hats, flip-flops and socks on display amidst the wine selection
Stadiapa Steps Out in Nikeys
My Dad wanted to head out to dinner to “The Steakhouse” on Woodville Road. The eatery sets across the street from an oil refinery and adjacent to an old, no longer existent Kroger store he used to service.
He forgot his shoes.
We ordered and on the way out I surveyed the dining room after washing my hands.
“That’s ok Dad,” I said. (I wore my Nikeys out, too). “One table of guys was seated with their ballcaps on. At the table next to them was a woman wearing her flip-flops with socks.”
The Boardwalk was the first eatery establishment to bring the fare to Ohio decades ago. Enter Eric Booker, owner and operator of The Boardwalk Restaurant and lobster bisque kitchen.
“Thirty years ago no one had heard of Lobster Bisque soup,” he reminds us of the history.
In every vat of bisque at the boardwalk a total of thirty-six Canadian crustaceans are added to the concoction of butter, cream and sherry, including all of the claws, tail, body and legs meat. Pair with Heineman Winery’s Sauvignon Blanc and dress yourself for an unforgettable lunch or dinner.
The segment with Eric aired during Episode I of Josie in Paradise. Watch right here.
Josie in Paradise airs every Sunday at 9:30 p on AT&T UVerse from Key West to Boca Raton, on Ohio’s X5 Network and here.
There isn’t be a more appropriate holiday to make a mark with meat other than Father’s Day. I already tested this dish twice. I serve up these succulent Hot Tub Beer Brats at a party and then, text my dad’s girlfriend in all caps that I have the BIGGEST SURPRISE.
The surprise: I purchased a meat product and then prepared the delicacy for the grill.
These can be steamed in the oven, too.
Check out my video captured at Marblehead Estates & Yacht Club or follow the simple instructions. If I can wow my own father with this marvel which requires only a few basic ingredients and a bottle or two of favorite brew, anyone can be the star of this supper or lunchtime show.
Steam for twenty minutes and then brown for ten on the grill. Using the oven doubles the steam time. The broiler can be used to crisp the outer shell. Serve with sauerkraut, potato salad, pickles (or dill relish) and spicy brown mustard.
Sometimes I quit working and the clock typically reads well past eight o’clock. Last night the hands were more past ten… I believe this is due to the evening anchor schedule where the whole crew always ate late. At our desks nonetheless. Ordering a pizza isn’t an option these days. I did uncover a regular sized Ziploc bag full of broccoli. Clearly labeled 8/12/16 Broccoli for Broccoli Soup -Cooked-.
I did an internet search, improvised and the results, taste and consistency are delectable and decadent. Here is what I used.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees if you are making your own croutons. Simply take bread crumbs and season with olive oil, fresh cracked pepper and sea salt. I used a small portion from one of Kroger’s ten for ten dollars Italian loaves.
I chopped up the onion and green pepper and sauteed in a sauce pan with two tablespoons of butter. Once the onion and pepper were softened I dropped in the broccoli and poured about one-quarter to one-third of a box of Kroger’s Simple Truth Organic Free Range Low Sodium Chicken Broth on top. I simmered for about ten minutes.
I then poured the soup ingredients into the Nutri Ninja 900 Watt Pro Blender twenty-four ounce container and added one to two cups of Simple Truth Coconut Milk and four tablespoons of cheese aged in a cave! This is starting to get savory. Murray’s freshly shredded Parmigiano Regianno Cheese from the Kroger Deli is a barrage of sweet, salt, spice and nuttiness … with a caramel finish! The brand combines modern technology on Long Island New York with Old World knowledge. We know there isn’t any thing so true in that I am all about the Old World.
Blend for about twenty seconds and place the bread crumbs into the oven. Begin melting three tablespoons of butter in the sauce pan the soup ingredients were sauteed in. Drop in all of the flour and start slowly pouring the mixture of milk, cheese and vegetables into the saucepan while stirring with a spoon. The soup will begin to form and the ingredients bind together. Begin to whisk in fresh cracked black pepper, the truffle oil and sea salt.
I picked up a container of Falksalt Natural Crystal Flakes recently from the gourmet food section. This staple is from Sweden’s premium salt manufacturer dating back to the 1830s. Falksalt’s crisp, shimmering sea salt flakes are extracted from Mediterranean Sea water … Pure, clean seawater is simmered in open pans for extended periods of time until the water evaporates and pyramid-shaped salt crystals are formed.
