A good cosmo is all about the ratio of the ingredients.  My tried-and-true recipe:

1. TIP: keep your martini glass chilled by storing in the freezer… use caution since, of course, the stemware is fragile

2. 2 parts citrus vodka, 1 part triple sec; or if you are feeling especially fancy, Cointreau

3. Juice of half of a lime

4. Splash of cranberry juice to reach the depth of color you prefer

5. Shake over ice, pour, add a thin slice of lime floating or on the glass edge…

OK… substitute the color theme (I took this image at a wedding in 2009) for reds and greens… for the Holiday season… and you can be the HIT of your next cocktail party… with a “mashtini bar”… All it is, and believe me, this is a HIT, and this is incredibly fun and delicious, is a hot steamy pot of mashed potatoes, martini glasses, and your favorite toppings ready for your guests to self-serve!  Topping ideas include:

Gravy, bacon, cheddar cheese, sour cream, butter, cubed ham, chili, popcorn chicken, grated cheese, steamed broccoli, mushrooms, shredded carrots, scallions, chives, sauteed onions, tomatoes, sweet peas, red onions, homemade cheese sauce, olives, sun dried tomatoes, basil pesto sauce, feta cheese, artichoke hearts, Parmesan cheese, salsa, orange peppers, corn, tortilla strips, & pepper jack cheese.

Soon I will post again on this topic, with images and ideas from my own kitchen.

The great thing about making your own pizza at home is that it is EXACTLY the kind you want it to be, and it has NO chance of cooling off as you go get it, or have it delivered.  Besides that, with just a little care, it could be the best pizza you have had in a long time.

In this case I used fresh crust from the supermarket deli case.  Amato’s pizza sauce, and a variety of shredded cheese, enhanced with a bit of Cabot extra-sharp shredded for a little extra zip.

Toppings are up to you!

This one with black olives and big rings of onion (what pizza shop uses rings like this??) was really great too.

One trick of cooking (ok, I like thin crust especially well) is to bake conventionally for the time specified for the crust you’re using.. being sure if you have extra cheese or veggies or toppings you may need to add a couple more minutes… and then BROIL for 2-3 minutes more:

So, when you’ve got iceberg, and you want something a “little more”… try adding any one or more of these ingredients that you may already have in your ‘fridge.

> crumbled cheese or shredded cheese
> chives, scallions, shallots
> mushrooms, fresh or marinated
> olives
> pepperoncini or banana peppers
> of course, the ever-so-good-for-you tomatoes

And, red wine vinegar (or balsamic vinegar) is an excellent, really low-calorie, dressing choice.

What a great treat, any time of year.  Lunch or dinner.  This recipe is adapted from the August/September 2012 issue of Cook’s Country magazine.

4 slices bacon
1 shallot, sliced thin
1/4 c red wine vinegar
4 oz blue cheese, crumbled
1/2 c mayonnaise
1/4 c sour cream
3 tbsp milk
1 clove minced garlic
salt
pepper
1 head iceberg lettuce, cored, cut into 6 wedges
cherry tomatoes

1. Cook bacon until crispy.  Absorb cooked bacon on paper towel.
Combine shallot and vinegar in bowl for 20 minutes.  The vinegar tames down the raw onion.

2. Dressing: Whisk 3 oz blue cheese with the mayo, sour cream, milk, 2 tbsp of the vinegar from the bowl with the shallots, garlic, salt, pepper and combine.

3. Arrange lettuce wedges on plate.  Top with dressing, a few of the shallots, tomatoes.  Crumble bacon over top and add 1 oz more blue cheese crumbles.

Serve and enjoy!

Here’s a photo of the ingredients.

Another artistic impression, of the colorful beet.

And we’re not talking Olive Garden here. Rather, the ‘real’ Italy.

Having had the privilege of traveling there to photograph a wedding last September, I thought it would be fun to showcase a few of my favorite food images captured while there.

The most amazing thing I tasted?  Nope, (surprisingly!) it was not the pizza or pasta, even though they were both amazing.  It was the gelato:

Pizza is served unsliced in Italy.  It’s a knife and fork proposition.  And it is thin-crust, just exactly how I love it.  It was hard to not keep returning to the same little sidewalk cafe along Lake Como to have this thin salami and black olive pizza for lunch while we there for the week.  Very hard.

The pasta was great, though perhaps not quite as far above and beyond what I am used to as I may have expected.  Which is a good thing.   Well, then again, the ravioli was.  I have since received as a gift a hand-crank pasta maker and I cannot wait to start experimenting with it, and doing a whole blog post about the making of the noodles!  On a day when I don’t mind flour all over the camera!  Because I want to be both the pasta maker AND the photographer.  Oh, such problems to have!

And, this is not food, but it is a market, and I just love this photo from downtown Varenna, Italy, of the shop owner looking out the door in this very quaint and quiet town, across the street from a wonderful domo (cathedral).

And now I just stand by waiting to return.  Some day soon, I hope.

If you can’t decide between desert or a frozen margarita, why not have both..?  And, at the same time!

I stumbled upon this idea, which I am sure has been discovered by others well before me, but anyhow, while making my kids some (of course) non-alcoholic “smoothies”.

In my heavy duty blender, I started with ice, and a few ounces of non-alcoholic sweet and sour drink mix and a few ounces of margarita mix.

Then, here’s the good part… I added three scoops of french vanilla ice cream.  Then blend!

It was so luscious I made myself a batch and served it up in a frosty margarita glass with a twist of lime.

Add tequila (or not) in the adult version and enjoy!

PS
I keep a couple of margarita glasses in storage in the freezer.  It doesn’t matter that it is almost winter… this drink is meant to be cold, so why not really have it cold!