Pantry Revisited

I hope you all notice the one lone black bean on the plate above because when I look at this photo, that is all I see. Of course I didn't see it when I was snapping the shot. You had to know that right? But now that I am looking at it closely, I think it adds interest and creativity, don't you? Who else thought to have a straggler bean all by itself on the edge of the plate? That is major, huge, outstanding creative photography. I'm just sayin. Since the yankee isn't supposed to eat spicey foods this week, I was very hesitant to make this. However, my sweet blogging friend Joanna of Apple Crumbles , the host of this week's recipe, offered a few suggestions for me as to how to change things up and de-spice the original recipe. Be sure to check out her blogsite to see how it is supposed to be made. Joanna is a creative cook and very adept at changing recipes to meet vegetarian needs so I always like to check out her blog. First, I cooked some very lean ground beef and...

Enjoy the photo of these beautiful apples. Because the following photos you should view at your own risk. My dough did not turn out right. I'm not sure what went wrong, but the stars and the moon did not line up for me. And of course this is my first post for TWD since July because I took a break for our Italy trip. Wouldn't you just know I would mess up on this one? My turnovers are huge - honkers even. And dough was kind of hard and crumbly. Okay I'll admit one thing - I thought that was a tremendous amount of butter to put in the dough and I left a tad of the butter out. Why oh why did I question Dorie? Dorie the master chef. Who am I? Please please please go to Julie at Someone's Kitchen's blog who chose this recipe for the week and see how these are supposed to look! I'm also a horrible wife. The yankee had his gallbladder removed just four days ago and this is what I fed him for dinner tonight because I had to make these apple turnovers that did not even ...

Chandler, or "the Yankee" as I fondly refer to him, is having surgery tomorrow so I will not be cooking/baking and probably not even eating much this week. Check back next week for more recipes!

I'm a pizza lover. But only if it has a white sauce or a thin layer of red sauce. If it is running over with red sauce, I'll share. Otherwise, get out of my way while I cut myself the largest piece! One of my favorite pizzas is California Pizza Kitchen's club salad pizza. When I saw the recipe that Andrea of Nummy Kitchen chose for this week, that is immediately what came to my mind. The dough was easy to mix up but I tried to halve the recipe and just make one pizza instead of the six small ones Ina suggested. And there is a reason the lemon in the above picture looks like it has already had the life squeezed out of it. Because it has. I squeezed the lemon juice and then remembered I needed a slice for the pizza! This was delicious and will be made again at my house! Check out Andrea's and the other Barefoot Bloggers and see how theirs turned out here ! That Ina Garten never fails to deliver a great recipe. At first glance, it may "sound" complicated, but it...

It seems like just yesterday that I joined my first cooking group and that was 100 posts ago! I'm excited that on my 100th post I can tell you about my trip to Italy and also, my good friend Cathy of The Tortefeasor picked this week's recipe for our group. Life just doesn't get much better than this, right? First, let me say that cooking with Cathy has been a real encouragement to me. We have enjoyed sharing tips about recipes and many discussions about our "pick." When Cathy first came to work at my firm years ago, I was her assistant. I remember my son came to my office to visit (he was 15 or so at the time) and saw Cathy and said "Mom, who was that hottie?" I said "who, Cathy? That's my boss!" I don't think I've ever told her that story. Little did I know at that time that she had real honest to goodness writing/blogging/cooking/comedic talent as well as being attractive to teenagers! She's a rockstar for sure. Cathy chose Sa...

I made this salad a week ago for our Sunday lunch because I knew I would be out of town on posting day for this. I hope you are in awe of my dedication to my group! Me, actually planning ahead! My friend Jennifer of Jen-B's Cooking Carveout chose this week's Craving Ellie challenge. I could not find flank steak so I chose a different cut, but it was still very good. I marinated the meet overnight and then grilled it for a few minutes on each side. I forgot to add the cilantro, but I added a few avocado slices and fresh cucumber slices. We really enjoyed this dish and I would definitely make it again!! We ate while we watched The Elegy with Ben Kingsley and Penelope Cruz. A strange movie to say the least! Not awful, not great. See you next week with news of my trip abroad. :) And the 18th (yesterday if you are reading this on the 19th) was my anniversary with the Yankee. We are celebrating in Italy! Eleven years and we hope for fifty more!! Grilled Thai Beef Salad Ingredients ...

As you read this, I am most likely roaming the streets of Venice, or perhaps enjoying gelato in Florence. Yes, okay, eat your heart out! I was trying to figure out how I could manage to cook everything before I left and I could not believe my luck when I saw Veronica of Supermarket Serenade had chosen Frozen Daiquiris for this week's Barefoot Bloggers choice! We were having a lazy Saturday afternoon, the yankee was paying some bills, and I handed him this delicious concoction to try. We put away the checkbooks (I mean what fun is that, paying bills?) and put in our Netflix movie of the week, Confessions of a Shopaholic. While we watched, we sipped. Yum. They were not quite as "frozen" as I would have liked, but they were delicious nonetheless. The only change I made was to use spiced rum because that is what I had on had. Thanks Veronica - I owe you one for this great pick! Mango Banana Daiquiris serves 4 2 cups chopped ripe mango (1 to 2 mangos, peeled and seeded) 1 rip...