Buffalo Cauliflower

In November Julia and I went with friends to one of my favorite neighborhood restaurants, and had one of the best appetizers ever – buffalo cauliflower. I am normally not a huge cauliflower fan – I like it just fine, but it’s never anything I think about making or ordering. This cauliflower was fantastic, and it seemed like it had to be easy to make so I set out to do just that. 

In the midst of college football bowl games whip this easy appetizer or side dish up and everyone will love it without the guilt of wings.

  

Buffalo Cauliflower

(Serves 2-4)

Ingredients:

1 head cauliflower, chopped into florets

1 Tbs. canola oil

1/3 c. Frank’s Red Hot

1 Tbs. butter or Earth Balance

1 Tbs. blue cheese crumbles

Salt and pepper 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400

Toss cauliflower with 1 Tbs. Canola oil

Black pepper and pinch of salt

Roast at 400 for 16-20 minutes, flipping once. Make sure not to over crowd the pan so the cauliflower roasts and does not steam.

While cauliflower is in the oven combine heat 1/3 c. Frank’s Red Hot with 1 Tbs. butter/butter substitute

Toss roasted cauliflower in bowl with buffalo sauce

Add 1 Tbs. blue cheese crumbles, serve.

Enjoy!  

    
 

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Spiced Christmas Cocktail

 It’s almost Christmas, and we all know ’tis the season for lots of eating and drinking.  And while I love so many holiday drinks, sometimes there is only so much eggnog you can consume before going into a cream coma.  That’s why I love this lightened up Spiced Christmas Cocktail.  It has such a good zip from the fresh ginger and orange juice, and the cinnamon and bourbon make it feel really festive without going over the top.  You can make the infused simple syrup ahead of time and store it in the fridge for weeks.  Then it’s just a matter of mixing up a drink for yourself or making a large batch to serve as punch.

 

Spiced Simple Syrup

-1/2 c. sugar

-1/2 c. water

-2 inches of ginger, sliced thin

-1 cinnamon stick

Combine all of the ingredients in a small sauce pot and bring to a gentle boil.  Let it boil for a minute or two, remove it from the heat, and let the mixture completely cool before straining and storing it in the fridge.

 

Spiced Christmas Cocktail

-1/2 part spiced simple syrup

-2 parts bourbon

-2 parts orange juice

-1 part water

Combine all of the ingredients and top with lots of ice.  When making this for a single cocktail, I used a jigger to measure the different parts, but if you want to make a punch (as I’m sure all of those family members staying at your house for Christmas will want you to), just increase the volumes while sticking with this same ratio.  Enjoy and Merry Christmas!

Tuesday’s Table – Roast Chicken

My mom is known for her roast chicken. She takes them to people when they are sick, busy, sad, etc. This is her thing. I have always loved being on the receiving end of this gift but have never roasted a chicken of my own. For years I was intimidated by roasting a whole chicken. Years, like until this one, and we’re coming up on the end of 2015. BUT I have now conquered this chicken twice and am here to preach about it. Im pretty sure it will be a go-to of mine for the rest of my life, at least once a month.

Healthy, simple, homemade, guaranteed leftovers that can be repurposed a zillion different ways. Yep. This is a winner and I’m no longer a chicken — get it?…

Roast Chicken

4-6 pound whole organic chicken (the smaller the better)

2 onions, cut into eighths

1-2 lemons, several thin, round slices then just cut pieces

6-10 cloves of garlic, peeled

Rosemary sprigs

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

This will require a good bit of handling raw chicken so be prepared by having Clorox wipes and soap on hand. But this is not half as bad or as scary as I thought it would be! You can do it.

Rinse and pat dry small, whole chicken.

Chop onions and lemons

Peel whole cloves of garlic and cut rosemary sprigs

Arrange 4 slices of lemon and 2-3 sprigs of rosemary under skin of chicken (you will need to sort of separate the skin from the chicken to slide lemons in – sounds peculiar but isn’t bad).

Fill cavity of your chicken with several pieces of lemon, onion, and rosemary. As well as season it heavily with salt and pepper.

Rub the outside of the chicken with olive oil, then season with sea salt and pepper.

Place the chicken on top of a bed of onions, and garlic. **Be sure your garlic is underneath the chicken so it roasts but does not burn.**

Preheat oven to 400, once you put chicken it reduce heat to 350. Roast your chicken at 20 minutes per pound,basting every twenty minutes.  This sounds cumbersome but just set the timer on your oven or phone and it’s easy as pie. If you chicken starts to get too brown towards the end, cover with aluminum foil. If you have a quick-read meat thermometer use this for double checking your chicken so it is not over or under done–it should be around 165F.

After removing from the oven let rest 10 minutes before carving.

Raw chicken, ick. After washing and patting dry, I stand the chicken up on top of paper towels so it can continue to dry while I chop onions, lemon and prepare garlic.

As you can see there is no reason to be shy with your seasoning. 
Basting. Use either a baster, silicon brush or a big spoon.

  

Ta-da!

Pistachio Cranberry Goat Cheese and Our Holiday Playlist!

This seems to be the week that kicks off the fun and jam-packed Christmas time!  We’ve got holiday events Wednesday through Saturday evenings. I’m tired already, but so excited. In this post you will find an easy appetizer that you can whip up quickly for any holiday get together as well as our Christmas playlist! 

To get fully into the Christmas spirit turn on our Holiday Favorites Playlist. It’s all of our favorite Christmas classics like Nat King Cole and Billie Holiday mixed in with a few newbies for good measure (NSYNC’s “Merry Christmas” anyone?!).

Press play. Then whip up this incredibly easy appetizer that’s a crowd pleaser as well the perfect color combination for Christmas.

Cheese Log with Cranberries and Pistachios

1 small goat cheese log 

1/2 brick of cream cheese

Freshly ground black pepper

Pinch of sea salt

1/2 c. Pistachios, chopped

1/2 c. Fresh Cranberries OR Craisins, chopped

– IF using fresh cranberries then roast them in oven for 15-20 minutes with 1/2c. of sugar

Let cheeses soften a bit then combine the two, adding black pepper and a touch of salt. Using wax paper shape them cheese mixture into a log. 

(If making the day ahead of time keep the mixture in the waxed paper and also wrap it with Saran Wrap then leave in fridge.) The day you plan to serve this app, add chopped cranberries and pistachios to the outside of the cheese. 

The easiest way I have found to do this (requiring the least amount of cleanup) is to keep everyone on the waxed paper and use the paper to roll/work the cranberries and pistachios onto the cheese. The colors really couldn’t be better for any Christmas party or just small get together with friends.

   

Gift Giveaway

 
We’ve teamed up for an Instagram gift giveaway valued at $250!!  It includes a $50 Visa Gift Card, a $50 Neiman Marcus Gift Card, a large S’well Water Bottle, a pair of Jocelyn fur mittens, & a holiday set from Beautycounter! Perfect gifts to keep for yourself or to gift if searching for last minute presents.

To enter, follow @adelinealley, @cobaltchronicles, and @seededinthesouth on Instagram then tag two friends on our Instagram picture! The giveaway will close at 8pm EST on Thursday, December 10th, and the winner will be announced on Friday, December 11th! 

  
Good luck!!