Hand over your heart on Valentine’s Day, along with a super-duper heart-shaped box of Sweets for your Sweetie. Show your sweetie you’re not triflin’ with his/her heart (unless you’re making little fruit and brownie trifles), you’re truffling, as in brownie truffles and chocolate Baileys truffles. Keep them wrapped around your pinky finger with perfectly pink Valentine’s Day popcorn, pink heart-shaped macarons, s’mores snack mix and raspberry chocolate chip cookies. Looking for a love drug that’s FDA-approved (Food Definitely Adored)? We prescribe Valentine’s crack, a variation on that addicting cracker toffee, irresistible as you. That could lead to saving the budget-friendly DIY wedding favors pin…you never know.
Welcome National Baking Month by preheating the oven to 350 degrees, pouring a cuppa Joe or spot of tea and scrolling through Better Be Baked for a bevy of baked goods to warm frigid winter days. Instead of ice cream, make a strawberry crunch cake based on the classic ice cream bar. Dive into the fudgy depths of deep-dish chocolate chip cookie skillet brownie, easy chocolate lava cakes or “Brookies” chocolate chip brownie swirl cookies. Peach cobbler, caramel apple cheesecake bars and 30-minute cinnamon sugar knots chisel away the chills. Girl Scouts, look out, cinnamon roll cookies, raspberry almond shortbread thumbprints and Reese’s stuffed peanut butter cookies are hot-out-of-the-oven competitors for your cookie customers.
Spring and summer socializing calls for Cool Cocktails! Our Pinterest bar floats colorful, spirited concoctions like the Caribbean Sea-hued Blue Ocean, Fishbowl Punch and Miami Ice. Something light, like a pomegranate and lime white wine spritzer, strawberry basil sangria or a low-cal sip refreshes while going easy on waists and hips. Gussy up a lowly six-pack of beer with a can of frozen pink lemonade and vodka or mix a shandy beer cocktail. Blackberry lemon gin fizz, a blueberry lemon lavender mojito and peach Bellini are spiffy fruit cocktails, and the Thyme to Kill cocktail occupies those with extra time and thyme on their hands.
Spring Is Here, blooming brightly in gardens, kitchens and meals. Add citrus zing through lemon thyme chicken, ginger-tea lemonade, lemon cream Pavlova and blueberry Key lime cupcakes. Stock the beach-bound break cooler with coconut lavender lemonade and other springy cocktails, fresh veggie rolls with peanut sauce, jars of cold quinoa salad, refrigerator cucumber salad and “sex on the beach” frozen pops. Those tender spring veggies march into vegetable gnocchi and an easy ragout, spring pea tart, ramp pesto muffins, crostini and an admirable grilled goat cheese, asparagus and prosciutto sandwich well deserving of its stripes.
Thank Goodness for Garlic spans a spectrum of pungent raw strength to gentle, roasted sweetness. April is National Garlic Month, time for garlic to shed its skin and slip onto your menu -- roasted with mushrooms and thyme, atop spinach white pizza and in 30-minute cauliflower chowder. Add garlic to butter, spreads and dips (i.e., baked BLT dip), pickle the cloves or simply roast garlic heads and spread them on everything. Garlic befriends all -- land, sea and garden: trout with lemon butter herb sauce, rosemary pork tenderloin, sticky chicken bites, scallops, melt-in-your-mouth prime rib and Parmesan broccoli. Rip into cheese and garlic crack pull-apart bread with someone you love and share the addiction.
“Beauty and the Beast” sings and dances onto movie theater screens this week leading us to cheese-fully pun, “Brie Our Guest!” and wheel out the brie. The appetizer table staple, baked in a flaky crust or oozing out from under a hot topping, also melts beautifully into creamy soups with roasted mushrooms, red peppers, asparagus or cauliflower. Brie adds a French touch to main stays like four cheese buttery RITZ Crackers mac and cheese; steak sliders with caramelized onions and figs; and chicken stuffed with spinach and cranberries. Instead of wrapping your wheel, fill brie and bacon jam phyllo cups, stuff roasted garlic and brie pull-apart bread or roll out tender brie biscuits. Paired with fruit in blueberry, brie and lemon curd grilled cheese, apple brie salad, quick strawberry and brie bites, grilled brie-stuffed figs with honey and a classic strawberry balsamic baked brie, brie is the belle of the ball.
