For our sit-down birthday dinner we had stuffed pork loin, green onion and Parmesan mashed potatoes, and a cold succotash side dish. The potatoes and the succotash have been posted here before, there are links to those recipes near the bottom of this post.

Peggy is not a big fan of beef. Occasionally, she’ll indulge in a hamburger, but put a plate with beef tenderloin in front of her and she turns her nose up at it. (I know, sometimes I think there is something wrong with that girl!)

It was a blessing when you were feeding 25 people, though! Beef tenderloin would have been on the expensive side, to say the least. But a pork loin – now that is doable!

I was initially planning to use pork tenderloin, but when I compared the price of the loin to the tenderloin – well that made the decision for me. I purchased two huge pork loins at Costco, they were about $18.00 each.

This recipe would work just as well using beef tenderloin, so choose whichever you prefer. If you can’t find Manchego cheese, use Monterey Jack or Pepper Jack instead.

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This is the final recipe from our dinner party with Karen and Bob. As with the other recipes, I found this in a food magazine, this time from the February issue of Food & Wine.

The changes I made; two large onions seemed like too much, so I decreased it to one. The recipe was called Ratatouille Toasts with Fried Eggs, it is now Ratatouille Toasts with Poached Eggs. Poached eggs are easier and able to be done ahead, a huge bonus when entertaining.

To do so; poach your eggs as normal, but under-cook them slightly. About 30 seconds off of your normal cooking time should do the trick. Just make sure the whites are nearly set. Lift the eggs directly out of the simmering water and into an ice bath to stop the cooking.  Then place them into the refrigerator until you need them.

When you’re ready to serve, bring a pot of water to a gentle simmer and give your eggs a final 45 seconds of poaching. Because the whites are already set, you can heat several eggs at once without worrying that they will stick together. This takes much less time than poaching all the eggs at the last minute.

I usually poach the eggs the night before or the morning of a dinner or brunch. In the recipe below, I have instructions as if you are going to serve the eggs immediately, just in case that is how you would prefer to do it. Use the instructions above for making ahead.

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This was my horoscope on Tuesday.

How perfect is that? Oh, here are the last few words you can’t see, “… nourishment and warm feelings.”

It’s perfect because I already had on my calendar two dinner parties this week.

Peggy and Anne were over last night and my dear friend, Karen, who was a bridesmaid in my wedding 27 years ago, and her husband Bob, are coming over for dinner tomorrow night. Got to Love It!

Are you ready for the onslaught of Meyer lemon recipes? I hope so, that is what I’ll be making for quite a while now!

Don’t have Meyer lemons? Not to worry. You can use regular lemons in any of my recipes that call for Meyer lemons.

I saw a photo of a version of this salad on Pinterest and was inspired by the use of a trifle bowl to serve it in. I created the recipe from scratch but stole the visuals and serving idea. If you don’t have, but have always wanted, a trifle bowl – Crate & Barrel always has them in stock.

It’s so pretty and springtime fresh and it turned out to be a delicious main course salad. I’m sure Peggy and Anne will attest to that. It would be lovely as a side salad on a buffet too.

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Yesterday, I made it sound as though I may not be posting another recipe for a while. At least that is what I was thinking. But then I remembered that I still had a couple of recipes in my back pocket. On December 5th, at the last class of my 3-week series at Les Gourmettes, four days before the fateful fall, and with the permission of my fabulous students, I took a bunch of photos during class with my iPhone.

Happily, I have those to share with you until I am able to cook again!

When I asked the class if they would mind if I took photos and they said to go ahead, I then asked if they would mind if I took photos of them too. I felt as though there was a little hesitation, so I said, “If you don’t want your picture included on the blog, just hold the recipes up in front of your face, and I’ll say that some of my students are very intent on reading their recipes.”  Here is how they reacted to that suggestion!

Pranksters, each and every one of them! I love my students!

They are the sweetest people!

Each and every one of them!

The recipe calls for sweet potatoes to be cut into matchsticks.
To do so …

after peeling the potato,

cut in half,

then cut each half into 1/4-inch planks.

Stack the planks and cut them into 1/2-inch matchsticks. It’s that easy!

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When one of my two brilliant children was young, he or she thought that when someone said, “Open Sesame” they were saying, “Open Says Me.”  I won’t reveal which one of them it was, but how cute is that?!

Open Sesame is the magical phrase in the story of “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” and it opens the mouth of a cave in which forty thieves have hidden treasure.

