This is a great go-to soup to make with three favorite convenience items in the pantry; sun-dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, and boxed chicken broth. Toss a salad or put together some sandwiches while the soup simmers and you are sitting at the table eating dinner with your family in no time!

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On Valentine’s Day evening, Dave walked into the house with two huge bouquets of flowers for me and I made seafood pasta for him. Although dinner was delicious, I think I got the better end of that exchange. The meal is long over and there have been four more dinners since then, but my beautiful flowers are still bringing me the reminder of being loved. <3

Note: To make the rose napkins above; Open a large cloth napkin. Fold in half diagonally. Beginning at the long end, roll into a rope. Then start at one end of the rope and roll into a spiral. Secure with a paper clip if needed and “garnish” with real rose leaves. I swiped the ones I used from my neighbor’s yard! She loves me, so it’s OK.

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In May 2000, when Connor turned nine, we took a family trip to the east coast; Newport, Rhode Island,  New Hampshire (including the Ben & Jerry’s factory), Philadelphia, New York City (Statue of Liberty, Broadway, the Empire State Building, Times Square, etc.), Washington D.C. (Smithsonian, White House, Capitol, all the monuments, etc.), Colonial Williamsburg, Arlington National Cemetery, and Mount Vernon.  The highlight of that trip for Connor – and about the only thing he remembers, besides celebrating his birthday – was his first taste of lobster (Yes, that is the actual moment in the photo above)! He immediately fell in love and ate lobster at every meal it was available for the rest of the two-week vacation.  His happiness came to a screeching halt when we arrived back in Arizona and he learned that lobster was a seriously special treat, not an everyday staple, like say, peanut butter, and jelly sandwiches.

He still loves his lobster and I know that when he sees this post, he’ll be begging me to make it for him when he comes home this summer.  I love him to pieces, so I will!

The other guilty pleasure I want to show you is this fabulous vintage grocery store scale I purchased on Thursday at Sweet Salvage. Isn’t it amazing!?!  It obviously needs to be calibrated… or maybe I’ll just let it be.

Back to the lobster … I read an article about this over-the-top sandwich made by the Devilicious Food Truck from San Diego, California, and had to try and copy it at home. It was a major success!

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Happy Valentine’s Day! And Happy Centennial to my Native State – Arizona – 100 Years Young today!

Yes, Arizona, “The Grand Canyon State”, “The Valentine State”, and “The Baby State” turns 100 today!  The “Baby State” because Arizona was the last state of the contiguous United States to join the Union, on February 14, 1912. To see a wonderful slideshow of our beautiful state, GO TO THIS LINK, and enjoy. That is from where I snatched all of the Arizona pictures I have here today.  As a special birthday bonus, there’s a little Arizona quiz and a fun name game at the end of the post – just in case you want to play along.

Oh, and I have a fruity salsa recipe to go along with the fruity guac from yesterday too.

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I’ve shared with you my newfound love of Pinterest. That is where I found the idea for these adorable pearl cherry tomato hearts. If you and your loved one are going out for Valentine’s and leaving the kids at home, what a wonderful salad this would be to serve to your beloved children.  Or… just as a casual any night of the week with an extra special loving touch.

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Succotash is a hot bean and corn dish that was  popular during the Great Depression because of the ingredients were more readily available than most other foods and relatively less expensive. I’m not a fan of traditional succotash… but turn it into a cold salad with basil dressing, and I’m all in!

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Here is the first of four brunch dishes that I’d like to share with you from our New Year’s Eve Brunch. Since I wasn’t the one cooking any of these, there will only be one picture… no preparation photos. And in some cases, as with this one, I even forgot to take the picture myself and had to ask the creator of the dish to email me the photo taken from the leftovers they brought back home – thanks for this one, Mary!  Oh, one more thing – This is my 800th Post! Wow 800!

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One of Les Gourmettes Cooking School’s longtime students, Marilyn, brought in a huge box of green tomatoes to share with the class. I brought home a couple of pounds of them myself. My lone remaining tomato plant yielded the three tomatoes with the stems that you see in the photo below.

I’ve posted the recipe for fried green tomatoes previously, so this time I’m turning them into the deli delicacy – pickled green tomatoes. If you love these crunchy, thick-walled, salty, sour, spicy treats as I do, just wait until you see how easy they are to make at home. If you want to learn a little more about the fried tomato recipe, it pairs really well with a fresh feta salad, especially during the BBQ season.

This “refrigerator pickle” technique is basically foolproof. No lengthy temperature-critical fermentation and no sterile canning (although the jars and lids need to be cleaned with boiling water first). And they must be kept refrigerated. The best part is that the refrigerator pickled green tomatoes remain crunchy. Pasteurized pickled green tomatoes get mushy.

It is important that the tomatoes are firm and completely green, with no bits of orange or red and no mushy green tomatoes! I have labeled four of the jars and will be giving them as Christmas gifts.

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Everyone has their favorite way to eat up their leftover Thanksgiving turkey. I’d guess that a good old turkey sandwich would be the hands-down winner for most of us. I like my sandwich one way and one way only – on white bread that is slathered in Miracle Whip with sliced turkey breast only. I don’t eat any of the leftover sides, I just relish that sandwich and I am as happy as can be. If I haven’t remembered to purchase a jar of Miracle Whip before Thanksgiving so that it is ready to be cracked open on the Friday after… well, someone (someone who is not me!) is going to the store to get me my Miracle Whip! Mayo will not do! I buy the smallest jar because this is the only thing I ever use it for, leftover turkey sandwiches.

Connor, on the other hand, makes a sandwich that looks like this…

He’s got the required white bread but tops it with turkey (white or dark), then spoons on the gravy and the stuffing, tops that with the other slice of bread, and heats it in the microwave for about 30 seconds. Interesting, but not to my taste.  Marissa also must have the breast only and tops her’s with cranberry sauce and eats some stuffing and maybe some gravy on the side.  Finally, there is Dave, he will eat it all and will eat it any and every way, sandwich or a full redo of the Thanksgiving plate.

After a couple or three sandwiches, I am through with the turkey, then it is time to remake it into an entirely different meal, such as this lasagna. Now, this is how you get rid of leftover turkey!

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This rich and colorful salsa comes together quickly. It is important to seed the tomatoes, otherwise, the salsa will be watery. To seed, simply cut each tomato in half and squeeze out the seeds and juices, then dice.

I served this salsa, along with Cheddar Cheese Button Crackers, Mini Crab Cake BLT’s, Crudités Garden Bowl with hummus, and Elote’s De Lujo Margaritas on Friday night for a Stella & Dot jewelry party I hosted for my friend and neighbor, Amy (Amy of the famous Amy’s Taco Soup).

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