Baked Spinach and Prosciutto Pasta

Cheesy Pasta with Ricotta, Spinach, Prosciutto, and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Anytime I can throw ingredients into a baking dish and make dinner I am all for it.  And making something in large quantities just allows for more leftovers!  Fall is here and warm, cheesy, pasta always sounds good.  That's why this recipe is one of my new favorites!  Plus, baking in the oven always makes the house smell fantastic! 

I admit that I have been a little bit lazy when it comes to making dinner each night for Jamie and I.  It makes it hard when my internal clock wants me all snuggly in bed at 10pm and Jamie doesn't even get home for another hour.  I always try to stay up, but even when I do, I am pretty unmotivated to create a magical, hot and ready dinner for him at 11pm.  So a dish like this, that I can prep or even fully cook earlier in the day, really is a lifesaver.  Then I just have to preheat the oven and reheat the dish while Jamie is on his way home... BOOM... magical, hot and ready dinner at 11pm. 

Honey Roasted Fig and Mascarpone Ice Cream

It's National Ice Cream Day!

Every third Sunday of July we get to celebrate the best holiday ever invented... National Ice Cream Day.  In 1984, President Reagan declared the holiday and also named July National Ice Cream Month.

Because I work for an ice cream company, I have been known to substitute whole meals with ice cream when short on time during my lunch break.  So I do enjoy me some ice cream.  But more than anything I love to experiment and play with flavors of ice cream at home. 

I have been playing around with homemade ice cream a lot lately, Roasted Strawberry, Fresh Peach with Brown Sugar Butter Pecans, and the classic Vanilla Bean.  I am all about very simple recipes and so all of the ice creams that I have been making lately have been based off of a No Cook Ice Cream Base that uses sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, whole milk and some sugar.  That's it! Today I wanted to get a little bit fancier with a Honey Roasted Fig and Mascarpone Ice Cream, made with a cooked custard.

Broccoli and Apple Slaw

Summer Broccoli and Apple Slaw with Dijon Agave Dressing

 

 

 

Summer has arrived and I am back at the blog.  It has been a busy and exciting few months, for sure.  Don't worry all of the updates are to come soon, but let's just say "the wait is over!" ::winkwink::

 

I abandoned the blog for a while, but I am back!  I've got a backlog of recipes and other posts that I can't wait to share with you! We have been grilling and chilling recently and one of my new obsessions are slaws.  But not the soggy, mayonnaisey, cabbagey slaw you may be used to (Sorry Dad!)  I've been experimenting with other veggies and more vinegar-based dressings.  There are so many prepackaged slaw mixes at the supermarket now that you don't have to be a slave to the mandolin or cutting board.  They can easily be dressed and mixed any way you want; the possibilities are endless.  I love that you can make them ahead of time.  I prefer to have mine refrigerated for 1 to 8 hours before serving, but I like my slaws pretty crispy.  Depending on the veggies you use and how you prefer your slaw, you can even make it up to a day in advance.

Roasted Strawberry Cornmeal Muffins

A Light Cornmeal Muffin Loaded with Sweet, Roasted Strawberries

 

 

I'm so sorry that I have abandoned the blog for the last few weeks, but to be honest, I have abandoned my kitchen a little bit too.  Our old house does not have air conditioning, and although we've had a relatively mild summer so far, heating up the oven to 350, means the house feels about that temperature too.  It's a great excuse to grill outside most nights, but I have yet to develop any baking recipes for the grill... Hmmm... that gets the wheels spinning...

 

 

The times that I have been able to suck it up and do some baking, I've really enjoyed using the fresh fruits of summer, and Fresh Strawberry Muffins can only be made better with ROASTED STRAWBERRIES.  I saw roasted strawberries all over the blogs and Instagram a few months ago and I thought I would try my hand at it.  And, man 'o man, these little suckers are good!  I had to resist snaking on all of them before they landed in my batter. 

 



Ginger Peach Teacakes

Peach Teacakes with a Ginger Liqueur Glaze, Ol' Sport!

Which potluck item would be appropriate for a Great Gatsby themed 20's housewarming party?!  I racked my brain...  I knew I wanted to make sweets, and of course, cupcakes are always on the top of my mind.  I even went shopping for cupcake liners to get some inspiration.  Well, I did manage to find the cutest cupcake liners that were grey, black and yellow and super elegant. I thought I would be using those, but I made a last minute change and wanted to do something smaller and more bite sized for the party. So I landed on mini cakes, tiny, cute, teacakes. 

Now, I may be taking some liberties in calling them teacakes, because what really makes a teacake a teacake?  I typed that exact question into my search engine.  I got results for traditional English teacakes, which aren't very cute at all, more like a yeast-based bun with dried fruit.  The South will refer to a large, dense, cookie-like treat made with butter, flour, eggs, milk and sugar as a teacake. BUT, in the rest of the United States a teacake is usually a single-layered, lightly spiced cake, often made with buttermilk, topped with a glaze and sometimes they contain fruit.  Ding! Ding! Ding!  We have a winner.  And by just doing a glaze on top, instead of frosting, gave me a chance to play around with my royal icing and piping techniques that I so rarely use outside of work. 

Handmade Gifts- Body Scrub

Lavender and Rose Salt Scrub and Orange Dreamsicle Sugar Scrub.

Lots of new things going on around here lately! Mother's Day weekend was over 100 degrees and what did we decide to do?  Sod our front yard and go on a walking tour of old homes in Monrovia, of course!  We survived and as you can see from my photo I just HAD to use our new grass as a backdrop for my homemade body scrubs, which were my gift to my Momma on her special day. 

Each Mother's Day, the town I live in has a tour of old or historical homes.  It was something we used to do with my Grandma many, many years ago we decided to go again this year.  It's really amazing how much pocket windows, crown moulding, roll-up screens, built-in cabinets and picture rails can get me excited.  I guess I was destined to own an older home, and I was excited to see the potential beauty my 1917 Craftsman style house can have in a few years. 

As far as the body scrubs are concerned, they make one of the easiest homemade gifts and most of the ingredients some straight from your pantry at home.  I've made body scrubs with salt, sugar, or coffee.  I've heard that the coffee is good for cellulite, but I cannot atest to any such claims 1 ;) I've made scrubs with coconut oil, almond oil, and olive oil.  Use mild smelling oils and try to avoid mineral oil, as it is not good for your skin and can clog your pores.  When it comes to the scents, one of the easiest ways to get great smelling, good for you scrubs is with essential oils.  Whole Foods and other specialty grocery stores carry essential oils, I especially like peppermint essential oil.  I even grabbed some lavender from the spice and tea man at the Farmer's Market and picked some rose petals from my bush outside to create this salt scrub.