American

Ideas for carmel apples

I’m such a stupid lover of cheese dip, it’s stupid. Stupid stupid stupid. I made this last Saturday for the Arkansas/Alabama game (embaaaaaaarrassing) and – oh, did I host a party, you ask? Oh no. The cheese dip was for me. All two pounds of it. Fooooor my face. Aaaaaand only my face.

Breakfast is my favorite meal. I like to drink iced coffee and watch the cream climb its way down the chunky ice cubes in a dazy before the caffeine hits. I like to order bacon with whatever I’m eating. I like eating potatoes with ketchup. I like eggs over easy, and fluffy scrambled eggs. I pretty much like everything there is to like about breakfast. That is why I am pretty excited about these Baked Egg Boats. They are sooo easy to make.

Perfectly crispy out of the oven, the San Diego way to serve them is to melt a little more shredded cheese on top and add a big dollop of guacamole and sour cream.  You can serve them however you’d like, of course.  Even if you just want a little dunker of salsa instead of the guacamole deal, that works too.  These taquitos were a MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR hit with my family.  So good.

Well these are so good that I couldn’t stop eating them.  I stared at these mascarpone and chive-filled poppers as the smell of freshly baked cheese wafted through the air, as they beckoned me with their seductive straight-from-the oven heat.  ”EAT ME,” they said “before we cool off and our cheddar no longer oozes and our pepper oils no longer tickle your tongue with fire.”

This delicious smoothie is sweetened with oranges and vanilla yogurt.  It’s a thick, cold, smooth treat that can be enjoyed any time of day

I was imagining us sitting at the table with a bottle of prosecco, roasted chicken wings, and these artichokes. We’re eating everything with our hands, unabashedly scraping artichoke leaves with our teeth and eyeing the last few cloves of the braised garlic. I haven’t had much success preparing artichokes in any other way besides the old Italian–American standby—stuffed with breadcrumbs and steamed—that is, until I prepared these little babies. This recipe is insanely good and I’m going to make artichokes in this way forevermore. I needed to add water throughout the cooking process. In the end, I added an additional 3/4 cup of water in 1/4-cup intervals when the pot threatened to run dry and scorch. Don’t add the additional water up front, as you’ll never deeply brown your garlic or artichokes and those crispy brown bits are treasures. Add a little salt into the heart cavity with the parsley. I also used baby artichokes, which surprisingly took the same amount of time to cook, yet I didn’t have to scoop out the choke during prep. Enjoy—this recipe is a true crowd-pleaser. I can’t wait to serve these to friends.

Bread pudding is usually considered a dessert. But this rich and savory version packed with spinach, artichokes and cheese is a perfect side for both dinner or brunch.