Category — Recipes

Do you know anyone who doesn’t like lasagna? I certainly don’t! It’s right up there with hamburgers, spaghetti, and mac and cheese as the all-time family favorites. All those classics have been posted here already, it is now lasagna’s turn.

Toasted and skinned hazelnuts are used in the pesto. To learn how to do this procedure, either go to the Tip Index at the left and look under “Hazelnuts” or click on this link.
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I made these easy and pretty grapes for the first time about 15 years ago for a holiday open house. They are a perennial favorite. The cheese and nut-coated grapes make such a stunning presentation when placed on a pedestal with fresh grapes and leaves and are perfect to set on a bar at a party.

Since there are only 4 ingredients this recipe certainly qualifies for my “easy-breezy” category and if you have kids around, they will love helping make them. If you are putting them together alone, use one hand to roll or lightly coat the grapes with the cheese mixture and keep the other hand clean to roll the cheese-coated grapes in the nuts and place them on a plate, otherwise, you’ll end up with a gooey mess.
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I’m hosting a dinner party tonight and will be serving another of Jennifer Markett’s scrumptious dishes. She calls them cigars, but after making them today, I’d rename them stogies, look at the picture and tell me what you think. Since I’m serving a large variety of appetizers, I’m only going to make half a batch of these. When a recipe calls for 1 egg and you need only half an egg, crack the egg into a bowl and beat well, 1 large egg equals about 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons). So use only 2 tablespoons of beaten egg, and for this particular recipe, save the remaining 2 tablespoons for brushing the wonton wrappers.

When assembling a number of the same thing, it’s easiest to do it assembly-line style… layout about half of the won ton wrappers (they dry too quickly to do all at once) and top each with the filling.  Brush with the egg one at a time, or it too will dry out or begin to stick to the counter, and roll.

My hope is that all the recent and upcoming appetizer recipes will help with your holiday party planning. After all, Christmas is now less than 3 weeks away … take a deep breath, stay calm, and have fun with your holiday entertaining.
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These stuffed peppers are my idea of delicious and classy “poppers” and are a Christmas tradition in our house. The pink salmon against the green pepper looks great on a holiday buffet.

This past July I made these for Jeff and Jen while we were spending a week at their amazing lakeside log cabin in Northern Wisconsin. It’s hard to call it a cabin, because it’s such a big beautiful home filled with rustic and classic décor, happy kids running about, great food, and tons of fun! I call it The Log Mansion. Plus, to get out of our 110+ degree heat in July and relax in the cool pines with great friends… truly a slice of heaven on earth!

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Today is my gorgeous girlfriend, Jen’s, birthday. I cannot begin to express how much I love this amazing woman; she is my rock, my soul-mate sister, my “on-demand” comedian, and my friend.  She can make me laugh like nobody’s business! She is there through thick and thin and is a loving friend, mother, wife, sister, aunt, and daughter. Whenever I have something to share, complain about, need help, advice, or just want to chat, Jen is the first person I call.

The one really awful thing about Jennifer? She lives 1,400 miles from me (as the crow flies). Happy birthday, Jenny Jen, I forgive you for that one awful thing and love you unconditionally!

For the rest of the week, I will highlight and share recipes from Jen, who is coincidentally, a great cook, or recipes of mine that are favorites of hers. Today’s recipe is a fun and quite a rich appetizer pizza that is perfect for upcoming holiday parties.

My girl, Jen

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It is “birthday week” around here. Marissa’s was yesterday, and today is Blake’s 12 birthday!  Blake is one of three sons of our very best friends in the world! His parents are Dr. Jeffrey and Jennifer Markett, who live in St. Charles, Illinois. Jeff is my husband’s best friend from college. He was our best man and is godfather to both Marissa and Connor. Jennifer is my best friend, whom I just adore… more on her tomorrow… Until then, Happy Birthday Blakey! We Love YOU!

In Blake’s honor, today we have a seven-layer dip that I’ve never seen a kid turn their nose up at. Use this recipe as a guide, you can add in or sub out so many great ingredients; such as shredded lettuce, roasted red pepper strips, chopped jalapenos, sliced black olives, and chopped tomatoes, etc.  In the picture below, I assembled the dish with a cut-away, so you can see the layers.  Then I just filled it all in after snapping the photo, don’t want you to think I served it this way! 🙂
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Lemon Curd Lemon Roll – getting ready for the trip down to Tucson

December 1, 1987 – was one of the happiest days of my life!

The day my gorgeous daughter, Marissa Lynn, was born. We celebrated as a family on Sunday, going to brunch at The Phoenician, and surprising her with a gift she’s always wished for – a skydiving gift certificate. I will be jumping with her and will post about it when the day comes. Stay tuned.

This is one of Marissa’s favorite cakes. I was going to ship it overnight, but then found out that Marissa’s darling roommate, Paige, wasn’t heading back to Tucson until Monday afternoon, thank you for the delivery service, Paige!

Happy Birthday baby girl. Hope you enjoy the cake with Kaley, Petra, Paige, Kelsey, Lindsey, Astrid, Alberto, Billy, Ryan, Blake, Isaac, and whoever else is with you today. I love and miss you!

Marissa with her brother, Connor, at her birthday brunch

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After all the cooking last week and trying to get through all those leftovers, we’re overdue for something quick and fresh.

Herbes de Provence or Provençal herbs is a mixture of dried herbs from Provence invented in the 1970s. The mixture typically contains thyme, savory, fennel, basil, and lavender flowers. Thyme is the dominant flavor.  The asparagus can be easily substituted with blanched sugar snap peas, green beans, broccoli, or cauliflower.
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At last, the day has arrived – whatever leftovers haven’t been eaten, given away, or frozen; are going in the trash. Marissa and Connor head back to their respective universities this evening. Care packages are going with them and then I will have my refrigerator back!

This recipe is a perfect example of when to use light sour cream and cream cheese. There are so many other prominent flavors going on here, that you’ll never taste the difference. When the sour cream or cream cheese is the main flavor, then I prefer to use the real thing, because you can truly taste the difference. As for the fat-free versions – not a good choice – they don’t bake up as well. When a recipe calls for canned green chilies, always go for the whole chilies and dice them yourself. They are better quality than the “already diced”, and it takes only seconds to cut them up.  “Goodbye turkey, see you next November!”

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So here are my feelings about Thanksgiving leftovers – I love having mass amounts of white meat leftover for turkey sandwiches, and it wouldn’t feel like Thanksgiving without all the fabulous turkey stock I make from the carcasses, but the rest of it… not so much!  To that end, I always make two turkeys, one is roasted the traditional way, and the second is always grilled or smoked. This year I wound up with 36 cups of a stock, happy day!

To use up all that dark turkey meat, I just make our family favorites and add in the turkey.  Our all-time favorite salad is another of Barbara Pool Fenzl’s recipes.  It comes from her 1994 Southwest The Beautiful Cookbook. I’ve made very few changes to the recipe over the years… instead of whisking by hand, I use a food processor for the dressing.

Since the original recipe makes about 1 1/3 cups of dressing, I double all the other fixings so that all that amazing dressing can be utilized, it would be shameful to waste even one drop!  Also in the original, the tortilla strips are dusted with chili powder prior to frying. Instead, I salt and dust them immediately after removing them from the hot oil so the seasoning really sticks to the strips. And with all this turkey on hand, it quickly becomes a perfect main course salad for a busy weeknight family dinner.
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