Recipe Mutiny steals recipes from food blogs and recipe sites. Then we publish them. With credit (Naturally).
Friday, July 13, 2018
Stylish and Practical Picnic Gear That’s Also Good for the Environment
You love summer, you love noshing and sipping by the beach, but you don’t love all those images of fish and turtles caught in ocean garbage, right? Well, it turns out you don’t need to throw away much at all if you properly equip yourself with some super reusable (and oftentimes super cute!) beach dining accoutrements. Mix-and-match the items that speak to you, and you’ll have your own ready-to-go beach picnic kit that will herald in sunny, breezy days without worry of waste.
Let’s start with the core food groups of a beach picnic: wine and cheese. Make it easy with this Insulated Wine Tote Bag with Cheese Board, Knife and Corkscrew. So many colors to choose from, and everything you need for a perfectly romantic wine-and-cheese date on the beach. Skip the plastic knife and the plastic bag, and just worry about finishing off the cheese and wine—waste not, want not!
Picnic at Ascot/Amazon
For those who prefer wine out of wine glasses, Kikkerland makes several differently-shaped portable plastic “glasses,” like this round style or this geometric style. Toss a couple in your beach bag, along with your wine and some stoppers like this by Joie (on the off-chance you’ll have leftovers), and you are good to go!
Kikkerland/Amazon
For the ultimate DIY wine-to-go setup, choose your favorite style of this BUILT NY Neoprene Tote, and treat yourself to these StackNGo Portable Wine Glasses that fit into a bottle-shaped holder. Then, imagine strolling over to the waves with some bubbly in one tote pocket, and your reusable glasses in the other—can you even?!?
BuiltNY/Amazon and Practico Kitchen/AMazon
If beer is more your style, or even some other liquid (I don’t know, water?), you can’t go wrong with a good growler. This Smart Flask Stainless Steel Growler comes with a neoprene carrier that you can also use with any proprietary brewery growler, for those times they insist you use their branded container. Refiling a growler time-after-time at your favorite brewery is an excellent way to mitigate the need to go through innumerable bottles and cans.
Smart Flask/Amazon
Speaking of beer, did you know that those ubiquitous red Solo cups aren’t so easily recyclable? Most municipalities don’t take #6 plastic recycling—it requires special facilities. But, if you can’t quit that “red cup” life, Red Cup Living has created a sustainable version. Splurge on a few of those, or if you’re just trying to get ‘er done with a crowd, reusable-style, get a set of these BPA-free cups on the cheap.
Red Cup Living/Amazon
Now that you’ve got plenty of options for minimizing waste while imbibing, let’s take a look at some ways you can kick your paper habit with regards to the actual meal. Sea-themed melamine plates are hardy enough to toss in a bag, but dreamy enough for your Instagram food pics. Plus, they’re more durable than ceramic plates, and hold food better than flimsy paper!
Amazon
And since you’ll already be bringing home your sandy beach towel to wash, why not bundle in some spent cotton napkins at the end of your excursion? As all of the Season 2 Queer Eye home designing illustrates (thanks, Bobby!), palm leaves are so “in” right now—so, lean into all that is reusable by investing in some tropical leaf cotton napkins. No paper to throw away!
Amazon
While plastic forks and knives seem like the obvious choice for picnic meals, they aren’t so seamlessly recyclable—most are made from that notorious #6 plastic which lots of city recycling facilities do not accept. A more environmentally conscious way to eliminate cutlery waste is to get yourself this Stainless Steel Flatware Set by VICBAY. With its own neoprene case, it’s portable as well as stylish! Or, win outdoor-host-of-the-year and bust out this set of four by KEKLLE when dining with your friends. For the more utilitarian types, this Camping Utensil Set by Hikenture comes with a bottle opener and a small loop to attach to your key ring. All these options make it easy to ditch disposable!
KEKLLE/Amazon
With all the mixing-and-matching you can do with reusable beach dining products, you’ll need something to tie it all, and carry it all, together. This Collapsible Insulated Basket by Picnic at Ascot comes in 13 colors and patterns, and doubles as a shopping tote for your frozen and refrigerated groceries when you stop at the supermarket. Keep your food and drinks at the right temperature while using fewer disposable bags—you’re nailing this reusable thing!
Picnic at Ascot/Amazon
Finally, unless you’re really crafty with your bottles-and-cans artwork, you will need a place to gather up all those recyclables. This Pop-Up Recycle Bin by Coghlan fits the bill perfectly—it’s super portable, and it couldn’t be more obvious about its intended purpose. Set this thing up near your beach blanket, and delight in the tidy, environmentally friendly way your friends all dispose of their drink vessels.
