Never eat a boring salad again! There really is no reason to. The key to a great salad is the dressing! Fresh organic veggies are wonderful but if you have a ho-hum dressing or a bottled one with preservatives all you notice is the sad dressing and not the fabulous vegetables. Shake it up a bit and let your creative juices flow when you make your next salad. Try a new vegetable or fruit and give that salad some pizzazz! Express yourself!
Oh, I do love beets! I have loved beets every since I was a kid and we ate them pickled from a can. So you can imagine how much I love them now when they are fresh and roasted and sweet and come in all sorts of lovely colors. You just can’t beat a beet for vibrant colors and eye appeal (we do eat with our eyes first) and the health benefits are numerous! Continue reading
Marcona Almonds! A gift for yourself and some for your friends. What could be better than that? Any time you make a treat in a big batch, there’s always enough for your family and to share or give as a gift to others. And with the holidays right around the corner, these Marcona almonds are a perfect hostess gift or a great little nibbly bit to give with a bottle of port, wine or a favor beer selection. Giving is so much fun! Continue reading
Soup is such a comfort food! And who doesn’t love the convenience of a one-dish meal simmering on the stove top? The smell of onions, garlic and ginger wafting throughout the house let’s everyone know that what’s for dinner tonight is going to be so very good!
Our next stop, as we cruise through the Caribbean Islands on the International Cooking Tour, combines the flavors of Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Dominican Republic. Each have a Spanish influence to their food but there are as many versions of a recipe as there are families that make it. The similarities in their food styles are most meals include a meat, rice, beans and plantains made with their own special twist. And I’m going to put my special twist on the recipe too!
What’s not to love about hanging out at Williams Sonoma? Everything is so shiny and colorful and the place just smells great all the time! I decided I really needed a little bonding time in the kitchen with fellow foodies and trotted myself over to Williams Sonoma for a technique class last Sunday morning. We were going to get “Inspiralzed” and that had to be good, right? Continue reading
Summertime, summertime, la la summertime! Oh yeah, this salad is a summertime explosion of flavor! I’m thinking fireworks here…..So fresh and full of flavor, it really is as good as it looks! Healthy and satisfying because all the flavors are balanced. The dressing is so light all you taste is the freshness of the vegetables and a little hint of lime lingering in the background pulling it all together. Bright, crisp and cheerful, all the colors and shapes make me so happy! What’s really fun is how happy it made other people! I took this salad as my offering for the 4th of July party at our friend’s Steve and Carolyn’s house and got a resounding thumbs up from everyone! It tastes so dog gone good it’s officially my new favorite salad! I mean, it really must be because I am making it two days in a row and can hardly wait to eat it again! It’s a party in your mouth! Continue reading
Whenever we travel, our neighbor Susan watches Kato, our cat, and sends us texts and pictures to show us how much he is not missing us at all….or not as much as we miss him! That’s a great relief for us but no big surprise since Susan loves animals. She does foster care for animals that are not ready to go to a new loving home for a variety of reasons. Some are for health reasons and some are because they are too young and need to get a bit older to be spayed or neutered. We have watched her compassion in caring for these animals turn them around and prepared them for their new family. The bonus is we get to play with all kinds of animals and never do the dirty work! Continue reading
We just got back from a trip up north for my Dad’s birthday and I got to hang out with my nephew Ian. He is the true foodie in our family and whenever we get together the recipes and ideas start to fly. It is our favorite topic of conversation and we “feed” on each others enthusiasm for great food! If there is one ingredient that pops up more than any others, it is Sriracha. We love it!
Awhile back there was talk about a Sriracha famine of sorts and we considered buying a case, just to be safe…. Ian whipped out his bottle of Sriracha and we got into who’s bottle is bigger than who’s. Guess it should have been who has hardly any left in their bottle and needs to buy some more! Continue reading
It just couldn’t be easier and that’s exactly what I needed! I love one pot dinners or a meal in a bowl! Summer is really ramping up with so many parties that my head is spinning……in a happy, creative kind of way! The calendar is getting a very festive look to it as I fill in each new party date. So with planning all the future great things to eat, tonight’s dinner got put on the back burner, so to speak. Continue reading
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Life of the Party Always (LOTPA) is about socializing and making every occasion with friends and family a festive one .
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