Last Friday was the official start of Spring, and with some good weather finally sweeping in, it was time to celebrate. Nothing says sunny days and lazy afternoons like fruity sangria. I’ve dubbed the recipes below “Springria” in honor of the new season.
I've included recipes for both white and red wine based sangria. Enjoy some sangria with your friends and enjoy the start of spring!
I really love olives and I really love dips. So I wanted to create a recipe that used olives, and lots of them. Several recipes I have tasted, have olives in them, but they were more of just a dip with olives rather than an olive dip. I wanted to create something that tasted Mediterranean but still was using common ingredients, most importantly, lots of olives. It has the texture of a tapenade, but a lot more flavors. I have made this dip several times and heard some good comments from my fellow olive lovers.
It may have been a little ambitious for a couple of amateur foodies, but last Saturday we decided to develop our own pork chop recipe. After thumbing through tons of online recipes, I couldn’t find a one that seemed just right. I was frustrated that there were really only two options for pork – marinated or breaded. I was frustrated because I wanted both in one chop! So I took some of the best things from all the recipes I read, evaluated what was already in the fridge, experimented a little and ended up with the recipe below for Beer-Marinated, Pretzel Encrusted Pork Chops.
It was hard enough to try 25 different beers in 25 days, blogging about each one certainly did not happen. However, let it be known that Jingle Beers 2008 was conquered in good form. We tasted 25 Christmas or Winter Brews in the first 25 days of December. Below is a complete list of the beers we sampled.
Full details after the break.
For our third selection, we ventured to the world of Colorado craft beers which are best known for their quality and distinct flavors. I have heard of Breckenridge but never sampled this Denver-area brewery. I was expecting a crisp beer with full aroma and flavor and was not disappointed. This ale was balanced, spiced with subtle winter flavors and a nutty aroma. However, despite its quality, it didn’t strike me as anything unique as far as Christmas Beers go. It lacked the “Christmas spice” I crave in holiday brews. Breckenridge did deliver an excellent beer full of flavor, just not my favorite. (Though probably my favorite label.)