Girls Night In~ Kiss from a Rose

Another Girls Night In has come and gone. I'm getting sloppy. We're having so much fun I keep forgetting to take pictures of the food. It was another fondue night. Steak and Shrimp. I will never get sick of that. We also had some brown rice and a salad comprised of romaine, mixed greens, roasted pecans, cranberries and brie tossed in a balsamic vinaigrette that was to die for. I think I had 5 servings of that. Thanks Kathy!

The star of the night was the beverage.

Kiss from a Rose
1/2 oz. Raspberry Liqueur

1/2 oz. Creme de Cassis
4 oz. Rose Cuvee

Garnish with fresh berries

We modified the recipe slightly. we used 1/2 oz. of each liquor and then filled the wine glasses with champagne. We also left out the fruit.

This is the first beverage (with the exception of Margaritas) that everyone loved. We're a Red wine drinker, a Pink Wine drinker, a Whiskey and a Rum drinker collectively but all really enjoyed this drink. It was light and fruity but not so much so that it clashed with the food. It was a perfect celebratory beverage and we've all decided to have it again.

As usual, we laughed and caught up on everything going on in our lives. We talked diets and fitness (as we drank and filled our bellies). We probably should have talked about the best hgh supplements. Hot topics of the evening were American Idol and the Olympics.

It was a fun and crazy evening and I look forward to next months even though I don't remember which day we picked to have it. Oops.

*Thanks goes out to the nice folks at Barefoot who graciously supplied the Rose Cuvee and the recipe. They truly made the night special with a drink we all loved.

Girls Night In~ Margs, Salad and Chicken Enchiladas

Friday was another Girls Night In. Together time with the neighborhood Mommies. We drink, we cook, we drink some more, we eat, we walk home.

This is where we started...sort of. Our drink bringing member was running a little behind. We decided to each have a couple shots of Patron and a beer while we waited. Note to others: Always make sure your drink person is the FIRST to arrive.

These margs were wonderful. Very flavorful without being overly sour. Orange juice is the key to that.
We eventually moved on to the salad. It's the same recipe we had here.

So good we had to do it again. I think we each had 2 large helpings of salad before we moved onto the entree...

No. That's not it. Just part of it. We had Chicken Enchiladas. This is the cooked chicken mixed with onion, green chiles, cream of chicken soup, sour cream and chipotle pepper spice. You then take more of the soup/sour cream mixture and line the bottom of a pan and fill 8inch flour tortillas with about 1/2 cup of the chicken mixture. Roll and set in pan seam side down.

This yields 8 enchiladas and they are BIG. I at 1/2 of one. Top the enchiladas with remaining soup/sour cream mix and top that with cheese. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until top is bubbly and edges start to brown.

Top with any of your favorite toppings. We used Sour cream and Chipotle hot sauce. Yum!

We also had mud pie for dessert, but I guess we forgot to take pictures of that one. It didn't look all that pretty, but it made up for that in flavor!

Girl's Night In~ Fondue

I'm off my game. I'm not sure what happened. Usually our GNI evenings are well organized and go off without a hitch. I don't know if it was because there were only three of us. or because a printed menu wasn't distributed, I just felt the whole week like I was going to miss (forget) something. Fortunately, I remembered to purchase everything, I just forgot to take them all over and had to run back home...twice. It's only 3 doors down, but I felt like I earned my meal after sprinting back and forth. Then I forgot to take pictures. We scraped together some food as we were doing the dishes, but dessert was history. The night was still a blast. I'm only telling you because the pictures don;t do the meal justice.

We started with a glass of wine. Thanks to Alex and Friends at Turning Leaf for providing us with a sampling. I decided to go with the 2008 Cabernet and will save the Merlot for another day. Becky enjoyed the Chardonnay and Kathy, our White Zin drinker, brought her own. The Cabernet was perfect with our Steak and Shrimp Fondue and complimented the salad as well. I'm usually a Merlot fan but have been hearing more and more great things about Cabernet, so I wanted to give it another chance. This Turning Leaf did not disappoint.

