U is for Unleavened Bread: Matzah Farfel Granola (Jessica)

Happy April Fools' Day!

I never really do much to celebrate this holiday, as I'm not big on pranks, so I'll just gloss over the date and get straight to the good stuff. Passover is coming up next week! Ok, we definitely did sedars when I was a kid, filled with horseradish, parsley, and matzah ball soup (the best part). It was always a bummer to have to wait through the long sedar to eat dinner. Can you guess? I was never the most patient kid :)

Now that I'm an adult, I wish this Passover granola recipe had been part of my childhood experience. I only discovered it last year on Passover, but I think it will become a staple every year. It's a great snack!

R is for Rosemary: White Bean and Rosemary Dip (Jessica)

Hi there!

This week, I was really excited to get Rosemary as my ingredient. While it's a very lovely herb, it's also the name of a character in a musical! I bet you didn't know that, did you? And if you DID know it, do you know WHICH musical??

Well, I'll just tell you: it's from How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. That is a very long title for a musical. Usually shortened to just "How to Succeed," this musical has been around since 1961 when it first debuted on Broadway and then in 1967, the movie came out. It has been done on Broadway twice more now and is actually still running, most recently (and famously), DANIEL RADCLIFFE played the lead! We KNOW how great Harry Potter is, well, this was great as well. I was lucky enough to get to see him perform in the show and it was really fun! (Here's a clip from his performance at the Tony's) Anyway, the female lead is named Rosemary, and every time I use rosemary in my cooking, I always think of one of the songs from the show :)

ROOOOOOOSSSSSEEEEEEEMMMMMAAARRRRRYYYYYY......

(that's how the song goes)

O is for Oranges: Orange Cranberry Scones (Jessica)

Hey there!

When I got oranges as my secret ingredient, I was really excited. There are SO many things to make with oranges. I poked around on the internet for a while, and decided on a scone recipe. I had made scones once before, many years ago, and they were...good ok. So I thought I'd try a new recipe and hope for an improvement! I also decided to add white chocolate chips to the recipe I found. I guess I'm finally getting creative :)

N is for Nutella: Nutella Pop Tarts (aka: Nutella Turnovers) (Jessica)

Happy Sunday!

You know how sometimes Sundays just make you want to be lazy?...I'm feeling that way today! Typically, I am the opposite of lazy; I'm pretty darn busy all the time. Luckily, most of the stuff I do is fun (including the baking!), so it works out well. Today, for some reason (maybe because it's 78 degrees outside???), all I want to do is sit in the sun and eat these pop tarts. Sigh....too bad I finished them earlier in the week! Guess I'll just have to make them again in the future.

Oh, and a note about the name: it was decided that "pop tarts" wasn't an accurate or delicious enough sounding name. So the other nomination was "turnovers." What do YOU think? :) 

K is for Hershey Kisses: Chocolate Crescent Croissants (Jen)

Happy 2012 to friends near and far!

Did you enjoy your New Years? Ours was lovely and overall, pretty mellow...as I've gotten along in years (all 28 of them), I find the idea of going out on NYE less and less appealing. Cover charges, crowds, standing for long periods of time in my highest heels? Hmmm....lemme think about it....hmmm...no. : ) Now, don't get me wrong, I'm all for the festive spirit and crazy antics of NYE, and I do enjoy the dress up part (as my sister says, it's the only time of year you can really dress in head-to-toe sequins and sparkles and not get weird looks...maybe) but, as I've aged, my tastes have changed and I'd rather be at home, sipping my champagne and watching Ryan Seacrest on TV. Hahaha...ok, I've shared far too much about myself. Onto the recipe!

This week's secret ingredient was Hershey Kisses. The way I've always enjoyed them has been in their original form, either by themselves or stuck into the middle of a cookie like a Peanut Butter Blossom. As I scanned around the web, I found another way to enjoy these cookies...melted and spread onto Pillsbury crescent dough. Hmmm....yes. That's what I thought. : )

G is for Garlic: White Bean Dip with Roasted Garlic (Jennifer)

Hello!

