This cucumber salad is perfect for any summer barbeque!  I loved the fresh herbs that gave it a nice extra flavoring, and John loved that he got to eat his favorite veggie, cucumbers!  I have a semi-CSA going with a guy that I work with.

Besides being an awesome professional at our work, he goes home at night to his farm 75 miles from the city.  There he has cows, chickens, and a lot of land to grow vegetables.  He had never heard of a CSA before (he must live under a rock), so I quickly introduced him to the concept and told him I'd be his first customer. 

It's great - he picks the veggies that morning and then brings them into work.  Delivered right into the fridge and then onto the train with me!  A few weeks ago, we got about 35 hot italian peppers!  This week we got about a dozen cucumbers.  The perfect excuse to make this salad!
Cucumber Herbed Salad (adapted from Cooking Light)
Serves: 3 (1 cup each)
2 tablespoons greek yogurt
1 tablespoon dill, finely diced
1/2 tablespoon parsley, finely diced
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 garlic clove
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced cucumber (we used 2 medium sized ones)
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced red onion (we used 1/2 a red onion)

In the food processor, combine yogurt, dill, parsley, lemon juice, olive oil, mustard, salt, and garlic clove.  Process until fully combined.  In a large bowl, toss cucumber and red onion slices.  Drizzle with yogurt mixture, toss to combine.  Serve immediately.

If you let this stay out (or want it for leftovers), you will need to salt the cucumber and let the water drain out of it before making the rest of the dish.  It takes more time but the mixture will NOT stay if you aren't going to serve it immediately (it will get very watery - gross!). 


Nutrition Facts, per serving, from Cooking Light:
Calories:  65
Fat:  2.6g
Carbohydrates:  9.9g
Sodium:  150mg
Protein:  1.8g

Until the next time my oven is on...

Hi everyone!  It's me, John, again...back with my second ever blog post!  I feel honored.  In all honesty, I know Danielle takes this blog seriously so I will do my best to make her proud.  When I found the Marx Foods newest challenge:  Fire on Ice Chile Recipe Contest I could not refuse another chance to get back into the foodie ring.
In truth, this recipe contest had Dani and I written all over it.  Well documented has been my love for all things spice and Danielle's love for all things ice cream.  Could we really go wrong?  I was so happy when we got our chile shipment that I immediately broke them open and did the first thing I could think of - stuck them into a small bottle of vodka.  That's right - one Aji Panco Peruvian chile, for it's fruity taste, and 5-6 dried Wild Tepin Peppers, for a spicy kick, into a vodka bottle for 2 days.

While my spicy concoction was percolating to perfection, I prepared the sweet surprise of our limoncello pops - candied lemon slices.  Thanks to Danielle's epic research of Martha Stewart, we found a great, and easy recipe for them.

And then it came to making our limoncello.  Lots of lemons, sugar, and some peppers soaked until they reached the spiciness that I craved.  Freezing it only iced in all that goodness and decreased the intense spice level you may have expected.  These pops are for adults only; but if you have a spicy-loving kid (like I was), omit the pepper vodka and let the peppers soak in the limoncello mixture just a little bit longer.  It will preserve the heat but keep everything legal!
Sweet and Spicy Limoncello Pops
Serves:  12 (1 pop each)
Peppery Vodka
1 Aji Panco Peruvian Chile
5-6 Dried Wild Tepin Peppers
8 ounces vodka


Candied Lemon Slices (adapted from Martha Stewart)
1 large lemon
1 cup sugar
2 cups water, divided
2 mint leaves

Limoncello Pops
4 cups water, divided
1 cup sugar
1 cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed
2 New Mexico Chilies
2 Thai Chiles
1/4 cup Pepper Vodka
12 Candied Lemon Slices


Pepper Vodka:  Poke holes in the peppers.  Combine vodka, and chile peppers in the vodka.  Let sit overnight. 

