~ vineyard crunch salad ~ I made this yummy salad to go with our grilled NY strip steaks last night and everyone loved it. It’s crunchy, full of flavor, and I just adore the dressing. Last night I made this as a side salad, but you could add chicken or turkey chunks to it if…
~ Jana’s Stuffed Mushrooms ~ This is one of my new favorite appetizer recipes! I make another stuffed mushroom dish that is more like a main course, with big portobello mushroom caps stuffed with spinach, chevre, red bell peppers and fresh mozzarella. This is a rendition of a recipe my friend Jana gave to me.…
~ peach pie ~ Fruit pies, cobblers, buckles, bettys, pandowdys, crisps, shortcakes, tarts, crumbles and gallettes are such perfect summer desserts. The unassuming, buttery vehicles that add a slight crunchy or crumbly sweetness without overshadowing the star of the show…that fragrant summer fruit! I decided to make a peach pie over our four day weekend…
~ rose butter tea sandwiches with scented sugar ~ Gracie and I enjoyed these fragrant, rosy sandwiches for our teatime today while watching a few episodes of Glee. It’s been raining cats and dogs today in the Mississippi river valley! The perfect kind of weather for snuggling under a quilt, turning on the fireplace, eating…
~ savory veggie confetti upside-down cake ~ This wonderfully flavorful, moist, festive cake was inspired by Molly Katzen’s recipe, from her book, The Enchanted Broccoli Forest. It’s beautiful, and quite possibly the best “soup” bread I’ve ever made. I think it would be lovely served alongside cottage cheese dill bread and sweet wheat batter bread…
~ dilly egg salad tea sandwiches ~ Pretty tea sandwiches, arranged just so on a tiered server or a pretty antique platter, are one of my favorite parts of a leisurely teatime. I just love all of the textures, ingredients, breads and flavor combinations. Some of my favorites: Proper cucumber, carrot cheddar curry, flower radish…
~ napa wedge salad with spicy sesame peanut dressing ~ This is what we had for lunch today and Gracie said it was the best salad she’s ever had. I thought it would be fun to create a new “wedge” style salad using Napa cabbage, and this is what I came up with. Careful, the…
~ cookies & cream icebox cake ~ My friend Clare introduced me to Nabisco Famous chocolate wafers a while back. I had never cooked with them. She told me about this easy, yummy, icebox cake with three ingredients, and I thought this would be a fun recipe to try with my daughter Gracie, as she…
~ love nests ~ Have you ever made pasta nests? You can either buy them in nest form, or you can get creative with a pasta fork and twirl them up yourself! It takes a little practice, but it’s really quite easy, and the presentation is so pretty. serves 3 6 pasta nests (I used…
~ buckingham palace shortbread with flower blossoms ~ fit for a queen… 2 cups unsalted butter at room temperature 2/3 cup granulated sugar 4 cups pastry flour 1 and 1/3 cups cornstarch edible flowers egg whites superfine sugar In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. In a medium bowl, stir the…