This is dinner #2 using the shredded chicken from the post two days ago. I like to serve this salad a little warm/a little cold, pretty much at room temperature. When you get home from work, running the kids around, the gym, whatever it is you’re racing in the door from; throw the potatoes in the pot. Then change your clothes or get the kids set up with their homework, or whatever it is that needs to be done pronto. Then drain the potatoes and set them aside. Next, in-between doing all the things that get in the way of concentrating on making dinner, stop and make the vinaigrette and set it aside. And then when you’re ready to assemble it all; just slice the potatoes, and throw it in all together in a bowl and dinner is on that table before you know it. Please be sure to get one of those people, who always need to be fed, to set the table. I honestly hope you’re not doing that and making dinner, put those kids and husbands to work!

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I feel like a fraud, an imposter, a poser. Only a couple days ago I came to learn that I had not posted one of my favorite foods on this site in more than 325 posts. Then when I finally do get a recipe up for cheesecake, I have to learn from a dear friend, neighbor, and faithful follower that today is National Cheesecake Day. How do I not know this already!? Out of all the foods that have a “National Day”, and there are about 475 foods that do, National Cheesecake Day is the one that I would actually honor. For a full list, go to this LINK to check out what do your favorite food is honored. (Disclaimer- I have no idea if this is THE official list, but it is what Google found for me) Or find out what food is honored on your special day. I just discovered that my birthday is National Potato Day – love it! Now I’m thinking that when I am not inspired to make something, I’ll just go to this list and make whatever food is “National” that day.  Good idea, or bad? I guess it depends if that day falls on January 8 (good!) or November 24 (bad!).

The recipe here can be configured any way that best suits your needs. I love to make individual cheesecakes and use them for a salad course. You an purchase the pan HERE to make these little cuties ourself. As is, the recipe makes 24 individual cheesecakes to use as a first course or salad, plus a 6-inch appetizer cheesecake to be served with toasted baguette slices or crackers. Or it will make one full-size 9-inch savory cheesecake. It can also be cut in half to make just one 6-inch cheesecake.

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A little more than a month ago I told you about the boatload of oregano I dried… well now I’m using it up! This makes me happy for so many reasons. Happy to not have to go to the grocery store and pay outrageous prices for dried herbs. Happy with the taste and quality my oregano straight from my own little garden. And happy to just recently learn that the name oregano is derived from the Greek, meaning “mountain of joy”.  There you go, no wonder I’m happy and joyful about my fantastic oregano bounty. Oregano is an indispensable ingredient in Greek cuisine so here we have a salad were the joyful herb is a star and lights up the dish.

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One of my many favorite things from Costco is their large bag of sugar snap peas. It’s nearly impossible for me to walk through the cold produce room without snagging a bag!  And it is really c-o-l-d in that room. I see people shivering and little kids in shopping carts whining to their parents about it.  I linger, take my time and try to soak it up! I’m the same way at shopping malls and movie theaters. Other people (including my dear daughter, Marissa) endlessly complain and even plan ahead and bring along sweaters to warm their little bones. It’s 110 degrees outside and they are carrying a sweater! And they say I’m the crazy one, go figure.  But I digress – in that sweet produce room, I get my bag of sugar snap peas (and it’s a really big bag!) come home and either eat them raw and straight from the bag as a snack or cook them up into an “easy-breezy” worthy dish such as this.

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Each Thursday this summer during kids’ classes, the menu is vegetarian. It’s a healthy note to end each series of classes. And by Thursday, all the students are well versed on slicing and dicing. The past two weeks it was also a nice and colorful note, because on Wednesday the theme was ‘breads and sandwiches”.  Talk about a monotone plate – all white, beige, and brown – didn’t turn out to be as eye appealing as one might wish for. This pretty “confetti” speckled side dish would help brighten up any old dull sandwich plate.

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A photographer, I am not! I know this, and I accept it. And if you stop by here often, then I am guessing you know and accept it too.  Sometimes I just can’t get the correct light, or unable to correct the light and color in Photoshop. I’ve never taken a Photoshop course and really only know a couple quick tricks out of the whole big program. Marissa and I signed up for a community college photography night class five years ago, when she was a senior in high school. We quickly discovered that the instructor wasn’t really organized enough to teach. Being the great example- setting mom that I am, after only two very disappointing classes, I turned it into girls-night-out for shopping and dinner instead. Hmm?

Imagine this blog without food pictures, even mediocre pictures. Hard to do, at least for me. So I take on average between 6 and 10 shots of each picture I want to feature and hope for the best. That didn’t work out so well for today. I took 9 different shots of this broccoli last night. Then we had it for dinner.  This morning, I downloaded the photos and every single one is out of focus! It sure didn’t look that way in on the camera screen last night. Please forgive me, I still want to post the recipe because it was really good, but I won’t go to the store to buy more broccoli just to get a focused picture.

