What are you looking for; Gluten-free? Easy-breezy? Meatless Monday? Kid-friendly? Convenient? Meat-free Friday Lenten meal? Then this recipe is for you! But before we get to it, I want to provide you with a head’s up about tomorrow’s recipe. Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day – the most amazing Irish Soda Bread recipe. It comes directly from the source, a true Irishwoman who also happens to be a great friend of this blog. None other than, Sharon Cereska; loyal follower, mother to long-time students of Les Petites Gourmettes, and one of the two winners of our latest contest. Sharon generously brought me a loaf of the delicious bread as a thank you when she came to my cooking class at Les Gourmettes (the prize of the said contest). Marissa and I devoured the entire loaf before Dave even knew it was in the house! Besides the usual flour and such, you’ll need 1 egg and 1 3/4 cups buttermilk. Get to the store and pick those up so you can make the bread. Trust me, you’ll be thanking me, and especially, Sharon, later!

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OK, I found the most wonderful thing while surfing through food blogs yesterday. Hey, don’t judge – I was specifically instructed, by my doctor, to stay in bed all weekend. Which, of course, I did not do, but a little surfing is kinda like staying in bed.

So why the bed rest? As you know I was up in Flagstaff two weekends ago taking care of my sick boy. A word to the wise – if you spend 60+ hours cooped up in a hotel room with a really sick person, you will probably get sick! I honestly didn’t think it would happen, I’ve taken care of my sick children for the past 23 years and never have gotten sick myself. But taking care of your sick kid while living in a big house and taking care of your sick kid in a small hotel room – completely different!

I came home with a sore throat. That developed into bronchitis (mild- thankfully) and a wicked ear infection, laryngitis, and possibly pneumonia.

When it comes to pneumonia, I’m still hoping that I don’t have it. I am still waiting for the x-ray results. One lung looked cloudy, but I really don’t believe I have pneumonia because I have had it twice before in my life, and I know that pain. I do not have that sort of pain now.

Wowser, that was a lot of excuse-making and explaining why I was wasting time surfing the web! Point is, it wasn’t a waste at all, I found something I just adore. Check this out!!!

Isn’t that the greatest thing ever? What would you think if I did something like that? I know it would be totally stealing someone’s fabulous idea, but I just love it too much to let it go. There is a downside, my least favorite part of doing this blog is the photos. Taking them, correcting them (and they always need help!) in Photoshop, and then downloading them into the posts. But maybe if it was something as creative and wonderful as that… let me know what you think! The other thing I am really loving is this…

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I’m making these quick and easy appetizers for our neighborhood Bunco tonight. I know I’ve said it before, but I have the best neighbors and the most fun neighborhood! We are very blessed!

The Ahi tuna marinates for only 20 minutes in a mixture of sherry, sesame oil, sugar, and mushroom soy sauce. (Do not marinate longer or the marinate will totally mask the wonderful tuna flavor, and you paid good money for that!) Mushroom soy sauce is a Chinese dark soy sauce that adds straw mushroom essence to the sauce’s brew. It has a deep, rich flavor and more body and complexity than regular soy sauce and can be used in place of other types of soy sauce in most recipes. The brand to look for in Asian markets is Pearl River Bridge. [Read more →]

Friday, January 7, 2011

7:30 AM – Awake, shower, dress, eat breakfast and put up a blog post for the day.

