Easy Dipping Oil

Go to any fancy Italian restaurant and you are sure to be greeted with a basket of crusty bread and fruity olive oil. You don’t have to put on your Sunday best to experience the same pleasure of tearing chunks of bread and plunging them deep into a shallow bowl of goodness. I wasn’t planning [...]

Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup

I’ve been on a soup kick lately with the quest to keep things as simple as possible. What can be simpler than throwing ingredients into a slow cooker and letting the food do its thing? I recently had some leftover ham to use up. I thought making a big batch of split pea soup would [...]

Gazpacho Mamor

While walking through my local farmer’s market, I noticed the most gorgeous vegetables I have seen in a long time. Baskets were brimming full of rich red tomatoes, crispy cucumbers, and peppers of all shapes and sizes. My most favorite part of all was the reasonable prices for fresh ingredients; sold to me by the [...]

Impromptu Guacamole

All I wanted to do this evening was hear the sizzle of a juicy steak on the grill, wrapped it in a tortilla, with a delicious pile of fresh guacamole. I planned to eat my meaty dinner flopped on the couch while watching a little mind numbing TV. Ahh…a perfect evening after a long day [...]

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

I remember the exact moment when I read about this recipe on Jersey Girl Cooks. I was sitting in my windowless office, procrastinating on a project to make an odd technology sound sexy. Rather than diving into the fabulous world of work, I opted for a much more enjoyable hour of blog reading. The simple [...]

Marinated Grilled Lemon Rosemary Chicken

This was the entrée for my Impromptu Dinner Party. The sun awakens from a restful slumber and shines its golden rays of light through the herbs growing in my kitchen window.  About a month ago, Brent’s mom gave me basil and a parsley plant because she felt our kitchen needed to be filled with some [...]

Tomato Feta Salad with Basil Parsley Vinaigrette

This was the salad served at my Impromptu Dinner Party. Life has thrown several twists and turns this week, which has kept me fairly distracted.  Admittedly, I’m just now catching up on writing the rest of the posts for my Impromptu Dinner Party.  I know, I know.  I should have written these in advance, and [...]

Thai Vegetable Salad

I am a vegetarian enthusiast.  Vegetarian cuisine should never be limited to those who opt for a meatless lifestyle.  It’s more about capturing the true essence of natural flavors grown from the earth and appreciating all they have to offer.  Besides, why should the vegetarians have all the fun? About a year ago, I decided [...]