Santa Barbara Inn

The Santa Barabara Inn

The other week I had the privilege of staying at the Santa Barbara Inn while on business. There are many reasons why I picked this fabulous place to stay. The Rooms are spacious.  The views are spectacular and the serenity of this beautiful inn. The santa Barbara Inn is located at 901 East Cabrillo Blvd., Santa Barbara, CA and is situated right across from the beach. I had an Ocean View Room with a view of the pool also. It was a beautiful room with complimentary wireless internet access and it was a great place to stay the night.

The Santa Barbara Inn has spacious hotel guest rooms and suites each feature a private balcony or patio, including some with an ocean view, and all the comforts of home in Santa Barbara, CA.
They have high quality linens, including 500-thread count sheets, down comforters and down pillows assure you of a comfortable night’s sleep. Each guest room includes a 42-inch LG flat screen television, mini-refrigerator, hair dryer, iron and ironing board, complimentary bottled water and luxurious terry robes. All Standard and Deluxe Ocean View Guest Rooms feature either queen-queen or king beds.

The best part of my stay at the Santa Barbara Inn was the complimentary continental breakfast, me being a true foodie.  It’s all about  the many gluten free options. Such as a variety of gluten free cereals, fresh fruit, yogurt. There was also a separate table that had various pastries and bread that were not gluten free, but as I said before, it was a separate table for those who were not gluten free.

I understand they also have a restaurant on the third floor which I did not have the pleasure to eat at however, and I have heard many great things about this restaurant. Many of my friends and readers have written me and told me that this restaurant has fabulous gluten free options and I really need to try it. Because, I was only there one night and my co worker had made other dinner arrangement at The Wine Cask in Santa Barbara we were unable to visit The Santa Barbara Inn’s restaurant.

Well the next time you go to Santa Barbara if your looking for a place to stay that will cater to your families Gluten Free Lifestyle my suggestion is, that you stay here at the santa barbara Inn. The rooms start at $179.00 per night and go up from there. However, it is well worth the price.

Lemon Meringue Mini Pies

The other day I was looking at all of the lemons on my tree and I knew I had to do something with them all so I made my traditional Lemon (Margarita ) m ix that I keep in the freezer all year long. Then I was thinking the summer is almost upon us and I need to make a lemon meringue pie. I know in my house mini pies are a big hit so I thought I would share these great pies with you.


Lemon Meringue Mini Pies Ingredients:

Mrs Mix Its Gluten Free Pie Pastry or Mrs. Mix It's Pie Pastry

Lemon Curd
1/2 cup Cornstarch
1 & 1/2  cups sugar
2 cups water
3/4 cup Mrs Mix it's Margarita Mix with no liquor added!
1 lemon (the zest of a lemon)
5 egg yolks
1 tablespoon butter

Meringue topping
5 egg whites
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla



Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Make either Mrs Mix Its Gluten Free Pie Pastry or Mrs. Mix It's Pie Pastry roll out at cut about 6 " size rounds.

Next Place disk of dough on a inverted souffle dish ,

then place cupcake sleeve on top.

Now flip over will look like this then place in cupcake tin slowly; then pierce dough before inserting in oven.

Bake in oven for 8 minutes at 350 until golden

After you have removed from oven preheat again this time to 500 degrees.

Take sugar, cornstarch  and whisk together in top portion of double boiler.

Next add water
 

Tip of the day if you don’t have a double boiler do what I do place a Pyrex or metal bowl over boiling water.

Add  Mrs. Mix Its Margarita Mix that is sweetened lemon juice sugar and water. 1st 3 steps only no liquor needed!

The zest of a lemon

Separate 5 eggs in two separate bowls.

Then when starting to thicken remove about a half cup of mixture from heat and whisk in 5 egg yolks

Save the other 5 whites in a separate bowl and beat until stiff peaks form Then add sugar and vanilla

Stir lemon mixture continuously so no lumps form
Then when it starts to boil add butter ( sorry guys I forgot to take a picture.

Next let cook a little about 10- 15 minutes then spoon in to cooked pie shells.

Then spoon Meringue into pastry bag or into Ziploc bag and swirl on.

Last  bake in oven 3-5 min at 500 degrees and make sure you watch these can burn quickly.


