The cobb salad was created nearly 80 years ago at the famous Hollywood Brown Derby restaurant and has been an American favorite ever since. I prefer to serve it as individual salads as opposed to presenting it on a large platter. That way it looks lovely for each guest. If served on a platter, it looks great for the first guest or two, but by the end of the line, all the “goodies” on top are either gone or mashed into a nasty-looking mess.

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Hello everyone. Linda’s daughter, Marissa, here – reporting with your recipe for today.  As part of my Mother’s Day gift to my mom, I told her I would photograph and write blog posts for the two recipes my dad and I (but mostly me) made her last night for dinner.  My dad was in charge of keeping the cucumber martinis flowing, which was also a very important job. 

The first recipe is a delicious, fruity summer salad that my mom saw on the menu at Cave Creek Coffee Company, where she and my dad went the morning after their anniversary last week.

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Before I get into the recipes for soup shooters and grilled cheese bites, I want to say Happy Anniversary to David, my husband of 26 years. xoxo  And I want to tell you the story of the cute shooter glasses I found.

I was in Pier 1 Imports about a month ago and saw a great display they have up with a wide and wonderful assortment of mini glasses for a “Tasting Party”. They have mini cordials, mini parfait, mini trifle, mini wine, and mini martini glasses. I was immediately in love with the whole concept and had to hold myself back from buying at least one set of each. Part of what prevented that happening, was the price. Most of the sets were $29.95 each. That would not have been a “mini” amount to spend! So I resisted and just purchased one 24-piece set of mini parfaits to use as soup shooters.

Once I got home, I looked more closely and saw that the 24-piece set was actually only 12 glasses and included 12 mini spoons. Darn it! That meant I’d just spent $2.50 per glass. But this mistake leads me on the hunt for comparable mini shooters at a reasonable price.

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Do you know what this is a picture of?

It’s the Girl Scout cooking badge.  I’ll be working with 10 young ladies, helping them earn their badges today. A recipe will follow from the class, once I’ve cleaned up the kitchen, that is…

OK, class of over. The girls have their badges. The kitchen is clean and I’ve had my enchilada for dinner. Life if good! One reason I like to use this particular recipe for Girl Scout cooking classes is that it is a real family-pleaser. The enchiladas are creamy, mild, and cheesy, what’s not to like?

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Today we come to the end of our “Cook Once – Eat All Week” use of the Prime Rib.  I call this salad “bicicleta” because the way you arrange it on a platter is made to resemble the spokes of a bicycle wheel.  It’s a pretty salad when it’s laid out that way and even after it’s tossed, so bright and colorful.

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I’ve made these sliders so many times in the past couple of weeks, that I’m afraid they’ve worn out their welcome. When I first made them, all family members were clamoring for more. So I made them again and everyone raved. After FINALLY freeing the house of all things “Christmas” yesterday, I served them again, and this time… the response was barely lukewarm. Oh well, onward and upward.

Give them at try, at least once, I’m sure your family will be delighted. BTW, the reason for the odd amount  (1 1/4 pounds) of ground turkey – is that is what our grocery stores sell as package size, but if you find a 1 pound package, that is fine too. And the buns that I find most readily available are of the King’s Hawaiian Bread variety. I kinda like the sweetness of the bread against the spiciness of the chipotle. Perfect yin-yang.

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I call these A++ BLT Biscuits because we have both avocado and arugula. No actual lettuce to be seen. Although we need the “T” because if I was to call them BAT, no one would know what I was talking about… but say BLT, and it brings a smile to almost every face! My plan was to serve these as an appetizer at a party I had last Friday. As the time approached and I still hadn’t cleaned the house or even taken a shower… this was the recipe that was sacrificed. I replaced it with something I had in my freezer but I still have all the purchased ingredients in my fridge.  What to do? Make the biscuits sandwich size instead of appetizer size and serve them for dinner to Dave and Marissa. Perfect, and both of them had smiling faces and tummies! Click on the chipotle mayonnaise below and it will take you to a previous post with the directions to make it. Lastly, I don’t know if my gorgeous niece, Raina, reads this blog… but even if not, I send out a huge Happy 25th Birthday to you, Raina! xoxo

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I want you to know that I am here for you! Here to make mistakes and tell you about them, so that you don’t make the same mistakes, kinda like parents try to do for their kids. The only difference, as rational adults, certainly you will listen better than the average teenager does!

My most recent faux pas? While shopping for the ingredients for about a half-dozen appetizers for an upcoming party, I didn’t follow my shopping list.  I had written “cherry tomatoes” on both my Costco and my Trader Joe’s lists. I went to Costco first and purchased a 2-pound package of those cute little “cherub” egg-shaped tomatoes.  Next, I was in Trader Joe’s I saw “cherry tomatoes” and thought, “Oh, I’ll have plenty of those from that huge package from Costco,” and promptly crossed them off the list.

Bad move! I needed real “cherry” tomatoes for this recipe, round and substantially larger than those little cherubs. Dang, it… but was I going to make another run to the market?

No way, do with what you’ve got, that’s my motto … OK, not so much as a motto as admission to the fact that I’m just lazy! So be sure and use cherry tomatoes, they will be easier to hollow out, easy to fill, and will stand up so much better on the serving tray…

The second cherry tomato recipe, which cherubs work perfectly, will be posted in a couple of days.

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If your house is anything at all like mine, then you’re always waiting for that last person to get home before dinner can be served, or finish being made. All of the components for these tacos need to finish at the last minute. Although not as hard or as much of a pain as it sounds!

You can prep everything for the salsa well ahead, just don’t dice or mix in the avocado until the last possible moment. The slaw and its dressing can also be made well ahead, don’t mix together until just before serving though, or it’ll get soggy.  And the spice mix for the tuna should be ready to go, but since the tuna only takes a couple of minutes to sear, again wait until the very last moment.  As proof of how far ahead it can be done, I had plenty of time to prep everything, take and Photoshop the picture of the prepped stuff, and write this entire blog post and recipe, while waiting for that elusive family member to arrive… maybe I’ll call now and begin my nagging … “What time DO you think you might be home? We are hungry!”

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After yesterday’s long “birthday” post, I thought it would be nice to post a quick and easy soup for today. Since it’s still scorching here in the desert, I serve this soup at room temperature rather than hot. The avocado just seems to make it more “cool” and summery. If you haven’t already commented on yesterday’s post, be sure and do so to be in the running for the grand prize for a baker’s dozen of fabulous cookbooks. You can easily make this a vegetarian soup, just use all water instead of chicken broth. The carrot and avocado flavors actually come through better that way.  I’m just not a huge carrot fan, so I prefer the broth to tone that flavor down a little.

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