The Bye and Bye (a copycat drink recipe)

The Bye and Bye is a cute little tavern in Portland, Oregon with a short menu of delicious vegan food. We ate there this summer when we were visiting family.

To go with my meatball sandwich, I ordered the house signature drink, the Bye and Bye.  The bartender filled a mason jar with ice, added a couple of shots of liquor, some juice, and a squirt of something from the soda gun. I loved it. The drink is fruity, but not cloyingly sweet. When I finished it, I decided that I wanted to make them at home.

When I got home, I couldn't find a recipe for a Bye and Bye, so I had to get creative. The menu said it contained peach infused bourbon and vodka. I don't have flavor-infused liquors, usually, and didn't want to buy any, so I used regular bourbon and vodka and some peach schnapps. Then I had to figure out the juice. I tasted cranberry juice and guessed that the soda was ginger ale.

I mixed it all up, and it tasted right, but the color wasn't pink enough. I tried adding some pomegranate molasses. Whoops, my drink was now brown. I thought about using some grenadine, but then I remembered that we used to make pink lemonade with grape juice when I was a kid, so I added some grape juice concentrate. Pinkness was achieved.

I've been drinking these on weekends ever since. This is a great drink anytime, but it's especially nice right now as the last heavy days of late summer ease into the crispness of fall.

Disclaimer: I only had one of these and I'm working from memory, so I might not have the juice ingredients exactly right (the liberties I took with the liquor was on purpose), and the color of mine is a little deeper than the original, as I recall. The flavor is spot on, I believe. But if you've had this drink and have any suggestions as to how I can make it closer to the original, leave me a comment!

A Pitcher of Bye and Byes

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons vodka (3 ounces)

1/4 cup bourbon (2 ounces)

1/4 cup peach liqueur (2 ounces)

1 cup ginger ale

2 cups cranberry juice

2 tablespoons  purple grape juice concentrate (or 1/2 cup grape juice)

Mix all ingredients in a 1 quart pitcher. Pour over ice into 4 juice glasses or 2 large mason jars.

Makes 2 tavern-sized drinks or 4 regular ones.

Two New Recipe Indices

Esperanza

I know I haven't been posting as much lately, and I'm trying not to feel guilty about it! I've been working on some things in my life that are not food related, and they're keeping me a bit distracted, too distracted to try many new experiments in the kitchen. I think it happens to a lot of food bloggers, actually. Real Life intrudes.

I'm still reading everyone's blogs and enjoying your stories and recipes. I'm also still cooking as much as ever, but I'm making a lot of old favorites. I thought it was only fair that I shared with you what those old favorites are. Also, I didn't have a decent recipe index here. (I used to have a tag cloud in the sidebar, but it got too big and unwieldy.) So, look up. There, just below the blog header, you'll see a new recipe index and another page called "The Keepers." These are the recipes I've been making the most frequently. And as soon as I have something new to share, I will be posting it here tout de suite.

Cheesy Vegan Mushroom and Roasted Pepper Lasagna

A few weeks ago when I was trying to use up some ingredients languishing in my pantry, I made the ugliest mac and cheese ever. I had some leftover no-boil lasagna noodles that weren't enough for a whole pan, so I broke them up into squares and cooked them. My idea was to make this mac and cheese with some roasted poblano peppers in it. At the last minute, I threw in some sautéed portobello mushrooms.

The portobellos turned the yellow cheese sauce gray. Between the broken lasagna noodles and the yellow-gray sauce, the dish was so ugly, I was telling "yo mama" jokes about it.

Yo mac and cheese is so ugly, it fell out of the ugly tree and hit every ugly branch on the way down.

I hid the pasta with some bread crumbs and baked it.

Yo mama is so ugly we put bread crumbs on her.

Oh, but my ugly mac and cheese was so, so delicious. I had to figure out a way to make it pretty enough that everyone else could appreciate it too.  So I replaced the portobello with a blend of button mushrooms and creminis, traded some of the poblano with a red bell pepper, and made it as lasagna. This time, my pasta was beautiful; I only topped it with bread crumbs to keep the cheese sauce from burning.

I'm sending this to Ruth's Presto Pasta Nights. 

Cheesy Vegan Mushroom and Roasted Pepper Lasagna

I made this in two pans, one to bake right away and one to freeze and bake on another night.

