The fun people over at Etch-it Cups have supplied two sets of their great party cups and 6 packages of their Etch-it tags (15 per package) for this Hip Hostess Blog giveaway.  Three winners will be chosen for this giveaway (2 winners will each receive a package of Etch-it cups; 1 winner will receive the Etch-it tags).

I’ve blogged about these cups before – they are great for keeping track of your drink.  Each cup has a little “chalkboard” on it.  Simply remove the protective cover, then etch your name or a cool design with your finger and your cup is personalized.  Never Lose Your Drink!

For info. of where to buy Etch-it Cups online, visit their site at http://www.etch-it.com/onlinepartners.htm

To enter the Hip Hostess Blog giveaway for the Etch-it Cups and Tags, click on the link below.  Winners will be randomly selected at 10pm EST on February 12, 2010.  Winners will be notified via e-mail.  One entry per person.  Good luck!

https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dF9FWnE4bmxheVlTdkczQVJSY2Rkc1E6MA

I saw this fun football shaped meatloaf in Whole Foods.  Whether you like meatloaf or burgers, this is a great idea for game day.  Make your favorite meatloaf or burger recipe, altering it by shaping the raw meat into the shape of a football.  Use a football shaped cookie cutter to help form the burgers or shape them freehand.  Cook as usual.  Using a sharp knife or a pizza cutter, cut strips of deli sliced cheese into long narrow strips.  After meat is done to your liking, place strips of cheese in a lace pattern on top of burgers or meatloaf.  Don’t melt the cheese if you want the lace pattern to stay visible.  To make the perfect size bun for your football shaped burger, press the same football shaped cookie cutter to into large rolls (press through each piece of the roll separately for a cleaner cut).  Serve the football burgers with the buns on the side.  Enjoy the game!

Give your table a beachy look with seersucker.  This preppy fabric invokes the feeling of being beachside in New England.  Use this look for a lobster bake, pool party, backyard BBQ or summer dinner party.  Play up the theme with starfish, shells, anchors, buoys or hurricanes filled with sand and pillar candles.  Now your table will be dressed to impress.

Serve this simple yet hearty summer salad at a picnic, bridal or baby shower luncheon or serve over mixed greens for a light supper.
 

This salad is best prepared several hour (or up to 3 days) in advance so the flavors have time to merry.  I used navy beans, but cannellini beans (aka white kidney beans) are more traditional in Tuscan cooking.   Canned beans are a fine substitute, but fresh cooked will have a sturdier texture.

Tuscan White Bean Salad

1 cup dried white beans (or 2 cans white beans)

½ lb. (8oz) fresh mozzarella, cut into ½” cubes

1 pint grape tomatoes, quartered

1.5 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil

1.5 Tbs. balsamic vinegar

1 small garlic clove, minced

2 Tbs. fresh oregano, chopped

2 Tbs. fresh basil, chopped

½ tsp. salt

fresh-ground black pepper

1.            Soak beans in cold water overnight.  Rinse beans and cover with water.  Bring to boil over medium-high heat.  Reduce to simmer and cook, uncovered, for about 40 minutes, or until tender but not mushy.  Drain and cool to room temperature.

2.            Combine olive oil, vinegar, garlic, oregano and basil in large bowl and whisk until fully combined.  Add mozzarella, tomatoes and beans and toss until well coated.  Chill for several hours and serve at room temperature.

Serves 6

This is definitely not a cake for a high-brow soiree, but it’s perfect for a casual BBQ/ grill theme party.  Serve this as dessert at your Fourth of July cookout and you are sure to get a few laughs.

To make this fun grill cake: Bake a traditional round layer cake and frost it with your favorite chocolate frosting.  Use chocolate or black licorice for the grill outline and lines (black will stand out better against the chocolate frosting but chocolate is generally softer and easier to cut through when slicing the cake).    Use softened tootsie rolls to form the hamburger pattie, and black shoestring licorice pressed into the pattie as the grill lines (you can press your pattie into an actual grill pan for guidance on how to space the grill marks).  Use softened pink starbursts mixed with a few tootsie rolls to form the hotdog.   Cut wooden skewers to scale and thread on chunkes of “beef” (three softened red startbursts formed into chunks) and “peppers” (yellow and orange starbursts flatened and shaped like pieces of bell pepper).

Don’t let the rain ruin your plans for a Father’s Day cookout.  You can still throw your favorite father a BBQ in his honor -  just shift gears from a cookout to a “cook-in.”  Here’s a menu that you can make on the grill or in a grill pan.

http://hiphostess.wordpress.com/2008/05/26/coffee-chili-steak-rub/

http://hiphostess.wordpress.com/2008/06/03/espresso-chocolate-chunk-cookies/

I always enjoy the first asparagus of the season simply steamed or sauteed.  In the following weeks I find more interesting uses for my favorite spring vegetable, like this Asparagus and Feta Quinoa Salad.  If you can find them, use pencil thin stalks in this recipe.  

This salad goes well with grilled meat, poultry and fish.  It’s a great side dish for a cookout or BBQ since it can be prepared in advance and served at room temperature.  Make this salad up to two days in advance and add additional olive oil, vinegar and/or lemon juice if the the quinoa seems dry (it will absorb some of the liquid if prepared in advance).

