sweet potatah fries.

slice sweet potatoes into as-even-as-possible rectangular shapes.

toss in evoo, s&p.

roast at 425 for about 15/20 minutes.

when there's about 4 or 5 more minutes left before they are finished in the oven, sprinkle some brown sugar over the top.

lunch.

those thin rice cake things made out of corn*

your favorite hummus.

feta cheese.

green tomas and baby cukes from your local farmer's market. (salt and peppered..)

eat four of them for lunch on your friend's back porch.

*will get the actual name sometime soon.

a salad from things that my mom always has in the fridge.

baby spinach.

red grapes.

fresh mozzarella (salted a little).

almonds *sliced would have been better.

and some kind of a balsamic vinaigrette.

(this photo was taken after salad was half way eaten).

there's no more lemonade. what do we do?

put some water, ice, 2 peeled and seeded lemons, a few cucumber slices and some simple syrup in the blender. garnish with a mint sprig. best lemonade ever.

happy additions to your cocktail.

summer drinks -

cucumber water, lavendar simple syrup, brown sugar rosemary simple syrup.

add booze and shake! :)

summer sangria

this will make both white and red!

2 bottles of merlot
1 bottle of a newzealand sauv blanc
1 bottle of bubbly
brandy
strawberries, slice em.
blueberries
mango, chunk it up
basil
oranges
fresh. grapefruit juice

soak strawberries in brandy overnight if you can.

3/4 bottle of brandy goes to the red sangria, in a large bowl. add 2 bottles of merlot. oranges, strawberries, blueberries, basil, and brown sugar


1/4 brandy to the white sangy. add the bottle of SB, add strawberries, mangos, i may or may not of slipped a shot of st. germaine and 2 shots of gin in there, and topped off with some bubbly.

heavenly divine sangrias.

salad!

dressing: (thank you magic bullet!)
apple cider vinegar, white raisins, evoo, s&p, oregano, carmelized onions
tip: warm the raisens in water until they are plump before magic bulleting.

spinach, goat cheeze, roasted red peppers, dried cranberries, almonds, dressing

gooooons

Delicious party appetizer :) an improved recipe from a previous post.


What you'll need:
10 oz of cream cheese
12 oz of fine (not chunky) crab meat
1 pinch of ground ginger powder
2 pinches of toasted sesame oil
2 teaspoons of minced garlic
1 pinch of salt
handfull of scallions
fillo dough



chop scallions!

mix crab meat with cream cheese at room temperature. add scallions. add oil, garlic, and salt slowly while mixing on low. yup! wrap a tablespoon in a little packet of fillo dough and roll it up like a short, chubby egg roll. tips for working with fillo dough: work quickly, with cold dry hands. you want the fillo dough to be cool, as soon as it warms up it will become difficult to work with.

place on a non stick pan, lightly drizzle in evoo and cook at 375 until the fillo dough appears to be crispy and golden. (slightly over 10 min) let sit for a few & serve.

sweet and sour sauce:

in a pan, add pineapple juice, ketchup, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, and apple sauce. all to taste. should be tangy to offset the goons.

bruschetta

Bruschetta with pan fried baguette and balsamic reduction:
A great party appetizer, can serve a whole lot of friends.

What you'll need:

fresh basil. a bunch.
mozarella
roma tomatos
white onion
garlic salt
baslamic vinegar
a baguette
vegetable oil
slice up the baguette into slices that are less than a half inch thick. coat a frying pan with oil, and fry both sides on medium heat. add more oil as necessary.this is honestly nice to have cut up before hand. i use roma tomatos because they are less juicy/seedy and they have more flavor. Cube the tomatos, mozarella, and white onion. The smaller the better, but don't puree them! Equal parts tomato and basil, a little less white onion. A couple pinches of garlic salt, and a good amount of basil.i want to put that in my moutthhhhhh!! finish and drizzle with baslamic reduction. which as you know, is made up of butter, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, and... what makes it brown? oh yeah, bacon fat.

kiddin. reduce baslamic vinegar in a large frying pan until it becomes syrupy. i suggest making a bunch of it and just having it in your fridge, it keeps well .

thanks for these photos, rach :)

honey rosemary butter

Sweet and herby, a touch of salt. really great on bread, crackers, popcorn, toast, grilled cheese....

what you need:

a mixer! or a whisk & bowl & hands
4 sticks of butter
8 oz honey
3 tblsp water
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
2 pinches of salt

*Serves a party of 12 with leftovers, cuz you'll surely want them.

Leave the butter out for a bit, it should be quite soft at room temperature. You most definitely do NOT want to melt the butter to a liquid and then cool it down again!

In a saucepan on med heat, add water (about 3 tblsp or enough to generously coat the bottom of the pan) and when it begins to bubble, add honey. Add sprigs of rosemary, and let simmer until the mixture is just noticeably reduced and the rosemary is losing its forest green color.

Remove saucepan from heat and let sit til it is slightly warmer than room temperature. Remove springs of rosemary. Mix just the butter in the mixing bowl on low and slowly add the honey sauce. Change to a higher speed once the entire mixture has been added, but be careful as it splatters :P Also - I know it would be interesting to add a color or texture to the butter, but i decided to garnish with a fresh rosemary sprig instead. I think biting into the leaves would taste a bit too much like trees.

Serve at a spreadable room temperature and enjoy <3

a dinner party honoring those we love and the month of june.
(all tags will be under 'thank you gaia')

drunk cookin

teheheh. check this article out. this would be a cooking show i'm interested in