witch finger cookies.

now this recipe was tasty, festive & fun!

To take a break from attic renovations last weekend, we didn't go to Sugar Mountain Bake Shoppe as planned b/c we had already made witchy finger cookie treats!!

Here's the recipe:
1-1/4 cups Sliced Almonds
4 oz. (1/2 of 8-oz. pkg.) Cream Cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. almond extract
1/4 tsp. salt
1-1/2 cups flour

HEAT oven to 325ºF.

RESERVE 60 almond slices for later use as finger nails; chop remaining almond slices.
Beat cream cheese, butter, sugar, extract and salt in large bowl with mixer until light and fluffy.
Gradually beat in flour. Stir in ground nuts.

ROLL dough into 40-60 (3-inch) "fingers," using 1 Tbsp. dough for each.
Place, 2 inches apart, on baking sheets sprayed with cooking spray.
Press 1 of the reserved almonds into dough @ end of each finger.

Shape for appropriate 'witchy-ness'. (Try using a sharp knife to make slits in top of each finger for the knuckles)

BAKE 15 to 20 min. or until lightly browned.

Cool a few mins; transfer to wire racks. Cool completely.

(here's my mother trying to imitate her exact finger) (i perfected the female witchy fingers)


they're like a dense almond shortbread cookie & are the perfect match to coffee or tea. (they perk up my decaf!)

roasted veggies.

i've been craving roasted veggies on just about everything lately. they're one of my favorite things about summer!

heart shaped egg.

i LOVE making fried eggs for breakfast with our new heart shaped egg molder. it's made of rubber silicone so you can change the shape of the egg at a moments notice. sometimes i'm in the mood for short round hearts and sometimes i'm in the mood for long, SKINNY hearts. today i made a round short heart egg to fit snugly in my newest addiction, thomas' mini bagel. top with red hot and enjoy!

ultimate white cake.

if you enjoy cake, live near a Wegmans and haven't tried their Ultimate White Cake yet - bring one home tonight!! i'm a super-duper cake lover and this one is INCREDIBLE. tastes better than most wedding cakes and blows the ultimate right out of their ultimate chocolate cake (which was pretty darn good). last week the store was giving out $1.00 coupons that can be used on either size, so i took a few extra :)

it's the mildly sweet vanilla buttercream that does it for me. i'm getting HUNGRY just thinking about it!

cherries.

cherries, cherries, and more cherries. some pics from our weekend at the farm.

cup-a-cake.

this one goes out to all my fellow CUPCAKE lovers. i made cupcakes last night in celebration of a couple things:

1. my 300th post!! who knew I could make it this far.
2. flag day.
3. my mom's bday. (also flag day)
4. the best piece of TUPPERWARE $4 can buy.

williams-sonoma has DONE it again! we were there drooling over nearly everything when i spotted several only-use-10-times-per-year-but-gotta-have-it-anyway items. this was one of them... although we do eat cupcakes WAY more than 10 times per year. it's flippin INGENIUS!! no more LOST frosting or smooooshed cupcakes. ever!

i prefer everything in the shape of a muffin or cupcake. my brownies, my corn bread, you name it. that said, my cup-a-cake has gotten LOADS of use already as I put it to work this week hauling corn bread muffins and cupcakes. these cupcakes were nothing like my 50th post, they were patriotic and adorned little red stars and blue sprinkes. gotta love the stars and strip cake mix.

happy flag day everyone!

salad bowl.

my mom made me a salad bowl for our garden and now we're eating lettuce like rabbits... it grows back like crazy!

smoked irish dinner.

me: "babe - can we have boiled dinner for st patty's day?"him: "sure, i'll stop at wegman's on my way home. do you mind if i twist up the menu a bit?"me: "no problem as long as the staples are there!"

i present you SMOKED corn beef, roasted cabbage, carrots, onions, and garlic-cheddar mashed potatoes. the boy uses ANY excuse to break that smoker out and put it to good use! a very different flavor than what comes from the traditional crock pot! the veggies were all done in a balsamic reduction glaze that was oh-so-YUMMY. oh... and for dessert:

buffalo chicken dip.

