Great for a crowd, or use as your breakfast for every day of the week! Makes 12 servings, at zero points per serving.

Ingredients:

1 medium onion, diced

1 bell pepper, diced

1/2 medium zucchini, diced

1 cup frozen chopped spinach

4 oz. (1/2 small container) mushrooms, diced

1 cup Kraft Fat Free Cheddar Cheese

1 Tbsp Fines Herbes – a mixture of chervil, parsley, chives and tarragon, which you may use separately

Salt to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Saute onion and bell pepper in a large nonstick pan sprayed with cooking spray until soft. I add a pinch of kosher salt each time I make a new addition, as each layer should be seasoned.

3. Add zucchini and frozen spinach. Cook until spinach is cooked through.

4. Add mushrooms, and saute until mushrooms have lost their moisture.

5. Add seasoning, including salt to taste. Set…

First off this is a horrible picture of a delicious cake. All the pictures I took of this cake were weird. I don’t know if my phone didn’t like all the brown colors or what but they were all blurry or weird colored. Anyway, if you can get past that this is a delicious cake and frosting. It is SUPER rich and you can only eat a small piece.

I have been making this cake for close to 25 years now. My kids think the frosting is amazing it has a rich buttery caramel taste that also goes well with spice cakes, chocolate cakes and even white cakes. So if you don’t want to make the cake (which is unbelievably easy) at least try the frosting on a boxed cake to make it special.

Bread Ingredients

• ¾ cup 2% milk
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup butter
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 pkg active dry yeast
• ¼ cup warm water (105-115 degrees)
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 5-6 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 large eggs
• 1 (8 oz) can almond paste
• 1 large egg white
• ½ tsp vanilla

Directions

1. Combine the milk, sugar, butter and salt in a medium saucepan and heat until small bubbles form on the sides of the pan, about 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and cool to 115 degrees. The butter doesn’t need to melted. Pour into the bowl of a stand mixer.
2. Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and let stand 5 minutes until the yeast is dissolved and activated.
3. Add the yeast and almond extract to the milk mixture. Stir in 2 cups of flour and mix with the mixer on medium speed for 3 minutes. Add 2 eggs…

CONIGLIO all ISCHITANA

 

Ingredients:

2.570kg of lamb (Leg of lamb)

4 tablespoon of lamb seasoning

(Lamb seasoning dry rub

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon of garlic granules

1 teaspoon of rock salt

1 teaspoon of crushed peppercorns

1 tablespoon of mixed herbs

1 tablespoon of thyme

1 tablespoon of parsley

1 tablespoon of rosemary

1 teaspoon of onion powder

1 teaspoon of garlic powder

1 tablespoon of paprika

1 tablespoon of mint

1 lamb oxo cube crushed

Method:

Mix all ingredients together and store in an airtight container use when required.)

400 mls of lamb stock (mix 400 mls of hot water with 1 lamb oxo cube, 1 before stock melt & ½ tablespoon of lamb seasoning)

1 tablespoon of plain flour

1 tablespoon of cornflour

200 mls of cold water

Method:

Season the lamb on all sides with lamb seasoning then place the lamb into the slow cooker.

Then pour in the lamb…

Braised lamb is a hearty dish, which I prefer to skip over in the hot summer days. Now that the days are getting shorter and colder, it’s time to go back to it.
The following stew has few ingredients, yet lots of flavor; from the use of red wine as the cooking liquid, and from the aromatic “Herbs de Provence” mix seasoning. The dish is quick to assemble and prepare, and is perfect for easy entertaining.

When the thermometer hits the higher ranges and you feel yourself melting, there’s something so completely refreshing about a cucumber salad, served very cold. There are probably hundreds of versions, but this one has radishes for extra color and crunch…it’s a keeper. 

I don’t know about you, but I’m a sucker for a good bean salad.  I ran across a recipe for a bean salad, using garbanzos.  I like garbanzo beans, but I prefer kidney beans for  a salad.  They’re a bit softer and they’re just prettier…and you know, it’s all about how it looks! 

I was reading a blog the other day, and I ran across something called Pašticada.  So, what’s this about?  Not being Croatian, this was new to me, but from what I was reading, this dish is a pretty big deal.  For the non-Croatian palate, this may seem like an odd combination of flavors to use with beef—lemons, nutmeg, cloves, prunes and other dried fruit—all braised slowly in red wine and plum brandy. 

