Body Shot Invention: Hottie Body Toddie Shots

I realize it has been an embarrassingly long time since I posted anything on my blog. Figured if I was gonna start blogging during the [awful] winter months, that I should return with a BANG!

With Thanksgiving just days…Yeah, it’s tomorrow, folks, it is the time of year where we put away our margarita mixers and bring out the eggnog, cider and whiskey drinks. Let’s focus on the whiskey drinks for a minute. Hot toddies are quite yummy and very simple. Great for when you’re sick or if you just want to feign sophistication while you get hammered in front of a lovely wood burning fire.

Tequila and its little hoodlum friends have ruled the [trashy] custom of body shots for too long. Salt, lime, tequila and a drunk, agreeable stranger. During a dull moment at work I put my creative juices to work. I do want to give partial credit to my coworker, who I’m sure wishes to remain anonymous in all this, but she was a huge help in talking out the order of things with me.  After a 30 second Google search and scan of the results, I realized no one else has written up instructions for this awful idea. I feel obligated to share for other cold, trashy people that enjoy drinking.

Tools

• Brewed, still warm/hot tea
• Two shot glasses (preferably non-breakable)
• Honey
• Whiskey  (honey whiskey if you can shoot it)
• Fresh lemon, cut into small wedges
• An agreeable person (Shot Holder)

I noticed on several other sites that the authors pointed out the people you’re doing body shots with should be totally okay with this and not coerced. Also, you should drink responsibly and make sure everyone has a safe ride home. As if you’ll be getting up off the floor when you decide to do this one evening. There, disclaimer made.

Method

1. Pour shot each of whiskey and brewed tea. Do not fill to the very tip top. Your drunk friends will spill it.

2. Depending on the size and shape of your Shot Holder, you may want to adjust the placement of the items. So, with a dash of tequila salt, do something like this: Have the Shot Holder lay down and

• Hold the shot glass of tea in mouth
• Drizzle a preferred amount of honey around the clavicle of the S.H. (~2 teaspoons)
• Place a lemon wedge in the area of the base of the ribs (solar plexus)
• Balance a shot above the naval of (probably uncontrollably laughing) Shot Holder

Once everything is placed, don’t waste time or spill your liquor! Work your way up starting with the shot, biting into the lemon wedge, licking up the honey and gulping down the warm tea. Good luck getting past the honey, honestly. Especially if you think the collar bone is too mundane a place to drizzle honey. Feel free to adapt as needed.

There you have it, the

Hottie Body Toddie Shot

To protect the agreeable folks involved, I have not included photos. None of these pictures belong to me. Full cred and thanks to others. Enjoy those stock photos until you make some of your own memories.

 

Vidalia Onion Pie {Recipe Revealed!!}

Recipe by request from several of my Facwbook friends

Vidalia Onion Pie

For a regular size pie plate:
Crust:
1/4 box cheese its
2 tbsp butter
Insides:
2 large or 3 small onions
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
3 eggs
1/2 cup of milk

If you have a deep dish pie plate, you’ll need a little more of everything.

To put it together,  crush the cheese crackers and add butter to make the crust and sautée the onions (with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes).

Layer the cooked onions with shredded cheese in the pie crust (I usually start and end with cheese).

Then mix the milk and eggs with salt and pepper and pour over top. Poke through the onions to let it sink in and add more milk if It looks like it needs it. Bake at 375° for about 30 minutes, or until set.

If it’s deeper, do three large or four small onions. Obviously, double thethe recipe if making two shallow pies.
I have never measured the cheesy crackers. I just crush em and line the pie plate until things look right.

This is very similar to a quiche and great for cheese and onion lovers.

Ham & Bean Soup

If you’re a regular reader, you know that I constantly steal recipes from my Sister in Law (SiL) and rework them depending on what I have in my cabinets. Yesterday, I did this and completely transformed a Vegan Bean Soup recipe that Beth found on Pinterest.

I will share my version of the recipe. The link above is to the original recipe if you’re more diligent about following recipes than me.

Easy Ham & Bean Soup

• Generous dash of olive oil
• 2 sweet onions, chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• ~4 cloves of garlic minced

Saute veggies in a medium sized soup pot until they are a bit soft–for about 10-15 minutes then add: 

• 3 cans of (whatever you can find) black beans, pintos or mixed beans—Or if you’re cabinets are like mine, one of each. Drain and rinse.
• 2 cups of your choice broth (I had beef broth on hand)
• Roughly 1 1/2 or 2 cups of chopped pre-cooked ham
• Salt & pepper to taste
• 4 tsp powdered curry
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Slap a lid on that puppy and set it to low-medium or just above a simmer for about 30 minutes. I forgot to add but I do recommended 1-2 TBSP of lime juice.

This would make a fine meal by itself, but if you really want a happy belly: 

Throw some tortillas in a skillet and put some cheese in the middle. A cheese quesadilla pairs beautifully with this hearty soupy meal.

Chocolate Raspberry Bread Pudding {Recipe Revealed!!}

This is a fantastic recipe that I am definitely adding to my regular rotation. Huge thanks to the recipe I worked from Five Heart Home. This gal has amazing ideas and a humorous way of describing her OCD process of baking.
This would be an awesome Valentine’s day treat to make for your lover or with your lover. You could also make it and not tell anyone–more for you! It may look like a lot of steps but it is really pretty easy to throw together. I might just make it again in a few weeks…heh heh.

