Posts from — October 2017

This is Shirley with her favorite Trader Joe’s cookies, they are Triple Ginger Cookie Thins and they are what Shirley uses for her Margarita Tart crust.

I bought a box, Shirley sent me her recipe and I made it last weekend. The family loved it, so now I share it with you. Thank you, Shirley! xoxo

One item I love to use when baking pies or using a springform pan is this wonderful rack that catches any drips.

Shirley’s Margarita Tart

Crust

• 2 cups cookie crumbs made from Trader Joe’s Triple Ginger Cookie Thins
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

Filling

• Zest of 2 limes
• 4 egg yolks
• Two 14-ounce cans of sweetened condensed milk
• 2/3 cup lime juice (from 4 to 6 limes)
• 1 tablespoon Tequila

Topping

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 4 tablespoons powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Lime slices and strawberries, garnish

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Crust: In a medium bowl, mix together the cookie crumbs, sugar, salt, and melted butter.

Press into a 9-inch springform pan. Place on a baking rack or baking sheet and bake for 8 minutes. Cool to room temperature.

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I had such a great day shopping with Blogiversary winners, Shirley, Laura and Maggie!

From left to right –

Shirley: Shirley is a longtime student of mine. She attends all my series classes at Les Gourmettes Cooking School and is the most lovely woman! I adore her in classes and I adored spending the day with her too!

Laura: I have known Laura for more than 20 years. We met as members of the Phoenix Junior League – way back when. Laura joined my committee when I chaired the Phoenix Children’s Hospital Beach Ball in 1997. The Beach Ball is celebrating its 25 anniversary with the 2018 event on March 3rd. Although Laura and I have not seen each other in years, hers is the first Christmas card I receive each and every year, on the day after Thanksgiving!

Maggie: I met Maggie for the first time on Monday morning at the Trader Joe’s at Tatum and Shea where we met up to begin our day of shopping. Maggie found the blog while looking for a “knockoff recipe” for True Food Kitchen’s Mediterranean Chopped Salad and has come back ever since. Although Maggie is substantially younger than the rest of us (she has three young kids, including a 3-year-old!) she fit right in and was an absolute doll!

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Today is the day I finally get to take Laura, Maggie and Shirley on the 8th Blogiversary Shopping Field Trip!

I’ve got their Trader Joe’s 50th Anniversary bags locked and loaded with $100 each.

These bags are the perfect example of why I love Trader Joe’s. The bags were sold to celebrate their golden anniversary and instead of charging more for the limited edition bags, they charged less! Regular TJ’s bags cost a mere $1. These special bags cost only fifty cents! TJ’s Is The Best!

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Tram & Steve invited me over for Taco Night, they are the sweetest! I asked Tram if I could contribute an exotic margarita for the night. She, of course, said yes.

I found a recipe on Epicurious.com. I made one cocktail as written and found it to be much too strong and not as special or exotic as I had hoped. It needed some lime juice and some sweetness to bring it up to the place I knew it could be.

This photo does not include the additions I made to the cocktail, lime juice, and a berry simple syrup, but those ingredients are there in the final version of the cocktail that I brought to dinner.

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