat in our house!



* When you can’t grate a parmesan cheese any longer bag and freeze the rind to add to soups such as Italian Wedding and Minestrone. It adds a surprising boost of flavor!

Sage and Thyme Stuffin' Muffins

Stuffin' Muffins are the best of all things stuffing. When you bake your stuffing in little muffin forms everyone gets a moist center and a crunchy crispy top. Plus, it makes for an interesting presentation compared to the standard stuffing baked in a pan.

 Stuffing is something that is very easy to make but it's important to get quality ingredients to start with to get a delicious outcome.

 Sage and Thyme Stuffin' Muffins

Ingredients:

• 2 carrots, diced
• 3-4 celery stalks, diced
• 1 small leek, diced
• 1 sweet onion, diced
• 3 Tbps unsalted butter
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 2 tsp rubbed sage
• 1/2 tsp ground thyme 
• 3 cups low sodium chicken stock (veggie stock can be used)
• 3 eggs
• Approx 16 cups of bread cubes (I used fresh baked whole wheat and semolina), air dried overnight or baked in oven for 10 minutes on 350 to dry them out.

1). Add butter and garlic to preheated pan. Saute carrots, celery, onion, and leeks until soft over medium heat. Add salt, pepper, sage, thyme and stir. Remove from heat.

2). In a bowl whisk the eggs and chicken stock. Combine this mixture with the vegetables.

3). In a large bowl, add bread and pour wet mixture over bread crumbs. Be sure to evenly coat all the bread. Let it set for 5 minutes for the bread to absorb the mixture.

4). Spray muffin tins with all natural Extra Virgin Olive Oil and scoop mixture into tins.

5). Bake, uncovered at 350 for 20-25 minutes. Or until set and crispy on top.

NOTE: Makes 12 large or 18 small muffins. It's important to take the time to dice the vegetables. They blend better into the mixture when they are diced small and take less time to saute to soft. Or blend in the Vitamix (or other high speed blender). 

Top 10 Tasteful Times Wines for 2014

The results are in .....

 Here are the top five whites and top five reds of 2014 from Tasteful Times.  You can't go wrong with any of these wines for dinner parties to holiday gifts. Give them a try. Cheers!

  


RED

1: 19 Crimes

2:  Lone Wolf by Grey Wolf

3:  Cosentino Cabernet

4:  Las Moras Black Label Malbec

5:  Michael Pozzan Cabernet

WHITE

1:  Concannon Chardonnay

2:  J. Pinot Gris

3:  Fire Road Sauvignon Blanc

4:  De Loach Chardonnay

5:  Orin Swift Mannequin