Little Smokies

I made these for our December wine night gathering.

Little Smokies

2 packages Little Smokies

1 bottle BBQ sauce of your choice

1 small jar apple jelly

Put all ingredients together in a crockpot and heat through. Quick and easy appetizer - perfect for New Years Eve.

Rolo Pretzels

I made these for our December wine night gathering.

Rolo Pretzels

Place parchment paper on cookie sheets.

Spread pretzels on pan (about 24-30 per pan). Place a rolo on top of each pretzel. 

Bake in oven at 300 degrees for about 4 minutes until the rolo is soft but not melted. 

Remove from oven and immediately press down with a pecan half, or another pretzel. Chill in refrigerator or freezer before serving. 

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies

I made these for our December 2023 Wine Night gathering.

Peanut Butter Blossoms - Gluten free and Sugar free

Ingredients:

1 cup peanut butter (I used chunky)

1 cup sugar (I used ½ cup Splenda brown sugar)

1 large egg, room temperature

1 tsp. vanilla

½ tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking powder

30 milk chocolate kisses

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cream peanut butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla and add remaining ingredients (except for the Hershey kisses).  

Roll or drop by 1 ¼ inch balls onto prepared cookie sheet (I covered with parchment paper). Slightly press down using crisscross patter with tines of fork. 

Bake for 10-12 minutes. Immediately press 1 chocolate kiss into the center of each cookie. (You can also leave that out and just have peanut butter cookies). If the cookie starts to crack apart you can gently shape it back together if you work quickly. 

These are definitely a different texture, but they are quite tasty. 

Pimiento Cheese Ring

This is called Roslyn Carter's Pimiento Cheese Ring.  I found it in an article and decided to make it for wine club.  It was quite lovely!  

Roslyn Carter's Pimiento Cheese Ring

Ingredients:

1 cup chopped pecans

1 pound sharp cheddar cheese

1 small onion, grated (see notes)

1 cup mayonnaise

½ tsp. cayenne pepper

Strawberry preserves

Instructions:

Toast pecans in a large skillet over medium high heat until fragrant and slightly browned. Remove pecans from skillet to cool. Set aside a few Tbsp. to garnish the cheese ring before serving if desired. 

Shred cheese then add to a large mixing bowl. Add grated onion, mayo, cayenne pepper, and toasted pecans then mix until thoroughly incorporated. 

Spoon cheese mixture onto a serving plate then shape into a ring. This isn’t as hard as it sounds - use a rubber spatula and your hands. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 2 hours. 

Remove cheese ring from refrigerator 30 minutes before serving. When ready to serve, sprinkle reserved pecans on top of ring then spoon strawberry preserves into the center of the ring. 

Notes - 

If your onion puts off a lot of excess liquid after being grated (most do), squeeze the excess liquid out with your hands. Grab a few fistfuls at a time and squeeze or place all of the onion between your hands and press them together. 

You really should shred your own cheese for this recipe - do not use pre-shredded cheese.

Toasting the pecans isn’t mandatory, but it adds more texture and flavor. 

Andrea's Bacon Wrapped Asparagus

Andrea's Bacon Wrapped Asparagus

Andrea first brought this to wine night and everyone LOVED it!  She shared the recipe and I have made this several times since.  

Trim the woody ends off the asparagus.  Wrap a small bundle of asparagus in a piece of bacon.  Repeat.  :)  Season with salt, pepper, garlic, or however you like.  Drizzle with a bit of olive oil.  Bake at 400 degrees for about 15-20 minutes.  I draned the bacon grease from the pan and then put it back under the broiler for about 2-3 minutes to crisp up the bacon.   Yum!

Wine Club Pool Party

July 21, 2023

Wine Club Pool Party

For our July wine night we just turned it into a pool party.  :)  The weather was great and the pool was wonderful.  We ladies had a lot of fun.  :) 

We were missing several of us - only 7 in total on this evening.  Julie did walk up and hang out on the patio a bit later on, but I forgot to take a photo when she was here.  

Who knew this would be the wine we all loved!  It was a perfect pool wine.  Dana bought it in Colorado at a winery on their visit there this summer.  It really was great for the pool - ice cold and while floating.  Not a ‘food’ wine, though.  Ha! 

We had a lovely evening - peaceful and relaxing with dear friends. 

Judy, Laura, Joelean, Jennifer, Diane, Dana, Andrea

Joelean brought this wine that one of her clients had given her.  This was a night of enjoying ‘odd’ wines - this was another good pool/hot weather wine. 

Then that yummy one that Dana brought...

Judy brought this wine from an August winery. 

Andrea brought this one from her recent trip to Wyoming with Katie.  Loved the name and the label.  :) 

Jennifer brought this one from a winery in NC - from her recent trip. 

