Category — Recipes

Do you remember the 2005 summer box office hit Wedding Crashers? Sure you do. But do you remember what John’s (Owen Wilson) nickname for Jeremy (Vince Vaughn) was?  No!?!?  Only one of the best nicknames in movie history and one of my favorite words to say!

Baba Ghanoush

Besides being an awesome nickname, baba ghanoush is a delicious smoky Mediterranean dip!  First imagine hummus, and now imagine substituting soft and creamy cooked eggplant for the chickpeas. There you have it – baba ghanoush!

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If you read yesterday’s post, then you probably could have guessed that today I would be making something with peaches. You are correct – I aim to please.  If you use purchased pizza dough, then this recipe certainly qualifies as “easy-breezy”.

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Isn’t this centerpiece, featuring a kiwifruit, so very pretty? I found the image on Pinterest, it comes from Style Me Pretty and Anna Costa Photographers. Consider it my gift to all you wonderful moms out there, especially my Mother-in-Law, Patricia Hopkins! We love you!  xoxoxo

Happy Mother’s Day.

This year marks my first Mother’s Day not having at least one of my kids home with me.

I was actually expecting to feel all sad and sorry for myself, but that would be ridiculous! I have managed to raise two of the most amazing people on Earth.

I adore them and I know that they love me. So what’s to fret about?

If you have your kids with you today, be sure to appreciate that fact, and if you don’t – it’s OK – sit back, relax, enjoy a kiwi mojito, and know that you are blessed. xoxo

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I mentioned the other day that I’m in the middle of my three-week cooking series at Les Gourmettes. The first week was a Mother’s Day brunch menu and I needed kiwifruit for a fruit salad. Yes, I said “kiwifruit”, not just “kiwi”.  That is because kiwi is a bird and kiwifruit is … well, it’s a fruit!

Kiwifruit grows on vines and is named after the flightless kiwi bird, native to New Zealand, with hair-like brown feathers. They lay greenish-white eggs. Kiwi fruits are native to China, where they were originally called “macaque peach”.

Nutrition-wise, kiwifruits contain about as much potassium as bananas, are packed with more vitamin C than an equivalent amount of orange, and are also rich in Vitamins A and E. Plus the black seeds can be crushed to produce kiwi fruit oil, which is very rich in important Omega-3 essential fatty acid.

Since this is a cooking blog and not a blog about birds, it is safe to say that when you see “kiwi” in a recipe here, you can be 100% certain I’m talking about the fruit and not the bird.

So anyhow… back to the kiwi, I needed for my class.  I went to the grocery store and the price of kiwi was 2 for $1. I needed 10 kiwis and I wasn’t about to pay $5 for them. I remembered that I’d seen kiwi at Costco. Sure enough, there was a big carton for $5.59. When I say a big carton, I mean 30 kiwis!  That’s more than I needed, of course, but that’s not the point.  The point is, I wasn’t going to pay 50 cents each at one store when I could just as easily pay 19 cents each elsewhere.

Um, yeah, so now I have 20 kiwis sitting here that I have to try and find something to do with. So, it’s gonna be a kiwi weekend.

First up, how about a lesson on how to properly and easily peel a kiwi?

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Remember how we had a New Year’s Day Brunch and I set up that awesome Bloody Mary bar?  Yeah, that was all well and good back in January, but now, in May – not so good!

Summer cooking classes are only about two weeks away and my refrigerator is so full that I’ll never have enough room for all the shopping and fridge-filling that occurs during the summer! One entire shelf of my sub-zero is just jars… jars of pickled olives, carrots, green asparagus, white asparagus, carrots, onions, garlic, green tomatoes, shallots, peppers, and on and on and on!

I need that shelf and I need it quick! I know, I’ll make a “Pickled Vegetable Salad”.  Now my fridge will be cleared out and my recycle will be full.  Joy!

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When I conjure up red and green, I automatically think “Christmas!” But snowmen, sleigh bells, and Santa are the last things you’ll think of when you see and then taste this refreshing summer salad.

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These cute little crispy prosciutto cups make for an impressive and compact breakfast presentation.

Underneath the egg, you can place any filling you would like, or none at all. I’ve given you several examples of things you might like to add to your cups; such as roasted veggies, pesto, salsa, purchased or homemade giardiniera, or simple tomato slices.

You’ll need two muffin tins of the exact same size. The reason you need two tins is so that one can sit directly on top of the other once it is lined with the prosciutto. Doing so prevents the prosciutto from curling up and shrinking while it is baking in the oven.

The cup in the photo above was done correctly, the cups in the photo below were not. See the difference?  Since the curled-up prosciutto cups were too small to hold an egg, I piled one scrambled egg into two cups that I had lined with tomato slices.

This recipe makes six, but can easily be doubled if you have a crowd to feed and happen to have two matching 12-cup muffin tins.

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After our luxurious and relaxing day at the Willow Spring Spa at the Scottsdale Princess Resort on Friday, the very first thing I wanted to do when I got back home was to make a huge pitcher of spa water. You know what I’m talking about – the glorious fruit and herb-infused waters they always have available to you at a luxury spa.

My absolute favorite flavor is one that I call “Summer’s Splendor”.  To make it –  find as huge a pitcher or dispenser as will fit in your refrigerator. Throw in several handfuls of fresh basil leaves, peel and then thinly slice one English cucumber and add it to the basil. Then take 1 or 2 lemons, wash really well, thinly slice, and add to the mix. Fill the picture with cold water and refrigerate.

I like to make this just before I go to bed and then enjoy it for the next day or two. Be sure to give it a good 12 to 18 hours to macerate and let the flavors blend.

Below you’ll find another 12 flavor blends to give you a nice baker’s dozen.

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I am naming this “bonus salad” because while creating it, my intention was to include it in the “Take your Lunch to Work Week” that I just wrapped up for my sweet Marissa. But once I got into it, I slowly came to the realization that this takes far too much time and effort than required for an easy lunch to brown bag… that is unless you use it as leftovers… from dinner the night before. In that case, it’s perfect!

I made this a week ago Sunday and, as with most Sundays, we had my dad over for dinner. Dave and Dad devoured this thing. They loved it so much that they each had not only seconds but thirds!

If you are lucky enough to have leftovers and want to brown-bag them the next day – here is what you do: Pack the greens and the feta together in one container or zip-lock. Pack the mushroom-asparagus-rice mixture in a microwave-safe container. Nuke the mushroom mixture to just warm it through. Place your greens and feta on a plate and top it with warm stuff. Yum… makes me wish I would have had leftovers of my own last Monday. 🙁

The “bonus pics” in the title refer to some iPhone pictures of a few of the beyond delicious courses we had at Binkley’s last night. How I love that place! You’ll find them below the recipe.

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This sandwich was originally going to be made with brie cheese because I know better than anyone just how much Marissa loves brie. But hey, since Marissa is not here to eat the sandwich, I switched it up and made it with Swiss cheese. To turn it back into a brie sandwich, just take a wedge of brie, slice off the rind, cut off a few slices and let the cheese come to room temperature before putting the whole thing together.

Oh, and I am having so darn much fun playing with the artistic effects on Photoshop, as you can see in my super cool photos – above and far below.

On a personal little side note: Happy 27th Anniversary to my very patient husband, David. I’m looking forward to our celebratory dinner at Binkley’s tonight. (no need  to worry, we’ve hired a driver because trust me, there will be plenty of wine-parings involved)  xoxo

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