Two Coffee Drinks for Summer

One is based on something I had in Florence that the cafe in question called a "cappuccino freddo". The other is basically frappuccino. I should note: if you are in Florence, be aware that not every cafe has a cappuccino freddo. I asked for it at one place and they gave me something I did not want.

Anyway, for both, you first need cold-brewed coffee. Just combine coffee grounds and cold water in a jar at a ratio of about 1:4. It's a lot of coffee grounds. Seal the jar and shake vigorously. Set it on the counter for about 12-24 hours. I come by and give it a shake every now and again during that time, but it's probably not necessary. At the end of that time, strain it through a coffee filter (or in our case, a sieve with a paper towel) into another jar. Refrigerate.

Cappuccino Freddo
Put some coffee in a cup. Put the same amount of milk in a milk frothing device (I have this thing that's basically a french press that froths the milk by pushing it through the little strainer...). Add about two teaspoons sugar or brown sugar (more or less depending on your tastes) to the milk and stir until it's more or less dissolved. Froth the milk and pour over the coffee. Enjoy.

Frappuccino
Mix 1 part coffee to 3 parts milk (depending on the strength of your brew it could be more or less). Add sugar to taste - about 2 tbsp for 4 cups of liquid is close to the ratio we used.

Thoughts: Cold-brew coffee is different from normal coffee. As I understand it, different aeromatic compounds are released at different temperatures. Cold-brew yields something with very strong coffee notes without much bitterness. It's perfect for cold coffee drinks.

The drinks are great. I really like the cappuccino freddo, personally, because there's just a lot going on there with so few ingredients. The difference in sweetness between the frothy milk and the coffee makes it very enjoyable to drink. Claire likes the frappuccino, by contrast. We make it a little less sweet than the store-bought stuff, and we can use skim milk. So it's healthier, less cloying, and WAY cheaper.

Disaster Indeces: 1/10 all around.

Sausage and Swiss Chard Lasagna

Ingredients

• 1 lb Italian sausage (casings removed), chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced or chopped or whatever
• 1 can tomatoes (14.5 oz) - we used "fire roasted," which worked really well
• 2 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1.5 tsp salt
• 10-12 lasagna noodles
• 1 16-oz package of shredded mozzarella cheese
  
• 1 container ricotta cheese (1.75 cups)
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 tbsp dried parsley
• 2 eggs
• 1-2 ozs chevre cheese (we used herb & garlic chevre)
• 1/4 fresh basil, shredded
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 1 (large) bunch swiss chard, bottom inch of stalks removed
  
• 1 yellow summer squash
• 6 oz frozen spinach

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Brown the sausage over medium-low heat until it's pretty cooked through. Add the garlic, tomatoes, dried basil, dried oregano, and 1.5 tsp salt. Simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes. You can add some water to it if it gets too thick. Remove from heat.
Boil some pasta water in a large pot and cook the lasagna noodles in batches.
In the meantime, saute the onions over medium-high heat until almost translucent.
While you're sauteing the onions, prepare the Swiss chard. This is how you do it:
remove the stalks from the leaves and chop the stalks into smallish pieces. Chiffonade the leaves.
When the onions are almost translucent, add the stalks of the Swiss chard. Cover and cook for around 8 minutes, or until the stalks are tender, stirring occasionally. When tender, remove the onion/chard mix from the heat and set aside.
Take the chard leaves and add them to a smallish pot with the 6 oz. of frozen spinach (which you need to thaw ahead of time. Do it now if you haven't yet.). Cook the chard leaves and spinach, covered, over low heat. Add a few tablespoons of water to facilitate wilting. Cook for 5 minutes, or until wilted. Remove from heat and mix with the onion/chard mixture.
In a large bowl, mix ricotta, mozzarella, eggs, fresh basil, dried parsley, Parmesan, and some salt. Mix thoroughly. When the onion/chard/spinach mixture has cooled a little, add it into the cheese mixture and mix thoroughly.
Wash the summer squash and chop off the ends. Slice length-wise into sheets and grill until softened.
Now assemble the lasagna:
Coat the bottom of a glass lasagna with olive oil.
Put as many noodles as you'd like on the bottom. Put a layer of tomato/sausage mix on the noodles. Then add a layer of yellow squash. Then add a layer of the cheese/vegetable mixture. Then more noodles, then more tomato sauce, then more squash, then more cheese/vegetables, and then a final layer of noodles. On top of that we drizzled some olive oil and then the chevre.
Put in the oven and cook for 30-40 minutes.