Candied Lemon Slices:  Wash lemon thoroughly and then thinly slice the lemon.  Bring 1 cup water to a boil over high heat.  Add lemon slices and cook 1 minute, until softened.  Remove and place into an ice bath. Combine remaining water, sugar, and mint in a large skillet and bring to a boil.  Add lemon slices and cook for 40-50 minutes over low heat, stirring occasionally.  When the lemon rinds appear translucent remove the slices and place on tin foil until ready to make pops.

Limoncello Pops:  Combine 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar in a skillet.  Bring to a boil until the sugar has fully dissolved.  Pour into a large bowl and add remaining water and lemon juice.  Poke holes into the New Mexico Chilies and Thai Chilies.  Add to the bowl and let stand for 2-4 hours (depending on your spicy tastes) in the refrigerator.  Remove peppers and mix in vodka.  In the popsicle cups, place a candied lemon slice in each.  Pour the Limoncello over the candied lemon slice dividing evenly between the popsicles.  Add the popsicle toppers and freeze for at least 6 hours, or overnight.

These are so refreshing even Danielle couldn't stop eating them!  That's when you know I've done good!

Until the next time my oven is on...

We couldn't have a frozen treat week without featuring a frappucino for the man that constantly puts up with me!  John is such a happy guy, even in the morning, but lets just say he is a whole lot happier when he is drinking (or drank) his full of coffee!  While he loves frappucinos in the summer (even me, the coffee-hating girl, loves the sweet cool frappucinos), they are no exaggeration, $6 in New York City. 

Besides that our budget can't tolerate that for a breakfast treat, the number of calories in a morning drink does NOT fit into our diet right now. But that doesn't mean we can't enjoy this type of coffee drink at home, with a few minor adjustments.  I use only skim milk and just two tablespoons of whipped cream onto each serving. 

Using Mexican cinnamon, Mexican chocolate, and hazelnut coffee, John could not get enough of these.  Which was good because I made a few too many.  He had no trouble drinking them the next day!  One of the many reasons I love him, right?

The amount of ice cream in our freezer is immense right now.  I wish I was kidding.  The problem is, by the time I scoop it and we eat it (or try to photograph it as the case is today), its melted.  A combination of no central air (ah, how we miss our Boston apartments), and a perfectionist blogger (sadly, too true!), is making this ice cream become soup.

We still eat the ice cream soup, don't worry about that!  In fact not a single drop goes to waste.  To be honest, this simple strawberry ice cream was one of my favorites from the past week.  It tastes like summer and it was easy enough to make that I didn't feel bad when I ate almost the entire first batch  in a few days.  We just made some more.

And as an added bonus, this and our sweet cream ice cream from last week will be put to good use in tomorrow's recipe - a real winner (if I do say so myself) that you will NOT want to miss out on.  Believe me.  It hardly lasted a full day in our freezer.  Sad but true.
Strawberry Ice Cream
Serves:  6 (1/2 cup)
1 pound strawberries, hulled
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup fat free half-and-half
1/3 cup sugar (adjust to tastes)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla.

Puree the strawberries and then strain them through a fine-mesh strainer into a large bowl.  Whisk in the whipping cream, half-and-half, sugar, and vanilla.  Whisk until sugar is dissolved and transfer into your ice cream machine (according to manufacturer's directions).  When the ice cream is finished, transfer into an airtight container and freeze until it is frozen solid.  Let sit about 3-5 minutes prior to serving for easy scooping.

Nutrition Information per Serving, based on 6 servings, from MyFitnessPal.com:
Calories:  216
Fat:  15g
Carbohydrates:  20g
Sugar:  15g
Sodium:  74mg
Protein:  2g

Until the next time my oven is on...

I'm not sure how many other couples this happens to, but John and I have completely different tastes in ice cream.  I love chocolate, John loves vanilla.  John likes nuts and peanut butter in his ice cream, not me!  The only ice cream we can agree on is Blue Bunny.

And the only GOOD Blue Bunny ice cream (in our expert opinion) is the Bordeaux Cherry Chocolate.  It is a delicious cherry-amaretto ice cream with chocolate chunks and chunks of cherry.  It is incredible and whenever Blue Bunny is on sale, we stock up.  And stock up to me means 2-3 half gallons.  They last a while but we never tire of them.

