The past three weeks I have been taking cooking classes with some friends — it has been a highlight of the week. Fun, tasty, and a great way to break up the week. On that certain day, we decided to do a late afternoon class and include our daughters and make it a pasta party. It was a great night.
Flowers to have for the party! If I don’t have time to go down to the flower market, I like to get my flowers at Trader Joe’s — cheap, good quality, and great selection.
I might as well make this a baking blog now because that is all I have been wanting to post about recently! HA! I am the worst cook, but I love baking and experimenting in the kitchen. Recently, we made mango sorbet AND mango ice cream in a bake off — and hands down, the winner was the mango sorbet. So if you feel like making something SUPER easy, delicious, and refreshing, make this!
First, you peel the mangos (make sure they are good ones — it makes all the difference). Then, you blend them with water, a little sugar, some lime juice, and THAT IS IT!
I have been hearing a lot about Jennifer Fisher’s Flavored Salt for quite some time, but finally picked some up at a local market, and I am hooked! They only had the Universal Salt variety so that is what I purchased, but I can’t wait to try out the others soon (curry and spicy)!
Jennifer Fisher is a jewelry designer but also branched out into cooking and salts! Good for her to diversify and expand her business!
I was first introduced to this Roasted Carrot Salad at one of my favorite NYC restaurants, ABC Kitchen. Although it has been years since I have last eaten there, I distinctively remember the salad — the rainbow colors, the mixture of elements, and most of all how delicious it is. Ever since I found the recipe (Thank you, NY Times!), I have made this salad 5 times (in 2 weeks). It is SOOOOOO GOOD! A perfect salad for summer (or winter) and alone (or for guests).
The perfect salad!
For the past several months, I have been taking virtual private cooking classes and they have changed. my. life. Through a kids’ cooking program, I became acquainted with Kate and loved her so much that I poached her from the program, and hired her to teach me how to cook. It has been absolutely incredible. Not only do I work with her on a weekly basis, but she does classes with both my kids — for special occasions here and there and in the past on a weekly basis. Kate offers cooking classes and baking classes and they are ABSOLUTELY incredible.
This is Kate. SHE IS AMAZING. Personable, super friendly, knowledgeable, patient, funny. I love her. If she lived in NYC, she would be my friend.
Earlier this week, we went peach picking (one of my favorite pastimes in Oregon…. fun, beautiful, and super inexpensive. WIN WIN all around). In 20 minutes, we gathered 35 pounds of delicious and perfect peaches. As much as I love peaches, that is a WHOLE lot of peaches to eat….especially since they go bad very quickly. So within minutes, I made two crisps (a little bit of oatmeal, a little bit of butter, a little bit of sugar and VOILA). But there was still 30 plus pounds left….so we decided to dehydrate them and they are oh so good.
Me and my partner in crime. She weighs just slightly more than the peaches.
SO easy, so simple, and oh so good. Roasted miso sweet potatoes! Great as a side dish, perfect for leftovers!
Who doesn’t love the color orange?
I am (once again) on a Gwyneth Paltrow cookbook kick. Everything in her new cookbook (The Clean Plate) is delicious and a current go-to. These turkey burgers are so easy, super delicious, and a hit with everyone (such as me, myself, and I).
For Cruzzie’s birthday last week, a friend gifted him this box set of cookbooks (Cooking and Baking Class Box Set) and we have had so much fun exploring kid friendly recipes!
Now that I am back to NYC, I am all about fast, easy dinners. I like simple, delicious, and healthy meals that do not require much thought but are still tasty and good for you. So when I came across Haven’s Kitchen Sauces on Fresh Direct, I jumped especially because my friend Katie Carey, happens to be the brains and beauty behind these delicious sauces! Can you believe how small this world is? TINY! And can you believe how amazing these sauces are? INCREDIBLE.
So good. So good. So good. Worth repeating and eating more and more and more of them.
Happy March! It feels like it was just January. Time has flown (probably because of my recent travels to Italy and India) but in any case, here we are! I was just gifted three new cookbooks by two dear friends and I love them all so much (both the friends and the cookbooks) that I wanted to share.
I am officially my mom: a collector of cookbooks. I have more cookbooks than real actual books! And I love it……
Now that it is cold and dreary in NYC, I like to spend my time inside cooking. One of my favorite hobbies is looking at cookbooks (actually cooking out of them is less of a passion, but I’m working on it). I recently bought three new cookbooks and love them all.
Pretty books (and yes, pretty flowers).
Today we go behind the scenes with a TV chef (one of my favorite types of TV). Casey (aka, Casey2Cook) is a successful chef who won a season of Cooks vs. Cons! (BTW, that is my biggest nightmare — being quick and fast in the kitchen). Such an inspiration and I learned so much from the interview. Thanks so much, Casey! And FYI, her partner Steven is Natori’s E-Commerce Shipping manager!
Talented and beautiful, too! Thanks, Casey for this interview and inspiration for all of us.
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How did you start cooking? What inspired you to become a chef?
I love browsing cookbooks so when Salad for President, came out I was ecstatic. This cookbook is full of recipes, interviews and contributions from creative artists / chefs / writers / musicians.
This book is the perfect hostess present (coffee table book?)
I love crock pots and how you set it and forget it. So this past weekend, when I was able to think straight and could organize a meal 8 hours before dinner time, I found a recipe for a healthy Chicken Tikka Masala from Well and Good. It was super easy, delicious, and healthy.
The dinner.
Inspired by What’s Gaby Cooking, I have been making a raw brussels sprout kale salad weekly. Basically, it is shaved brussels sprouts, finely chopped kale, and a variety of nut and fruit to give it some JAZZ.
What would I do without KALE?
This past week, I made the most delicious and healthy banana chips. These are both satisfying and sweet with no sugar whatsoever (other than the banana itself). The only issue is that we ate them so fast that now I need to make more!
Scrumptious banana chip!
Everything about my biffle‘s house is blog worthy. It is like walking into a perfectly curated store that carries only the best of the best. Literally, every nook and cranny could be photographed and written about as her taste and style is impeccable (I will take one of each, please). She is also a phenomenal cook who meal plans for her family with healthy, simple, and varied recipes. Here are her top cookbooks of Summer 2016. And perhaps if we have the same cookbooks, then we have the same dinners?
cookbooks
Inspired by the Flower Crown Gathering and the scrumptious appetizers served, I re-made the basil vinaigrette. It is delicious, healthy, and GREEN!
Ingredients:
My obsession with Mark Bittman’s Kitchen Matrix Cookbook continues. I can’t speak highly enough about it and EVERYONE must get it for their kitchen STAT. It makes meal-planning easy, and spices up our family dinner repertoire. My most recent find (there seems to be a new one every week!) is the thai cabbage slaw — DELISH what what!!!
I shelled out the big dough and bought another kitchen gadget; and I couldn’t be happier. YUP, a spiralizer. What is a spiralizer (good question, kinda sounds like a pencil sharpener)? It is a device that transforms vegetables into “angel-hair” strands as well as spiral cuts, shoestrings and ribbon “noodles” — amazing, right?
Spiralizer! Even the name sounds spunky and happy! SPIRALIZE!
One of my besties is someone whose style and taste is impeccable. Everything she wears, owns, makes, likes and buys is top quality and perfect. She offers great outfit advice, gift options, and decor styling. This is in addition to being the most loyal, fun, funny, beautiful and loving friend. I am lucky to have her in my life. I am also incredibly lucky that she gifted me these hip and up-and-coming short stack cookbooks. Check them out!
short stack
