Berries and lemon curd are one of my absolute favorite desserts. And the red white and blue of it all make for the perfect patriot dessert. Mixing whipped cream into the curd mutes the yellow color and passes for the white needed for that RWB combo. I made this trifle for my final series at Les Gourmettes. I was not able to snap a photo of the finished product, so above is a similar photo I swiped (and gave credit for) from the internet.

Tip: When whipping cream in a standing mixer, place a towel over the mixer to prevent splattering.

When I went in search of a prepared pound cake, I found this package at Costco. I used both the lemon and the raspberry for my recipe. Usually, I use a plain pound cake so this was a fun and tasty twist.

Did you know that in the last week of March you can not find fresh rhubarb in any grocery store in the Valley of Sun?

Trust me, I tried. I went to Fry’s, Safeway, Sprouts, and Whole Foods. I called Albertson’s, Bashas, A.J.’s, and Natural Grocers. I’ve never even set foot inside a Natural Grocers, so I don’t have a clue as to what sort of inventory they have, but I was desperate!

Not one of them had rhubarb. All the produce managers said they had tried to order it, but it wasn’t coming in. By the time I discovered this, I’d already bought the strawberries for this salad and I had my heart set on it. I love strawberry-rhubarb pie, so I was craving this salad for my Easter brunch.

Finally, I took a closer look at the recipe and saw that the rhubarb was cooked for a couple of minutes and then sat in the hot liquid. It seemed to me as if the frozen rhubarb would work just fine. And it did!

A bonus of this recipe is the cooking syrup from the rhubarb, you’ll have about 1 cup of it but you only use 2 tablespoons of it for the dressing. The rest of it you can save and use as a grapefruit-rhubarb simple syrup for cocktails. Mix it with vodka and soda for a refreshing drink. Oh, it is good!

Strawberry-Rhubarb Salad

• 1 cup freshly squeezed grapefruit juice
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 cups 1-inch diagonally sliced fresh rhubarb or a 12-ounce bag of cut frozen rhubarb
• 1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 20 ounces fresh strawberries, quartered lengthwise (about 3 cups)
• 1/2 cup toasted slivered almonds
• 1/4 cup small mint leaves
• Mint sprigs, for garnish

In a medium saucepan, stir together the grapefruit juice and sugar over medium-high; bring to a boil, and cook, stirring occasionally, until sugar dissolves.

Add rhubarb to pan; cook for 1 minute. Remove pan from heat. Cover and let stand until rhubarb is tender-crisp, about 15 minutes if fresh or 10 minutes if frozen.

Remove rhubarb with a slotted spoon, reserving rhubarb syrup.

In a large bowl, stir together the orange juice, lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons of the rhubarb syrup. (reserve the remaining syrup for another use.) [Read more →]

Independence Day has come and gone, but there are plenty more patriot holidays between now and July 4, 2018. Labor Day is only eight weeks from today. Columbus Day is a month after that and before you know it, Veterans Day is upon us! The point is, don’t wait a year to make these fun and easy dessert kabobs.

I whipped a few of these up for the grilling tips segment I did last week and then made them again the next day for a 4th of July party I was invited to. Technically, I may have invited myself. But I tried to make the hosts feel it was worth it by bringing these kabobs along with an awesome flag appetizer, the recipe for which I will post tomorrow.

When I made the kabobs for television, I used pound cake. I quickly discovered that pound cake is not the best choice. Angel food cake works better, so that is what I used on the 4th. The pound cake is too dense and has a tendency to break apart when skewered. The angel food cake is light and fluffy and stays in place. Large marshmallows would be a great choice too.

I’m not providing you with any quantities here. I made as many as I could until I ran out of one of the ingredients. The first thing I ran out of was strawberries, then I was done.

After making four or five, it was getting tedious, so I decided to make three at once. I held three skewers in my left hand and added the ingredients with my right. I was done in no time.

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I made this cake for Father’s Day. Isn’t it lovely?

But, as usual, I had a problem while baking. Seriously, what’s new?

This time around, I took extra precautions and not only greased the pans but also lined them with parchment rounds and floured the sides.  I was sure that everything else would work out perfectly. Nope.

The original recipe, which I am not going to reference here because there were too many problems with it, did not indicate the diameter of pans to use. Much of my bakeware is packed away. I had two 8-inch diameter pans and three 9-inch diameter pans at my disposal, so I decided to go with the 9-inch. That was a mistake numero uno. Since I wasn’t sure of the pan size, I should have checked the cakes much earlier than I did to see if they were cooked through. As it was, the original recipe called for the cake layers to be baked for 35 minutes. I checked them after 24 minutes and they were already overcooked and dry as the Sonoran desert.