Perfect evening!

June Wine Night

June 16, 2023 - Wines of California
This was another lovely evening with my wonderful wine club ladies.  This month we sampled Wines of California.  They were quite tasty!  And many paired with the food so well.  After the tasting we moved to the patio to enjoy the evening.  I always enjoy wine night with these dear ladies so much.  

Dana brought delicious salmon

yummy dips

cheeseball and crackers, plus more goodies

This was a good version of the Lemon cheesecake crescents - just made it with tart cherry jam and puff pastry.  Delicious with several of the red wines tonight. 

cheese and crackers

Judy brought grilled chicken

Joelean brought savory puff pastry from Aldi - yum!

guacamole and pico di gallo. 
I missed taking a photo of the chicken guacamole somehow...

Janet brought caprese salad - I could eat this all day long. 

For the wine tasting we tried something a bit different on this evening.  We tasted two at a time mimicking what the lady on a Great Courses video did.  It was very interesting to taste two by two.  Take a taste of one, then the other, then back to the one and again to the other.  You pair up the two deliberately and it gives real insight into taste (and taste differences).  Intriguing for sure!

I actually really liked this chardonnay - unoaked.  

2020 Cambria Estate Winery, Katherine's Vineyard, Chardonnay from Santa Maria Valley, Santa Barbara County, California.  $17.99.

This one had an oily texture - we talked about the milk test for mouthfeel - I think this one was 2% milk.  :)  But it was good. 

2020 Cambria Estate Winery, Katherine's Vineyard, Chardonnay

We taste paired it with this sauvignon blanc that was to have a tiny bit of oak (unusual for sauvignon blanc)

2021 Kendall Jackson Vintner's Reserve, Jackson Estate Sauvignon Blanc

This one had notes of citrus, lime, pear and melon.  It was especially good with the caprese salad. 

2021 Kendall Jackson Vintner's Reserve,
Jackson Estate Sauvignon Blanc

Number 3 was another Kendall Jackson wine. 

2019 Kendall Jackson Vintner's Reserve, Jackson Estate Merlot.  $18.99

This was a fruity wine - with cherry notes.  It was good with savory foods. 

2019 Kendall Jackson Vintner's Reserve, Jackson Estate Merlot

We taste paired it with the Pinot Noir.

2021 Schug Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast, California.  $21.99

This pinot noir was so good with the cherry cheesecake tart... yum!

2021 Schug Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast, California

I was surprised to like this one as much as I did.  :) 

 2020 19 Crimes Cali Red Blend

The only notes I have on this one are ‘Snoop’  and my rating - a 5.  :)  

 2020 19 Crimes Cali Red Blend

We taste paired it with the French Medoc Bordeaux.  (our only non- California wine of the evening)

2015 Chateau d'Arcins Medoc Bordeaux (red blend) (so sad I have such a blurry photo of this wine!)

I wrote that this one was so good with the tart cherry cheesecake dessert again.  

2015 Chateau d'Arcins Medoc Bordeaux

Judy and I were laughing about being ‘two fisted’ and someone suggested we do Cheers that way.  :D 

Our last two taste pairings began with this Petite Sirah (not to be confused with Syrah).  By this point I was working to remember which glass held which wine!  ha!

Two Angels Petite Sirah (or petition sarah)  :D  (Judy’s phone had autocorrected her typing to petition sarah)  

This one had a stronger smell than the zinfandel, which kind of surprised me.  It was also good with that tart cherry dessert.  So clearly that dessert pairs well with red wines of all sorts!!  :) 

Two Angels Petite Sirah

taste paired with this Zinfandel...

2018 Gait Howell Mountain Napa Valley Zinfandel  (this was my least favorite of the evening... surprising since it is a Napa Valley wine!)

No notes for the Zinfandel.  :) 

2018 Gait Howell Mountain Napa Valley Zinfandel 

the wines of the evening

Our wonderful group - 

Dana, Jennifer, Joelean, Judy, Laura, Lisa, Barb, Hannah, Janet, Andrea

Jennifer brought this wine along as an extra (she also brought the Kendall Jackson SB) and we all enjoyed it after the tasting.  It was quite good!  And we love the label!

Jennifer's super interesting and tasty 2020 Intrinsic Sauvignon Blanc
from Columbia Valley, Washington

Then we headed to the patio to enjoy the beautiful evening - and finishing up the wines.  :) 

Julie managed to drop by about this time for a bit.  Very nice to see her and that she could get away! She even wore her wine club shirt!  :) 

I stayed on the patio after all had gone home - it was such a pretty evening.  Love it out there! 

We were working as a group (sort of) to do the tasting sheet and were hanging in there then pretty much fell off the cliff at the end.  :D   ha!