Fig and Blue Cheese Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

I recently saw a recipe that called for a mixture of dried figs and crumbled blue cheese to be stuffed into a pork tenderloin.  That sounded easy, but do you know what sounds even easier?  Using up the fig butter that’s still in my refrigerator.  It’s all fig so the flavor is basically the same.…

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Fig Butter Grilled Cheese

I bought fig butter for a recipe recently and had half a jar leftover.  I didn’t want to waste it so I worked to find a recipe that incorporated it.  This may come as a surprise, but fig butter is not one of my go to ingredients.  It is by no means a typical condiment…

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Mushroom Rosemary Polenta with Gouda

My first experience cooking polenta started out a little scary but it only took me a few minutes to pull it together and make a simple and satisfying Italian dish.  The sweat started bubbling on my brow within 30 seconds of the cooking process.  No no, girls don’t sweat; they glow.  The glow took over my…

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Fig, Mustard, and Pear Champagne Glazed Chicken

Fig butter, dijon/grain mustard, and pear champagne vinaigrette are mixed together in a 1:1:2 ratio and poured over chicken.  If we’re getting technical, 2/3 of the mixture goes over the chicken, then it bakes at 350 for 30 minutes until it’s time to flip over, cover with remaining sauce, and bake for another hour and…

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Sausage Lasagna with Smoked Mozzarella

I wouldn’t have known Monday was National Lasagna Day if Albert had not pointed it out to me.  Thankfully, lasagna is an easy dish to throw together so I didn’t need much advanced notice to celebrate.  But boring, standard lasagna doesn’t really say “celebration” so I wanted to update the recipe – something that’s easy…

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Pizza Rolls

Book club starts at 7:30 and as luck would have it, I was scheduled to host during one of my busiest work weeks.  I got off the subway at 7:10 and still hadn’t picked up any ingredients.  By 7:25 I was in my apartment after running through the grocery store to pick up the four…

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Prosciutto, Brie, and Apple Sandwiches

I had a nice bottle of champagne on hand and was determined to use it for mimosas on the roof this past weekend so I invited Beth over for a Saturday brunch.  I couldn’t just serve mimosas – that’s just not the kind of hostess I am – so I prepared two summer salads.  The…

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Greek Yogurt Pasta with Mint and Thyme

I love lemon cream pasta.  Carbonara is pretty good, too.  Basically pasta with cream sauce is decadent comfort food.  Have I told you anything you didn’t already know?  If you’re like me and you love creamy pasta, read on.  I followed this recipe and couldn’t believe how amazing it tasted.  You don’t feel like you’re sacrificing…

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Avocado, Edamame, and Grapefruit Salad

Avocado goes great with citrus and anyone who’s eaten at a sushi restaurant knows that avocado and edamame work well together.  Just a hunch, but that means grapefruit and edamame could work together with avocado doing the back end work of bringing them together. I just told you the three main ingredients for this salad.…

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Spicy Shrimp Breakfast Tacos

Years ago my family took our boat out for a weekend camping trip.  On the last morning I was put in charge of making breakfast out of whatever we had leftover.  I ended up making breakfast burritos out of shrimp we caught straight off the side of the boat and some cajun seasoning we had…

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