Friday, September 23, 2011

The People's Pint - Greenfield, MA

  My new home of Greenfield, MA has exactly what I am looking for. It is a quiet town in the middle of nowhere with down to earth people, country living, convenience of shops and restaurants and of course an awesome brew pub!

  People's Pint has been around since 1997 and has managed to keep their dining room packed with very pleased diner's. I love all the vegetarian, healthy options and organic as well as fresh and local ingredients and the ever-changing beer list! On the menu they claim brewing over 70 different beers since the place opened, nice!

 So while I was there, I was able to try 8 different kinds of beer. IPA, bitter, scotch, blonde, octoberfest, oatmeal stout, pale ale, and brown ale. My 3 favorites were the blonde, IPA, and  the brown. I normally love brown ales and normally go for darker beers and hoppy beers. Usually when I try a blonde beer I find them to taste too light or watery. People's Pint has the blonde that really changes how I think of blonde beers. It was very fruity, some hop notes and very flavorful. Excellent blonde beer!

 I got a grain fed natural beef burger with vermont cheddar, bacon, peppers and onions, and chipotle mayo. Nice greens on the burger as well. MMM absolutely amazing. My favorite thing about the meal was that even though I love fries, the sandwiches come with roasted seasoned potatoes instead which is a great alternative! For dessert I shared a Pumpkin cheesecake with almonds and gingersnap crust! My favorite dessert is cheesecake and this is one of the best ones I have ever had! This place is awesome and what's even better is that it is right down the road and I can go there any time! I will be back very soon!

Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole

   Once in a great while I come up with a concept for a recipe and I wing it, and it just works. I get so proud when I create my own recipe especially when it works out so nicely. I loved this meal so much that I have to share it with all of you!


First of all, I moved to Massachusetts to a much bigger and nicer place and this is my first recipe in the new kitchen which is amazing and twice the size of my old kitchen!

  You start with 2-3 pounds of red skin potatoes and cut them into small pieces. Boil the potatoes with the skins on until the pieces easily slide off of a fork.

When the potatoes are done, drain them and blend the potatoes with an 8oz package of cream cheese, 1 cup of sour cream and 1 small packet of ranch dressing dry powder mix.

In a large casserole dish, put a layer of the ranch potatoes on the bottom about 1-2 inches thick

Sprinkle the top of the potato layer with 1/2 cup of cooked crumbled bacon

Add a 1/2 cup of sliced green onion and a 1/2 cup of chopped tomato

Add a pound of cooked chicken cut into small pieces.

Crush cooler ranch doritos to cover everything about 1-1/2cups

Cover the chips with 1-2 cups of shredded cheddar and monterey jack cheeses

Bake covered at 425 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Enjoy!!

I wish all of my kitchen experiments came out as well as this, but with a new kitchen and a lot more time, I am hoping to come up with many more recipes to share!




















 

Beer Baked Tilapia

   I bought a new book called cooking with beer. It inspired me to make a baked fish with beer.

I decided to mix mayo with Wolaver's IPA. It sounds weird but mayo is essentially oil and eggs. Eggs are great for breading.

  I made a cornmeal and seasoning mixture with seasoned salt and old bay seasoning.


I dip each piece in the beer mixure

Bake the fish for about 15-20 minutes at 400 degrees

The fish was baked perfectly but could use some more beer flavor. I drank an IPA with the fish and seasoned some plain rice. Not the best dish I have made, could use some improvement but hit the spot.








Stout BBQ Boneless Ribs

       I had the biggest craving for ribs and I remember having a stout BBQ sauce at a local brew pub so I decided to combine the 2 ideas.

First I put seasoning salt and pork seasoning on the ribs and did a nice rub that way so they were well seasoned. Then moving on to the sauce:

     I comined the following in a sauce pan:

1 Bottle of Wolaver's Oatmeal Stout
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup worcestershire sauce
Bottle of BBQ sauce

I cooked the incredients until they were well infused

Then I added the seasoned ribs and sauce to the crock pot

Now, slow cooking the ribs for about 8 hours on low.

Excellent results on the ribs. They fall apart and are packed with flavor!

I decided to enjoy these ribs with potato salad, cole slaw and cold Wolaver's Wildflower Wheat! perfect!









Wolaver's Sampler Pack

I don't always eat organic, but I am a huge fan of it. Whenever I see an organic beer, I am always excited to try it. Otter creek brewery is one of my favorite brewery's so I like to support their beer. Wolaver's is their organic line. In this sampler pack we have a Brown ale, IPA, Wildflower wheat, and oatmeal stout. My favorite of the bunch is the wildflower wheat. The wildflower wheat is made with real Vermont honey. You can taste the distinct fresh honey is this brew. I am also a big fan of the IPA in this pack. The Wolaver's Sampler pack is excellent and solid, it proves that organic beer can be is great and should be more appreciated.