A Michelada at El Rayo = An Interesting Non-Alcoholic Beverage

We recently stopped in for lunch at El Rayo Taqueria while spending the day in Portland’s Old Port.  Our initial plan was to try a restaurant that was new to us, but since we arrived hungry at just after 2 p.m., we found that our first two choices were closed from 2:00-5:00 p.m.  Our next choice was to venture on to find another new-to-us lunch spot, or stop in for what we knew would be a delicious, freshly prepared meal at El Rayo.

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Homemade Ice Cream Topping

Homemade ice cream topping makes for a real treat to give as a simple gift, or to enjoy on vanilla ice cream at home.  It was fairly easy to make with the help of my new candy thermometer.  The only modification I made was to add walnuts instead of pecans, and I toasted the walnuts before adding them to the sauce.

The recipe can be found at: http://www.relish.com/recipes/butterscotch-bourbon-sauce/ .

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Warm Winter Beverages

It’s officially a month past Christmas, but I’m still enjoying the contents of my Christmas stocking–especially the warm winter beverages.  Here are two of my favorites:

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Chocolate Cookies with a Kick

This year, for the holidays, I made only one batch of sugar cookies.  Instead of using the traditional recipe, I made a few modifications which included adding cocoa, ground cinnamon, ground chipotle, and ground cayenne to the batter.  These cookies had a sweet and spicy flavor that made them interesting and satisfying without overindulging.

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Garbanzo Bean Chocolate Cake

Not too long ago I was looking for a gluten-free dessert recipe, and stumbled upon this one…  I wasn’t sure how the cake would turn out without any flour, and without any butter or oil in the batter, but I liked the idea of using a healthful ingredient instead of butter and oil.  To give it a little extra kick, and as an attempt to mask any garbanzo bean flavor that might be evident in the end product, I sprinkled a little ground cayenne, ground chipotle, and a ground cinnamon into the batter.

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Habanero Dip

My experience with dip mixes is that they’re usually good, but not usually as spicy as they should be.  Habanero dip SHOULD be pretty spicy, and Winterport Co. has the right blend!

When I prepared this dip, I followed the directions on the package and found, to my surprise, that it was actually a little too spicy for me!  I simply added the rest of the sour cream to the mix (a total if 16 oz.), pretty much doubling the amount of dip we would have for veggies.  The end result was a very spicy, flavorful dip that lasted most of the week and motivated us to eat a few more vegetables each day.

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Cake Balls

I’ve been seeing recipes for cake balls, special devices to make cake balls and cake pops, and have been interested in making them for a while.  While I still have not gotten around to making them myself, I did receive a lovely package of them as a Christmas gift.

These might be better described as cake truffles–very moist cake filling with a smooth chocolate coating.  The red velvet variety made for a nice festive holiday treat, though I must say I am partial to the double chocolate!  These were a huge temptation in our fridge for as long as they lasted…

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Happy New Year!

For Christmas we received a bottle of alcohol removed Champagne; perfect for New Years Eve!  Thanks again, Katie & Tim!

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Norway Winter Farmers’ Market

A couple of weeks ago we visited the Norway Winter Farmers’ Market for the first time.  I was impressed with the variety of products offered at a somewhat small farmers’ market, and was thrilled to find Christmas gifts for a few of the people on my list, which shall not be mentioned at this time for obvious reasons…

In addition to getting a little Christmas shopping done, I bought some lovely locally grown veggies and fruit, and thoroughly enjoyed what I will refer to as THE BEST CINNAMON BUN EVER.

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Pop Shoppe Diner

We have walked by the Pop Shoppe Diner on several occasions, usually in the afternoon on a weekend when they have been closed.  Last weekend we decided to take a walk out for Sunday brunch, and found the Pop Shoppe to be open.

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