A quick, simple post for a quick simple cheese spread to smather on a good cracker. Add a glass of your favorite vino and you are set! This is delicious and yet only has 4 ingredients. You and your guests will love this. It makes a great little gift too….just put it in a cute little jar, add a nice box of crackers and there you go. Who wouldn’t like to get that as a gift! Oh, and maybe add a bottle of good wine.

Sundried Tomato Cheese Spread

1 block of cream cheese, softened
2 tsp olive oil
approx 6 or 7 sundried tomatoes
1/2 cup romano or parmesan cheese

In a food processor, throw everything in. Give it a blitz, blitz, blitz until smooth and creamy.
If you like things spicy, like I do….add some chili flakes.

Had a wedding shower order this past weekend. Just sharing the pictures.
 

Fridays are good. They are even better with cupcakes. It is cupcake Friday in the office.

I love watching people eat cupcakes. Everone has their own special way of eating them. Some folks lick away all the frosting first…some cut the cupcake up into little pieces. Some folks are two biters…whole cupcake gone in 2 bites. Some savor every little bite…some folks moan…then you have Tania, a gal in my office, who always turns her cupcake upside down onto her plate and eats it that way. So funny . Ive seen people twist the top off, turn it upside down so the frosting is sandwiched in between. Hahahahah. There are the mooshers who just mash up the cupcake and the frosting all together into a gloppy mess. Then you have the people who have to have 2 cupcakes…it’s either 2 or nothing. There is even someone I know, who eats just the frosting and tosses the cake part away! But the funniest thing I have noticed is that there are a lot of men who get all weird about cupcakes. I guess to them, it’s just not “manly” to eat a cupcake. haahahah THAT cracks me up. Remember that old saying years ago……Real Men Eat Quiche….it should now be Real Men Eat Cupcakes. I Guess its only fair that I share MY way of eating a cupcake….always with a spoon and I dig from the middle first. Sometimes I just eat the middle and toss the outer part away. Yep….wierd I know.

 If you have an interesting technique to eating cupcakes, share it with me!!

To my friend Brian L: here is one of the chocolate frosting recipes you were trying to get out of me. Enjoy.

Basic Chocolate Cake recipe

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup warm water
1/2  cup sour cream
1/4  cup milk
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350°. Line standard muffin pan with paper liners. Sift cocoa powder, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Add eggs, warm water, sour cream, oil, and vanilla, and mix until smooth by hand whisk or mixer.
Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full. Bake until tops spring back when touched, about 15-18 minutes or until you poke a toothpick in the cake and it comes out clean. Let cool. Frost (makes 18-20 cuppies)

Creamy Chocolate frosting

3 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 cup cocoa powder
1  1/2 sticks butter
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream or milk. I prefer Whipping cream

Mix the sugar and cocoa together in the mixer. Add butter and cream. Whip till fluffy. If  it is too soft, add more confectioners sugar. If you use whipping cream and the cupcakes are not eaten right away, you gotta put them in the fridge.

I had some chicken. I had some mushrooms. I was all set to make a pasta dish, but at the last minute I decided to make an Asian dish. I made a pot of gohan….that’s RICE, in Japanese. This dish is just so much better than the chicken and mushroom dish that I have had at Asian restaurants. It wasn’t loaded with MSG either!! You can throw in whatever you want, but here is what I did. Oh, and as I have said before, I absolutely LOVE fresh ginger….ginger in everything! Oh, and ginger with lemon….YUM. So, of course this dish is loaded with ginger. Did you know that ginger is very good for you? It really is…..so I suggest you start using it! Sorry, that sounded a bit bossy didn’t it? Ok, PLEASE start using it. You will love it. I even brew ice tea with it!

Ok, back to my chicken dish. I hope you will try it.

  chicken simmering in the slurry

Lemon Ginger Chicken Stir Fry

2 boneless skinless chicken thighs or breasts
3 cloves of fresh garlic, minced
about a 2″ piece of fresh ginger, grated
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons of corn starch
1 chicken bouillion cube
1/2 cup water
juice of 1 large lemon
approx. 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
1 lb of fresh mushrooms, sliced
a big handful or two of fresh spinach
1 glass of wine (well, that was for me….not for the dish) 🙂

Cut up your chicken in bite size pieces. Toss the chicken with the corn starch and set aside. In a large skillet or wok, add a couple tablespoons of oil. On medium heat, saute the garlic, ginger and pepper flakes. Add the water and stir. Add your chicken and stir until the chicken is fully cooked in the slurry. At this point, add mushrooms and spinach. Toss just until the spinach wilts. Add the lemon juice and soy sauce. Serve with hot rice.

Summer is coming…that means warm weather…sunshine…..and ice cream and popsicles!! YAY! Sunday I thought I would practice for summer and I made popsicles and ice cream. My wonderful daughter got me some really cool popsicle molds for Mothers Day. Oh boy, oh boy. The possibilities are endless, I tell ya. I knew exactly what I wanted to make first. I had a wonderful bottle of wine…..Flume Blanc….from my favorite Winery in Temecula….WIENS. I made a white wine-grape-nectarine popsicle. OH MY, OH MY. They are like a frozen sangria, full of luscious, juicy fruit and a crisp delicious wine. YOU MUST MAKE THESE. CHEERS!!

Oh, and then I made my favorite ice cream in the whole world. Fresh Ginger and Lime. I had ginger ice cream for the first time last year, in Kauai. I LOVE ginger and use it for everything…..even in my ice tea. This ice cream tastes like summer and of course reminds of Kauai. If you like ginger, you will love this.

You are all most likely going to get sick of seeing popsicle posts as summer draws near, but bear with me ok?? I know you’ll be making your own in no time! So, go buy some popsicle molds and get going.

White Wine and Fruit Pops

12 oz white wine
1 cup green grapes
1 nectarine or peach

Put the green grapes and nectarine in a food processor and pulse until it’s almost liquid. (I left it kinda chunky) Pour this into a bowl and stir in the wine. Pour into molds and freeze. If you don’t have molds, use an ice cube tray. Just freeze half way, put in a popsicle stick and freeze till solid.  Simple as that!
CHEERS!!!!

Ginger Lime Ice Cream