Gosh, I had the worst migraine all afternoon. All I wanted to eat for dinner was something simple and comforting. Anything crunchy or spicy would have made my throbbing headache worse. So whats more comforting than pasta on a cold evening?! The answer is this quick, no-fuss pasta.
Read MoreCheese Plate 2.0
Ahh I love cheese. So much that if I was stranded on an island and I could only have one thing, it would be cheese. Sharp Cheddar is my all time favorite but Gouda and Brie are runner ups.
Remember my first cheese plate creation? Well, on this cheese plate 2.0, I did something different. Since figs made an appearance for the season, I wanted to incorporate them into a dish. So I sliced the gorgeous figs, put them in a small baking dish and baked for about 5-10 minutes at 350º F (until the figs were soft). For easy clean-up, I placed sliced Brie on parchment paper and then carefully place the warm figs on the cheese and drizzled honey. The warm figs softened the Brie just enough without melting it. I served the figs & cheese with whole wheat toasts and French baguette slices. I also added some almonds, dark chocolate and of course, red grapes to the plate.
Read MoreStuffed Mushrooms
For some reason it seems as if all vegetarians are automatically required to like mushrooms because that is the considered "meat" for vegetarians. Unlike most vegetarians, hubby and I never liked mushrooms. The thought of them being fungi has turned us away from trying them. However, everything changed for me when we were invited to our friend, Priti's parents' house for dinner a few weeks ago. Priti's adorable mom made stuffed mushrooms that looked and smelled scrumptious so I decided to give it a try. They were FANTASTIC! They were cheesy with a hint of spice. I had to dive in for seconds! This was quite adventurous of me so I had to stop and pinch myself to make sure this wasn't a dream. :) And of course, I got her recipe and made it myself.
Read MoreCheese Plate
I got this gorgeous cheese board and cheese knives as a birthday gift from our neighbor friends, Matt & Laura. I finally had a chance to use it when I invited some friends over for dinner last night. From my research and experience with cheese platters, I had too many ideas and choices going through my cheese-loving brain. My friend, Breanne, was bringing appetizers so I didn't wanna go overboard with the cheese plate. So after much thought and consideration, the following made it to the platter:
Brie - mild & creamy Pecorino Romano - salty & hard Apricot Jam (recipe in a separate post) Red grapes Almonds Walnuts 72% Dark Chocolate Brioche toast Plain crackers
Read MoreBruschetta with Mini Frittatas
I love Sunday brunches.
We had some friends over for brunch today, our neighbors, Matt & Laura, Susanna (Laura's sister) and hubby's friend, Priti. Matt makes THE BEST pancakes! It is a family recipe so I can't have him write a guest post on them. Since he can't share his recipe with me, we made a deal that we should have a monthly brunch where he makes these scrumptious pancakes so we can enjoy them on a regular basis. Sorry folks, you guys are missing out. I have tried to extract the recipe and made a few versions but they are nowhere nearly as good as Matt's pancakes.
I made Mini Frittatas. It is one of my favorite things to make when I'm hosting a brunch party because they can be served at room temperature so you can make them ahead of time and actually hang out with your friends instead of scrambling around making the perfect sunny side ups when the guests arrive. I didn't want to make the same frittatas over and over again so I decided to incorporate pesto and bruschetta topping to make things interesting. It was a great combination!
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