Turning Leaf 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon (from the winery)

Harvest Notes:
The 2008 season finished with a warm October allowing the grapes to fully ripen on the
vine producing a Cabernet Sauvignon with exceptional richness and a smooth finish
just in time for our new 2008 vintage.

Tasting Notes:
Supple with aromas of black cherries and boysenberry jam. Notes of vanilla and brown
spice complement the dark fruit on the palate, resulting in a rich and lingering finish.

We sipped our wine while tinkering around the kitchen putting the salad together and setting up the fondue pot and unwrapping the meat, shrimp, and sauce. The salad was a combination of mixed greens, blueberries, toasted walnuts, and bleu cheese crumbles tossed in a raspberry walnut vinaigrette. We followed that (or more like intermingled) with ribeye steak and shrimp we cooked to desired doneness in oil.

Dessert was lemon pound cake and fresh-from-the-oven brownies dipped in melted chocolate. I actually think I may have been on the verge of a sugar coma. It was SO good.

We haven't actually planned January's menu yet. We're taking December off for the Holidays and instead I will bring you recipes from a cookie swap on December 12th.

I'm thinking we should take our show on the road. A new sort of reality show. You watch from your plasma tvs as we celebrate food and beverages that are easy to create, all while enjoying the company of good friends. Okay. Maybe not too exciting. There is very little drama. I do usually knock over a glass each month, but that is hardly worth mentioning since I haven't broken anything...yet. It's just moms talking about life and kids and husbands and jobs and food and WHATEVER.

Until next time....

Girl's Night In~ Mexican Fiesta

Another Fabulous Girls Night In was had by our group of four. This month's theme was Mexican Fair. It went over so well some were requesting it again for next month.

If you're new as to how we do this. I get together with three friends in our cul-de-sac. We have drinks and prepare food from a list of ingredients we all bring. The recipes are delivered ahead of time and everyone shops for either the entree, appetizer, side dish or beverage list. Then we get together (minus husbands and kids) and enjoy an evening of drinking, cooking, eating and talking. The entire event takes place in the kitchen and around the table and usually lasts about 4 hours. It's a great mini-get-away.

We started with Texatini's. Think Margarita meets Martini. Super yummy garnished with lime and jalapeno stuffed olives. I must say that olives soaked in margarita is a delicious treat. I couldn't stop at just one...or three. I think I ate everyone's olives.

We had a chorizo sausage and mushroom cheese dip with some chips as an appetizer. While it was delicious and the recipe called for chunks of sausage, I think it would be better and easier to serve up if the sausage was ground. But that's just me.



For our entree I dipped into my old bag of tricks (read: restaurant recipes)and preparred Twice grilled BBQ burritos. These are of Chi-Chi's fame and were a big hit. So good we forgot to take pictures until we were half way through...oops.



I'm going to start posting the recipes to my Recipe Swap FB page. If you are on Facebook and want to join, send a request and just say you came from Wine at Five. It is currently a closed group so we get participation from members and not just lurkers.

The conversation was fun as well. You know how these things go. We start with the usual pleasantries...How the kids are doing in school, who's been sick and with what, what we're up to, who's diet is working, what's a good natural acne treatment...that kinda stuff. By the end of the meal, it's less about the kids and more about us. Sex, who's having it and how often, who's had their yearly mammogram and how'd it go, tattoos, who has them and who would never...it's pretty much "anything goes" by the end of dinner.

I left this one completely stuffed...uncomfortably so...but...

I look forward to our next Girls Night In even more.

In Need of Mexican Entree

This Friday is or monthly Girls Night In. I'm in charge of the entree and am thinking of doing twice grilled BBQ Burritos, of Chi Chi's fame. Sometimes it sounds good and at other times I feel like something a little more elaborate. If you have any yummy Mexican Entree recipes now is the time to share...PLEASE. We're having rice and beans, jalapeno margaritas and a cheese dip appetizer. I want something with a little heat (one of our members doesn't do spicy well) and something maybe none of us has tried.

