Vanilla Bean Crème Brûlée

This is such a decadent dessert and actually simple to make.  I can't believe that a few months ago was the first time I had ever had this.  It is now one of my favorites.  I can't wait to experiment and add different flavors but you can't go wrong with vanilla bean!  Indulge!

Silky Corn Soup with Truffle Oil and King Crab Meat

I am so behind on posting this recipe (and many more).  This is a dish we created for our Valentines Day dinner. Anyone who knows us knows we don't eat out very much and enjoy created amazing dishes at home.  It is probably one of my favorite soups ever!  The combination of crab of corn is phenomenal. Indulge!

Vanilla Porter Cupcakes with Vanilla Porter Salted Caramel Frosting

I will be the first to say I have never been a big fan of beer, any beer and my goodness I have tried.  We recently had dinner with some lovely friends and they introduced me to Vanilla Porter.  I was so surprised how well I liked it.  So this same dear friend had a birthday coming up and I thought what if I incorporate this deliciousness into a cupcake (cupcake on tap!!).  It definitely turned out better than I expected and I will definitely be making these again.  Indulge!

Roasted Cauliflower Soup

It is frigid outside and soup is what I need to warm me up.  I have been wanting to try this for a long while and finally gave it a try.  We have done the 'mashed' cauliflower and I just knew this would be just as delicious and it was. Indulge!

Hot Chocolate on a Stick

This is one of my absolute favorite times of the year.  I love the holidays and the beautiful spirit that's in the air.  My youngest is having his winter party and I wanted to give the kids in his class a special treat.  I have made this another time for my daughters Valentine party, but not for Christmas.  I was so excited when I came across the cute Christmas themed mugs and knew it would be an amazing addition.  I hope the kids enjoyed theme as much as mine did.  Indulge!

Turkey Tortilla Soup

This happens to be one of my favorite ways to use the left-over turkey from Thanksgiving.  So easy to put together and the homemade turkey stock makes all the difference.  Indulge!

Tamale Cornbread Dressing

My beautiful grandmother was known for her famous cornbread dressing.  Each Thanksgiving, Christmas and even Easter, everyone could not wait to devour it.  Normally I would not even consider trying anything else, but when I came across this recipe I could not resist. These flavors were meant to be together.  Everyone in my house had seconds (and some who will remain nameless had 3rds).  I have a feeling this will be requested at Christmas too.  Indulge!

Gambas al Ajillo

It has been such a long time since I posted a recipe.  I thought with the little one in Kinder I would have a little bit more time.  The Mr. and I were able to take a little break and go to one of our favorite places.  There we experienced some amazing dishes and I wanted to try and recreate one of them.  Though it wasn't exactly the same it was definitely a starting point.  Indulge!

Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes

Well it's that time of year again a chance to spoil our amazing teachers with yummy treats.  My little one's preschool is having teacher appreciation week and today is their special lunch.  Of course I immediately jump in and request to make cupcakes.  It has been a while since I have made any and really wanted to try something new.  I also bake at least two different flavors (a chocolate one and vanilla one).  For the chocolate one my son requested my Nutella cupcakes.  I really wanted to try a Spring like flavor so I decided to try putting lemon and strawberry together.  This cupcake truly is refreshing.  I hope his teachers know how much we appreciate them.  Indulge!

Potato, Sausage and Kale Soup

Due to our hectic schedule we tend to not go out very often, because of this I try and create some of our restaurant favorites at home.  Over the weekend the vote was Potato, Sausage and Kale soup (aka Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscano soup).  Instead of using regular Italian sausage, I opted for turkey sausage.  Perfect dish for a Friday night at home with the family.  Indulge!

Shrimp Pad Thai

This has to been my very favorite Thai dish.  The combination of flavors are amazing.  From the spice from the chili, the freshness from the lime, the meatiness from the shrimp and the crunch from the cashew.  Not to mention this was a wonderful excuse to use the sea of Cortez shrimp that our seafood department had recently got in.  I hope you enjoy it as much as my family did.  Indulge!

