 Remember last Spring when we were all dreading the thought of working from home for three months? 😬Fortunately, there's a light at the end of this pandemic tunnel. 😷Working from home wasn't a new thing for me - working from home while other people were in my space - took some getting used to. 😅 Yard work is my therapy these days and spending more time at home means that I have more time to work in my yard. This week, I witnessed the first signs of Spring. Tulips, daffodils and hyacinth leaves with buds ready to burst into bloom! 🌷
Warm, sunny afternoons inspire me to get outside and work in my yard. Unfortunately, February brings super erratic weather patterns to Georgia. A sunny, 70 degree day can easily be followed up by a cloudy and windy day with a high of 30. The drastic swings in temperature are unpredictable which means that my yard work is also inconsistent. I guess that explains why I still have piles of dead leaves blanketing my lawn. 💁🏻♀️#Iblametheweather 😅 I like to spend warm days outside but cold February days, you'll most likely find me in my kitchen - cooking up something warm and hearty. 🍲One of my favorite things to make when the weather starts to get warmer is quiche. For reasons that I cannot explain - Spring and quiche go hand in hand in my world. 🤷🏻♀️Maybe if I cook my Spring favorites - I can will the beautiful Spring weather into coming to stay. 🌤  There are so many varieties of quiche. This recipe is very basic and uses the simple flavors of Gruyere and spinach but you can swap those out for your favorite quiche flavors. I normally like to use up ingredients that I have on hand when I make a quiche but these are my absolute favorite quiche ingredients: * turkey bacon * asparagus * goat cheese * sun dried tomatoes * mushrooms * spinach  Spinach Quiche 1 deep dish pie crust 2 Tablespoon butter 1/4 cup thinly sliced shallots 4 eggs 1 1/2 cups heavy cream 3/4 teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1 cup grated Gruyere cheese (or cheese of your choice) 10 ounce package frozen spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry
  This is your chance to get creative and create something completely new and exciting. If you've got a secret quiche ingredient that you want to share - I'd love to know what it is. I'm always looking for new ideas.
Ciao!
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 20 yers ago, when I decided that I wanted to learn to the game of golf, I signed myself up for lessons and as luck would have it, I was assigned the world's most patient instructor. 🏌🏻♀️After our first lesson, I'm pretty sure that he didn't share my feelings of good fortune. 😅Armed with potentially harmful weapons made of iron, it's safe to say that I was a hot mess on the golf course. I didn't have any idea what I was doing and no idea how to hit a tiny white ball with a what seemed like an impossibly small rectangle on the end of a very long stick. ⛳️ He probably should have written me off as a lost cause but instead, that aforementioned uber-patient golf instructor, broke down the game of golf into very small, achievable steps for me. Even though I was ready to pull out each shiny new club in my bag and start swingin' on the very first day, he took the time to slowly and deliberately teach me the skills required to safely swing those clubs.  I strive to have this kind of patience with the people that I interact with every day. I have the patience to stand at my kitchen counter for hours on end piping the most intricate designs on sugar cookies but I get super irritated if I have to wait in line at the grocery store for more than 5 minutes 🤷🏻♀️ I can spend an hour meticulously picking leaves and weeds out of a flower bed until it's in pristine condition but I don't have the patience to wait more than 2 minutes for chocolate chip cookies to cool before I pop it in my mouth, sacrificing a burnt tongue. 🍪 It's obvious that I need to work on my patience. 😅 I think I need a little risotto therapy to help be work on my patience. Risotto isn't going to tolerate haste, swiftness or hurried cooking. It requires a certain amount concentration and focus. Stirring with one hand while periodically ladling hot liquid into the pan with the other. There's no room for multitasking while making risotto. Lemon and Shrimp Risotto with Fresh Basil 2 lemons 12 ounces extra large shrimp, peeled (shells reserved) 1 yellow onion, chopped 1 cup Arborio rice 1/2 cup white wine 1 egg yolk (optional) 2 Tablespoons heavy cream (optional) 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped
Adjust consistency with a Tablespoon of water if needed.
