Looking for a sweet way to warm up on a chilly February day? You’re in luck. Don Dugan, owner of Dugan’s Pub in downtown Little Rock, shares his secret for a toast-worthy coffee concoction. Try the tasty sipper and let us know what you think. 
Dugan’s Irish Coffee Recipe yields 1 drink. INGREDIENTS: 1 1/4 ounces Irish whiskey 1 teaspoon brown sugar Hot black coffee Fresh whipped cream Green or dark creme de menthe DIRECTIONS: Place brown sugar in the bottom of a mug. Add Irish whiskey. Fill mug to the top with coffee. Top with whipped cream and drizzle with creme de menthe. Enjoy!
A Red, White & Blue Recipe
Want to impress your guests this 4th of July? Whip up these incredibly easy and delicious minuature fruit tarts in patriotic red, white and blue! For more entertaining ideas and recipes, read our summer entertaining guide here.
Mini Fruit Tarts
Ingredients
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
shortbread cookies
blueberries
raspberries
fresh mint leaves
In a large bowl, mix cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla until well combined then transfer to a pastry bag. Lay shortbread cookies flat on a serving platter and top each cookie with a dollop or “swirl” of frosting. Place one blueberry and one raspberry on top and garnish with a mint leaf. Cream cheese frosting can be prepared the night before and refrigerated overnight.
Dessert Time with Apple Hand Pies
Save room for dessert! The head dessert chef at Little Rock’s Big Orange restaurants shares her secret for an all-American treat in our October issue. Autumn Hall splits her time between the popular burger joint’s two locations, creating tasty desserts like these apple hand pies. “Hand pies are good for any occasion,” she says. “They aren’t fried, perfect for kids and are easy to take with you to events.” Aren’t these the prettiest pies you’ve ever seen?!
tangerine mixer | dessert plate | flatware | napkins | rolling pin
Now, on to the recipe…
Big Orange’s Apple Hand Pies
Recipe yields approximately 20 pies
INGREDIENTS:
DOUGH
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup butter,
cut into small cubes and frozen for 5-10 minutes
1/4 cup ice water
1/4 cup vodka
FILLING
1 pound Granny Smith apples, peeled and diced
1 pound Honeycrisp apples, peeled and diced
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon apple brandy
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
EGG WASH
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons cream
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. For the dough, combine first four ingredients using a food processor. Add butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Slowly add the water and vodka while pulsing the dough in the food processor until slightly wet and sticky. If you press the dough together and it crumbles, add more liquid. Separate into two balls and wrap each in plastic wrap. Let the dough rest in the refrigerator for an hour.
For the filling, combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and toss until apples are coated. Whisk together egg wash ingredients and set aside.
Roll out one of the balls of dough on a floured surface. Using a large round cookie cutter, cut out circles and brush egg wash onto the edges of one half of each circle. Add one to two tablespoons of filling to that half of the circle and fold over, using a fork to crimp and seal the edges. Repeat until filling is gone, rolling out the second ball of dough as needed. Brush egg wash onto the pies and make a few cuts with a knife for steam to escape during baking. Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.
Big Orange, Midtown, (501) 379-8715, West, (501) 821-1515, bigorangeburger.com
Cooking Meets Design
inspiration: roasted garlic and red sweet pepper soup
paint colors: 1-mandarin orange; 2-barcelona orange; 3-daredevil; 4-rockport gray
add: throw | leonora chandelier | fabrics
This roasted garlic and red sweet pepper soup not only looks delicious, but exemplifies all of fall’s best colors. We’ve rounded up a few matching paint colors and items you can incorporate into your home this fall. And, in case you missed it, check out our Haunted Halloween blog post for last-minute decorating ideas. Happy fall and happy halloween!
tracy porter’s ideas to simplify summer gatherings
We are thrilled to introduce Tracy Porter, an exciting addition to the At Home in Arkansas blog team! Tracy is a lifestyle, home and fashion designer, author and photographer. Her publication appearances include O, Better Homes & Gardens and InStyle, she’s appeared on Oprah, E! and HGTV, and her eclectic designs in home and fashion are sold in thousands of retail stores and boutiques around the world, including Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdale’s.
