However, there are several cases when a typical summer drink might fit January just fine:

1. The temperatures are confusing you.  It’s almost 70 degrees… is it really winter?

2. Even though it’s not that cold, you’re pining for summer.  Re-create summer in a glass.

3.You just booked a summer trip that will land you on Elbow Cay in the Abaco islands for a week.  In a place like this:

All three apply to us, so we decided to toast to good friends and plans for good times ahead.  To create the above scene in a cocktail glass, we suggest you join us in disregarding cocktail seasonality norms and make a Dark and Stormy:

Recipe: Dark and Stormy

We also want to say thank you for using 2frugalfoodies as a food and recipe source.  Since we began the blog in March of 2009, we’ve had over 107,000 visits.  In the last few months, we’re consistently getting over 100 visits a day.  It’s fun to share ideas, recipes and pictures about food and drink; and especially fun to share it with such a great audience.  Keep coming back, never hesitate to comment, and stay in touch with us in 2012!

Chance Approved: 2011 2frugalfoodies Year in Review

OK, that was dramatic. It probably won’t change your life…

Stouffer’s actually makes a pretty tasty soufflé (I’ve had it), but eating Stouffer’s Spinach Soufflé doesn’t communicate what makes a soufflé a soufflé. I did some heavy duty scholarly research on Wikipedia and discovered that the word soufflé is “the past participle of the French verb souffler which means “to blow up” or more loosely “puff up.’”

That Stouffer’s soufflé doesn’t look very puffy to me. But you know what does look puffy? THIS:

As it turns out, if you take the time to make a homemade soufflé, carefully and slowly folding egg whites and spinach together with other ingredients, you’ll have a pretty good understanding of why Julia Child loved France as much as she did. And if you make a proper soufflé, you may find yourself saying SOUFFLÉ in a french accent and vowing to live in France one day… we did.

Recipe: Spinach Souffle

So, today’s recipe actually comes from the 2frugalfoodies archive.  We made this soup last winter, but never got around to posting it on the blog.  It’s a great, simple soup, and it’s a fantastic comfort food for January, especially if January is cold where you are.  We included shrimp as a garnish (an idea we got from an old Williams and Sonoma Italian cookbook), and the added protein makes this soup a meal of its own instead of just a starter course. We’ve got our sites set on this recipe for when the cold does finally descend!

Recipe: Butternut Squash Soup with Shrimp Garnish

So, this year, we’re resolving not to resolve on the food and diet front.  Instead, we plan to make purposeful, small adjustments throughout the week to be slightly healthier throughout 2012.  We plan to eat tons of vegetables, lots of lean protein (mainly seafood and legumes) and cut out unnecessary fatty foods when possible or desirable.  With these small adjustments, we can be healthier without feeling the pinch.  That’s the plan, anyway, and we hope you enjoy some of the new recipes we post this month.

In the meantime, here are two recipes for a new favorite cocktail: the Negroni.  We first read about it in Speakeasy, the cocktail book from New York’s Employees Only bar.  It’s got that great, bitter Italian flavor from Campari, balanced by gin and sweet vermouth.  If you haven’t tried this classic cocktail – we definitely recommend it.

We also recommend a new twist – a Negroni with egg white (the recipe is also posted on the page linked to below).  This is an idea from the Eatocracy blog and you can find their original post here.

Recipes: 2 Negronis

We were excited to try this cocktail recipe we found in Saveur Magazine, so we searched high and low for bottled beet juice. Apparently no one else loves beets as much as we do, because it was hard to find…until we went to Whole Foods. The cocktail is bourbon-based, but it’s deep red, a little bit spicy, and tastes like…beets! It’s a new favorite in our house.

We recently had a dinner party and served this cocktail – about half of the guests made a grossed out face and said “Uh, I’ll have wine, thanks!” when we offered them a beet juice cocktail… but then peer pressure kicked in, everyone tried it, and either they were lying, or they loved it. We think it’s pretty stellar.

Recipe: Beet It

But DANG these are tasty. They take absolutely no time to make, and they are addictive, crunchy, and perfect for holiday snacking. Go ahead, make some Cheese Straws!

A travel update: We’re headed to Richmond, Virginia tonight after Gardner gets off of work – there, we’ll see Sandy and Kate, who are home from Africa for Christmas, and my parents and sister, Ginny. We are SO excited.

After a few days we’ll head to Blacksburg, Virginia to see Gardner’s amazing grandmother (Ahma), his brother (Landon), and his parents (Mary and Ron).

THEN, after a few more days, we’ll head to Charlotte, NC, to be with Dave (for his 30th birthday!), Molly, John and Stacy – all friends from college.

It’ll be a wonderful, busy week or so, and we can’t wait to kick it off tonight. We hope you have a wonderful holiday spent with family and close friends. Merry Christmas!

Recipe: Cheese Straws with Rosemary

All of this was true until we bought A New Turn in the South by Hugh Acheson.  He’s from Canada, a classically French trained chef, and a mastermind of southern cuisine.  What?!?  How do those things go together?   Sometimes the best things come from unexpected places, and in this case, some of the best food in the south found its way to us by way of Ottawa.  Hugh’s restaurant in Atlanta, Empire State South, is our #1 “Have to Try Next” restaurant and we can’t wait to taste it for ourselves.

Until we get to the restaurant, we’re really enjoying his cookbook.  Which brings me back to the salad – it fits everything you want in winter.  The produce is seasonally appropriate, and the dish itself is warm, filling, and comforting.  We recommend this recipe to you, but most of all, recommend that you add A New Turn in the South to your Christmas wish list.

Recipe: Roasted Beet and Carrot Salad

It’s a Hot Toddy, and I prefer to say its name in a Scottish accent while sipping it under a blanket next to the Christmas tree. It would be the perfect cure for a sore throat, a rain day, or a dull mood, but it’s also absolutely fabulous on a crisp, happy, cuddly wintry night.

Whip one up for yourself tonight – it might just be your new favorite thing.

Recipe: Hot Toddy

Cooking for two, we expected leftovers, of course.  Some of the menu items like our butternut squash have been leftover sides for the entire extended weekend (and now there’s no way I could eat another bite).  For other items, we decided to scale it down.  For example, instead of a huge turkey, we roasted a duck (and then used the fat for sweet potato pie crust!)

As you can see from the plate below, there was no shortage of delicious food.  In addition to the duck and the butternut squash, we also had herbed mashed potatoes, homemade rolls, apple-cranberry crumble, peanut butter dressing, pear chips, and a new favorite, brussel sprout hash.  For dessert, we had the sweet potato pie and one of Dad’s traditional pecan pies.  One of Mary Katherine’s co-workers and friends gave us a great recipe for the sprouts, and its awesome.  Mom and Dad agreed when they tried it, and we’re posting it now so everyone can get as much out of this recipe in the holiday season as possible!

Hope you’re not too tired of Thanksgiving food to give this one a try in the coming weeks – it’s a fairly simple recipe and the flavor is fantastic.

Good luck with your Monday coming back from the long weekend!

Recipe: Brussel Sprout Hash