ArchivesPosts Tagged ‘pizza’

Almost Peach Pie

You can’t win them all, right? I think everyone has that something that continually teaches them lessons in humility. Well, for me that thing is pastry. This is my second annual attempt at making a peach pie and as you can see the results were less than spectacular (I followed this recipe at Serious Eats.

I should preface this by saying I was making this in a terrible hurry. I decided to invite friends over for dinner at the last minute, so scaling my culinary Everest was probably not the best idea. 9I really should know that I should only be using tried-and-true recipes for parties by now! Sheesh.)

Anyways, in the midst of prepping everything else, I am pretty sure I either mis-measured the butter or I didn’t add enough water. Or something. At any rate, my dough came out totally crumbly and rather unwilling to be rolled out properly. And what to do? My guests were arriving at any minute and I had my heart set on serving up dessert.

So I improvised. I rolled out what I could and pressed the rest into my pie pan. I used the leftover bits to roll out and make polka dot crust pieces for the top. I didn’t measure the peaches but I mixed them together with cinammon and sugar (I probably should have added some cornstarch too). But even though my pie crust was more like shortbread than pastry, and even though visually it could be described at best “rustic”, it tasted incredible – like sunshine and summer afternoons. Everyone loved it and the dinner party was saved.

Conclusion: even potential kitchen disasters can have happy endings. And if all else fails, throw a little ice cream on there and call it a day.

The Pizza Report

Up this week: spinach, artichoke, mushroom and goat cheese. Mmmmmmhmmmmm.

Food Links

A sampling of the yummy things from across the web that caught my eye this week:

The Savory

Charred corn chopped salad { Atlantis Home }

7 layer greek dip { Our Best Bites }

Asian slaw { Eat Live Run }

Zucchini fritters { Smitten Kitchen }

Italian macaroni salad { The Kitchn }

The Sweet

Ferrero Rocher cupcakes { This.Is.Glamorous }

Homemade ding dongs { A Cozy Kitchen }

Vegan thumbprint cookies { The Kitchn }

Chocolate ice cream (no ice cream maker required!) { Shelterrific }

Homemade Oreo blizzard { Serious Eats }

Bon appetit!

If you are looking to give your space a dose of style- whether you are splashing out or on a budget – drop me a line. Check out my Hire Me! page for more details.

Warm Potato Salad with Goat Cheese

This recipe by The 10 Cent Designer looked so great. I mean potatoes and goat cheese? What’s not to like? I followed the recipe except I substituted green onion for sage. (As Bethenny Frankel would say “use what you have”.) I also didn’t measure things out closely (I still have that laissez-faire summer attitude going) so I think my goat-cheese-to-potato ratio was much higher than it should have been. But no matter. Behold.

For the record, this was ridiculously delicious. Ridiculous. And not just because of the accidentally overzealous amounts goat cheese. I am going to try this again with just the dressing and herbs over the potatoes, as that packs a significant punch all on it’s own. Garlicky goodness mmmhmmm.

The Pizza Report

I haven’t been making pizza lately, as it’s just been too warm and sunny for me to crave it. But this week our weather turned cool-ish again so I was once again struck by the inspiration. This time around I made a simple one with spinach, ricotta, mushrooms and a gentle dashing of red onion. It seems that I am a bit out of practice though as I let this one get a little too crispy on top – oops! But it was still delish and more than satisfied my pizza cravings.

Food Links

A sampling of the yummy things from across the web that caught my eye this week:

The Savory

Stir fry noodles with peanut sauce { Love Food Eat }

Toasted goat cheese pasta { Hangry Pants }

Kale and ricotta salad { The Kitchn }

Fresh baguettes { Koko Cooks }

Eggs with leek and bacon hash { Winter Jade }

The Sweet

Lucky Charms ice cream sandwiches { The Kitchn }

Jacques Torres chocolate mudslide cookies { Crepes of Wrath }

Red velvet cake with a cheesecake middle { 17 and Baking }

Homemade twix bars { Not Without Salt }

Gluten free brownies { David Lebovitz }

Bon appetit!

If you are looking to give your space a dose of style- whether you are splashing out or on a budget – drop me a line. Check out my Hire Me! page for more details.

The Polka Dot Chocolate Cake

This is actually a recipe I’ve made dozens of times. I even have it printed it by hand on an old school recipe card, back from the days before I’d relied so heavily on the internet for recipes. So I can’t tell where it originally came from, but I can tell you that this one is classic and easy – just as easy as a mix I promise!

Easy Chocolate Cake

1 1/2 cup flour
1/3 cocoa
1 sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup cold water
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp vinegar
In seperate bowls combine dry and wet ingredients (except vinegar).
Combine wet with with dry ingredients. Add vinegar last and mix thoroughly.
Pour mixture into cake pan. Bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes.

The polka dots were a last minute addition: I added a handful of chocolate chips and white chocolate buttons on top – sort of as a lazy person’s icing. But you definitely don’t need to do this. The cake is pretty amazing all on it’s own.

The Pizza Report

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve made pizza so I was totally itching to get back to it. This pizza has springtime on it’s mind. It’s topped with asparagus, goat cheese and a few red onions. It was fantastic! I’ve never had asparagus on a pizza before but it’s definitely an inspired topping idea. I blanched mine for a few minutes before adding it to the top but I almost think that wouldn’t be necessary at all. I will be repeating this idea again soon – it is the just the beginning of asparagus season after all!

Food Links

A sampling of the yummy things from across the web that caught my eye this week:

The Savory:

Homemade black bean burgers at Angry Chicken

Braised cabbage with apples at

Mediterranean quinoa salad at Eat Live Run

Tortilla quiche at Meals and Miles

Nepenthes chopped salad with roquefort vinaigrette at Shelterrific

The Sweet:

Double banana chocolate chip breakfast bars at Eat Live Run

Caramel macchiato at The Luxury Spot

Red velvet sheet cake at The Pioneer Woman

Gluten free peach crisps at The Kitchen

Heidi Swanson’s roasted strawberries at DesignSponge

Bon appetit!

If you are looking to give your space a dose of style- whether you are splashing out or on a budget – drop me a line. Check out my Hire Me! page for more details.

Noodles and Sauce

As soon as I saw this recipe by Jeannette Ordas at Readymade, I knew I had to make it. Easy? Check. Comfort food? Check. Salty deliciousness? Check check check! I knew I was going to like it but I was surprised at just how much. Even Rich loved it – it’s a keeper for those dark stormy comfot-food craving nights.

The Pizza Report

I tried another new dough recipe this week – this one is courtesy of Canadian Living. It turned out really well and made a good amount of dough. My pizza was excellent: ricotta, red onion, red pepper, mushrooms and black olives. That sounds like a lot of stuff but I was pretty sparing with the toppings so it was ok.

And Rich had his favorite ham and pineapple, with red pepper and red onion. It looks good doesn’t it!

Food Links

A sampling of the yummy things from across the web that caught my eye this week:

Healthy Whole Foods Chocolate Earth balls at Whole Foods

Strawberry pop tart scones at Eat Live Run

Whoa. Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies at The Luxury Spot

Goat cheese and swiss chard casserole at The Kitchn

Mint chocolate pixies at For The Love of Cooking (via Atlantis Home)

Signature salad dressing by ABCD

Easy asparagus and tofu by Door Sixteen

Handmade pesto by Crepes of Wrath

Homemade goldfish crackers (!) at Smitten Kitchen

Bon appetit!

If you are looking to give your space a dose of style- whether you are splashing out or on a budget – drop me a line. Check out my Hire Me! page for more details.