I know someone has to have the perfect recipe so please share.

I'll post pics and all the details over the weekend!

Another Girls Night In

The theme was Italian and we Rocked it! The food was fabulous, the wine was plentiful, though some got dumped, and the overall experience was like curling up under a heated blanket on a cold Winter night...COZY!

We started with the wines while preparing our feast. It was my first time with Chianti and while it was drinkable, it lacked the depth I like in my reds and would have been completely drowned out by the flavorful food. I switched to the Twisted Old Vine Zin and don't for a minute regret it. This Zin was bold and balanced and complimented the meal expertly. I might as well also add that the Ecco Domani Pinot Grigio got dumped out by our 2 white wine drinkers. One traded for $3 buck Chuck White Zin and the other (after having too much wine fun at last months event) decided to go for a couple shots (which turned into one) of Crown Royal.

As an appetizer we had Sun-dried tomato Crostini. Slices of baguette brushed with EVOO and topped with Sun-dried tomatoes and goat cheese, and put under the broiler to "crisp" them up.

For the entree we enjoyed some yummy warm Baked Ziti. Here it is before being put in the oven to melt all the yummy cheese.

We served that with a delicious antipasto salad with romaine, artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes, Genoa salami, prosciutto and chunks of mozzarella. He it is being prepared by Kathy .

As always, we drank, cooked, drank, ate, and talked. We never left the table once we sat to eat and the evening ended at 10:30. I so look forward to this event each month and enjoy sharing our recipes and wine with you.

Next Month...Mexican.

Stay Tuned!

Great Friends, Food and Wine

We had another Girls Night In last night. We've changed up our program a little. In the past we have all made a dish, either entree, salad (side), or dessert, and the fourth person was in charge of beverages. After last months dinner out, we decided that it would be fun to cook together. Kathy, our food coordinator, was nice enough to look up recipes that were 30 minutes or less. She sent (e-mailed) each of us a list of ingredients to bring and we took over the kitchen at Becky's house and made a fabulous meal.

Upon arrival, we all poured a glass of wine. A selection of white, red and blush was available to choose from.

We were then given the specific directions for each of our meals and started the cooking. Kathy brought portabella caps stuffed with sausage, cream cheese and rotelle tomatoes that only needed to be heated. We enjoyed these while we cooked the rest of the meal. Beth was in charge of the salad which consisted of romaine lettuce, bacon, chopped walnuts, onion and bleu cheese crumbles topped with a warm bacon and brown sugar vinaigrette. The dressing overcooked a little while we focused on other things (like drinking and laughing) but we found that a little sauvignon blanc was all it needed to thin it out.

I was in charge of the entree.
We had pan seared chicken breasts, liberally seasoned with a mixture of garlic, onion, pepper, and oregano and then topped with thin slices of Camembert cheese. The chicken was succulent and tasty. The Camembert was mild enough so as not to overpower the flavor of the chicken but instead complimented it.


The conversation was wonderful. Adult time! Women time! Mommy time! We talked about everything from dieting, exercise,and weight loss pills to kids, husbands and sex.

We had so much fun! This will be a new monthly post. We (I) will share our meals. Tell you what worked and what didn't, and share some great new recipes and wines.

Payback?

We had another Girls Night In last night. It's now just 3 of us since our 4th has another commitment on Wednesday Nights. The kids got upset as I was leaving, you'd have thought I was leaving for some Argentina travel. Boog wouldn't stop crying and wanted to know why I ALWAYS have to go. It's once a month. I kissed him and left him crying, I really needed a night with the girls, I was 3 houses away.
Becky thought it would be a good idea to start the night off with a shot of Patron, it was yummy, but feeling it today. I Would really like a couple hours of sleep, but know it will never happen. Boog claimed to not feel well this morning, I got him dressed for school anyway. He's said he was sick before and then runs around like a crazy person all day long causing me to reconsider my choice of letting him stay home. As a precaution I took his temp...102. Okay, no school today. I think this is my payback for the tequila and wine I consumed last night...but it was so much fun