Best of New York: The High Line.

Have you ever been to the beautiful High Line in NYC?
The High Line is a public park built on a historic freight rail line elevated above the streets on Manhattans West Side.
It's so cool and so beautiful.
http://www.thehighline.org/

What an amazing city!

Macaroni Monday; Ranch BLT

Pasta and bacon, I meannnn...

Ranch BLT Macaroni Salad

1 box pasta, cooked and drained (we like to use the curly pasta for this one)

1/2 cup lite mayo

1/2 lite sour cream

1 1/2 cup grape tomatos, cut in half with juices

3-4 tablespoons ranch dressing packet

2 tablespoons fresh or dried thyme, minced 

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

6-8 slices of cooked bacon

2 cups thin-sliced or chopped spinach 

• In a large bowl mix mayo, sour cream, grape tomatoes, ranch dressing packet, thyme, salt and pepper for the dressing.
• Add cooked pasta to the dressing.
• Mix together cover and chill.
• Before serving add the bacon and spinach.

Okay, so it really should be called Ranch B-S-T...but who cares what you call it when it tastes this good?!?!?

Enjoy!

Hot Diggity Dog!

Memorial Day weekend is upon us, which means summer is here!
Time for BBQ's, the beach and a chance for us to share these awesome gourmet hot dogs.

We first tried these at a food cart on the streets of Tulsa and they are gooood!

Replace your ketchup and mustard with cream cheese and raspberry jelly.
Top with chopped jalapeños.

Sounds crazy, no?
But, trust us...you'll never want to turn back.
Start your summer off with a bang!

Craft box facelift!

Organizing the essentials with recyclables.

We got this cute paper at Paper Source. 

Babe, can you get me the scissors!?!?

Macaroni Monday; Feta Orzo Pasta Salad

This is the pasta salad that everyone will enjoy with a fresh taste!

Feta Orzo Pasta Salad

1 box orzo or riso, cooked aldente, drained and cooled

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon of honey (or sugar)

1/2 cup olive oil

2 cups grape tomatoes, halved
2 cups of cubed cucumbers (peeled and seeds scooped)
1 cup chopped green onions

1 7-ounce package feta cheese, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 1 1/2 cups)

1 cup chopped fresh parsley 

Salt and pepper to taste

• In a small bowl whisk vinegar, lemon juice, honey and gradually whisk in oil, salt and pepper for the dressing. 
• In a large bowl mix tomatoes, cucumbers, feta, parsley and green onions with the cooled orzo.
• Combine all ingredients, toss to coat and season with salt and pepper.  
• Mix together cover and chill.

Go Brooklyn.

We finally went to the Brooklyn Flea Market!
The Brooklyn Flea Market is open every weekend of the year.  
They have everything from awesome throw back items to repurposed furniture.
Check it out!
http://www.brooklynflea.com/

All we got was this button. 

Macaroni Monday; Mom's Classic.

We.  Love.  Pasta.  Salads.
Monday's we're going to share some of our favorite pasta salads.
We'll be trying out some new recipes and some we make year after year. 

This is the salad that got us hooked; a quick,easy recipe with classic flavors!

Mom's Classic Macaroni Salad
1 box pasta, cooked and drained (we like to use the curly pasta for this one)
1 cup mayo
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar 
1 tablespoon mustard 
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup chopped carrots
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 teaspoon of celery seed

• In a large bowl mix mayo, vinegar, mustard, celery seed, salt and pepper for the dressing.
• Add cooked pasta, celery and carrots to the dressing.
• Mix together, cover and chill.

We want more!!!!!
Thanks Mom!

Momma's Quiche Lorraine.

Momma's Quiche Lorraine

1 9" unbaked pie shell
1 tablespoon of soft butter
12 bacon slices
4 eggs
2 cups of heavy cream or half and half
1 1/2 cups of grated swiss cheese
Pinch of nutmeg 
Pinch of sugar
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper to taste

Cook bacon until crisp; crumble into small pieces.
Preheat oven 425 degrees.
Place your unbaked pie shell in the pie dish and rub butter over surface.
In a large bowl combine eggs, cream, salt, pepper, nutmeg, sugar, and cayenne pepper and mix.
Sprinkle pie shell with bacon and cheese and then pour in mixture.
Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes.  Reduce heat to 300, bake 45 minutes or until silver knife inserted in center comes out clean.

Mother's stamp of approval.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

...we actually ate this quiche ourselves and damn was it good!

Peach Sorbet Bellini...the easy way!

Peach sorbet...champagne...peach sorbet bellinis!  

Turn your Mimosa into an adult ice cream float!  

It's as easy as it looks. 

Dessert and booze, how can you go wrong?!?! 
Brain Freeeeeeze!

Thinking outside the jar.

We found these adorable flowers around the corner and they ended up lasting forever...
until we realized they actually had dried.

Rather than keeping them inside the jar we decided to glue them to the outside! 

We only used a little bit of hot glue to hold them into place and tied up the evidence with twine. 

This would look great with lavender or any flower that dries well. 

This is great for any occasion but we're thinking Mother's Day.

Never judge a tomatillo by it's cover.

A tomatillo may look scary, but beneath it's husk, it makes a damn good salsa!

Salsa Verde

1 lbs tomatillos, husked

1/2 a yellow onion

1 garlic clove

1 jallipeno

1 chicken bouillon cube

1 big handful of cilantro 

  Before getting started you have to remove the husk of the tomatillo and rinse well.

Put tomatillos, onion, garlic and jaillpeno in a pot of water and bring to a boil.
Bring it to a boil, turn off and let sit for about 3 minutes.

Drain veggies.

Cut and remove seeds from jallapeno depending on how spicy you want your salsa to be.  The seeds are what hold the heat in a jallapeno!

Place into a food processor or blender with a chicken bouillon cube.

Chop the salsa lightly.

Throw in big handful of cilantro and pulse chop.  

This salsa is not a chunky chunky salsa, but don't over puree it. 

And careful, it's still hot!

Chill and serve.
It's the cilantro that really gives this salsa a fresh taste.
This tomatillo salsa is so good with chips but even better in chicken dishes!
Happy Cinco de Mayo Amigos!