July 27, 2010

Blueberry Pie

I made this pie for my dad because:

1. It was his 64th birthday.

2. He loves blueberry pie.

3. I love him!

4. I wanted to impress my family with homemade pie crust. (And did!)

Oh! This pie!! There were times I felt like giving up because the dough was being a bit obnoxious when I was rolling it out. Parts of it crumbled and I felt like all I was doing was piecing it together. I mostly blame the temperature outside mixed with my lack of patience. It also didn’t help that I drank a bunch of wine the night before with my family and didn’t sleep well. With a glass of red wine and a long deep sigh, I finished what I started. There’s nothing that says I love you more than a homemade blueberry pie. Right? We devoured this fantastic lemon scented blueberry pie. My dad was proud, and we had such a wonderful evening!

Happy Birthday Dad! And thank you to Martha Stewart. This recipe worked out fabulously!
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July 26, 2010

Zucchini & Summer Squash Risotto

Executing this recipe the other night reiterated two things:

1. Making risotto is not hard. It just requires a bit of attention. A drawing pad, crayons & a high chair made this possible!

2. I should never take for granted having neighbors who drop off buckets of homegrown vegetables at my door. NEVER.

My friend Lana seduced me with her batch of pattypan risotto last week. Her son Alden is a week older than Cooper, so we commiserate in the battle of getting veggies into our carb loving sons! If you need to hide some veggies in a dish for your children, this is a good one to try! If you have a significant other who LOVES risotto, this will not disappoint! Casey ate A LOT!

This risotto is very light & creamy. The zucchini & summer squash melt right into the risotto; adding a bit of sweetness. The Parmesan & lemon juice additions at the end are key! They jazz up the risotto perfectly! It’s OK to go heavy handed on them! Thank you Lana & Helen for the inspiration. This will definitively be in our rotation!
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July 22, 2010

Spinach Salad with Fruits & Goat Cheese

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been overdosing on fruit right now. I take all the fruit I have in the house, chop it up, toss it in a bowl and pop it in the fridge to cool! I’ll walk pass the fridge during the day and poke my fork in to get a few bites before I start an activity. Yes. I am totally THAT person. Last night I had a bright idea to eat fruit for dinner! I wanted something savory, substantial & simple with what I had left, so here’s the salad I came up with.

In this bowl of fruit you’ll find kiwis, strawberries, blueberries, mangoes & plums!

I added crumbled goat cheese, a bag of spinach & the remains of the salad dressing used in my Mom’s salad to the fruit.

I realized that it was missing a crunch factor. Enter SUNFLOWER SEEDS!

Everything worked really well together! Casey loved it too. WIN!

So here it is. Our dinner. Served with some crusty toasted bread. DEEELISH!

Have you been into fruit too?

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July 21, 2010

Black Bean Taco Night!

Two nights ago I made Molly’s Quick Black Beans recipe and fell madly, truly & deeply in love. I seriously could eat the whole batch straight out of the pan. But I have a boy & my man to feed, so I figured I’d do something substantial with them.

We had a Black Bean Taco party! Outside!

The cumin & oregano are wonderful additions to the beans! They become so creamy & tasty!

I started to make some salsa. Decided to put it in a blender. We don’t like chunky salsa here.

It got really foamy and scared me. But it tasted great! I added chunks of avocado.

Here’s the spread! Tacos were just a good excuse to have Coronas!

I thought they would be good as tostadas, but then I saw Casey picking up his and eating it.

So they became tacos! I guess that’s what happens when I’m too busy to supply us with knives. YUM!!!

Thanks for the Black Bean recipe, Molly! Be sure to check it out. It’s a winner!

Oh! My friend Whitney made some too! Check out how she fixed them!

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July 21, 2010

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recipes

July 18, 2010

Salt & Vinegar Potato Salad

Being from the anti-mayo camp, I delight in a vinegar-based potato salad! This one is probably the best potato salad I’ve ever had! I’m floored at how amazing Yukon Gold potatoes are in a potato salad! They knock the socks off the traditional red potato. They’re a little bit creamy, a little sweet, and they have the best texture EVER. A good contrast with the crunchy marinated red onion slices.

I also bow down to the wonderful taste of the Old Bay seasoning. One bite of this potato salad, and you’ll find an excuse to put Old Bay on everything. So ZINGY & GOOD! I love when I get a little hint of celery seed in a bite. Just wait til you try the leftovers the next day. You might find yourself eating directly out of the bowl! Don’t worry. It’s cool. You are in good company!

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July 16, 2010

Mom’s Green Salad

While living under my parents roof, we were obligated to eat salad every night at dinner. As a mom, I applaud my mother for providing us with a healthy meal every night. As a child, I begrudgingly ate my salad; complaining the whole time. A few years ago my mother fell in love with Ina Garten. She starting watching all of her shows, and then bought all of her cookbooks. Her Ina recipe binge has been quite a treat for our family and her dinner party guests! The only drawback is that we have to hear “Ina this and Ina that. Ina Ina Ina!” Occasionally a phone call is ended because an episode of Barefoot Contessa is on.

She tried this simple green salad dressing a few years ago and it has become a necessary staple in her fridge. It’s elevated the nightly dinner salad (which had a basic oil & vinegar dressing)into something quite fancy! I find myself going back for second & third helpings whenever I’m at my parent’s house for dinner. I’m guilty of making too much of this salad when I’m helping her in the kitchen because I really just want as much as possible.

The ingredients of her salad are simple. This dressing is mixed with sliced cucumbers, vine ripened tomatoes, green onions, romaine lettuce & the hot ticket item-THE AVOCADO. My brother still grabs the bowl at the end of the meal and hogs all of the avocado chunks. I’ve always hated that. But if we didn’t fight over avocados and crispy potatoes, the Earth would stop spinning.
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