How To Save Gifted Wine From the Trash

Single Serving Sangria

Who hasn't received a bottle of wine as a host or hostess that just wasn't quite palatable for their taste? Wine makes a great gift...when you are absolutely sure about the tastes and preferences of the person to whom you are gifting. Wine can be harder to shop for than clothing (at least you can eyeball a tshirt for the recipient and include a gift receipt if it doesn't fit. If that bottle gets popped and its too sweet or too dry its too late. So what to do?

Rather than pour that puppy down the drain, consider doctoring it up into an impromptu glass of sangria. First consider which direction the glass strays from your palate before deciding on a mixer. Too sweet? Grab the seltzer. Too dry? Grab the lemon-lime soda and some orange juice. (Consider a 1:1 ratio of wine to mix in.) This gives you a perfect summer spritzer. Feeling more adventurous? Why not mix in a bit of wine or liquor from your own cabinet to balance out the undesirable notes. Next check your fruit bowl or freezer for some complimentary fruit. Dice up a few strawberries or drop in some frozen blueberries. Voila, you've suddenly gone from drab to fab. Cheers!

Red or White & Blue Sangria

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Happy National Wine Day and Memorial Day Weekend! 

In honor of such a boozy occasion, I've come up with a two for one recipe...Red or White & Blue Sangria. Finalizing a menu that is a crowd-pleaser without driving the host into debt is one of the hardest tasks of party planning. Sure, you can throw a party where each person gets a customized beverage and dinner recipe, but you will probably need to take out a second mortgage. Sangria is a great party drink. The recipes lend themselves to large batches, but the question is always red or white?
Why not red and white? My Red or White & Blue Sangria lends itself to be made with either red or white, allowing you to use the same recipe twice and please the red wine drinkers and white wine drinkers in your life. Sorry beer drinkers, today just isn't your day 😉.

Starbuck's Hack: Abby's Apple Pie Chai

I love anything chai when there is a chill in the air. The spices just warm me right up. The apple chai is an old Starbuck's menu item from back in my college days. It was a tasty treat in the fall. It eventually went the way of other seasonal drinks (the Starbuck's Cemetery) but was still available to order if you're barista had any recollection. One day I caught a glimpse of my barista mixing mine up and was pleasantly pissed to see that it was just steamed apple juice with a few pumps of chai. I thought "wtf, I can do this at home without spending $4 a cup." Alas, like most other inventions, Abby's Apple Chai was born out of straight up spite.

Super C Strawberry Mango Protein Punch

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Although spring is right around the corner, cold and flu season is still holding on. I have been super busy, so staying on top of my game, mentally and physically has been really important. No time to get sick! My crazy busy life demands an extra dose of Vitamin C. My delicious Super C Strawberry Mango Protein Punch has been a great way to start the day and fight office germs. Instead of almond milk, I added 1 cup of OJ to my favorite AM smoothie when I was starting to feel a little under the weather and voila, a new recipe was born! They say "out of necessity comes invention", after all.

With 30 g of protein (60% DV) and over 350% DV of Vitamin C, my Super C Strawberry Mango Protein Punch is the perfect way to start the day!

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This recipe is part of my Ultimate Make-Ahead Thanksgiving Guide. Find it on the Weekend to-do list. For daily to-do lists leading up to turkey day, follow on my blog or sign up for emails. New to-do lists everyday at noon through Thanksgiving!

Creamy Dairy Free Butternut Squash Soup

Prep Time 1 hour 20 min, serves 6.

Ingredients

• ~3 lbs. Butternut Squash
• 3 Tbsp. Olive Oil, plus more for squash
• 1 Small Onion, Chopped
• 5 Cups Vegan "No Chicken" Chicken Flavored Stock 
• 1 Dash Nutmeg
• 2 Tsp. Garlic, Minced
• 1 Tsp. Thyme
• Himalayan Pink Sea Salt
• Fresh Pepper
• 1 Cup Unsweetened Original Almond Milk, on soup day

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This recipe is part of my Ultimate Make-Ahead Thanksgiving Guide. Find it on the Weekend to-do list. For daily to-do lists leading up to turkey day, follow on my blog or sign up for emails. New to-do lists everyday at noon through Thanksgiving!

Freezer-Friendly Pigs in a Blanket

Prep Time 15 min, serves 12.

