Cooking with Duchess: Ballpark Chicken

Welcome to my blog segment: Cooking with Duchess! (I am so full of myself, wow.) If you didn't know this about me, I love to cook and have been for almost my entire life. While I could spend hours browsing Pinterest for new recipes, my favorite thing to do is tweak recipes and make them my own. I don't think I've followed a recipe tit for tat in years! In these posts I will share with you my latest creations so you can try them out for yourself!

Ballpark Chicken

Nothing says summer like a baseball game! My Phillies are currently on a winning streak (whaaaat?) so of course I had to make something to celebrate. Plus Cole Hamels will probably be leaving soon and this makes me so unbelievably sad I can't talk about it, OKAY? Anyway, I was in the mood to experiment and who doesn't love pretzels??

My favorite part of making this was crushing the sourdough pretzel nuggets. I imagined I was smashing the faces of past lovers who lied to me and it just made it that much more fun (shouldn't suppress that anger for too long)!

I used New Belgium's (supporting Colorado Breweries YAY) Snapshot Ale to mix with the cheese and then it was perfect because I got to drink the rest! You could try using a dark lager instead but I feel like pale ales are more of a summer beer. If you try a different type of beer let me know!

Shout-out to McKenna (read her blog) for being my amazing photographer and Vixen for being the cutest little sous chef who licks up my messes off the floor!

Ballpark Chicken

1 3-lb package of chicken breasts
3 cups sourdough pretzel nuggets
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 tbsp Dijon mustard (try horseradish Dijon mmm)
1 egg
1/2 jar cheese dip (like Tostitos or Newman's Own)
1/2 bottle pale ale (I used New Belgium Snapshot)

Set oven to 400 degrees. Smash chicken so that it is thin and cut into 2 inch thick strips, set aside. Crush pretzels in a coating tray until desired size is achieved (I did larger chunks). Mix in mustard and cheese until coating is wet. Whisk egg in separate coating tray, then dip strips first in egg and then in pretzel topping. Line the strips in a cooking pan. Stir together beer and cheese dip until frothy, then slowly pour over chicken. Bake for 35-40 minutes.



Until next time my loves x.

Cocktail of the Week!

Being a cocktail connoisseur, I feel it's necessary that I share with you some of my favorite cocktails that I've either tried in bars or that I've concocted at home! As you can already tell I love to try new things and am always out there looking for my signature drink. Follow my cocktail of the week posts to discover these new drinks with me!

Like any young 20-something trying to make her mark in the world, I can admit to binge-watching Sex and the City and wishing I had the life of Carrie Bradshaw (that brownstone come ON). One of the first things I noticed while watching was that the girls always had a pink drink in their hands, and upon watching further episodes I was able to identify that drink with a name -- the Cosmopolitan. The drink is quite simple really: cranberry juice, triple sec, vodka, and lime.  No really...that's it. So if this drink was so easy, why was I constantly disappointed every time I ordered it?

My first drink of legal age was a Cosmo at this quriky bar on Market Street [insert picture of young Lexi with blonde hair and naive ambitions]. The drink was...meh. First of all, I wanted a mojito but the bar didn't have mint (???) and so the Carrie in me thought a Cosmo would be the perfect alternative. It really wasn't that special, but at least I got to wear the honor of having it be my first drink, yeah?

The next Cosmo disaster was for my friend's 21st. I took her out to the streets of Denver (where a mojito was her first drink...UGH) and we went into one of my favorite bars in Larimer Square. The bartender was all over us as soon as we walked in the door and said he could make us the best Cosmo we'd ever had...boy was he WRONG. That drink was literally just straight vodka -- I can still feel it burning my tongue. At this point, I figured my whole life was a lie and that Cosmos were an urban myth. I had lost all hope.

That is, until I found a little black book hiding in my desk drawer. The Skinny Cocktails book is the bible for all things low-cal alcoholic drinks. They had a recipe for a Cosmo and I thought, "now is the time." So I ran on over to the liquor store and picked up some essentials and got to work. But, I didn't have cranberry juice or a lime, so I had to substitute pineapple-pomegranate juice and lemon...it was AMAZING! Not too strong, the perfect amount of sweetness -- I finally realized this was how a Cosmo should taste.

