I’m at that point in moving where I reeeeeeally need to clean out my fridge because the more I use up, the less I have to move. Needless to say we’ve had some pretty “creative” dinners this week. I also keep forgetting that I packed up 70% of the kitchen. I totally wanted to make something with whipped cream yesterday but when I went to pull the beaters out of my kitchen cabinet, it was empty. Sad trombone. The good news is that I still can produce tasty recipes out of this bare essentials kitchen of mine. I just can’t make anything that has spices in it since my spice cabinet is in a box somewhere…
I found some puff pastry hiding out in the freezer so I pretended like I was entertaining 10 people at my unkempt house and made these Blackberry Lemon Goat Cheese Squares. These puff pastry bites taste a little bit like blackberry pie mixed with a lemony cheese danish BUT! There’s an arugula leaf nestled under each blackberry. Not only does it add a nice green/peppery bite it provides a nice visual interest to the plate of squares. It’s practically salad (not really).
I am not at liberty to say how many I ate yesterday.
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As I’ve gotten older I’ve learned to accept a few things about myself. For starters, I will ALWAYS choose the wrong lane to be in at the grocery store. You should stay away from me when I’m waiting in line because the lane is guaranteed to be cursed. I currently have at least 30 gray hairs on my head and it will only get worse. That’s what happens when your dad went fully gray at 27. I remember being younger and thinking that I’d never have to color my hair if I didn’t want to. Duhhh.
I’ve also accepted the fact that when I drink bourbon, I start craving things like Cheez-Its and Buttermilk Cheddar Biscuits. And when I’m drinking bourbon, my guard is down and I absolutely inhale said cheesy things. But it’s cool. No! I’ve accepted this.
What I haven’t accepted is the fact that I can’t eat just one Coconut Lime Bar…
That’s gonna take awhile.
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I’m kind of in a rut; I have no desire to cook or bake. Wait. I take that back. I have no desire to clean my kitchen. I DO want to work in the kitchen. I just want someone to always clean up after me. That would be the life. That’s how chefs live, right? Does that mean I need tattoos and clogs? I don’t know what I would want on my body for the rest of my life, ink-wise. I’m working my way out of cherry blossom phase so I’m soooooooo glad I didn’t get those… Also! Clogs. Totally comfy…still totally not sexy. I love sensible shoes but I want them to look less like clogs.
Let’s be real. I’m not a professional chef, but you already know this. I’m just a girl who loves to get my kitchen dirty and make things with my hands. I’m love pineapple and Greek yogurt and simple desserts that I can accomplish in no time, yet take a tremendous amount of credit for. Who doesn’t want that?
I made this quick little roasted pineapple yesterday because I had 30 minutes to kill. If I had people over for dinner, it would have been a fantastic ending to a meal of shrimp tacos. I would have gotten the “what’s your secret?” question with this dessert.
The secret is that I will be eating this for breakfast for the next few days and loving EVERY LAST BITE. And when I’m soo over eating it with yogurt & granola, I’m going to turn it into a smoothie. That’s a fact.
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It’s almost that time of year when I overdose on bruschetta and drink fancy cold beverages outdoors until the mosquitos come out and then I book it inside. Thanks to my friend Cheryl and her amazing/stunning new cookbook, Ripe: A Fresh, Colorful Approach to Fruits and Vegetables, I have a drink that will turn heads at future dinner parties. I have yet to find out if it will repel mosquitos…
In this fancy beverage, tarragon mixes with green tea, honey & lime to create the most pleasant herbal/citrus iced tea. It’s reminiscent of gin, but contains none. Since I’m always looking out for YOU and YOUR best interests, I mixed a little Hendrick’s gin in one of the glasses and was extremely pleased with the results. Cheers to that!
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In my family, my mom and I have always been outnumbered by men. One adult male and two growing boys meant that anytime my mom put out a platter of smoked salmon & cream cheese for a party, there would be no smoked salmon left by the time it was our turn to get some. I think their mental cue for leave some for the rest of the party was always dominated by the how much salmon can I pile on top of this bagel cue.
After many years of suffering with measly smoked salmon scraps, I finally found the solution! Take away the plate of sliced smoked salmon and put the salmon IN the cream cheese. Dudes will still want to load it onto their bagel, but I’m pretty sure you’ll find some cream cheese left by the time you get to the appetizer table. There’s nothing worse than spending a ton of money on smoked salmon when you never get to try it.
This cream cheese is also PACKED with flavor and perfect for a party because you can do it ahead of time. The last thing you want is the stress of fanning out salmon slices when someone shows up to your party ridiculously early. Am I right?
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When you’re deep in an organizing project and you look around the room you just destroyed, it’s best to just STOP. Before you get thoroughly overwhelmed, take a breather and make something good to eat. Don’t examine your stuff!
Just LEAVE.
The act of taking a break and chopping up vegetables, grilling steak outdoors and composing a bunch of colors on a plate will not only give you a nice break from the chaos in the other room, it will give you fuel to power through.
