Happy Hour: Whiskey Spritz from [farmacy]

Nothing says Friday like Happy Hour. Since we’re missing our downtown bartenders these days, we asked the awesome team at [farmacy] to walk us through a recipe that we can whip up at home, and we can’t wait to try this Whiskey Spritz tonight. Take it away, Jon!

From Jon -

Today we’re going to be making a Whiskey Spritz.

We’re going to start off with Ironweed Dry Whiskey, which is from Albany, NY. Pour 2 ounces into any style mixing glass.

Next we’re going to add 1/4 ounce of Sweet Vermouth.

Then we’re going to add 1/4 ounce of Campari.

What makes this a spritz is adding bubbles. I prefer to use Prosecco, but club soda can work as well. We’re going to add 2 ounces of this.

To make this cocktail sweet, we’re going to add 1 ounce of freshly squeezed orange juice.

Give it a little stir, and pour it over ice.

To top it off, we’re going to garnish with an orange round.

Enjoy!

Cheers, friends! Have a great weekend.

P.S. Did you know that [farmacy] offers cocktails to go, in addition to their regular menu? Check it out here.

Recipe Swap: Chicken Marinade

Grilling this weekend? ‘Tis the season! You won’t want to miss this marinade recipe from Rachel Dutra of Rachel’s Cafe and Spice Co - perfect for your summer cookouts (or anytime, really!).

Tell us about yourself, Rachel!

Hi, I'm Rachel and I love spices! My husband and myself own Rachel's Cafe and Spice Co on Warren St in Glens Falls. We are both originally from Lake George but over the years just kind of ended up in Glens Falls. We previously owned East End Eatery in the same location but with the arrival of our son, Elias, we decided to focus on a business that would support a healthy family life. Elias is almost 3 1/2 and is a non-stop ball of energy and curiosity. He just started at St Mary's this summer and he absolutely loves it. His favorite things are heavy equipment and swimming! Dave is an avid reader and I love to garden. Interesting fact about Dave and I, we have worked together ever since we met! This is our 3rd business as Team Dutra and we consider it to be our "greatest hit". It has been fun watching Glens Falls grow over the years and we are proud to be a part of it!

The Recipe…

My Chicken Marinade was created to solve one problem: dry, flavorless, grilled boneless chicken breasts. Before this marinade existed, I had to beg my husband to cook boneless chicken on the grill. Now he’s happy to make me extra so that we have food for the week! I often whip up a big batch and keep it in the fridge which makes getting the chicken in the marinade super fast (which is helpful when your toddler is destroying the kitchen!). It is also super healthy and you don’t have to worry about added sugars and funky ingredients from store bought marinades. Don’t get me wrong, sugar has its place as one of the holy trinity of rubs but I avoid it when I can. This marinade is sugar free and can easily be made salt free.

Rachel’s Chicken Marinade

Makes enough marinade for 4 large chicken breasts

Ingredients

1/4 cup olive oil

2 Tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar

2 Tablespoons Lemon Zest and Juice (skip the zest if you’re using store bought lemon juice, it still tastes amazing!)

1 Tablespoon Thyme

1 Tablespoon Oregano

1 Tablespoon Dill

2 Teaspoons Smoked Sweet Paprika

Sea Salt and Pepper

Procedure

Combine all ingredients and then, if desired, add just a pinch of salt and pepper.

Add the chicken to the marinade and refrigerate for at least an hour but overnight is ideal.

Cook chicken until the juices run clear, internal temp of 165 degrees

Enjoy!

The flavor is herby with a hint of smokiness. It is amazing on my Balsamic Cobb Salad with Honey Balsamic Vinaigrette. I also love to keep leftovers in the fridge to make bowls with riced cauliflower and veggies. Always make extra!

And a few lightning round questions…

A go-to summer meal at your house?

Rib Eye steak on the grill (seasoned with my longhorn steak seasoning of course!) served with a huge caesar salad, or Cincinnati Chili Cauliflower Rice Bowls. We probably eat these at least 3 times a week - quick, delicious, and healthy!

A favorite cookbook?

My "bible" the past few years has been Practical Paleo by Diane Sanfilippo. She knows how to keep it real and her book made a huge difference when my parents went Paleo for my Dad's Lyme Disease. In fact, my Mom kept my copy because she had made so many notes in it and bought me a brand new one that we didn't realize had new recipes in it! It was a win-win!

