Whipped up this pretty little app for a Mother’s Day dinner spent with J and his family. I recently had dinner at Delarosa here in SF, which inspired the above delight.
Crostini with Burrata Cheese, Hazelnuts, & Honey
Ingredients:
French baguette
Burrata Cheese
Honey
Hazelnuts
Olive Oil
S & P
Directions:
Slice the baguette into 1/2 inch slices.
Toast the hazelnuts in a frying pan over medium-high heat, until fragrant and the skins begin to look a little roasted, about 3-5 minutes. Set aside to cool. Once they’ve cooled off a bit, use a kitchen towel to rub off the loose skins. Can’t get all the skins off? Me neither. Just rub off the loose skin that you can, and don’t sweat it if some are left on there.
Lightly brush the baguette slices with the reserved olive oil. Over medium high heat, lightly toast the baguette slices in the same frying pan, about 1-2 minutes per side (or pop them in the toaster oven, that’s what we did!). Remove from pan, and place on a large cutting board.
Now you’re ready to assemble the crostini. Spread each toast with about 1 tablespoon of the fresh burrata. Top each with a small pinch of sea salt, one grind of pepper, and the hazelnuts. Drizzle all the crostini with honey. Arrange on a platter and enjoy!
Throw back to last spring…
Yet again, another amazing dinner that sat neglected in my drafts folder for nearly a year now!
Too delicious and adventurous not to share - din and dessert hand crafted by yours truly and mi amiga, Christina. The turnovers were such a yummy treat - don’t be afraid to mix it up depending on what fruit is in season - I’ve seen these made with pears and apples - and if you don’t fancy goat cheese try blue cheese or gorgonzola for a tangier taste. Creme Brulee is no joke - we made the decision to make it mainly based on the fact that Christina’s BF was in dental school, and owned a torch - I mean how could we not capitalize on that opportunity?
Recipes a la Ramshackleglam & The Food Network:
Chicken, peach, and goat cheese turnovers
Lunch is served. That’s a pretty little sando don’t ya think? Super easy, healthy, and delish. No it doesn’t take a foodie genius to come up with this one, but just a suggestion from me to you - to mix things up at the lunch hour.
What you need:
Turkey or Chicken Breast
Havarti or Swiss Cheese
Spinach
Sliced Apple
Hummus
Greek Yogurt (low fat)
Pita Pockets
What you do:
Simply mix 1 tsp of hummus with 1 tsp of Greek yogurt in a small bowl. Then spread onboth pita halves - add turkey, cheese, sliced apple, and spinach. Bon appetit!
Another easy peasy dinner I whipped up recently was Chicken Pad Thai. If you know me, you know I love and eat PT a lot so you can imagine my excitement when I stumbled upon this fabulous Thai Kitchen “kit” at Whole Foods last weekend.
The kit comes equipped with spices and noodles - so all I had to do was buy the chicken, peanuts, and bean sprouts. Follow the quick and easy directions on the box and voila - semi-homemade Chicken Pad Thai!
I wasn’t kidding about trying at least of the below desserts! Gave the mint chip cookie sandwiches a go except I’d call my version “the lazy girl” mint chip M&M cookie sandwich.
What you’ll need:
Dark Chocolate Mint M&M’s (kind of hard to find, but I found little bags and bought 2)
Easy-bake Chocolate Chip Cookies (TollHouse or Hersey)
Mint Chip Ice-Cream
What I did:
Put the cookies on a non-stick pan and add two or three M&Ms to each pre-baked cookie. Bake at 350 degrees for 10- 13 minutes (depends if you want soft or hard cooks). Give them a good 5 minutes to cool down and then add 1 scoop of ice-cream to make your sando. That’s it, my lazy way to make yummy ice-cream sandwiches! Took less than 20 minutes to whip up. They were such a good treat and everyone loved and devoured them saying the dark chocolate mint M&M’s were the perfect touch! [I can totally see this same recipe made with all kinds of M&Ms and ice-cream - thinking next I would try peanut butter M&Ms with some kind of chocolate peanut butter or chocolate cookie ice-cream.] Thanks to Bake at 350 for the inspiration. Enjoy!
