Pantry Revisited

I apologize. . . . I did not make the Party Cake this week. I hope to be back next week with the next selection, but I have struggled lately with just being overwhelmed and not having enough hours in the day. Please check out Tuesdays with Dorie and see what the other great bakers came up with this week. I know that cake was probably fabulous! Take care of yourselves this week!

This week was hosted by Anonymous New York . Check out his/her blog. You will definitely find it interesting. First, I have always hated cajun food and when I saw jambalaya I cringed. However, in the last year I tasted some fabulous jambalaya that my friend and neighbor Amanda made, so I was anxious to try this one to see how it measured up. You would have to be older to remember the Hank Williams' song with these lyrics, but my daddy sang it to me when I was a child. Jambalaya and a crawfish pie and file' gumbo 'Cause tonight I’m gonna see my ma cher amio Pick guitar, fill fruit jar and be gay-o Son of a gun, we’ll have big fun on the bayou! Of course some drama comes with. I love shrimp, or rather I used to. About eight years ago I became severely allergic to shellfish. So I knew I would have to substitute something for the shrimp. My friend at work, Jennifer , had already made her jambalaya and we chatted about it on Monday. In my head, I guess I thought if I were subst...

Jessica of My Baking Heart picked Parisian Apple Tartlet for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie baking adventure. Check out Jessica's blog and get the recipe there. I have to say, this was one of the easiest, best tasting recipes I have made so far from Dorie's book. Maybe I was just in the mood for a fruit dessert. I could have eaten four of these! Thank you Jessica for a great pick this week! If they serve these on the streets of Paris, I am definitely getting a plane ticket today and fly over there! My only problem was I felt that I might have made the pastry a little too thin or it might have still been a bit too frozen because it did not rise as much as I had expected it to around the apple. I'm definitely going to be making these again and soon! We just got back from Connecticut where we witnessed my stepdaughter's high school graduation from Miss Porter's School in Farmington. All the girls looked so cute in their white dresses. Laura is the cute redhead on...

White Gazpacho with Grapes and Toasted Almonds was hosted this week by Lauren of I'll Eat You . Lauren is a very creative blogger. Check out the recipe on her blogsite if you are interested. I have just about decided that I am not the "healthy" food type of person. Don't get me wrong, I want to eat healthy. But I am really having withdrawal pains this week, missing stuff like fried chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy, corn on the cob slathered in melted butter, cornbread with cheese and jalapenos, home-made ice cream, and fried pies. Maybe some potato salad on the side. Or a nice blueberry cobbler with a bit of whipped cream on top. Instead, I made White Gazpacho with Grapes and Almonds. I didn't have any white grapes so I used red. I didn't bother to toast the almonds because I knew I was not going to like this dish. I love cucumbers and I would rather have had my cucumbers sliced with salt on them, or mayonnaise and pepper is always good, a little vinegar m...