We had the pleasure of meeting Tracy at the recent Design Bloggers Conference in Los Angeles, and she charmed us with her warmth and kindness. Her monthly column, about all things entertaining, will showcase her unique style, inspiring At Home’s readers to live life to the fullest.
Be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the post for her $250 giveaway!
With summer nearly here, entertaining becomes more top of brain than ever! But…I get it entirely…having people over can overwhelm even the most seasoned entertainer! All of our days are terribly busy, we seem to easily fill them with activities, events and running about…throw in a wagon full of kids + pets and the idea of friends for dinner can seem utterly daunting!
However, it CAN be easy (sigh of relief). It takes a bit of planning, and some winging it…and in my book that’s how you get to easy. I have a handful of tips…that I hope inspire your next gathering to feel fabulous in mind and spirit
I keep a basket full of folded cloth napkins in a range of colors and prints… Ok, I keep several of them, truth be told! It is just so easy to have them handy, right in your kitchen or pantry all the time, and one less thing to be running around after when company comes!
Have a few “go-to†cocktails… and a range of pretty glassware sitting out. Everyone loves the idea of “being entertained†so when your company shows up…be ready! A choice or two is nice….we make a great Meyer lemon cosmo in our house (I’ll share that recipe down the road!) that’s always a crowd pleaser. Add to that a gorgeous martini glass…ahhhh, irresistible!
Always add flowers. It is one of my favorite things to do once most everything else is covered! (Sort of like playing!) It makes any eating and gathering experience just that much more enchanting. A little charm goes a long way. Don’t spend a fortune…if you must buy flowers, go simple…all one kind. Plunk them into little vessels or teacups…and scatter them about the table. No fuss…! If your yard is abundant, then get out your nippers and have at it! Clip bits of this and that and again plunk them into lower simple vessels that you gather from around your house. I often times will just set flowers on the table in my gathering basket…never mind that they slowly wilt a bit here and there…still so lovely…nature adds beautifully to any meal!
Dim the lights…ALWAYS! I have walked into more fully lit kitchens in the evening (wanting to put on my shades) than I care to admit to. No one wants to be blasted with light…low light is calming and sensual…and it hides everything! Next, keep a stash of “ready to go†candles. Mine change often (I cannot help myself) but I keep a basket in my pantry full of candles. Right now, I am onto jam jars (with 4 little boys, we go through lots of jam…too bad peanut butter jars are not cuter!). I keep a little votive in each. Sometimes I will spritz some rosemary with water and drop a small bit of it in the jar…you’ll catch an occasional whiff of goodness that is over the top…try it!
I adore large trays, and I truly use them! I have them out on my countertops ready for action! I cannot tell you how well this works! If you like your plates, then keep them out in a nice stack on a tray. Then dig up a great vessel, fill it with useful utensils and…viola! Sounds simple…but when you see it you use it!
Zero in on your “go-to recipes.” I love knowing that everything will (for the most part) work out when company comes. There are always surprises, but a good recipe is worth its weight in gold! My best example is chocolate sheet cake! No brainer…everyone loves it…no one ever tires of it…and you can make it in a snap! I even let my kids doll up the top with little cookies and candies. No matter the occasion, this sort of thing adds magic to any gathering! So, find a way to round up your top recipe picks and go to them for fearless entertaining. Even little sticky notes popping from the tops of your cookbooks (as I do) will do the trick. Just mark the ones you can count on anytime!
I keep the appetizers really simple. I just find this approach easier for all! Keep several cutting boards in various sizes on hand. Add to that a few odiferous cheeses, some pretty little knives, a mix of nosh-able crackers…almonds, salami, salt and vinegar chips…use small pretty bowls…and you’ll have something to set on your counter or nearby coffee table, or wherever you and your company are hanging out!
A few more thoughts…It’s sometimes the little things that throw us off last minute, so the “do ahead and plan list†can also include:
~ Finding a no commercials music station (try www.pandora.com) that sets the mood with one tap of your finger!
~ Decide if you will be setting the table or going more casual family style buffet (so easy and fun for all!)
