I’ve been on a blue cheese kick recently. Maybe there is a nutrient in it that my body is short on.  Let’s see, it is a good source of protein, calcium, and phosphorus. No, that’s probably not the reason. It is also high in sodium and is very high in saturated fat… hmm – that doesn’t sound good. This recipe redeems the blue cheese a little bit with its main ingredient, cauliflower. Cauliflower is low in fat, high in dietary fiber, folate, and vitamin C.  Leave off the bacon garnish and use vegetable broth, and you’ve got yourself a delicious good-evil, yin-yang, angel-devil vegetarian soup.

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Steak and blue cheese are a classic combination. I discovered a 4-pack of rib-eye steaks in the back of the freezer and although there are only the two of us, I grilled up all four steaks. I used the extra two to make this pasta dish a couple of days later. Any leftover beef will do, just be sure to slice and cut it up directly from the refrigerator.  When the beef is cold, it is easiest to find and cut out the fat that is marbled throughout.

I purchased a wonderful 6-pack of organic pasta imported from Italy at Costco. In it, there are two packages of casarecce, two packages of penne, and two gemelli. I chose the gemelli for this dish because the other two styles are meant to hold lots of sauce. This dish has minimal sauce, so the gemelli works best out of the three. If you want to use penne or maybe fusilli, I’d advise throwing in a can of undrained chopped tomatoes to make the pasta saucier.

A funny thing I noticed was that the pasta packages are 17.6-ounces in weight, instead of the usual 16-pounces. Since I generally run on about 2% brain capacity on any given day, I was thinking, “What’s up with that?”  It took me quite a while to notice that the other weight on the packages is 500 grams.  Finally, another 3% brain powder kicked in and I figured out that this was true Italian pasta, so of course, it would be measured in grams and the ounce weight was just placed on there for us metric-challenged Americans. Grazie Garofalo Pasta, I need all the help I can get when it comes to math!  Oh… and it’s really good pasta too, so pick up a 6-pack the next time you’re in Costco.

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Watch out, these Asian-French-inspired fries are addicting! You can thank me, but please don’t blame me if you end up making them and then craving them again within hours of devouring the plateful! They were an amazing side to the duck I shared with you yesterday. (Un)fortunately, I was so busy taking photos of the duck that I forgot to take any of the potatoes while in progress… so I had to make them again today, darn it! If YOU make them, please leave a comment afterward and let me know how much you love them  what you think. (Oh, obviously the Chinese five-spice and Sriracha is what makes them Asian inspired… it’s the mayo -instead of ketchup- that makes them oh so Frenchy.) And, yes, the Sriracha mayo is just as delicious and versatile as the chipotle mayo… good on just about any and every thing!

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For the first time in months, the high temperature has been under 100 degrees. The high 90’s may not seem like much a of reprieve to most people, but for those of us in the Valley of Sun, it’s a huge difference. It is most likely more of  a break mentally, but it makes us happy and gives us hope that fall is finally on its way!

So, duck is not traditionally thought of as a warm weather dish, but it was surprising refreshing, even on a 96 degree day. It was inspired by a recipe I’d seen by Tyler Florence, one of my favorite celebrity chefs.

I saved the water used for steaming the duck, poured it into a large glass measuring cup and chilled it. Then I removed the top layer of fat and used the water underneath to boil jasmine rice as an accompaniment for the duck. Finally, I seasoned the rice with salt and a few dashes of Chinese five-spice. 

Although this recipe takes about 2 hours to cook, the actual hands-on time is less than 10 to 15 minutes.

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I’ve scrolled through all 1,577 of the comments left on this site and found that well over 30 of them are from my darling daughter, Marissa, saying something like this – “Send me some!”  “Save some for me.”  “Make that for me when I come home!”  and most recently, “I’ve decided I’m going to comment on every post of something I want, asking you to send it to me, until you actually do send me something.”  

What’s a mother to do? My girl used to live in Tucson, so it was easy to plan a quick trip and just drive down to stay overnight and cook for her and her darling roommates. But now she lives about 750 miles away in San Francisco.  And although I would love nothing more than to hop on a plane every few weeks and spend time in that gorgeous city with my gorgeous girl, that isn’t very practical or even possible.

So I’ve made muffins.  Muffins to freeze and ship to her.  Marissa, please share them with your new darling roommates and rest assured, they are made with enormous amounts of love. xoxo

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Inspiration for this recipe came to me after enjoying a white chocolate and limoncello cupcake while visiting my daughter in San Francisco. Limoncello and white chocolate are a match made in heaven. You may use store-bought limoncello or make your own with THIS RECIPE.

I brought these sweeties to a neighborhood luncheon last week to test them out, and since they were a hit, I will be making them tomorrow, along with this puff pastry appetizer, on Channel 3-  Your Life A to Z.          I hope you can tune in at 10:00 AM Tuesday morning.

Oh, and please note, there are only six ingredients – seriously, these are “easy-breezy”!

