Perfect Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
I seriously LOVE mashed potatoes. IF they are done right. None of this “keeping the skin on with a smidge of butter and regular milk” crap. If you’re going to make them, please, please, PLEASE make them right. So that with each bite your eyes roll back in your head and your tummy screams, “comfort.” (Hey, it better, since the next time you put on your cute-jeans, it’ll scream “why did you eat so many potatoes!?”)
Hubby’s Note: Bless my wife’s heart. I am lactose intolerant, and I can’t stand potatoes. Though I’m convinced this is due to my Irish ancestors eating only potatoes for years. This dish is my kryptonite. I would rather take meals and bath duty for my two girls for a month than eat these potatoes. But every person she’s ever served it to actually levitates from the table while they eat it. I’ve got dents in the ceiling to prove it. So…I guess they’re pretty amazing.
Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Vanilla Custard
I’m gonna level with you peeps. Thanksgiving is MY holiday. Yes indeed, somewhere between 13-16 people show up at my house every year for Thanksgiving. And I Love. Every. Minute. Of. It. When I released my blog to the public, I told you a fabulous story of my Thanksgiving disaster trying to deep fry a turkey. In case you missed it, you can read it here .
Roasted Banana Ice Cream with Nutella Ripple
No clue where I came up with this wacky idea. But my mother-in-law has an ice cream maker and for some reason I thought it would be an amazing idea to make my own ice cream. I thought, the girls can help me with it! This will be fun! And made from real ingredients! In my own kitchen!
Smokin’ Butt – Hubby Edition
Special Hubby Edition of BBQ Pulled Pork
Gentlemen, start your grills! Grab a six pack, a lawn chair, and get ready to smoke some butt. Ok, it may not sound as appetizing as it actually is but trust me when I say that there is little in life better than the flavor of a slow smoked butt in your mouth. I like big butts. And I cannot lie.
Thai Lettuce Wraps
I honestly think I could be vegetarian. All day long, I pretty much eat vegetarian. That is, until dinner when Ryan gets home and spoils everything. I can already see his hubby’s note on this one.
Him: “Well, if you didn’t cook ridiculously amazing things every night I wouldn’t weigh one hundred and ……”
Me: “Well honey, if you weren’t such a protein junkie we could eat simpler, less savory and delicious items. This blog is all your fault. So there.”
Breakdown of my meals everyday:
Jamaican Jerk Chicken Sandwiches
Yep. I must be sentimental this week. NO – I am most certainly NOT pregnant. But a lot of people around me are so maybe that’s it? It’s also Pixie’s FOURTH BIRTHDAY in a few weeks so maybe that’s got me all mushy. Regardless, fifteen years ago (yes, you read that correctly. FIFTEEN YEARS AGO) I worked as a hostess at Doc’s Brewpub in Simi Valley. They served pub food, kicked up a notch. And they brewed their own beers. Not that I was drinking the beers. I was only 17. Okay maybe I had a few. But don’t tell my kids. Repeat after me, “Do as I say, not as I do!” Right?
Anyway, the Jamaican Jerk Chicken Sandwich was one of my absolute favorites at Doc’s. If I knew what the chefs name was and how to hunt him down, I would – because I want this recipe! I’ve been trying to recreate it for years and after much trial and error, I think I’ve finally gotten close. It’s a lot of ingredients and stuff you may not use all of the time but I think it is well worth it. This is comfort food at it’s finest.
Hubby’s Note: I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again…The Panini Press is the single greatest invention of the 20th century. Not the Internal Combustion Engine. Not the Internet. Not the Refrigerator or the Electric Light. Heck, not even the Contraceptive Pill—wait. Scratch that. The Contraceptive Pill is the single greatest invention of the 20th century. A close second would be the Panini Press. And this chicken recipe makes an amazing Panini. I highly recommend adding Avocado and dipping the sandwich in the Caribbean Sauce. Hubby Recommended!
Killer Shrimp
I must be feeling nostalgic for some reason. Because this is another recipe from back in the day. From 1999-2004, I lived in Sherman Oaks with my pretty fabulous roommate/sister from another mother/best friend, Molly. The day we moved in, we had tons of friends and family helping us out. Molly insisted that at the end of moving day we went to a restaurant waaayyy tooo close for the comfort of my jeans called Killer Shrimp. It’s essentially a broth based soup with about 12-14 pieces of shrimp in it. It’s full of flavor and sometimes spicy. It was served with the largest basket of french bread you have ever seen.
Avocado Eggrolls
Way back when in Once Upon a Time time, I used to work for this small restaurant you have probably never heard of called The Cheesecake Factory. Before I started working there, Hubby and I were obsessed with their Avocado Eggrolls. After my second day working there, I dryheaved carrying them out to tables. You know how burnt out you can get on certain food after awhile? And I wasn’t even eating them. It was the smell that did it! Damn you, olfactory senses!!
Anyway, within a few weeks, I was burnt out on 200 seperate menu items. That being said, enough time has passed since my darker days as a server at the place that shall not be named. And now I’m craving them again. No, not that kind of craving. (better not be) So after some thinking and google-ing, I mastered the recipe. Here it is peeps!
Hubby’s note: Avocado + Fried + Cashew Sauce = Happy Hubby. The Cashew sauce is amazing. If I could figure out a way to get it through the IV tube into my arm, I might try it.
Best Breakfast Burrito
Okay, so here is the deal people. It’s W-Day. Yes. Yes, W-Day is Sean and Annie’s wedding day. For which I am making 300 French Macarons for. And coordinating the rehearsal dinner for. And hosting a day after the big day BBQ for. So I’ve lost all sense of reality peeps. I feel like I’m living in the twilight zone at this point. This will be my only post this week. I’m SO SORRY! I feel like I’m letting you down. I promise to make up for it next week but right now, it’s 11:26 and I think my bedtime tonight will be closer to 2 or 3 AM time. Wish me luck and I promise to post tons of pics of the big day!
In the meantime, make this burrito for breakfast. It’s delish and if you post on Facebook that you are making it, I might show up at your house looking frazzled with a bottle of champagne and invite myself in for a burrito.
This burrito is a take on my other breakfast indulgence, Morning Glory. The first time I made this was at the Kern River about a month ago and it was quite the hit.
Hubby’s Note: I’m convinced that I could make anything into a burritto and enjoy it. I could wrap a pickle, a carrot, and maybe Thomas the Train into a tortilla, throw some Frank’s Red Hot sauce and guacamole on it and i’d be a happy man. All that being said, I’d much rather have this magical concoction of yumminess in my breakfast burritto than the aforementioned ingredients. It’ll be better on the back end this way too.
Pip’s Caramel Pops
It’s that time of the year ALREADY??!?!? Seriously. I feel like it was last week that my girlfriends and I were talking about summer and drinking margaritas in the backyard. Now the leaves are changing and Pixie is amped up about this year’s Halloween costume, Ariel. Which of course also means it is nearing her birthday. Every morning her first question is, “Mommy? Is TODAY my birthday?”