Category — Holiday

I have an excellent excuse for not posting yesterday and delivering with the promised seafood crepe recipe. I was on a “special, highly covert, high-security assignment” revolving around THIS, for the Food section of our newspaper, The Arizona Republic.

OK, it wasn’t exactly “all that”! But I was developing recipes for the cover story of the Food section for an upcoming issue. So, I was busy! And the story/recipes really do revolve around THAT.

As bizarre as it certainly sounds, I will fill you in on the details after the story runs in the newspaper, it’s quite amusing, (Let’s just say that THAT had never ever crossed the threshold of my home before this task was handed to me – and all of my friends and family were in a state of shock to see it sitting on our kitchen counter!) so stay tuned.

Now the promised, exceedingly sought-after, and highly anticipated “special occasion” crepe recipe…

[Read more →]

Sometimes the best recipe is no recipe at all. Our tradition on New Year’s Eve is to stay home, watch movies, and cook something fancy together. Sometimes the kids are involved in this, sometimes not.  This year, it was just Dave and me. We made an elegant lobster pasta dish and this antipasto platter. Honestly, I enjoyed the platter more than the pasta.  Don’t get me wrong, the pasta was delicious and decadent, but the platter was more fun and much less work. I marinated sliced bell peppers and radish halves in olive oil seasoned with salt and pepper and served it along with the usual assorted meats, olives, cheeses, and crackers. One of our favorite go-to dishes is the marinated blue cheese mushrooms. This time, I added substituted feta for the blue and added cherry tomatoes, still outstanding!

[Read more →]

I know, you are used to me complaining about it being so HOT in Arizona. But today, I am not so much complaining as just telling you, that it is COLD in Arizona! So cold that we had actual snow flurries yesterday here in our desert. And so cold that this morning, a little polar bear ornament is awaiting birds with ice skates to join him on the frozen-solid bird bath.

It has happened before, but not for a long time. I have two cute desert snow pictures of Marissa when she was a toddler. Those are a little extra treat at the bottom of this post, but first a couple of photos showing our current winter cold spell…

[Read more →]

We all know how important incorporating more color into our diets is for good health. I love focusing on the specific colors red and green during the holidays and this recipe fits the bill perfectly.

[Read more →]

For Christmas dinner I made everyone’s favorite cut of beef – tenderloin. Although filet mignons are always a treat, preparing a whole tenderloin feels wonderfully decadent. And when you throw in a creamy brandy sauce, well that puts it above and beyond. Unfortunately, while in the rush to make all the plates perfect and get them to the table hot on Christmas night, I didn’t get a picture snapped before all the sauce was gone… so the picture above is with the remaining beef, sans sauce. Be sure you run out today to buy your tenderloin if you want to serve this on New Year’s Eve. I picked up mine at Costco, of course!

[Read more →]

Just because I’ve named these Christmas custards, don’t think that they wouldn’t be good anytime of the year… in fact – it has been requested that I make them again for New Years Eve, and I just may!

[Read more →]

I hope your Christmas was merry and bright! It was at the Hopkins’ house and I have a very good reason for not posting a recipe yesterday… it is pictured above. Santa brought me an iPad for Christmas and I’m having a blast with it! Thankfully it wasn’t opened until AFTER I had gotten Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas morning breakfast on the table, otherwise people may have gone hungry! Somehow, I did manage to make Christmas dinner, but the day after Christmas… it was all iPad, all day long! And I’m feeling the itch to get back to it right now. Before that happens, here is the potato dish I made for Christmas Eve to accompany pomegranate molasses lamb chops -yummers!

[Read more →]

A Blessed and Very Merry Christmas!

[Read more →]

I hope you’re ready with the milk and cookies. And please don’t forget the oats with sparkles and the carrots for Rudolph and the gang!

[Read more →]