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These are some super good pancakes, so airy and fluffy. Sour cream is the secret. And they are the perfect vehicle for the delicious rhubarb-strawberry compote recipe I gave you yesterday. Make any morning extra special by whipping up a batch of these!

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I don’t know if any of you noticed, but this entire summer, just about any and every food themed magazine was having a heyday with pies. From Martha Stewart Living, Food & Wine, and Bon Appétit, to InStyle, and O, it was pies, pies, and more pies! Even the in-flight magazine on either Southwest Airlines or US Airways (can’t recall specifically which one, I flew both several times – yeah, because I am a jet-setter!) had a huge article with recipes for pies! What’s up with that? I mean I love pies as much as just about anybody on the planet, but I somehow missed that 2011 was designated – THE SUMMER OF PIES!

I actually put up two recipes for pies this summer, the first was a Buttermilk Pie on June 24th, during the height of kids’ cooking classes. And then again on August 22nd when I, along with hundreds of others, made a Pie for Mikey, in remembrance of a fellow food-blooger’s beloved husband. Neither one was exactly in cahoots with the rest of the food world celebrating The Wonderful World of Pies. One was created to use up the boatloads of buttermilk I was fortunate enough to get – for free – from Shamrock Farms and the other – well as I just said, it was an honor to make.

One of the most popular pies in just about all of these publications was Strawberry-Rhubarb. And for good reason, that is summer at its best! And now that summer is done and over with for most of the country (it will still feel like and be referred to as “summer” here in AZ for about 4 to 7 more weeks), I have decided to jump on the bandwagon… kind of.  In defiance, I am going to use strawberries and rhubarb to make a tart, not a pie, so take that “Summer of Pie”!

In my overt act of rebellion, I mistakenly bought way too much rhubarb. Once I started cutting it up, I remembered that 1 or 2 stalks go a long long way.  I think I purchased 8 or 9 stalks and the pie, I mean the tart, it takes one – maybe two. Oh well, the recipe for Rhubarb-Strawberry Compote will be handed over to you tomorrow. Maybe it will induce the “Fall of Compotes” revolution! Hey, you never know.

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It’s been exactly one year to the day since I wrote about what I now refer to as “the big fancy Fry’s”.  On that post, I also told you all about Kobe beef, which Fry’s had on sale during their grand opening last year. And with that beef, I made some pretty terrific meatloaf. Today I am taking another stab at both the Kobe beef and the meatloaf with a new, but not necessarily improved, version. I say that because I really love both recipes. This time around, I’m using half Kobe (or regular ground beef is perfectly fine) and half ground turkey.  And instead of the Pomegranate-Chipotle Tomato Sauce, which took some time, I’m using a ready made product that makes this meatloaf “easy-breezy” and will make a great addition to your pantry.

The product I’m talking about is Mae Ploy Sweet Chili Sauce. It can be found at all Asian stores and most grocery stores in the Asian aisle.  This chili sauce is not too sour, just sweet enough, and has a somewhat gelatinous texture. Don’t worry, I’m not advising you to run out and purchase a bottle just for my meatloaf recipe.

Once you’ve dipped a chilled shrimp into Mae Ploy, you’ll never buy cocktail sauce again for your shrimp cocktails.  And crab cakes get an thrilling boost when dipped in it. Same thing goes for coconut-breaded shrimp.

This sauce is the perfect accomplice for crunchy wontons or egg rolls and it is a marriage made in heaven partnered with crab rangoons!  Don’t get me started… how about Teriyaki hot wings or  jalapeno poppers, or even as the new “secret” ingredient in your next batch of barbecue pork or cocktail meatballs… the list goes on and on…  Go pick up a bottle – start with the meatloaf and then be sure and share with us what other uses you’ve come up with! [Read more →]

Since today is Saturday, I am back to being plain old Linda, instead of Juror #7. But on Wednesday morning, after arriving in the jury room with my fellow jurors, the bailiff entered and requested that Juror #7 come with her to the Judge’s chambers. I am sure the remaining 8 thought I was in trouble, but I knew what it was about. Of course, I still can’t tell you, but stay tuned, I’m certain that you will find it quite entertaining.

What I find entertaining is how each time we (The Jury) enter and exit the courtroom, all remaining people in the room are told to “rise for The Jury.”  Like we are royalty or something. The 9 of us, who are being paid $12 a day (plus mileage) get the royal treatment.  You know what I would honestly appreciate so much more? If each person in the room would just put a dollar or two on each or our chairs every time we enter or exit. That would be preferred to having them stand, and it would more double our compensation. I’m considering making that request… On second thought, that might result in me being called into the Judge’s chambers again, and this time I would be in trouble, probably for contempt.  I’ll keep that suggestion to myself, for now at least.

For you, today, I have a delicious partially roasted and partially fresh cherry tomato and fennel salad using the fennel frond pesto from yesterday. I hope you enjoy the salad and the long holiday weekend.

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