Thanksgiving Cocktails

This post will shock some of my closest followers as they had thought that I had abandoned them! But no, I had just been on a sort of personal blogging hiatus.

My teaching job has me doing a lot of blogging from the classroom. In fact, I'm not only writing on my personal teaching blog, but I'm also an internet published blogger over at North Canton Patch. It's been exciting and has opened up a few very cool connections within my city.

Anyways, I'll write more about my personal endeavors at another time, but for now I wanted to share my recipe for the drink my whole family devoured on Thanksgiving Day! {Or "Slopsgiving" as we were calling it!}

Apple Pie Moonshine!

My brother brought my husband and I a bottle of Everclear grain alcohol back from Kentucky and I had NO IDEA what I was going to do with it. He suggested I make some Apple Pie Moonshine to enjoy during Thanksgiving. I prepared this a few weeks in advance, although you can enjoy it right away, but I think it's better to let the flavors mellow.

Bring 1 gallon apple cider, 1 gallon apple juice, 12 cinnamon sticks, and 3 cups white sugar to a boil. Remove from heat and let cool. Add liter of grain alcohol. Divvy up cinnamon sticks in 12 mason jars, pour out evenly, put on lids, and store in the fridge.

It was so good! Straight from the bottle was very sweet, warm, and cinnamon-y, so we'd pout it into cups and add just a splash of regular apple cider to mellow it out even more.

Bacon, Avocado, and Feta Quiche Recipe

It's about a week later than when I would have liked to post this... but better late than never, I say!

Last week at the Gervasi Vineyard Farmer's Market I met the lovely women at Capella Artisan Goat Cheese and bought two containers of their Kryoites Feta Cheese. Yum!
Anyways, as we were talking I mentioned that it would be perfect for my bacon, avocado, and feta quiche that I have made in the past. They encouraged me to give them the recipe and I told them that I would have to write it down. I basically had taken about 3 different recipes from the internet and made it my own. This time I documented my cooking!
Without further ado... Bacon, avocado, and feta quiche recipe!

Quiche Filling
4 Large Eggs
2 Tablespoons Dry White Wine
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1/4 Teaspoon Pepper
1 1/4 Cup Heavy Cream Scalded
1 Avocado
1/2 Pound Thick Sliced Bacon
4 Ounces Feta Cheese

The white wine I chose was not super dry. In fact, I just bought the Chardonnay/Sauvignon blend because it tasted good and I knew I would drink the rest of it with the meal!


Bacon and the really tasty feta from Capella.
I used a pre-made Marie Callendar crust, but I would say if you had a really amazing homemade crust recipe, use that!

Instructions1. Preheat oven to 375°
2. Cook bacon until it is well done and extra crispy
3. Crumble bacon and cut avocado and feta into small cubes and place at bottom of pastry shell
4. Mix eggs, white wine, salt, pepper and cream; pour over bacon, avocado, and feta in shell
5. Bake quiche at 375° for about 30 minutes (mine took a little more like 40 minutes)

I'm still trying to work out some little kinks... like this time around the bacon seemed to lose some of it's crispy texture. I'm wondering if I crumble it on top if maybe it'll stay better. Also, the cook time took a little longer than what I thought it did so I had to keep an eye on it until it firmed up.
Overall though it came out very good and paired nicely with a fresh cucumber salad and glass of white wine. My boys at up the whole quiche! Good thing I made two!