 Where are my open shelving people? I need your help. I never thought I was an open shelf person. It's not that I'm trying to hide things behind cabinet doors or cover up the fact that I keep cluttered cupboards - it's comes down to the fact that I hate dusting.😂 How lazy am I that I let my adversity to dusting dictate the type of shelving in our house? 🤣 The problem is that I like the look of exposed shelves - just not the practicality. My struggle is balancing the aesthetic, convenience and the easy access of an open shelf with the practicality of a door.😅 When I designed my kitchen, a few years ago, I had 55 cabinet doors and drawers installed and only 3 open shelves. A coffee and tea bar and a bookcase style cutting board rack.
We have a giant wall with a range hood in our new basement kitchen and when we were designing the space, that wall was lacking one thing - floating shelves.😬 For a girl who struggles with decorating and is opposed to nick knacks, accent shelves are a challenge. 😂 I want to fill my shelves with pretty things but the practical side of me only wants to put useful things on them.😬 Looks like I'm going to have to get used to using my dust rag more often.😅
I'm learning to see the value of a few well placed open shelves and I like my floating shelves but I still prefer kitchen cabinets with doors that close. The ironic thing is that I really like to see open shelves in other people's kitchens. I find it so interesting to see what people put on their shelves and how they're organized.  Restaurant kitchens are almost always equipped with exposed shelving. More for practicality than aesthetics but it's great to know exactly what's in the space. There's just something comforting about the fact that I know what tools are being used to make my food. A pot, a strainer and a bowl is all that's required to make this simple and delicious summer salad. All things easily placed on a single open shelf, by the way.😅 Sun dried tomato and artichoke pasta salad is a great side dish or even a light lunch entree. It's super tasty and easy to put together too.  Sun Dried Tomato and Artichoke Pasta Salad 1 lb whole wheat pasta 1 6.7 oz jar sun-dried tomatoes, drained and roughly chopped 1 15 oz jar quartered artichoke hearts, drained 1 cup pitted kalamata olives, drained and cut in half 4 cups spinach 1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese Dressing: 1/3 cup olive oil 3 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar 1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice 1 teaspoon honey 1 clove garlic, minced  Cook pasta to al dente. Drain.  In a large bowl, combine pasta, sun dried tomatoes, artichokes, olives, spinach and Parmesan cheese.  Whisk together dressing ingredients. Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Drizzle dressing over the pasta salad and toss until salad is well coated.
Ciao!
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 Just a warning - this is going to be one of those "back when I was a kid" stories.🤣 Believe it or not, I was a Girl Scout - way back when - and every Spring I proudly put on my green uniform and sash, walk around my neighborhood, knock on every door and take cookie orders.🍪 It was part of our duty as Girl Scouts.  Since door to door sales isn't a safe means of selling cookies anymore, the Girl Scouts have shifted their sales strategy to a more centralized approach. Several years ago, I started to notice the girls (and their parents) setting up tables outside of grocery stores, big box stores and on busy corners with stacks of their ridiculously delicious and equally addicting treats.😅 Over the past couple of years though, the Girl Scouts have been much harder to find.😕 Less tables, less cookies. I think I've only seen their table set up around my town, 1 day over the past 2 years. I can only assume that they're transitioning again and moving to an online ordering system.  On my single, and rare Girl Scout sighting outside of my local grocery store last month and of course, I stopped by their table - you know, to show my support as an alumni of the organization.😅 I bought a couple of boxes of my families favorites and a few extras to tuck into the freezer for a rainy day.😬 I was so excited to surprise my family with the rare treats until I realized that I what I thought were their favorite cookie varieties - weren't actually their favorites at all.🤷🏻♀️ How am I just now learning that my husband of 30 years - is a Do Si Do fan? We've been married far too long for this to be completely new information to me!🤪 I swear that I've never seen him purchase or consume a peanut butter Girl Scout cookie in the 42 years that I've known him. So in a very non-stalker, not creepy kind of way - upon finding out this new information, I went on a search for a box of Do Si Does for my husband. When my efforts went unresolved, I took matters into my own hands and made a batch of homemade Do Si Does. That's legal, right. I mean, I was a Girl Scout, after all. 😂  Creamy Filled Peanut Butter Cookies 1 cup butter, softened 1 cup sugar 1 cup brown sugar 2 eggs ½ cup peanut butter 3 cups flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 1 cup old-fashioned oats Filling 1/2 cup butter 3 Tablespoons peanut butter 6 cups powdered sugar 2 Tablespoons milk
 Spread filling over 1/2 of the cookies.  Sandwich cookies with a second cookie.
For any of you who missed out on Girl Scout cookie season - this recipe is for you. Enjoy.