~ Choose recipes that are make ahead if at all possible…even a few hours really can help!
Most importantly, I share these ideas with you to lessen the overwhelm. I have been there, running around swabbing my forehead, shoving toys into random drawers, scooping dog hair tumble weeds off the floor. I NOW choose the EASY route. I plan a bit more, dim the lights, have a sip of my drink beforehand…..and calmly, happily…await my friends and family to show up!
Cheers to you!
Tracy
I am so excited about my first of many columns with At Home in Arkansas that I want to celebrate it with a wonderful giveaway for a $250 gift certificate! Besides my love of writing, and sharing inspiration for all lovely things in life, I am also a designer of delicious home and fashion goods!
Surely you’d love a shopping spree?! Well alright then! In order to enter this gem of a giveaway, all you need to do is post a comment here (by clicking on responses at the top of the post next to the date, or scrolling down underneath the current responses below) about my first column…let us know what you think! How simple is that! The giveaway will run today through May 23. The winner will be picked randomly. Please check back on May 24th to see if it is you!!
P.S. You may want to pop over to www.tracyporter.com to check out the goods in case you are the lucky winner! Also please “Like” us on Facebook here.
I am there to chatter every day, would love to meet you! Â Good luck & happiness to you!
xoxo
an endless summer…by tracy porter
At Home
columnist Tracy Porter is back! (Thank goodness, because we missed her!) Today, Tracy shares the many ways she and her family savor the summertime. But be warned: after reading her post, you’ll have the itch to get outside and run through water sprinklers.
Don’t mind if we do…
I am officially saving summer in this month’s column (so bold of me…don’t mind if I do! Ha!), because it slips away so fast and all the “lovely†that you want, and look forward to, is far too important to miss. So…I’ll share a few ways that my family saves summer every year…and how we will again this year. Hope to inspire you and yours!
Eat together & make food together…with friends, with family! Lots of hands in the kitchen…lets you get outside to eat & play sooner. Helping hands in a kitchen can be chaotic…but then that’s a home filled with joy, and life…things are not perfect, how lovely is that!
Make s ‘mores…easy dessert…every kid and adult will join in…get some of those wonderful long marshmallow “skewers†and keep them handy…simple old fashioned fun for all! (and yes, my boys like them burned.)
Homemade strawberry lemonade…any day, anyway, or try a new summer cocktail my husband John is always whipping up. (Remember I promised you he makes the BEST Meyer lemon cosmo! Read on!)
John Porter’s Enchanting Lemon Meyer Cosmo
2 Oz. Vodka (or 3 oz., depending on the day…)
½ Oz. Triple Sec
1 Oz. Cranberry
½ Meyer Lemon freshly squeezed
Shake with ice. Strain and pour into pretty glass.
(this makes one, but that’s usually enough…good night, Alice!)
P.S. no Meyer lemons? Use ½ freshly squeezed lemon and add a bit of grand Marnier…pucker up!! mmmm.
Keep tiny white lights out all year long…like fireflies, they add a layer of light. And get yourself a fanciful umbrella for outside…charm city!
Go out flower cutting, as often as you can while everything is blooming! It’s the perfect dose of summer bounty for your soul!
Make your own homemade summertime coleslaw…or try my delightfully easy recipe below!
For a printable version of Tracy’s recipe, click here:
Tracy Porter’s Cilantro Coleslaw Recipe
After dinner, play summer games. Scavenger hunts, bocce ball, lawn croquet, or our favorite…water balloons! WA-HOOOO! DUCK!
More endless summer, because you never can have enough…
~Picnics…anywhere…in your own yard…or pack up a big wicker basket and you are off to the beach or the countryside!
~Grill it…it just adds summer to the air…no matter what night of the week!
~Grow some of your own…herbs, veggies, fruit, anything you can walk outside and pluck or pick and use when you cook!
~ Go berry picking…bring back the goods and add them to smoothies, cobblers or ice cream!
Please Tell me…how will you save summer this year? How did your family save summer when you were a kid…inspire us all…!
Cheers to you!
xxx,
Tracy
