I love tomatoes. I love asparagus. I love sugar snap peas. I love capers. I love Sherry vinegar. I love this recipe ~ hope you love it too!

[Read more →]

The cobb salad was created nearly 80 years ago at the famous Hollywood Brown Derby restaurant and has been an American favorite ever since. I prefer to serve it as individual salads as opposed to presenting on a large platter.  That way it looks lovely for each guest. If served on a platter, it looks great for the first guest or two, but by the end of the line, all the “goodies” on top are either gone or mashed into a nasty looking mess.

[Read more →]

During the “decision making” time about what to make for our graduation class last week, I had several suggestions to choose from as one of the main courses, among them, tacos or Greek salad.  Both are good ideas and both work well on a buffet, but we already had decided on another salad and “Plain Jane” tacos seemed a bit tame for the rest of the menu.  So we combined the two and made Greek Tacos… they were a huge hit with students and guests alike.  If your family is the more adventurous type, go with the ground lamb, otherwise, either ground beef or ground turkey work perfectly well.

[Read more →]

If you do, then you’ll adore this Buffalo wing inspired lasagna.  I’ve got a Buffalo Mac and Cheese that I may have to have a class of my students whip up and then post here before the summer is over as well.

[Read more →]

There is no better time to make fresh tomato soup than right now, the height of tomato season.

So even if you’re not growing tomatoes in your own garden, get out to your local farmer’s market and pick up some ripe locally grown tomatoes and throw together this soup, enjoy hot, cold, or at room temperature.

[Read more →]

Tuesday of last week was “Pasta & Cupcakes” day. This was one of the pastas the kids (8 – 12 year olds) made.  It was a favorite, we’ll see if the teens feel the same about it this coming Tuesday.

[Read more →]

Here is the recipe I made yesterday on the Valley Dish, especially for Memorial Day weekend. (And here is the LINK if you would like to watch it online.)  PLEASE don’t be scared off by the long laundry list of ingredients. There are six different condiments/toppings for your sliders, and each one is very easy to make, you can do as many or as few as you like.  Seriously, when I say easy, I’m talking about slicing a couple tomatoes, drizzling with olive oil and sprinkling with salt and chives, that’s easy! Or laying slices of bacon on foil, sprinkling with rosemary and pepper and tossing in the oven, super easy! And I guarantee your family and friends will be impressed, Enjoy!

[Read more →]

This is a quick and easy “go to” dinner at our house, especially when there are just two of us. Although I call it caprese, I don’t always use mozzarella cheese. Whatever soft melting cheese I have on hand is what I use, this time it was goat cheese, sometimes it’s Fontina, or if I’m in a bind I’ll even use cream cheese – whatever works!

[Read more →]

Connor was not a fan of the squash blossoms from the other day… although; Marissa, Dave and I loved them. I felt I needed to make it up to him since he’ll only be home a few days before he heads back up to Flagstaff for summer school. I made this pasta with him in mind and then at the last minute, as I was about to throw in some goat cheese, remembered that he doesn’t like goat cheese as much as the rest of us.  That is the reason it is added at the end, allowed to just melt into the sauce and why I’ve made it “optional” – delish – with or without!  And if the roasted cherry tomatoes seem awfully familiar – they are, I’ve featured them here many times before, can’t help it, they are so good!

[Read more →]

Before I get into the recipes for soup shooters and grilled cheese bites, I want to say Happy Anniversary to David, my husband of 26 years. xoxo  And I want to tell you the story of the cute shooter glasses I found.

I was in Pier 1 Imports about a month ago and saw a great display they have up with an wide and wonderful assortment of mini glasses for a “Tasting Party”. They have mini cordials, mini parfait, mini trifle, mini wine, and mini martini glasses. I was immediately in love with the whole concept and had to hold myself back from buying at least one set of each. Part of what prevented that happening, was the price. Most of the sets were $29.95 each. That would not have been a “mini” amount to spend! So I resisted and just purchased one 24-piece set of the mini parfaits to use as soup shooters.

Once I got home, I looked more closely and saw that the 24-piece set was actually only 12 glasses and included 12 mini spoons. Darn it! That meant I’d just spent $2.50 per glass. But this mistake lead me on the hunt for comparable mini shooters at a reasonable price.

[Read more →]