The Perfect Lasagne

Jun 272012
 

I’ve fallen in love with the quirky cook­ing show, Extra Vir­gin, star­ring Debi Mazar and her Ital­ian native hus­band. I recently tried one of their mouth water­ing recipes, bolog­nese lasagne with a besci­amella sauce. It is divine! I’m going to be upfront with you, it’s a sim­ple yet time con­sum­ing recipe. How­ever, one bite and you’ll know it was worth all the effort.  The main thing you’ll notice that sets this recipe apart from most, is the lack of cheese. Instead you use a besci­amella sauce that is made from but­ter, flour and milk. It turns what would be an ordi­nary dish into an extra­or­di­nary one!

I fol­lowed the recipe as directed, except I omit­ted the nut­meg sim­ply because I don’t like it. If you need a meal to impress, look no fur­ther… Serve it with a sim­ple salad and rus­tic Ital­ian bread. Of course, don’t for­get the vino!

Recipe Here

(cour­tesy of Gabriele Cor­cos and Debi Mazar)

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Fake It: Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Mar 142012
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As many of you may know, I am more of a savory gal than sweet. ( I’m not talk­ing just per­son­al­ity here!) So when and if I rec­om­mend some­thing on the sug­ary side, you’ll know it must be really good and rel­a­tively easy to make. I love to cook, but hate to bake. Who needs to bake when you have your sis­ter liv­ing down the street that could give Eliz­a­beth Falkner  a run for her money?

Today, you’re in for a treat (no pun intended)! I’m shar­ing my sis­ters “fake it, choco­late peanut but­ter cup­cakes”. She (Colleen, a.k.a. my sis) cuts some cor­ners to save you time and energy, with­out sac­ri­fic­ing taste and qual­ity. I promise you won’t be dis­ap­pointed with these mouth water­ing, belly bulging cup­cakes! I never said, low-fat, just really yummy and easy!

Happy bak­ing!

RECIPE HERE
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The Perfect Party Mix

Feb 142012
 

Ina Garten’s Rose­mary Nuts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look­ing for an easy, gourmet pro­tein to have on hand for your next cock­tail shindig? Look no further…Ina Garten’s rose­mary nuts are the bomb! They only take a few min­utes to make and your guests will devour them.

Recipe:
  • 3/4 pounds cashew nuts
  • 3/4 pounds almonds
  • 2 table­spoons coarsely chopped fresh rose­mary leaves
  • 1 tea­spoon cayenne (less if you don’t like spicy)
  • 2 tea­spoons dark brown sugar
  • 2 tea­spoons kosher salt
  • 2 table­spoon melted butter

Pre­heat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Place the nuts on an ungreased bak­ing sheet and bake for about 10 min­utes until they are warmed through. Mean­while, com­bine the rose­mary, pep­per, sugar, salt and but­ter in a large bowl. Remove the nuts from the oven and coat with the mix­ture in the bowl. Serve warm or room tem­per­a­ture in a bowl. Gar­nish with a fresh sprig of rosemary.

Ina Garten’s orig­i­nal recipe here. I made a few changes to her recipe as you will see. I add almonds, more cayenne and but­ter. At this point I really just “eye” my mea­sure­ments. Once you make them a few times you’ll end up putting your own spin on the recipe.

nuts cartoon joke

would make cute gift tag

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Extra:

Make a batch of these for the per­fect host­ess gift. Pack­age them as “nuts and bolts” in a can. For an eas­ier option, grab a clear bag and tie it with a string that has a few con­struc­tion nuts attached. Sim­ple, fast and cre­atively cute.

nuts and bolts in a can

 

 

 

 

 

 


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Sunday’s Supper: Chicken with Olives and Lemons

Jan 202012
 

chicken with lemon and olives in a pan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Okay, okay, mine doesn’t look exactly like the magazine’s photo but I bet mine tastes better!)
 

Cook­ing Light mag­a­zine is one of my favorite places to find sim­ple, healthy, but deli­cious recipes. I espe­cially like this month’s issue because of the 25 chicken din­ners that are fea­tured. I’ve been exper­i­ment­ing with the dif­fer­ent recipes and so far I love the chicken with lemons and olives din­ner.  The aro­mas are enough to get your entire fam­ily to grav­i­tate to the din­ner table!

 

 

 

 

 

 

RECIPE HERE

Hope you enjoy…Buon Appetito!

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Orange Dream Machine

Jan 132012
 

 

orange dream machine smoothie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My lat­est addic­tion is the Orange Dream Machine smoothie. Until recently, I was at the mercy of Jamba Juice to get my daily fix. Since I’ve become the happy recip­i­ent of a new Blendtec, I can now make my own. (okay, I con­fess, my son can now make me them, haha)

There has been a lot of trial and error to get this smoothie per­fected to the point that I like it just as much as the orig­i­nal Orange Dream Machine at Jamba Juice. My recipe is for using a Blendtec. How­ever, I think you can get the same fla­vor pro­files with a reg­u­lar kitchen blender. You might need to adjust the juice or ice amounts depend­ing on if it’s turn­ing out to too thick or thin.

