Has anyone else’s home been taken over by Rainbow Loom? My daughter has been “looming” since Christmas with her buddies in the neighborhood and my son has finally caught on to the craze this week (after realizing that most of the boys in his class are loomers too). I think it’s hysterical…especially when I woke up to my kids looming peacefully with each other this morning before school (at 5:45am people!!).

Loomers, looming and LoomLove … all part of our daily vocabulary these days. (I love it.)

I also love this pasta. My whole family did (win!). Well, except the kids don’t like shrimp – partial win? More for the grown ups. 😉

I originally wanted to make this shrimp pasta from Damn Delicious (next time!), however I decided that I needed to clear a few lonely veggies out of the fridge. Apparently I had some feta and wine to get rid of too, thankfully. That’s the best part of skillet shrimp pasta dishes like this…almost anything goes!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

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If you know me, then you know I love a good cocktail. I don’t always like to make them though. Mostly out of laziness, I’ll admit. When I am in the mood for a drink, I like to keep things simple (like my favorite real lime margaritas or this tropical favorite – Cocomotion). Most of the time though, I tend to stick with a good glass of wine. Hard to go wrong with that.

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Long week?

(nod yes…)

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Ingredients

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I love a good sangria and this holiday sangria is up on the the list. It’s sweetened with a spiced simple syrup and seasonal fruit like apples, pears and oranges. I’ve been making this festive wine cocktail for years and I love bringing a bottle or two with me when I’m invited to a holiday get together with family and friends.

What’s great about sangria is you can make it ahead and the flavor just gets better as it chills. This sangria recipe is on the strong side so you can always add sparkling water to your glass to lighten it up and add some bubbles.

Cheers!

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Holiday Sangria

• Author: Aggies Kitchen
• Category: Beverage

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Holiday Sangria is a spiced wine cocktail that is perfect for the season!

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Ingredients

For the spiced simple syrup:

• 2 cups water
• 1 cup sugar
• 2–3 cinnamon sticks
• sliced orange peel (orange part only)
• 1 inch piece of peeled fresh ginger
• 1 tsp whole cloves
• 1/2 tsp whole peppercorns

For the sangria:

• 1 750ml bottle red wine (merlot or cabernet)
• 1/3 cup simple syrup
• juice from 1 orange
• 1/4 cup rum or brandy
• 1/4 cup orange flavored liquor (triple sec, Cointreu, Grand Marnier)
• sliced oranges, chopped apples (red and green), chopped pears
• frozen blackberries for serving

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Instructions

1. In a saucepan, combine water, sugar, cinnamon sticks, orange peel, ginger, cloves and peppercorns and bring to a boil. Continue to simmer while stirring and dissolving sugar. Boil until reduced a bit and slightly syrupy, about 15 minutes. Let simple syrup cool, strain and store in a glass jar in refrigerator. (You can use syrup for sangria or to sweeten tea, or sparkling water.)
2. To make sangria: In a large pitcher combine all ingredients. Let refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight for best flavor.

More sangria recipes:

Fruity White Sangria

White Peach Sangria | Foodiecrush

Spiced Apple Cider Sangria | Completely Delicious

Watermelon Sangria | The Pioneer Woman

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Allison arrived to meet me at the CIA in Napa Valley Thursday afternoon in this fun yellow cutie.

Meet Lucy.  (and Allison).

Here we are in front of our room at Meadowood.

Lucy did not come accessorized.
We had to pick up a little flower for her along the way (which became a nice souvenir for Gina).

First stop on the wine tasting adventure, Hall Wines

for some

(they were good…but not sure about crazy good).

After a not so substantial parking lot breakfast of trail mix, half a cereal bar and a plum followed by a wine tasting, lunch was definitely a priority.  Bistro Don Giovanni’s came highly recommended and we couldn’t wait to check it out.

This place was awesome!  The atmosphere was bustling but charming.  It was described to us as very “Napa”.  Everyone who worked here was super friendly…both owners stopped by our table to chat and ask how we were doing…it was a fun place to people watch too.

Carrying these name cards around with us may have helped in the friendly people department.  Everywhere we went, everyone knew our name!

Oh…and the food?  Unbelievable!  We enjoyed some appetizers and a big bowl of vegetable and farro soup (perfect for the chilly day)…

Bruschetta – Fresh grilled bread topped with white bean puree and sardines caught in Monterey Bay.  First time eating sardines for both of us and we loved this!

Carpaccio – Thinly sliced filet of beef, capers, arugula, parmesan and a bistro breadstick.  Melted in our mouths…I may have to learn how to make this at home.

