Month: March 2016

other, Uncategorized

Melty Falafel Quesadilla

Melty Falafel Quesadilla
Melty Falafel Quesadilla

Thanks to Girard’s Salad Dressing for sponsoring this post!

I’ve been in a salad dressing rut, so I was so excited to work with new-to-me Girard’s Salad Dressings to develop a recipe. It seems like so many options on the store shelves taste like straight-up vinegar, and I’m super bored with balsamic vinaigrette or blue cheese. Sometimes you just need a change, know what I mean? Girard’s had so many flavors that spoke to me right off the bat: Champagne, Caesar, Chinese Chicken Salad, Greek Feta Vinaigrette, Olde Venice Italian, Original French, Spinach Salad, Raspberry, Vin Rouge, White French and White Balsamic Vinaigrette.

I was especially up for trying the Greek Feta Vinaigrette because I figured it’d be the perfect base to create a new Mediterranean-inspired recipe, and I was so right! The tangy pepperoncini peppers and feta flavor notes in the dressing had me dreaming of pairing it with crispy falafel to create a fabulous side dish.

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other

Quick and Easy Chipotle Shrimp Cups

This post is sponsored by Philadelphia Cream Cheese.

Quick and Easy Chipotle Shrimp Cups -- perfect party finger foods and SO easy!
Quick and Easy Chipotle Shrimp Cups

My Life Story Group has met three times now and every time has been SO lovely — full of honesty, vulnerability, laughter, tears, love, and food. I told my life story at the first meeting (yikes) and since then Katie and Sandi have also both shared. What a group of amazing women, seriously. I love our casual get-togethers where, in addition to baring our souls, we play with each other’s pets, share Spanish language trivia (Sandi is Colombian and Katie spent a lot of time in Guatemala. And I’m a … good listener?), and EAT.

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Uncategorized

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups (Low-Carb, Gluten-Free)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups (Low-Carb, Gluten-Free)
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups (Low-Carb, Gluten-Free)

Which holiday has the best seasonal candy? Christmas has candy canes and Halloween has candy corn, so they obviously lose. Halloween does get props for all the trick-or-treat candy on the shelf, though — especially mini-Twix. Mini-Twix almost make up for candy corn. But you can’t really make up for candy corn.

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other

Chocolate Coconut Macadamia Nut Cups (Low-Carb, Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free)

Chocolate Coconut Macadamia Nut Cups (Low-Carb, Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free)
Chocolate Coconut Macadamia Nut Cups (Low-Carb, Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free)

The other day I raided the fridge for a “snack” between meals and settled on a bite — JUST ONE BITE — of my Vanilla Bean Cheesecake. But there was a problem. The bite I took left the piece kind of crooked. And I hate a crooked piece of cake, y’all — it’s just not right. So I took another bite. You know, just to even it out.

But it wasn’t quite even. I’m sort of a cake slice perfectionist. So I made the difficult decision to eat a whole other row of bites. Sure, I probably shouldn’t eat so much cheesecake. But what a relief it’d be to have a nice, even slice left in the fridge.

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cakes

Vanilla Bean Cheesecake

Vanilla Bean Cheesecake
Vanilla Bean Cheesecake

Last week my students and I took a break from our regular academic program to participate in what we call Intersessions: a weeklong immersion into a new skill or area of curiosity. A colleague and I have worked together for the last few years to host Kitchen Nightmares (apologies to Gordon Ramsay), an Intersession during which kids ask, “How do you find and make great recipes?”

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