Pick-and-choose your favorite items, and put your waste-minimizing picnic kit together for beautiful days and nights on the beach—the only thing you’ll be disposing of is a wasteful mindset! Oh, and make sure to practice that stink eye, withering glare, or classic “thumbs down” gesture (dealer’s choice) for when you spot beach-goers littering—you can be a sort of a Lorax for the fishies!
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How to Build the Ultimate Ice Cream Sundae Bar
If you’re stumped on which dessert to serve at your next summer party, consider setting up an ice cream sundae bar. Ice cream is exactly what most people want when temperatures are climbing, thus making it the perfect solution. Even picky eaters love a good bowl of vanilla with sprinkles on top. Perhaps the biggest draw is that building them requires little to no effort for the host. All you have to do is lay out the flavors, toppings, sauces, bowls, and cones, and let your guests do the work.
But how exactly do you host an ice cream sundae bar that will really blow people away? It’s actually much easier than you think. We got the full scoop on ice cream party hosting below.
1. Keep the flavors nice and simple.
Your instinct might be to serve a ton of different flavors, but Mohan Kumar, co-owner of New York-based ice cream shop Oddfellows, tells Chowhound that when it comes to ice cream, less is always more.
“You don’t want to have more than two to three flavors,” he explains. “The flavors should be the base, but the toppings should be the highlight.”
Stick to the classics. Strawberry and chocolate are popular ice cream flavors that will always be hits. You might also want to serve a dairy-free option in addition to the basics, just in case you have any lactose-intolerant friends.
“Vanilla bean is a must,” says Kumar. “But in general, keep it simple.”
2. Having bowls and cones on hand is key.
“I believe a great ice cream sundae is the vessel we serve it in,” says Yolanda Diaz, head pastry chef at Geraldine’s in Austin. “It’s about the whole experience.”
Providing good serving “vessels” is the one step that’s going to require a bit more effort on your end. Sure, you could just set out a stack of red Solo cups and call it a day, but that’s going to impress no one. Instead, invest in a few nice bowls. They can be glass, but if you don’t want to spend too much money, there are plenty of stylish paper or plastic options you can find online or at party stores. (Personally, we like these cone-inspired creations.)
Our experts were divided on whether or not to offer actual cones. Kumar advises against it if your intention is purely sundaes.
“Sundaes should be in a bowl,” he explains. “That way you can get all your ice cream, toppings, and sauces in one bite with a spoon.”
Diaz thinks having cones on hand is a good option, in case your guests don’t want to go the full sundae route. At the end of the day, it all comes down to preference. Decide which experience you want your party-goers to have and stick to it.
3. Feel free to get crazy with your toppings—you can never have too many.
When we asked Diaz which toppings we should serve, she was nervous to recommend anything.
“Everyone has their own palate,” she says.
If you have a wide array of sweet, salty, and spicy offerings, there will be something to please everyone. Need inspiration? Some of Diaz’s favorites include chocolate-covered gummy bears, corn nuts, potato chips, sprinkles, and fresh fruit.
4. Offer a mix of crunchy and chewy toppings. The more texture, the better.
“Texture is everything,” says Kumar, further explaining that every sundae should have four layers: Smooth ice cream, something crunchy, something gooey, and something fluffy.
A great example would be a base of vanilla ice cream, salty nuts, caramel sauce or fudge, all topped with whipped cream.
5. Whatever you do, don’t forget the sauces.
Sauces are the glue that brings an ice cream sundae bar together. Without them, your toppings and ice cream won’t meld the way they should. Kumar says you absolutely have to have at least one caramel offering, one chocolate offering, and whipped cream. From there, he recommends serving seasonal fruit compotes (a summertime peach or berry sauce would work perfectly).
If you really feel like getting adventurous, Diaz loves more exotic offerings like chocolate curry sauces, orange blossom whipped creams, and sesame caramels. As long as you have a few basics, you can get as kooky as you want. You can even try making your own Magic Shell style topping to impress your guests.
Related Video: A Short History of Frozen Desserts in America
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The Best Homemade Dips and Sauces for French Fries
As a food writer whose job is to taste pretty much anything I can get my hands on, I’m ready to make a bold and potentially delegitimizing statement: French fries are my favorite food. Nothing has ever come close to the fried potato’s crunchy-soft ratio, ability to withstand unhealthy levels of salt, versatility in shapes and sizes, and—perhaps its most important quality—option to be dipped and dunked in hundreds of sauces (not just ketchup).
