Giuseppepaolo

Summer is in full swing! We have bbq's and picnics to plan and attend, with the promise of great food and good times ahead, and memories to be made. Some of our best memories have been made during the summer months when we gather with our closest friends and family, spending hours around the pool, eating, drinking, playing games and then finishing the night off gathered around the fire pit as things wind down. One of my dearest friends gave me wonderful cookbook several years ago called What Can I Bring by Anne Byrn. This book is a great resource for bbq's and picnics. Some time ago (as in a few years ago) this savory cheesecake recipe really caught my eye. I've been wanting to make it but was having a difficult time wrapping my head around a cheesecake that wasn't dessert. Silly me!! Think of it as a cheese frittata of sorts. The crust is made with bread crumbs, although I think crackers would work wonderfully. Of course there's no sugar involved. It's just cre...

Only one other time in my whooooole life have I liked something with beets. It was about a year about when I made a Quinoa and Roasted Beet Salad . I don't enjoy the earthiness of them. I love the color though. My girls love beets and it's because of them that I found this recipe. I won't proclaim to be a beet lover. But I love this particular recipe. I recently signed up to have fresh, organic produce delivered to my home...straight from local farms. It's pretty cool. I'm just giving it a test run to see how it goes. Anyway...my first delivery was the other day I got beets. I knew they were coming. I could've put them on the 'no-no' list but since my girls love them, I went ahead and let them come. In my Google search for beet recipes, I came across a Huffpost link that claimed to turn any beet hater into a lover. (They weren't kidding!) A little tweaking from the original recipe and we have here a vegan, gluten-free and dairy-free recipe. So delici...

Filling, tons of flavor and a very hearty breakfast. I love breakfast burritos but the ones I usually eat are loaded with potatoes. And meat. This time I went a different route (inspired by my very health conscious youngest daughter). There are more vegetables in this burrito than anything else. I did not miss the potatoes (and I happen to love potatoes). Although there are sweet potatoes in that mass pile of veggies. I didn't even miss the meat. much. Well, if I think about it too much.....naaa. I'm not that bad. This breakfast was perfect for another reason besides being a satisfying breakfast. It gave me the opportunity to clean out the crisper. And that's exactly what I did...I grabbed everything I could find that I thought would go well together and started chopping away... Leeks, mushrooms, sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts, jalapenos. (I wish I had some zucchini). All thrown into the sizzling pan with olive oil....sauteed, then some minced garlic thrown in....oh, and a...

Here's a recipe that uses all of the leek...(except the little scraggly roots of course). The whites are grilled and the darks are braised. Brought together with a tangy, zesty, simple dressing. This is another wonderful recipe from the August 2013 issue of Food and Wine magazine. Brought to you, in part, by my youngest child (who's not really a child at the tender age of 21 but she will always be my child). We spent an afternoon in the kitchen preparing a vegetarian meal and this was one of the dishes. The other dish was the Crabless Cakes I posted not long ago. The ingredients are simple and few.  Grilled Leeks with Leek-Tomato Salad & Citrus Dressing Inspired by the August 2013 addition of Food & Wine magazine Printable Version 2 large leeks, roots trimmed Extra Virgin Olive Oil Salt 1/2 tsp lime zest 1/2 tsp orange zest 2 TB lime juice 2 TB orange juice 1 TB soy sauce Pinch of red pepper flakes 1/2 cup fresh corn kernels (I grilled the corn before cutting the kerne...

When my Food & Wine magazine arrived, boasting 25 vegetable dishes, my daughter was on it like bees on honey. "Mom, we should go through this magazine and make all of the recipes!" Thank God she didn't mean, all of them on the same day. I mean, I like my vegetables and all, but for some reason they're kinda high maintenance. Lots of prep work. All that washing, drying, cutting. I know...I am  can be very lazy sometimes. I try not to be. But I can't help it . This recipe does have quite a bit of prep work. Of course I did increase that a little by grilling the corn before using it. I figured since there was so much corn in these cakes, that the flavor would be a plus. Which it was. And I can say that the added step was worth it. I didn't fire up the grill or anything. I just took a gas grill grate that I bought from the hardware store and plopped it on the stove top, over the flame...and grilled away. (works great for grilling peppers and such indoors as we...

Whether you're growing zucchini in your own garden or buying them at markets, you've no doubt come across the beautiful big yellow blooms of a zucchini plant. They may not be fragrant but they sure do taste good. I had heard of people eating zucchini blossoms several years ago but I wasn't in a hurry to give them a try. It takes me a while to warm up to a new idea. Even in fashion (and I am by no means a fashionista), I'm just beginning to like a style as its on its way out. The other day I was walking through the farmers market and saw some blossoms. Apparently both the male and the female blossoms are edible. I don't know why I'd think otherwise but this was the first time I'd seen them with baby zucchinis still attached....a.k.a. female blossoms. I usually just see the males (fruitless blossoms). The above female blossoms were $1.25 for the 6 of them. I then learned from a chef on Facebook that if you are growing your own zucchini, you can pick all but on...

Did you know that April is National Soy Foods Month ?  Neither did I. Until recently.  My friends over at FoodieBlogRoll hooked me up with some soy foods products to help spread the word and share some ideas on what you can do with soy foods.  I'm not a soy person, personally but one of my daughters is lactose intolerant and soy foods products is one of the ways she gets around her tummy aches caused by dairy. I also use soy flour in a lot of the breads that I make for her. Therefore, I'm not a stranger to soy. Plus...I really enjoy soy nuts and I absolutely love eating edamame...those ones you get at Costco. Omgohs.....They're so addicting.  Anyways....this is what I received in the mail the other day.... These things are always a surprise. You never know what you're gonna get until it arrives. Hmmm...what to do...what do. I didn't want to do anything typical here so I started thinking about cheese. I've made cheese... soft cheese from milk, in the past so I f...

Yesterday my daughter brought home a leek. A very large leek. My mind instantly went to an amazing Julia Child recipe: Potage Celestine . But what I needed tonight was simplicity at its finest (short of having it delivered). I had spent most of the day pulling weeds and prepping my little garden strip for planting. I'm exhausted to say the least. After flipping through a couple cookbooks, I discovered that Potage Parmentier fit the bill. I mean...seriously. Soup doesn't get any more simple or easier than this. And it's delicious. It's satisfying without being heavy. It has full flavor and a bit of richness without a dozen ingredients. Aaaaaaaand...it's a Julie Child recipe from Master the Art of French Cooking. Can it get any better than that? Did I mention that its vegetarian? And if you use vegetarian butter....it's vegan! Side note: you may choose to drink a white wine with your soup. I had started the red a while ago....and kept with it. A nice Merlot. Which...

I decided to try another recipe from Thai Kitchen and Simply Asian. I posted one recipe for Spicy Kung Pao Chicken Wings with Sweet Chili Dip  which I loved. I then decided to try the Zing Rolls. Which happen to be Vegan. Not that I'm into vegan but one of my daughters is. The ingredients were simple and easily acquired. Except for the Rice Paper Wraps. I looked at various local markets. No luck. Then I remembered an excellent Asian market a few miles away and decided to head out one Saturday morning. After searching several isles, including the refrigerated isle and freezer (I was thinking they'd be with the won ton wraps and such)...I finally tracked down a store employee and was directed to a dry goods isle. All this to find a simple, tortilla like package of white disks. For 98 cents. For 100 wraps. I think I spent more in gas getting there. You see...I am not, in the least, familiar with rice paper wraps. They're pretty cool little things. No cooking required. Just a l...