I saw this “recipe” on the stories of one of my favorite accounts to follow on Instagram, Cottonstem. If you’re on Instagram, I highly recommend you follow Erin. She is adorable, down-to-earth, extremely talented and creative.

Recipe writers and developers never include the simple small pantry items in recipes when they say things like “2 ingredient recipe,” so I’m not going to. You will need cornstarch, but I’m not counting that. Ditto with the tap water. And since you can eat this with a fork instead of in sandwich form, I’m not including the bread in the ingredient count either. All’s fair in love and cooking!

Connor came over to make me dinner on Mother’s Day. I pulled a bowl of this chicken mixture out for him to sample while he was chopping and dicing. He loved it and said, “Dang it, this is better than what I’m making for you!” As I type this, while he cooks, I can’t say if he is right or not. All I know is that I will love what he makes for me no matter what it is! Just having him here is all I need. Marissa and I connected on Facetime. All a mama wants is to see or be with her babes on Mother’s Day. The best gift is their love and presence.

When I originally made this dessert for Anne’s birthday, I was winging it, I hadn’t tested the recipe beforehand. It needed a little tweaking. I used too much brown sugar and too much brandy that first go-around which made it runny and way too strong in the alcohol flavor. It doesn’t spend that much time under the broiler to burn off all the brandy I originally had in there.  I made it again and got it just right. The photos were taken when I remade it as a single serving for my do-over, but the ingredient portions in this recipe serve four.  

I made this quick and easy appetizer for Sunday dinner with my dad. I only toasted six slices of bread on the grill for our meal. Then I ate this for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the next several days, using the toaster to toast the bread as needed. Now I miss it and want more. It really is that good!

The recipe calls for Aleppo pepper flakes. Aleppo chili pepper is from the Syrian town of Aleppo near the southern Turkish border. Aleppo pepper has moderate heat with a mild and sweet undertone, a bit of fruitiness, and a hint of saltiness.

Aleppo is a wonderful substitute for the usual crushed red peppers. In fact, I nearly always use Aleppo pepper in place of regular crushed red chilies on pizza, in pasta and salads, on my morning eggs, really all day long. You can find Aleppo pepper online, at specialty stores and I’ve even found it locally at Safeway.

Roasted Tomato Toast

• 2 – 3 pounds mixed tomatoes *
• Olive oil
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely minced
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1 lemon, washed and dried
• Baguette, thinly sliced
• 3 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
• 3 tablespoons minced chives
• Sea salt (I adore Maldon sea salt flakes)
• Crushed Aleppo pepper

(* Mixed tomatoes are a mix of colors and types such as cherry, Roma, pear, beefsteak, etc)

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and line a baking sheet with foil.

Cut large tomatoes into cubes, slice larger cherry tomatoes in half and leave small cherry or pear tomatoes whole. Place tomatoes on the prepared baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss to combine. Roast for 30 to 40 minutes or until the smaller whole tomatoes burst. Remove from oven and set aside.

Use a Microplane or small grater to remove the zest from the lemon over a small bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set it aside. Cut the lemon in half and set it aside.

While the tomatoes are roasting, in a small bowl, mix the garlic and mayonnaise together.  Squeeze in 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate. Keep that lemon handy, you may want to add more juice later.

Either toast the baguette slices in a toaster or toaster oven or heat the grill and toast.

Cute mama-to-be, Chanté, posing in front of the cocktail station at the Harmony Boards launch party. She is the sweetest!

I’ve posted the recipes for the two signature cocktails we made for the party, so now it’s time for the mocktail. A mocktail that Chanté and others, who choose not to imbibe but still want to feel festive, could enjoy.

I wanted to try something new. I know so many people who are lovers of the elderflower flavor, such as the famous St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur. I’ve made several cocktails with St. Germain, such as this Champagne Cocktail, but to be perfectly honest, I’m not a fan of the elderflower flavor. It’s a bit too, let’s just say, flowery, for my taste.

