…I’m coming for you!

Last night, I had the pleasure of hosting Dinner Club and we had the best time!

Brief DC history lesson: back when Lindsay first invited me to Dinner Club (2008?) the tradition was that the hostess would send the recipes the next day to the members and somewhere along the line that fell by the wayside.  Last night we decided to reinstate that practice, and I thought while I’m sending the recipes to my girls, I’d share some of them with you too!

Here are my top 3:
1.    Rosemary Cheese Crackers
2.    Mushroom/Artichoke Crustless Tarts
3.    Curried Couscous

Rosemary Cheese Crackers (appetizer)

I LOVE a good ol’ southern cheese straw, but these are in it for extra credit with rosemary and a punch of spice. I love them on their own, but topped with green pepper jelly and a little dollop of goat cheese….heavenly.

They are relatively easy, too!

Ingredients:
2 cups (8oz) grated sharp cheddar cheese
8 tbsp. (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp dried rosemary
1 tsp. sea salt (coarse) and more for sprinkling on top
1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
¼ tsp. ground cayenne pepper

Cream the cheese and butter together in a large bowl with an electric mixer (I used my hand mixer and brute strength) until smooth and well combined.   Stir together the flour, rosemary, salt, red pepper flakes and cayenne in a separate bowl.  Add the flour mixture to the cheese mixture and stir to combine thoroughly.

Turn the dough onto a piece of wax or parchment paper.  Roll into a log shape and wrap the dough in the paper and refrigerate for several hours (I think overnight is best) until the dough is firm and slice-able.

When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Remove the dough from the refrigerator and cut the log into 1/4-inch thick slices and arrange them on a baking sheet.  Prick the center of each cracker several times with a fork and sprinkle your coarse sea salt on them.  Bake for 12 – 15 minutes until they are golden brown around the edges.

You can serve them room temp or slightly warm, but let them cool a good amount before serving them.  Top ‘em off with your green pepper jelly and your goat cheese and voila!

Tips:
1. I know I said it before, but you HAVE to use COARSE SEA SALT.  Otherwise they won’t come out the same.
2.  You can store them for up to 3 days in an airtight container once they’re made or frozen and re-heated in the oven for a few minutes before serving
3. The dough can actually be made a day or TWO in advance!

Mushroom Artichoke Crustless Tarts

This recipe comes from my mom’s bestie (and excellent cook!) Caren –and they are delicious and SO SUPER EASY. They were a BIG time crowd pleaser and took absolutely NO time.

Ingredients:
1 c mushroom (chopped)
1 can artichoke hearts (chopped)
12 oz cottage cheese
2 egg whites
1 egg
2 c cheese (I mixed asiago, parmesan, romano, mozzarella, and sharp cheddar, but I think anything would work)

Mix everything together in a big ol’ bowl.  Overspray mini-muffin tins with Pam, sprinkle parmesan on top and bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes.  Serve warm or room temp.

Tips:
1. None.  This was ridiculously easy.

Curried Couscous

This is a DK specialty that we ate every day at the beach so I wanted to make it for my girls!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups couscous
1 tb butter
1 1/2 cups boiling water
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 cup grated carrots
1/2 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup blanched sliced almonds
2 scallions, thinly sliced, green and white parts
1/2 cup small diced red onion

Place couscous in a medium bowl.   Melt butter in the boiling water and pour over couscous.  Cover tightly and allow the couscous to soak for 5 minutes.  Fluff with a fork.

Whisk together the yogurt, oil, vinegar, curry, turmeric, salt and pepper.  Pour over the fluffed couscous and mix with a fork.  Add the carrots, parsley, dried cranberries almonds scallions and red onions.  Mix well and taste for seasonings (sometimes I like more pepper in mine).

Serve at room temp (or cold!)

Tips:
1. I made a double recipe (it makes a TON) but if you’re going to do that, be sure to make each batch separately.
2. This needs to sit about a day for the flavors to be fully “synergized” so make it a day ahead

And there you have it!  I hope you enjoy!

xx, L

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Slick + I met Rosh + Z for dinner at Floataway Cafe on Friday night.  We ordered cocktails + Rosh and I both jumped at the Strawberry Pimm’s Cup.  (Neither of us had tried a Pimm’s Cup before, but we were feeling a little adventurous.)  I finished it WAY too fast – but with purpose.  It was so unbelievably delicious!  A perfect match for my summer fruit lovin’ palate…

We loved.  Look how pretty, too:

floataway cafe's strawberry pimm's cup

It would take some work, but this is a drink that would be a hit at a dinner party.  Definitely a crowd pleaser. 

Impress Your Friends w/ a Strawberry Pimm’s Cup:
Two ounces of Pimm’s
Two large strawberries (use a third if strawberries are not enormo)
Five mint leaves

Muddle all of that together and either strain (if you don’t like chunk) or pour directly into the glass (if you are chunk-friendly).

Top it off with homemade lemonade soda.  For every ounce of lemon juice add 3/4 an ounce of sweetener.  To the lemon concoction, add an equal amount of soda water on top.  Pour into muddled ingredients.