Lemon and Shrimp Risotto is hearty enough to stand on it's own as a main dish but you can also serve it alongside a grilled chicken or delicate fish dish. Either way - I think you'll agree that this risotto is delicious. Ciao!  It’s no secret that most Americans don’t incorporate enough vegetables into their diets. When I feel like I need to eat more veggies, my go-to favorites are broccoli, corn and green beans. They're easy to find all year long and they're relatively simple to prepare. Oh, and my family is much more likely to eat them than beets or squash or kohlrabi. 🥦 If I had to choose a favorite vegetable, it would be green beans. They’re high in fiber, low in sodium, and a good source of folate, Vitamin C, Vitamin A, and other essential nutrients. I grew up on canned green beans and because of that, there's a special place in my heart for salty canned beans. But my absolute favorites are fresh green beans in overflowing bins at the grocery stores and the farmers markets. I'm the girl who patiently stands in front of the bin of beans at the grocery store and carefully and purposefully inspects each and every bean before adding it to my bag. (#sorrynotsorry)  I've made ultra fancy green bean dishes to elevate the flavor, but frankly, green beans are just as delicious with a sprinkle of salt and a little bit of butter. I've steamed them, roasted them, blanched them, and tossed them into a salad. I've also been known to made a meal out of a heaping mound of perfectly seasoned and slightly crunchy green beans. Like I said earlier, it really doesn't take much to make a fresh green bean really exceptional. A few simple ingredients and a handful of slivered almonds is all it takes for this girl to devour some green beans. I adapted this recipe from America's Test Kitchen and I'm not exactly sure what makes them uniquely "Spanish" but I decided to stay true to the recipe and keep the name. If you've got some inside information on the origin of Spanish Style Green Beans - please share it with me.  Spanish Style Green Beans 4 Tablespoons olive oil 1/4 cup slivered almonds 1 ounce prosciutto, sliced into 1/4" ribbons 1 garlic clove, minced 1 pound green beans, trimmed and halved salt and pepper 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
 Season with salt and pepper and transfer to a serving dish.
 Drizzle sauce over beans and serve.
Since summer is coming to an end, it's getting harder and harder to find fresh green beans in my local supermarket. That's usually my clue that it's time to transition back to canned or frozen green beans. If you've got a favorite recipe using frozen or canned beans - send it to me. I would love to see it. I definitely need to spice up my winter vegetable repertoire. Ciao!  I try and fix whole food, healthy, nutritious meals as much as possible when I'm home so that I can give myself some grace when I eat out at a restaurant. It's all about balance. Am I right? That doesn't mean that there aren't times when I have to rely on short cuts like frozen vegetables and precooked rice to get dinner on the table and believe me when I tell you that not every meal that I serve is a full-on culinary event. In the summer we eat a lot of big salads and grilled chicken for dinner. Summer also means super simple side dishes - ripe tomatoes with basil, fresh green beans from the garden and sliced vegetables with hummus. Freshly sliced watermelon and strawberries qualify as perfectly acceptable dessert options during the hottest months of the year too.  Different rules apply for summer meals as opposed to Fall and Winter meals. Things that are normally served as side dishes in the Fall become the main courses for our lighter summertime meals. This prosciutto wrapped asparagus is a perfect example of that. I serve grilled asparagus alongside baked ham, grilled chicken breast or even a beef tenderloin in November and December but I eat it as an entree in the summer. Believe it or not, a plate of prosciutto wrapped asparagus is a super satisfying summertime meal.  Grilled Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus 16 asparagus spears 8 this slices prosciutto 2 Tablespoons olive oil lemon wedges
Grill asparagus bundles 6-8 minutes until spotty brown.  Transfer to a platter and serve with lemon wedges.
I'm the only asparagus eater in the house, so when I bring it home from the grocery store, I have to eat ALL of it. I've had to come up with some new and creative ways to prepare asparagus so that I don't get tired of eating it - four days in a row. Grilled Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus is one of my new favorite ways to enjoy this delicious vegetable. This recipe didn't turn my family into asparagus fans like I had hoped but don't let that discourage you from trying it. What can I say? They don't even eat cauliflower.
Ciao!  You had me at FRIES -- Am I right? It doesn't even matter if you're not a fan of asparagus - if you're a fan of FRIES - this recipe is for you. Swapping out a starchy potato with this deliciously green spring vegetable really makes these a healthy alternative to traditional french fries.  Spring is the perfect time to give these Asparagus fries a try. This is the season when supermarkets are stocking fresh spears of this sweet and snappy vegetable. Pick some up on your next trip to the store and give these healthy FRIES a shot. (Oh and this sauce is ridiculous so don't even think about skipping it.)  Baked Asparagus Fries 1/2 cup sour cream 1 Tablespoon lemon juice 1 Tablespoon dijon mustard 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper 1/4 cup + 3 Tablespoons flour 3 eggs 4 slices bread 1/2 pound asparagus, trimmed cooking spray
I'm not sure whether it was because I wet the asparagus before dipping it in flour or because I made my own bread crumb mixture but this delicious coating really adhered to the asparagus much better than it had in my previous attempts. I loved these "fries" so much that I gobbled up this entire batch of them for dinner. Lucky for me - I'm the only asparagus eater in the house. ;)
Ciao! |
