Baking Powder Biscuits

Baking powder biscuits are one of my favorite foods! They're delicious with jelly or honey - I love having them for brunch. So today I'm sharing our recipe for them.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups, 2 tbsp. flour
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 4 1/2 tbsp. Crisco
• 3/4 cup milk

Yield: 6-8 large biscuits

Mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.

Using a pastry blender, cut in shortening until the mixture looks like a course meal (you should still be able to see little clumps of shortening).

Add milk by sprinkling it over the flour mixture tossing it in the bowl until all the milk is incorporated and you have a soft dough. 

Stir the mixture until it forms a ball which follows the fork around the bowl. Turn the dough out onto a floured board or pastry cloth and knead for about 30 seconds. 

Pat or roll to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut with a floured biscuit cutter. 

Place 1 inch apart on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Brush the tops with milk or melted butter. Bake for 12 minutes at 450º.

Immediately split biscuit and place a pat of butter inside. You can serve them with jelly, honey, or by themselves. Enjoy!

Lemon Drop Martini Recipe

Today I'm sharing the recipe for a Lemon Drop martini - I really love these! I make mine very sour with just a little bit of simple syrup - they are great paired with seafood or grilled chicken or for enjoying by themselves.

Ingredients:

• 2 oz lemon vodka
• 2 oz lemon juice
• 1/4 oz simple syrup
• Rimming sugar (you can use regular sugar to rim the glass, but a rimming sugar designed to be used for cocktails works best)
• 1 cup crushed ice

Rim the edges of a martini glass with the sugar. To rim the glass, rub a lime or lemon on the edge of the glass. Spread the rimming sugar out on wax paper and then rub the edges of the glass with the sugar. 

Next, combine the vodka lemon juice, simple syrup, and ice in a cocktail shaker and shake vigorously. Strain the drink into the rimmed martini glass. You can put in a few pieces of the ice if you want the drink to stay colder longer.

Enjoy!

Fogcutter

Today I've got the recipe for a potent cocktail - the fogcutter! This citrusy drink is delicious and packs quite a punch. I used the recipe from Trader Vic's Tiki Party! to make this one. 

Ingredients:

• 2 oz silver Puerto Rican rum
• 1 oz brandy
• 1/2 oz gin
• 2 oz lemon juice 
• 1 oz orange juice
• 1/2 oz orgeat
• 1/4 oz sherry 
• 1 cup crushed ice

Combine the rum, brandy, gin, orange juice, lemon juice, orgeat, and ice in a cocktail shaker and shake vigorously.  Pour into a tiki mug or glass of your choice. Float the sherry on top.

Enjoy!

Suffering Bastard

Today I'm sharing the Trader Vic's recipe for a Suffering Bastard. This drink tastes more like a Mai Tai instead of the ginger beer Suffering Bastard served in some bars.  I modified the recipe from the one included in Trader Vic's Tiki Party! since that recipe uses a pre-made Mai Tai mix and I use the individual ingredients. 

Ingredients:

• 2 oz Jamaican rum
• We used Appleton Estate's Signature Blend
• 1 oz silver Puerto Rican rum
• 1/2 oz lime juice
• 1/2 oz orange curaçao
• 1/2 oz orgeat
• 1/4 oz simple syrup
• 1 cup crushed ice

 Combine the ingredients in a cocktail shaker and shake vigorously.

Serve in a tiki mug or your glass of choice. Enjoy!

Magic Mermaid Cocktail Recipe

Today I've got the recipe for a drink I created - the Magic Mermaid. I've loved mermaids my whole life, so of course I had to name a drink after them.

Ingredients:

• 2 oz orange vodka
• 1 oz grapefruit juice
• 1 oz lemon juice
• 1/2 oz Gran Marnier 
• 1/2 oz orgeat
• 1 cup crushed ice

Combine the ingredients in a cocktail shaker and shake vigorously. Pour into a tiki mug (or your tall glass of choice) and enjoy!

