Sometimes things don’t always go as we planned. I had planned to watch “The Wizard of Oz” at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. I had even called all my friends, cooked up some recipes, scheduled a time to meet, loaded up the car and driven all the way to Hollywood just to have a picnic in the cemetery. However, when we turned the corner and were preparing to enter, we were met by this:
The photo doesn’t really do it justice, but basically the entire city of Los Angeles had the same thoughts that we had. And unfortunately for us, they had the idea about an hour sooner, and we didn’t make it inside. Yeah, it was a bummer. There are few things sadder than having a picnic meal and nowhere to picnic.
Luckily, I’m blessed to have flexible and endlessly enthusiastic friends. We took our picnic dinner and headed to a teeny tiny park in Universal City. We sat on blankets and drank wine, ate our food and watched the sunset go down. It was good, even without the red slippers or munchkins.
Continue reading 'Walnut Pesto'»
There are two clear types of holiday recipes. There are the time-tested kind, the ones that have been made over and over again, and will always be around because 1) everyone loves them and 2) the person making the recipe could do it with their eyes closed and one hand tied behind their back. There are also the newer kinds of recipes, those that are maybe a little more modern, with unusual ingredients and were probably found in a magazine or, ahem, a food blog.
This recipe is hands-down an example of the first type. My mother’s cheese dip graces pretty much every holiday party she attends in December, it is a rare occasion when she’s able to bring any leftovers home. This is the kind of appetizer that you snack on before dinner, and then return to when you’ve finished dessert. It’s the kind that you can’t stand in front of for more than 5 seconds without compulsively piling some on a cracker, until you’re wondering where all the crackers went and why you feel so full all of a sudden.
Continue reading 'Mom’s Holiday Cheese Dip'»
It’s a sage-filled Thanksgiving here at A Cozy Kitchen! I swear, Adrianna and I did not plan on both making dishes that include sage, but hey, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, right?
For all of my childhood, one of the greatest moments at Thanksgiving was when the sweet potato casserole that my aunt made was pulled from the oven and added to the epic spread of food. It evolved a bit over the years, first being topped with toasted mini marshmallows, and eventually progressing to a candied nut topping. It didn’t matter to me what you topped it with though, only that sweet potatoes were about to be consumed.
Continue reading 'Maple Sweet Potato Casserole with Sage-Butter'»
Aren’t you glad that bathing suit season is over? It can’t be a mere coincidence that the holidays are not only filled with decadent desserts that you only eat once a year, but also big, baggy sweaters that hide away any extra inches those foods bring with them. Just another reason to have not just one, but two pieces of this insanely good pie. Actually, if want to go ahead and eat the whole thing, I really couldn’t blame you. And I promise not to tell a soul.
Continue reading 'Chocolate Chip Pecan Pie'»
For a long time I’ve had a love-hate relationship with granola bars. My idea of the perfect granola bar is something chewy, delicious, not too sweet, and that serves as a satisfying snack. I always want to like the store-bought ones, but time and again they disappoint me.
Every few months I’ll be in a grocery store and will wander past a large display of some new variety of granola bars and will then somehow convince myself that these are the bars I have been looking for all my life. Ten minutes later, I’m in the checkout line with a basket filled with granola bars, only to get home and discover that these are no different than any other bar I’ve ever had. They’re either bland or too sweet and I still feel hungry after eating 5 of them.
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Sometimes I decide to cook something because it’s a recipe I’ve done a million times and I know that it’s going to taste amazing, like cheddar & pinto bean patties. Sometimes it’s because I see a recipe in a book, magazine, or blog and am immediately compelled to give it a try, like Smitten Kitchen’s pasta with goat cheese. Then, I have the days when I realize that I’ve had that box of couscous in my cupboard for a year, a YEAR, and by George, I’m going to do SOMETHING with it. That’s when I make things like Couscous Salad with Cherries.
Continue reading 'Cherry Couscous Salad'»
When I was kid, the only thing my mom trusted me with in the kitchen was the salad. So every night, right before dinner was to be served, I was asked to come in the kitchen and make this bland, boring salad. I’d reluctantly tear up the lettuce, cut a tomato and cucumber and it’d be done—it was the easiest chore I had to do, but that memory has resulted in me being a non-salad eater. People love salads—me? Not so much. When I go to a restaurant, the salad section is usually not even an option for me, unless it’s a caprese salad, which isn’t really even a salad, it’s more like a cold appetizer. So I’m scarred for life—no salads for me…until…my trip to Raleigh, NC last month where I tried this incredible salad at Firebirds.
Continue reading 'Grilled Shrimp & Strawberry Salad'»
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