Pomegranate Cosmo: Great Cool Summer Drink

Pomegranate Cosmos

by Ina Garten, Foodnetwork.com

Ingredients

• 2 cups (16 ounces) good vodka (recommended: Stolichnaya or Finlandia)

• 1 cup (8 ounces) orange liqueur (recommended: Cointreau)

• 1 cup (8 ounces) pomegranate juice (recommended: Pom Wonderful)

• 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (3 limes)

• Lime peel strips, to garnish

Directions

Combine the vodka, orange liqueur, pomegranate juice, and lime juice in a pitcher and refrigerate until ready to use. Pour the

mixture into frozen martini glasses with a twist of lime peel and serve immediately.

Easy Peasy Alfredo Sauce

• 1 clove fresh minced garlic (or a tiny scoop from a minced garlic jar)
• ½ cup butter (1 stick)
• 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese (gourmet or the pre-shredded in bags)
• 1/3cup grated romano cheese
• 1 pint heavy cream

In a saucepan combine butter, heavy cream

Simmer this until all is melted, and mixed well. Simmer this for a few minutes on low 

Remove from heat.  Quickly whisk in the Parmesan cheese and garlic.

--You may wish to season with a little salt and pepper.

Optional:  Add pesto for a great cream pesto sauce.  Add cinnamon, nutmeg, sage for pumpkin ravioli

I got this sauce recipe from a co-worker. He's Italian so obviously it's good. I like this recipe because it can be as easy as you want it to be. I used Hanaford's cheeses and shredded them myself but this step can be made easier by just buying the shredded cheese that comes in bags. I used Dreamfield's linguini pasta and chicken. When I use this recipe again I'll let the chicken soak in the sauce for a few minutes before serving. I'll also add broccoli to get that extra food group in.

Chocolate Chip Cookies by the Snowvillage Inn in NH

My grandmother got this recipe somehow from this Bed and Breakfast in NH. It has lots of butter and makes lots of cookies.

1 pound butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 pound dark brown sugar
3 eggs
2 tablespoons vanilla
6 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon salt
4 cups real chocolate chips (largest pkg. 24 oz.)

Place the butter in a large bowl and stir until fluffy. Using an electric hand mixer, beat in the sugars, eggs, and vanilla.

Mix the baking powder and salt into the flour. Gradually stir the flour into the cookie batter. Finally, add the chocolate chips (and nuts if you want to). Batter will be quite stiff; you may have to finish the mixing with your hands on a pastry board, as if you were kneading bread. (I use my Kitchen Aid Mixer and it works fine).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drop a heaped tablespoon (we use the smallest ice cream scoop) of dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for about 12 minutes. Cookies will still be soft but become firm while cooling. If 12 minutes does not bake them right, turn up the oven to 375 degrees. Let cookies cool completely before removing from baking sheet.

NOTE: These cookies freeze beautifully, so you can make a big batch and always have them on hand. Or you can divide this recipe in half (using 1 egg). In that case, you could use a stationary mixer with a dough hook for the final mixing – a lot easier!

Makes about 100 cookies.