Lexi's Cosmopolitan

1 oz vodka

1 oz triple sec

1 1/2 oz POM Hula juice

Juice of half a lemon

Add all ingredients to cocktail shaker with ice and shake well. Pour into a martini and garnish with a lemon wedge.

Any cocktails you love that you want me to try? What's your cocktail of the week? Let me know in the comments below!

Until next time my loves x.

Cooking with Duchess: Greek Meatballs

Welcome to my new blog segment: Cooking with Duchess! (I am so full of myself, wow.) If you didn't know this about me, I love to cook and have been for almost my entire life. While I could spend hours browsing Pinterest for new recipes, my favorite thing to do is tweak recipes and make them my own. I don't think I've followed a recipe tit for tat in years! In these posts I will share with you my latest creations so you can try them out for yourself!

Greek Meatballs

We know I'm a sucker for Greek food (gyros and hummus are my LIFE), so when my mom asked me to make something with the ground lamb she accidentally bought (she wasn't wearing her reading glasses) I knew I could come up with something yummy!

Meatballs are great because you can eat them on their own or with something else. I paired these puppies with couscous, tzatziki sauce, and hummus! They were so good my family couldn't stop eating them!

These were so easy to make and would be great leftovers (just a guess since there were none left when I made them!). They are low carb and would be great over sauteed veggies. Switch it up and let me know what you ate them with!

Greek Meatballs Recipe

1 tbsp plain Greek yogurt

2 tbsp crumbled feta cheese

1 egg

1 16-oz package ground lamb

1 tsp dill

1 tsp oregano

2 tbsp plain breadcumbs

1 tbsp red onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

Set oven to 375 degrees. Mix together all ingredients with a spoon (or by hand if you're a true Italian comme moi) until meat and ingredients are well blended. Form meatballs sized slightly bigger than a golf ball and place an inch apart on a baking pan lined with foil. Cook for 35 minutes or until edges of meatballs are crisp. Makes 12 meatballs.

Until next time my loves x.

Happy Hour Spot of the Week!

I recently started working downtown (yay!) which means my happy hour options have increased exponentially.  There is nothing more exciting to me than trying new restaurants! My favorite part about happy hour is that you can enjoy a good drink and appetizer for a price that doesn't make you want to cry. Each time I try a new happy hour (which, let's be honest, will be frequent) I will show you some drink options, tell you where to find it, and give it a rating! Cheers!

Clocktower Grill

Located at Lincoln Station in Lone Tree, CO

Happy Hour: 11:00AM-7:00PM Mon-Fri

Website

My mom and I hit up this bar (conveniently located at the light rail station) to cheer on the US Women's National Team in the 2015 World Cup (yes, this post is late SORRY). There is nothing better than alcohol, bar food, and a big screen to make watching the game even better! Look how long their happy hour is...that's such a deal! This includes $3.50 well drinks and wines, $1 off beers, and $5 food specials from 4:00-7:00PM. No cocktail specials, but the variety is still nice!

Cocktails

Juicy Fruit and Cherry Limeade

Nothing better than a cocktail served in a full-size glass! My mom ordered the Juicy Fruit (on the left) which was coconut rum, peach schnapps, melon liquor, and pineapple juice. So yummy!  I went with the Cherry Limeade (I'm addicted to the Sonic version) which had Pucker cherry vodka, muddled limes, triple sec, sprite, and sweet and sour! These drinks went perfect with the loaded cheese fries we ordered (TRY THEM) and were the perfect size so we didn't feel the need to order another. 

Rating: 9/10

The only thing missing was that there are no specials for cocktails during happy hour. Other than that, the food was delicious and the drinks the same! There was plenty of variety at super reasonable prices. I also liked that it wasn't too packed, even during a huge sports event, so there's actually room to breathe.




Until next time my loves x.