A must have item in your kitchen?

Oh man. Just one?! It's a toss up between my 12" cast iron skillet and my Instant Pot. I use both daily!

A favorite local spot to grab a bite to eat when you don't feel like cooking?

Two come to mind instantly: Raul's if we want a Margarita and the Log Jam if we want a big meal. Both places are absolutely fabulous and have been date night favorites for as long as I can remember!

Thanks so much, Rachel!

P.S. Another favorite from our recipe swap - coconut creme pie.

Have a recipe of your own you’d like to share, or a cookbook favorite that’s too good to keep to yourself? We’d love to consider it for a future feature! Send us a note here or email us at hello@glensfallsliving.com.

(Vegan) Recipe Swap: Bread Pudding

As promised, we’re back with a vegan dessert recipe for you to whip up along with the Mushroom Carpaccio we shared earlier this week! For this recipe, we’re thrilled to have Tania from Birch Bark Eatery in Queensbury share her Bread Pudding recipe, and we can attest - it’s delish! And so are her bbq cauli bites, but that’s a story for another day ;)

Can’t wait to see what they’ll have at the Roots Vegan Fest tomorrow! Check out the details and the other vendors here. But first, the recipe!

Tell us about yourself and Birch Bark Eatery!

Birch Bark Eatery was born out my desire to align my morals with my environment. I spent years working in a quick service food restaurant where the finished product was egg, milk, meat reliant. After I committed to a vegan lifestyle, it no longer felt like my career matched my moral compass and I began looking for a way to transition into something that did. 

You mention your commitment to a vegan lifestyle - why is that important to you?  

Eating a plant based diet is important to me because I know I am doing the most I can to mitigate harm to animals. Being vegan is about more than just food though, as animal products are added to so many finished products or they are tested on animals, so I check all the products I purchase for cruelty free labels and do a lot of research on ingedients. 

What has the reaction to Birch Bark been locally?

Most of our guests are so grateful to have a restaurant where they can come in and eat anything on the menu. An evening of dining out without awkward questions about ingredients or fear that food will be cross-contaminated is paramount to the bulk of our guest base. We have definitely seen more interest in plant based eating with many guests just learning about how cruel animal agriculture is, or how unhealthy eating animal flesh is. At the very least many people are interested in cutting down on their meat consumption.

You have so many fantastic options on the menu - where do you get your inspiration? 

I get most of my inspiration online. Sometimes its a visual from Instagram, other times it is something I come across in foodie groups. I hate following recipes and usually just add a dash of this or pinch of that, but when I find a winning idea I tweak it until my palate says its amazing and that recipe gets recorded. 

So, tell us about the Bread Pudding recipe!

I decided to share our Birch Bark recipe for bread pudding because it’s a classic comfort food that can easily be converted to a plant based recipe.

The Ingredients + Recipe

5 cinnabuns from Birch Bark or elsewhere (We save and upcycle pastries from the previous day usually using cinnabuns and maple glazed yeast donuts)

Cut these up into smallish cubes and place in a big bowl.

In a seperate bowl, mix together:

1 can coconut milk 

1 can cream de coco (the sweetened type)

1 tbs cinnamon 

1 tsp pumpkin pie seasoning

1 tbs enerG egg replacer

Whisk all this together and pour over cut bread

Press bread down to soak thoroughly

Optional to add 1/2 cup of raisins.

Grease a large baking pan

Bake in a convection oven at 350 for 30 minutes, turning pan half way through.

Once allowed to cool, this will cut like a cake and is amazing served with a cinnamon drizzle sauce. 

Thanks, Tania! Can’t wait to try this at home.

P.S. Check out more from our Recipe Swap series here.

(Vegan) Recipe Swap: Mushroom Carpaccio

As vegetarians (okay, Tom is pescatarian) ourselves, we’re always thrilled to see plentiful vegetarian and vegan options when we venture out to eat. We’ve seen a steady increase, even just over the last year, in delicious dishes at restaurants downtown. We were so happy to see that [farmacy] and Birch Bark Eatery have partnered with Glens Falls Vegan and Advokate to present Roots - a vegan food festival this Sunday!