Enjoy and Bon Appetit


Mrs. Mix It

Kahlua Coffee Corned Beef with an hint of Mango honey and Tamari with Roasted Vegetables

So as you know I just had my annual St. Patrick's day party which was a huge hit we had a variety of different Irish dishes. Including Irish Soda Bread, Mashed Potatoes, Roasted Root Vegetables, and my signature cocktail of the evening The Irish Sparkler, which I posted in my last post plus for dessert we had the yummy Deep Dish Pear Pie with a Almond Cookie crust a drizzle of caramel and some vanilla  cream..  It was so much fun and the food and company was fabulous as usual.

So as promised I am going to share my recipe for Kahlua Coffee Corned Beef with an hint of Mango honey and Tamari this is a quick to assemble recipe however you cook it low and slow so either cook at while out and about or while you are sleeping because the smell alone is intoxicating. I gad quite the crowd so I figured a pound a person. We made 20 lbs of Corned beef a baked at 250 for 7 hours so yummy and tasty.

Kahlua Coffee Corned Beef with an hint of Mango honey and Tamari Ingredients:
Corned Beef
Seasonings from Corned Beef
2 cups of coffee
1 cup of Kahlua
1 cup of Mango Honey
1/4 cup Tamari Sauce
2 cups of water

Roasted Vegetables Ingredients:
Carrots and potatoes
1/2 cup Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

Equipment
1 Dutch oven with a lid
1 rack to elevate meat I used my cookie drying rack

1 Cookie for Roasted Vegetables
1 Spatula

Take meat and let sit out until room temperature. could take up to 2 hours.

Next Mix Kahlua Bath in a large measuring cup add Kahlua, Coffee, Honey, and Tamari and whisk together.

 Poor Kahlua Bath over meat.

Now take the seasoning packet and sprinkle over meat. Then add 2 cups of water to bath but dont poor over meat.

Cover meat and cook for 7 hours at 250 degrees.

 About an hour before dinner clean root vegetable and cut potatoes into cubes and toss in oil salt and pepper cook at 350 degrees in separate oven  turning every 15 minutes

 until golden like this.

Serve with Corned Beef.

Enjoy,


Sheila Fretz

The Irish Sparkler at My St. Patrick's party

So as at lot of you know I had my annual St. Patrick's Dinner party. 

It was so much fun and we had a variety of Irish foods and desserts from Corned Beef  slow roasted in a steam bath of Kahlua, Coffee and Mango Honey with a touch of Tamari which I will post on Friday. Then we had Irish soda bread roasted vegetables .

I set my table with my St. Patrick's day theme with the Gold and the Shamrocks.

Then for Desert we had a Deep Dish Pear pie with a Almond Cookie Crust it was amazing. 

Last but not least we started off the evening with a signature cocktail which I created  served .

 The Irish Sparkler Ingredients
1/2 cup of Seagram's Lemon lime Melon wine cooler
1 cup sour apple schnapps
2 cups of Prosecco Sparkling Wine.

In a large pitcher poor Wine cooler, apple Schnapps,  and Prosdecco gently stir and serve in a champange glass.










Enjoy  and I hope you had a great St. Patrick's Day just like we did.

Sheila Fretz-

St. Joseph's day on a Meatless Monday Lemon Asparagus tomato Pasta

With St. Joseph’s day today and it being meatless Monday also. I thought I would share with you a recipe for St. Joseph’s day and a meatless one and here are some other St. Joseph's Day recipes if you don't want a meatless one. I love to create recipes that are using what ever you have in the refrigerator. I have had many a meal that I have gotten home from work and both husband and daughter are very hungry and its Monday night and my farmers market is not until Tuesday night. So by then the vegetables are not as fresh as I will by tomorrow. So I looked in my refrigerator and I had a basket of organic cherry tomatoes a half of bunch of asparagus a lemon and some Parmesan cheese. So with two hungry bodies I started to boil my water for the pasta.

Lemon Asparagus Tomato Pasta
2 Cups of Cherry or Grape Tomatoes.
20 stalks of Asparagus
1/4 cup Olive oil
1 lemon for juice
2 cups of Parmesan Cheese shredded
Salt and Pepper to taste
Garlic
Gluten Free Pasta


Boil Pasta in water with a couple cloves of garlic..

