Rustic Peach Pie

I like my homemade Thanksgiving pies to have perfect top and bottom crusts with perfectly crimped edges.  Yet, my summer fruit pies tend to be rustic and free-form and anything but fussy.  No doubt my pies reflect my feelings and summer is way too fun and relaxed to worry about perfect edges on a pie!  The choice of fruit also changes with the season.  Although apple pie is my favorite and mandatory on my holiday table, I keep those flavors for autumn.  Summer is about sweet peaches or plump berries and I let the choice of filling be dictated by whatever is ripe and fresh at the farm stands.

Birthday Wishes from a Grasshopper

Today is my birthday and as I always joke around with my friend Heidi from Young Grasshopper, I am now less young. It's kind of a big birthday to me because it is the last year in a decade that I will miss. And to celebrate, Brian is taking me away for a long weekend. We will stroll on the beach, dine by the water, wander around quaint villages, drink many cocktails and generally spend happy work-free time with each other. I can't think of a nicer way to spend my birthday weekend.

A Contest, A Cookbook and a Frog Named Ambrose

I have won a frog naming contest. Yes, you read that line correctly. Now, I don't know how many people can claim that honor but I certainly never expected to either enter or win such a contest. Let me explain.

Bread and Asparagus Salad

Sometimes great recipes are deceptively simple. A while back I was watching a re-run of Top Chef Masters and during one of the challenges, chef Naomi Pomeroy made this delightful looking salad. There was thinly sliced asparagus, toasted bread and a dressing made with lemon but I wasn't sure about the rest. A quick online search, however, produced the recipe.

Mango Lassi Milkshake

I am a latecomer to the world of mangoes and I don't really know why. I'm not a picky eater and am willing to try many new things. But somehow this big, oval shaped fruit escaped me. It was at our anniversary dinner back in June that I tasted my first mango cocktail and was delighted. When I recreated the recipe at home, I was hooked. I'd always heard the term mango lassi but never knew or paid attention to what it was. But with my new found interest in mangoes, I was now off to explore this odd sounding dish.

Happy National Daiquiri Day!

Today is National Daiquiri Day and all I can say is...what a great country we live in!  Brian and I are quite enamored of daiquiris, particularly the frozen kind, and the hot weather lately has been supplying us with ample opportunity to indulge in all our favorites.  As for the classic, non-frozen version, we've jazzed it up with a touch of Cointreau and a bit of mint for a delightful year round cocktail.

Click here to see all our daiquiri recipes and enjoy the day.  Cheers!

BBQ Pulled Beef

This week, as I was pondering the age old question of what to cook for dinner I had an urge for BBQ pulled beef. I've been seeing a lot of recipes for pulled pork and BBQ'd meats. I've even seen recipes for slow cooker briskets. But I don't have a slow cooker and none of those recipes were exactly what I had in mind. I did a search but still no exact matches. Oh, well. It seemed as if I was going to have to invent the recipe.

Lemon Coffee Cake with Crumb Topping

I have a love / hate relationship with lemon cakes. Most of the store and bakery options I've tried have tasted harsh and artificial. No doubt they rely on lemon extracts and flavorings and those do not appeal to me. Even my own attempts to make lemon cake, using lemon juice, have been too harsh. But I'm still tempted whenever I see a photo or recipe which explains why I pinned this beautiful looking cake from Martha Stewart. A few weeks later, I saw that Elyse from The Cultural Dish had made the recipe and her photo was as tempting as the original so I was determined to give it a try.

Mock Apple Strudel Cups (Guest Post at The German Foodie)

Today I have the pleasure of guest posting for my friend Sofie, The German Foodie while she and her family are on vacation. Sofie and I hit it off right away both on email and on the phone. When we finally had the chance to meet in person last April, our bond was sealed! She's smart and fun, has a wicked sense of humor and is one hell of a cook!

Deep Blue Sea Martini

There's just something about a blue drink... It's interesting and enticing, fun to look at, to serve and best of all, to drink. And when that blue drink is called Deep Blue Sea and is served in the summer it's pretty much irresistible.

A Trio of Spiced Chickpeas

Can a healthy snack taste really, really good? Yup, and this one definitely does. If you're not already eating chickpeas than you're missing out on 6 grams of protein, 7 grams of fiber and heaps of deliciousness. The downside is that on their own, the little garbanzo beans are pretty mild tasting...and pretty boring. But the good news is that it's very easy to add a ton of flavor with very little work.