In celebration of National French Fry Day (because it’s an actual holiday I wrote down in my calendar), I’ve pooled together nine simple french fry-friendly dips and sauces that you can create in your own kitchen. Whether you’re baking, frying, or microwaving leftovers, these sweet, spicy, and creamy blends are sure to elevate any fry from tried-and-true to omg-inducing amazing.
It’s an inarguable fact that honey mustard is a french fry’s best friend. And if you disagree, then french fries probably aren’t your favorite food, which means you get zero say in this matter. Get our Honey Mustard Sauce recipe.
Chowhound
Basic fry sauce gets swanky with the addition of Worcestershire sauce and a little brandy. Get our Marie Rose Sauce recipe.
Chowhound
This classic herb-filled dressing almost makes fries seem healthy. If you’re not a fan of the creamy texture, try Argentine chimichurri sauce instead, but the Green Goddess is more clingy—in a good way. Get our Green Goddess Dressing recipe.
For those who shudder at the thought of mayonnaise, adding roasted garlic and giving it a fancy name should help. In the case of french fries, it doesn’t just help, it makes them taste gourmet-level amazing. Get our Roasted Garlic Aioli recipe.
Chowhound
And if roasted garlic isn’t enough, add pickles, capers, scallions, and lemon juice too. May as well as add some fried seafood on the side to make it fish and chips while you’re at it. Get our Tartar Sauce recipe.
Sure, barbecue sauce tastes best on meats like pulled pork, ribs, and grilled chicken, but it also makes for a damn good fry sauce. It’s all about the complex (and completely customizable!) elements of flavor. Get our Basic Barbecue Sauce recipe.
I’ll shamelessly dip my fries into anything that has bacon and jalapeño in it. And if you want to change my name to Basic Becky as a result, go for it. Get the recipe.
Hot sauce alone is a bit too thin and runny to pair well with a fry (we don’t want them too soggy), but this chipotle-mustard blend’s got the perfect balance of peppery heat with a dip-worthy consistency. Get our Chipotle Mustard Hot Sauce recipe.
Spicy mayo is deserving of a spot on any list of dips and sauces because spicy mayo tastes delicious on literally anything. Seriously, just yesterday I sliced and dipped a Granny Smith apple in it and it wasn’t horrible. Get our Spicy Sesame Mayo recipe.
We all know that ketchup makes a perfectly suitable dip for any type of fry, but a curried variety ups the ante by bringing in some international flair. Wow your guests with this variation, but don’t tell them how easy it is to make. (And for a different take, try adding harissa instead of the curry powder.) Get our Curried Ketchup recipe.
Frankly, anything fried tastes good with sweet and sour sauce. It’s why we head straight to McDonald’s after a night of partying. Get our Sweet & Sour Sauce recipe.
I never use ranch in everyday life. In fact, I am Team Blue Cheese when I order buffalo wings. But there’s something about ranch’s creaminess and sweetness that aligns seamlessly with fries’ saltiness. And that’s what we call side dish perfection. Get our Basic Ranch Dressing recipe.
Related Video: How to Make 3 Copycat Fast Food Sauces
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French Recipes for a Bastille Day Picnic
We have a love affair with France’s creamy and crumbly cheeses, crusty baguettes with their soft centers, and swoon-worthy fragrant sauces, not to mention their many stunning desserts, from the complicated to the delightfully casual (clafoutis, we’re looking at you). So we hardly need another reason to make some tantalizing French food, but come July 14, we have one: France’s Independence Day celebration, Bastille Day. Also known as Le Quatorze Juillet (the 14th of July) and La Fête Nationale (the national celebration) in Francophone countries, this day commemorates the beginning of the French Revolution, and is a great excuse to pack up a French-inspired picnic. (It also happens to be Grand Marnier Day, in case you want to make an orange-accented cocktail to bring along.)
There are plenty of French dishes you could make to honor the holiday (Salmon en Croûte, Chocolate Soufflé, and Potato-Leek Soup to name a few), but since it’s summer, here are some lighter, travel- (and heat-) friendly dishes ideal for dining in le parc.
Chowhound
Haricot verts are such a tender, delicate-tasting variety of the green beans you see flooding the farmers markets in the summer. Toss them with a top shelf Dijon, shallots, garlic, and capers, and you’ve got a sophisticated side dish for a French picnic. Get our French Green Bean Salad recipe.
Ham and Camembert Baguette Sandwich
Chowhound
A halved sweet baguette spread with fresh fig jam, topped with salty ham and creamy Camembert cheese, and garnished with spicy arugula is a perfectly balanced sandwich for any day, but it’s especially fitting for Bastille Day. Get our Ham and Camembert Baguette Sandwich recipe.
