This recipe is from Cook’s Country April/May 2005 issue. They call it root beer float but when I think of root beer floats I think of root beer and ice cream so I’m calling this root beer jello floats.

Root Beer Jello Floats
2 (12 – ounce) bottles or cans of cold root beer
2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup heavy cream

1. Open only 1 can of root beer. Soften the gelatin by placing 1/2 cup of root beer in a bowl and sprinkling the gelatin over the top. Leave for 5 minutes to soften the gelatin.

2. Bring 1 cup of root beer and the 1/4 cup sugar to boil in a small saucepan stirring to dissolve the sugar. Remove it from the heat and whisk in the gelatin mixture until all the lumps are dissolved. Pour into a different bowl and let it cool to room temperature. Once it’s cooled, open the second can of root beer and gently stir in the remaining 1 1/2 cups of root beer trying not to deflate the bubbles. The idea is, since you opened the 2nd can later, it won’t be flat and you’ll have more fizz for a bubbly root beer cap. I could never manage that though. Refrigerate until firm, at least 6 hours or up to 1 day.

3. When the root beer is firm, start your whipped cream. Beat the heavy cream with the 2 tablespoons of sugar until it holds soft peaks.

4. Spoon 1/8 of root beer jello into 4 cups. Top with 1/8 of whipped cream. Repeat with the rest of the jello and whipped cream and top with the cap of bubbly root beer. Or in my case just more jello since all my bubbles deflated.

I like this recipe though it was strange at first. I’m not used to jello being carbonated but it grew on me. Weird but in a good way. But I’m the only one who eats this. Alan thinks root beer jello is strange and Isabelle will only eat the whipped cream.

If anyone makes this let me know what you think, I’m curious to see other people’s reaction. Am I just strange in liking this?

The other night we had lechon (roast pig) for dinner. Mmmm yum but very very heavy. So I paired it with this easy peasy side.

This recipe comes from Cook’s Country April /May 2005 issue.

Sauteed Sugar Snap Peas and Cherry Tomatoes

1 T olive oil
1/2 pound sugar snap peas, ends snapped off and strings removed
2 cups of cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 t sugar
1 medium garlic clove, minced
1 t grated zest and 1 T juice from 1 lemon
salt and pepper

Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat until it’s shimmering. Then add the peas and cook for about 2 to 3 minutes until the peas are sort of tender but still crisp. I like them with a bit of snap to them. Transfer to a serving bowl then add the cherry tomatoes (I used heirloom tomatoes in this picture), sugar, garlic, and lemon zest to the skillet and cook for 30 seconds. Add the lemon juice and sugar snap peas. Toss well. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.

According to the magazine the sugar balances the acidity from the lemon juice. Snap peas and cherry tomatoes are yummy by themselves so sometimes I don’t even bother adding the sugar, lemon, or garlic.

See, easy peasy side.

Last night I was looking through pictures of food on my hard drive. I took them for one reason or another. Like it was freakish. A mutant grape:

Or quite an accomplishment:

I baked eighty cookies, never made so many at one time. They were for a cookie swap with our homeschool group. And these aren’t all of them. There were two more full plates.

Or I was just moved to for whatever reason. Maybe by the colors:

This was Bethany’s very vegetable soup. It’s oh so yummy.

Then it struck me that I should put them in my Flickr account with links to the recipes so I can find them easily. No more searching through scraps of printed recipes or scouring the web for that recipe I tried whenever. Even if I don’t blog about it, I’ll have it in my Flickr account so I can find it. Why didn’t I think of that before?!