Over at Dabbled, go check out the step by step tutorial on making your own citrus vodka from less expensive vodka.  (Bonus, my elusive husband can be seen in the photos!) And you can make your own little fruit critters to go with it, just add googly eyes! Wouldn’t this be tasty in a Tangtini?

If you’ve ever asked a family member for a favorite recipe, or perused your grandmother’s cookbooks, marveling at the notes she’s taken in the margins and the bits of dried-on ingredients left as artifacts of her pursuits, then you know there’s a certain comfort to be taken in preserving the heritage that is contained therein. […]

This month were going to be talking about feeding the kids, especially for Back To School.  Our school starts very early (it started this week!) and we have a new kindergartner, so this is a topic that I’ve been thinking about a great deal… So first off, here are some collected ideas that may help […]

If you liked the cupcake ideas from last week, here are a few more cake and cupcake inspirations for you – this time with a sushi theme! A giant Ebi Cake by Coco Cake Cupcakes! Link to a how-to on a Giant Maki Cake by Shrimp Salad Circus (plus more links to other sushi themed […]

Here’s a photo roundup of some tasty looking cocktails to cool you off in the heat of the summer… Click through the links below for recipes and/or ingredients 1. The Thai Boxer, 2. lemongrass cooler, 3. Watermelon and Rose Sangria, 4. Chocolate orange martini’s, 5. Bourbon Mint Tea, 6. Kermit Cocktails Originally published at Dabbled.org: […]

Shrimp is one of my favorite go-to foods for several reasons: they’re quick cooking, generally economical (I can usually find shrimp priced around $5-7 per pound in the seafood section of my local Publix), theyare easily portioned into small amounts, my picky 5 year old is a big fan, and–of course– they’re tasty! Since just […]

From Crumpets and Cakes – 2 ways to make Ginger Ale / Ginger Beer … the fast way and the slow way!  I’ve never made ginger ale… it does look tasty…! Here are two recipes for homemade ginger ale I tried recently. One is for the impatient (me) and the other for those, who don’t […]

I needed something fancy to decorate the equally fancy chocolate pie I was making for Valentine’s day.  I really like the look of a mound of chocolate curls haphazardly sprinkled over the top of a dessert, so I gathered my ingredients and quickly threw some together. Ingredients 2 oz. semi-sweet chocolate 1 teaspoon vegetable shortening […]

Irish blog The Daily Spud brings us this fabulous idea — Oven dried potato crisps (chips to us Yanks).  Salt & Vinegar… mmmm!!  Wouldn’t these be cute served in little paper food baskets? And not fried, so they are actually a healthy snack… I’m wondering how these would come out in a sweet potato version. […]

Summer is drawing to a close soon, and that means school will be starting!  For August, Foodwhirl is looking for clever ideas for lunches to pack for school, and we know our readers have some… Do you have a great tip lunches that stay good in a lunchbox, or how to plan ahead for lunches […]

Shortcuts are great!  I love this one — Cheater’s Lasagna — from Radishes and Rhubarb…  A clever way to pull together a quick and tasty lasagne: I try very hard to make everything from scratch. Mostly because I really enjoy the cooking process, but also because I just want to control what goes into my […]

Sometimes you need a meal you can pull together out of just what happens to be in your cabinets. This is one of those meals… The other day I found several jars of marinated mushrooms, at the Dollar Store of all places. I picked up several different kinds… the one here was a mix of […]

Dot’s Note: I had to add the word ‘effectively’ to the title of this post because the nosy husband was reading over my shoulder, mocking me that freezing ground beef should just require putting it in the freezer. Sigh. Men. We’re all looking for ways to stretch our food dollar these days, and also–if you’re […]

Spotted at Can You Stay For Dinner, how to make Buffalo Chicken Fingers… and some great thoughts on not demonizing food, too!   I love recipes that let you make your pub food favorites at home.  And if you don’t want to make them spicy, this recipe would work for plain chicken fingers to feed the […]

I love eggplant… (Eggplant fried up nice and crispy is one my guilty pleasures!) so this take on a bite sized appetizer portion of eggplant parmasan at Talk of Tomatoes sounds pretty tasty! Bites, nibbles, crumbly blobs of Parmesan and breadcrumbs on small pieces of eggplant. This experiment made at least a dozen rounds in […]

I love the convenience of reaching into the freezer and grabbing a few handfuls of meatballs for something like a quick spaghetti dinner.  When my child was a toddler, meatballs were a great alternative to whatever meat the adults were having (like steak!), so I’d pull out a few frozen meatballs, and quickly have a […]

Next in our series of ‘overlapping meals‘, here is a wonderful Asian inspired main dish salad that is quick to prepare on a hot summer evening.  I love this cross between a pasta dish and a salad!  This was inspired by Vietnamese Noodle Salads, but it draws on similar sauce and techniques from our Pad […]

This is an excellent salad recipe that I posted at my Gaia’s Greens website a couple of weeks ago when we had beets in our organic produce boxes.    It is quickly becoming a favorite in my house!!    The combination of flavors is just perfect and it’s fast and easy to make.   So many people avoid beets […]

Our 2010 crop is in full swing with yellow and zucchini squash topping the list of most prolific.    In spite of the fact that we’ve eaten squash with almost every meal for the last week or so, I still love it and am always looking for new ways to prepare it.   I decided to test […]

Starting off our Asian “Overlapping Meals”, we have one of my favorite comfort foods, Pad Thai…  As with the goal of this series, many of the ingredients used in this dish will also be used later in the week, for less waste and more cost effectiveness! This version was inspired by the Easy Pad Thai […]

My husband is not a big fan of tofu.  I mean, he’ll eat it, but it’s not something he really cares for.  When we go out for Pad Thai, he’ll usually get chicken, and I’ll usually get tofu for me and the picky 5 year old (who IS a big fan of tofu, much more […]

More in this series: Really GOOD Tofu, I swear! | Shrimp and Asparagus Noodle Salad |  Tasty Tofu Pad Thai | Summer Shrimp Sushi Don’t ya just hate it when trying out new recipes, and you need to go buy special ingredients, that aren’t used in your normal recipe repertoire… ?  So you use just […]

Perusing my Google Reader this morning, I ran across this lovely idea from the always creative Wisdom of the Moon.   I’m on a kick about pickling things, and these look just gorgeous! “I had my first taste of these this last winter, when Jenny, Aurora and I stopped off at a little burrito place in […]

Yesterday after a fun-filled 4th of July celebration, I came home and sat down to put my feet up and watch the new Cooking channel.  I had recorded the Indian Cooking show and thought I’d see what they had prepared.    They were featuring  curries, which I love and will prepare some day this week (stay tuned!), […]

Just checking in quickly to pass on a few more Fourth of July linky good ideas… Dessert and Drink ideas for the 4th of July from An Opera Singer in the Kitchen Creative July 4th Party Ideas at Tip Junkie A Frozen Trio of Red, White, and Blue (sort of) at Perry’s Plate Recipe: Coconut […]