This was the first copycat ice cream I decided to try was this one.  The first time was too much amaretto.  The second time too little cherry.  And just like Goldilocks, the third one was JUST right!  However, unlike Goldilocks, no bears were present throughout this ice cream testing.  Even in Maine.
Bordeaux Cherry Chocolate Ice Cream
Serves:  10 (approximately 5 cups)
3 cups cherries, pitted, divided
2 cups heavy whipping cream
2 cups fat-free half-and-half
1 cup granulated sugar
1-2 tablespoons amaretto, to taste (to be alcohol-free, use amaretto extract instead)
6 ounces good-quality bittersweet chocolate

Puree 2 1/2 cups of cherries and strain them, removing as much of the skin pieces as possible.  Whisk together the cherry puree, cream, half-and-half, sugar, and amaretto.  Place into an ice cream maker according to manufacturer directions.  Chop the remaining cherries into large chunks.  Then, chop the chocolate into small rectangular chunks.  When the ice cream is ready, carefully mix in the cherry and chocolate chunks.  Transfer to an airtight container and freeze until ready to serve. 

Nutrition Information per Serving, Based on 10 Servings, from MyFitnessPal.com:
Calories:  335
Fat:  21g
Carbohydrates:  37g
Sugar:  29g
Sodium: 88mg
Protein:  3g

Until the next time my oven is on...

As a Girl Scout from the time I was 5 until today, Girl Scout cookies are close to my heart.  I'm lucky that the cookie part of Girl Scouts is also loved by John!  I was awed when a few years ago Edy's debuted their Girl Scout Cookie Ice Creams.  In fact, I have been known to go from store-to-store when Edy's is on sale in the spring scouting for half-gallons of the Thin Mint Ice Cream.

Oh, and don't go buying the LITE version.  That one is Vanilla.  I like the original: rich chocolate, the thin mint cookie, gosh it is pure heaven.  The fact that it's a limited edition flavor only adds to the fervor that I have when the sales have ended, the ice cream is gone, and the last half gallon is sitting in my freezer.  I guard that stuff with my LIFE.  Just ask John.  The fact that I am drooling while writing this is (possibly) just sad!

So how to satisfy this craving?  Well, that's easy enough, make my own Thin Mint Ice Cream.  Girl Scout Cookies stay good in the freezer for a year, seriously!  So with two boxes in my freezer, I knew that I could whip up this treat in just a few minutes.  And once I have, I don't think I can stop!  John doesn't even like chocolate and told me that he's had to resist heading into the freezer for a scoop!
Edy's Thin Mint Ice Cream
Serves:  6 (1/3 cup)
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 1/2 cups fat-free half-and-half
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon vodka*
12 Thin Mint cookies
*if desired, add vodka to help consistency

Nutrition Per Serving, based on 6 servings, from MyFitnessPal.com
Calories: 322
Fat:  21g
Carbohydrates:  34g
Sodium:  170mg
Sugar:  19g
Protein: 5g


Until the next time my oven is on...

Since July is Ice Cream Month, I thought we could celebrate with TWO WEEKS worth of frozen recipes!  Yes, 8 ice cream recipes and 2 other frozen recipes, just for you!  This week, we're doing "copycat" ice creams - the ice creams you crave from your favorite ice cream scoop shops, or those half-gallons that fly out of the freezer a little too fast.

John and I have been working diligently (all for you, I might add), on taste-testing against the original flavors.  This sweet cream ice cream comes straight from Cold Stone Creamery.  It's one of John's favorite flavors there, and I knew it would be simple to recreate at home!

In fact, I made it exactly the way it sounds - with just two ingredients!  Cream and sugar.  Healthy, probably not.  Delicious, most definitely!  This is the traditional base that a typical ice cream shop uses to make the rest of their ice creams.  And, if you make this, and have any leftover, hang on to it for next week - I have an ice cream flavor that is going to BLOW your mind.
Sweet Cream Ice Cream
Serves: 6 (1/3 cup)
1 pint of heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar

Whisk together the heavy cream and sugar until sugar dissolves.  Place in the ice cream maker and churn until soft and creamy.  Place it in an airtight container and freeze it for at least 2 hours, until hardened.