Chowhound
Duxelles spread on top of crostini make a perfect picnic snack that’s simple and packed with umami earthiness of the French countryside. There’s not much to it, but make sure you don’t over-blend. Little chunks are good, and don’t forget to top it with slices of your favorite French cheese. Get our Duxelles recipe.
To add a little variety to your spread, include a healthy fish sandwich in the mix. Inspired by the classic French salad, this one has caper mayonnaise serving as a briny base that pairs traditional niçoise ingredients such as olives, red onion, and hard-cooked eggs with ahi tuna fillets. If you’re a vegetarian, no problem. Thanks to the addition of protein-rich eggs, this dish is hearty enough without the tuna. Get our Salade Niçoise Sandwich recipe.
Chowhound
Tangy, crunch carrot slaw would be a simple French side dish for all that bread and cheese. A good country-style Dijon, chives, parsley, orange zest provide complexity to the shaved carrots. Get our Carrot Slaw recipe.
French Ham and Cheese Quick Bread
Chowhound
Make a quick bread and savor the slices dotted with ham and olives as you sprawl out on the blanket at the park. Simplicity is sweet. Get our French Ham and Cheese Quick Bread recipe.
French Lentil Terrine with Savory Carrot Custard
Little jars of carrot custard topped with lentils, zucchini, leeks, and chèvre are a mini meal on their own, and an impressive dish to serve at brunch, or of course, on a picnic. Get our French Lentil Terrine with Savory Carrot Custard recipe.
French Macarons with White Chocolate Ganache
Chowhound
End your picnic on a sweet note with colorful white chocolate macarons. Even though these are one of the more difficult French pastries to master, Bastille Day is just the reason you need to push your baking boundaries. Bon appétit! Get our French Macarons with White Chocolate Ganache recipe.
Chowhound
Or, if that’s too daunting, make these easy pots de crème—individual servings of rich chocolate pudding, basically. As long as you wrap them well so they’re totally water-tight and don’t jostle your cooler too much, you can tote them along anywhere. Get our Chocolate Pots de Crème recipe.
Related Video: 3 Underrated French Cheeses to Eat on Bastille Day
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How to Turn Melted Ice Cream From Summer Disaster Into Dessert
From soft serve cones to pints of dairy-free ice cream, there’s no form of frozen treat that isn’t delicious. Generally, we want to eat our ice cream before it melts (although when it’s a little soft and drippy, it’s especially delicious), but there are occasions on which a puddle of melted ice cream is actually a good thing! Because it can be used as a secret ingredient in several different dishes, from French toast for breakfast to numerous desserts.
It’s not so odd if you think about what ice cream is made of: cream, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and (if it’s store-bought, at least) some stabilizers, plus additional flavorings. Melted vanilla ice cream is the easiest to envision mixing into other things, but you can try pretty much any flavor you like, with the obvious issue that chunky mix-ins may alter the texture of your finished dish.
So, what exactly can you do with melted ice cream?
Use It In Place of Crème Anglaise
Crème anglaise is a basic French custard sauce made from heavy cream, eggs, vanilla, and sugar—exactly what ice cream’s custard base is comprised of! So while it might sound alarming to let a pint of vanilla bean ice cream melt into a thick liquid and then pour it over baked goods, it’s really not so different, aside from being infinitely easier than making your own from scratch. This cheater’s/genius’s version of crème anglaise is endorsed by chefs too, including John Gorham of Toro Bravo and Tasty n Sons in Portland, Ore. (you can find proof in the “Hello! My Name Is Tasty” cookbook).
Magnolia Days
This can hardly be called a recipe, and yet, here’s another endorsement for speedy vanilla cream sauce. Pour it over bread pudding, pound cakes, fruit crisps, and more. Just be sure to choose a high quality brand without a lot of artificial additives. Get the recipe.
Use It for Easy Baked Goods
This melted salted caramel gelato summer cake with stone fruit seems to suggest that the Italian answer to ice cream can be used interchangeably with “regular” ice cream, but most recipes use the latter. Here are just a handful of them:
Ice Cream Chocolate Chip Cookies
Crazy for Crust
This maybe sort of doesn’t count, because for these cookies, you measure the ice cream while still cold, but it definitely melts when it hits the heated ingredients. The ice cream stands in for a portion of the butter and eggs that go into the original recipe, and you can use any flavor ice cream you like. Get the recipe.