*warning* anyone who are on a diet, or happen to be lactose intolerant, close the browser quickly. if you don't, i'm not liable for any keyboard damage that may occur from your drooling.


yummmmmm. go giants!

buffalo chicken wing dip:
- layer of cream cheese (two 8oz packs)
- layer of blue cheese
- boil 1 lb boiled chicken and then shred with fork
- add chicken to 12 oz FRANK's red hot and 2 tbs butter
- layer mixture ontop of blue cheese
- layer with more shredded CHEESE of your choice
- cook for 20 min @ 350 until bubbly

serve with FRITOS scoops.

boys and their toys.

mcallister got a rice cooker for christmas. this means i'm eating rice every evening while i learn the history about what new rice he is cooking with.

sushi every week? i really can't complain ;-)

smoothie snooze.

the first day back to work after a long holiday was MUCH easier when I woke up to a fresh strawberry smoothie. yummm. mcallister is really good at making them after we tried the Dole recipe at the LPGA last summer.

i wasn't even mad that he woke me up between snooze number 1 and 2 with the noisest blender on the planet. it's an old commercial one that my mom and dad used to have back in the day and it works REALLY well - but boy is it loud.

borscht.

my other half is pretty darn creative in the kitchen. he reads a ton of autobiographies and books written by the chefs he likes and then PRACTICES what he learns on moi. (lucky me!) this weekend he ran out to buy a new 'dutch oven' for the current meal inspiration swirling around in his brain.

he's reading another one of anthony bourdain's books - A Cook's Tour. in it, bourdain travels ALL around the world in search of the perfect meal. i guess it's a pretty easy read - he said every chapter is like an episode on the travel channel.

so that's how i met borscht. bourdain talks about it when he was traveling in Russia. it's a beetroot vegetable soup but he put a Russian twist on it adding beef, parsnips, cabbage and potatoes. oh, can't forget the DOLLOP of source cream. yummm.

eating.

apples covered in caramel. yuuuummmmmm.

pirogie day.

the pirogie debate of last week is officially over. we opened and then closed the polls and made about 325 pirogies in one day. I chronicled the making of a pirogie on my Gallery page.

this was our YODA pirogie. we waited till the end to eat it.

festive cookies.

yummmm.

harvest muffins.

first grape pie, now muffins - my work colleagues are GENEROUS folk who really like to share good food! (which in turn is creating a theme for this week's blog posts) today a colleague brought in these amazing muffins from the Great Harvest Bread Co to celebrate FRIDAY.

i usually only eat the muffin tops (i'm contemplating the purchase of a muffin top baking pan), but this cherry-almond muffin was so yummy - i ate the WHOLE darn thing. it was so big it was a small meal all in itself. i didn't even know great harvest was right around the corner, they took over where montana mills used to be. we'll have to be back!

grape pie.

tim, my buddy at work, went to the Naples Grape festival this past weekend with his wife. i've never been to the festival, but it looks like a lot of fun. it celebrates the harvest of the grape season with local music, crafts, food and wine!

we couldn't go b/c we were hosting some lovely guests and had a roof to put on. well Tim was so KIND he brought me back a GRAPE pie!! (i must have complained loudly about missing it ;-) it's the first time I've ever tried grape pie and boy is it YUMMMMMY. it's sweet like grape juice and of course tastes just a bit better with whipped CREAM. (what doesn't!?)

trip pics.

well i just finished our Washington DC pics from our 4th of July trip a couple months ago. i know - total SLACKER. it was actually a ton of FUN organizing them b/c it was like I experienced the trip all over again! (it pays to take LOTS of pics) I especially liked seeing how much fun we had eating CRABS at the Quarterdeck. (can anyone tell i'm HUNGRY!?)

Holy toledo was that ever a messy dinner! I'm not sure if I was totally expecting the experience we had when we arrived for dinner. our weapons of choice - wooden MALLETS. 3 HUGE piles of crabs and several pitchers of beers later - we were all FULL of crabs!

Check our my crabby pics plus a whole lot more red, white and blue fun on my Kodak Gallery Travel Page.

BEFORE.



AFTER.

blowfish.

*attention sushi lovers*. i found a fun, hip place with AMAZING sushi while out in San Jose. it's called blowfish. the inside has a modern, Tokyo inspired architecture and design elements with lots of tvs on the walls playing Japanese animation cartoons. (we watched speedracer)

they played ambient music which made everyone upbeat and served both traditional and more modern sushi which was all EXCELLENT. we ordered LOTS and everything was so fresh and yummy. their presentation was so cool - our sashimi platter is pictured to the right (dry ice made it work). my water came with a thin slice of cool cucumber - such a nice hint of flavor. something I will be DEF trying at home. my plum sake cosmo was tasty too.

def recco to any sushi lover going to San Jose, San Fran, LA, or Hollywood!

tomatoes.

remember how big our tomato plants were? well they are producing some monster OVERSIZED fruit! i don't think i've ever seen one so BIG!