Yay! It’s grilling season. My husband makes some mean grilled meats, but that’s so obvious. I like when he steps outside of the box–my favorite is the grilled pizza he makes on bricks or in a cast iron skillet. We have family coming into town for Memorial Day this weekend, so we plan to grill…
Cinco De Mayo is an excellent excuse for a Mexican-inspired cocktail, if you need such a thing, with tequila being the signature spirit of Mexico. However, if you’re not drinking tequila as a shot, your options are shamefully limited. Yes, there are margarita varieties galore and the famous Paloma (or “Cazadores y Squirt” as my Latino friends…
My husband gives me the hardest time about my peanut butter consumption. As I began making these peanut butter and jelly scones, he moaned about the fact that I’m constantly making peanut butter recipes (I’m not). I think he just likes to give me a hard time because I do, in fact, really like peanut…
Cinco de Mayo is just a couple weeks away. I’m getting my margarita recipes ready, and scouting out the best guacamole recipe. But those are so obvious. I mean, I always have those things on Cinco de Mayo. I wanted to add something else fun to my menu, so I searched for interesting churro recipes….
Do you do meatless Mondays? This asparagus farro risotto with sweet peas is a great choice. Farro is my new favorite grain. On a recent trip to San Francisco, my friend suggested we try Barbacco, which was delicious. I ordered the farro “risotto” with mushrooms. The waiter asked me if I’d ever eaten farro before–apparently, other…
Asparagus was 88 cents a pound at the grocery store last weekend. Yay! Seriously, I was really excited. Sometimes, it’s the small things in life. I know it might sound funny, but I get really excited when it’s asparagus season. My favorite quick vegetable side dish is oven roasted asparagus with olive oil and a…
My husband, Jade, heard about using a cast iron skillet to make deep dish pizza while listening to the Splendid Table. We finally got a cast iron skillet last fall to make honey sage cornbread, but we haven’t used it all that much. Jade was interested to see how a pizza would turn out in…
My new office gives us unlimited hot drinks. Most days, I stick with my favorite earl gray, but the past couple afternoons, I’ve indulged by sipping a couple pre-packaged hot chocolates. Those little packets bring back memories of building snow forts and giant snowmen in my front yard. I loved playing in the snow as…
For my daughter’s first birthday, I made her a funfetti cake from scratch. I made way too much cake though, so I had almost an entire cake and enough frosting left to make funfetti cake pops. I’d never made cake pops before, so I wasn’t sure where to start. I created my recipe based on…
For my daughter’s first birthday, I decided to make a homemade funfetti birthday cake for a couple reason. First, it’s cute and looks pretty. Second, I made a low-sugar healthy smash cake for my son’s first birthday, and he didn’t dig into it like I had hoped. I figured the lure of the sweet buttery…
I’ve been on a soup kick lately. Maybe it’s because it’s winter (but it’s like 80 in Phoenix today, so cold weather isn’t the motivator). Really, I think it’s because soup is so comforting. The last month has been kind of stressful. My kids have been sick almost non-stop since New Years and on top…
I love cooking in our crock pot, especially on the weekends. You throw everything in first thing in the morning, and by dinner time, you have a hot and hearty dish. Crock pots dishes are just so easy to make and not at all fussy. I recently discovered a highly rated turkey chili recipe, but it was…
Over the holidays, along with sugar cookies, I made some of my childhood favorites — puppy chow and special k bars. If you haven’t tried these no-oven-required recipes before, you should. They are ridiculously easy to make and really yummy. The perfect chocolate and peanut butter desserts recipes ring in the new year and a new…
A lot has changed this year. Two biggies—my daughter Giada was born and we left California and moved back ‘home’. My favorite part about New Years Eve is reflecting on the year that’s gone by and making plans for the future. With reflection in mind, I looked back at all the blog posts from the year…
I’m always looking for new ways to connect with my Italian heritage—most of the time, that involves trying a new recipe. I first heard of Florentine lace cookies, while watching America’s Test Kitchen. I wasn’t sure I had the patience to make these because they seemed complicated—in reality, they are super easy to make, if you…