Ingredients

• 1 package Cocktail Wieners 
• 1 tube Crescent Rolls

Pantry Raid: #Crocktober Vegetarian Chili

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Ladies, start your engines crock pots. I know, I know, #Crocktober is over but the it was in the 60's and 70's here for most of October, hardly stew and soup weather. It's finally cooling down and I'm in the mood for soul warming dinners! Check out my Pantry Raid Vegetarian Chili recipe, perfect for that Meatless Monday morning when you wake up and forgot to prep your pot! No need to fall off of your #Crocktober wagon even though the month has passed. Simply crack a few cans and let your cooker do what it does best!

Drunken Apple Cider with Shrunken Heads

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The key to any good party is a signature cocktail. For Halloween that means something creepy, preferably straight out of my the witch's cauldron (aka crock pot). No need to spend the party heating up individual cocktails to order, what is this, a short order kitchen? Dust off your crock pot, it is Crocktober after all, and let it flex its muscles a little.

Rotting Deviled Eggs with Creepy Crawlers

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Deviled eggs are a standard party recipe, but go the extra mile for Halloween by letting them rot before serving them to your guests. This recipe is pretty easy, but is time consuming thanks to the extra creepy steps. These were a creepy, tasty treat that really freaked out my guests. Definitely worth the effort! Despite the effort, eggs are a great budget-friendly item at the grocery store. 1 dozen at my local Aldi store costs only $.89 and yields 24 of these spooky deviled eggs. The remaining ingredients are standard pantry items, requiring no additional investment. You'll also score bonus points from your gluten-free and dairy-free friends for this recipe!

Apple Pie Chai Chia Pudding

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I love a slice of apple pie, but there's something about it that always made my mom say "no" when I reached for it at breakfast. I always had a convincing counterargument..."but mom, its apples. apples are healthy." She always won. Here I am at 29 still trying to have apple pie at 8 AM. This recipe has become my favorite chia pudding by far. It's like warm apple pie without the guilt. It is easy to make ahead of time, store in the fridge and reheat the apples as necessary. This makes a delicious breakfast or afternoon snack to hold you over until dinner. If you're one for texture (to reminisce about pie crust), try sprinkling some unsweetened toasted nuts on top.

Pantry Raid: Leftover Naked Burrito Quinoa

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Rice, quinoa and grains in general are hard to measure out exactly when setting up the rice cooker. In our house, I never wind up with the right amount. There's either 1 scoop left, which is not enough to divide into lunch containers for the next day, or we have a mountain left. Unfortunately, it tends to get packed away and forgotten about in the refrigerator until its too late and too smelly. I challenged myself to re-purpose our leftover quinoa this week into something different using ingredients from the pantry...no shopping trip required. This recipe ended up being the perfect triple treat of taste, protein and veggie all in one!

Peaches 'n Cream Chia Pudding

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Back to School: What's for Lunch?

A little brain teaser to get started...
What is dairy (lactose) free, gluten free, vegetarian, organic, anti-inflammatory, naturally low sugar, but 100% tasty?
Peaches 'n Cream Chia Pudding, of course!

It's back to school season. This means the tiny humans are on the go, eating at school, heading to soccer practice and doing homework while their respective adults are playing chauffeur and personal chef, packing lunches and snacks. Although I am the tiniest human in the Benjamin house, and by no means headed back to school, as summer winds down and school kicks up I feel the changing seasons (gone are the lazy days). I am challenging myself to plan ahead and stay organized, especially when it comes to food.

Tossing a pre-made snack or frozen meal into a lunchbox is obviously the most convenient option, but the calorie and sugar content can be through the roof. I myself am guilty of this when it comes to my lunch at least once a week...I run out of leftovers and here I am on Thursday morning digging through the freezer for a HotPocket. Don't fall into the habit of prepackaged, high sugar snacks. Homemade can be just as simple but loads healthier when executed effectively. Take 5 minutes to throw together some Peaches 'n Cream Chia Pudding. The perk of this recipe is that it preps well and keeps throughout the week. Try making a batch on Sunday night, divide it into smaller containers and suddenly you are armed with a week of fresh and healthy snacks!

5 Minute Garlic Bread Croutons

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Nothing beats a fresh baked loaf of Italian bread with some dipping oil...until you find it 2 days later stale and beyond enjoyment. If you're lucky it's totally stale by the time you find it and can double as a weapon (or you can just grind it down to breadcrumbs...whatever you like). Those in-between days are the worst though. You either grin and bear it, slice off the too far gone end and suffer through an extra chewy slice or two at dinner, hopefully with something soupy to dunk it in, or you promise to remember it again in a day or two to make breadcrumbs but it actually falls behind the toaster oven and you find it in a month and can't even remember when the hell you had bread (not that I'm speaking from experience or anything, but does this sound familiar?). I challenge you to stop wasting your bread butts! So I give you "5 Minute Garlic Bread Croutons".