Lamb makes a wonderful sauce to splash over pasta, or better yet, cheese-filled tortellini.  This version of ragú is wonderfully complex, with a deliciously interesting combination of herbs and spices.  This is company fare. 

I’ve been craving eggplant for some time now, but have also been wanting to experiment and try something new with this weirdly delicious vegetable.

I googled for hours in search of an eggplant recipe that tickled my salivary glands. Eventually I found an interesting-looking eggplant wrap recipe and inspiration hit!

Unlike most of my usual weeknight dishes this one took a little more effort to make. I didn’t even get a chance to pour a glass of wine! But boy, oh boy it was so worth it in the end.

Who’s hungry? Vincent and I are ravishing ravished, so this recipe can serve 4.

Ingredients

• 3 medium eggplants, cut lengthwise into 1 cm strips
• 80 ml olive oil
• 1 tbsp mixed herbs
• 2 courgettes, finely chopped
• 1 sachet tomato paste
• 1 tsp crushed garlic
• 80 g pine nuts
• 300 g fresh spinach
• 100 g chorizo sausage, thinly sliced
• 190 g…

We went away this passed weekend for a relaxing getaway with friends. As is usually the case, we ended up packing way more food than we needed. So we brought back a pack of loin chops, half a pack of broccoli, some cauliflower and two already-braaid onions.

As you’ve gathered by now, last night’s dinner consisted of exactly those weekend-remnants… plus a few other random fridge finds.

Who’s hungry? Vincent and I, so this recipe only serves two people.

Ingredients

• 4 lamb loin chops
• 2 cooked red onions, quartered
• 1 broccoli head, quartered
• 1 cauliflower head, quartered
• 1 sachet tomato paste
• 1 can Italian chopped tomatoes
• 1 pack peppadews stuffed with feta (about 10 peppadews)
• 1 tbsp garlic & herb seasoning
• 2 tbsp braai & grill spice
• salt & pepper to taste

Chop-chop!

Get a big saucepan with a lid, or use an electric frying pan like I did, and…

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With tropical storm Irma making landfall its safe to say I’m completely shifting gears as far as warm to cold weather food goes. One thing with this storm it’ll bring in some cooler air, probably more humidity and definitely mosquitos. Perfect weather for warm your bones food right? Not really, but I’ll take it as a step in the right direction because frankly Summers time is up!

I was in the mood for pad thai today it seemed like the perfect treat. I’m getting over a cold so my smell and taste buds aren’t all the way back. So I figured some pad thai would do the trick. But what was supposed to chicken turned into pork and lack of bean sprouts and fish sauce I said I’ll still go with it. Well, that pad thai turned out horrendous. I’ll be working on that recipe. So to salvage the evening…

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I don’t know what is up with me and slaw lately. I almost feel like I’m forcing it upon you guys! So I had a craving for banh mi, as usual, like clockwork. For the unfamiliar banh mi is a sandwich that has grilled meat like beef, pork, chicken or tofu and some pickled (depending on the place) but mostly raw veggies like sliced jalapenos, cucumbers, grated carrots and some herbage like cilantro. Some places even slather on some mayo for a sweetness or even pate for the umami rounded feel. Also, a fun fact banh mi is Vietnamese for bread. So this sandwich although banh mi craving inspired is no banh mi in regards to tradition. To break it down its bread, check, grilled marinated meats, check. slaw, nope. But I love this sandwich it definitely hit the spot. Try it out and let me know what you think!

INGREDIENTS

• For Cookies:
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 sticks salted butter, melted and cooled to room temp
  • 1 cup dark brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg + 1 egg yolk
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 12-ounce bag Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
• For Whiskey Frosting:
  • 2/3 cups Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
  • 3 Tablespoons salted butter, softened
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • 2 Tablespoons Jack Daniel’s Whiskey
  • Crushed pretzels for topping

DIRECTIONS

For Cookies:

Heat oven to 375 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper. In a mixing bowl, stir together flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar. Beat on medium speed for two minutes. Add egg, egg yolk and vanilla extract. Remove bowl from mixer and stir in chocolate chips by hand. Using a 1/4…