The fam over at DALS always issues great compilations.  I’m eyeing #5, 7, 9 and 10 in particular.

We need a little something to perk up breakfast on school mornings.  These egg cups might be just the thing.

It’s no secret, I’m smitten with smitten kitchen’s recipes.  I especially love the ones that celebrate seasonal flavors by means of minimal fuss and still manage to produce blow-your-mind flavors.  This naked tomato sauce sounds like one of those.

Though I’ve done it before, I’m a little iffy about using ground pork for burgers.  Something about the texture can make me cringe.  However, when combined with Asian flavors, I think it might just be a winner.  IGE’s Pot Sticker Burgers with Spicy Asian Slaw are on next week’s menu.

And speaking of IGE, this take-out fake-out Mongolian Beef recipe has been sitting on my virtual counter for an embarassingly long time…

And lastly, several of 1 Cup Awesome’s school lunch series had me thinking about some throwback dinners — kind of a fun concept!  Haven’t made any just yet, but the Spicy Turkey Burgers and Cowboy Salad hooked me right away.  Made it last night, with a few tweaks for what I had on hand, and I loved it!  The mayo totally elevated the grilled turkey burgers, and the fresh sweet corn and garden tomatoes were the salad stars.

Scones…love them.  I find that recipes {and the results} for scones can vary widely, so when I find a good one, I stick with it.  Thinking I should add this one to the rotation.

Oh, she had me at “breadcrumb-like crouton rubble coating each cut side of tomato.” And then slayed me with “crouton fairy dust.”  I now must make this tomato salad with crushed croutons.

{As an aside, in that very same post, Deb mentions a tomato and corn omlette and links to this picture.  Sheesh, now I want to make that, too.}

Pina Colada Cupcakes – yes, please!  {are we picking up on a pineapple theme here?…}

I tend to be a bit iffy about sangria, but I’m willing to give this one a whirl.

This recipe for Key Lime Pie Ice Cream has been open in my feed reader for months.  Perhaps it will finally make it to my kitchen come August.

Dear friends who are well-acquainted with my sweet tooth sent me *cupcakes* for my birthday this week.  Little did they know, but the master baker behind this delicious little business is a former colleague of my husband’s, so I’ve known Christina for several years.  The cakes were incredible, and I’m so thrilled for Creme Cupcakes’ success {and for any opportunity to taste these lovelies!}!

In the spirit of the genius salad, once the lettuce and {garden} cucumbers were gone, all that remained in the bowls was feta, a little bacon, some sliced pear tomatoes {also from the garden}, chives {garden again}, and a few sunflower seeds. Across the table sat the rest of the steam-sautéed green beans {not from the garden, dammit.  why won’t those plants produce??}. I married the two bowls and tossed the veggies in a little blush wine vinaigrette {Brianna’s — my new all-purpose favorite}. Oh my, what a happy accident!!

As much as I wanted to make peach crisp at some point over the weekend, it just didn’t happen. But still, for two nights in a row, at 9:30 p.m. I craved dessert.

In the form of dark chocolate to be precise.

To be even more precise, I craved dark chocolate chips.

Nestled in a pillow of cookie dough.

Aha, perfect occasion for the recipe developed expressly for eating in short order, no equipment–of the mixing or baking variety–required. I think of this as more a formula than a recipe, largely because it would take me longer to locate the original recipe than to just wing it. Hence, the proportions are flexible and adaptable.
Using a standard chocolate chip cookie recipe {or this one, if you wish} as a guide, mix together corresponding proportions of butter and sugar. Add flour, maybe a pinch of salt, and a scoush of vanilla extract. If the mixture is too stiff, add a few drops {yes, drops – don’t overdo it} of water. Lastly, add the chocolate of your choice — here I suggest you round up in the proportion of chips or chunks. After all, that’s the point of this whole exercise isn’t it??

Here’s what I did tonight:

1 Tbsp. butter
1 tsp. or so of applesauce {my grand attempt to make the notion of eating cookie dough a nearly healthy option }
1.5 tsp. each brown sugar & white sugar
Teensy bit of vanilla
about 2 Tbsp. flour
Chocolate chips

Freeze for the time it takes to draft a blog post. Be sure to retrieve it before your husband does.

 
One last note: this is best made after the kids have gone to bed so you can savor it rather than scarfing it down so you don’t have to share.

