I can’t stop thinking about the Chiles Rellenos I had at El Alma, while visiting Marissa and Jeff in Austin last week.

Image

At the time, I posted about it on Facebook and my high school friend and blog follower, Cynthia said, “I just want you to come home and start making some of those recipes.”

Great idea, Cynthia!

I did. I shared it not only with my family but also with my dear friend, Tram.

So here it is!

[Read more →]

Tram’s birthday was three weeks ago and we had not yet had time to get together and celebrate. Not until this past Saturday, after the twins were down for the night and Steve was at a Diamondbacks game.

She had texted me the night before to see if Saturday would work and if it was OK if we stayed in and had take-out. The staying-in part was perfect but the take-out … not so much.

I decided to make my slow cooker version of Chicken Tinga. Chicken breasts and slow cookers aren’t something that always goes together. We are so accustomed to cooking with boneless skinless chicken breasts that we sometimes forget how wonderful bone-in and skin-on chicken can be. For this recipe, the bones and the skin are a must – don’t worry – they are both removed and discarded before being served.

The bones and the skin keep the white meat from turning to shoe rubber and being dry and tasteless. They are essential for this long and slow cooking process.

The most important part of this recipe is to take extra time and precautions to find any and all bones and bone fragments that may be left on the meat or in the sauce. See those tiny bones and bone bits on the bottom edge of the plate in the photo above? That’s what I’m talking about. Since the chicken cooks a long time, the bones get very brittle and break easily, so follow the recipe on how and when to search them out and discard them. How terrible it would be if someone choked or cracked a tooth!

Also, be sure to drain the canned tomatoes well. Plenty of juices are given off by the meat and the vegetables during the cooking process. The liquid that remains already needs to be reduced, so having all that extra tomato liquid will make the process take twice as long. Plus I’ll be posting a fabulous recipe later this week where you can put the tomato juice to good use, so save it. Or freeze it and add it to your next batch of soup or pitcher of Bloody Marys.

[Read more →]

The weekend after I turned 16 years old, my best friend, Laura Galloway, and I went in search of our first jobs. Laura’s birthday is the day after mine, so we ventured out together, filling out applications in just about every store at Scottsdale Fashion Square.

At that time SFS was a small outdoor mall with two anchor stores (Goldwater’s and Diamonds) and a couple of dozen shops.

We each got part-time seasonal jobs; Laura was a gift-wrapper at Switzer’s, a women’s clothing store, while I was making cheese balls and cheese logs across the way at Hickory Farms.

My favorite cheese at Hickory Farms was Jarlsberg, a Norwegian Swiss-type cheese with a mild buttery and nutty flavor.

After being “knee-high” in the cheese used in the cheese balls and logs, to this day, I can’t stand even the smell of those particular cheese blends, but I still love Jarlsberg and decided to use it in my asparagus tart for Easter.

Before I get to the recipe, take a look at this beautiful photo that Marissa took in Round Top, Texas. We went in search of fun vintage items during the 48th Annual Spring Antique Show. It was the final day of the 2-week long event but there was still plenty to see.

Of course, the real problem was not the number of goods, but rather the size. Having to limit my purchases to what could fit in a suitcase, I missed out on the stuff that really interested me.

The most heartbreaking is this amazing reclaimed barn wood sink for backyard entertaining. I’ll be dreaming about this beauty for a long time to come!

[Read more →]

I want to wish a very happy birthday to two of my sweetest friends.

Happy Birthday, Tram!

Happy Birthday, Amy!

Love you both! xoxo

Ahi Tuna Tacos with Pickled Slaw and Wasabi Cream & Chipotle Mayo

[Read more →]

Today I have the links for the Spring Reunion Dinner in one place for easy access and ideas for repurposing shutters, including the super simple Spring Shutter sign I made.

Spring Reunion Menu

• Fresh Fruit  – Smoked Salmon Spread
• Pumped Up Hummus
• Lori’s Honey Paloma Cocktail
• Jonathan’s Bourbon Lemonade
• Layered Fruit and Mozzarella Salad
• Grilled Chicken and Asparagus with Creamy Goat Cheese
• Grilled Shrimp, Vegetable, and Farro Salad

There are so many fabulous projects and crafts that can be done with old discarded shutters. I’ve pinned dozens of ideas on Pinterest. Here is a direct LINK to my “Shutters” board.

[Read more →]

Before I post the final recipe from our Spring Reunion Dinner, I want to acknowledge that today would have been my mom’s 81st birthday. She passed away this past August after a long battle with Alzheimer’s. I wasn’t posting at the time, taking a break while preparing for Marissa’s wedding, but I remember her today. Happy Birthday, Mom. xoxo

Along with the Fresh Fruit – Smoked Salmon Spread, I served this “super hummus” as an appetizer to go with Lori and Jonathan’s super cocktails.

You can use store-bought hummus or any hummus recipe you like and then “pump it up” with these toppings.  I’m linking you with what I made, which is my favorite hummus recipe, it begins with dried chickpeas.

We enjoyed the appetizers and cocktails on the front porch. I’ll share more about the “Spring Shutter” sign later in the week. Photo credit goes to Lori Vento for the two photos above.

[Read more →]

The second entrée salad of our Spring Reunion Dinner contained farro.  Farro is a type of wheat grain. Regular farro needs to be soaked overnight, but quick-cook and ready-to-use farro is ready in only 10 minutes and can be easily found in most grocery stores, including Trader Joe’s. Be sure to find a quick-cook package.

A grill basket is also a must for this recipe. Grill baskets are the only way to go when grilling small items, such as shrimp and cut vegetables.

[Read more →]

For last weekend’s Spring Reunion Dinner, I served two fresh and colorful entrées. Today I post the first, along with a few photos of the flowers and table setting.

I picked up the flowers above at Trader Joe’s when I was grocery shopping for the dinner and arranged them quite simply in a few of the bottles from my “miscellaneous cool bottles” collection.

These beauties were given to me by Lori and I can assure you she didn’t just pick them up at Trader Joe’s – more likely at some fancy florist shop. I arranged them in some of my clear square vases and they were held indoors until it was cool enough to move them to the table on the back patio where we ate our meal.

I decided to keep the table simple, fresh, and clean – like the food.

I started with white placemats and napkins, blue and gold Indian-inspired tea glasses for the water, and frosted white striped wine goblets.

Gold flatware to match the tea glasses and a lovely set of mix/match of bird and floral dishes in simple black and white.

[Read more →]

This layered fruit-cheese salad was the first course for our Spring Reunion Dinner. I decided to make individual servings, but it could be made even easier in a large clear bowl or better yet, in a trifle dish.

If you’re making one large salad, you’ll use all the fruit. For these six small individual portions, you’ll end up with about half of the fruit left or enough to make at least 12 individual servings. So either cut the fruit portions in half or freeze the remaining fruit and use it for smoothies, that’s what I did.

[Read more →]

Yesterday we had Lori’s Honey Paloma Cocktail, today it’s Jonathan’s turn.

Now I can share with you that this cocktail was our unanimous favorite. Lori’s was good but side-by-side, this lemonade won, hands down!

I will also let you know that since I have both navel orange and blood orange plus lemon and Meyer lemon trees in my backyard, we used a mix of all four citrus varieties for our juice base. It’s possible that made all the difference… or maybe it’s just a good recipe no matter which citrus varieties you use.

[Read more →]