Cheers to 26

I apologize for the blogging silence recently! I had a final paper and exam in my grad school class (just found out I got an A!), and working for a university means that all hands are on deck for graduation day. In the meantime, I  turned 26! Twenty-five was a pretty big year: we bought our first home, I started MBA grad school and made it through three classes and we took a bunch of trips—St. Louis, Birmingham, San Francisco and Nashville, to name a few.

I feel as though 25 was a challenging year (anything that involves me and finance is challenging), in a good way that included learning a lot of new things.

So, I thought I'd toast the arrival of 26 with a mint julep—in the new monogrammed mint julep cups Andrew ordered for my birthday! Mint juleps are a classic southern drink, and the most simple ones have just four ingredients.

Classic Mint Julep

7 fresh mint leaves
1 tablespoon simple syrup
2 oz. bourbon
Crushed ice

1.) Combine mint leaves, syrup and bourbon in a mint julep cup and crush, using a muddler, the end of a wooden spoon or some other object.

2.) Fill cup with crushed ice.

3.) Stir gently to combine.

4.) That's it! Enjoy!

Cheers to 26. This year, I hope to run a half marathon, continue my MBA work, improve my public speaking skills, study for my APR (accreditation in public relations) and, of course do fun things like travel! We are off to the beach next week for the first of two summer trips, so traveling will be off to a good start.

How do you ring in a new year? Do you have any great drink recipes we should try?

Fresh Pico de Gallo

Andrew is a connoisseur of salsas, but fresh, simple, six-ingredient pico de gallo is his favorite. We eat it with chips, add it to tacos or taco salad and top steaks with it—delicious!

Ingredients:
1 small white onion, diced (or 1/2 a large onion, diced)
2 large Roma tomatoes, cored and diced (taking out the seeds reduces excess moisture)
1 large jalapeno, cored and diced (or 2 small jalapenos, cored and diced)
juice of 2 limes (we used 3 in this recipe because they were really small)
Cilantro, chopped, to taste
Salt to taste

Steps:
1. Mix diced onion, jalapenos, tomatoes and chopped cilantro in bowl.
2. Wash hands after handling jalapeno! I forget this step a lot, and it is no fun putting contacts in the next morning.
3. Squeeze lime into onion, jalapeno, tomato and cilantro mixture.
4 Salt to taste.
5. Toss, taste and adjust ingredient ratios if needed.
6. Toss and refrigerate. (Or eat immediately—we think it's better if it sits for a little while.)
7. Enjoy with chips, steak, tacos or whatever you'd like!

Chopping onion.

Coring jalapenos.

Dicing jalapeno.

Andrew requested I add this photo so that he could tell the blogosphere to always choose the ugliest tomato as it will be the most delicious.

Chopping cilantro. We add a lot, but you should add it to taste.

I come in and do the fun things, like squeezing limes and drinking wine.

Sprinkling salt.

Ta-da! Spring has arrived!

Do you make homemade salsa? Please share if so! We are planting a salsa garden soon and hope to try all kinds this summer.

Very excited to link up with Ali at Jam Hands and Kerrie, Jessica and Jamie for Wonderful Food Wednesday! Check it out for some delicious recipe ideas.

Grown Up Ice Cream Float

Not that ice cream needs to grow up, but if you like beer and you like ice cream, you'll love this chocolate stout and ice cream float.

Rogue chocolate stout + French vanilla ice cream = deliciousness.

Just pour some chocolate (or triple chocolate, if you're feeling especially awesome) stout into the bottom of your class and add a large scoop of ice cream. Then, add some more beer and top with a generous portion of ice cream. Delicious! Cute paper straws from Etsy and float glasses (I think—does anyone know what kind of glasses these are?) from the Goodwill don't hurt either.

We've made this with French vanilla (pictured above), salted caramel and coffee ice cream, so as long as it pairs with chocolate, it's probably going to be good. 

Don't let the idea of a beer float discourage you—it's chocolate, after all.

This is Andrew's favorite dessert, so if your husband is anything like mine, file it away for a birthday or Father's Day meal. (We celebrate Father's Day because we have dogs ... is this odd? One year, the dogs sent Andrew on a scavenger hunt for gifts, replacing some of the items they'd eaten over the course of the year, including things like a pork chop and earbuds.)

What's your take on a childhood favorite? Have you used beer in a dessert? Or for cooking in general? Do tell!

Easy Grilled Pizza

Back in the day (like a year ago) Andrew worked for a pizza magazine. (As in, wrote about cured meat toppings, competitive pizza eating, pizza runs, etc.) You think that writing about pizza all day would make him not want to eat it, but pizza has the opposite effect—we ate a lot of it. Grilled pizza is my favorite. It adds a deep, smoky flavor to the dough and nice grill lines. Also, it sounds cool to say, "Last night we grilled some pizzas."

We use Martha Stewart's basic grilled pizza dough for grilled and baked pizza. (It does require some rising time, so start it about 1 1/2 hours before you want to eat. For a quick no-rise dough, we like this recipe.)

Once you're dough is ready, it's time to grill!

1. Fire up the grill
2. Pre-cook your toppings and set aside
3. Turn out dough on floured surface
4. Brush dough on both sides with olive oil
5. Grill dough (without toppings) for about 30 seconds on each side for nice grill lines. (If grill is not very hot, it may take longer.) Remove from heat.
6. Add sauce and pizza toppings to dough.
7. Grill pizza until cheese has melted, about five minutes.
8. Enjoy! It's really freaking good!

Hawaiian grilled pizza with cilantro

The best part of Martha's recipe is punching the dough!

Sawyer watched the whole pizza making process and seemed concerned.

Do you have a favorite pizza topping? Have you mastered whole wheat dough? If so, do tell!