Abita Bottle Cap Magnets

I like to decorate my kitchen with my Louisiana memorabilia, since that’s what inspires me to be creative, and it’s where I found my passion for food.  Our walls and overhead storage are decorated with framed vintage Louisiana food ads:

Cajun Cookbooks clutter the countertops (including my “bible” from Chef Folse):

Utensils go in an old coffee can:

And of course, my Louisiana pelican oversees all from a perch in the corner:

(That’s the Time Life “American Southern Cooking” cookbook in the middle, circa 1960’s.  I inherited the full “World Foods” set from my Nana.)

But I realized I didn’t have any tributes to Abita, which is just sinful. I love their beer, and their root beer, and they just sorta symbolize South Louisiana life.  We tried to win an Abita neon at trivia last year, but were not so lucky.  Also, our wall space is pretty limited at this point. As is counterspace.  So until we move & get a bigger kitchen (not in the cards for a few years), there’s not a lot more I can do.  But you know what else is left to decorate?  The fridge! 

These make for an excellent kids’ craft if you’re looking for a quick project to keep the lil’ uns entertained for a while.  They also make nice gifts!

 

What You Need:

Bottle Caps (whichever you choose—but go for good local brews to make them unique. Probably not a huge demand for Bud Light kitchen magnets.)

Magnets (these round ones work great)

Hot Glue (the magnets usually have some adhesive on them, but hot glue will help reinforce that seal)

NOTE: Pry-off caps will present a problem, since they usually get bent in the process & them don’t want to lay flat.  We got this “automatic” cap remover for Christmas last year and it works really well—and doesn’t bend the caps in the process, which is great if you’re a crafter.

 

Directions:  Pretty simple.  If your magnet has adhesive, remove the backing & stick it to the inside of the bottle cap.  Then use hot glue around the edge to ensure a good seal.  Let sit until dry, and then place on your fridge!  If you’re lucky, maybe you also have a magnetic backsplash behind your stove?  These work great for holding up recipes while you’re cooking!

Happy Crafting!

Abita Root Beer Caramelized Onions

Last month I made my quarterly jaunt to Louisiana for work and went to Charcoal’s Gourmet Burger Bar with my cousin Primo.  Charcoal’s has a pretty awesome menu; they specialize in exotic meat burgers and some pretty fun topping/cheese options.  I got an antelope burger with arugula, Midnight Moon gouda, tomato, jalapeno, praline bacon, and Abita  root beer caramelized onions. 

My tall order.

The burger was so-so—a little lean and dry, even with 30% pork mixed into the blend.  C’est la vie.  But the combination of the jalapenos and the caramelized onions was fantastic.  The praline bacon was fairly tasty too, though Primo & I are both fairly sure we can create a better version (stay tuned)…

So when I got back home, I definitely wanted to take a whack at the caramelized onions.  Again, we were grilling (we have a surplus of brats in the house as we got a great deal on a case from our food distributor) and I wanted something a little different to go on top. Like…root beer onions!!!

 

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 bottle Abita root beer (if you don’t have Abita, you can absolutely try it with a different brand)

salt & pepper

1/2 tsp cayenne

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 onion, sliced into thin rings

 

DIRECTIONS:

Pretty simple.  Heat your sauce pan over medium-high & add onions.  Season lightly with salt & pepper.  Then add the root beer.  Stir occasionally & cook for 10-15 minutes or until the liquid has evaporated.

And you’ll end up with these beauties!

Serve over brats, burgers, steak, grilled portabellas—whatever floats your fancy.  They’re deliciously sweet, so pair with something that has a little bite to it—spicy mustard, jalapenos, or a tart cheese like goat, blue, or feta.

Oh…and use the rest of that Abita root beer to make yourself a float!!!

Thirsty Thursday: Strawberry Beer Float

Two posts in one week?  Yes, I know, I’m shocked too.

As we discussed earlier in the week, it is Abita Strawberry Lager Season!  My favorite seasonal in their repertoire by far.  It’s light and refreshing and just slightly fruity, but not overly sweet. 