Elvis Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream from 1 Cup Awesome

This genius salad idea from DALS.  I feel lucky that my kids will generally eat salad.  I prefer to serve assembled, dressed salads, probably only because it cuts down on the wrangling of the 16 bottles of salad dressing to the table and back to the fridge again.  But as certain diners’ taste preferences change, it seems the dress-your-own variety increases the likelihood of consumption at our table.
(Completely unrelated sidenote:  I can no longer think, type, or read the word “consumption” without conjuring images of the plague in 16th century England, thanks to my complete fascination of late with The Tudors.  Speaking of delicious, Irish actors…check out the cast.)

Ever made a veggie burger?  I’m thinking of trying this one.  Please tell me I’m not the only one that gets totally grossed out by those little grisly bits in ground beef…Though I suspect my husband gets equally grossed out by watching me pick those bits out of burgers sometimes.

Kudos to my bro and the crew at Bella Vita for this great review!

This galette from Dinner: A Love Story. I made it this weekend using a mix of cherries and blueberries and a pie crust I found in the freezer. It was dessert in a pinch {again}, and it was FAN-tastic. The homey deliciousness of a pie, with a fraction of the effort. Can’t wait to make one again!

Dinner on the fly. Saturday night, we put together a fantastic meal with minimal effort (thank you, summer!). Steak and corn on the grill. Salad with strawberries and walnuts. Sesame semolina bread from Panera. And thanks to my brother’s generosity, a 2007 Paso Creek Cab.

Sweet corn. One of the best things about summer in Iowa.

For a time, I lost my muse–I don’t know, somewhere around the time all of the beautiful, bountiful, fresh seasonal produce disappeared from the grocery stores and soccer games started to eat up our Saturday mornings and made the farmers market no longer an option.  Oh, yeah, and that whole two kids in activities and school + work + life routine kinda put the brakes on innovation in the kitchen.  Innovation suddenly became “how can we not eat fast food or breakfast for 3 out of 5 weekday meals?”  And I didn’t think that was worth writing about.

So here we are.  Life is just as full but nevertheless I hope to make a go of this again.  Let’s jump right in, shall we?

Much as I’d hoped to celebrate some summer-fresh veggies or some such wholesome noshery, what was on my mind and in my kitchen when this draft originated was cake.  My baby bird turned 5 (gah!) this spring and desperately wanted to make cupcakes to share with her class.  Due to allergies, we avoid eggs and nuts in any treats for school; the absence of eggs in baked goods boggled me so I deferred to the tried-and-true recipe the class has used before:  sub applesauce for eggs in a boxed cake mix.

Ew…

Boxed anything and me are like {this}.

BUT I have learned to make concessions on occasion — birthdays being one of them.  To my kids, cake is so quintessentially “BIRTHDAY” that it simply must be part of the day, and after 9 years I have officially (for now, anyway) abandoned the stress I used to pour into making from scratch the *perfect* cake for them.  They do not care from whence it came; all they want is the final product.

And the frosting.

We went the boxed route this time (for school.  I ate one and instantly regretted it–why waste calories on something that tastes so ridiculously artificial?!).  And I’m kicking myself that I didn’t make this.  A dear friend calls it Wacky Cake and makes for occasions from book club to birthdays.  Next time, I vow!

The following weekend, we celebrated Easter and the big birthday with the grandparents and awesome uncle, so I was confronted with the cake dilemma again.  I wondered if she’d go for strawberry pie?  Or unfrosted cupcakes with homemade frozen yogurt?

We went with homemade frozen yogurt and her grandpa made her an angel food cake. All was right in the world.

{Still, I wish I would have made these little beauties, even if just for home.}

Other than the above, right now some of my favorite things are:

1. Noosa yogurt.  I’m a huge fan of Greek yogurt.  Changed my life, I tell you.  I cannot stand regular yogurt unless it is plain or vanilla and is mixed into smoothies or with granola.  The texture, the tang, the sacchariney sweetness = blech!  And the sugar-free/”light” crap does not even warrant space here.
Anyway, Greek yogurt has incredible texture, subtle flavors, probiotic benefits not unlike the “regular” stuff, and *bonus* tons of protein.

So, Noosa is not Greek yogurt, but it’s somewhere between Greek and regular.  By way of description, the package says simply “finest yogurt.” Kristin at IGE describes the taste and texture as akin to cheesecake batter, and I think that comparison nails it.  I’ve had the mango, honey, and blueberry varieties and they are all amazing.

