Coffee Julep

Nate's sister came to Colorado for a conference and was able to spend not one but TWO weekends with us! We had such a blast hanging out with her and trying a few new recipes, including this one. She recreated it last Saturday in honor of the Kentucky Derby, so she must have approved!

Coffee Julep

Ingredients:
12 fresh mint leaves (about 1 oz), plus additional for garnish
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 ounces bourbon of your choice, divided (can you guess what kind we used?)
4 cups coffee, brewed and chilled
ice cubes

Directions:
Muddle mint leaves with honey, vanilla extract, and a splash of bourbon. Divide remaining bourbon evenly between two glasses filled with desired amount of ice. Divide muddled mint mixture between the two glasses, using a sieve if you do not want the leaves to go into the glasses. Top with cold coffee and stir gently. Garnish each glass with a single mint leaf and serve.

ditching cable

We gave up cable a few years ago and really haven't missed it. We find that we can catch most of our favorite shows online. We're big fans of Netflix and the Roku, too. OK occasionally when one of our teams is playing on ESPN, we wish we could catch it at home, but we can usually head down the street and watch at the bar. Hey, we love an excuse to walk down to the bar.

Plus there are plenty of cool public access channels we can still watch through the basic connection. One of our favorites is Create. If you've never watched it, it's mostly travel, DIY, and cooking shows with hosts like Lidia Bastianich, Ming Tsai, and Julia Child. Sure it's corny sometimes, but if you can get past that there's some great content.

Recently we were inspired by Jacques Pepin, who made a quick leeks au gratin. After watching, we decided to make a similar version with potatoes. Jacques uses swiss cheese; we, of course, used Vermont cheddar. It was crunchy and flavorful, and since this recipe doesn't use any milk or cream it wasn't too heavy. We paired it with a simple salad dressed with a shallot cream sauce.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Super Crunchy Potatoes au Gratin

 

Ingredients:

2 large new potatoes (or sub what you have), sliced into 1/4" discs
1 cup panko bread crumbs
1/2 c grated mozzarella
1/2 c grated Vermont cheddar
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp dried thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp butter, cut into 1/2" cubes

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375.

Bring a pot of salted water to boiling. Parboil the potatoes for 5 minutes. Remove the potatoes from heat and drain.

Combine the panko and cheeses in a small bowl. Stir to combine. Add thyme and salt and pepper to taste. Stir again. Add olive oil and stir again.

Lightly grease a 9-inch round baking dish. Sprinkle a small amount of the panko mixture in the bottom of the dish. Arrange half of the potato slices in the dish. Sprinkle half of the remaining panko mixture over the potato slices. Repeat with remaining potato slices and panko mixture.

Arrange butter over top. Bake for 10 minutes. Allow to cool for 2-3 minutes before serving.

spring sprouts

We wanted to provide an update to a previous post. Houston, we have sprouts! From upper left to bottom right: the basil is showing some promise, the cilantro is slow going but we have high hopes, and the dill is going gang-busters!

Thanks again Easter Bunny!