Caramelized Onion Dip

The day before last week’s book club I Googled “make ahead appetizers” and the first article to pop up was “6 Make-Ahead Appetizers” at realsimple.com.  I’ve made many a Real Simple recipe that turned out great so I knew I was bound to find something easy and delicious there.  I was drawn to the caramelized…

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Boozy Cherries Over Cheese

Two things were standing in the way of dessert at last week’s dinner party: 1) I’m not big on baking and 2) I was low on time.  Thankfully, I remembered something Murray’s Cheese posted on their tumblr a while back.  As I just mentioned, I didn’t have a ton of time on my hands so…

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Salad with Pomegranate Seeds, Fennel, Gorgonzola, and Avocado

I wanted to use some very Fall flavors in the salad at Friday’s dinner party and that meant pomegranate and fennel.  This is an incredibly easy salad to put together.  Simply dump the lettuce into a bowl and top with chopped avocado, crumbled gorgonzola, shaved fennel (a mandolin comes in handy here), and pomegranate seeds.…

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Herb Butter and Radish Toasts

Appetizer number two at Friday’s dinner party, her butter and radish toasts, was another easy one.  Here’s a tip that will make your life significantly easier if you’re the kind of person who entertains: bakery counters slice bread for you.  This is a great thing to know if you ever want to use a loaf…

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Israeli Couscous with Zucchini, Spinach, and Ricotta

Here’s a quick fix side dish idea for ya. Cook up some Israeli couscous and while you’re doing that, start sautéing chopped zucchini in a pan with a little butter. When the zucchini is about halfway done, add one clove of chopped garlic and a bunch of fresh spinach. I also added some fresh thyme…

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Greek Orzo Salad

My plan for book club was to make one of my Mom’s pies. I got the recipe and was all ready to go…until I couldn’t find the main ingredient in the grocery store. So there I was, standing in D’Ag at 8:45 PM the night before, no idea what I was going to make. I…

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Radish and Avocado Salad

Sometimes you want a salad but you don’t want lettuce.  Know what I’m sayin?  You don’t?  Come on, don’t tell me that sometimes you wish you could have that cold, fresh, crispy, crunchy satisfaction you get from a salad without all the bulk of the lettuce base.  If the salad is meant as a starter,…

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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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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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