Here is another of the recipes we served at my Dad’s 80th Speakeasy Party, representing his birth year, 1931.

In 1931 The Joy of Cooking was privately printed and distributed from the home by Irma S. Rombauer of St. Louis. It is one the most-published cookbooks and has been in print continuously since 1931 with more than 18 million copies sold. Mrs. Rombauer was struggling emotionally and financially after her husband’s suicide in 1930.  She had 3,000 copies of Joy printed by A.C. Clayton, a company that had printed labels for fancy St. Louis shoe companies and for Listerine, but never a book.  In 1936, the book was picked up by a commercial printing house, The Bobbs-Merrill Company.  Joy is the backbone of many home cooks’ libraries and is very often found in commercial kitchens as well. The illustrations were done by Irma’s daughter, Marion Rombauer Becker.  This recipe pays homage to one of the many famous recipes from the iconic cookbook – baked macaroni and cheese.

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Above is my favorite picture of the night from my dad’s 80th Birthday Party. Marissa with her Papa, so cute. It was taken after the majority of the guests had left and a few of us were sitting around relaxing and reflecting on the day. I am still cleaning up, two days later, but I wanted to get up some pictures and the menu. Most of the recipes are already posted here on the blog and by clicking on their names, you’ll be taken to the post containing the actual recipe.

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Easter is a week away, so to help get you in the spirit and begin planning your Easter dinner menu… how about a little cocktail!?  I’m not fond of Peeps, but this is too cute to not do. Vanilla, coconut, and raspberry jelly beans, that is. If it’s a bit too sweet for your taste, use half as much cream of coconut and add a splash of fresh lemon juice.

Tip: When you want to try a new variety or brand of liqueur or alcohol, an inexpensive way to go is to buy the sample or “airplane” size bottles. That’s what I did with the coconut rum I used here. Total Wine has a great selection to choose from.

And although this recipe is vegetarian… it hardly counts as the Meatless Monday Meal I promised to begin posting on weekends. For that, you’ll need to go back to Friday’s post, and instead of cutting the baguette into slices to make crostini, cut it into four equal portions, cut open each of those pieces horizontally, almost through, as though you’re opening a book and make Grilled Vegetable Sandwiches with the toasted bread, herbed goat cheese, and veggies.  Super-Duper Yummy!

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My friend and neighbor, Jeanie, recently asked for a good recipe for Panang Curry, which I happily provided her. The only problem was that then I was craving Thai food. I didn’t have all the ingredients needed for the Panang on hand, but I did have what was needed for these easy chicken satay – problem solved! [Read more →]

My friend and neighbor, Ronnie, is a CAbi (Carol Anderson by invitation) Consultant. CAbi is a line of beautiful woman’s clothing that is sold at private parties in people’s homes. Recently one of Ronnie’s hostesses served these decadent toffee cookie bars that are seriously candy rich! The recipe is from a recent Pillsbury Bake-Off.  I believe the original Bake-Off recipe used white chocolate chips, but the hostess substituted peanut butter chips, which I think is a great idea. Also, the original recipe makes 24 bars, these are far too rich for that, so I cut them into 45 bars… much more manageable for the tummy!  Thanks, Ronnie for passing on this recipe to me. I hope you enjoy that I’m passing it on to you! [Read more →]

When my kids were young, I loved to trick them with food on April Fool’s Day. The year Marissa was in fourth grade and Connor was in first grade was a stellar year! 

I started the day off with a non-food trick on my husband, Dave.  The day before, I took a new bar of soap and coated it on all sides with clear nail polish.  After it was dry, I replaced the soap in our shower with this new bar. I stood outside the bathroom and listened to him cursing as he continually dropped the bar of soap, trying to get a lather going.  He was so frustrated, that I actually began to feel sorry for him, and went in to replace the bar for him.

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I helped arrange the food buffet at a dear friend’s funeral on Saturday.  On such a sad and heartbreaking day, it is so joyous to see the best in people shining through. Everyone wanted to help, be involved, and just be there for the family. One of the lovely neighbors brought a large spiral ham for the buffet. There was quite a bit of ham left, so I cut it off the bone, packaged it up for the family, and quietly snuck the ham bone into my stack of platters and chafing dishes to bring home. On Sunday I made ham bone soup that I’ve packaged up, froze, and will bring back to my friends to enjoy once all the leftovers run out… which won’t be for quite a while!

One family member is gluten-free, so I separated and packaged a special batch for her before I added the macaroni.  This recipe is a bit of a departure from the standard ham and bean soup. It’s also substantially quicker with the assistance of canned beans.

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You’re gonna want to make this! Really! I don’t usually say that about my own recipes, bragging is not flattering.  But really, you have to make this… it’s that good!

The creation of this recipe comes from all sides. First, I was digging through and cleaning out cupboards and freezers and I came across this Pineapple-Ginger Sauce I made a year ago in February.  A year ago! Oh my, this must be used now! Second, I need to make a meal for dear and long-time family friends who just suffered a devastating loss. I want it to be something other than the standard casserole that loving friends and family provide in such a heartbreaking situation.  Not that there is anything wrong with casseroles, but something different and fresh is always nice.  Next, my friend and the mother of this wonderful family, is gluten-free.  And lastly, it needs to be something I can make partially ahead and that travels well.  That’s quite a lot to ask of one dinner, but this fits the bill.

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It was cold (well, it was 69 degrees, which is cold for us in March) windy and rainy yesterday, the perfect day for baking!

These savory little muffins came to be after Matt McLinn, Executive Chef at The Grind, taught at Les Gourmettes and left behind a batch of his candied jalapeños. This particular batch had gone past the point where Matt usually cooks them at the restaurant and had dried out to the real “candied” stage. Usually, they are still juicy and dripping with syrup.  The recipe below makes them that way, if you want them to be more dried out like they are pictured here, just cook them long after the vinegar is added, to dry them out. I prefer them still juicy though and they will work perfectly in this recipe either way. Matt uses them on his “to-die-for” burgers. You’ll want to use them on and in just about everything you can imagine… trust me, they are an addiction!

Along with that new vice, you should know that the muffin recipe makes a whole heck of a lot of mini muffins … how many?  Nearly 100!

Don’t try to count the muffins in the picture above. Before it was taken, I’d already delivered 2  1/2 dozen of the little gems to my sweet neighbor, Lori, who lent me 2 of the eggs I needed to make them.

I have four mini-muffin pans, so I had to make them in two batches. You can easily cut the recipe in half, but they freeze great and make the most wonderful party-size appetizer sandwiches.  Just cut in half, spread with a little jalapeño butter or jalapeño jelly, and fill with shaved deli ham or turkey.  So Amazingly Good!

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As promised, here is the fantastic recipe for a traditional Irish Soda Bread, given to me from Sharon Cereska. The recipe writer in me couldn’t help but rewrite it a little bit, but I only changed one actual ingredient from the original recipe, and that was using unsalted butter instead of margarine. I don’t use or buy margarine, sorry, can’t help being a foodie snob about that one!

My reworded recipe is first and Sharon’s original family recipe is below. But first, here is what Sharon wrote to me when she sent the recipe, accompanied by a lovely treasured family photo of hers.  Thank you Sharon for sharing with me and everyone out there in the blog-a-sphere.

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