But since I had no intention of drinking the mocktail that evening, I went ahead and created one using elderflower syrup.

Where can one find elderflower syrup, you ask? Amazon, of course.

Oh, and in the photo of the ingredients below, there is a bottle of agave. That is because I tried making it with a 1/2 teaspoon of agave nectar in my first attempt and … NO!  It was way TOO sweet for not only my taste, but for anyone except maybe a six-year-old.  Pretend that is not there!

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Photo courtesy of griffithimaging.com

      Wedding Taco Bar

Fillings:

• CHICKEN
• GROUND BEEF
• SHRIMP
• VEGGIES

Toppings:

• Barrio Café Guacamole
• Creamy Cilantro sauce
• Pickled Red Onions
• Cilantro Chimichurri
• Peggy’s Blender Salsa
• diced tomatoes
• black beans
• sliced radishes
• sliced jalapeño
• sweet pickled jalapeño
• sliced black olives
• salsa roja
• salsa verde
• diced avocado
• sour cream
• queso fresco
• Mexican cheese blend
• Mexican crema
• cotija cheese
• chopped cilantro
• diced white onion
• green onion
• lettuce
• cabbage

Sides:

• Tomatillo Rice
• Refried Black Beans
• Mexican Street Corn
• Corn Tortillas
• Flour Tortillas
• White & Blue Chips

That is the list of 34 items that made up the Wedding Taco Bar.

Photo courtesy of griffithimaging.com

There are very few recipes left to share with you from the wedding, since all the fillings have been posted and several of the sides and topping recipes are here in previous  posts. Click on these links to find them:

Barrio Café Guacamole

Pickled Red Onions

Peggy’s Blender Salsa

Mexican Street Corn

So that only leaves the Creamy Cilantro Sauce, Refried Black Beans, Tomatillo Rice and Cilantro Chimichurri. Since the chimichurri is an easy “dump in the blender and turn on” recipe, we’ll start with it.

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We spent the day at the Del Mar Racetrack on Wednesday. The most that was bet by any one of us on any one race was $3. Big spenders or gamblers, we are not. But we had fun! Our seats were right in front of the finish line. If not for that pole in front of us, they would have been perfect. Darn structural engineering.

We arrived back too late to cook, so we had leftovers and watched a movie. The next morning, I woke up early and took a 5-mile walk up the beach, to the Oceanside Pier, while Peggy and Anne slept in.

I don’t generally find many shells along the beach in Carlsbad, but the tide was low and I filled my pockets. I wanted to go out again this morning, but with the internet getting busy in the late morning and constantly kicking me off, I decided to get this post up instead. I’ll go out again on Saturday and take a bag with me to collect more.

Since we hung around the resort all day yesterday, Anne had time to cook us a delicious dinner! The recipe is one she found on allrecipes.com. But she switched it up and made it her own, in true Annie-style.

One great twist she made was switching out the regular pasta for a chickpea variety. It was fantastic!

She found the Banza brand pasta at Sprouts (in the Phoenix area you can also find it at Whole Foods and Target) and although we didn’t have wheat pasta available to do a side-by-side tasting, I’m certain I would not be able to taste the difference if we had.

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This deliciousness was Tuesday night’s dinner. Peggy not only manned the grill but was master of the kitchen as well.

Since it was my night off, it didn’t even cross my mind to take any preparation photos. Sorry, but I’m on vacation! I will try to do better when Anne takes over the duties tonight.

We spent Tuesday afternoon having lunch at Stone Brewery and wine tasting at Orfila Vineyards & Winery, with a little T*J*Maxx on the side.

We were ultimate Maxxinistas. Peggy was looking for a swimsuit and I was looking for a barstool. The Carlsbad patio has only two stools. There are three of us. I had no choice but to find another stool!

I was successful, Peggy was not. I picked up this industrial-style barstool for $29.99. I’m keeping the tag on it in case I decide to return it after the week is over, although I’m leaning towards keeping it for future visits. Decisions, decisions.

