Category — tips

Way back in March when I started the limoncello process, I knew I wanted to make this pie. It will be the end of our Memorial Day dinner. Apple pie may be America’s pie, but this can’t be beaten in the summer. It’s pretty, cool, delicious, and refreshing… all-American for sure!

I learned an awesome technique for “applying” the meringue to the top of the pie from one of my favorite and most inspirational blogs, Zoe Bakes. Click here to see Zoe’s original step-by-step instructions with amazing photos. It actually made my mouth drop open when I first saw this gorgeous cake back in January.

I’ve found another fantastic recipe using the sweet Italian liqueur – a cheesecake square recipe from the ever-beautiful and talented Giada De Laurentiis.  Feel free to go to www.foodnetwork.com and make it yourself, or wait until I post the recipe here, which will be soon because I am already craving another limoncello masterpiece.

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I’m often asked, “How exactly do you come up with new recipes?”  Well, sometimes, it comes from inspiration; such as beautiful fresh produce at the farmer’s market, a new product at Trader Joe’s, or even a great sale on a favorite cut of meat at the supermarket. Other times, it is the result of the rule, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” That is the case today. Here is a word-for-word text I just received from my husband of nearly 25 years, (May 4th), David. “I forgot I was supposed to bring some kind of side dish to the (company) picnic today 🙂 if you have something you could easily throw together…” This is from a man married for, just weeks away from 25 years, yet it sounds more like something that would come out of your 4th-grade child who forgot he had a project due the next day!

If you’re a married woman with children, you are thinking, “Yup, no surprise, been there- done that.” If you’re a man, you are most likely thinking, “What is the big deal, obviously the woman knows how to cook.”  Whatever! Of course, I do “have something” and I can “easily throw it together”. After all, Dave does know what our refrigerator looks like at any given minute. So here is how the side dishes for today’s picnic got thrown together.

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On Sunday, my friend and neighbor, Ronnie had a party to introduce and welcome new neighbors to “the hood”.  She made this colorful fresh and flavorful salad that we all went crazy for. It is inspired by a recipe she found in a cookbook by Rick Rodgers.

I had two servings, and would have had a third if I could have gotten away with it! The original recipe called for 3 ears of corn to be roasted on a grill. This simple take on that uses frozen roasted corn kernels found at Trader Joe’s.  One medium cob of corn yields about 3/4 cup of kernels. So that is convenience item number one.  

And here is number two … a new way to freeze and store chipotle peppers. As you know, chipotle peppers are sold in cans and they are packed in adobo sauce. The sauce is just about as good as the peppers themselves, spicy and smokey and just so addictive. I can’t think of a time when you would use an entire  7-ounce can of peppers. Recipes most often call for just a few peppers and then you have the rest of the can to deal with. In the past, I have placed the remaining peppers on a small greased baking sheet, frozen them, then removed the frozen peppers and placed them in ziplock bags to freeze. But now… I have an even better way. In the majority of recipes the peppers are very finely chopped, so why not freeze them that way?

First place all the remaining peppers and all the adobo sauce left in the can in a food processor and puree it. Next, carefully spoon the puree into the little holes of an empty garlic cube package. What is a garlic cube package, you ask. In a prior post, I told you how much I love to use the minced garlic cubes sold at Trader Joe’s. My freezer is full of them… so I reuse those empty containers and now I always have chipotle cubes on hand too.  One chipotle cube equals about 1/2 chipotle pepper. Plus they pop out just as easily as the garlic does.

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For Easter 1996, when Marissa and Connor were 8 and 5 years old, we gave them four baby chicks.

We raised the chickens as pets and for their eggs.

One chicken laid white eggs, another produced brown eggs, and the other two were araucana chickens.

They gave us beautiful blue and green tinted eggs.

It was such a joy to go out each day and find those fresh eggs in their various hues. We had to give the chickens up when we moved to our current home, over a dozen years ago. Not only do I miss the daily fresh eggs, but also those lovely colors.

Last year, thanks to a guest on Martha Stewart, I found a way to create my own amazingly gorgeous eggs, maybe not on a daily basis, but at least for Easter. The secret? 100% silk!  If you’re in need of purging your closet, this is a good time, at least for 100% silk items, such as ties and scarves.  If not, head out to the closest Goodwill or thrift store to find such items. I went to the Goodwill at 40th Street and Thunderbird over the weekend and bought all 32 of the 100 % silk ties they had, so be sure and go to another location!

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I don’t know why, but I can’t get enough fish lately. Just the other day in a post, I said I was not into frying fish … two days later – here I am doing just that, go figure! I dedicate this recipe to Tram Mai, the host of Valley Dish (weekdays at 4:30 on Channel 12). When I was on earlier in the month making sweet jalapeño mini corn muffins, Tram asked what could be done with the rest of the jalapeño jelly in the jar.  I stammered and said something stupid about putting it on cream cheese and serving it with chips – hey that’s good stuff, but it was a totally lame answer!  Since then, another guest has used jalapeño jelly on the show. So, Tram here’s another one, especially for you…

The recipe calls for self-rising flour. If you don’t have any handy and don’t feel the need to purchase a one-pound bag and then only use the one cup needed here, you can make your own. I’m not sure if you know just how much valuable information is on this blog. Let me tell you, a lot! If you look over to the left, you’ll see a “Tip Index” and that puppy is loaded with good stuff…. including the very useful “conversion and equivalent charts”  Check it out sometime, and if you want to make that self-rising flour now, CLICK THIS LINK and it will take you to the conversion chart… scroll down until you see “Flour” and there it is, easy as pie!

