Wednesday, May 8, 2013
ten things I loved about April
1. Beautiful sunshine and parks to explore.
2. This view.
3. The Big Potluck. And all of the people there.
4. This sweet kitty.
5. Ultimate frisbee with youth group kids on the Capitol lawn.
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Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Spinach, Artichoke & Sun-Dried Tomato Frittata
I was thinking about some events lately – particularly Cinco de Mayo, The Kentucky Derby, Easter, Valentine’s Day, and the like. While all of those events, holidays, etc. are celebrated for a certain reason or another, most of them are centered on food and drink. Especially in this, the food blogging world, most of us, me included, spend entirely too much time thinking about creative appetizers, ham glazes, which herbs to mash with the potatoes, how many desserts to serve and various flavored cocktails to prepare. Truthfully, I do this even for a get-together with friends in our home.
I love entertaining. I love planning a menu. I love pairing flavors together and using fresh, seasonal ingredients. I love feeding people.
It’s all-to-easy to forget that feeding people can also be simple. Simple, yet flavorful. And I was thinking about that with Mother’s Day approaching. If anyone deserves an extraordinary meal, it’s Mom. Mom deserves lots of flavor, thoughtful preparation and tons of love thrown into her dish. And that’s where this frittata comes into play.
Most women I know love a simple frittata for brunch – they are simple to prepare, healthy and can be enjoyed for breakfast, lunch or dinner. I chose spinach, artichoke & sun-dried tomatoes for this one because they are simple, staple ingredients with big flavors that most people enjoy. I used Extra Light Extra Virgin Olive Oil in this one so that the flavor of the olive oil didn’t out-do the flavors of the other ingredients, which paired perfectly with the herbs and feta cheese!
Star Fine Foods is giving away a “Baking with Olive Oil Set ” including a recipe book, apron from Kitsch*n Glam, Star Extra Light Olive Oil and Star Grapeseed Oil. To enter, visit this link: http://a.pgtb.me/tG7HJm. Good luck!
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Friday, May 3, 2013
Fajita-Flavored Popcorn with Queso Fresco
It’s definitely no secret around here that popcorn is my favorite snack. Also, probably not a surprise to you that my favorite flavors are those of the Mexican variety. Annnnd, as you also most-likely know, Cinco de Mayo is Sunday – AKA a great excuse to eat your weight in Mexican food, drink a margarita (or two or three) and celebrate with your friends!
So why not celebrate with a new popcorn flavor? My blog reader has been filled to the brim with some amazing celebratory echiladas, dips, etc. but for the life of me, I just couldn’t come up with any good ideas for this year’s celebration. Until yesterday, that is.
Wednesday night, after youth group, I was enjoying a big bowl of buttered, salted popcorn and started thinking about the cilantro-lime popcorn that I made a while back. And from there, somehow, I started thinking about fajitas – our favorite fajitas from a favorite Mexican place in Kansas City. Paul and I would go there regularly on Friday nights. We would order the steak + chicken fajitas and split them…mostly because I would fill up on guacamole, anyway.
These fajitas – there was something just a little extra special about them and I think we finally figured out that it was so simple – Worcestershire sauce. Yes. A fridge staple around here. But it gives fajitas the most amazingly deep flavor. So I could only imagine it would be the perfect addition to some salty, spicy, buttery popcorn. And it totally was. I mixed up some basic fajita seasonings – cumin, onion, garlic, cayenne and paprika, added some lime and cilantro, Worcestershire sauce, tossed it all together and then topped it with some crumbled queso fresco.
I’ll definitely be celebrating Cinco de Mayo more often with this recipe!
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Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Wednesday Ramblings – The Big Traveling Potluck
left top: the avocado grove at Saturday’s location; left bottom: breakfast location Saturday, overlooking a beautiful avocado grove; right: food/drink from Friday night
I spent last weekend in beautiful Southern California attending the Big Traveling Potluck courtesy of my friends at Imperial Sugar. It’s a conference – of sorts – or that’s what I thought going into it. I thought I’d go, catch some sun, eat some really good food and learn a few things, also maybe meet some blogger friends who, up until then, I’d only known via social media.
And while some of that happened – the sun, good food and amazing people part – the “conference” however, was anything but a conference. The word “retreat” really does a better job at describing it. The team of folks who organize it deserve the biggest round of applause that I can think or dream of. The whole thing was truly spectacular – from the sponsors, the location, the food, and really – the people!
I flew in to San Diego on Friday, met up with Ali & Carrian; Carrian’s sister-in-law drove us to our hotel and the minute that we stepped inside, I knew that I would leave with some great friendships. Chris met us at the door with goodie bags and a huge smile. This guy – if you don’t know him, I only hope that you can meet him once in your lifetime…he is so full of life!
We were bused to a ranch for conversation, appetizers (that we all thought were dinner), local dinner, local wine, local beer, and this view:
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