9:40 AM – Open email and find this gem:

Happy New Year Linda!
Been following your blog and your bumper crop of citrus. I bought an ACME years ago when our landscape included many prolific citrus trees. It juices at lightning speed! Would you like to borrow mine? Let me know and I’ll drop it by ; )
Jeanie

9:43 AM – Immediately Reply:

Oh, Jeanie, you are a lifesaver! YES, a thousand times, YES! Thank you so much, I was actually thinking of putting out a neighborhood search for a juicer I could borrow. I’ll have to show you the one I have, you will die laughing when you see it! Thank you! xoxo
Linda

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Before we dive into our citruspalooza (citruspalooza is defined by days upon days of citrus-related recipes) I have to give a huge shout-out, muchas gracias, kisses and hugs, and a big bowl of thanks to Tarbell’s Restaurant. Mark Tarbell and I have been friends for the last 20 years, and he is a wonderful friend to have! I first got to know and love Mark when he hosted an incredible trip to Napa Valley when we were both board members of the now-defunct American Institute of Wine & Food (AIWF). Way back then, Mark was the F&B Manager of The Boulders in Carefree, AZ.   In 1994 he ventured out and opened his namesake restaurant at 32nd Street and Camelback Road in Phoenix. He also now has three additional restaurants in Colorado.
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Peggy, Anne, and I had our annual Christmas cocktail time last night. Since it was to be held at my house, I wanted to make a new holiday martini for the occasion. While creating other gingerbread recipes this year, I spotted something I didn’t know existed, gingerbread syrup.  I have about a dozen different flavors of Torani syrups in my second refrigerator. I use those to make Italian Creme Sodas for kids’ cooking classes, but gingerbread is a flavor I have never found. I let my “fingers do the walking” as I called Smart & Final, Cost Plus World Market, BevMo, and Total Wine (all the places I know carry the Torani line of syrups) searching for gingerbread. Sadly, not a single one of them had it in stock.  What’s a determined girl to do? Make her own gingerbread syrup, of course! As a result, today you get two recipes for the price of one. Enjoy!

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We shall begin with “a dollar short” – Do you ever buy something that you want to keep all to yourself, even though it really needs to be shared? Oh, you say that do it all the time? Yup, me too! Last week, I discovered another one of “those” things! As silly as it sounds, “that” thing is a box of crackers. Not just any box of crackers, but really expensive and amazingly decadent crackers. How expensive? How about $6.99 (at Whole Foods) for a 6-ounce box! That is about $1.17 an ounce or about $18.50 a pound! How many food items are you willing to pay $18 a pound for? Maybe something like jumbo shrimp, prime rib or beef tenderloin. But crackers?

Raincoast Crisps are the most amazing crackers on earth. I have to thank, and then loudly curse, Gwen Ashley Walters for turning me on to them. And when I say me, I mean that I shall be purchasing these ridiculously expensive crackers and hiding them from family and friends while carefully rationing them out for myself.  (This post was written in 2010 – by now, I hope you all know that Trader Joe’s sells knock-offs of these crackers for a fraction of the price!)

Next, let’s address, “a day late” – Two days ago, I posted a recipe in which I used a smokey marinade from Gwen. At the end of that post, I said that the next day I’d put up another recipe of Gwen’s, that I adore. Well, I forgot and put up a lentil recipe yesterday instead. Sorry, here is Gwen’s scrumptious and “easy-breezy” party spread recipe that she made last week for the Les Gourmettes cooking class and served atop the Raincoast Crisps.

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Last night was our neighborhood Holiday Progressive Dinner. A fantastic time was had by all. My name was drawn to go to Tony and Cindy Hancock’s gorgeous home for dinner, and I was one lucky girl. Check out that beautiful holiday table! The food was fabulous too, and the company… it couldn’t have been more lovely.

I made several appetizers for the beginning of the evening, here is one of them. [Read more →]

The other night, our last guest chef of the year at Les Gourmettes, Gwen Ashley Walters, made an outstanding Pepper Crusted Flank Steak with Chianti Honey Demi. I was about to dump the leftover meat marinade down the drain when I stopped short and realized what a great appetizer I could make, using it. We have our neighborhood Holiday Progressive Dinner tonight, and appetizers begin at my house. Here is the recipe I created, using Gwen’s smokey marinade.

And tomorrow, another fantastic and super easy recipe that I am crazy for – a pumpkin appetizer spread – from Gwen!

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