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Peggy, Anne and I are at my timeshare in Carlsbad, CA for the week.

We arrived on Saturday afternoon.

Upon our arrival, I opened the hatch of my car … and this happened. We may have over-packed a tad.

My intention was to post daily. Turns out that the WiFi is easily overworked here at the resort. This is the first day I have not been kicked off before I could at least load the photos. I’ll post as often as the network will allow.

We had a planning session before we left town, each taking a night or two to cook dinner. I was up first with a ravioli dish that I was inspired to make from an Instagram photo my friend, Gwen, posted last week. Gwen has a gorgeous blog called Pen & Fork. You can always get to it over in the “Foodie Blogroll” on the right side of the page.

For the mushroom ravioli, I used the Trader Joe’s brand. It comes with truffle sauce, which you do not want to use in this recipe.

These are the truffle sauce frozen squares. They are easily picked out and removed from the ravioli squares. You can throw them back in the freezer and use them for another pasta night or you can throw them in the trash. That’s what I do because I’m not a huge truffle fan. I’ll eat it if it’s served to me but I don’t go out of my way to put it in my mouth.

The spinach is cut into thin strips. When cutting leafy greens, the technique to do so is called chiffonade. It is easy to do, just stack the leaves, roll them up tightly and slice. The word is French and translates to “little ribbons.”

“Brothy Situation” Mushroom Ravioli with Shredded Chicken

• 4 cups chicken broth
• 2 shallots, peeled and thinly sliced
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
• 8 to 10 sprigs fresh thyme
• 5 sprigs fresh oregano
• 5 sprigs fresh rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 3 cups shredded rotisserie chicken
• 4 ounces fresh shiitake mushrooms; cleaned, stems removed and thinly sliced
• 1 cup baby spinach leaves, chiffonade
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced
• 1 pound package frozen mushroom ravioli
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, garnish
• Roughly chopped fresh herbs (thyme, rosemary and oregano)

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Shishito peppers are specialty peppers from Japan. They are high in vitamins A and C and are completely edible, including the seeds. Unlike other peppers, the skin is thin, so there’s no need to peel after blistering or roasting.

I like to serve blistered peppers as a nibble with drinks. Shishito peppers are also great in stir-fry and I even use them to garnish cocktails.

Shishitos have quickly become the new hot thing in the last year or so and are slowly showing up in the produce departments of grocery stores around the country. They are readily available in Japanese grocery stores.

I found 8-ounce packages of the peppers at Fry’s. They really are worth searching for. But if you can’t find them at your grocery store and are too lazy to go to a Japanese market, there is a substitute.

Use the sweet mini peppers that are readily available in produce departments and at Costco and Trader Joe’s

The peppers are sprinkled with flaky sea salt while still hot. My favorite salt is Maldon. It can be found at specialty food and kitchen stores. Or like everything else, on Amazon, which is where I get mine. I am obsessed with Maldon. I love it!

The other important ingredient for this recipe is shichimi togarashi. I first posted a recipe using shichimi togarashi, or Japanese seven spice, in the summer of 2014. I love this stuff and use it all the time.

Don’t be scared off by the long and complicated name of the recipe. It is the definition of easy-breezy and only has 6 ingredients, two of which are salt and olive oil.  See … EZ!

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Everyone loves caprese salad, or at least everyone I know love it!

There are many variations of Insalata Caprese, but the classic Italian salad consists of layers of ripe tomato slices, sliced mozzarella, and basil leaves that are seasoned with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and sometimes drizzled with balsamic vinegar. It is made to represent the colors of the Italian flag.

I have made it as an hors d’oeuvre before, but this time I assembled it to resemble our American flag for a 4th of July appetizer. I wish I could take credit for coming up with the easy idea on my own, instead, I saw a video on the Food Network Instagram page on the morning of the 4th. I immediately jumped in my car and headed to Trader Joe’s to pick up the ingredients. This was too clever and yummy to NOT make!

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