The Baking Fairy
The classic Internet-famous way of making melted ice cream bread and muffins is to simply mix the melted ice cream with self-rising flour, but this recipe adds a little extra sugar, cocoa, and chocolate chunks (which may not be necessary if you start out with a higher-quality ice cream, but certainly couldn’t hurt). Get the recipe.
Weary Chef
You can make all kinds of melted ice cream bread, too—mix different flavors into one loaf, or make chocolate ice cream banana bread, for instance. But if you’ve never tried it, why not start with a basic version? It’s got lots of vanilla flavor that saves it from being too plain, and is great with fresh fruit (and the cheater’s crème anglaise from above). Get the recipe.
Cookies and Cups
The phrase “melted ice cream cake” sounds like a minor tragedy, but this version is quite the opposite. Obviously, you could try it with melted vanilla or chocolate ice cream (or if you’re a fan of mochas, try this cake made with coffee ice cream), but a pint of dulce de leche ice cream is perfect, especially with the additional caramel drizzled on top. Get the recipe.
2 Ingredient Ice Cream Microwave Mug Cake
Love Swah
If you’re in need of a quick single-serving snack but can’t decide between cake and ice cream, use a little of the latter to make a mini microwave version of the former—then top if off with whatever ice cream’s left, of course. Get the recipe.
Use It to Soak French Toast Before Frying
Two Peas and Their Pod
Soaking your bread in melted vanilla ice cream (caramel flavored would also be brilliant here) makes for luscious French toast without any extra effort. Get the recipe.
Use It to Make a Mousse or Pudding
Better Homes and Gardens
Melted chocolate ice cream, cocoa powder, and heavy cream make an easy and indulgent mousse. Get the recipe.
Freutcake
This 5-ingredient recipe steeps grated carrots in melted ice cream as the start of an easy pudding perfect for spring and summer. Try the same trick with other ingredients in place of the carrots, like a split vanilla bean or pieces of fresh ginger. Get the recipe.
Use It to Make Bread Pudding
Bread pudding calls on custard too, which means it can be made with melted ice cream instead. Vanilla works in classic recipes, but experiment with other flavors.
Ben & Jerry
This bread pudding, for instance, uses melted Phish Food (chocolate ice cream with marshmallow and caramel swirls and fudge fish!) plus day-old pastries like buttery croissants to make a really rich dessert. Get the recipe.
Use It to Make Fast Fudge
The Spruce
This easy fudge has literally only two ingredients: melted ice cream and semisweet chocolate. That is dangerously simple to make. Get the recipe.
Use It to Make a Rich Glaze
Melted ice cream can be used in place of milk in traditional buttercream to boost the flavor, but if you want to go an easier route, you can turn it into a quick glaze to top cupcakes, cookies, or sweet bread.
Gluten-Free Ice Cream Cookie Cakes with Melted Ice Cream Glaze
Go Dairy Free
Not only are these little cakes gluten-free, they’re also dairy-free, proving that melted vegan ice cream works as a secret ingredient too. Get the recipe.
Make Meta Ice Cream Sandwiches
Real Simple
To make these, you melt some of the ice cream for the cookies, then use them to sandwich more ice cream in the same flavor. But you could definitely try mixing and matching too. Get the recipe.
Use It to Make No-Bake Pies
Ice cream often goes on pies, so why not in them too? But these aren’t just plain ice cream smoothed into pie shells, either (not that there’s anything wrong with that).
Averie Cooks
Vanilla ice cream is a shortcut to an ultra-creamy pumpkin pie, and the graham cracker crust is just as easy. (And while the ice cream here isn’t totally melted so much as very well softened, that’s just a technicality.) Get the recipe.
BitterSweet Blog
Fully melted vegan ice cream can be blended with fresh strawberries and then stabilized with a little agar to make a chilled summertime treat. Get the recipe.
Use It to Make Hot Chocolate
Because while ice cream might be best enjoyed in hot weather, it’s never too cold to partake. Still, you might want the best of both worlds, so here, ice cream will warm you up!
Melted Ice Cream Hot Chocolate
Seasons and Suppers
No, we’re not suggesting you simply heat up melted chocolate ice cream and drink it straight—it’s much more decadent than that. A little softened vanilla ice cream gets stirred into warm whole milk that’s been flavored with cocoa and sugar, plus a pinch of salt—and broiled marshmallows go on top to really gild the lily. Get the recipe.
So you see, melted ice cream is no cause for your own meltdown—it’s more like liquid gold! Pretty sweet, huh?
Related Video: Why Were Frozen Desserts Only For the Super Rich?
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