by Brandi Savitt – December 19, 2011

Bake Like You Mean It

Have you been planning on getting your bake on this holiday season but can’t seem to find the time?  Well, it’s not too late!  We have three easy but deliciously sinful recipes so you can whip up a variety of homemade treats that Santa, the kids AND foodies from far and wide will equally enjoy.  Serve them to guests, or make up a box for the neighbors – no cookie cutters needed…  While they’re special enough to serve for the holidays, you’re going to want to make them all year long!

–The tradition of Christmas cookies may date back to Medieval Europe, but our favorite holiday cookie recipes are definitely for more modern taste buds.  Happy Baking!

Oatmeal Cherry Cookies

Put a little BING – cherry that is – into this oatmeal cookie classic.  The sweet and tangy twist from the cherry makes this special cookie – unforgettable!  Click here for the recipe.

Double Chocolate Espresso Cookies

Looking for a deliciously decadent cookie with a kick?  These super chocolatey coffee treats will keep a smile on Santa’s face all night long! Click here for the recipe.

Pecan Crescent Cookies

Some call them Russian wedding cookies, we just call them perfection. These super easy to make shortbread like delights are one of our favorite holiday cookies of all time!  Click here for the recipe.

We want to know…  What are your favorite holiday cookie recipes?

Ingredients

• 10 ounces semisweet or dark chocolate (chips or roughly chopped)
• 12 oz of semi sweet or dark chocolate chunks
• 2 tablespoons freshly ground espresso or dark roasted coffee
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2/3 cup unbleached flour
• 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Melt chocolate chips or chopped chocolate and butter over low flame on the stove until almost completely melted.  Stir constantly so not to burn.
• In a mixing bowl, beat eggs, brown sugar, vanilla, and espresso on high speed until fluffy.  Reduce speed and blend in melted chocolate mixture.
• Mix in dry ingredients until blended.  Stir in chocolate chunks.
• Drop generous spoonfuls of the dough (like thick brownie batter) 2 inches apart onto baking sheets.  Bake for 12-15 minutes, until cookies are shiny and crackly and the centers are still soft.  Cool for a least 10 minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring to a cooling rack.  Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup of powder sugar
• 2 cups unbleached flour
• 2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup chopped pecans

Directions

• Preheat Oven 350 degrees.
• Cream butter until smooth and fluffy.  Add 1/2 cup powder sugar and vanilla and cream again.  Fold in flour and mix well.  Mix in pecans.  Shape dough into small crescents and place on cookie sheet
• Bake for 12-15 minutes until lightly golden.  Let the cookies cool and sprinkle with plenty of powder sugar.

–Makes about 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups unbleached flour
• 3/4 cup oatmeal
• 1 teaspoon of sea salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1/2 sugar
• 1 cup softened butter
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups dried bing cherries (easy to find at Trader Joe’s)
• 1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Directions

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees

• Combine flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon in a bowl and set aside.  Cream together softened butter, brown sugar, sugar, and vanilla.  Once creamy, reduce speed and mix in eggs.  Slowly mix in dry mixture until blended.  Stir in cherries and nuts.  Spoon  dough onto  un-greased cookie sheets.  Bake 8 to 10 minutes.

• Recipes yields about 2 dozen cookies.

Having a dinner party?  Greet your guests with an old school cocktail that will knock their socks off (literally).  This recipe makes 8-10 mini Manhattans or 4-5 regular size drinks!

Manhattans with a Twist

• 8 oz of Bourbon or Rye
• 2 1/2 oz of Sweet Vermouth
• 5-8 dashes of Angstura Bitters (add to taste, but we like our Manhattans on the herby side)
• 8-10 Black Cherries in syrup or Maraschino Cherries
• 2 good size twists of lemon peel

Fill a pitcher with ice and add the bourbon, sweet vermouth, bitters and lemon peel.  Stir vigorously until the outside of the pitcher is beaded with sweat and is ice cold to the touch.  Place a cherry (don’t shake off the juice.  A little extra syrup is good) at the bottom of each glass, strain the ice as you pour the cocktail.  Serve immediately!

*Tip: You can prep this cocktail an hour before serving by pouring the ingredients into the pitcher, but WAIT to add the ice.  Prepare your glasses on a tray and place a cherry at the bottom of each glass.  When you’re ready to serve, add the ice and follow the rest of the instructions above.