2 poblano peppers, about 8 ounces

1 red bell pepper, about 4 ounces

2 tablespoons olive oil

8 ounces button mushrooms, sliced

6 ounces cremini mushrooms, sliced

1 fat clove garlic, minced

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup Earth Balance margarine or neutral-tasting oil, like canola

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2-1/2 cups almond milk (see note)

1 (8-ounce) package Daiya mozzarella flavor vegan cheese shreds

1 (8-ounce) package no-boil lasagna noodles, 12 noodles

3/4 cup bread crumbs, from about 1-1/2 ounces/slices of bread

Place peppers on a baking tray (use one that you don't mind burned stuff sticking to). Broil until skin begins to blacken, turning over to lightly blacken all sides.  You don't need the skin to be completely black; your goal here is to make it separate from the pepper, not to burn it off. Transfer the peppers to a paper bag or wrap in a piece of wax paper and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a large, deep skillet.  Sauté the mushrooms until tender, 5-7 minutes. Add the minced garlic and cook for another minute. Transfer to a bowl. When the peppers have cooled enough to handle, peel off the skin. Slice the pepper open lengthwise, slice around the stem, remove the seeds, and discard stem and seeds. Cut the pepper into short, thin strips and add to the mushrooms.

Wipe out the skillet. Melt the margarine (or add the neutral-tasting oil). Stir in the flour. Over low heat, slowly stir in the almond milk and whisk until there are no lumps.  Turn the heat to medium and cook, stirring frequently, until sauce thickens.  Add cheese and continue to cook, stirring constantly, until cheese melts.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Oil a 9 x 13-inch baking pan or two 8 x 8-inch ones. Spread about 1/2 cup sauce in the bottom of the pan (or divide between two). Top with a third of the noodles, half the mushrooms and peppers, and a third of the cheese sauce. Make another layer the same way. Finish with the remaining noodles and cheese sauce.  Top with bread crumbs and bake for 25-35 minutes, until bubbly at the edges and hot in the center.

Serves 6

Note: This recipe includes extra almond milk to hydrate the no-boil lasagna noodles. If you make this with noodles that are already cooked, reduce the milk by 1/2 cup.

Chocolate Peppermint Ice Cream Sandwiches

In most parts of the US, Memorial Day weekend marks the beginning of the year's best weather, while Labor Day weekend marks the end. On the Gulf Coast, it's the other way around. Lovely warm springs give way to sticky hot summers after the first of June, while we get relief in the form of mild, balmy autumns beginning in mid-September or so. With winter so short it almost seems like autumn runs right into spring, there is a lot of lovely weather to enjoy here, just not when you expect it.

So, when most people are getting in their last cookout of the year right about now, all I can think of is cooling off. I recommend some ice cream as a great way to get some relief from the heat. Ice cream sandwiches are even better.

The ice cream is a variation on the vanilla from this post. I was hoping to drizzle in some chocolate syrup while my ice cream maker was running and have it remain a distinct chocolate ribbon but it completely blended in. It's still just as delicious this way, though! The cookies are the chocolate-chocolate chip cookies from Veganomicon, minus the chocolate chips and with added crushed peppermint.

Chocolate Peppermint Ice Cream Sandwiches

Make the cookies first and have them ready to go in the freezer. You'll have a few extra after making the ice cream sandwiches.

Chocolate-Peppermint Cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup canola oil

1 1/2 cups sugar

4 teaspoons ground flax seeds

1/2 cup almond or soy milk

1/4 cup crushed peppermint candies (about 10)

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Oil 2 large baking sheets. Unwrap the peppermint candies and place them in a bag. Use a rolling pin or other heavy object to crush the candies to a coarse powder.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat together the oil, sugar, flax seeds, and almond or soy milk. Beat until creamy.

Add about 1/3 of the dry ingredients and beat briefly. Add another third, and beat again briefly. Add the remaining dry ingredients and combine with a spoon. (Finishing the mixing by hand will help keep you from overbeating the dough.)

Cover 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Spoon out about 1-1/2 tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball with your hands. Once all of the balls are on the baking sheets, flatten each slightly with the bottom of a drinking glass. Sprinkle the crushed peppermints onto the top of the cookies and press lightly into place with the glass.

Bake for 10 minutes. Cool, then freeze. Makes about 32 cookies.

Chocolate-Peppermint Ice Cream

1 (13.5-ounce can) coconut milk, refrigerated for several hours

About 3 cups almond milk, divided use

3/4 cup sugar

Pinch of salt

2-1/2 teaspoons corn starch or arrowroot starch

2 teaspoons good-quality vanilla extract

2 tablespoons chocolate syrup

1/2 cup crushed peppermint candies (about 20)

Carefully open can of coconut milk and scoop the solids off the top into a large measuring cup. Reserve the liquid for another use (like making curry or bread). Add enough almond milk to the coconut milk solids to make 3 cups. Transfer the coconut and almond milk to a heavy saucepan. Whisk in the sugar and salt. Heat over medium heat, stirring frequently, until you see a little steam coming from the top of the milk, but don't bring to a boil.

Whisk together the corn starch or arrowroot starch with an extra 1/2 cup of almond milk. Add to the saucepan. Heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens slightly, about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat, cool to about room temperature, and refrigerate.

Freeze according to your ice cream maker's instructions. Spoon.  ice cream onto a frozen cookie, top with another one and slip the ice cream sandwich into the freezer immediately. Repeat with remaining cookies and ice cream. Makes about 12.