This asparagus recipe is magical and your brain will be telling your mouth, “Open Says Me” when you make it!

This was one of the recipes this past Wednesday night at the first of my 3-week series of classes at Les Gourmettes. That’s why you’ll see a photo of several plates lined up. They were still awaiting the chicken and polenta… a recipe I’ll post in a day or so.  The asparagus and accompanying mayo were a big hit. And… it’s “easy breezy” to boot!

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It’s rather late in the day for me to be posting, but it’s not too late to remind you as if you need it if you’re hosting, that Thanksgiving is next week!

I know! Wasn’t it just last week Halloween?!?  It’s early this year, so don’t let it sneak up on you.

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As you may recall, I belong to a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) from which I receive a bounty of farm-fresh produce each week. Last week there was something new and very strange in my bag that I did not recognize. It is called purslane. Upon research, meaning a Google search, I found that purslane is an edible weed. The leaves, stems, flowers, and seeds are all edible. It is harvested in the summer and it now turns up at farmers’ markets in the late summer months.

You can use it raw in salads; toss it into soups; boil it, or saute it. Purslane is best used fresh. But, if you must store it, wrap it in a moist paper towel and place it in a plastic bag in the vegetable bin of your refrigerator. Purslane may be substituted for spinach in any dish that calls for spinach, raw or cooked. And in fact, cooked purslane tastes exactly like cooked spinach. I doubt that even the most advanced palate would be able to taste the difference between the two.

As I said, purslane is a weed. It is the bane of many gardeners. And now that I know what it is… add me to the list of gardeners who curse it.  It has been taking over my flower garden for the past couple of summers now, and until I found it in my CSA bag, I had no idea what that damned weed was.  When I figured out that the greens in my bag were the same thing as the weeds in my backyard, I was so disgusted that I nearly tossed the bundle from my CSA into the trash! I HATE purslane!!! Just look at it in the photo above, it has choked out every flower that was near it. I can’t get rid of it. Google revealed that purslane is an especially hearty weed – NO kidding!

Anyhow, I finally took control of my emotions and packed the stuff into the ice chest I was taking over to Coronado. On the last day, we were there, I finally had the courage to cook with the weed.

Yes, I’m glad I did. I made a potato gratin with purslane, and it was delicious and it would have been a waste to throw it in the trash. I guess I’ll get out in the yard this weekend, dig out the purslane in my flower garden, look at it as a blessing instead of a curse, and serve it up.

Most importantly, I want to send a huge shout-out and many thanks to Sheila for a wonderful long weekend at her absolutely gorgeous cottage on Coronado! It was a joy to share such relaxing girlfriend time with you there. xoxo

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When classes ended on the last Friday of June, I still had a refrigerator full of vegetables and I was leaving town on Sunday. Summer squash, bell peppers, onions, shallots, garlic, tomatoes, jalapeno, eggplant, russet, red potatoes, and sweet potatoes. If you know me, you know what I made with all that – SOUP!  The first, I am calling Rataouille Soup since it has all the makings of the classic Provencal dish.  The second is a mixed potato soup, which I shall post tomorrow.  It’s too hot for soup, so it all got packaged up and went into the freezer to await a cool spell.  I know that won’t happen for another 4 months, but when it does, I will be ready!

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Dave does not like cold soup. Something about it just seems wrong to him. Seriously?!  I mean, it’s gazpacho, what’s not to like?!

1. First off, it’s soup, for goodness sake. Soup = Love!
2. It’s full of tomatoes. Tomatoes = Yum!
3. It’s over 100 degrees outside: Cold Refreshing Soup = Smart!
4. It’s called gazpacho = a Fantastic word to say, especially if you say it in your sexiest Antonio Banderas voice!

Obviously, I love gazpacho!

I made it for the last class of my series and brought home a container of leftovers.  At dinner the next night, I made a bowl for myself and said to Dave, “I’m having gazpacho, would you like a bowl?”

“No, thanks”, he replied.  I went about putting together our plates and as I was doing so, he suddenly noticed that there was shrimp topping my soup. “Oh, I’ve changed my mind, I’ll have a bowl”, he said.

Really? All it takes is a couple of little shrimp for you to change your bad attitude over cold soup?  He ate the entire bowlful. Whatever men are exasperating!

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These tasty wrapped little potatoes are perfect to serve as an appetizer with a Sriracha mayonnaise dipping sauce or served without the mayo as a side dish.

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