What's New on Pinterest: Your July 4th Menu!

Raise the flag (cake). Light the night with glow cotton candy. Shoot off “fire rocket” cocktails. Our 4^th of July board is red, white and blue to the core and absolutely the place to muster up party plans, patriotic decorations, Old Glory-themed treats and timesaving BBQ hacks for kitchen independence, such as skewer doers and make-ahead shrimp boil foil packets. When air and grill temperatures rise, douse them with doses of spiked iced tea for grownups and fizzy watermelon ice cream floats and patriotic punch for the young ‘uns. And this might seem like an American folktale, but it’s true and beaming on our board: a Paula Deen fast-and-easy peach cobbler recipe calling for only two tablespoons of butter for each cup of fresh peaches.

What's New on Pinterest: Hungry for Love

This month, we're hungry for love (and pound cake, brownies and hand pies). Feed your appetite for love with all things sweet and heart-shaped from out Pinterest board! Valentine's Day may technically be on February 14, but we'll be whipping up these recipes all year long - don't tell Cupid!

Pinterest: Party in Your Garden

Check out our Pinterest board for fun DIY home projects and refreshing summer dishes. Turn a simple mason jar into a hanging decoration, a citronella oil bug repellent or a pretty drink holder. Learn how to turn apothecary bottles into an elegant centerpiece and how to make an exquisite flower pot for the home with a bucket and pebbles. Show your guests the true meaning of summer hospitality with inspirational ideas for outdoor gatherings and crowd-pleasing recipes. Use ripe avocados to whip up a creamy dip, to top a summer pizza or with some crispy egg rolls. Add flavor to your greens by tossing them in a zesty southwest style salad or wrap them up in a tortilla for veggies in a blanket. Summer evenings are perfect for enjoying a Raspberry Beer Cocktail or champagne with raspberries. Our Party in Your Garden board will give you plenty to do this summer with cooking, entertaining and home decorating. 

Appetizing Aperture: Bhojanic's Eggplant Dip

A season of sunshine and rain means an abundance of fresh veggies popping up in Southern gardens. Bhojanic, one of Atlanta's authentic Indian restaurants, isn't letting any ripened eggplant go to waste. The purple beauties are hitting the grill for a savory dip that can either be made at home or enjoyed at one of Bhojanic's locations in Decatur and Buckhead's Shops Around Lenox. 

Roasted Eggplant Dip with Naan Toasts

2 fancy eggplants

2.5 pounds plain nonfat yogurt

1 ounce salt

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon brown mustard seeds

20 curry leaves

5 whole dry red chilies

1 cup milk

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 ounce oil

2 green chilis, chopped

1 pinch asafetida

Cilantro to garnish

Grill the eggplants, whole, until each is soft and falls flat. Clean and mash the eggplants into a paste. Beat the yogurt and milk together until smooth. Combine the eggplant and the yogurt mixture. Add the diced bell pepper, sugar and salt and mix well. Heat the oil and add the asafetida, mustard seeds, curry leaves and the red and green chills. Combine the hot topping and the eggplant mixture. Garnish with cilantro. Toast store-bought naan with butter and serve with the dip.

What’s New on Pinterest: Summertime Sweets

Easy treats from our Summertime Sweets board will brighten your day instantly. Find delicious uses for your summer fruit with recipes for grilled peaches, lemon parfaits and strawberry cream cheese cobbler. Enjoy your dessert guilt-free with skinny raspberry swirl cheesecake, frozen Greek yogurt bars and homemade frozen yogurt. Save a trip to the ice cream store by learning how to make your own ice cream sandwich or a banana split cupcake with a cherry on top. For the ultimate guilty pleasure, whip up a dish using your favorite candies and sweets by making a creamy Twinkie pie, OREO cheesecake, or cheesecake bars with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Visit our board for easy recipes to add a touch of sweetness to your summer fun. 

Appetizing Aperture

It's time to break out those Fire & Flavor grilling planks for simple outdoor cooking. The all-natural cedar, alder, maple and oak planks are perfect for grilling your appetizers, meats, and veggies to a create a delicious smoky taste perfect for your meats and veggies. See what you can cook up by trying recipes on the Fire and Flavor website and their recipe for planked brie with pistachios will be sure to impress!  

