Making my own Chelada

Sometimes when I go on goofy road-trips with friends, I enjoy getting giant beers with paper bags at truck-stops to consume when we get to our destination. It's the classier side of iron stef. On a recent trip to the Ozarks with a huge group of my family, all ladies, I spotted cans of Budweiser Chelada. This is a a beer-Clamato mixture released last year, and I've been wanting to try it. Although it got less-than-stellar reviews from beer rating websites, and the mixture of beer, tomato and clam juice sounds odd to many, such combos have been a favorite in Mexico for generations.


And honestly, I kind of liked the Chelada! I think I liked the idea of it more than the actual product, as the Budweiser version seemed too salty, and I don't like the taste of Budweiser. You can hardly taste the beer, of course, but I knew I could improve on the beverage. So last night, that's what I set out to do. I got a better beer, opting for a Mexican beer, to, you know, represent. I got some Clamato (on sale! It's fate!), and some limes. My first attempt, about 60% beer, 40% clamato and two wedges of lime, was tasty, however no quite there. For the next one I added ice and a few drops of habanero Tabasco sauce. That made it pretty darn awesome! Like a bloody mary, but more refreshing and less thick. Also, fizzy! In my chelada, I could taste the beer, and the clamato had just the right amount of salty and veggie-ness.

This was fun!


My sis-in-law and me with my 2 by 4 of Chelada in a paper bag. Awesome to the max!

ETA: Speaking of awesome to the max, check out Benchilada's Chelada adventure on his adventuresome and hilarious video series "So You Don't Have To." Yeah...they don't seem to be as impressed with the combo of beer and Clamato as I was....

zucchini mushroom hominy tacos

Tonight I made some veggie tacos inspired by fellow St. Louis food blog Veggie Venture (please check out her site and others from my new list of St. Louis related links I added to the side bar over there -->). She got the recipe from a Rick Bayless cookbook, and you can't go wrong with Rick Bayless. She added the hominy part, though, which is genius. I love hominy (check out this ancient post where I made a soup with it). The recipe also calls for chipotle, a favorite ingredient in the ironstef household.

I basically followed the recipe as it appeared on Veggie Venture, except I used more zucchini (and a yellow squash) and a 29 oz. can of hominy and more tomatoes (2 14.5 oz. cans diced, no salt added)...so I guess I pretty much doubled the recipe. Anyway, I also added fresh garlic, salt, Mexican oregano and cumin while I was cooking the onions and mushrooms. I also drained most of the liquid from the tomatoes before adding them, and added some sugar. Usually I find I have to add sugar to things I make with canned tomatoes. I forgot to get cilantro (how could I?!?) but I did get some limes, which was a lovely addition squeezed on at the end. Oh, and I used plain old Mexican-aisle corn tortillas instead of the whole wheat ones. It was a great meal. Filling and healthy. I have so many leftovers, which I imagine will taste even better tomorrow.
Here's how they looked:



I had it with beer (a Belgian beer with a French-sounding name with a Mexican meal...brilliant!), but here are some tips to pairing wine with Mexican food.

irish stew

Yesterday we had Irish Stew cooking in the crockpot all day. We came home to a wonderful dinner. The meat was soooo flavorful and the whole experience was downright comfy. I used this recipe. It's so strange that the recipe left out salt and pepper. Of course I added salt and pepper...I mean 6 potatoes and NO salt? Crazy. Ayway, I love that there was a pint of Guinness in it. Guinness in cooking? Brilliant! Here's some photos:

beer + bread = baking even I can handle

Lookie what I made! I'm not much into baking. It's too scientific and precise for my skillz. I love fresh baked bread though. It smells so good, and you can't buy anything like it. So when I was reminded of beer bread, I checked my cupboard and found that I had all the ingredients. So a whipped a loaf up! It's so stinkin' easy! And makes your home smell fantastic. Here's a few pics of the finished product:





Here's the recipe I used:



I did substitute one of the tablespoons of white sugar with brown sugar, just 'cause it sounded like the right thing to do. And I used this beer:



There's a review of the Jumping Cow Beer Here. I like the beer, but it was pretty bitter. That bitterness definitely translated into the bread. Overall the bread was yummy...crusty, not too dense, hearty and yeasty. And a little honey helped with the bitterness:



Here's a similar recipe to the one I used(on a really fun home decorating/hip domesticy-website, Digs, that you should take a peek through). I will definitely be trying beer bread again, with different beers and ingredients. It's quite versatile. And I'll have to remember it next time I go camping.

sliders and crappy beer

"Vampire" To Protest White Castle's Garlic Sandwich. Fo real. Why doesn't he go after Emeril for gosh sakes, then?

In other not-so-gourmet food news: The 50 worst beers. Eva! I haven't had most of these, fortunately. I'm glad to see Bud Light on there. That stuff is EVERYWHERE, and I just don't get it. *dodges stones from overly-loyal St. Louisans*

random foodness

-Tiny tiny sculptures of people interacting with food as the landscape. Fantastical!

-Today Slashfood had a post about the ”popener”, a name and product that made me giggle. I sent it to a couple of friends, and Kelly went the extra mile and clicked on the Spartacus link on the site where the popener is sold. The only Roman Gladiator to cook! Apparently it’s a show/going to be a show? What the?!

-Last night I made a simple, cheap, healthy-like dinner (those are my specialty). I cooked some cous-sous, added a can of butter beans, a can of diced tomatoes (drained) and a can of Glory mixed greens along with some garlic and onion powder, cumin, salt, pepper and crushed red pepper. Mixed it all up, put a blob of it on my plate, sprinkled low-fat Mexican cheeses on top and nuked it to melt the cheese. I served it with salsa. It was yummy. The greens really add a nice smoky-sweet flavor. I know it sounds strange. A “fusion” of Moroccan, Southern US, and Mexican. Hey, my kitchen is a melting pot, what can I say?

-I am currently drinking Old Speckled Hen Ale. It’s quite delish. Rich, but not in that dark-beer way. Kind of nutty, but still refreshing. I think it’s a bit on the expensive side, but heck, Jack bought it, and it’s really yummy. If you’re up for a beer splurge, I’d recommend it.

Il Vicino

Friday Night Jack and I went to Il Vicino in Clayton with Julie & Scott. It's wood oven pizza, and it's delicious. That night it was "bumpin'" (Scott's word of the day!), but we only waited about 10 or 15 minutes to be seated. The setup is different than most restaurants. You order and pay (and tip) at the counter, then you are seated with a number and everything is brought out to you. The service was very good. Julie and Scott said it's even better on slower nights. I got the Da Vinci pizza and Jack got the Testarossa pizza. Julie and Scott both Got House salads and Margherita pizzas. Next time I'll have to get the salad...it looked yummy.
Oh, and the girl who took our order gave me a frequent pizza card, and gave me 4 stamps, even tough Julie was payng and had already gotten the 4 stamps! Bonus! Also, Jack and I tried the house beer, which was an amber. I think this may have been Jack's favorite part. We were very impressed with the beer. Complex flavor with a -believe it or not- Hazlenut aftertaste! yum. I'll be researching whether we can buy bottles of it somewhere.
Also, the food was cheap! I think it was about $47 for the 4 of us, including our 2 beers. Looks like I'll be using that frequent customer card!