Fancy Pants Mac N Cheese
Pixie’s school is the greatest school on the planet. Seriously, your kid’s school cannot hold a candle to this place. It’s the school you dream about, the school you see in books and think “That does not exist.” But it does. I played the $590 million PowerBall game with the secret hope we would win and next year she could stay at this uber expensive school and not go public. The teachers are the sweetest, most caring downright kick ass teachers ever. The learning programs the school has instilled has made Pixie grow by leaps and bounds.
Harvest Salad
What a busy few days it has been! On Friday I had the pleasure of recording a little blurb for KEYT morning news out of Santa Barbara. I had so much fun! Granted I got up at 3:30 in the morning and my bleary and puffy eyed little self had to be in Santa Barbara by 5:30 but who cares! It was a blast. The lovely Lisa Carey who is handling all of the PR for the event was with me as well. You can see a clip of it here.
Roasted Artichoke and Asparagus Pasta Salad
Recently, Mixologist Molly had her bridal shower. It was such a perfect day! The breeze was floating through, the sun was hot and the vodka lemonade punch was delish. As was the champagne. I promised to bring my pasta salad and crack cookies. But I felt my pasta salad needed a change. A face lift. Some botox if you will. It needed to be younger, fresher and lighter. Wait. I forget. Am I talking about myself or food?
Sigh….
I was craving asparagus and mushrooms and with that, a new recipe was born. This pasta salad kicks my old pasta salad’s ass.
Turkey Milanese
I host Thanksgiving at my house every year. I LOVE thanksgiving. The whole family gathered around the table cooing and cawing over the amazing feast before them. And we make it a family affair in the preparation too. I prepare most of it, and the family enjoys it. 🙂 No, most of the ladies bring dishes. But because I host it, I’ve widdled away all of the nonsense with new recipes and have instead centered our meal around the traditional comfort foods…with a twist. Last year for Thanksgiving, my local grocery store was giving away a free turkey for every $100.00 I spent. I have two kids and a husband. Needless to say, I wound up with 3 turkeys this year. So, we cooked up the final turkey a few weeks after the holiday and I made a few different turkey recipes in lieu of the classic Oven Baked Turkey. Among them, a turkey-salad for Ryan to take to work. But my absolute favorite leftover turkey recipe is Turkey Milanese.
Hubby’s note: Did I mention I’ve gained weight? This is one of the reasons. But SOOOOO worth it. There’s only so many leftover turkey sandwiches I can stand.
Kelli’s Vegetable Panini
This summer I had a dear friend, Kelli, come visit me from Arizona for a few days. We met our senior year at UCLA and ended up taking some Sociology classes together.
Italian Quesadillas
I’m not gonna lie. It takes some planning to keep new recipes coming every few days. And my past two weeks have been crazy so my posts have dwindled for just a moment. But I’m proud to say that I’ve been stockpiling. I’ve got some ammunition that I’m ready to release people! That being said, I had a very ambitious night where I decided to make six (SIX!!!) new recipes for a casual dinner party. And of course because I hadn’t spent a few days in my kitchen and I’m pretty sure my Kitchenaid hummed to life on its own, I needed to cook. I was also craving mushrooms and because Ryan won’t eat mushrooms, I thought I could add them to an appetizer and get my fix. That’s one of my favorite things about entertaining friends, we outnumber my picky husband so I can make some really yummy dishes!
Oh! And these are vegetarian  😉
Hubby’s Note: Yes. I’m picky. But I’m really cute. So…I’ve got that going for me…which is nice.
Pizza Toppings Cupcake Tin
My mother-in-law has been in Florida with her family for the last few weeks so we invited my father-in-law for dinner on Friday night. He is a serious pizza lover like Ryan and I so…we made grilled pizzas. As I was preparing all of the toppings, I had an idea. I like to use my cupcake tin for snacks for the kids throughout out the day. Fresh blueberries, strawberries and other fruits, pretzels, Pirate’s Booty…And I just leave it on their little table and they can grab something as their whizzing by playing or tormenting one another. So, I thought to myself, I could use my cupcake tin to display all of my toppings for pizzas. Then you could see all of the delicious little treats to put on top of your yummy pizza. And! I only have to wash one dish! Not 16 ramekins! I swear I felt like I had found a buried little treasure in my kitchen. And now you have a buried treasure in your kitchen too. Yay!
And, here is the link for my homemade pizzas!
http://www.mommybistro.com/homemade-pizza
Sicilian Chicken Marsala
My husband’s grandparents lived in Sicily for quite some time…quite some time ago. Two recipes they brought back with them and have passed on to the family is their Chicken Marsala recipe…and their Spaghetti Carbonara recipe. This recipe comes from La Siciliana Ristorante. I know this because the menu from the restaurant is framed and hanging in my dining room. It’s one of two dishes Ryan is a master at (the other being the carbonara recipe). And because I was craving it (and laid out all of the ingredients) he made it. YESSS!!!!
Hubby’s note: I LOVE this chicken recipe. Make sure you get the chicken good and drunk. That’s how you take advantage of her.