To cut through the coconut-y taste I began drizzling in Extra Virgin Truffle Oil by Grand’Aroma. I had picked up a bottle at Downtown Heinen’s Cleveland Grocery Store during a quest to recreate Ziggie & Mad Dog’s Truffle Mac & Cheese. That was a favorite dining and gathering spot when I lived on the Island of Islamorada. Deemed a superlative enhancement when drizzled over risotto and potatoes this imported ingredient truly is the ultimate liquid enhancement to having hauntingly rich flavor. I kept whisking and adding drizzles and sprinkles of these three ingredients and then tossed in a little more Parmigiano until the flavors were full.
Simply serve in a bowl and top with a sprinkle of cheese and homemade croutons. Being exact or measuring really isn’t necessary. This makes either two large bowls for dinner, or three to four to serve as an appetizer. Using real milk versus coconut will most likely change up the amount of salt flakes, truffle oil and butter you would then use.
I choose Bellitti Prosecco as an apertif, a sparkling white wine from northeast Italy showcasing soft and fruity peach and pear notes, with breezy apple peel and lemon zest. Pairs well with … cream sauce … The gold label screams glam as if one is right back in the studio lights. Perhaps finish with a sip of Limoncello which is always a nice touch after a rich meal.
This is a Josie in Paradise original! Sperro ti piaccia!
A fast from chocolate didn’t last this season once the region was pummeled with the white stuff. Instead I splurged on a close to a pound of powdery Godiva Chocolatier Dark Chocolate Hot Cocoa. Touted as “luxuriously rich”, this confection made my two-walks a day with the puppy dog into the tundra hours to look forward to.
So simple to make. Boil almond milk or regular milk (I used the microwave) in a favorite (microwaveable) mug. Add two heaping scoops of powder and stir, stir, stir. The powder has a tendency to stick to the spoon. Keep at the task at hand until the powder dissolves.
The reason I said microwaveable…
We have these vintage Looney Toons coffee mugs to celebrate the Chevy Chase Christmas Vacation we all know we’ve had! Remember he was swinging one of these around the office! These can not be microwaved! They’re so festive and fun. Simpy heat your milk on the stove and then whisk in the powder. For the whipped cream I make this fresh every day. Keep a stainless steel bowl in the freezer or refrigerator and then top your cocoa or coffee and add sprinkles.
I saw the idea in a gourmet food magazine right after Thanksgiving that I happened to be flipping through quickly. There they were showcased on the page: gourmet apples dipped in caramel, coated in melted white chocolate and then… sprinkled with more candy!
I happened to have leftover caramel from Fall from my exuberance over apple season where I made these. I picked up some organic Fuji apples. These are my top choice. I think they just taste more flavorful than Red Delicious and are shaped about as perfect as Santa himself.
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees and wash the apples.
Take each piece of caramel and stretch over each apple. Bake on top of the supplied parchment paper for 3 minutes. The directions read to bake at 200 degrees for five minutes but I found the higher temperature and less bake time work better. As soon as the caramel bubbles remove and set on a dish. Cooling time depends on how cold your kitchen is. I waited for about ten minutes for the caramel to set.
Melt the white candy in a microwave safe dish for ninety seconds on defrost. Each thirty second interval remove the bowl and stir, stir, stir as if you’re Missus Claus on a mission. I love my red Pyrex bowl. This is all you need and a regular spoon.
After ninety seconds and the chocolate is melted hold the apple by the stick and begin spooning the melted white candy coating over the caramel.
Hold the caramel and white candy-coated apple over another empty bowl and sprinkle on candies of your choosing. I’ve been generously topping all of my hot cocoa and coffee this season with homemade whipped cream and Twinkling Trees Sprinkle Mix from Love & Cupcakes. Because Baby, it’s cold outside! These little confectioners sugars trickled down from Canada and they add just a enough sacchariferous to make these gourmet Christmas goodies a smash!
Santa might pass on the cookies and pastries … The gift to you.. baking time is only three minutes!