You could easily serve this when it comes out of the ice cream maker.  John and I might have eaten a large portion of it that way.  But you'll never know...and I will never tell!

Nutrition Info Per Serving, Based on 6 Servings, From MyFitnessPal.com
Calories:  297
Fat:  29g
Carbohydrates:  10g
Sugar:  8g
Sodium:  30mg
Protein:  2g

Until the next time my oven is on...

Hi all!

I hope you enjoyed our vacation to Portland, Maine!  As many of you have noticed over the past week, I've been slowly and quietly updating a variety of blog design and layout stuffs. 

Today, though, I'm excited to talk about the BIGGEST thing I've been working on...my NEW Recipe Index!  I have been inspired to really overhaul the index and make it more user-friendly.  Even for me!  When I first started this blog, I had no idea that almost 2 full years later, I would still be blogging!

I will leave my reminiscing for another time...the more writing I do, the more blogs I post, the larger my recipe index was becoming.  In fact, it was just becoming unruly and I feel like all you dedicated readers were missing some wonderful recipes because of the fact that the index was so unwieldy.


Part of this, I take full blame - I am TERRIBLE at updating the index!  It has to be the worst blogger job, besides doing the dishes (oh wait, John takes care of that!). 

Anyway, click around, check it out!  I hope you enjoy it.  It wasn't easy, but with a little hard work, dedication, and help from my beloved IT professional, John, it works. 

Next week is a big week - a full week of frozen treats.  I'll tease you with just that very bit of information for now...

Until the next time my oven is on...

I'm so happy that after almost 9 months, John and I have finally gotten to explore a new city.  Technically, for us, Portland isn't exactly a "new" city.  With John living in Maine, we got to hang out in Portland a good amount of time.

We also spent much of this vacation with his family, which is why (and I apologize) the pictures are few and far between.  But the ones we have are great ones!  The first night there, John and I shared a "grown-up dinner" with his brother and sister-in-law.  It was the night before his sister came up with her little ones, and we decided to enjoy the solitude before chaos ensued.

Anyway, we ate at Local188 in Portland which focuses on local produce and free-range meats.  We started dinner with a cheese plate which featured a variety of Northeastern cheeses.  For dinner, I had their smoked lamb chop special.  It was great, but what really sold it was the lemon-tomato sauce which was interesting but so delicious I couldn't stop eating it and practically licked my plate.  The highlight of dinner though, was John's delicious Hanger Steak.  John enjoyed a local brew while I had the house infused margarita.  Go there, try it.  You won't be disappointed.  We finished our delicious meal with something equally delicious - dessert!  It was definitely the week of ice cream because wherever we were, whenever I found ice cream, we tried it!  John and I tried both gelato places in Portland (all in the name of blog research, of course - its a hardship sometimes!).  The first place, Gorgeous Gelato, had a small variety of delicious gelato flavors!  The night we were there I had a chocolate whiskey gelato to die for!

The second place, Gelato Fiasco, is a chain throughout New England.  John and I sampled on our last night there.  We give them a + for a much better variety, but a - for actual taste.  Gorgeous Gelato was just amazing and if you're not picky, we would suggest you detour there (they are right across the street from each other, so you can easily sample for yourselves!!

The next day, we took the kids (and ourselves, let's be honest) to the deepest and 2nd largest lake in Maine, Sebago Lake.  I really dislike swimming in lake water; I was a swimmer, I like pools.  Chlorinated, clean, pools.   But the lake was beautiful and I got to swim around with the hair piled on top of my head, so it wouldn't get infested with bacteria (what can I say?  I am weird).  I also realized I am sorely in need of getting back into some swimming shape.  We spent most of the day hanging out, despite some rain, and enjoyed a BBQ there. 