Drink + enjoy! 

You guys.  It is a.m.a.z.i.n.g.  No lie.

And, so was the rest of our meal.  All was splendid!  Here’s what we ate:

First
Atlantic Blue Fin Tuna Crudo, Blood Orange, Chili (my fav.)
Crispy Young Squid, Sweet Onions, Asparagus, Lemon
Wood Grilled Chicken Livers, Red Onion Jam, Sourdough (decided I don’t care for chix livers…to put it nicely)

Second
Wood Grilled Hanger Steak, Pommes Frites (x2)
Wood Grilled Georgia Quail, Caramelized Sweet Onions, Shallot Mostardo, Champagne Gastrique
Margherita Pizza with Chorizo + Farm Egg

Dolci
Toffee Cake w/ Vanilla Gelato (SUPER delish!)

Truly a delightful meal.  Recommend Floataway from top to bottom!

xx, L

Floataway Cafe
1123 Zonolite Road NE
Atlanta, GA  30306
404.892.1414
www.starprovisions.com

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I’ve been thrilled to hear that my post a few months ago about spaghetti squash has inspired many of you to try it out for yourselves! 

S. squash is still one of my favorite healthy items, but I’ve recently changed up my very plain preparation of it to something a bit fancier, thanks to Bethenny Frankel.

love you. mean it.

Seriously – thank you, BF(F?)!

So here it goes, s. squash lovers…

Bethenny Frankel’s Delicious Spaghetti Squash

bethenny's squash

Ingredients:
1 medium to large spaghetti squash
3 T C store-bought pesto
1 T toasted pine nuts (quickly warm in pan until golden)
3 T shredded parmesan, asiago or grana padana cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
1 T shredded fresh basil

Directions:
Fill a Pyrex with salted water. Cut squash in half with serrated knife, remove seed portion and place face down in water.  Microwave for 12 – 14 minutes.  Allow to cool enough to handle.

Using a fork going lengthwise, scrape entire squash until only left with skin.  Discard skin.  While still warm, add pesto, 2 T of the cheese and salt and pepper and toss.  Warm pine nuts in saute pan.  Sprinkle the squash with nuts, remaining cheese and basil.  Serve + enjoy!

Super simple, right?  Here’s the best part…

Servings Per Recipe: 4
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 148.4
Fat: 9.5 g
Carbs: 12.7 g
Dietary Fiber: 2.7 g
Protein: 4.6 g

Now that is something to celebrate!  It’s so yummy, too, and looks much fancier than it actually is (which is always nice)!  The pesto is a great compliment to the crunchy spaghetti squash strands + the pine nuts are a perfect final touch to the dish.  Slick eats almost an entire squash by himself when I make it Bethenny’s way.  It’s definitely a pleaser!

Enjoy, budding chefs! 

xx, L

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My favorite Roberts family comfort food is, without a doubt, my mom’s Picture Perfect Pizza Bagels.  (Please witness in all their delicious glory below.)

I have to admit that they are my mom’s specialty, but I attempted to help her make them watched her make them when I was in Dallas over the holidays + they’re surprisingly much easier to put together than I’d anticipated.  Here’s how you you do it:

Ingredients
1 package of plain sliced bagels
1 package of sliced mozzarella
1 jar of Ragu Pizza Quick traditional sauce
Italian herbs + red pepper flakes

Directions
Take as many bagels as you need, separate + place cut side up on a foil-lined cookie sheet.  Toast for only a couple of minutes.  (Try to not over-bake.  This step just prevents a soggy crust.)  Separate your cheese, using one slice per half bagel.  You can use a large plastic cup to cut out the rounds of cheese like a cookie cutter to put on each half bagel if you are into precision.  (I get my anal retentiveness from my mom…)  Spread about a tablespoon or more of sauce on each bagel half, top with a cheese round + sprinkle the top with Italian herbs.  Repeat with remaining bagels.  Toast in the oven on broil until the cheese starts to turn a little brown.  Remove, add red peppers to taste + ENJOY!

You can make this recipe heathier if you use low-fat cheese + whole wheat bagels.  Also, you meat lovers out there are welcome to add turkey bacon, chorizo or cooked chicken cubes.

Picture Perfect Pizza Bagels are a nice addition to a hearty homemade brunch or paired with fruit or a green salad to balance them out for lunch or dinner.  Just beware of these little guys – they may be picture perfect, but they are so incredibly delicious we often look like THIS after scarfing them down! 

(Except I usually try to keep my shirt on.)

xx, L

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One of my favorite “culinary” tricks of the trade comes in this box:

I make these all of the time.  They are super duper easy to put together (add egg + oil + water + mix) and yield 12 yummy fiber-packed muffins.  I really have no interest in taking the time + energy to make bluberry muffins from scratch, and these aren’t 1/2-bad for you, either.

Just don’t eat more than one at a time or they’ll give you a bit of a tummy ache.  (Take my word for it…)

You can pick up Fiber One premium blueberry muffin mix @ any local grocery store.  Happy fake-bakin’! 

xx, L

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