Vegan, vegetarian or not, we’re confident that Roots will provide some awesome inspiration to change things up, even if just a smidge, because every little bit helps - the animals, the planet, your health, you name it.

And speaking of inspiration, we’re psyched to share a couple of recipes this week to get you in the spirit, starting with one today from [farmacy]! Chef Jes is sharing her Mushroom Carpaccio, and after sneaking a taste at the restaurant the other night, we’re definitely going to try this one at home - so good!

Tell us about the recipe!

The mushroom carpaccio is an interpretation of a common Italian dish. I like to take familiar recipes and replace the meat element with vegetables manipulated in a way that is resemblant of a similar texture. Good quality mushrooms from our friends at Little City Mushrooms makes that task pretty easy, and absurdly delicious.

What You’ll Need

1lb oyster mushrooms (phoenix and blues work very well)

1/8 cup light brown sugar

2 tbsp kosher salt

2 tbsp red pepper flakes

1 tbsp fresh ground black pepper

1 cup roasted onion oil

Directions

Mix all ingredients thoroughly in bowl to create the cure.

Spread half of cure on baking sheet.

Lay mushrooms separately on top of baking sheet.

Spread rest of cure on parchment paper evenly and lay (cure side down) on top of mushrooms.

Place another baking sheet of equal size on top of mushrooms and put something heavy on top of the baking sheet. Make sure the weight is evenly distributed.

Refrigerate for 6 hours. Then....it’s done!

————

At [farmacy] we serve it with pickled shallots, lemon-pepper cured radishes, shiso, and warm crostini. But any variety and assortment of pickled vegetables, olives, and other accoutrements would be great as well. It’s a very versatile dish.

It seems like you always have delicious vegan options on the menu. Why is it important to you to keep these in regular rotation? What has the reaction been from guests?

Vegan dishes are an important inclusion on a menu because of the wide variety of the dietary preferences of folks. We like everyone to be included in the fun! Including vegan dishes is important to me personally because for a long time I chose to adhere to the vegan/vegetarian lifestyle. So I understand the importance to other people and, more largely, the impact it has on the environment and well being of creatures that hang out with us on this earth. The reaction from our guests, with our ever-evolving menu and growing plant-based options, has been outstanding! Even folks that enjoy a nice steak are thrilled by something they can enjoy that’s not so meat protein forward. Just this evening a gentleman came in for his third round of our “vegan carrot dogs” this week, and he’s not even vegan!!!

Chef Jes at work at [farmacy]

Where do you get your inspiration for your vegan dishes?

I draw my inspiration from everywhere.... fellow chefs, places I’ve been, my vast collection of cookbooks (just added was the Salvador Dali cookbook which was a gift from my amazing sister, and Dominique Crenn’s cookbook from Atelier Crenn, which was a beautiful gift for my birthday), and even cocktail books from places like Death & Co. But mostly ideas spark from a random thought I have at a weird part of the day while trailing off into some other thought destination. And I have to stop myself and say “WAIT! What the hell do I do with that and how do I translate it into something that makes any kind of sense?!” Not stifling the craziness is responsible for the beauty of the creative aspect in this whole journey.

Thanks so much Chef!

Stay tuned for a dessert recipe from Birch Bark Eatery later this week, and save the date for Roots this Sunday!

Recipe Swap: Coconut Creme Pie

When it comes to dessert, we’re huge fans of pie. And while we’ve (okay, mostly just Bri) mastered a great berry and apple pie, we’ve yet to find a winning recipe that will satisfy our pie craving when those aren’t in season. Looks like that’s all about to change! We’re thrilled to have our friend and neighbor Jen Gohn (who has her own blog called Pershing Road, by the way!) share her go-to Easter dessert recipe - Coconut Creme Pie!

Tell us about yourself, Jen!

I am a wife and mom to three amazing kids, two in college and one still at home. I live to care for my family and make our house a home. My husband and I were born and raised here in Glens Falls. We moved away and lived in Seattle for awhile many years ago but moved back right before our oldest child was born, having realized we didn’t want to raise our children anywhere else but Glens Falls! There’s nothing like the small town community living that we are blessed to have here!

The Recipe…

This Coconut Creme Pie recipe is one that I have been making for more years than I can count! I honestly have no idea where I got it from. I make it every year for Easter, and everyone loves it so much they have been convincing me to make it at Christmas also! Usually when I make it my girls stay close by and sample the filling, whipped cream and toasted coconut topping.

