Pantry Revisited

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...

It was MY pick this week in our Craving Ellie in My Belly group! Woo hoo! I tried to think of something that might work for everyone! I ended up choosing Ellie's Stuffed Turkey Burgers. I'm leaving for Italy soon and time was a huge consideration. These were so easy to prepare and a delicious meal you could fix anytime, weekend or middle of the week. First you make thin patties of ground turkey and you top with shredded mozzarella and roasted red peppers. Then you top with another thin patty of turkey breast and crimp the two together around the edges and add salt and freshly ground pepper. Then you sit back and enjoy a budlight with lime while you grill them. Foam, foam, go away!! We probably overgrilled ours a bit which made them a little on the dry side. Still, very delicious! I really hope everyone who made these enjoyed them as much as we did. And for those of you who haven't tried them yet, do. They are healthy and a fast dinner fix! I served with a tomato slice, re...