Enjoy!

by Brandi Savitt – November 14, 2011

Fancy & Frugal Anytime Appetizers

Looking for easy to make appetizers this Holiday Season?  And, yes,  of course we mean ones that don’t cost a lot, but will please even your foodiest of friends.  Well, you’ve come to the right place: Try out our 3 delightful, meatless crostini variations and instantly become the hit of the dinner party!  Make one kind – or do what we do – make a sampling of them all.  They’re bite sized, beautiful, and sure to please even the most curmudgeonly (is that a word?) of relatives.

Quality & Freshness Count

The difference between making a good crostini and an excellent one is starting with the freshiest ingredients.  None of the ingredients in the following recipes are expensive, and a little will go a long way – so don’t skip on quality and taste just to save a few pennies…

Start with Good Bread

The first step in creating a perfect crostini is a good French baguette.  One large baguette will yield about 40-45 crostini.  Slice the baguette into 1/4 inch slices, but cut the bread at a slight angle to get larger pieces.  Place the slices onto cookie sheets and lightly brush each piece of bread with olive oil. Toast the crostini in the oven until they begin to brown around the edges and the oil bakes in.  Do not over toast.  The bread is best if it remains crispy on the outside but slightly chewy in the the center.  Let the crostini cool.  –This step can be done in advance.

The Avocado Pesto Crostini

*Makes 12 crostini

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup of Fresh Pesto
• 3 Ripe Avocados
• Ground Black Pepper
• Sea Salt

When you are just about ready to serve the appetizers, assembly of the crostini begins.  Of course, you can easily make your own pesto by blending (in a blender or mixer) a bunch of fresh basil with a 1/4 cup of olive oil, an 1/4 of pine or walnuts, and 1/4 cup of grated Parmesan cheese.  Or….  buying a $3 container of fresh pesto from Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s will do the trick in a pinch too!

Instructions:

Spread a layer of pesto on each crostini.  Cut each avocado into halves and slice.  Gentle pile each crostini with avocado slices then sprinkle each creation with salt and pepper.  -Each avocado should make 4 crostini.

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

Here at Fab & Fru, we are beyond excited it is finally Labor Day. The storm in New York from last weekend had everyone in hibernation mode, so it will be nice to make up for it by spending some extra time with family and friends!

Throwing a party or having friends over today? Try one of these yummy cocktail recipes from Baileys Original Irish Cream and Moon Mountain Organic Vodka:

Labor Day Iced Latte

Ingredients

1 ounce Baileys Original Irish Cream
1/2 ounce Chilled Espresso
1 ounce Bulleit Bourbon
1/8 ounce Simple Syrup
3 Mint Sprigs

Instructions

1. Mix coffee and sugar syrup together and set aside
2. In a highball glass, layer 2 mint sprigs in the bottom of the glass, then top with crushed ice
3. Add Baileys Original Irish Cream, Bulleit Bourbon, and simple syrup
4. Swizzle together, leaving the mint at the bottom of the glass
5. Float coffee on top and garnish with last mint sprig

Summer’s End Sipper

Ingredients

1 1/2 ounces Moon Mountain Organic Vodka
1 ounce Fresh Lime Juice
1 ounce Simple Syrup
3 Cucumbers
4 Mint Leaves

Instructions

1. Muddle fresh mint, cucumber and raw simple syrup in a mixing glass.
2. Add Moon Mountain Organic Vodka and lime juice and shake with ice.
3. Strain over fresh ice in a high ball glass.
4. Garnish with a slice of fresh cucumber.

What are you doing to celebrate Labor Day?

by Stephanie Berenbaum 

Turn A Boring Frank into a Fabulous Feast

As you might remember, our favorite spread for Labor Day is the Regional Hot Dog Bar. Think about it: for the same price as it costs you to lay out some boring old dogs and the fixings, with a little imagination and a couple of extra minutes, you can make cheap hot dogs seem- frankly- a whole lot more exciting!

Setting Up Your Regional Hot Dog Bar

When setting up a hot dog bar, it is particularly frugal to start with the most famous regional styles of the bunch: the Chicago Style hot dog and New York Style hot dog.  By ‘marketing’ your get together as a ‘Regional Hot Dog Bar’, instead of just serving a cheap meal you suddenly have a festive and fun theme going!