Stumbled upon these two delicious St Patties Day themed desserts and think I might have to try both of them this weekend. I am a quarter Irish after all!
Baileys Chocolate Pudding + Jameson Butterscotch Pudding via HelloBrit
Hint O’ Mint Chocolate Chip Cookie Sandwiches via Bake at 350
This easy peasy low maintenance dinner was inspired by one of my fav bloggers (and best friends) Eat Better Live Well. Andrea blogged about a yummy grilled cheese sando a while back - and tonight was the perfect night for me to give it a whirl.
I ran to the grocery to pick up bread, cheese, tomatoes, and avocado. Dusted off my panini grill (you could also just use a fry pan) and the end result was perfect. Took about 10 minutes to make and probably about the same to devour :)
Needs:
Bread - I used Health Nut bread since I prefer a wheat over white
Cheese - I used Swiss, but really the cheese world is your oyster
Avocado - I used 1/4 and saved the rest
Tomato - I used two slices from one medium sized fruit
Butter - to spread on the sides of the bread you plan to grill
Ketchup - I HAVE to dip my GC in Ketchup (picked up this habit from my days living in a sorority - we had some interesting college habits like having goldfish in our salads instead of croutons. Those were the days, or were they?!)
It’s that simple.
Look at these mini muffs! How creative and delicious. Adding to my list of things I want to try.
via HelloBrit
This year on V-Day Jeremy and I joined forces with Kate (my co-worker and good friend) and her roommate Kevin at their place to concoct a delicious dinner. I stumbled upon the most adorable heart shaped pasta and insisted on finding a recipe to put the pasta to good use. As fate would have it, the Tasting Table email of the day on V-Day was the most perfect pesto recipe a girl could ask for. Check it out, it was easy and delicious - and I ate leftovers for lunch and dinner for two days straight! Yum.
Nutty Love, Pistachio Pesto via TastingTable
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INGREDIENTS
1 cup shelled pistachios
1 tablespoon kosher salt plus extra for pasta water
1½ pounds medium shaped pasta (we combined shells/hearts, but can use whatever you prefer)
1 large head broccoli, stems trimmed
2 garlic cloves
Juice and zest of 1 Meyer lemon (or zest of 1 regular lemon with 3 tablespoons lemon juice and 1 tablespoon orange juice)
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves
½ cup mint leaves
1½ cups extra-virgin olive oil
½ cup finely grated Pepato or Pecorino Romano cheese
2 tablespoons finely chopped chives
Sea salt
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DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat the oven to 350°. On a rimmed baking sheet, toast the pistachios until fragrant and lightly toasted, 5 to 6 minutes. Transfer to a large plate and cool, then coarsely grind in a food processor. Transfer the ground pistachios to a bowl and set aside
2. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add some kosher salt and the pasta and cook until almost al dente, about 8 minutes. When the pasta is almost finished, add the broccoli to the pot and cook for 2 minutes more or until the pasta is al dente and the broccoli is tender. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta water and drain the pasta and broccoli through a large colander.
3. In the same food processor, combine the garlic, lemon zest, red pepper flakes and kosher salt and grind into a fine paste. Add the parsley and mint and pulse to make a rough paste. With the motor running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil. Transfer to a medium saucepan and stir in the ground pistachios.
4. Add the pasta water to the pesto; bring to a boil and simmer for 2 minutes.
5. In a large bowl, combine the pasta, broccoli and pesto. Stir in the lemon juice and set aside for 5 minutes. To serve, divide the pasta among plates or bowls and garnish with the grated cheese, chives, sea salt.
In honor of the Super Bowl tomorrow had to share my one of my favorite dip recipes with you all! It’s super easy to make and a total crowd pleaser.