Autumn Ravioli – can’t remember exactly but I believe the pasta was made out of butternut squash or pumpkin and filled with ricotta.  It was in a sage and butter sauce.  Heavenly.

Why oh why did I not take pictures of the food???

Next on the agenda was a random stop at Sawyer Cellars.  A small quaint farmhouse with delicious wine.  We both ended up going home with a couple of bottles here.

The wine taster was fun and kept us entertained while he gave us a little history of the property.  Oh and I have to mention how unbelievably “grapey” it smelled there.  It hit us the minute we walked in the building.  We asked about it and he said it was the fermentation of the grapes that we smelled (it’s “crush” season in Napa right now)…I had a huge moment of deja vu bringing me back to my very young days in NY where my grandpa used to make wine in our garage every year.  I am on a mission to find some pictures of that, it was always fun and what I would do to get my hands on some of that wine again!

Sawyer Cellars farmhouse:

After some quick texting back and forth with Allison’s parents, we ended up at Del Dotto Estate Vineyards.  Allison’s dad visited there and raved about it…we had to go.  So glad we did.

This place was GORGEOUS.  Del Dotto has two locations, one in St. Helena and one in Napa.  Our Friday afternoon visit was to the St. Helena location.

Everything about it was beautiful, they really have a nice set up.  Lots of tasting tables scattered throughout the rooms with a very Venetian feel to it.  And their little complimentary breadsticks were good too.  Addictingly good (maybe it was the wine?).  I think I may have eaten a whole basketful, dipped in olive oil….along with some chocolate.  Good stuff and VERY good wine!

What’s unique about Del Dotto is the caves.  They have cave tours held at both locations.  We were told the cave at the St. Helena location is the “Vegas” version of the old cave at the Napa location.  We opted to visit the ancient cave and booked ourselves a tour for first thing the next morning.

(the “fancy” cave at Del Dotto Vineyards St. Helena)

Dinner Friday night…

and where we slept…

Saturday morning we started with a much more substantial breakfast from Bouchon Bakery

(pumpkin brioche, almond croissant, regular croissant and some much needed coffee…)

and a run in with Thomas Keller’s garden scarecrow on our sunrise walk through Yountville (gotta love the East Coast/West Coast time difference…probably the only time I get out of bed that early with that much gusto!)

(isn’t he so stinkin cute? he was nestled in a field of corn, alongside the road, in a big garden used for The French Laundry and Bouchon restaurants)

After our walk and breakfast, off we went to the ancient caves of Del Dotto.

We had a few issues finding the place but if you ever find yourself “lost in Napa” you will quickly realize that there is no way to stress while driving around aimlessly in wine country.  It’s just too beautiful.  We were meeting up with our friends Bonnie and Steve and finally caught up to them in the dark cave…

(Allison, Bonnie and myself with our wine taster Chris…he knows his stuff!)

The wine tasting in the cave was a little different…we focused on the oak barrels more than the wine itself.  All the barrels were made from different oaks, and in turn brought different flavors to the wines.  It was so interesting!  I would love to do a tour like this again…hopefully one day Larry and I can sneak off to Napa together for a weekend.  🙂

Wine tasting notes:  It is VERY okay to share wine tasting flights.  It’s economical and Allison and I realized it was essential to split the tastings in order to maintain our stamina if you know what I mean.  And go ahead and eat the complimentary crackers and bread sticks. And toss the wine in the dump bucket if you aren’t that into it.  And don’t forget to drink your water.  These are all very important wine tasting survival tips.

Next up:

Connie recommended visiting her family friends at Reynolds Family Winery.  So glad we did.

Driving into this place, I immediately became awestruck.  The grounds are beautiful, their home is beautiful and it is exactly how I picture it to be to “live in Napa”.  There were pumpkins and colorful flowers everywhere and it felt very homey in the tasting room.  Lots of family pictures and a fat happy cat lounging on the cushy chair.  I just loved it.

Just a typical backyard in wine country…

We ended our tastings at Regusci Winery.  Another small family owned winery…very quaint and charming.

We really enjoyed their wines, especially their Zinfandel.  It was one of my favorites of the entire trip.  Allison and I both took home a bottle…wish we could have fit more in our luggage!  (13 bottles might have been enough…that was a fiasco in itself…oh my.)

The Regusci family dog, Trixie.  She took a liking to me and stayed by my side after we met.  Such a sweet girl (I think she might be 11 years old…).

It was definitely time for lunch at this point.  We made our way to Bouchon and had the most unforgettable meal.  The bread, the service, the atmosphere, our plates of food…it was all more than wonderful.  It was honestly the perfect way to end our trip.

