For the Love of Food

This is the dish I served as entrée for the luxurious Iraqi dinner party that I held this weekend.

I used my favorite bulgur salad recipe and found this delicious shrimp recipe on Taste Buddies. The shrimp were out of this world. The harissa really gave it a nice spicy flavor without leaving my mouth burning. And, the cooling flavors in the salad help to off set the spiciness of the shrimp. This is definitely a dish worth making again.

My guests were all thrilled about the bulgur salad. They all thought this was such a complicated dish to make, but I reassured them that there was nothing more than a bit of chopping.

The servings in this dish are meant as a side dish. To serve as a main course double the amount of shrimp – 2 large shrimp per person, and double the salad recipe. Continue Reading »

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Now, I have hosted many parties in my short life: impromptu dinner parties, lunch parties, brunch parties, garden parties, winter solstice parties, children’s birthday parties, Thanksgiving parties…I could go on for quite a while.  But, I’ve never hosted a luxurious dinner party.  So, when Foodbuzz challenged us to host a luxurious dinner party I hit the web to get ideas on how to host one.

To my utter surprise, there is not a lot of information out there on how to host a luxurious dinner party – needless to say a small intimate dinner party.  There is plenty of information on how to throw huge and elegant wedding bashes, but since I cannot seat 100+ in my home, I had to turn to other sources.

I quickly emailed the two people I knew would have detailed thoughts as to what a luxurious dinner party would entail.  Could I hold it in my home since my dining table is in my kitchen?  Would I need a server?  These are just some of the questions I had.  Surprisingly – well, maybe not – I got quite different answers from both sources, but good advice none the less.

So, what do you need to put together a luxurious dinner party?? Continue Reading »

After yesterdays very important post on Food Styling – I am almost embraced to post this picture. I rummaged through my refrigerator for quite a while before giving up – nothing green to go on top! Everything living and green was sitting in my garden a 15 minute walk away…sometimes it’s impractical to not have your herb garden in your kitchen!

Anyways, I still think the dish is worth of posting because it was so delicious.

I was recently introduced to the idea of roasting tomatoes in the oven by Naturally Ella in her recipe for Roasted Vegetable Tostadas – which I made 4 times in the last 2 weeks! I will post about those later. Anyways, it got me to thinking that if roasted tomatoes can taste so delicious in Tex Mex, they sure would taste great in an Italian dish like Spagehtti al Pomodoro (which is basically spaghetti in tomato sauce). Continue Reading »

All that talk of making beer yesterday made me hungry! And, nothing like some delicious southern food to satisfy our hunger – I tend to miss being home in the summer and this really hits the spot.

My husband put this wonderful meal together for us last week.  He found the hush puppies recipe here – we tweaked it a bit.  I did the cocktail sauce.  And, I am no lover of cocktail sauce, but I blew myself away with this sauce that I put together for my boys so much so that I ended up consuming half of it myself!

After the jump, you’ll find all three recipes: Continue Reading »

Now, eggplant parmesan sandwiches are a lot more “trouble” to make than a ham and cheese sandwich, but they also taste that much better.

So, here’s to complicated sandwich making! Continue Reading »

So, 5 o’clock rolled around and I didn’t even realize it. Usually, we’re all sitting at the dinner table at that point and eating. But, since I had been preping my bathroom for painting that I was going to do the next day, I lost track of time. With everyone hungry, I had to think quickly.

We had tortillas from the night before when I made hummus, and my husband Googled “simple pizza sauce” and found a fantastic recipe, and the tortilla pizza was born.

They were a really big hit, and we’re made them a few times now and are in love with how quickly they are to make and how good they taste. Continue Reading »

I have been absent – on and off – for quite a while now. I think it may be a year since I’ve been “neglecting” my blog.

We have had a rough ride with life over the past year, but I have not let it stop me from cooking or from photographing my dishes.

I think it’s time to start rolling them out. Now, I can’t make any promises – I have a 3.5 and an almost 1 year old at home – things can get hectic and some evenings I just collapse from exhaustion. But, my goal and wish is to share it all with you.

While living in my in-between-homes apartment (see the yellow plastic plates I had to eat off of for over 3 months), I came across a fantastic blog: Budget Bites. Now, I love meals that keep me from spending lots of money. And, I love them even more when they are recipes of traditionally expensive dishes in restaurants.

To make this recipe even better, it saves me the hassle of rolling – to the disappointment of my 3.5 year old son who loves sushi rolled.

I did change up her recipe slightly to fit our family’s needs. I wanted a dressing that even our little one could enjoy and came up with an avocado dressing that went great with this dish.

So, here’s my version: Continue Reading »

Souvlaki is one of my favorite summer time meals. And, and although the weather is so cool here right now you’d think it was Fall, it’s still nice to pretend that it’s sunny outside! But, honestly, souvlaki is great any time of the year, and although most recipes require you to grill your meat, I cook my in a griddle pan (without the grill ridges).

So, what goes well with souvlaki?? Zatziki – zattiki – zatziki, rice, and cabbage salad. You can vary the vegetables beyond cabbage salad if it’s not winter, but it’s quite delicious.

Please don’t be scared of the long resting hours – these recipes are all really worth making and well worth the wait. Continue Reading »

I am always on the look-out for a good fettuccine alfredo recipe that doesn’t require me to open a canned or a bottled ingredient. Recently I came across a recipe from The Pioneer Woman and it not only looked delicious, but simple – four ingredients plus salt and pepper – so there’s not too much to mess up.

I do have to say that it was tasty, but I also have to say that I had such terrible indigestion after eating it….

It is rich, and creamy, and thick, and heavy..and good. But, if you’re like me and have a sensitive stomach to high fat/oil foods, then I recommend you stay away…because just one bite will not be enough.

The Pioneer Woman has a great pictoral depiction on how to make this recipe. For those of you who want the short version (minus step-by-step photos)…here it is: Continue Reading »