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Mole – when most gringos think of mole, they immediately think “Oh, that Mexican sauce that has chocolate in it.” Not necessarily true, there are a wide number of sauces that are moles and only one of them contains chocolate. The word mole comes from the Nahuatl word “milli” which means “sauce” or “concoction”.  The most common or widely known mole in America is guacamole, meaning “avocado concoction”.

Moles can be black (negro), red (rojo), yellow (amarillo), and green (verde), to name but a few. Mole negro is the most labor-intensive to prepare. It traditionally has six varieties of chile peppers, seeds, nuts, spices, herbs, and chocolate.

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back to front: pink grapefruit, navel orange, Mexican lime, Lisbon lemon, Meyer lemon, and blood orange

In April, it will be two years since we remodeled our backyard and this winter has, literally, showing the fruits of our labor. We added blood orange, Meyer lemon, and Mexican lime tree to our existing navel orange, Lisbon lemon, and pink grapefruit – for a true citrus grove!  Last year did not produce any new fruits, but this year, the proof is in the colorful picture above and I am one happy girl! The Meyer lemon has been the most prolific of the three new trees. These cookies are delicious with regular lemon zest too, so don’t discount them if you can’t find Meyer lemons.

The almond meal can be found at most grocery stores under the Bob’s Red Mill brand and at Trader Joe’s.

Or you can make your own almond meal: For about 1 1/3 cups almond meal, place 2 cups whole, unbalanced almonds in a food processor, and pulse several times until a medium-fine textured meal forms. Do Not over-process or you will end up with almond butter! Put the ground almond meal in a clean flour sifter, sift and place any large almond particles back into the processor and pulse again, sift. That’s all it takes!

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When I wrote about how we were out at the Queen Creek Olive Mill on Valentine’s Day, I failed to mention that we made a stop at The Pork Shop, which is just down the road. You wouldn’t think that a little shop that sells only pork products would be packed on Valentine’s Day at 1 PM, but there was barely room to turn around- or as my dad says, “It was so crowded, you didn’t have room to change your mind.” So, of course, we were caught up in the frenzy, and bought just tons of stuff; brown sugar cured bacon, pepper cured bacon (both sliced to order), brats, maple syrup sausage, jalapeno-cream cheese summer sausage, and these huge pork chops! During the summer, I mentioned The Pork Shop in a post, but at that time they did not have a website, now they do, so please be sure to check it out HERE.

I went back through the “tags” on the site to see if I had ever talked about celery root, also known as celeriac, and was shocked to find that I haven’t! Shocked, because I adore celery root and use it often. It actually is a type of celery but is grown as a root vegetable rather than for its stalks and leaves. Unlike most other root vegetables, celery root is relatively low in starch. And unlike potatoes, which are stored at room temperature, celery root needs to be refrigerated and loosely wrapped in the plastic where it will last for a couple of weeks. It is used raw (shredded or julienned in a classic Celery Root Salad), braised, boiled, baked, roasted, or even grilled.

As you can see, the outer surface is ugly and gnarly and should be thinly sliced off with a knife instead of a vegetable peeler. It is fantastic added along with potato chunks for mashed potatoes or thinly sliced and added in for a potato-celery root gratin. I once enjoyed the hollow stalk of the plant used as a straw in Bloody Mary at a high-end resort brunch, but I have no idea where to purchase the stalks.

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To celebrate Valentine’s Day, Dave and I went out to the Queen Creek Olive Mill for their special “Olive Affair” lunch in the olive grove. The Mill offered three different packages, we chose their “Ciao Bella” (Antipasto), which included roasted vegetables, sausage, roasted garlic, artichoke, sun-dried tomato tapenades, a French baguette, tuxedo strawberries, candied pistachios, pistachio bark, a bottle of Chianti and more. It all came beautifully packed in a lovely “Olive You” bag with a corkscrew, high-quality clear plastic stemless wine glasses and plates plus a cute red-heart tablecloth. They had live music, it was a gorgeous day outside, and the place was packed! I highly recommend you treat yourself and your loved one next year. Until then, I’ll treat you to recipes for candied pistachios and pistachio bark. I decided to use the candied pistachios in the bark, but plain pistachios may be used instead.

The candied pistachios call for an ingredient you may not be familiar with, Turbinado sugar. The first pressing of the sugar cane yields Turbinado sugar, which is considered to be healthier since it receives less processing than granulated sugar. One teaspoon of Turbinado sugar contains 11 calories, while granulated sugar contains 16 calories. Because of its higher levels of moister, it should be stored like brown sugar, in an airtight container. One of the most popular and easy-to-find brands of Turbinado sugar  is “Sugar In The Raw.” A fabulous use for Turbinado sugar is on crème brûlée because it melts and caramelizes easier than granulated sugar.

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