The Chicago Hot Dog

*Recipe courtesy of Fluky’s Chicago Style Hot Dogs

Ingredients

• Boiled Hot Dogs
• Poppy Seed Buns (S. Rosens are a Chicago favorite)
• Yellow mustard
• Bright green (Neon) sweet relish
• Chopped Onions
• Kosher Dill Pickle Spears
• Tomato Slices
• 2 Serrano Sport Peppers (they are HOT)
• Dash of celery salt

Instructions

Heat hot dogs in boiling water to 170 degrees.  Put the hot dog in a steamed poppy seed bun.  Pile on toppings in this order: Mustard, Relish, Onions, Pickle, Tomatoes, peppers and celery salt.

New York Street Cart Dogs

Brandi is a New Yorker now, so let’s check out the recipe for those famous New York City “Street Cart Dogs” – sometimes affectionately referred to as “Dirty Water Dogs!”

Ingredients

• Boiled Hot dogs
• Plain Buns
• Deli Mustard
• Sabrett’s Onion Sauce
• Sauerkraut (optional)

Instructions:

The classic NYC cart dog is boiled in water, with onion sauce and deli mustard and sometimes sauerkraut, on a plain hot dog bun.  You can find recipes claiming to replicate the traditional Sabrett Onion Sauce online, but at only about $3.75 for a package, you might as well buy it.  lt looks like even Wal-Mart is carrying it these days!

**If you prefer to go the way of a traditional grilled New York weiner (a la Nathan’s) all you need to do is grill your franks instead of boil them, and top with brown mustard and sauerkraut and you are good to go!

By Brandi Savitt – August 18, 2011

Cheap & Easy Vegan Meals

If you’re interested in improving your overall health, adding an extra glow to your skin, and shedding a few extra pounds – it’s time to add more veggies to your diet!  Many people think that buying endless supplies of fresh organic produce is way too expensive, but the truth is, if you’re smart, eating a few meatless meals throughout the week can save you hundreds of dollars a month.

Learning to Eat & Cook More Veggie

Whether you’re mildly interested in learning why nutrition matters, or if you want to dive head first into the vegan lifestyle, I highly recommend reading Kris Carr’s Crazy Sexy Diet.  After battling an incurable cancer by changing her diet and her lifestyle, Kris Carr has become the queen of explaining the science and the facts of why eating a plant-based diet may be the real answer to health, happiness and longevity for us all.  A total Fab & Fru lady, Kris’s fun and easy-to-read book is a fantastic and thorough resource to help you start your own exploration into food and health.

Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner All Under $20

Because I’ve spent the past few months studying the benefits of limiting processed foods and animal products from one’s diet, I’ve also spent some serious time experimenting in the kitchen to come up with some super healthy & delish Fab & Fru vegan recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Here are a few vegan specialties for you to try.  And the best part – by my calculations (after stocking your kitchen with healthy oils & seasonings), the below day’s worth of meals can feed up to four for under $20.  Hope you enjoy!

Breakfast (or dessert) – $4

Banana Millet Cakes

These super healthy & yummy pancake alternatives are not only easy and inexpensive to make, they make for a power-packed breakfast or a delicious guilt-free dessert.

Lite Lunch- $6

Cabbage Kaleslaw

Looking for an easy, inexpensive but hearty salad recipe? This Asian style kale and cabbage salad is SO good -and SO good for you- you’ll want to make it everyday!

Dinner Time!- $6-8

Veggie Delight with Quinoa Pilaf

This vegan stir fry is an inexpensive protein-packed meal that’s so good, you won’t miss meat for a second!

Are you a health conscious eater who loves things to taste amazing?  Please share with us your favorite vegan tips & recipes!

• Thickly slice the onion and saute in a large frying pan with olive oil until soft over a medium flame.
• Cut the sweet potato in half length-wise, and thinly slice into half-moon pieces.
• Add 1/2 cup of water to the onions, and then add the sweet potato. Cook 5-8 minutes. Stir the concoction every couple of minutes to flip the potatoes. Don’t let them get to soft.
• Cut the broccoli into florets and chop up the stems- if desired.  Add the broccoli to the onion/sweet potatoes. You may need to add a little more water to help stem the broccoli.  Sprinkle in a teaspoon of curry for an added kick, plus salt and pepper to taste.  Cook until the all vegetables are slightly tender.
• Slice 1 avocado