Allison ordered Croque Monsieur and I had the Tartine du jour (Halibut salad served open faced over crusty Thomas Keller bread)…and of course lunch was complete with some crispy Pommes Frites and Heirloom Tomato Salad.  Sigh…just thinking about it is making me so hungry and almost sentimental.  🙂

Until we meet again wine country…I will miss you.

Cheers!!

The post Adventures in Napa Valley: Girl’s Trip to Wine Country appeared first on Aggie's Kitchen.

This week is the last week of the Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner Wednesday Challenge.  I was pretty happy to see that this last week’s recipe was one that I’ve been wanting to try.  After seeing Julie & Julia with me, my husband requested I make Beef Bourguignon.  Although it sounded and looked delicious in the movie, I wasn’t sure if a dish like it would just casually enter my weekly dinner menu.  Well it did.  And it was surprisingly simple enough thanks to Mr. Crockpot!

I successfully transformed the Beef Bourguignon recipe given to me by the Beef people into a slow cooker meal.  I usually turn away from recipes that call for beef browning, but this time I planned ahead and browned the beef cuts the night before and stored them in the slow cooker bowl in the fridge over night.

The next morning I dumped in some carrots, onions, mushrooms, wine and seasonings and plugged in.  It was so easy and I can’t tell you how thankful I was when I got home from a really busy day of running around to the smell of beef stewing in wine.  It was well worth the extra effort the night before, I promise.

I have never had Beef Bourg (as I will lovingly refer to it as from this point on…that is one long word!) before so I don’t know what to compare it too.  I omitted the bacon in the recipe to save on some calories, and added extra carrots and onions.  Instead of beef broth, I added 1/2 cup of water to the beef drippings in the pot I used to brown the meat, deglazed the pot and added the flavored liquid to the slow cooker.  After cooking on low for 8ish hours, the meat was totally fork tender.  It was delicious, and so were the mashed potatoes I made to go with it.

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Slow Cooker Beef Bourguignon and Simply Mashed Yukon Golds

• Author: Aggies Kitchen
• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 8 hours
• Total Time: 8 hours 15 minutes
• Yield: 6 servings
• Category: Beef
• Method: Slow Cooker
• Cuisine: French

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Slow Cooker Beef Bourguignon – this comforting and flavorful classic dish made in the crock pot.

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Ingredients

• 2 pounds beef chuck shoulder pot roast, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 cup beef broth
• 2 cups Burgundy or other dry red wine
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 4 crushed garlic cloves
• 2 teaspoons dried marjoram leaves, crushed
• 8 ounces baby carrots (about 1–3/4 cups)
• 8 ounces fresh pearl onions, peeled or frozen pearl onions
• 8 ounces mushrooms, cut in half if large
• Chopped fresh parsley (optional)

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Instructions

1. Lightly coat beef with flour. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in stockpot over medium heat until hot. Brown 1/2 of beef; remove from stockpot. Repeat with remaining beef, adding oil as needed. Remove beef from stockpot and into slow cooker; season with salt and pepper. Add 1/2 cup water to stockpot and deglaze beef drippings.  Add this broth to slow cooker.
2. Stir in wine, tomato paste, garlic and marjoram. Add carrots, onions and mushrooms.
3. Cook on low heat for 8-10 hours.

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Notes

Recipe adapted by Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner

If your family enjoys beef for dinner, check out these recipes:

Cheesy Southwest Beef and Potato Skillet

Beef and Spinach Stuffed Peppers

Skinnytaste Slow Cooker Picadillo

Mississippi Pot Roast

Hard Cider Pot Roast with Mushrooms, Carrots and Onions

Simply Mashed Yukon Golds
Recipe from Aggie’s Kitchen

8 yukon gold potatoes, quartered on halved (depending on size)
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 -3/4 cup lowfat milk
2 TB non fat Greek yogurt (or sour cream)
1 TB butter (I use Smart Balance)
4 garlic cloves, pressed
chives, optional

Place potatoes (with skin on) in pot, cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook until potatoes are fork tender. Place cooked potatoes into mixing bowl (I use my handy Kitchen Aid). Add butter, Greek yogurt and milk and start to mix. Start with 1/2 cup milk and add more if needed to taste.  Add pressed garlic, chives (optional) and salt and pepper and continue to mix until it reaches desired consistency.

Check out these other great blogs that have been participating in the Beef challenge this month!  Have a great day!

Kristen – Dine and Dish

Amy – Dinner’s for a Year and Beyond

Tiffany – Eat at Home

Andy – Dinner’s On Me

Kate – Cooking During Stolen Moments

Heidi – Tried and True Cooking with Heidi

Patsy – Family, Friends and Food

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