Ciao!  I'm not sure why I think about things like: If I were on death row, what would I choose for my last meal?🤷🏻♀️ I mean, I can't even fathom the circumstances that would result in me being forced to choose a last meal but, I have no trouble imagining the meal that I would eat.🤣 It's probably no surprise that it wouldn't be steak or greasy take out food for this girl. If I only had one meal left to eat, I would choose lobster, crab legs, clams, mussels, shrimp - you get the idea.🦞 🦀 🐠 Clearly, I'm a seafood lover at heart. So, can someone please tell me why I live in landlocked Atlanta?😂 It's not as bad as it sounds, really. We actually get a fair amount of great seafood delivered fresh to our little town. We just lack the atmosphere of looking out on the ocean while we eat it. 🏝️  Here's a little known fact about me: I have one brother and he is a lobsterman! 😂 No joke. In full disclosure, lobstering is not his full time profession but he does trap them in the Atlantic as a hobby.🛥️ There have been summers when he's caught so many lobster, that he's actually gotten tired of eating them. I honestly, can't even imagine a world where I would get tired of eating lobster. Except for those occasions when my lobsterman brother has shipped live lobster to my house; here in Atlanta, I buy frozen lobster tails. If you haven't tried cooking frozen lobster - you really should. Steam them for about 8 minutes and they're good to go. They're delicious to eat plain or to add to something delicious like macaroni and cheese. 🦞  Lobster Macaroni and Cheese 8 ounces lobster meat cooked, chopped, about 2 cups 16 ounces dry pasta ⅓ cup butter ⅓ cup flour 3/4 teaspoon onion powder ½ teaspoon dry mustard powder ½ teaspoon salt or to taste ¼ teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning ¼ teaspoon black pepper 2 ¾ cups milk ½ cup light cream 2 cups sharp cheddar shredded 1 ¼ cups Gruyere cheese shredded ½ cup fresh parmesan cheese shredded Topping ½ cup bread crumbs 2 Tablespoons butter melted 2 Tablespoons parmesan cheese, grated 1 teaspoon parsley chopped
 Bake 25 minutes at 400.  If you're looking for a show stopping side dish - I've got 4 words for you --- Lobster Mac and Cheese! 🦞
Ciao!  Last weekend, we celebrated my dad's birthday!  Everyone deserves to celebrate their birthday with their favorite treats and since I happened to be visiting over my dad's birthday - I actually got to make some celebratory desserts for him this year. S'mores cake and boozy bourbon biscotti were the special birthday treats for my dad this year. Adding biscotti to a party menu means that the celebrations can start first thing in the morning!☀️ Can you think of a better way to kick off a birthday than with a hot cup of coffee and a crispy, crunchy biscotti?
Biscotti cookies are baked twice and after the first bake, I always taste test the ends of the biscotti logs that get trimmed in the slicing process. (All in the name of culinary perfection, of course.🤣). After sampling this particular biscotti, I realized infusing bourbon into the batter wasn't quite enough to give this the boozy flavor that I was looking for. I decided to giving brushing more bourbon onto the cut cookies before the second baking, a try. Turns out - that was exactly what these bourbon pecan biscotti needed to give them that delicious, nutty, bourbon flavor.  Boozy Bourbon Pecan Biscotti 1/3 cup butter, softened 1 1/4 cups sugar 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 4 Tablespoons bourbon 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 cup chopped pecans
 Bake 30 minutes at 350.  Slice biscotti into 1/2" slices. Lay slices on baking sheet. Brush with 1 T. rum. Bake 10 minutes. Turn biscotti over and bake another 10 minutes.  Ciao!
 If there's one thing that our town doesn't lack - it's Mexican restaurants. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining out it but it is a fact that my little Georgia town is home to less than 15,000 residents and no less than 8 restaurants specializing in Mexican cuisine.🌮 Apparently, Monrovians love Mexican food as much as we love Waffle House. 🤣 It's hard to find a decent bowl of pasta in this town but... there's no shortage of great tacos. So there's that.🤣 Even though there's no shortage of Mexican restaurants in my town, I still love to make my Mexican food at home too. Call me a control freak but I like being able to adjust the amount of heat, the protein and the toppings.🌶️ And there's the added benefit of avoiding the temptation of the bottomless chip basket when I make my own Mexican cuisine at home. 😜  I'm not a red meat eater and sometimes, that limits my choices at a Mexican restaurant. Out of necessity, I've taught myself how to recreate a lot of the delicious Mexican beef dishes into chicken friendly versions.🐓 I've found that shredded chicken and ground turkey make great substitutes for most Mexican dishes that contain beef. Lately, I've developed a new appreciation for dinners that can be made (and served) in a cast iron skillet. There's just something fun about setting a skillet full of delicious, cheesy, chicken enchiladas in the center of the table, with bowls of toppings for everyone to dive into.  Skillet Chicken Enchiladas Homemade Enchilada Sauce 3 Tablespoons canola oil 3 Tablespoons flour 2 Tablespoons chili powder 1 teaspoon ground cumin ½ teaspoon kosher salt Pinch of cayenne pepper 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano 1/4 teaspoon onion powder 1 clove garlic, minced 2 Tablespoons tomato paste 2 cups chicken broth Enchiladas 1 Tablespoon olive oil 1 onion, diced 3 cups shredded cooked chicken 3/4 teaspoon chili powder 3/4 teaspoon ground cumin 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika Salt and pepper, to taste 4 oz can mild diced green chiles 2 1/2 cups red enchilada sauce 6 6-inch corn tortillas, cut into strips 2 cups shredded cheddar or Mexican blend cheese Optional toppings: cilantro avocado diced tomatoes sour cream jalapeño slices green onion olives
 Add tortilla strips and stir until covered in sauce. Cook on low for 2 minutes.  Top cheese and transfer the skillet to the 425 oven. Bake 7 - 10 minutes.  Top with desired toppings and serve warm.
Ciao! |
