Does anyone else think it's possible that this whole charcuterie craze is being fueled by a generation that grew up on lunchables? 😅 I didn't grow up as part of the "lunchable generation" but I do think it's likely that these original bento box style eaters have grown up and popularized the charcuterie board. The definition of charcuterie refers to smoked or cured meats. I use the term in a much broader sense and less of a literal interpretation. 😅 Some of my charcuterie boards don't actually include any meat at all. I labelled this creation an Independence Day dessert charcuterie board. 👇🏻 For the record, no matter what they're called - I'm on board with the charcuterie board movement. I love designing them. I love making them and most importantly, I love eating them. 😋 I designed this colorful creation over a bed of lettuce so technically - it's a charcuterie salad. 🤣 I started with a very basic recipe and then added all of my favorites. A layer of crisp romaine covers the bottom and ripe peaches, sweet corn, crispy red onion, turkey bacon, creamy avocado, blueberries, salty parmesan, fresh herbs and the most tasty, grilled chicken ever, decorate the top. 🍑🌽🥑That's the thing about charcuterie boards - I can add whatever I like. 💁🏻♀️ Rosemary Chicken and Peach Salad 3 Tablespoons sodium soy sauce 3 Tablespoons olive oil, divided 1 Tablespoon honey 1 Tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary 1 Tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs 2 ears corn 6 slices turkey bacon, cut into thirds 1 head romaine, roughly chopped 2 peaches, sliced 1 avocado, halved, seeded, peeled and sliced 1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced Balsamic Dressing 1/4 cup olive oil 1 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar 1 tablespoon honey 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard 1 Tablespoon fresh basil
Add corn, bacon, peaches, avocado and onion. Honestly, I think that the hardest part of this whole salad charcuterie process was eating it. 🤣 It was hard to get some of each ingredient on our plates along with some of the crispy lettuce from underneath. I considered dumping the whole platter into a bowl and tossing it but that kind of defeats the purpose of a charcuterie style salad. I guess if figuring out how to eat it is my biggest obstacle - I'm okay with that. 😉
Ciao!
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The blueberry bush in my backyard is circa 2007. It's not planted in the best location, I don't remember to water it very enough and let's just say - pruning it is not my forte.😂 But despite my shortcomings as a blueberry farmer - it survives. It does more than survive really - it thrives - in spite of me. It makes me so happy to watch as the hundreds of tiny berries that hang from its branches turn from green to a deep blue as the summer progresses. Every summer I look forward to snacking on fresh berries while I'm outside watering the garden or passing by the bush on the way to the neighbors house. A handful of berries at a time is about all that I ever got at one time. I was totally okay with that. I assumed that the birds and the deer around my house were enjoying the sweet berries just as much as I was. 🦉🦌I realize that I could have covered the bush but I never bothered because I felt like the animals needed a snack too. Fast forward to 2021 and I am picking BUCKETS of blueberries from my 14 year old blueberry bush. 💁🏻♀️ What changed? This is the first summer that we haven't had a mischievous Weimeriner. I am absolutely convinced that it wasn't the birds or the deer after all. Mia was eating all of the precious berries off of my bush. 🤣 Our crazy dog was sneaking around the backyard, stealing berries without me ever knowing. 🐶😅 Since I find myself with an abundance of fresh blueberries this summer - I'm making all the fun blueberry recipes. My latest creation is a blueberry vanilla mini muffin. I normally opt for giant, oversized, bakery style muffins but for some reason, I was feeling like a more dainty and bite sized muffin today. Calories don't count when muffins are tiny, right? These muffins are amazing and if you don't have yogurt on hand, you can substitute sour cream. Blueberry Vanilla Mini Muffins 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 cups Greek yogurt, plain 2/3 cup sugar 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted 1 large egg 1 tablespoon vanilla 1 cup blueberries 2 tablespoons sparkling sugar
Bake 10-12 minutes at 350. These muffins are delicious but I've got so many blueberries - I need you to share your favorite ways to enjoy blueberries. I want to see your cobbler recipes, your shortcakes, your famous pies and grandma's blueberry cheesecake recipe. You can send them in a comment or shoot me an email. mystoryinrecipes@gmail.com TIA
Ciao! Summer weekends are for relaxing, recharging and resting ... unless you're a caterer. Then weekends constitute of 5am alarms and hours and hours spent in the kitchen. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy spending a weekend preparing food but I definitely look forward to Mondays when I can catch my breath - and a cup of coffee. 😅☕️ This weekend was as busy as they come but I did manage to sneak away to grab some produce from the farmers market. I must have needed a break from all of the sugar and butter because I was craving garden ripe tomato, juicy watermelon, fresh peaches and corn on the cob. 😂🍅 #Ilovethefarmersmarket I have to say that as a food blogger who resides in the state of Georgia, I feel somewhat obligated to post summer peach recipes. 🍑🤣 Peaches are honestly, one of the best things about summer in the south. We have to put up with gnats, termites, armadillos and absurd heat and humidity but we also get to enjoy some of the most delicious summer produce grown in the Peach State. This Peach and Burrata Salad is amazing. Burrata is a creamier, and dare I say - more delicious - version of fresh mozzarella. Add a generous sprinkling of fresh basil, some good quality prosciutto,a drizzle of olive oil and the very best peaches you can find and voila - a perfect summer salad. Peach and Burrata Salad 2 large ripe peaches 2 teaspoons white wine vinegar 8 ounce ball burrata 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper 2 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto 1/2 cup fresh basil, roughly chopped 2 Tablespoons olive oil
Sprinkle basil over platter and drizzle with oil. Arrange prosciutto over platter. This recipe has an identity crisis. It's labelled as a salad but I'm not convinced that it falls under the category of "salad." It's an ideal summer side dish for any grilled meats or vegetables. And accompanied by a glass of white wine, it makes a perfect appetizer. I would even serve this fruit and cheese platter as a dessert course. So don't let the title fool you - this is so much more than a salad.
