Let’s talk about my new obsession: orange basil water. I’ve been trying to up my water intake lately to replace my love for diet cokes and coffees. But there’s only so much water a girl can drink, I need flavor! So I’ve been cutting up an orange and a few basil leaves and infusing water in a big pitcher in the fridge. It’s delightfully delicious and actually makes me crave water now — plus, how pretty does it look?
I love digging through my Grandma’s cookbooks to see the little notes and edits she’s made to the recipes over the years (inside the front cover of the book we borrowed is a note to my Grandmother from sister-in-law, and it’s dated 1967, when she received it as a gift!). When I was home at my parent’s house this weekend, my sister and I decided to borrow an old cookbook from my Grandma and make a family favorite recipe — Chicken Champagne. Her version has those little notes written in the margins of the pages (for example, her version omits the chicken livers, PHEW!), and I’ve adapted it a little bit more to omit some of the hard to find ingredients (like shaved truffles). Excuse the grainy cellphone pictures I took of our version — we were in quite the rush to dig in — it’s far more delicious than it could ever look in a photo! Find the full recipe below:
Ingredients:
- 4-5 boneless chicken breasts, cut up into bite-sized pieces
- All-purpose flour
- Jarred mushrooms, drained
- 1/2 cup of butter
- 5 thin slices of prosciutto, diced
- 1/2 cup of heavy cream
- 1/2 cup of good Champagne (drink a little while you’re cooking too!)
- Salt and Pepper
- Serve with angel hair or thin spaghetti (fresh is best if you can find it, it absorbs the sauce so well)
Instructions:
- Toss chicken breast pieces with flour until lightly coated, season with salt and pepper.
- In a large pan, melt 1/2 cup of butter, and add chicken. Cook chicken in butter until browned.
- Once chicken is fully browned, add in mushrooms, prosciutto, and heavy cream. Stir to combine and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Add champagne, stir, and cover for another 10 minutes.
- Season with additional salt and pepper as needed, and toss with fresh grated parmesan.
- Serve over fresh pasta with additional parmesan cheese on the side, and don’t forget to pour a glass of champagne to compliment the meal!
Note: The sauce doesn’t reduce as well if you double the recipe, instead, use 2/3 of champagne and cream.
I have one last recipe to share from our Taco Date Night party, and of course I saved the cocktail recipe for Friday! These orange mango margaritas are going to be a summer staple, I just know it. I loosely chopped up 2 small ripe mangoes, and squeezed the juice of two giant oranges into a food processors, and blended the mixture until it was a smooth puree. Then I strained the remaining mango pieces out of the mixture, leaving just the juice behind in a measuring cup. Over ice in a cocktail shaker I mixed 2 ounces of tequila, 2 ounces of the mango-orange juice, a squeeze of a fresh lime, and a half an ounce of Grand Marnier. Shake it up, and strain it into a glass, and serve with a lime wedge. With all of that fruit in there, it’s basically like a healthy smoothie (with tequila), right?
To help you recreate this party look at home, Hattie Sparks has a special offer for my readers: 20% OFF your online purchase with the code DOMESTIKATE today through Monday 3/17 – happy shopping!
Please note: I was gifted some of the materials used in this post. All opinions and recipes are my own.
The main course for my Taco Date Night party was a pulled pork taco with a chipotle lime slaw. We were gifted a slow cooker for our wedding and it’s been such a nice addition to the kitchen this winter — I love how our house smells like savory comfort food all weekend when we get to use it. The pulled pork recipe was simple. I combined a teaspoon each of chili powder, cumin, onion powder, and garlic powder, plus a bit of salt and pepper to make a dry rub for a pork tenderloin. After coating the pork with dry rub, I seared all sides in a skillet before placing it in the slow cooker with a 1/4 cup of honey, 2 seeded chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, 1 cup of chicken broth, the juice of one lime, and a tablespoon of brown sugar. After that, I set the slow cooker on low for about 6 hours before coming back at the end to remove the peppers and shred the pork.
