Jodie's Closet by Jodie Aboud: 10/01/2013

Sunday, October 27, 2013

My Style!

My Style! by jodiescloset featuring black pumps

Friday, October 25, 2013

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Sparkling Apple Cider Slushies

The key to this drink is freezing the cider on its own. I’ve found that this is the easiest method for making slushy drinks quickly and easily.

Carefully pour the apple cider into a large gallon zip top bag, seal, and place in the freezer for several hours, until frozen or very thick and icy. If the cider is frozen solid, allow to melt until it can be broken up into a thick, icy consistency (you want to be able to squish it around in the bag a bit with your hands).

Now, to break up the frozen bits, you just stir in a chilled beverage of your choice. I prefer sparkling cider (for all ages) or champagne (for adults only), but it’s also excellent with plain apple juice.

Sparkling Apple Cider Slushies
Makes about 11 cups (can easily be cut in half)

Ingredients

1 bottle (24.5 ounces) sparkling cider*
1 gallon (64 ounces) apple cider

Place the sparkling cider in the refrigerator to chill.

Transfer the frozen cider to a large punch bowl and pour the chilled sparkling cider over it, stirring to break up any big pieces. Serve immediately.

*Substitute with champagne for an adults only version. If you don’t want sparkling slushies, use plain apple juice. You could also use a clear soda, such as Sprite, or use half frozen and half chilled apple cider.

Recipe by Darla Visit Bakingdom.com for more info!

Cranberry and Avocado Salad with Candied Spiced Almonds and Sweet White Balsamic Vinaigrette

This salad is perfect for a quick lunch, a fancy brunch, a lovely side salad or a complete meal with chicken, shrimp or pork tenderloin piled on top. You can add goat cheese, blue cheese or any other fun cheese that strikes your fancy. It’s wonderful with spinach, Romaine, field greens, Bibb lettuce, arugula… did I miss your favorite? Well, it’s great with that too! Feel free to change out the nuts also – don’t have any almonds? Candied Spiced Pecans would be a fabulous switcheroo!

The recipe below is for my Cranberry-Avocado Salad with Candied Spiced Almonds and Sweet White Balsamic Vinaigrette, but feel free to have fun and adapt according to your tastes, whims, cravings, pantry and budget!

A delicious salad featuring cranberries, avocado and candied spiced almonds.

Author: Chris Scheuer

Recipe Type: Salad

Serves: 6 as main

Ingredients

Ingredients for the dressing:

½ cup (60g) sugar
1 ½ tablespoons poppy seeds
1 ½ tablespoons sesame seeds
1 teaspoon paprika
2 teaspoons dried mustard
1 tablespoon minced sweet onion
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ cup (120 ml) white balsamic vinegar
⅓ cup (70 ml) vegetable oii
⅓ cup (70 ml) extra virgin olive oil

Ingredients for the salad:

12 ounces (340g) baby spinach, arugula, field greens
1 small bunch cilantro, washed and dried, leaves removed whole from stems (discard the stems or use for another recipe)
2 medium avocados, peeled and halved
1½ cup (115g) dried cranberries
1½ cup (115g) Candied Spiced Almonds (see recipe)

Ingredients for the almonds:

5 cups (600g) sliced almonds, or a 1 pound package
cup (100g) sugar
3 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon cumin*
1-1 ½ teaspoons smoked paprika* – some smoked paprikas are quite hot, if you don’t like “hot”, just use 1 teaspoon and they will be mildly spiced.
1 teaspoon vanilla
sea salt
The cumin and the smoked paprika give just a hint of mysterious, delicious flavor – even though these are savory spices, these almonds are still wonderful served with sweets like ice cream or yogurt.

Instructions

For the dressing; combine all ingredients in a pint sized glass jar and shake well to dissolve sugar.

For the salad; place greens and cilantro leaves in a large bowl.

Add avocado and dried cranberries and about ¼ cup of the dressing and toss gently.
Scatter candied almonds over salad and sprinkle lightly with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Pass extra dressing at the table.

For the almonds:

place a large sheet of foil on a work surface. Spray with cooking spray or rub a teaspoon of oil over foil with a paper towel.
Place sugar in a large non-stick sauté pan and heat over medium heat, occasionally tipping and swirling the sugar until it’s all melted into a pale golden syrup.
Lower heat immediately and add butter, cinnamon, smoked paprika and vanilla. Stir until well combined and all butter is incorporated into the sugar syrup.
Add the nuts and stir gently to coat. Don’t worry if you have some clumps of caramelized sugar – they will melt as you continute to sauté the almonds. Cover and continue to cook on low, stirring every minute or so until almonds are a delicious golden brown. Watch very carefully as they can go from beautiful to burned very quickly! Turn out onto prepared foil and sprinkle liberally with sea salt. Spread out on foil to cool.