Josie is spending Holiday 2016 at the family home on the Coastal Ohio Trail. There will be much more to come before we ring in 2017 including on www.josiestyleforthehome.com
Thanksgiving is upon us. Which has many wondering and thinking about how to enjoy the season and all of the flavors that accompany the yearly family feast around the table without guilt, added weight, or overindulgence.
Simply cut out the calories before the day. Do this NOW while we’re still over one week away.
I realize the thought of being hungry or missing out on the mid-day munch fest of candy and carbs sends pains through most people’s bodies.
I detox. A lot. At least three times a year for six weeks straight. Coffee, chocolate, meats, and cheese are all cut out. Tossed to the curb.
Here’s the snack that transitions my body and cravings from starvation and survival mode to, “Hey world! I’m feeling spectacular!”
Take a large bowl and mix together the nuts, seeds, coconut flakes, rolled oats and lemon zest. The only work here is taking the seeds out of the Butternut Squash. But, I figured since most of us eat Spaghetti Squash anyway … might as well make use of those seeds. One Squash produces six tablespoons of seeds.
I scraped the seeds out of both halves of the squash and tossed them in a colander mesh and continued to separate the seeds from the vegetable continuously until they were all laid out and drying on a dish cloth.
You don’t have to do this. You can easily buy pumpkin and or sunflower seeds. I didn’t have any in the house and happened to be making Spaghetti Squash for dinner.
Zest the lemon. Approximately three-quarters of the peel of one lemon goes into this. If you don’t feel like zesting, squeeze and save the lemon juice and remove the insides and the pith then cut the peel up into tiny, tiny pieces.
I save all lemon juice to add later to water. Melt the two tablespoons of coconut oil and mix separately in a bowl with the honey. Grease a glass pan with coconut oil. Mix the oil and honey into the bowl with the nuts and seeds before transferring to baking dish greased with coconut oil.
Bake at 350 degrees, cool and refrigerate overnight. The following day remove from the fridge and cut into one by one inch cubes. Or, if you choose to use a rectangle glass baking dish you can cut these into bar form. Just look at the texture. The taste is thrilling.
I scooped them out of the dish with a spoon and arranged on a snack tray.
When I first started noshing on these bite sized snacks that pack a powerful punch of nutrition and flavor I purchased a tiny container of about fifteen pieces in the produce section at Cleveland’s downtown Heinen’s for $5.99. Wash down with an entire liter of San Pellegrino, Perrier, or lemon water for true benefits of feeling full and fresh. Play around with the nuts and added ingredients. If raisins are your rage stir them in. Crushin’ on cranberries? Add them in! The ingredient that gives this dish the zing is the lemon zest. Orange would add the same oompf to give these nutritious nut bites a citrus kick.
I thought about drizzling melted caramel into the pan to kick this up a notch, but I already went all-out with that sugary snack here and this is all about the once dreaded detox.
Josie is an award-winning journalist and healthy eater enthusiast.
I always saw the caramel apples for sale at the local grocer and from non-profit organizations covered in candied confections. The sugar and various nuts which had been applied perfectly to the apple. I wondered how did the creators apply the coating?
What did they use? Was this modus operandi as all-consuming as cutting out holiday sugar cookies?
There isn’t any way of knowing without setting out to make the seasonal staple.
The primary course of action is to pick out the apples. Did you know there are over 1,800 varieties according to Orange Pippin? Including this last one on the list, Zuccalmaglio’s Reinette Apple which is described as flavored with tones of wild strawberry, quince, pineapple, ripe pear and a pine floral touch.
I am a simple island woman and went with organic Red Delicious and a couple of Galas which are the most commonly grown and eaten due to their sweet deliciousness from the produce section at the grocery store.
I grabbed the Concord Foods Original Caramel Apple Wrap, a cranberry burst trail mix and a package of sixty-two percent cacao dark baking chips. Plus, a package of walnut chunks.
I also picked up a package of finely chopped, unsalted peanuts. Invest in colorful ingredients which will delight you and your crowd.
At home I removed the cashews from the trail mix leaving just the dried cranberries and almonds and added the walnuts and dark cacao bits. I chopped all of this up finely on a cutting board.Wash and dry the apples. Take a sheet of the caramel and fold over the apple while the oven preheats to two-hundred degrees. Place the white apple sheets on a baking sheet and then stick a wooden stick in the center of each apple and place on top of the paper-covered sheet. Bake for five minutes.
