Overnight cole slaw

Today is barbecue day!

And what goes with barbecue? Cole slaw, baked beans, and barbecue sauce. (Maybe some cheese grits.)

I'm not a big fan of mayo-heavy slaws. This slaw is great because you can make it the day before, and leave it sitting in the sun for as long as you need to, since there's no mayo involved.

3 1/2 lbs cabbage, shredded
1 large Vidalia onion, shredded
1 lb carrots, shredded
3 celery ribs, shredded
1 cup sugar
1 cup white vinegar
3/4 cup peanut oil
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon celery seeds
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup chopped parsley

Mix the veggies together and add the sugar.

In a saucepan, combine the vinegar,oil, and seasonings (not the parsley). Bring to a boil. Pour the dressing over the slaw and mix well. Refrigerate overnight.

Just before serving, drain the slaw and add the parsley.

Cheap desserts edition!

In preparation for a bunch of kids this weekend, I spent yesterday morning using up the last of my sugar.

I made chocolate chip cookies, fudge, pecan pralines, vanilla ice cream, and juice popsicles (orange-mango juice poured into popsicle molds).

Total cost: minimal, since I already had all the ingredients on hand.

If I want to get crazy, I can make ice cream sandwiches with the cookies and the ice cream, or milkshakes.

The Fancy Free

For summer cocktail fun, I refer you to this article from the New York Times. It offers a fun "randomizer," in which you select a base spirit and it throws out a bunch of different cocktail options.

I made the Fancy Free, since I actually had those ingredients on hand.

2 ounces rye whiskey
1/2 ounce maraschino liqueur
Dash of Angostura bitters
Dash of orange bitters
Orange twist, for garnish

Stir, strain, serve over ice.

Kids

This weekend, my stepson and his cousins will be visiting. If it were just my in-laws, I would have gotten milk and eggs, maybe some fruit, and called it a day. We would all be perfectly happy to eat red beans and rice and drink wine.

But kids aren't typically hip to eating pesto, beans, and gussied-up restaurant leftovers, so I had to break down and buy some junk food. Sandwich bread, lunch meat, cereal, juice, tortilla chips, plus fixings for a barbecue (pork roast, hamburger buns, cabbage for cole slaw, canned baked beans, and some sausages), plus the regular stuff I already needed: milk, eggs, cream, potatoes, etc. $150 on food, and I haven't even bought the fresh fruits and vegetables yet. (And I didn't buy the usual compliment of junk food, like hot dogs.)

I guarantee you he'll eat nothing but spaghetti, turkey sandwiches, and cereal next week. It'll be like pulling teeth to get an apple or a carrot stick in him.

If people raised their kids to eat the same things the adults eat, everyone would spend a lot less on groceries.

So the rest of the week will be spent prepping food for everyone, since I'll be working all next week. A huge batch of tomato sauce, frozen pizza dough, vanilla ice cream, and veggie sticks with dip (plus probably praline, fudge, and some form of cookies), and bread for the adults.

For the two of us, I've turned this week's batch of restaurant leftovers into mushroom risotto with asparagus and sea trout. (Also procured: peas, chives, and parmesan cheese.)

Daiquiri (the original)

I'm back! Sorry about the lack of posts for the past two days--it's been difficult to come up with the time (and new content), what with working 60 hours a week on my feet and all. Neither DH nor I are eating much these days (I eat a lot of staff meal at work, he's not eating because he's unemployed and depressed), so I haven't been cooking much.

But family is coming to visit this weekend, so never fear! Exciting stuff is on the way!

In the meantime, let's talk about daiquiri. The original version, that is, not the frozen-drink-girly-fruity variety.

An old-school daiquiri is just rum, lime juice, and simple syrup. Shake and serve up, preferably in a chilled glass. That's it. No crushed ice, no strawberries, no blender required. Rumor has it this was Ernest Hemingway's favorite drink.

1.75 oz rum
.75 oz lime juice
.75 oz simple syrup

Shake with ice, strain, and serve up.

Pasta salad with crab, corn and fava beans

Remember the pasta salad with feta and fava beans from the other day?

I suddenly realized it could be so much more awesome.

I had some crabmeat from the restaurant that needed to be used up; I thought about making crab cakes, but I'd used all my eggs in the crustless mushroom quiche. So I combined the already-made pasta salad into a new, bigger, more awesome version of pasta salad:

Penne, with crab, corn, feta, and fava beans, along with olive oil, tarragon vinegar, and seasonings.

As a bonus, I used up all the crab, corn, feta, and fava beans.

Crustless mushroom quiche

Part of household management is paying attention. Every couple of days, I look at everything in the refrigerator, to see what might be on the cusp of going bad. Yesterday's foray reminded me that I still had several containers of restaurant leftovers to process.

So I used a huge plastic tub of sauteed baby mushrooms, and the rest of my eggs, to make a crustless mushroom quiche.

6-7 eggs
2 1/2 cups sauteed mushrooms
3/4 cup milk (I used watered-down heavy cream, which is not exactly the same, but hey, it's all I had)
1/2 cup shredded parmesan
Seasonings: salt, pepper, dried herbs

Combine well. Pour into a buttered pie dish, and bake at 350 until the center doesn't wobble anymore (close to an hour).

Easy, low-maintenance, delicious. Now I just have to get some more eggs.