Don’t think of the pile of papers you need to shred. Don’t agonize over how much stuff you’ve accumulated in the past few years. Just eat this delicious salad. It’s spicy, hearty and kinda light!
We spent so much of this weekend going through our unwanted items. Lucky for us, this bright/colorful salad was the light at the end of the tunnel.
Now excuse me while I get back to work sorting all the stuff I need to shred.
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I’m a huge snacker. My most favorite snacks are carb based. I’m sure you would have guessed as much. I simply cannot pass up a good cracker situation. It’s even better if there’s cheese up on those crackers. While I’m eating cheese & crackers I almost ALWAYS imagine there being a diet where all you eat is cheese & crackers. Can you imagine? I can. It would be fantastic.
But in real life…snacking can get you in trouble if you’re not careful. What you’re supposed to do is snack to tie you over until you have a legitimate meal. Stay on top of your hunger or else you find yourself like me…almost eating 2 dinners because you didn’t arm yourself at 3pm with something that contains protein & crunch. That’s where these Dry Roasted Edamame & Cranberries enter the picture. When it’s 3pm and you’re craving something salty & sweet, these will do the trick. The edamame are salty and crunchy and the tangy/ tart/sweet cranberries balance things out in a trailmix kinda way. Is it wrong to eat the whole batch? I dunno. I did it and I survived….until dinner.
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When I was a kid I always wanted to help my mom make cakes in the kitchen. She’d give me what I thought were useless jobs like measuring out the flour (I actually like doing that now) and cleaning up the dirty bowls in the sink. Although these are important tasks to complete, I always thought I got the short end of the stick. I wanted MORE. I wanted to crack the eggs, measure out the vanilla, use the beaters and eat off ALL the frosting that smothered them. I desperately wanted to take the cake out of the oven and frost it myself without any adult supervision. I know now that my mom was teaching me valuable lessons of baking all while secretly preventing a major mess in the kitchen (she was tapped into my klutzy nature from an early age).
I still make a mess in the kitchen…
We spent this Easter weekend at my parent’s house and while it was nice to get out of our routine and enjoy a slower pace of life, what I enjoyed most was making this cake by myself in my mom’s kitchen. That’s right. My mom gave me the responsibility of making this Black & White Angel Food Cake she picked out for dessert on Easter Sunday.
Melting the chocolate, sifting the flour and beating the egg whites in the same bowl I remember using as a kid was almost as good as eating the cake itself. That’s right! No supervision needed. I’m a grownup (ahhhhh!).
A fluffy puffy light chocolate cake smothered with a decadent ganache? Uh huh! I’m so glad my mom picked this cake out and had me make it because I most likely wouldn’t have tried it on my own. And man, would I have missed out.
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One of the most frequently asked questions I receive is- How do you do it all? Oh man… THIS QUESTION. The answer is….I DON’T & can’t! Every week looks different in my life. Some weeks are super challenging (ahem, this one!) and I don’t usually share the bad because the internet is my happy place. My goal here is to inspire people and I don’t think I’d inspire anyone if I complained about how I spaced and forgot to make a credit card payment or how I can’t seem for the LIFE of me to clean up the inside of my car. Maybe you want to hear that. I dunno. That being said let’s talk a little bit about balance.
Balance is difficult to attain. I’m not very good at it. Ever since I had a Cooper I don’t think I have the ability to give 100% to anything in my life and it bugs me most of the time. Do you moms know what I’m saying? Raise your hand if you’re behind on laundry too!
I am good at balancing my food, though. I’m not talking about setting a pineapple on top of my head and walking to the other side of the room with it. Nope. I’m talking….like one day I eat coffee cake for breakfast lunch & dinner and then the next few days I eat salads & juice like a crazy woman. That’s how I excel at balancing.
This pasta is a good balance because it appeals to me- the ARUGULA lover and to Casey the PASTA lover. He, of course gets a plate that’s heavy on the pasta and I get a plate heavy on the arugula…depending how many cookies I ate that day. It was 6. OK. 7. Extra arugula for me. The only problem we found with this recipe is that it’s so light, you might find yourself eating 3 portions in one sitting. Maybe that’s just a sign that it’s GOOD.
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I’ve been reluctant to post a Chocolate Chip cookie recipe here because I feel like the food blog world doesn’t need ANOTHER chocolate chip cookie recipe. Then I tried out these spectacular cookies and things changed. Here’s why I think you should make Jim Lahey’s (the no knead bread & pizza genius) Chocolate Chip Cookies:
- they’re delicious! If you’re a fan of a crispy edged cookie with a soft chewy center, these are for you!
- they are simple & easy (the ingredient total is small!).
- you won’t find yourself with dozens of cookies. Just 20. Which is a good amount. Eating 3 dozen cookies by yourself is not good. 20 seems better.
- the baking time is super fast. 6-8 minutes and you’re transported to cookie town. That’s amazing!
- they aren’t the PRETTIEST looking chocolate chip cookies, which might help you deter others from eating them. One bite and it’s all over. Be careful.
WATCH OUT!
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