I removed the apples individually from the oven to work with so I could keep the caramel soft. Then, with some pressure, stuck the homemade trail mix onto the apple. This took some time and the mix does keep falling off during the process. I alternated from the cranberry-cacao mix to plain peanuts and left a few plain caramel.
I placed the candy-coated apples back in the oven for ten minutes. The textured mixtures created an edible arrangement so eye-popping that for Fall 2017 someone might just find me out in an Ohio apple orchard.
Here’s a list of where to go east of the Lake Erie Islands, and these are the orchards located west. These Ohio orchards are all located just off of the Coastal Ohio Trail.
Josie is an award-winning journalist. Her first job out of college included a TV Show “Cooking with Chef Rocco and the Inn at Eaglesticks”
My last stop at the market sent me looking for all of the ingredients to make my favorite fall foods; sharp white cheddar grilled cheese on sour dough, chili, caramel apples covered in nuts, and ingredients for homemade pumpkin spiced latte.
On site with TV 88 in the Florida Keys I presented a Cuban version of this caffeine delicacy made with Cafe Bustelo.
I have tried this using Nestle Carnation Evaporated Milk and added two teaspoons of sugar, versus just one (when using sweetened condensed milk.) I’ve also pumped up the pumpkin spice to 1/4 of a teaspoon.
Let go of using the leafy greens for just a slight moment as a salad base.
Instead open up a can of garbanzo beans.
This recipe, a variation from allrecipes.com, can actually be eaten by one person as an entire meal, or just double the portions and serve alongside a main dish.
Garbanzo beans, or chickpeas, are a legume and the USDA recommends we consume at least three cups per week. They’re chock full of folate, manganese, protein and copper. Iron and magnesium intake also gain check marks from the flavorful chickpea. Two cups of garbanzo beans contain the daily recommended intake of fiber, creating a fullness effect.
Here is what you need.
1 Can of Garbanzo Beans
10 Cherry Tomatoes
1/4 Cup of Chopped Red Onion
1/2 – 1 ounce of Feta Cheese
1/2 Lemon
1 Diced Garlic Clove
Ground Pepper
Ground Sea Salt
Italian Dressing or Seasoning
Open the can of garbanzo beans, rinse, and place in a bowl. Cut the tomatoes in half, and add in the chopped onion, garlic and Feta cheese. Squeeze the juice from the lemon onto the ingredients. Either sprinkle with Italian seasoning and stir in Sunflower oil and sea salt until desired taste is reached or use about 1/8 cup of Italian dressing.
I used Corp Sunflower Oil and added taste with several shakes of Italian Seasoning from Tank’s Meats in Elmore Ohio.
Spanish explorers spread the taste of the buttery bean after Middle Eastern cultures began to cultivate them around 3,000 B.C. The benefits of the garbanzo bean are boundless and have proven to lower cholesterol.
If you prefer, add a cucumber then chill for 30 minutes to two hours before stirring and serving. When prep time doesn’t involve cooking the taste is simply stunning when summer is a couple days away.
Greek take on a nutty, buttery bean. Greek Garbanzo Bean Salad.
If you prefer to use dried Chickpeas. Pre-soak in three times of the amount of water. Boil for two minutes, remove from heat, cover, and allow to stand for four hours. This reduces the oligosaccharides, which is Greek for simple sugars, or carbohydrates, and also chances for gas or bloating after or during digestion. Dried chickpeas are a more natural and healthy option.
Whichever packaged bean you choose, either is the base to shake up a summer salad.
Josie is an award-winning journalist and former TV anchorwoman. She splits her time between the Florida Keys and Coastal Ohio.
When I first started noshing on these bite sized snacks that pack a powerful punch of nutrition and flavor I purchased a tiny container of about fifteen pieces in the produce section at Cleveland’s downtown Heinen’s for $5.99. Wash down with an entire liter of San Pellegrino, Perrier, or lemon water for true benefits of feeling full and fresh. Play around with the nuts and added ingredients. If raisins are your rage stir them in. Crushin’ on cranberries? Add them in! The ingredient that gives this dish the zing is the lemon zest. Orange would add the same oompf to give these nutritious nut bites a citrus kick.
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