Thoughts: Delicious. We based this loosely on a recipe we found online, and then added all sorts of stuff (swiss chard, spinach, yellow squash, chevre, onions, fresh basil). The flavor was fantastic. Maybe it was the sausage, maybe it was the swiss chard, maybe it was the yellow squash, but either way, it was fantastic. We didn't have as much tomato sauce as I would have liked, so we didn't get to put a layer of tomato sauce on top of the whole concoction. So next time I would have added another can of tomatos or something. I don't know. Fantastic.

Disaster Index:1/10

Blueberry-cranberry bars

Ingredients

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3 cups white flour
• 2 sticks of butter, chilled
• 1 egg
• 1/4 tsp salt
• juice from one lemon (and zest, if you have it. We didn't)
• 2 cups fresh blueberries
  
• 2 cups fresh cranberries
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 4 tsp cornstarch

Preheat oven to 375.
In a medium bowl, mix the cup of sugar, the flour, and the baking powder together. Mix in the salt (and lemon zest, if you have it). Cut the butter into small chunks. Little by little, add the chunks to the dry ingredients and squish them with your fingers (this technique also used to make Scottish scones ) so that the butter gradually incorporates into the flour mixture. This may take a while. Do it until all the butter is mixed in and the mixture has the texture of wet sand.
Dough should be pretty crumbly. There's a LOT of butter in here.
Take half of the mixture and spread it on the bottom of your glass pan (we used 9"x 13"). Tamp it down as well as you can.
In another bowl, stir the cornstarch, lemon juice, and sugar together. Gently add the blueberries and the cranberries (I usually chop the cranberries in half because it makes them more manageable to eat. But you can probably put them in whole if you'd like). Stir to combine.
Spoon the fruit mixture over the crust in the pan.
Sprinkle the other half of the dough over the top, crumble fashion.
Bake for 45 minutes, or until top is golden brown. Eat.

Thoughts: Delicious. And VERY buttery. Next time I would probably use 1.5 sticks of butter and see how it goes. I don't think it really needed 2 whole sticks. The original recipe called for just blueberries, but I thought the cranberries were a nice addition - they lend a little tiny bit of tang that is quite refreshing. I would store them in the fridge, but I would also take them out and let them warm up a little before eating them (maybe 10-15 minutes?), because the flavors really come out when the bars are a little warmer. Dan says "good ratio of berries to crust" and "fantastic flavor." Plus they were super easy to make. I like that the same dough is used for the crust and the topping. This is not always the case.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Cowboy Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 stick butter, softened
  
• 1/2c vegetable oil
  
• 1c granulated sugar
  
• 1c dark brown sugar
  
• 2 eggs
  
• 1tsp vanilla extract (or 1/2tsp of double strength)
  
• 2c whole wheat flour
  
• 1tsp baking soda
  
• 3/4tsp salt
  
• 1/2tsp baking powder
  
• 2c rolled oats
  
• 1/2c golden raisins, plumped in some boiling water for 5 minutes and drained.
  
• 1c chocolate chips
  
• 3/4c coconut
  
• 3/4tsp cinnamon
  

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, oil, and sugars. Add the eggs and vanilla and continue beating until well mixed. Add the remaining ingredients and stir well. Add a few tbsp of water if necessary.

Spoon onto a cookie sheet in approximately 1.5 tbsp portions. Bake until done - in our oven about 20 minutes.

Thoughts: Delicious. This recipe was based on one we found on food network, but we modified it slightly to fit what we had/needed to use up and what we wanted. It worked wonderfully, although the bake time is quite long. If you take them out at the right time, though, they're perfectly chewy, not dry at all. Nice texture, too. Not much to say except that they're really great. Wouldn't do a thing differently next time.

Disaster index: 1/10