Tip of Day: In order to have a great Gluten Free Pasta here’s my secret, I either flavor water with salt or a bullion cube and if I want that extra garlic flavor I will boil a couple of cloves of garlic.
The best way to make gluten free pasta is to boil water first add pasta and flavoring then constantly stir for 7 minutes so it does not stick together. Then let it sit in water with no heat for 3 minutes. Then rinse thoroughly in hot water so pasta gets the starch off of it. Gluten free pasta is a little bit soupy when you cook this way but once you rinse you will see the difference.

Chop Asparagus in 2 to 3 inch strips. On a large Cookie sheet place Asparagus and Tomato

After pasta is cooked add the juice of a lemon.

Next add vegetables

Then Cheese toss and serve.



Enjoy and Bon Appetit-


Sheila Fretz

Saint Patrick's Day a Sweet and Savory Corned Beef

A sweet and savory Corned Beef is always a great way to start off the Holiday of Saint Patrick’s Day.  I always like to make Corned Beef for my Saint Patrick’s Day Celebration. This year I plan to have some close friends and family as I do every year. We have all the trimmings Corned Beef and cabbage and potatoes all boiled the Irish way. This year I thought I might do a little something different. I am going to boil my meat in some mulling spices. In the picture above you won't see any Cabbage or boiled potatoes, that's because Miss J is not a fan of boiled potatoes and cabbage and I quickly snapped a picture of her meal as always because I always feed her first. .


5 bags of mulling spices
Lots of water enough to fill a stock pot 3/4 full
1 corned beef
1 onion Quartered
1 Seasonings from Corned Beef
1 Large Cabbage cut into 8 pieces 1st in half then in quarters.
2 to 3 potatoes per person

Fill a large stock pot with water 3/4 full
Add 5 Mulling spice packets

Add Corned Beef

 add corned beef spices that were in package

 and one onion quartered.

Boil for about 2 hours

When meat is finished add potatoes and cook for 20 min.

last cook Quartered Cabbage for 5 minutes in same liquid.


I hope you enjoy your Saint Patrick's Day and don't forget to make your Gluten Free Irish Soda Bread. As we all know everyone is Irish on this special day of the year, so enjoy the fun and drink responsibly..

A Deep Dish Pear Pie with a Almond Cookie Crust.

A Deep Dish Pear Pie with a Almond Cookie Crust.

When I looked in my fruit bowl and I saw my pears were getting a little to ripe to send in Miss J’s Lunch. So I knew a dessert had to be made.  I started by making a crust. I love to create and sometimes I create fabulous food and sometimes I end with something Im just not sure what to do with. I was working ion a crust and looking for a crumbly press down crust and ended up with cookie dough. I wasn’t sure what to do and my husband looked at the creamy cookie dough and said I think we can do something with this and we did!

1 ½ cup almonds
1 ½ cup Gluten Free Flour
1 ½ cup Powdered Sugar
½ cup butter
1 ½ cup vegetable shortening
8 pears peeled cored and quartered
½ cup brown sugar
3 Tablespoons cinnamon
3 tablespoons Corn Starch
Sheila Fretz’s (AKA Mrs MixIt) Famous Crumble
Cooking Spray
Caramel Sauce

1 Spring form pan
Food Processor
Measuring cups
a spoonula

Take almonds and gring up in food processor until fine but not into almond butter. I pulse and continue to watch.

Next add Gluten Free Flour ,Powdered Sugar and butter and pulse again.

Lastly add the shortening until a creamy drop cookie dough appears.

Take a spring form that has been sprayed with cooking spray  and place in pan pushing dough up sides and bottom.

Next peel and core plus quarter pears.

Add sugar, cinnamon and corn starch then toss evenly and poor into uncooked pie dough.

Next make Sheila Fretz’s (AKA Mrs MixIt) Famous Crumble

Then place on top and seal in pears with crumble.

Next bake at 350 degrees  in oven for 50 to 53 minutes until golden on cookie sheet. Then chill for 4 to six hours then serve cold or reheat each piece separately in microwave




Enjoy I know we did especially my neighbors!

Sheila Fretz