Here is my take on this Seven Layer Taco Dip.
Ingredients
- 1 (1 ounce) package taco seasoning mix
- 1 (16 ounce) can refried beans
- 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
- 1 (16 ounce) container sour cream
- 1 (16 ounce) jar salsa
- 1 large tomato, chopped
- 1 green bell pepper, chopped
- 1 bunch chopped green onions
- 1 small head iceberg lettuce, shredded
- 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
Directions
- In a medium bowl, blend the taco seasoning mix and refried beans. Spread the mixture onto a large serving platter.
- Mix the sour cream and cream cheese in a medium bowl. Spread over the refried beans.
- Top the layers with salsa. Place a layer of tomato, green bell pepper, green onions and lettuce over the salsa, and top with Cheddar cheese.
- Can be severed hot or cold.
And with that said, go Patriots!!!
Making chicken wings today for a football party we are headed to in a few hours to watch the Patriots play the Ravens (Go Pats!) and then the 49er’s play the Giants (Go Niners!)!
Re-blogging my Memere’s famous recipe below. These are a great alternative to hot wings. I know most men love hot wings, but to try something different these are the perfect balance of sweet and spicy - and my dad, brother, and Jeremy, can attest to that! Yum.
Go Pats!
- 5 lbs wings (ask the butcher if you can)
- 1 can beef broth
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
-3/4 cup honey
- 1 pinch garlic powder
- salt and pepper
- 1 tsp ginger
Bake in a single layer long pan at 275 for 2 1/2 hours
Tips:
-If possible, marinate up to 1 to 2 days before
- Only turn them once to ensure a yummy brown, crispier skin
- If you double the recipe, do not double the liquid, but use 1 and a half times the recipe
- Angel recommends doubling the recipe for a big Super Bowl party, but says that 5 lbs, along with a few other appetizers, is plenty for about 12 guests.
- Make these on any game day and your guests will smell them the minute they walk in the door! They make the whole house smell delicious!
Made this homemade hummus from scratch last weekend with my good friend Kate! If you know me well, you know I love hummus. Like, I love love love hummus - and I had never tried to make it on my own. Now I can check that off the list! Recipe below.
Hummus via Recipe.com
Ingredients
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 (19 ounce) can garbanzo beans, half the liquid reserved
- 4 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons tahini
- 1 clove garlic, chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt
- black pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Directions
- In a blender, chop the garlic. Pour garbanzo beans into blender, reserving about a tablespoon for garnish. Place lemon juice, tahini, chopped garlic and salt in blender. Blend until creamy and well mixed.
- Transfer the mixture to a medium serving bowl. Sprinkle with pepper and pour olive oil over the top. Garnish with reserved garbanzo beans.
Made this last Sunday night with J. It was heavenly! Very spicy, but such a yummy dish - highly recommend giving it a try. The recipe and some pix of the fun below.
via How Sweet It is
Chicken Enchilada Spaghetti
serves 2-4
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1/2 red pepper, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon pepper
pinch of cayenne pepper
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
1/2 pound of dry whole wheat spaghetti
1 10-ounce can of red enchilada sauce
3/4 cup freshly grated sharp cheddar cheese
cilantro for topping (if you don’t like, I recco scallions instead)
Our secret ingredient, not in the original recipe, is Trader Joe’s roasted corn. Perfect touch!
Boil water for pasta and prepare’ pasta according to directions.
While pasta is cooking, heat a large skillet over medium heat and add olive oil. Add onions, peppers, salt and pepper and let cook until vegetables are soft, about 5-6 minutes. Add garlic and cook for another 1-2 minutes, then stir in chicken, cumin, cayenne, paprika and chili powder, along with the can of enchilada sauce. Turn the heat down to low, drain the cooked pasta, then add pasta to the skillet too. Fold in cheese and mix thoroughly to combine. Toss with a set of kitchen tongs until everything is mixed, then serve with a bunch of fresh cilantro.
