Salad and cookies balance life

I got an interesting question the other day and I’m going to share it in case there are others wondering. The question was about keeping a recipe alcohol-free, and there are a variety of reasons why someone might want to do that.

In recipes that only call for a small amount of wine, apple juice is a good substitute because it’ll give you a fruity flavor like wine would.

However if you want to make Julia Child’s famous Boeuf Bourguignon my advice would to make something else because it calls for a whole bottle of red wine.

Recipes calling for small amounts of wine can also be substituted with the same amount of beef or chicken stock.

I saw this salad recipe last week and it sounds good with a nice mix of fresh ingredients and jarred ones. Not much work for a tasty salad.

Mediterranean Salad

1 large head romaine lettuce chopped (about 8 cups)

4 oz. Genoa Salami chopped

4 oz. sliced pepperoni

1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

1 cup artichoke hearts, drained, patted dry, roughly chopped

1/2 cup Kalamata olives, halved

1/2 cup green olives

1/4 cup sliced red onion

2 tbsp chopped pepperoncini

8 oz. fresh mozzarella balls, halved

4 ounces provolone cheese, cut into bite size pieces

Croutons, homemade or store bought

Your favorite oil and vinegar dressing, homemade or store bought

Place the romaine in a large bowl and top with all ingredients except dressing. It can stay in the refrigerator covered with plastic wrap until ready to serve.

Add desired amount of dressing only when you are ready to serve.

Coworker, Suzy Ammon, keeps us all pretty fat around here with cheesecake and other goodies. We love Suzy.

Here is a cookie recipe she brought in last week that was so good. Hers were so nicely baked that they looked like they came from a bakery. The notes in parenthesis are hers.

Molasses Spice Crinkles

¾ cup shortening (I used butter)

1 cup sugar

1 large egg

¼ cup molasses

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp ground nutmeg

¼ tsp ground cloves

¼ tsp ground allspice

¼ cup sugar (for rolling balls in prior to baking)

Beat shortening (butter) at medium speed until fluffy. Gradually add 1 cup sugar, beating well. Add molasses and egg; beat well.

Combine flour and next eight ingredients, stirring well. Then add this mixture to the shortening mixture gradually, about a fourth of it at a time, beating at low speed after each addition until blended. Cover and chill one hour. (I didn’t chill.)

Shape dough into 1 inch balls and roll in sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet 2 inches apart.

Bake at 375 for 9-11 minutes. (Exactly 10 minutes in my oven was perfect.) Cool on wire racks.