Strawberries | 20something cupcakes

tropical spinach salad with grilled shrimp + feta.

May 21, 2012 — 15 Comments

Spinach and strawberries are a classic combination when it comes to salads, but here – we’re taking that up a notch.

Tropical Spinach Salad with Grilled Shrimp + Feta

I almost skipped out on this week’s recipe for The Food Matters Project, and I’m so glad I didn’t. I’ve had a lot of craziness going on lately, between my trip to Louisville last week, catching up on work, and the ever-insane social calendar. I had a wedding last night, for instance – but I still ~~found~~ made the time to put this salad together yesterday so that we’d have dinner ready for the next couple of nights … and so that I could share it with you, of course!

Who doesn’t love a good main dish salad this time of year? It’s easy, it’s quick, and best of all … it’s bikini season-friendly!

It can be easy to fall into a salad-f0r-dinner rut once you find one you like. I tend toward arugula and store-bought rotisserie chicken with my go-to mustard vinaigrette during those extra-crazy weeks when I can’t even fathom putting more than 2 minutes of thought into dinner. This salad is a little more creative – and yes, it takes a bit more prep – but it’s still super-quick and easy.

In Food Matters Project, Healthy Eats, Salad Bar basil, citrus, dressings + vinaigrettes, feta, main course salads, pineapple, shrimp, spinach, strawberries, tropical, weeknight fix

rhubarb-strawberry icebox pie.

March 30, 2012 — 5 Comments

This pretty pink ice cream pie is totally not my fault.

I mean, how can you look it in the eye and not want to make it? It’s pink! And pretty!

I blame springtime. This time of year, I want to make pretty pink desserts. With rhubarb. And strawberries.

Well, that’s kind of a lie. Because this is the first time I’ve ever actually purchased rhubarb from the store and made something out of it. But, it’s not a complete lie – because I’ve always wanted to.

Just in case you’re unfamiliar, rhubarb is that pinkish-greenish celery-looking stuff that yes, happens to rear its stalky head this time of year. You probably hear that it’s paired with strawberries a lot, in desserts. It’s true. It happens.

It happened here, and I’m quite happy about it. I spied this rhubarb icebox pie in Bon Appétit a while ago, and saved it for this perfect moment. Well, the funny thing is that the moment turned out to be more perfect than I could have imagined.

In Sweets + Treats ice cream, icebox desserts, pies + tarts, rhubarb, spring recipes, strawberries

{strawberries + champagne} cupcakes.

February 24, 2012 — 85 Comments

The ever-so-classic combination of strawberries and champagne – signed, sealed, and delivered – in cupcake form.

This calls for a celebration.

You bring over the bottle of champagne – make that ~~two~~ three, we’ll need one for baking and ~~one~~ two for drinking – and I’ll whip us up a batch of these bad boys.

The Academy Awards are on this Sunday – does that work for you? Perfect.

You guys know I live for the Academy Awards, right? (Okay, fine…so I don’t live for the actual awards show. I much prefer the red carpet. And what I mean by that is watching Fashion Police the next day. Is it just me, or is Joan Rivers getting lewder – read: funnier – as she, um, ages?)

Nevermind the fact that I normally haven’t seen 90% of the nominated films. This year, I’m really shutting it down – I haven’t seen even one of the movies up for best picture. Although – I do plan on changing that this weekend. Friday night, Daniel and I have a date with either The Artist at this funky little old-school theater, or The Help via On Demand. Which one will it be? Well, let’s see: One requires me to leave my house, which probably means I’d have to put on some sort of clothing that doesn’t resemble pajamas. And then I’d have to brush my hair…make-up? No way. Not happening. I’ll take my comfy couch, spa robe, and vino, please.

I guess that settles that.

In Sweets + Treats champagne, cupcakes, special occasions, strawberries, vanilla buttercream

simple fruit + cheese plate.

September 17, 2011 — 2 Comments

You probably don’t need me to tell you how to put together a cheese plate as simple as this one.

A cheese plate doesn’t require a recipe, though you could certainly make your own miniature cheese spreads and salads if you wanted to. For me, I think back to what I learned from Ina long ago: Don’t make everything from scratch when entertaining. If you’re reading this, you probably know that that can be rather difficult for me. For whatever reason, I feel the need to make juices from scratch rather than buying them. I can’t help myself – it’s how I roll. Sometimes I watch Ina buy a pound cake from the market and I think to myself, “I wish I could do that.” Maybe if I had markets as fabulous as Ina has to shop at, I would do things like that. That’s what I tell myself, anyway.

In Fabulously Simple, Starters cheese plate, easy appetizers, grapes, strawberries, summer recipes

{best brunch ever} mimosa bar.

September 13, 2011 — 9 Comments

Add it to the bucket list: Host brunch with mimosa bar.

Unless you’re not into hosting, in which case you might change it to: Get invited to brunch with mimosa bar. It shouldn’t be that hard. I mean – you do know me, right?

The first ladies-only {more affectionately known as bitches} brunch I hosted became infamous because of the mimosa bar. It’s a brilliant concept, really. Everyone brings a bottle of champagne, and you provide the mixers. You can keep it as simple as buying a variety of juices at the grocery store, or you can be mental like me and make it all from scratch, like I did this second time around. The choice is yours, and I promise – no matter which way you go, everyone will be impressed. And happy.

I’m going to call this the holy-trifecta of champagne mixers: Orange-Pineapple Juice, Fresh Peach Nectar, and Strawberry Lemonade. I used three 1-quart capacity glass carafes that I was *so* excited to snag from work. Let me tell you – it’s a beautiful thing to now have access to every kitchen utensil or serving piece you can imagine!

In Cocktails, Weekend Brunch champagne, fresh-squeezed juice, lemonade, mimosa, peaches, strawberries, summer recipes

I had a lot of fun making this spin on the classic lemon bar for Project Pastry Queen this week.

Possibly too much fun.

Partly because champagne being a key ingredient inspired me to buy several bottles of champagne yesterday. There was breakfast pizzas all day long. There were heaping plates of prosciutto, figs, and cheese. And there was what felt like an unlimited supply of bubbly. It was a pretty fabulous day – but more on that, later.

I decided to start the bars last night, which was a great idea because – as I’ve found with many of the Pastry Queen recipes – they require a step where they need to be refrigerated for two hours or overnight. It’s a very simple recipe: all you need to do is make an easy pie crust bottom, bake it for a few, then make your lemon filling, and bake that overtop of the crust. The lemon filling is a bit more time consuming because it takes about 30 minutes to cook in total; you have to first let it thicken, then whisk in your chilled butter one tablespoon at a time – there are 12 total – and then let it thicken about 10 minutes more. The end result is a sweet, lightly lemony, pudding-like filling, with just the slightest hint of champagne.

I woke up this morning very excited, because today was the day I first got to use my new kitchen torch. I put Daniel to work on getting the butane all set up for me while I sliced my strawberries and laid them out over the dessert. I then covered them in an even layer of sugar, and got to work with the torch. I’d never used one before, and I was surprised to see that you had to really spend some time on each section of the dessert – I kind of thought one little motion would set the whole thing in flames. The sugar didn’t quite crystallize like I thought it would, and this may have been because there was too much moisture. I tried sticking them in the freezer for about 20 minutes, but there was still a layer of moisture laying on the top so I ended up just pouring it right off. The end result was a little messy – but undeniably delicious.

I then may or may not have eaten an entire vat of it for breakfast. And there may or may not have been a glass of champagne involved.

Be sure to check our Ginny’s lovely blog, Just Get Floury, for the full recipe – and see how all of the other fabulous members fared here!