L is for Lemonade......with a kick

Have you ever tried jalapeno lemonade? It is incredibly good, especially when mixed with Tito's Handmade Vodka which is made right here in Austin. It's pretty simple, make a standard lemonade base and add a sliced jalapeno to it. The longer you leave the jalapeno in the more intense the heat. I use this recipe from my power co-op magazine. Always use fresh lemons and remove the seeds and ribs from the jalapeno for less heat. I found I could leave it in an hour or two and got just enough heat without being overpowering. At first you won't taste the heat, wait for it.


Texas Lemonade
6oz jalapeno lemonade
2 oz Tito's
serve over ice. Delish :)

K is for Kolaches

Living in central Texas, we've come to love the czech pastry known here as kolaches. They come in many varieties, both sweet & savory. I love the sausage & jalapeno and sausage with cheese. Fruit filled varieties are also great with coffee. The dough is the key, light & fluffy, yeasty & on the sweet side. It's really hard to understand their glory until you taste one.

With so many great outlets to get them locally I had never yet tried to make them at home until tonight. As I pondered a K post it was the first thing that came to mind so I started looking around the web for recipes.

I found several but this one from the homesick texan sounded the most promising, plus I found a new blog to add to my reader!

The only changes I made was starting with 1 cup of whole wheat flour for the first step as I was out of all purpose. While it was rising I ran to the store for more flour :) I also had to bake for more like 20- 22 minutes to get them browned.

Also instead of the fruit filling in the recipe I made a pumpkin/cream cheese filling because I had cans of pumpkin on hand. I made a combo of half pumpkin and half sausage. For the sausage ones we used little smokies because the kids love them :)

Pumpkin filling for 8-10 kolaches

1/2 pkg cream cheese softened
2 tbsp sugar
1 egg yolk
1 1/2 tbsp flour
1/2 can pumpkin

Cream together cr. cheese & sugar, add remaining ingredients & mix well.

Delish!