I served them on warm corn tortillas with a chipotle lime slaw (which was just a slaw mix and some of the leftover chipotle lime aioli from my Mexican Street Corn, combined with about a teaspoon of red wine vinegar). These came out delicious, a really nice combination of sweet from the honey and spicy from the chipotle peppers. 
To help you recreate this party look at home, Hattie Sparks has a special offer for my readers: 20% OFF your online purchase with the code DOMESTIKATE today through Monday 3/17 – happy shopping!
Please note: I was gifted some of the materials used in this post. All opinions and recipes are my own.
I shared a Taco Date Night party on the blog yesterday and today I’m diving into the recipes. I’ve noticed Mexican street corn popping up on lots of restaurant menus near me lately (in particular, the street corn at Painted Burro makes me SO happy) and I wanted to try to recreate the idea at home. It was super.duper.simple. In warmer weather I would have grilled the corn on the porch, but in these wintry cold temperatures, I just charred the corn in a lightly oiled cast iron skillet. While the corn is cooking, I made a chipotle lime aioli. Whisk together in a small bowl 1/4 cup of sour cream, 1/4 cup of mayonnaise, 1 to 2 teaspoons of chipotle adobe sauce (depending on your affinity for spice!) and the juice of one lime. When it comes off the pan, sprinkle the corn with chili powder, a little sea salt, drizzle it with the aioli, and then top it with cotija cheese. YUM!
To help you recreate this party look at home, Hattie Sparks has a special offer for my readers: 20% OFF your online purchase with the code DOMESTIKATE today through Monday 3/17 – happy shopping!
Please note: I was gifted some of the materials used in this post. All opinions and recipes are my own.
I was searching for some appetizer inspiration recently and came across this amazing recipe from Kinfolk magazine — I wanted to try it but it wasn’t exactly fitting my bite-sized criteria for serving snacks when I had friends over. I loved the idea of having something a little heartier to serve though, so I used the recipe for inspiration and made my own mac and chili mixture and baked in a mini-muffin tin for bite-sized tastes. They flew off the plate when my friends tested them over the weekend! Full recipe below. 
Ingredients:
- Red bell pepper – 1/4 cup minced
- Yellow onion – 1/4 cup minced
- 1 Clove of garlic
- 1 small tomato- 1/4 cup minced
- Scallions or chives – about 3 tablespoons chopped
- Lean ground beef – about 1/4-pound
- Kidney beans
- One bag of orichette pasta
- 2 cups of grated sharp cheddar cheese, plus extra for topping
- Milk – 1 cup
- Flour
- Butter
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
In a skillet, heat a small amount of oil or butter and cook red pepper, yellow onion, garlic, and tomato for about 3-4 minutes, until they begin to get soft. Next, add in ground beef, and brown in mixture. When meat is browned, add in about a half a can of red kidney beans and the chives, heat through and then remove pan and set aside.
While making the chili mixture, cook pasta to al dente. Next, melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a pan, and add 3 tablespoons of flour, whisk together. Next, add milk, and continue to whisk together over the heat until it begins to thicken. Next, slowly add in grated sharp cheddar cheese and continue to mix sauce until smooth. When all of the sauce is incorporated and smooth, pour it over the orichette in a large pot or bowl. Fold in all of the sauce and pasta, and then add in the chili mixture.
Scoop mac and chili mixture into a mini-muffin tin. Using the back of a spoon, pack the mixture into the tin so that the ingredients are compressed together. When the muffin tin is full, sprinkle more grated cheese over the top (I used some Parmesan here for extra flavor), and bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let them rest and cool slightly before removing from the pan (this is important, they may not hold their shape if you remove them when they first come out of the oven). I served them in mini-muffin liners for a festive touch!