On a happier note; at the same time that Maris and I signed up for the photography class, we also signed up for a weekend watercolor class. I think there were five other women in there and Maris and I were, by far, the youngest… and the least talented! I mean, we were awful! And please keep in mind, that my son, Connor is a great artist! That is one of his many watercolors above, which he did when he was 11 years old. We came home each week with our pitiful “art” and I do not know how he kept a straight face. But we stuck with it! And we had fun. It helped that our instructor was very sweet and encouraging even though it was obvious that neither of us was getting any better. If you’re interested in seeing my talented son’s artwork, you can check out some of his work at this link. Most of the art posted there is done with a Pen Pad and his computer. Plus there is are a few photographs of some of his oils as well. Hope you enjoy the broccoli and the art.

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On Sunday, my friend and neighbor, Ronnie had a party to introduce and welcome new neighbors to “the hood”.  She made this colorful fresh and flavorful salad that we all went crazy for. It is inspired by a recipe she found in a cookbook by Rick Rodgers. I had two servings, and would have had a third if I could have gotten away with it! The original recipe called for 3 ears of corn to be roasted on a grill. This simple take on that uses frozen roasted corn kernels found at Trader Joe’s.  One medium cob of corn yields about 3/4 cup of kernels. So that is convenience item number one.  And here is number two … a new way to freeze and store chipotle peppers. As you know, chipotle peppers are sold in cans and they are packed in adobo sauce. The sauce is just about as good as the peppers themselves, spicy and smokey and just so addictive. I can’t think of a time when you would use an entire  7-ounce can of the peppers, generally recipes call for just a few peppers and then you have the rest of the can to deal with.  In the past I have  placed the remaining peppers on a small greased baking sheet, frozen them, then removed the frozen peppers and placed them in ziplock bags to freeze. But now… I have an even better way. In the majority of recipes the peppers are very finely chopped, so why not freeze them that way? First place all the remaining peppers and all the adobo sauce left in the can in a food processor and puree it. Next, carefully spoon the puree into the little holes of an empty garlic cube package. What is a garlic cube package, you ask. In a prior post, I told you how much I love to use the minced garlic cubes sold at Trader Joe’s. My freezer is full of them… so I reuse those empty containers and now I always have chipotle cubes on hand too.  One chipotle cube equals about 1/2 chipotle pepper.  Plus they pop out just as easily as the garlic does.

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Usually, I’m all about the candied pecans, but sometimes it’s nice to have the more natural flavor of the pecan come through. There is not better way to achieve that then to toast or roast them… and that is true for all nuts. Because when heated, the natural oils come to the front and the flavor just pops! Not only are we roasting the pecans, but also tossing with a little butter and salt. And we’re doing to the same thing to fresh dates. Because of a date’s natural sugar, the added butter and salt enhance the sweetness and it becomes its own little candy morsel!

The idea for this recipe came from my dear friend and colleague, Kim Howard. Kim told me about a pecan and date salad with a late harvest vinaigrette that she had at a restaurant. It just sounded too wonderful to not try and duplicate at home, so here goes…Kim, let me know what you think. I can tell you that my plumber, Larry of Lawrence Plumbing, loved it! He happened to arrived soon after I took the photo and right after Connor turned it down for his lunch… he wanted bagel bites… College boys, what the heck!?! But Larry was more than appreciative and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate him… if you ever need a plumber, let me know, because he is the best, promise!

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I have a dozen or so crab cake recipes but I chose this particular one for Peggy’s birthday because it is extra light. What makes it so, is separating the egg and folding in the whipped egg white just before cooking. The presentation with the herbed salad and aïoli is especially lovely, but the cakes are delicious on their own, so make it “easy-breezy” and leave those elements out, if you wish. I know I’ve mentioned before the fabulous real crab sold at Costco, but it is worth talking about again. The brand they used to sell was Phillips, now they carry Blue Star, both are exceptional quality and totally fabulous. What makes them so? Real lump crab that has been pasteurized with a “use by” date on the bottom of the container that is generally about 9 months to a year out. So there is no excuse to not have crab on hand anytime you need it. For this particular recipe, only about half of the container is used, so you can either double the amounts or be sure and use the remaining half container within a day or two.

To that end, I shall post another crab recipe tomorrow to finish it off. Another thing I have talked about before is the fact that the food processor has a special feature especially for making mayonnaise and aioli. If you need a refresher, click here to go back to that post. Finally, as always, if you don’t have Meyer lemons, no problem, just substitute regular lemons.

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Although I use and like mayonnaise, I am not a fan of it in potato salads, coleslaw, and such. It’s just too heavy and kind of just sits there and gloms altogether. This salad is light, tangy, and fresh tasting – so much better then that big mayo-mass of stuff served at picnics, and it’s safe to leave out in “the weather” too!

Just add a some shredded chicken to this and you’ll have yourself a main-dish salad supper (use purchased rotisserie chicken or roast a chicken breast, or two, alongside the potatoes). Other great add-ins include; thin red onion slices, chopped Kalamata olives, cherry tomato halves, minced parsley, chopped sun-dried tomato, etc. Or switch out the cheese; maybe some shaved smoked Gouda, Parmesan, or Manchego. How about pecans, almonds, or hazelnuts in place of the walnuts? You get the idea, make it our own and be sure to let me know how you mixed it up!
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