Hard Pressed for Dinner Ideas? Marlow's Tavern Panini to the Rescue

During the summer months when the sun doesn't set until later, dinnertime can sneak up on you. Thankfully, Marlow's Tavern has a stay-cool menu of dishes and drinks and nine locations - including the newest location in Dunwoody. Always a good neighbor, Marlow's Tavern is glad to share its recipe for grilled chicken panini, a simple summer classic that will get dinner on the table fast and keep the cook cool as a cucumber.

Marlow's Tavern Grilled Chicken Panini

Serves 2

Ingredients:      

1 loaf focaccia bread     

2 grilled chicken breasts

4 slices fresh mozzarella

2 tbsp. basil aioli (see recipe below)

2 sliced fresh Roma tomatoes     

1/2 cup fresh spinach    

Method:

Evenly season each chicken breast with salt and pepper and grill chicken breasts until cooked through. Cut focaccia loaf in half to make two sandwiches. Spread both sides of each sandwich with one tablespoon of basil aioli. Build each sandwich from the bottom up, layering the ingredients in the following order: ¼ cup spinach, tomato slices, grilled chicken and two mozzarella slices. Place sandwich in panini press for 60 seconds or until lightly toasted. Alternatively, grill in a hot skillet until toasted and heated through.

Basil Aioli

Ingredients:      

12 fresh basil leaves

½ tsp. garlic, chopped   

1 scallion, chopped        

1/8 cup olive oil

1 cup mayonnaise         

Salt and pepper 

Method:

Place all ingredients (except for mayonnaise) into blender or food processor and blend on high speed until puréed. Place puréed mixture into a mixing bowl and fold in mayonnaise until combined. 

Which Came First: The Chicken? Or the Eggs Benedict?

According to The Kitchen Project, there seems to be some discrepancy in the which-came-first department of eggs Benedict recipe origins. While it appears to have had its inception up north, we're partial to the southern version -- Georgia Eggs Benedict -- poached up by Chicken and the Egg. Southern farmstead fare, such as this or fried green tomato eggs Benedict, is an integral part of each day at the Marietta eatery. Seeing that June 4 is National Eggs Benedict Day, you might be up for trying your hand at making this dish over the weekend. Chicken and the Egg Chef and Owner Marc Taft gave us the thumbs up on sharing his recipe, so don't think we're being Benedict Arnolds. For trivia's sake, the Revolutionary War traitor was neither initiator nor namesake of the traditional or Georgia versions.

Sit down to weekend brunch at Chicken and the Egg on Saturdays from 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. and Sunday from 9:30 a.m. - 3 p.m. Additionally, the restaurant serves weekday lunch and dinner nightly.

Chicken and the Egg's Georgia Eggs Benedict 

2 Biscuits (Make your own or use your favorite store-bought brand)

4 Slices of country ham (may also use Canadian bacon or bacon strips)

4 Eggs

1 Container of pimento cheese (of course you can make your own)

Heavy cream

Chives or green onions for garnish

1. In a saucepan on the side burner of your grill or on your cook top, slowly melt pimento cheese over medium-low heat. When it starts melting, slowly add a little heavy cream while stirring constantly until the mixture is smooth. Keep this mixture over low heat until ready to use.
2. Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray. Break each egg into one of the muffin slots and set on the grill over medium-high heat.
3. While the eggs are cooking, place your country ham on the grill to heat.
4. Cut biscuits in half. On each half, place one of the slices of country ham.
5. Place one of the cooked eggs on top of each slice of country ham and spoon pimento cheese mixture over the top.
6. Place trimmed chive or green onion on top for a garnish.

A Sinfully Good Deviled Egg Recipe for National Deviled Egg Day

Halloween treats were egg-ceptionally good this past weekend. National Deviled Egg Day, November 2, will be devilishly divine when you boil a dozen eggs and one lobster to whip up JCT. Kitchen and Bar Owner/Executive Chef Ford Fry's lobster deviled eggs!  