I love watching the Oscars, tweeting about the gowns, making my guesses for each category — but somehow, me, the entertaining-addict, has never thrown an Oscars party. This year, I’m breaking that streak and having a few friends over for a casual little viewing gathering. As no party is complete without a signature cocktail, I thought I’d experiment with one to make this weekend for sipping during the show. I’m calling my creation the “Golden Statue” for it’s pretty color and a nod to Oscar himself. Here’s how you can make one of your own: In a small pitcher combine one cup of tangerine juice, one-quarter cup of Royal Rose apricot simple syrup, and one-quarter cup of vodka. Stir it together well and divide into four flutes. Then fill the remainder of the flute to the top with chilled prosecco and serve! I made Oscar straws for a festive touch too! 
I got a few questions on the bourbon-soaked cherries that were featured in the Ladies Winter Whiskey Party over on Style Me Pretty this week, so I thought I’d share the recipe! Fill a mason jar with cherries, add in 3-4 tablespoons of brown sugar, fill 3/4 of the way with bourbon, and then top the rest off with some water. I let mine rest for about a week before using them, and they were a tasty garnish to our Ladies Manhattan cocktails and paired perfectly with the bourbon-caramel drizzled chocolate cake we had for dessert! Plus I picked up a few small corked jars (these cute ones from Target!) and made mini-versions that everyone could take home at the end of the event — I heard after that made a great topping at home on top of a bowl of vanilla ice cream, yum! 
Photos by Brian Samuels Photography
I have the delicious drink recipes from our Ladies Whiskey Party to share with you today! One of my favorite details from this day was the incorporation of the recipes into the event — I wrote the ingredients out on brown paper bags and tied them on whiskey bottles to match each drink so it was easy to identify each one. And because the idea of the party was all about sharing these whiskey drinks and making whiskey drinking a bit more approachable, we gave everyone a stack of recipe cards with the ingredients and instructions written out on them so they can recreate them at home. Now, onto those recipes!
Classic Whiskey Smash
- Half a lemon, cut into wedges
- 6 mint leaves
- .75 oz simple syrup
- 2 oz Buffalo Trace Bourbon
In a shaker, muddle lemon wedges with mint leaves and simple syrup. Add ice and bourbon, shake vigorously. Strain over crushed ice and garnish with a tall mint leaf.
The Ladies Manhattan
- 2 oz Michter’s Rye
- .75 oz Dolin sweet vermouth
- .25 oz Luxardo maraschino liqueur
- 2 dashes Regan’s orange bitters
- Cherry garnish
Stir all ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass, cherry garnish.
The Bee Keeper Punch
- 1.5 bottles Overholt Rye
- 16-18 oz fresh lemon juice
- 25 dashes bitters
- 2 cups honey spice simple syrup (go slowly to taste)
- 1 bottle inexpensive Prosecco
Combine first four ingredients and chill for several hours. Before serving add Prosecco. Serve over rocks with a twist of lemon. (To make simple syrup: 16 oz clover honey, 16 oz water, 1/4 cup mulling spices. Bring all ingredients to boil, turn off heat. Steep for 15-30 minutes. Strain the ingredients and cool the syrup.)
Cocktail Recipes, Ingredients, and Event Space: The Urban Grape, Photography: Brian Samuels, Vintage Glassware: Farm & Fable
On my day off on Monday my husband suggested I try making homemade hummus — we buy it all the time and word on the street is that it’s pretty simple to make, so I gave it a whirl! I used Ina Garten’s recipe as a base (because she’s fabulous and I always trust her recipes!) and made a few modifications. First, I added a bit more garlic, an extra large clove, because adding more garlic is pretty much always my way life. Next, I reduced the tahini paste — it has a strong flavor, and I added in a little bit of the recommended 1/3 cup at a time, I probably only ended up using 1/4 cup in my version. After I blended all of the ingredients, I used a spatula to scrape it out into a serving dish and topped it with a few toasted pine nuts and a drizzle of good olive oil (for no other reason than that I’ve seen it done at restaurants, and I think it looks pretty!). The verdict? It really is as easy it sounds — you just throw it all in a food processor and blend. Now that I know that, I’m brainstorming more flavors to try!
