49 Days! 57 Days!

until we will be doing some serious beach time in Costa Rica. Serious beach time means serious swimsuit time, which in turns means some serious pushing back from the kitchen table! L. will be heading down before me for a big bike race - coast to coast and then I will join him a week later for some much needed R & R. Now a girl and guy can not live on carrots alone, so we are cutting back to smaller portions and many more veggies! I loaded up the old veggie bin with some great local things and will we will be hitting the stove big time! You can expect some new easy veggie recipes to be seen in the next few weeks! We got pretty excited about an Abalone mushroom we found, so we got it. Now, it pretty much smells, looks and even tastes like Abalone - weird! Sauteed it with some shallots, garlic, white wine, Meyer Lemon juice and made Risotto, served roasted asparagus on the side. I am a sucker for food packaged in interesting ways. I found, this Bubalus Bubalis Mozzarella and had to get it for two reasons: 1. I liked how it looked and 2. have heard how great it is! So, to finish off our meal, we had a mozzarella and tomato (these were from our garden - how much more local can you get) salad. Now, this Mozzarella, is outstanding - ultra creamy, smooth taste, mouth-watering goodness - would be fantastic on a grilled pizza as well!

Sweet Sweet Prunes

This was dessert tonight! I have to say, I love love love these cute little guys! I discovered them last summer and fell in love. Now, they are back in my life! Not to mention .... they are so good for you!

Who SCREAMS for cookies & cream .......

Ice Cream? Why you will! This is the best ice cream we have made all year - not kidding! Let's get churning .....

Too Cute

Okay, I hardly ever buy anything frozen - the occasional bag of frozen fruit when out of season, a pint or two of ice cream, the sweet peas that L. loves so, a couple of Portuguese Chorizo from his mother and that is about it in our freezer except for the token bottle of gin, some plastic ice cubes (they don't dilute your drinks) and some beer glasses. Well, walking down the frozen section at the grocery the other day, I saw the cutest little guys and just had to bring them home for dinner! The Itsy Bitsy Ravioli from Rising Moon Organics. Look how cute they are all cooked & wrapped up in a little olive oil, and a drop of fresh pesto all topped off with some shaved Parmesan! Truly almost too cute to eat!! Delicious! I highly recommend!