Around Town - Top of the Hops Beer Festival

A great event is returning to the Mississippi Gulf Coast for its second year! It's a fun event and if you're a connoisseur of all things beer, it's one you'll want to check out.

Top of the Hops Beer Festival will be held at our beautiful Mississippi Coast Convention Center at the Coliseum in Biloxi, this Saturday, from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. This event showcases the growing popularity of craft beers from around the country and the world, in a relaxed and friendly environment.

Patrons will receive a commemorative sampling mug and have access to two-ounce samplings of over 150 craft beers from distributors across the world. The festival will also feature a Brew University Education Area where patrons will enjoy beer seminars such as Cooking with Beer, Food Pairings, Brewing 101 and other beer education sessions and, all new for 2012, the Bayou Teche Cask Garden. Come enjoy the mass of craft beers with live music and fun games like corn-hole and ping pong.

Grab a sneak peek brochure here, or pop over to the Top of the Hops Festival site for tickets and more information. C'mon down and have some fun y'all!

NOTE: Must be 21 or older, with a valid ID to enter festival and ID will be checked for all patrons. Have fun, but drink responsibly, and plan for cab transportation or schedule a designated driver to go with you. Local cab service will be available, and any brew crew volunteer/staff member or security personnel will call a cab for you if necessary.

Disclosure: In exchange for sharing this information with my readers, I received two general admission tickets from Red Mountain Entertaiment.

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Pork roast, slow cooked in the crockpot and simply seasoned with garlic salt, freshly cracked black pepper, Cajun seasoning, thyme and sage and topped with cream of mushroom soup.

Slow Cooker Pork Roast with Vegetables

While slow braised beef roast would be my husband's top favorite roast, a pork roast rules in my eyes, and the slow cooker is a great vehicle for it for sure. Though most people think of the cut only for smoking or slow cooking for pulled pork sandwiches, I love a good pork shoulder or Boston butt prepared as a roast. This preparation is also great with a leaner pork loin however.

Both the butt and the shoulder are part of the same area of the pig, the shoulder, with the butt simply being up higher on the shoulder than the shoulder and the picnic, which is lower. None of them are anywhere near related to the rear end of the pig, though speaking of a pork butt does tend to bring up a chuckle, doesn't it?

This recipe is excellent as a stand alone roast using only the aromatics, or go ahead and add potatoes along with the onion, carrots and celery in the slow cooker to make it a great, basic meal in one. I personally love to use the drippings to make a great gravy to serve over homemade mashed potatoes or perfectly steamed rice too, but even if you don't, do save those drippings and freeze them. It's speedier to make the gravy on the top of the stove, rather than in the slow cooker, and if you're using the shoulder or butt, you'll want to use a fat separator to get rid of the excess fat before making gravy or freezing it. Remember, vegetables should always be added to the bottom and sides of the slow cooker, rather than on top.

Here's how to make this delicious slow cooker pork roast I think your family will love!

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Baby lima beans, stewed down to creamy perfection and seasoned nicely with bacon and ham, are as at home as a side dish as they are a main dish, when paired up with a nice garden salad, cornbread and iced tea.

Stewed Baby Lima Beans

I mostly prepare frozen baby lima beans as a side to be honest, but we don't eat them often because they require some advance planning for cooking, and unfortunately I tend to forget about them! It's a rare occasion where I make them from fresh or dried, but I don't know why, because they are just so much more delicious and worth the effort.

This is a pretty standard formula for beans down this way, basic and simple. Beans are simply stewed down and seasoned with a bit of pork, here both ham and bacon, a little onion, garlic and jalapeno, some simple seasonings, and a little time.

You'll notice that most of my recipes that call for jalapenos, call for chopped, sliced pickled jalapenos, frankly because that is what I always have on hand in my fridge. My favorite is the Mezzetta brand of tamed pickled jalapeno shown below, because they have a nice kick without being too fiery. They're also available as whole jalapenos, and you can find them pretty much anywhere - I buy them right at Walmart or my local grocery store.

You can, of course, certainly use fresh, raw jalapenos instead, but keep in mind that peppers can vary widely in heat level. Always taste them before you add them to your recipes so you'll know how much to use.

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A layered dessert, made with a buttery shortbread crust, topped with a cream cheese and whipped topping layer, a layer of fresh or frozen strawberries and finished with more whipped cream and chopped nuts.

Strawberry Delight

I have a secret I've been keeping. In the midst of this recent wintery weather, which for some of you has meant snow, I have been chowing down on fresh, local strawberries. Louisiana strawberries.

I admit - after all the wonderful, traditional, but rich holiday foods, and the far more sweets than I ever usually eat otherwise, I really crave fresh salads and fresh fruits in January. I do! Luckily, I am a fan of citrus and right now is prime citrus season in Florida, as well as early crop strawberries too. While Florida has wonderful strawberries too, I favor the deliciously sweet, early crop strawberries from Louisiana the most.

Y'all know how much I love my layered desserts too, including the number one queen of them all of course! Made with a variety of crusts, usually layered with some kind of cream cheese filling and anything from layers of puddings to layers of fruit, and finished most often with a whipped topping, they are just a perfect dessert for parties, potlucks, church suppers and other gatherings.

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