Abby's Dairy Free Coconut Mocha Faux-caccino

Starbucks Hack

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Summer is (almost) here but the weather is finally into summer swing. After weeks of gloomy, bitter, rainy weekends, the sun is shining and the thermometer has broken 80, almost 90 degrees. 90 degree temps are in the forecast for the next several days and I need a way to beat the heat, on a budget and without totally blowing my diet out of the water.

5 Ingredient Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

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Planning to host a party this Memorial Day weekend? Let your slow cooker do the hard work for you. On warm spring (almost summer) days like this, the windows are open, the house is cooling itself passively and no one really likes to screw that up by turning on the oven. So don't! But how will you feed your guests? Dust off your slow cooker and take that bad boy for a spin.

Over the last two years since Ross and I moved into our own house, my slow cooker has become my trusty side piece. I don't see him often, but when I do, its a whirlwind romance. We spend a few hot minutes together prepping a meal in the morning, then I head out for the day and he gets all hot and bothered. When I come home from work or travel in the evening, he's got something hot and ready to serve up for me. I love to bring him out and show him off at parties too. I mean "I love to waste a good party in the kitchen," said no one ever. My slow cooker has been the centerpiece of many a taco bar or chili cook off, and again, he will be making an appearance for Memorial Day. So lets get (slow) cookin' and try out my 5 Ingredient Slow Cooker Pulled Pork.

Protein Packed Raspberry Mango Smoothie

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For the past 6 months, I have been occasionally complaining about writing and sharing recipes inspired by the mysterious eye pain that has been plaguing my left eye. This black eye, punched-in-the-face-feeling is something that I wake up with, coexist with and only feel relief from upon loosing consciousness every night. As I have written in the past, I have started introducing elements of an anti-inflammatory diet into my life as much as possible. After countless (14) visits to my eye doctor, primary, and several other useless highly qualified specialists, I decided to take my journey on an alternate path and pursue acupuncture.  (You're probably asking what this has to do with a smoothie recipe, hold on just a minute, I'm almost there). Upon meeting this doctor, she reminded me the importance of protein in our diets to help our muscles perform properly. Alas, my Protein Packed Raspberry-Mango Smoothie was born. Not only rich in protein (talk about 88% DV) but also ingredients like raspberry, almond milk, spirulina and turmeric which are recommended for their anti-inflammatory properties.

Now let's blend, biotches!

Blueberry Spinach Anti-Inflammatory Smoothie

As I wrote back in March, I have been experiencing this mysterious pain and pressure in my left eye since early December, similar to a black eye. With Advil (an anti-inflammatory), some research and a change in my diet to include anti-inflammatory foods, it is better but not cured. To help ease the discomfort, every Sunday I prep a week's worth of smoothies in a set of mason jars to dump into the blender every morning and haul with me to work. This week's lineup includes my recent "Blueberry Spinach Anti-Inflammatory Smoothie". There are a handful of fruits, veggies and spices with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, which include (but are not limited to)

• Turmeric 
• Ginger
• Grapefruit
• Spirulina
• Pineapple
• Papaya
• Leafy greens including arugula, kale and spinach 
• Blueberry
• Green Tea

Half-Homemade Orange Pineapple Salsa

Signs of spring are starting to pop up everywhere, but they haven't quite made it to the produce department at the local grocery store yet. Oranges and strawberries are coming into season, and I am so excited to have fresh fruits adorning my fruit bowl once again. Between my love of fresh fruit, my Pact to commit to 5 fruits and veggies, and the need to eat fresh produce before it spoils, I sometimes find that we are out of the good stuff before it is time to head back to the grocery store for a full shop.

Strawberry Banana Chia Smoothie

I love bananas...they are a great source of potassium but I enjoy them most when the peel is still a bit green and the banana is still a bit underripe. Once they yellow completely, I lose interest. Ripe bananas generally find themselves on the direct express to my freezer for use in banana bread. Not anymore! My Strawberry Banana Chia Smoothie is a great recipe to use too-ripe bananas without waste and its as easy as 1, 2, 3!

Grapefruit Ginger Anti-Inflammatory Green Smoothie

"An apple a day keeps the doctor away"...not in my case! I've been battling a mysterious pain in my left eye for almost 4 months. After countless eye doctor exams, specialists and tests, advil has been the answer.