I think that this is a fairly simple pie to make, but I also bake all the time. Some people are intimidated by making a custard, as you have to be careful to temper the eggs so they don’t become scrambled! It’s really very easy to do! You bake the crust on its own, prepare and cool the custard, make the whipped cream, and then assemble everything when cooled. I only make Martha Stewart’s Sweet Pie Crust for all of my pies, but you could certainly use a store bought crust and cut the prep time way down!

Coconut Creme Pie

3/4 C sugar

3 eggs

2 egg yolks

4 1/2 Tbsp flour

3/4 C milk

3/4 C coconut milk

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp coconut extract

1 1/2 C sweetened flaked coconut

Topping:

2 C whipping cream

3 Tbsp sugar

1/4 tsp coconut extract

3/4 C sweetened flaked coconut

1 pie crust, baked

Whisk together first four ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Heat two milks in a saucepan over medium heat until tiny bubbles form around the edges. Slowly add to egg mixture while whisking to temper the eggs. Put combined mixture back into the saucepan and whisk constantly until thick and bubbly. Remove from heat and pour into a bowl. Stir in the extracts and coconut. Cover with plastic wrap placed right on top of the custard mixture so a ’skin’ does not form and let cool completely. Once cooled, spoon into prepared crust; cover and chill eight hours or more.

Whip the cream, coconut extract and sugar together to your preferred consistency. Fold in coconut and top the chilled pie before serving. If you like, you can sprinkle the top with toasted coconut.

And a few lightning round questions…

A favorite cookbook?

I love all of Barefoot Contessa’s cookbooks and I also love The America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook.

A must have item in your kitchen?

Couldn’t live without my Kitchen Aid stand mixer or my Le Creuset Dutch Oven!

A favorite local spot for sweets when you don’t feel like baking?

Gambles Bakery mini danish and crumb cake are a family fave. Silo donuts, Sweets by Marisa’s Cupcakes, and Lake George Baking Company, too!

Thanks so much, Jen!

P.S. Another favorite from our recipe swap - blueberry crumb cake.

Have a recipe of your own you’d like to share, or a cookbook favorite that’s too good to keep to yourself? We’d love to consider it for a future feature! Send us a note here or email us at hello@glensfallsliving.com.

Recipe Swap | Blueberry Crumb Cake

What’s your favorite brunch staple? Our neighbor (and Bri’s sister!), Erin Vooris, swears by this Blueberry Crumb Cake. And having had it many times, we can attest, this is a winner. With Easter coming up, you might just want to think about adding this to your menu!

Tell us about yourself, Erin!

I am a wife, mama to a sweet and busy 16 month old boy, and a 2nd grade teacher. We’re expecting our second little one, a girl, this July! We’ve lived in Glens Falls for 4 years and love the small town feel and the restaurants and shopping downtown.

The Recipe…

We are big fans of brunch in our family, and this Blueberry Crumb Cake almost always makes an appearance at the table. It’s easy, delicious, and perfect for spring. This is a Pioneer Woman recipe (always a hit in our family), and my mom originally shared it with my sister and I years ago. It’s very easy to prepare and doesn’t require a lot of time or fuss - no matter which one of us makes it, it always turns out perfectly.

Whether brunch is at my house or at my mom’s or sister’s, walking in to the smell of this coffee cake brings back the happiest memories of birthdays, holidays, and time spent with my family and friends.

Since no one describes it better than the Pioneer Woman herself, click here to download and print the recipe!

A few lightning round questions:

A must have item in your kitchen?

The cookbook stand my dad made for me...and my KitchenAid mixer! 

A favorite cookbook?

Any Pioneer Woman cookbook (we love her Pasta Primavera and Sugar Cookies!) and a new favorite, Magnolia Table.

And we must know, where is your favorite local spot to buy or pick blueberries when they’re in season?

Hicks Orchard! My sister and I pick blueberries there every summer (and eat a few apple cider donuts while we’re at it).

Thanks, Erin!

Have a recipe of your own you’d like to share with your neighbors, or a cookbook favorite that’s too good to keep to yourself? We’d love to consider it for a future feature! Send us a note here or email us at hello@glensfallsliving.com.