Mistake numero dos was to not then soak them with some sort of orange liqueur or orange juice. I’m certain that would have helped. Instead, I figured that the frosting (there is a lot of it!) would be enough to compensate for the dryness. Again, no.

It’s a pretty cake and if you keep an eye on it while it’s baking, I’m sure it’s a delicious cake too. I served up the 5 pieces to my dad, Connor, Dave, Sloane, and myself and then I tossed the rest of it in the trash (after I picked all the fruit off the top and had that with my breakfast the next morning).  I believe I’ve made the corrections and compensations for this to be a tasty cake. If you decide to give it a try – let me know.

In the meantime, let me say, this is just another example of why …

I Hate To BAKE

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If you live in Arizona, you try to get out of town over the 4th of July weekend. If you are one of the unlucky few who are stuck here – welcome to the exclusive, yet unhappy, club.

We are in town because we leave for a European river cruise in two weeks.  I know, I have nothing to complain about, except the heat!

Anyhow, I decided to make the best of it and host a Pot-Luck Pool Party. I invite 48 adults and their families. All but 12 of the aforementioned adults (along with two toddlers) are escaping the heat. Those lucky dogs!

That’s okay, the 12 of us are going to endure as we float in the pool, sip on this light and lovely rosé sangria and indulge Tram’s twins, Zak & Zoey, with all sorts of love and attention.

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This layered fruit-cheese salad was the first course for our Spring Reunion Dinner. I decided to make individual servings, but it could be made even easier in a large clear bowl or better yet, in a trifle dish.

If you’re making one large salad, you’ll use all the fruit. For these six small individual portions, you’ll end up with about half of the fruit left or enough to make at least 12 individual servings. So either cut the fruit portions in half or freeze the remaining fruit and use it for smoothies, that’s what I did.

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This is the dessert I made for the last class of my 3-week cooking series at Les Gourmettes Cooking School. The semester ended last night – it is officially summer for me. No more classes until September.

Since I made this during class, I don’t have any step-by-step photos for you, but the recipe is straightforward.

This is the perfect dessert for Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, or honestly any day of the week this summer. Enjoy!

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The table before dinner…

… and during dinner.

We started with Rosé champagne and a toast to the birthday girl.

Peggy’s brother, Mark, made the first toast – and her brother, Vince, said grace.

As we enjoyed our first-course salad – many of the guests toasted sweet Peggy. When Peggy got up to speak… well, there wasn’t a dry eye at the table.

Peggy and her gorgeous kids; clockwise – Peggy, Stevo, Samme, and Natalie.

Quinoa Salad with Baby Greens, Summer Fruit, and Herbs

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I am nearly buried in cooking classes at the moment, so I only have a couple of minutes to slap up a few photos and a couple of recipes – if you can call them recipes. They are more like quick and super easy ideas for tasty bits… almost too easy to even label “easy breezy”!

A few students are missing from this photo. One was homesick, another was late because she was coming from lacrosse practice, yet another was just running late, and so on. We start at 10:30 sharp because there is a lot to do and we can’t wait. So this is a glimpse of what it looks like at the very start of class – when the students are just getting underway. Trash cans are empty, counters are relatively clear, the floor is still rather clean, and my two assistants are observing, rather than washing, drying, and well, basically “assisting”.

The gentlemen in the forefront are mixing up bread dough, for English muffin bread. My assistants, Connor and Troy, are waiting for something to do. The young lady in the orange shirt is frying up bacon for the Bacon Strip Pancakes, the two on the right are starting on a batch of Cinnamon Roll Pancakes and the young lady in the center, at the island, is working on a batch of granola.

For our breakfast-themed meal yesterday, one of the dishes we made was English muffin bread with quick homemade strawberry jam – here is the jam simmering away. You could use a potato masher to crush the berries, but donning gloves and using your hands is so much more fun!

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Can you tell that summer is weighing hot and heavy on my mind? The last few posts have been Gazpacho, Panzanella Salad, Peach Pizza, Baba Ghanoush, Mojitos, etc. 

I know that for many of you, summer does not begin until June 21 (actually June 20th is officially the first day of summer this year – don’t ask me why).  But here in the Arizona desert, summer hit on the first 100-degree day, which was April 21st this year.  Yes, a full two months before it’s “official”.  And yes, that sucks royally! Today’s forecasted high temp is 108 degrees! UGGGGG!!!

But I can’t deny that I do love summer foods; tomatoes, zucchini, peaches, plums, radishes, watermelon, cherries, cucumbers, eggplant, corn, basil, and, maybe most of all… berries! 

“Boo” to 100+ Degree Days!
“Hip Hip Hooray” for Summer Produce!

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