And the other day, as I found myself bogged down in paperwork for the ice cream shoppe, I knew I needed something.  More than just a beer.  Something fun.  And seeing as how we now have ice cream on the brain p.much 24/7, thinking of a way to make beer more fun wasn’t difficult:

Yes, it was time for another beer float!

In an ideal situation, you would probably use strawberry ice cream for something like this.  But we had Yoplait Greek Strawberry Frozen Yogurt in our freezer, which I had previously been using to make some rather yummy ice cream cookie sammiches:

Ingredients:

Strawberry froyo or ice cream (the sweeter the better—it cuts the acidity of the beer)

Abita Strawberry Lager

 

Directions:

Easy-peasy, as always.  Ice cream goes in the glass, beer goes on top.

Add a straw and BAM, you’re done.  Kick back on your patio & enjoy.

Or, finish your paperwork, ya bum.  That inventory isn’t going to type itself, now is it???

Abita Strawberry Beer Pancakes!

This is my favorite time of year.  I’ve probably said that at other times, like when Mother’s Winter Grind comes out, but seriously.  Abita Strawberry Lager season.  It makes me happy.  Especially since our local brew emporium has decided to sell it.  Oh, and our favorite watering hole is also featuring Abita as their Brewery of the Month, which means on Wednesdays, my toughest choice is “TurboDog or Purple Haze?”

And in a segue that makes no sense whatsoever, one of my LEAST favorite breakfast items on the planet is pancakes.  I prefer waffles, given the choice. Actually, given the choice, I would choose to eat biscuits & gravy every morning if there was a Biscuits & Gravy Fairy in my house.  But I digress.  It is VERY rare that I actually want pancakes.  You have to add something to them to make me want them—like when my cousin/former roommate Primo would make chocolate chip pancakes…those were good days.  Or my pumpkin pancakes.  Or the Red Velvet pancakes that IHOP had a while back. MMMmmmmm…

But in this particular instance, I decided that beer pancakes sounded good.  Strawberry beer pancakes, to be exact.  And what could go better with strawberry beer pancakes than Abita’s Strawberry Lager?

Ingredients: (makes 4 short-stack servings—aka, 2 per person)

1 cup flour

1/4 cup sugar

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

1 cup Abita Strawberry Lager

2 Tbsp light butter, melted

4-6 strawberries, washed & diced, plus 4 for decorating

 

Directions:

Pretty easy here.  Combined your dry ingredients.  Then add egg, beer, & butter and mix well.  A few lumps are okay.  Mix in diced strawberries.

Heat a skillet over medium and lightly coat with nonstick butter-flavored cooking spray.  When the skillet is hot, use an ice cream scoop to portion batter into the pan.  When bubbles start to appear on top, use a spatula to flip.

 

Meanwhile, prep your strawberries for the top decoration.  Pick the prettiest ones for this—your ugly strawberries can be chopped up to go into the pancakes. If you wanna be all fancy-like, use a good paring knife to make slits across the strawberry almost all the way (but not quite) to the stem.  Then splay the slices thusly:

(One of those random things I learned at Martin’s which has remained useful.)

 

When you’ve got a stack o’ pancakes, portion them out, pour maple syrup over top (or strawberry syrup, if you feel so inclined) and decorate with a strawberry.

 

Totes yummy.  And you get to have booze for breakfast that isn’t in a mimosa.  Though, FYI…mimosas go great with these.  Next time I make a batch, I think I want to try it with brown sugar instead of regular sugar for some extra richness.

 

NutriFacts:

Calories 222.8

  Total Fat 3.9 g

  Saturated Fat 1.2 g

  Polyunsaturated Fat 1.6 g

  Monounsaturated Fat 0.9 g

  Cholesterol 40.9 mg

  Sodium 473.9 mg

  Potassium 91.4 mg

  Total Carbohydrate 38.9 g

  Dietary Fiber 1.3 g

  Sugars 13.6 g

  Protein 4.9 g