Happy Mother's Day!

My Mom and I were discussing this week how her mom used to grow and use rhubarb, which inspired me to hit the farmers market yesterday and try making a strawberry rhubarb pie!

Mushroom Soup

We made this delicious soup a couple of weeks ago.  The splash of soy sauce gave it a nice bit of saltiness.  Mine did not seem to be as silky as the photo, it should possibly be strained before serving.  From Tasting Table. 

Easter Saturday

Hosted an early easter Brunch on Saturday, basically as an excuse to make fresh squeezed mimosas and eat deviled eggs all day. On the menu- gazpacho soup, greek salad, 3 kinds of sausage, mini grilled cheeses, mushroom fontina quiche, parmesan drizzled asparagus, deviled eggs (with bacon!), blueberry muffins, almond coffee cake, and cakeballs from Bleeding Heart Bakery.

Lillet rose cocktail

Am in the mood to try a refreshing springtime cocktail like this one this weekend. Pretty. From April's Martha.

Ingredients

12 ounces Lillet Rose

12 ounces Ruby Red grapefruit juice

6 ounces gin

6 edible flower blossoms (optional)

Directions

Combine 6 ounces Lillet, 6 ounces grapefruit juice, 3 ounces gin, and ice in a cocktail shaker. Shake until well chilled. Strain and divide cocktail among 3 stemmed cocktail glasses, such as Champagne coupes. Repeat.

Garnish with flowers. Serve immediately.

Sunday supper

Sunday Suppers are back! We were enjoying a lazy, unseasonably warm Sunday in front of the TV with all of the windows open, getting caught up fresh air as well as our backlog of DVR recordings when we were suddenly inspired by a Micheal Symon episode on grilling: BLT Salad with heirloom tomatoes and grilled romaine, Pork Souvlaki with grilled citrus, and Grilled French Toast with strawberries and rosemary. Pretty simple and definitely delicious. We made a mad dash to Whole Foods at 5pm and had the whole thing done and food on our forks by 8:30. The pork receipe calls for a long period of marinating, but in the episode Symon said it could be done in an hour.

happy

In honor of my husband's birthday, I baked him a "favorite cake". Its light, fluffy and covered in whipped cream and is therefore his favorite. This year I added a layer of raspberry. Happy birthday, hon!

perfect pears

My parents sent us a dozen beautiful Riviera pears as a sweet Valentine's treat. We've been eating them in a variety of ways to make sure we eat them all and not one goes to waste! The salad pictured above is my favorite. Toasted walnuts, chopped shallot, arugula, grated pecorino romano and pears baked in a honey glaze.

We have also enjoyed pear Bellinis (pear puree in champagne) and, for breakfast, pears over granola with yogurt and honey. Yum!

ad hoc brownies

Ad Hoc at Home brownies. I used a cookie cutter to make the hearts.

heart dish

Cute and French. Seen on Design*Sponge.

Cookiepalooza 2011

My kitchen was recently transformed into a cookie factory with the help of a few very enthusiastic and detail oriented friends. Already excited for next year!

Cake in a Jar

Since everything seems to come in a mason jar these days, why not CAKE?! Chocolate cake with whipped cream topping.

apples and falling leaves

Its suddenly brisk outside and the trees are getting ready for another Chicago winter. Have been so inspired by the pretty, swirling red and gold leaves and the bushels and bushels of apples at the farmers market that I combined the two. Old-Fashioned Apple Pie recipe from this month's Food & Wine. Really simple, just dough and apples with cinnamon and nutmeg. I used leftover crust dough and a fun cutter to make the decorative leaves.
*Photos by my personal photographer/husband.

cilantro lime butter

Put this on your corn right away. you will not be sorry.

Cilantro Lime Butter:

2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves

1 lime, zested and juiced

2 teaspoons salt

3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Put the butter in a mixing bowl and, using a rubber spatula, mix in the cilantro, lime zest, lime juice, salt and cayenne. Use immediately or refrigerate.

Yield: 3/4 cup

You can roast the corn in foil with the butter (in oven at 400F, 25 minutes). From Food Network. We just grilled it and buttered it.

grilling

We were so inspired by the photographs that we made our meal straight from this article in the latest issue of Food & Wine. Not the whole feast but the beet salad with watercress and pecorino, the potato salad with celery and radish, and lamb chops.

parlor textiles

Have been recently searching for a fabric for a bench cushion meant to pad the bench at our kitchen table. Looking for casual but interesting in a blue or green and love these prints from Parlor textile. So pretty and eco-friendly (organic cotton and hemp blend).

Mason jar meals

Love yet another use for mason jars. So simple and portable! From the decorated cookie via black*eiffel.

Dumplings part 2

We made Thursdays dumpling leftovers into soup on Friday.

Shrimp dumplings

Yesterday I had a serious craving for dumplings. They are my go to comfort food. Next time, I would add some water chestnuts to the shrimp and ginger mixture for a little crunch. I bought the shrimp already peeled and deveined and bought ready made dumpling wrappers to speed the process along. A pound of shrimp apparently makes a lot of dumplings, so will be enjoying them again tonight! Have a great weekend!

Pea shoots

A nice sign of spring- pea shoots! Last night we had them with salmon and chanterelles.

Sunday supper

Last night we made our first foray into shellfish with steamed mussels in a white wine based broth. We used a Muscadet to cook with and as our pairing. The mussels cook surprisingly quickly once scrubbed and rinsed. We served with grilled french bread, broccolini in a sherry vinaigrette and a steamed artichoke. For dessert, I baked a shaker ginger lemon pie, recipe from the Cheap Tart Bakery, found on Tasting Table. Easy to make, but beware, the filling needs to be refrigerated overnight so start a day early!