As always I made a few changes:

Chocolate Raspberry Bread Pudding
6-8 cups of cubed stale bread
1/2 cup strong brewed coffee
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided
4 eggs
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups half and half (*see tips below)
6 oz or one small box of fresh raspberries
1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam (optional—do it!)

Reminder: if milk and eggs are room temperature they tend to blend better with the melted chocolate. Lay all your ingredients out.

Step one
If you are using an old stale loaf lying around the house then first cut it into 1″ cubes and put them into your preferred baking dish. Eight cups is around right for a 9×13. I wanted to give part of my dessert as a gift so I split my bread into an oval glass baking dish (9×9?) and a glass loaf pan. Note, you may want to grease your pan, bt I noticed no issues using my glass pans.

Step two
Melt 1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips on medium low in a saucepan with 1/2 cup strong brewed coffee. Keep an eye on the chocolate and stir periodically. When it becomes smooth (no chip lumps) turn it off and allow to cool.

Step three
In a large bowl beat 4 room temp eggs. Add vanilla, brown sugar and half and half. Combine well and then stare down your chocolate until it cools down. Mix chocolate into large bowl with the rest of the ingredients.

Step four
Pour prepared mixture over stale bread in pan. Pour evenly if possible. If you used a white bread it will be easy to tell if you haven’t soaked a corner piece.

Step five
Reserve a few raspberries from the carton for the topping if you wish. I think the flavor is better baked in though. Place berries evenly around pan and mash into pudding with fingers or a fork.
Sprinkle reserved 1/2 cup chocolate chips evenly on top.

Step six
Bake 30-45 minutes in the oven. You can do the knife test to make sure the pudding is baked through. Mine was perfect at 30 minutes but the original recipe said to bake up to an hour.

Step seven (optional)
Warm seedless raspberry jam in a saucepan (I don’t own a microwave) until you get a nice smooth sauce. Drizzle over top of your hot bread pudding and if you wish, throw the reserved fresh raspberries on top for presentation.
Best served warm.

Now go eat it!!!

Tips

• If you’re worried about the pudding drying out when you reheat it cover the pan with tinfoil.

• *As the original blogger noted, you can use a heavy whipping cream of lighter milks if you’re worried about the caloric overload.

• This is not a sweet overload, but there is plenty in there to make it sweet. If you would rather a less sugary dessert you could reduce the brown sugar to 1/2 cup and be just fine.

• I used strong brewed coffee because I don’t keep instant coffee granules around the house. When I know I want to bake something chocolatey soon, I brew a few extra cups in my coffee pot. Best way to use old coffee ever.

• Even if you’re not a coffee drinker, don’t spazz, do add it. Coffee enhances the chocolate. Hubbster hates coffee but couldn’t taste it in the pudding and loved the whole thing.

• If you plan on baking all the raspberries you could save a little cash and go with frozen berries. Or if the seeds bug you, put small dollops of seedless jam in the pudding prior to baking.

Enjoy!
~Kat

Traditions: Black Eyed Peas, Kale & Ham

Have you heard of the Southern New Year’s Day tradition of black eyed peas and greens? Well, apparently it is a thing. Usually we were celebrating my sister’s birthday so there wasn’t much time for other random traditions. Now that we’re grown and siblings are moved far apart I feel a strong need to fill that gap in my celebrations calendar.

I guess you could say I want to make this soup for my sister…in a weird proxy celebratory way. However, this is a “normal” Southern thing. Don’t worry, I won’t be putting a dime in the pot. Check out About’s summary of the tradition, they even have some common recipes.

Some of my hopes for the new year are to try more new recipes. So what better way to start the year? I have wanted to try this recipe for years now and I’m excited to say that I have a few guinea pigs that are willing to eat anything. 

Black-eyed Peas and Kale Soup

Big thanks to Jean on her Yikes Money Blog for sharing her recipe.
Her recipe inspired me, but as you will notice there are some variations between the two.

• 1 cup carrots, chopped
• 1 cup celery, chopped
• 1 sweet onion, diced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1/2 lb dried black eyed peas
• 8 cups of beef broth (possibly another cup of liquid)
• 1/2 TBSP of rosemary
• 4 cups of kale, de-veined bite size pieces
• 3 cups ham, cooked and cubed
• 1 TBSP lemon juice
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Green onions, diced, for topping

Directions

My plan is to cook the beans in a pot or crock pot before hand and then cook them with the rest of the ingredients later. So I suppose step on is cook the beans. Another part of me wants to dump everything into the crock pot at the same time, but I’m worried the rest of my veggies will get too tender.
Saute onions and garlic in olive oil until translucent.
Dump all the rest of the ingredients into a crock pot and cook until veggies are tender.

Of course, if I start losing time, I will saute the onions and garlic first. Add carrots, tomatoes, celery, seasonings and broth and allow veggies to get tender. Add pre-soaked beans, cook some more. Add kale and ham last.

We’ll see how this all goes. I’m hoping to fix gingerbread cookies (for extra spice in 2014?) and cornbread to go with the soup. I am debating getting some cheap sparkling wine for some mimosas. I don’t have a cutesy reason….except maybe that mimosas are amazing.

What do you eat special for the new year?
Have you ever had Hopping John/black eyed pea soup?