While John and I spent two other days visiting family, we were lucky to get a day to ourselves on one of the nicest days we were there!  John planned a perfect day, too.  We took the Casco Bay Ferry 20 minutes to Peaks Island, an adorable island in the Casco Bay.  Personally, I love that kind of small island life where most of the transportation is golf carts and bicycles, beach surrounds you on all sides, and you have to take a ferry to get there!  Just the ferry ride relaxes you and you step off into such a paradise!  Of course, like almost every day we were there, it DOWN POURED on us while we were 3/4s of the way around the island which sent us scurrying to the ferry terminal gift shop, which conveniently also houses an ice cream shop.  Yes, another scoop of ice cream - this time it was "Maine Black Bear" which was vanilla ice cream with a raspberry ripple and scrumptious raspberry-filled chocolate cups!  Of course, this was after lunch - so let's backtrack and talk about the island and our delicious lunch.

We spent the afternoon wandering around the streets of Peaks Island.  I would have opted for the bicycles but since our bike ride in Central Park a few weeks ago, John let me know he needed to let himself recover before we could get back on bikes.  The nice thing is the island is so small we were able to walk all around in the time we were there.  On our way around the island, we saw this great named restaurant (restaurant?  More like a grille or cafe), the Cockeyed Gull.  John could not stop laughing about the name of the restaurant that halfway through our walk, we doubled back to grab a quick lunch there.  It had a great deck looking out on the water which is where we ate.  The views were picturesque and the food was awesome!  It doesn't look like much but don't let its look fool you.
We were rewarded later in the week when we happened to meet one of John's good friends.  It turns out he recently bought a house and lives on Peaks Island and agreed that was the best place you could go on the island to get a decent meal!  Score 1 for John and I!  Anyway, we stuck to seafood seeing as we were literally next to the sea. 

First off, you shouldn't make pound cake in the summer.  Keeping the oven on for an hour (in this tiny apartment) was not a smart idea; in fact, I'm surprised John is still awake in the living room - it has gotten extremely warm!  And despite our air conditioner working overtime, it really hasn't helped one bit.

That being said, I had to make this cake.  As a food lover, I sometimes get these IDEAS in my head.  Do you ever get them?  They come to me at all times but, especially, late at night.  Early on in my journey, someone suggested keeping a notepad by my bed so I could easily scribble.  It's not John's favorite thing about me, but he puts up with it.

A few weeks ago I had a food revelation - the perfect dessert to make celebrating summer.  I wish I could tell you what it was but you will have to wait a week or two (oh my god, I am such a tease!  So sorry!).  Anyway, this dessert is going to blow your mind (as it did mine) but it needed this cake.  Any cake will do so if you have a hankering to make it, I suggest skipping the loaf pan.  Make it in a 9x13 and it will cook up in 1/3 of the time!  That will keep your apartment, house, dwelling, cooler and won't overtax the AC.  Believe me, your family will thank you!
Light Pound Cake (adapted from Cooking Light)
Serves:  8 (8 slices from a 9 x 5 x 3 loaf pan)
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
3/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup salted butter (1/2 stick), softened
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup skim milk

Lightly spray a 9-inch loaf pan with cooking spray.  Set aside.  Combine oil and vanilla bean in a small skillet over low heat.  Slowly bring to a simmer.  Remove from heat and let the mixture stand about 10 minutes (until the mixture is about room temperature - the temperature of your fingers).  Scrap the seeds from the vanilla bean.  Stir the seeds into the oil; discard the bean.  Combine the oil, sugar, and butter in a large bowl.  Beat until well-blended (about 4-7 minutes).  Add the egg and beat well.  In a separate bowl, combine the flour and baking powder, whisking together until completely blended.  Add the flour mixture and the milk to the sugar mixture, alternating between the two but beginning and ending with the flour mixture.  Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan.  


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Bake the loaf for about 45 minutes - 1 hour, until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let the cake cool in the pan for 10-20 minutes.  Then, remove from pan and let cool completely before using in any recipes.  Or, serve it warm immediately. 

Nutrition Information per serving, based on 8 Servings from MyFitnessPal.com:
Calories:  265 
Fat:  12g
Carbohydrates:  40g
Sugars: 21g  
Sodium: 113mg
Protein:  4g


Until the next time my oven is on...