The 60-Second Food Schmooze

Is there a better way to start a party? As soon as guests arrive, hand each one a Food Schmooze® Shrimp Cocktail Bloody Mary. Chill a pitcher of your favorite Bloody Mary mix, store-bought or homemade, with vodka. Then chop cooked shrimp and fill the glass with the shrimp, half-way. Add the Bloody Mary mix to the shrimp in the glass and top the whole thing with a generous amount of chopped crispy bacon bits or use a single bacon strip as a swizzle stick. Hand each guest a spoon. Welcome to the party. You can skip the vodka and make a pitcher of shrimp cocktail mocktails for kids and non-drinkers, too.

If you’re leaning toward a store-bought Bloody Mary mix, we can recommend two delicious mixes made in Connecticut. For an ultra spicy mix, look for Waypoint Spirits Labrador Noon XIII. For a lower-sodium classic mix with bold flavor, try Manny’s Ultimate Bloody Mary Mix. Both mixes produced a deliciously savory “app-a-cocktail.”

ON-DEMAND: Listen to Faith and the gang talk about this fun appetizer/cocktail during an episode of the show.

Do I have a wine tip for you. While wine can be chilled in an ice bucket, how do we keep wine chilled once it hits the glass, without adding watery ice cubes? I buy affordable wines, then grab an extra bottle, which I pour into ice cube trays that I freeze.

When I’m serving the wine, I add frozen wine ice cubes to every glass. It turns to a heavenly slush at the end, and, meanwhile, the wine stays ice cold as you sip away.

ON-DEMAND: Listen to Faith and the gang discuss ways to make summer wine more festive. Think: frozen fruit, a splash of soda water. . .

Photo: Bryan Kennedy/Flickr, creative commons

The post How to Keep Wine Icy in the Glass appeared first on Faith Middleton's Food Schmooze.

Support the show: https://foodschmooze.org/donate/

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Do I have a wine tip for you. While wine can be chilled in an ice bucket, how do we keep wine chilled once it hits the glass, without adding watery ice cubes? I buy affordable wines, then grab an extra bottle, which I pour into ice cube trays that I freeze.

When I’m serving the wine, I add frozen wine ice cubes to every glass. It turns to a heavenly slush at the end, and, meanwhile, the wine stays ice cold as you sip away.

ON-DEMAND: Listen to Faith and the gang discuss ways to make summer wine more festive. Think: frozen fruit, a splash of soda water. . .

Photo: Bryan Kennedy/Flickr, creative commons

Breaking news, cinnamon-lovers. The American Heart Association says rats fed a high-cinnamon, high-fat diet, absorbed less of the fat and showed an increase in molecules that fight damaging inflammation. So now I’m liberally adding cinnamon to my morning chai tea. I combine the cinnamon and milk, mix it with a cheap hand-held frother, then add the hot water and tea bag. Next, I’m going to add cinnamon to ice cream, homemade chocolates, streusel cake, apple crisp, martinis, and granola. I will be so skinny I will disappear.

The post Cinnamon for Health? appeared first on Faith Middleton's Food Schmooze.

Support the show: https://foodschmooze.org/donate/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Breaking news, cinnamon-lovers. The American Heart Association says rats fed a high-cinnamon, high-fat diet, absorbed less of the fat and showed an increase in molecules that fight damaging inflammation. So now I’m liberally adding cinnamon to my morning chai tea. I combine the cinnamon and milk, mix it with a cheap hand-held frother, then add the hot water and tea bag. Next, I’m going to add cinnamon to ice cream, homemade chocolates, streusel cake, apple crisp, martinis, and granola. I will be so skinny I will disappear.

If you, like us, love strawberry shortcake, we have a killer tip for making ordinary strawberries great. I learned this tip from Food Schmooze® Senior Producer, Robyn Doyon-Aitken. Put your clean strawberries on a rimmed baking sheet—it has to be rimmed, and lined with parchment paper. Bake the strawberries in a 350° oven for about 30 minutes. You could sprinkle them with sugar before baking them, but you don’t have to. Check them often, toward the end. The heat concentrates the flavors, and now you’ve got super strawberries—even in early-spring when everybody knows strawberries could use a flavor boost.

Photo: Tracy Benjamen/Flickr, creative commons

The post How to Give Strawberries a Flavor Boost appeared first on Faith Middleton's Food Schmooze.

Support the show: https://foodschmooze.org/donate/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you, like us, love strawberry shortcake, we have a killer tip for making ordinary strawberries great. I learned this tip from Food Schmooze® Senior Producer, Robyn Doyon-Aitken. Put your clean strawberries on a rimmed baking sheet—it has to be rimmed, and lined with parchment paper. Bake the strawberries in a 350° oven for about 30 minutes. You could sprinkle them with sugar before baking them, but you don’t have to. Check them often, toward the end. The heat concentrates the flavors, and now you’ve got super strawberries—even in early-spring when everybody knows strawberries could use a flavor boost.

Photo: Tracy Benjamen/Flickr, creative commons

Fuel yourself once with a morning cherry bomb smoothie and you’ll want one every day. My version is inspired by Dr. Mark Hyman of the Cleveland Clinic, from his book, Eat Fat, Get Thin. In a blender I combine 2 cups of almond milk, a cup of frozen pitted sweet cherries, and a dash of ground cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. Whirl it up with a little vanilla and a tablespoon of coconut butter. 490 calories and a delicious way to jump-start your day.

ON-DEMAND: Listen to Faith describe this smoothie on The Faith Middleton Food Schmooze®.

The post Start Your Day with a Cherry Bomb Smoothie appeared first on Faith Middleton's Food Schmooze.

Support the show: https://foodschmooze.org/donate/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fuel yourself once with a morning cherry bomb smoothie and you’ll want one every day. My version is inspired by Dr. Mark Hyman of the Cleveland Clinic, from his book, Eat Fat, Get Thin. In a blender I combine 2 cups of almond milk, a cup of frozen pitted sweet cherries, and a dash of ground cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. Whirl it up with a little vanilla and a tablespoon of coconut butter. 490 calories and a delicious way to jump-start your day.

ON-DEMAND: Listen to Faith describe this smoothie on The Faith Middleton Food Schmooze®.

A grilled cheese fondue sandwich will stagger you with delight! Here’s how you do it: Brush both sides of baguette slices with butter, toast them in a 400-degree oven, no broiler, until lightly browned. Rub each slice with a garlic clove, then lightly sprinkle each garlic side with drops of dry white wine. Add thin slices of Swiss cheese and cook open-faced for five more minutes in the oven until the cheese bubbles. Sensational!

Photo: Pixabay.com

The post Grilled Cheese Fondue Sandwich appeared first on Faith Middleton's Food Schmooze.

Support the show: https://foodschmooze.org/donate/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.