Spring Quinoa Salad With Asparagus and Feta 

1 ½ C. chicken or vegetable stock (low sodium)

1 C. quinoa

Juice from ½ large lemon (about 1 ½ Tbs.)

1 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil

2 Tbs. sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar

1 large garlic clove, minced

1 bunch pencil thin asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1” pieces

15 grape tomatoes, halved lengthwise

4oz feta or goat cheese, crumbled

Salt and pepper to taste

1.    Bring stock to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat.  While waiting for the stock to boil, place quinoa in a fine-mesh strainer and rinse under warm water for 2 minutes to wash away the natural (but bitter) outer layer of the grain.  Once stock is boiling, add quinoa and return to a boil.  Reduce heat to low, cover saucepan and simmer until quinoa has absorbed most of the liquid, about 15 minutes.  Remove from heat, uncover, fluff with a fork.  Cool at room temperature.

2.   While quinoa is cooking, steam asparagus.   Fill a small pot with 1” water.  Bring to a boil over high heat.  Place asparagus in the boiling water or in a steamer basket fitted inside the pot.  Cover with a lid and steam for 2-3 minutes, or until asparagus is fork tender but still slightly crisp.  Fill a small bowl with ice and cold water and plunge asparagus into the cold water to stop the cooking process and keep the asparagus from over-cooking.  

3.    In a medium bowl combine lemon, olive oil, vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper.  Whisk until well combined.  Add cooled quinoa, steamed asparagus and tomatoes and stir gently with a fork to keep quinoa fluffy.  Add feta and continue until well combined.  Serve at room temperature or slightly chilled. 

Serves 6 as a side

One of my friends is from Spain and makes the best gazpacho!  She served it at a cookout last weekend in chilled martini glasses, which were the perfect serving size and a great appetizer to eat while mingling. 

Make any chilled summer soup look spectacular by serving it “up” in a martini glass.  Chill the glasses in the freezer until you are ready to serve the soup for a nice frosty alternative to a bowl.

A friend of mine picks his own veggies at a nearby farm and brought me some of the farm’s first-picked rhubarb of the season.  If you have never tried rhubarb you are in for a treat!  It’s deliciously tart and pairs beautifully with sweet ingredients like sugar, berries and red wine.  Rhubarb looks like large stalks of celery and ranges in color from green with a hint of pink to deep purple-red (though I have never detected a different in taste between the lighter and darker stalks).  When buying rhubarb, pick stalks that look sturdy and crispy with fresh looking ends.  

If you are new to the world of rhubarb this is a great introductory recipe for you to try; rhubarb is paired with several sweet ingredients that mellow the rhubarb’s tart flavor.  This recipe is a variation of a recipe I found on Epicurious.

This is a great dessert for a Memorial Day cookout or any spring dinner.  It’s definitely a crowd-pleaser so double the recipe if you have more than 6 guests. Happy baking!

Blueberry Rhubarb Crisp with Pistachio-Oat Crumble

1/3 C. natural cane sugar
2 Tbs. minute tapioca
2 ½ – 3 ½ C. rhubarb (1-1.5 lbs), trimmed and cut into ½” pieces
3 C. fresh or frozen blueberries

½ C. shelled raw pistachios, finely chopped
½ C. all purpose flour or gluten-free flour
½ C. old fashion oats, roughly chopped in a mini food processor
½ C. natural cane sugar
¼ C. brown sugar, packed
6 Tbs. cold unsalted butter

Fresh whipped cream or vanilla bean ice cream (optional)

1. Move oven rack to upper third of oven and preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare 2 quart baking dish by coating bottom and sides with non-stick spray or softened butter. In a medium bowl, stir together sugar and tapioca. Add in rhubarb and blueberries and toss to coat. Spread mixture in the bottom of prepared baking dish.

2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, oats and sugars and whisk until well combined. Cut butter into ½” pieces and blend butter with oat mixture by using your fingers to combine and crumble, until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. Add pistachios to oat mixture and stir until well combined.

3. Take a small handful of topping and squeeze it into a compact chunk and crumble it over blueberry filling. Continue with remaining topping and crumble evenly over the filling until all of the crumble is used up.

4. Bake in upper third of oven for about 45 minutes, or until the filling is bubbling and the topping is golden crisp. Serve immediately or at room temperature, topped with a dollop of fresh whipped cream or a small scoop of vanilla bean ice cream.

Cooking Corn on the Cobb

1.       Shuck corn by removing husks and silk.  (To remove pieces of clingy silk use a moist paper towel and wipe in a downward motion, from the stalk to the tip of the cobb).

2.       Boil 4 quarts of water in a lidded stockpot.  DO NOT add salt to the water – it will make the corn tough.  Make sure the stockpot is large enough to hold all of the corn and the water is high enough to cover the corn once it is added to the pot.

3.       Once boiling, add 1 tsp. sugar to the boiling water and continue to boil for 1 minute.  Add the cleaned pieces of corn to the boiling water.  Cover the pot, turn off the heat, and cook the corn for 5 minutes. 

4.       Remove the corn from the water and serve. 

Note:  Extra corn can be left in the hot water, covered with the lid, and kept warm for second servings. 

For more recipes, tips and ideas on cooking summer’s bounty visit:  http://eatdrinkbetter.com/2008/07/22/farmers-market-fare-13/