Pilgrims Pie

The day after Thanksgiving has become just as popular in my home as the actual event.   Instead of trying to find room for all of the leftovers and heating them up individually, how about layering them all together into a wonderful "pot pie" like dish.  Use whatever you have in the fridge (turkey, stuffing potatoes, veggies, gravy and even cranberry sauce) and no additional ingredients are needed (unless you do what I did this year and put a pie crust in between the Thanksgiving layers.  I can now see the back of my fridge again.  Thank you Jessica Collins for such a lovely idea, Indulge!

Nans Cornbread Dressing with Fresh Herbs and Smoked Oysters

My grandmother made the most amazing dressing.  Every holiday is was a staple at her house.  Now that she is gone, my beautiful Mom is keeping up the tradition of always making it for everyone to enjoy and remembering her loving spirit.  This year I decided to change it up a bit by adding smoked oysters.  I have always wanted to try Oyster dressing or stuffing and because we didn't have the kids this Thanksgiving I was going to give it a try.  I absolutely loved it and think the oysters gave it such a smokey unique flavor.   Now of course if you don't like oysters, like my Mom :), please feel free to leave them out.  My grandmother's original recipe does not include the fresh herbs, but I think it adds so much to it.  Indulge!

Bourbon Cranberry Sauce

This is such a lovely recipe and so easy to make.  I was one of those who always would be the canned cranberry sauce, but after trying this I will never buy canned again.  You can always leave the bourbon out or add it before cooking to make sure the alcohol cooks out.  Indulge!

Pumpkin Spice Bundt Cake

Happy Thanksgiving!  One of my favorite times of the year had come and gone.  One of my most request recipes in my Pumpkin cake.  I have made this for several years now and decided to tweak it a bit.  Normally I would use sour cream which always keeps it so moist.  This year however, I wanted to try switching the sour cream for this vanilla honey Greek yogurt that I absolutely love.  I think I made a wonderful choice.  The yogurt took it to another level.  I hope you enjoy it as much as my family.  Indulge!

Cucumber Cups with California Crab

This is another wonderful filling to use with the refreshing Cucumber Cups.  I LOVE all things sushi and thought how amazing would it be to recreate the California roll into this appetizer, minus the rice.  Indulge!

Cucumber Cups with Smoked Salmon Mousse

Summer is officially about to end and one of my favorite appetizers to serve over the summer was Cucumber Cups.  This is such a refreshing appetizer with endless possibilities of fillings.  I had some left over smoked salmon and that it would pair beautifully with the cucumber.  If you don't like cucumber you could easily pipe this on the cracker of your choice.  Indulge!

                                                       Photo courtesy of Maggie Filla

Chocolate Toffee Cupcake with Salted Caramel Frosting

Part II of Graduation Party:  Here is the chocolate cupcake I also made for the graduation party.  Indulge!

Banana Split Cupcakes

Part I Graduation Party:  This past week my baby girl graduated from 5th grade.  It was such a bittersweet moment.  On one hand I am excited for her to explore this next chapter in her life, but it saddens me that she is growing up way too fast for me.  The parents decided to throw the graduates a party and I decides to bring cupcakes.  Anyone else surprised, more and more that seems to be my go to dessert to bring.  Now mind you once I had already signed up to bring them, I soon realized that there were about 100 5th graders!!  The panic was soon to set in.  I have never made that many at once.  I knew that I had to plan plan plan.  I wanted to bring a chocolate one and a vanilla one.  For the vanilla one I thought it would be fun to create a favorite ice cream treat into cupcake form.  With this cupcake I think I pretty much captured all the flavors (except pineapple).  I put the banana flavor into the cupcake, strawberry in the cream filling, vanilla in the frosting and drizzled it with chocolate, topped with nuts and a banana split wouldn't be complete without a cherry.  I had so much fun making these and hopefully the kids enjoyed them just as much.  The Chocolate cupcake up next.  Indulge!

Nutella Cupcakes

Last week was Teacher Appreciation week.  Of course K's favorite day is "bring something sweet".  We had a hard time deciding what we were going to make.  We new it was going to be a cupcake of some sort and though she is not much of a chocolate fan, I convinced her into letting me make the Nutella cupcake.  Nutella is something I could just eat with a spoon it's so delicious.  In the past I have made Nutella cookies and Nutella molten lava, but not cupcakes.  I will definitely be adding this to my list of favorites.  Indulge!