Ciao! If 2020 taught me anything - it would be how to be an online shopper. Out of necessity, I mastered the art of finding what I needed online, ordering it, paying for it and then waiting for it to show up at my door. #thankyouamazonprime 😂Online shopping is a beautiful thing and up until last week, I'd probably boasted that over the last year, I'd become a fairly proficient online shopper. And then this happened ... I wanted to order a chocolate mold to make some tools for cupcake toppers. Clearly I missed the fine print on the item description though because the unusually small chocolate mold that arrived, made the tiniest tools that I've ever seen. 👀😅 I'm pretty sure that these miniature chocolate tools would disappear completely into a pillow of buttercream on top of a cupcake. 🛠 When I finished laughing about the absurdity of the size of these chocolate tools, I requested a refund from amazon and within minutes, I had my money refunded and they told me that there was no reason to return the product. #thankyouamazon That was the point when I decided that I had to at least try the mini mold. I can't help but wonder what in the world anyone would possibly do with a chocolate hammer that's the size of a penny but who can resist making tools? 🤷🏻♀️ Clearly I need a little more help in the online shopping department. 😅 I obviously got a little too excited when I saw the mold for tools and scanned through the details a little too quickly. 😂The same thing happened when I saw this recipe for S'more Cookies. You can't blame me really. I mean, who wouldn't get excited about S'more Cookies? 💁🏻♀️ When I got all caught up in the excitement of making these amazing treats, I neglected to read through the whole recipe until it was way too late. I had no idea how many steps were involved in the making of these cookies until the process was already underway. 😬 I don't want to discourage you from making these because they're delicious - I just want to give you all the facts so that you don't jump into the recipe with the same reckless enthusiasm that I did. 🤣 They're just as scrumptious and delicious as they sound but they do require an investment in time. S'more Cookies Cookies 2 cups all-purpose flour 3/4 cup natural unsweetened cocoa 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup butter, room temperature 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla Ganache 4 oz. heavy whipping cream 2 tablespoons butter 3/4 cup dark chocolate morsels Chocolate Buttercream 2 cups confectioners’ sugar 1/4 cup natural unsweetened cocoa 1/2 cup butter, room temperature 1/4 cup of prepared chocolate ganache 1 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs Meringue Frosting 3 egg whites 3/4 cup granulated sugar 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar 1 teaspoon vanilla
Transfer mixture to a piping bag fitted with a star tip. Pipe meringue on top of each cookie. Use a butane torch to toast the meringue on each cookie. Decorate with a square of hershey's chocolate. Much like my chocolate mold order, my cookie making process didn't go off without a hitch. The first time I made these cookies, I couldn't get the meringue to stand up on its own. I made it 4 different times and it just wouldn't stiffen up. 😢 I was super frustrated so I decided to give up on my meringue and turn it into buttercream instead and pipe that onto my cookies instead. The buttercream S'more cookies were great but I still had to make the recipe a second time so that I could do it the way that it was intended - with toasted marshmallow meringue. 😋 Second time was a charm - all I can say is the less humidity in the air - the better the chance that your meringue will firm up.
Ciao! I am so excited about getting a bigger panty in my kitchen - I can hardly stand it. Double the space means that I can store double the staples, right? I will say that having a small pantry has taught me to be super selective and evaluate every item that has to occupy valuable pantry space, before I buy it. It's also forced me to be super organized and some would say "borderline obsessive" about pantry storage. 🤣 Don't even get me started on how a misplaced peanut butter jar can send me into a frenzy. 🥜 When you bake as much as I do, there are some things that you just have to keep on hand. Most people have a bag or two of flour in their pantry - I store six at a time, in addition to a few boxes of cake flour, bread flour, self rising flour, semolina flour, gluten free flour, coconut flour and almond flour. 💁🏻♀️🍞Are you starting to see why pantry space is at a premium? 😂 Old fashioned, quick and steel cut oats also occupy space in my limited pantry. Why do I have 3 different kinds of oats, you ask? Just like flour, they all serve different purposes in different recipes. If you're an oatmeal lover - you know. I find myself making more recipes out of pantry ingredients lately because I'm trying to empty it before I have to clean it out for the renovation. My theory is that the more we can eat now, the less I have to box up and remove from the space in September. 💁🏻♀️😂 I was originally drawn to these Strawberry Oatmeal Bars because they were a perfect way to use up some of my pantry staples. Then I realized that they were AMAZING! 🍓 Strawberry Oatmeal Bars 1 cup old fashioned oats 3/4 cup flour 1/3 cup brown sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspoon ginger 6 Tablespoons butter, melted 2 cups fresh strawberries, sliced 1 teaspoon cornstarch 1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice 1 Tablespoon sugar Glaze 1/2 cup powdered sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 Tablespoon milk
Bake 35-40 minutes at 375. Drizzle glaze over bars.
Now I want to try these bars with all the different summer fruits. How amazing would this be with peaches or blueberries or raspberries? 🍑 Ciao! |
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