Maine Lobster Deviled Eggs

Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette

Makes 24 deviled eggs

Ingredients:

Eggs:

12 Eggs

1 cup mayonnaise

1 tbsp. Dijon mustard

6 cornichon pickles (chopped fine)

1 tbsp. minced chives

¼ lemon (juice of)

Dash of Tabasco

Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

Lobster:

1 live Maine lobster

2 tsp. minced fresh garlic (Not that jar stuff!)

1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

Kosher salt to taste

Vinaigrette:

1 Meyer lemon (zests and juice of)

3 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

2 tbsp. finely chopped Italian parsley

Kosher salt to taste

Method:

Place eggs in a pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil. Just as it boils, turn the heat off and let them sit for exactly 10 minutes. Immediately strain and cover with ice water to chill. Peel eggs, split in half and separate the yolks from the whites. Finely mash the yolks and mix in the remaining ingredients from the "egg" portion of the recipe. Place the yolk mixture into a piping bag with a nickel-sized round tip and chill until ready to assemble.

For the lobster, place a pot of water on to boil. Drop live lobster in for two minutes. Remove from water and cover with ice water. Once chilled, remove the meat and mince. Reserve until ready to assemble.

Prepare the vinaigrette by whisking together the juice, zests, olive oil, parsley, and salt to taste. (add the parsley just before assembling so that it does not turn brown.)

Just prior to serving, pipe the yolk mixture into each white bottom and place on your serving platter. Using a large sauté pan, heat the olive oil on medium high heat. Add the garlic and cook until light golden. Add the minced lobster meat and stir well. Cook until just done. Take pan off the heat and season lightly with kosher salt. Toss with the vinaigrette and the parsley. Spoon a divot into the yolk mixture of the deviled egg. Spoon in the lobster mixture and serve.

Toasting Up Some Artsy Fun for a Good Cause - The Bread Art Project

Like to play with your food? We do! Thanks to the internet, Share Our Strength and the Grain Foods Foundation, now you can play with your food AND help a great cause.

The non-profit Grain Foods Foundation created The Bread Art Project in 2009 to help create awareness of the growing hunger problem in our country. Last year alone, visitors to the site created more than 25,000 pieces of Bread Art; they’re hoping to reach their goal of 50,000 this year! For each piece of art created and posted, the Grain Foods Foundation will donate $1 to Share Our Strength. Get this - $1 can help provide THREE nutritious meals to a hungry child. Pretty amazing!

We had the pleasure of heading over to the Atlanta Community Food Bank this morning for a special presentation by Next Food Network Star Melissa d’Arabian, who filled us in about how the website can help fight hunger with your whole grain artworks.

She also shared some very fun ways to incorporate whole grain foods into your family’s diet with some easy, affordable recipes. Lucky for us some of these treats were there for us to try for ourselves! We’ve posted a recipe for one of her easy and yummy sandwiches that we tried below.

Feeling ready to get toasty yourself? Head over to The Bread Art Project, click Workshops and get creative! They’re up to 46,000 already, so let’s help them reach their goal of 50,000 pieces of toast and $50,000 for Share Our Strength!

Crispy Ham, Tomato and Mozzarella Sandwich
Recipe developed by Melissa d’Arabian for the Grain Foods Foundation
2 T olive oil plus 1 teaspoon, divided
1 t dried basil
1 garlic clove, peeled and smashed
4 thin slices ham
4 slices sandwich bread
4 slices mozzarella cheese
½ tomato, thinly sliced
Salt and pepper

In a small bowl, mix 2 T of the olive oil, basil, smashed garlic clove and salt and pepper with a
fork to release flavors and let sit while preparing the rest of the sandwich (at least five minutes).
In a small sauté pan, cook the ham in a teaspoon of olive oil over medium heat 2-3 minutes per
side, or until beginning to crisp. Toast the bread. Lay the cheese on one slice of the toast and
brush generously with the flavored olive oil, using a pastry brush. Add the ham, and top with
tomatoes. Brush the tomatoes with the olive oil, and top with the second piece of toast. Repeat
for the second sandwich.
Yield: 2 servings
Prep time: 10 minutes
Ease of preparation: Easy