Ingre­di­ents: (makes 2 large smoothies)

  • 1 cup orange juice (fresh squeezed is bet­ter but not mandatory)
  • ½ cup milk or soy milk
  • 2 large scoops of orange sherbert
  • 2 large scoops of vanilla frozen yogurt
  • 1 ½ cups ice

Direc­tions:

  1. Add the liq­uids on the bot­tom first, then the solids and finally the ice.
  2. Use the pre-programmed smoothie but­ton if you’re using a Blendtec. (some­times I run it twice to get a creamier con­sis­tancy) If your using a house­hold blender, blend until it’s a creamy smoothie.
  3. Poor in a fun glass with a straw and a piece of fruit for a garnish.


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New Twist On: Corned Beef Hash

Jan 072012
 

 

corned beef hash potato pancakes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This morn­ing I woke up with left over mashed pota­toes and corn beef in my fridge. (and a grum­bling tummy) I was going to make my tra­di­tional corned beef hash, but decided to have a lit­tle fun instead. I invented a corned beef hash potato pan­cake that turned out divine, if I do say so myself!

RECIPE HERE

Since this was break­fast, I topped off the potato pan­cakes with two poached eggs. Truly the icing on the cake!

      

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Fake It: Bloody Marys

Dec 172011
 

bloody mary drink in a glass

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A quick, but deli­cious Bloody Mary recipe that will taste like you know what you’re doing, even if you don’t. Per­fect for Sun­day foot­ball gath­er­ings at your place, a bridal shower brunch or relax­ing poolside.

 

What you need:
  • Vodka of your choice
  • Bloody Mary mix (Trader Joe’s is my favorite)
  • Lemon
  • Tabasco
  • Lea & Perrins
  • S & P
  • Aspara­gus spear, cel­ery sticks or skew­ers with cooked shrimp and green olives. (OPTIONAL GARNISH)
What to do:
  • Put your glasses in the freezer ahead of time to be a lit­tle extra special.
  • Add ice to your glass, fol­lowed by  3/4 tomato mix to 1/4 vodka, a squeeze of fresh lemon, one splash of Lea & Per­rins, a dash of S & P and Tabasco if you like it spicy. (3 drops for mild, 5 for medium and 8 for hot)
  • Gar­nish the side of the glass with a slice of lemon and insert an aspara­gus spear, cel­ery stick or shrimp and green olive skewer. (my per­sonal favorite)

all the ingredients for a bloody mary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fun facts:

  • The name “Bloody Mary” is asso­ci­ated with a num­ber of his­tor­i­cal figures—particularly Queen Mary I of England—and fic­tional women from folk­lore. Some drink afi­ciona­dos believe the inspi­ra­tion for the name was Hol­ly­wood star Mary Pickford.
  • The Bloody Mary is some­times used to treat hang­overs when it is served in the morn­ing. In the United States, the Bloody Mary is a pop­u­lar drink choice at restau­rants that serve brunch.
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Sunday’s Supper: Chicken Tacos

Nov 262011
 

 

 

This Sun­day, I’m hon­or­ing my favorite con­tes­tant on The Next Iron Chef, Michael Chiarello, by mak­ing his chicken taco recipe. One taste and you’ll be watch­ing with me as I cheer him on.

Recipe here

I don’t take any Nel­lene short cuts with this recipe. I make it just like Chef Chiarello does. You can decide on which condi­ments you’d like to serve on the side. I like to offer sour cream, fresh cilantro, red onions, cheese, avo­cado and home­made salsa.

Next week I’ll be doing a post on how to throw a Next Iron Chef finale party. Be sure to stay tuned…

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Sunday’s Supper: Easy Bolognese

Nov 192011
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the meal to make when you’re crav­ing that Sun­day sup­per that tastes like you spent all day slav­ing over the stove. I found a per­fect com­pro­mise with Ina Garten’s Bolog­nese recipe. The good news is that it only takes week­day effort to make. I was pleas­antly amazed by it’s rich, robust fla­vors that came together in such a short time.

Recipe Here

Tips:

  • Dou­ble the recipe (I did) and freeze the sauce for a future easy week­day dinner.
  • Be sure to print this one out and add it to your recipe file labeled, “company’s com­ing over for din­ner”.  It’s so easy to make the day ahead. On the day of you can just make a fresh salad and boil the pasta.
  • Put together a gift bas­ket. Most of the ingre­di­ents are dry and can be bought and assem­bled in a bas­ket. Include the recipe and what they need to add. (the beef) Keep it sim­ple or add a lit­tle extra with wine glasses, vino to drink, cloth nap­kins, can­dles, Ital­ian music cd, etc…


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Sunday’s Soup: White Bean

Nov 042011
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do you want your senses to do a lit­tle dance this week­end? Then get boogy­ing in the kitchen and make this soup orig­i­nally cre­ated by Mar­cus from the Top Chef. It’s not like a typ­i­cal extra thick bean soup. I would clas­sify this more as a brothy (is that a word?) bean soup but with bold fla­vors. This is def­i­nitely com­pany worthy!

RECIPE HERE

By the way, I must credit my mother in-law Con­nie for this new keeper…thanks!

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