March is National Noodle Month, and we’ve found ourselves doodling about oodles of globally inspired Dishes to Noodle Over. First thoughts head to Italy for sun-dried tomato Alfredo, saucy Italian drunken noodles with spicy Italian sausage, baked ravioli and vodka cream sauce, and chicken bruschetta pasta. Million dollar spaghetti casserole owes its riches to butter, ricotta and a wealth of other yummy easy-to-find ingredients. Bang Bang shrimp pasta, 15-minute lo mein and quick-fix Asian noodle recipes come together in a flash. A hearty pasta with beer, cheese and sausage? What more does one need besides, well, another beer?
Let the Good Times Roll! First, mix a Jazzy Sazerac, the official cocktail of NOLA, to set the Mardi Gras theme while looking through 32 New Orleans classics for Mardi gras (muffulettas and beyond), netting a drunk shrimp recipe, and learning how to flip crawfish into crawfish dip and crawfish étouffée. We share the list of best New Orleans po’boy joints, a traditional king cake recipe, gumbos, pralines and fun stuff like Mardi Gras snack mix and cookies. Hurricanes? Beignets? You betcha.
Cold winter mornings and cold cereal are frankly frigid wake-up thoughts. Instead, Rise and Shine for Hot Breakfast Time during National Hot Breakfast Month. Before venturing out, warm tummies with cheesy grits with spinach and fried eggs, sausage biscuits and gravy skillet cobbler, American breakfast tacos or savory oatmeal and soft-cooked egg. We’ve found frittatas galore and perfect omelettes that are “da bomb-lette” when filled with pesto and roasted tomatoes. Park the pancake mix box in favor of brown sugar pancakes with maple bacon butter, cinnamon roll pancakes and churro waffles. And if hot breakfast brunches into lunch, so be it.
Sending out copious XOXs to our sweet readers for Valentine’s Day! Alas, we can’t email the Rice Krispies treat version so we tacked the recipe for ombre-colored Xs and Os onto Sweets for Your Sweetie, our Valentine treat board. Trifling with you? Nope. We do pin chocolate Baileys truffles, a racy red velvet dessert lasagna and cupcakes with captivating chardonnay buttercream frosting. Lovable Teddy Grahams hugging conversation hearts will give the kids something to talk about. Brides out there in the “heart” lands, flag this blissful board for wedding favor ideas.
Wings deserve special game table reverence on Super Bowl Sunday this year. Go, Atlanta Falcons! Gameday Raves & Faves runs long with other crowd-approved noshes and libations that leave one hand free for “Rise Up!” cheers. Dunk chips or crudité into hot corn dip or one disguised as a football field. Jalapeños are hot stuff in popper dip and grilled pepper poppers. Veer toward sideline snacks like Parmesan-crusted shrimp quesadillas, Maryland crab dip, spinach artichoke dip mini bread bowls, spicy Italian sandwiches and corn dog muffins. Irish coffee and Frito candy hit the sweet spot.
Set out the compostable plates, light the citronella Tiki torches and turn on the Bluetooth speakers, July is National Picnic Month. Whether you’re picnicking in your own backyard or packing a cooler for an outdoor lunch or dinner destination, you’ll find oodles of Perfect for Picnics ideas and recipes on our Pinterest board. Take a stab at assembling wedge salad or Cuban sandwiches on a stick, walking tacos, mini lasagna cups and individual seven-layer dips. For more hand-helds, slice spiraled turkey, spinach and cranberry spread pinwheels, tie pressed Italian sandwiches or turn out a platter of BLT sliders with vine-ripe tomatoes. Basket case? In the most delicious way.
National Vanilla Milkshake Day is Saturday, June 20. Ask yourself, why stop at vanilla? Exactly. We couldn’t either, so we’ve blended a frosty board of frozen delights for all ages: sweet with bubblegum or Little Debbies; boozy with beer or bourbon chocolate; patriotic red, white and blue or apple pie; novelties like wedding cake shakes and Cookie Monsters for kiddies or adults. Georgia peach? You know it. Hit the on switch with us and Shake it like a Polaroid picture.
It’s not summer in the South without a platter of Deliciously Deviled Eggs beaming up from the buffet spread at outdoor barbecues and potluck picnics. Hardboiling, chilling and filling the eggs ahead of time frees the cook to socialize rather than slave away last minute in a hot kitchen. Egg-strapolating some easy new fillings from our board -- spicy Sriracha-style, beet and avocado dollops, Buffalo blue cheese, dill and goat cheese, curry, shrimp, crabmeat and bacon. Want more? Cutesy deviled eggs decked out as owls or hatching chicks will walk off the table in an instant.