Noosa is made in Colorado; the milk is from cows that receive no hormone/growth treatments; and it boasts a simple, straightforward ingredient list.

The only place I’ve found it so far is Hy-Vee.  It’s not cheap, but it is soooo worth it.

2.  Summer Shandy.

{ice cold} Beer + lemonade {on the deck on a summer night} = as close to perfection as it gets

Go ahead, check my math.

3.  Teeny Tiny Potatoes.

Yes, they’re for real!  Aren’t they cute?  Delicious, too.  Roasted with olive oil, salt & pepper, or grilled in foil packets with the same seasoning.  So, so good.  Bonus:  the kids get a kick out of them!

4.  Grilled pizza.  Perhaps my favorite thing about grill season.  There is just nothing like it.  We’ve got a zillion green tomatoes on our plants right now, and I’m itching to pluck one and make the green tomato and caramelized onion pizza from last summer.

5. Salads.

Fresh greens, berries, goat cheese.  OR

Greens, chives, teeny pieces of garden broccoli, cheese, nuts.  OR

Greens, fresh peppers, lime vinaigrette.  OR

Greens, Gorgonzola, candied nuts, fruit.  OR

well…you get the idea.  The salad fun was inspired by my dear friend and just making one takes me back to the last time we dined together.

: Well, if it weren’t already entirely obvious, I’ve lost my muse.  Hence, my months-long absence.  Here’s to finding inspiration at the farmer’s market…or some such seasonal haven.  Also, I have no idea why the fonts in this post are wacky, but if I don’t post it right now it just won’t happen.  Please forgive/ignore.   Thanks much!

My husband could eat barbequed anything every day and never tire of it, so his Father’s Day dinner was a no-brainer: Ribs.  Now just to figure out WTH to do with them. 

I’ve tried, not too hard but tried nonetheless, for years to find the secret to making a rack of ribs actually taste good.  Like, really good.  As in, worth the effort it takes to eat them.  And good enough that makes the prep actually worth it considering the minimal amount of meat you actually get at the end of the whole deal.

I’ll spare you the tried-and-failed methods (except to say that one involved a bottle of Italian dressing…wha??!  I know.).  Behold the only method I will use from this point forward:  8-3-1-1.  Memorize that formula. 

8 T. brown sugar

3 T. kosher salt

1 tsp. your favorite seasoning

1 tsp. your other favorite seasoning  [I used thyme, some smoked paprika from Allspice, and probably some black pepper]

The genius and oh-so-generous butcher at Fareway let me in on this secret and I will be forever grateful. 

Here’s what you do:

Mix the 8-3-1-1 formula, pat gently over the rack of ribs.  Wrap the rack and refrigerate overnight.  The next day, unwrap the rack and place it on a sheet pan, cover with foil, and bake at 250 for about 4 hours.  [During that last hour and a half, your house will smell amazing and you’ll not be able to set foot in the kitchen without salivating.  Be warned.]  Remove from oven and let set. 

About 30 minutes before dinner, fire up the grill.  Slather the ribs with your favorite barbeque sauce—store-bought or homemade, whatever you fancy—and grill for a few minutes each side, turning often, just enough to caramelize that sauce and get it all sticky-delicious. 

These were outstanding.  Totally worth the effort and absolutely worth the time—all eight minutes of hands-on prep. J  Turning the ribs on the grill was a bit tricky, but only because they were so tender they were ready to fall apart.  I found it worked better to halve the rack and deal with just a section at a time.

Given that dinner was his Father’s Day gift, I’m more than thrilled that this formula and method turned out so well.  Might even make ‘em again this holiday weekend!

IGE was full of tasty-lookin’ meals this week.  This latest dinner might make it on my weekend menu.

Can’t wait to find some arugula at the farmers market.  When I do, I’ll be making grilled pizza with prosciutto, parmesan, and arugula.  And then I’ll make this.

I love the look of this dish.  In fact, I loved it so much that I made it the other night and served it alongside baked orange chicken and our favorite harvest grain pilaf from TJs.  I’d never had cold asparagus in a salad, so it took a few bites to come around to the different texture and flavor but I really liked it.  (Can’t say the same for my husband, who prefers his asparagus roasted or grilled and decked out with S&P and roasted garlic.  Admittedly, I could it like that every day.)  The asparagus with the chopped egg, fresh vinaigrette, and wee bit of onion tasted just like spring to me.