Comfort Foods and Indulgences

This may well be our favorite appetizer. The combination of the prosciutto with the luscious fig jam is so good and then the creamy goat cheese - well, you just have to make these.  And (shhhh...) they are so easy!

All you need for these little wonders are a good fresh baguette, a jar of fig jam, some salty prosciutto, plain goat cheese and some fresh basil.  The fig jam is an item which is now found in any grocery store.  You just have to know where to look for it.  Some stores carry it with the jams and some carry it with the international foods.  I know Whole Foods has this brand of jam and they always have some tucked in with all the cheeses.

This stuff is incredible - if you've never had it, you'll want to eat it with a spoon.  Or put it on toast.  Or make a sandwich with it.  Or put it on scrambled eggs.  Okay, you get it.  For the prosciutto, make sure you buy a good quality prosciutto - because there are so few ingredients, this appetizer is only good as the quality of your ingredients.

With its classic Provençal flavors, this dish puts you in the heart of Provençe. Featuring herbes de Provençe, one of my favorite herb combinations, it's one of the easiest ways to bring the flavors of southern France into your kitchen. The Provençal herbs consist of a mixture of savory, fennel, basil, thyme, and lavender. Provençal dishes are known for their earthy, rich flavors beginning with quality olive oil and fresh ingredients. Extra-virgin olive oil is perfect for this recipe for its fruity flavor, reminiscent of the sweet air of the Mediterranean coast. And fennel, the classic Provencal vegetable, lends its sweet aroma and licorice taste to brighten the dish.

If there ever was an easy one-pot meal, this recipe is it. It's as simple as spatchcocking a Cornish hen, marinating it in lemon juice and herbs, and then roasting it on a bed of garlic, onion, fennel, and red bell pepper. The spatchcocking technique is basically removing the back bone, breaking and removing the breast bone, cutting off the wing tips, and laying the bird flat. This method makes for all around browned skin and faster cooking time. As the hen roasts, the vegetables underneath soften, mellow, and meld with its drippings while the meat reaches succulent tenderness. This recipe can also be made with additional Cornish hens or chicken.

These are more like a cake than a muffin. Light, not at all dense and the perfect balance of sweet and savory (I added a touch of balsamic). These would be a delicious addition to any brunch menu or they could really just stand on their own.

I like making muffins for breakfast. The ingredients can be measured out the night before, they take 5 minutes to mix up and only about 25 minutes to bake. Muffins are best eaten the day they are made.

I usually send the uneaten muffins to their teachers and the school’s office staff. If I didn’t, I would eat them, all of them, and that just wouldn’t be such a good thing!

Friday’s I clean out my fridge.  I had about two cups of both cream cheese frosting and butter cream frosting left over. Rarely do I throw food away, but there are those times that something just cannot be saved.  In the past, I have found myself whipping up a soba salad to avoid getting rid of a few cucumbers, almost yucky tomatoes can be turned into fresh, roasted salsa or bacon hash, and zucchini inevitable becomes a cake.  Upon cleaning out the fridge, I did in fact have two zucchini’s that needed some attention. The light bulb went off and a chocolate zucchini loaf with cream cheese frosting was born.

This cake was delicious.  It will become my go to cake when I need something in a quick pinch.