Pieces of Eight Cocktail

Today I'm sharing the recipe another one of our favorite tiki drinks, Pieces of Eight.  I found this recipe in Beach Bum Berry Remixed - the drink is originally the Pieces of Eight restaurant in Marina del Rey, circa 1962.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 oz gold Puerto Rican rum
• 1 1/2 oz passionfruit syrup
• 1 1/2 oz lemon juice
• 1/2 oz lime juice
• 1 cup crushed ice

Combine the ingredients in a cocktail shaker and shake vigorously.

Pour into a tiki mug (or your tall glass of choice) and enjoy!

Tonga Punch Cocktail Recipe

Today I've got the recipe for another cocktail from Trader Vic's Tiki Party! - the Tonga Punch. This drink is one of my mom's favorites - it's very citrusy and tasty. 

Ingredients:

• 2 oz silver rum
• 1 1/2 oz orange juice
• 3/4 lemon juice
• 1/2 oz orange curaçao
• 1/4 oz grenadine
• 1/4 lime juice
• 1 cup crushed ice

 Combine the ingredients in a cocktail shaker and shake vigorously.

Serve in a tiki mug or your glass of choice. Enjoy!

Mai Tai Cocktail Recipe

Today I'm sharing the recipe for one of the most classic tropical cocktails - the Mai Tai! Both Victor Bergeron (Trader Vic) and Don the Beachcomber claim to have invented the Mai Tai, and their recipes are different. But neither one is the sweet mix of pineapple juice and grenadine that you find in a lot of bars/restaurants - it's not a drink you want to order unless you know the place you're going makes a good one. I'm sharing the original Trader Vic's recipe from Trader Vic's Tiki Party!. 

Ingredients:

• 2 oz Jamaican rum
• We've used Myers Dark Jamaican rum, which makes a tasty Mai Tai, but our current preferred choice is Appleton Estate's Signature Blend. 
• Juice of one large lime (1 oz)
• 1/2 oz orange curaçao
• 1/2 oz orgeat
• 1/4 oz simple syrup
• 1 cup crushed ice

 Combine the ingredients in a cocktail shaker and shake vigorously.

Serve in a tiki mug or your glass of choice. Enjoy!

Blackened Catfish

I love Cajun-style blackened fish - it is so good! So I was really excited to get to make it myself. We used the recipe for blackened redfish from the Chef Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen cookbook, except we used catfish fillets instead.

It turned out really tasty, and I'm looking forward to making it again.  

Ingredients:

• 3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter
• 4 8-10 oz. catfish fillets
• Seasoning Mix:
• 1 tbsp. paprika
• 2 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. onion powder
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp. ground cayenne pepper
• 3/4 tsp. white pepper
• 3/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1/2 tsp. dried thyme leaves
• 1/2 tsp. dried oregano leaves 

Yield: 4 servings

Melt the butter in a skillet.

Pour 2 tbsp. of melted butter into 4 small cups. Set aside and keep warm.  Reserve the remaining butter in its skillet. 

Thoroughly combine the seasoning mix ingredients in a small bowl. 

Dip each fillet in the reserved melted butter so that both sides are well coated.

Sprinkle the seasoning mix generously and evenly on both sides of the fillets, patting it in by hand.

Heat a large cast-iron skillet over very high heat until it is beyond the smoking stage and you can see white ash in the skillet bottom (the skillet cannot be too hot), at least 10 minutes. We did this outside on the grill - it can get a lot hotter than our stove and that way we wouldn't have to deal with the smoke in the house. 

Place the fillet in the hot skillet and pour 1 tsp. melted butter on top of each fillet. Be careful since the butter will probably flame up.

Cook, uncovered, over the same high heat until the underside looks charred, about 2 minutes (the time can vary depending on the heat of the skillet and the fillet's thickness).

Turn the fish over, and again pour 1 tsp. melted butter on top and cook until the fish is done (about 2 minutes more).  

Pour the 2 tbsp. of melted butter your set aside in the small cups earlier over the fillets and serve while hot!

Enjoy!