Orzo Salad

You are probably thinking, you make us wait 2 weeks for a new post and all we get is #@!*% pasta salad? And it's true there is nothing incredibly interesting about this pasta salad, but I just want to go off on a rant about how much if #@!*% love pasta salad. Now let me clarify first that I am NOT talking about macaroni salad which should NEVER be mistaken for a pasta salad. Macaroni salad lives a vile existence clumped together covered in mayonnaise. I could eat entire bowls of pasta salad. I could come up with endless possibilities of vegetables and seasonings to mix into a pasta salad. This one has orzo, marinated artichoke hearts, sun dried tomatoes, olives, bruschetta and garlic flavored olive oil, and some lemon juice to "brighten it up."



I hope the rant was worth the wait. And there was some good lighting in my kitchen for once so that's a plus too.

I Don't Know What To Call It

Rachel Ray Called it a carbonara deep dish pasta crusted pan pizza, but I altered the recipe a bit so it was no longer carbonara and it is just not a pizza.

I took out the pancetta to make it vegetarian and added artichoke hearts so it had some nutritional value. I also didn't put as much cheese as she requested which was a smart choice because this is a very heavy dinner.


I would definitely make it again and play around with the ingredients some more; perhaps a sun dried tomato? or some spinach fettuccine? Who knows where the wind might take me!

Chex Mix Bark

Nothing says happy birthday more than sneaking snacks into a bar, I should know I've been doing it for years now. What does everyone loooove to snack on at a bar? Why Chex Mix of course! And whyyyy not just sprinkle it over some chocolate? Why not indeed!

Happy Birthday Big Sis!

Last week my birthday creation was a decorative treat, this week I wanted to focus on making an interesting cake and frosting.

The cake: zucchini pistachio with pumpkin spice


The frosting: cream cheese mascarpone with vanilla bean (I felt so fancy!!!)


The taste: amazing.



The birthday girl: quite pleased.

Saffron Risotto

I felt like a million bucks tonight, or perhaps the Contessa, cooking with my saffron threads. I used a recipe from The New Best Recipe. I am absolutely madly in love with this cookbook. I can sit and read it for hours and it is loaded with sticky notes for recipes I can't wait to try out.


Anyway back to the saffron risotto. I threw in a box of spinach and a nice handful, or seven, of Parmesan cheese. It was quite tasty, but Tom Colicchio would not approve of how stiff it was. It did not spread out on the plate. I would have been told to pack my knives and go home at the judges panel. but luckily my family doesn't watch Top Chef and they gave it rave reviews.

Helloooooo, Cupcake

I apologize it has been ages since my last post, for some reason I have been doing things on the weekend (crazy, I know). For my mom's birthday I decided to make cupcakes from Hello, Cupcake which she bought me for Christmas.


When I chose these I thought I was picking a simple recipe, but the short list of ingredients fooled me. It took me over an hour to set up and pipe these butterflies. They did come out super cute though! I wish I swirled more of them, but that damn white chocolate sets up so fast!

The cupcakes are devil's food with cream cheese frosting which I dyed green.

I topped half of the cupcakes with shredded coconut, that I also dyed green to make it look a little more like grass.

Pulled Pork

We have a little baby crock pot, not much larger than our coffee pot. At 7am it was stocked with a pork loin, bbq sauce, apple cider vinegar, onion soup mix, and ketchup. At 4pm I arrived home to the tempting smell of a loin ready to be pulled.

I made a mayo-less slaw to go on top/alongside the sandwiches.

So delicious, so easy. I cannot wait to make this again and again and again.