I don't know about you, but around this time of year, I'm definitely getting more than my fill of sweets and treats. There is rarely a lunch or dinner that goes by where I don't have at least a little something sweet at the end, even if it's as simple as a dinner mint. I blame it on my grandfather, and maybe my dad, and my sister, and...well, maybe it's just my family's thing. : )

But, even with all those sweets around, I still crave something a little healthier to balance it all out. Enter this week's recipe for White Bean Dip with Roasted Garlic. The perfect appetizer to offset all those sweet treats at holiday gatherings. Served with pita or crackers, and an assortment of vegetables (try carrots, celery, and maybe yellow, green and red or orange bell peppers), this dip can take on a variety of different flavors for a crowd-pleasing change from the usual "sweet stuff."

D is for Dill: Dill Hummus (Jessica)

Hi Friends, 

I hope you're getting exciting for Thanksgiving, I know I am! Can you believe it's less than two weeks away? It's unbelievable to me how fast this year has gone and how fast our weeks blogging have gone! We're on D already?! 

Ok, enough nostalgia, time for the recipe! I enjoyed this week's ingredient because of the challenge it presented. I've never been much of a fan of things you typically think of to pair with dill (egg salad? cucumbers?), so I set out to find something I really like. Hummus! I know I made a hummus recipe for L last summer, so it's up to you to compare the two and pick which one is better!

V is for Vanilla Crepes (Jennifer)

Good evening!

This week's recipe takes me back...waaaaay back to good 'ol days. The days my sister and I would "bake" or "cook" in the kitchen together. We used to make all sorts of things--from what we liked to call "peanut butter playdough" to these funky little muffins my sister concocted in the microwave. Most of the recipes we used were "originals" we created using whatever ingredients my mom had on hand. That meant that "peanut butter playdough" really consisted of a lot of peanut butter mixed with as much sugar as needed to make the peanut butter less sticky (that's a ton of sugar, by the way).

After making some great treats (and some not-so-great), we did make one thing consistently awesome: crepes. I think one day we were flipping through a recipe book of my mom's, looking for something to make. We stumbled upon a crepes recipe, and realized we had all the ingredients. They were simple crepes, but I remember looking at the "variations" listed below such as "crepe suzette," a luscious combination of crepes with orange segments and sauce. To this day, my sister and I still enjoy a plate of crepes together, our best yet coming from a trip to Paris we took in 2009. Oh how I crave those amazing crepes. : ) Until we can return, I'll use this simple recipe for Vanilla Crepes to re-create the memories.

P is for Pretzels (Jennifer)

Greetings!

This week's post for pretzels was inspired, in part, by my trip to the fair this past weekend! That's right--this may be California, but will still enjoy a good fair in the summertime! I feel particularly lucky living here because we get two fairs each summer--the Orange County Fair in July/August and the Los Angeles County Fair in September/October. I love, love, love the fair. Although, since my 10-year (gasp!) high school reunion is coming up and I'm watching my figure, I splurged only for a snowcone and a Cheese-On-A-Stick from the famed "Hot Dog On A Stick" chain. Does everyone out there in blogland have HDOAS? If not, you should find one. Pronto. I'm a fan of the cheese-on-a-stick variety. Deeeeelish.

Anywhoo, back to pretzels. And cheese. This week I combined the two for a homemade pretzel and cheese one-two punch. It reminded me of summers past where my sister and I would ask my mom to buy us a box of these frozen "SuperPretzels":
 
We loved these things! They were fast, easy and satisfying. Though not necessarily 30-seconds fast like the "SuperPretzel", I hope you'll find this week's recipe equally easy and satisfying!

P is for Popovers (Jessica)

Dear Friends,

This week, I had a popover party! I am very lucky to be on vacation (part 2) this week and in my free time with family and family friends, I made popovers. MANY moons ago, I came across this popover recipe and have been waiting for the perfect audience for whom to make them. The only way to eat these delightfully puffy snacks is right out of the oven. They sink and get soggy if not eaten immediately!
The first time I had popovers was on a family vacation to Acadia National Park (in Maine) when I was a kid. We visited Jordan Pond and I remember my parents made us walk ALL the way around the pond before we could eat at the restaurant there! Argghhh! But the specialty popovers were worth it. :)

I looked up some tips and tricks for the fine art of making popovers (as they are temperamental) and the following is what I did...

O is for Olive Bread (Jennifer)

Dear friends,

I may have a slight thing for olives. I really, really like them. Ask my family. When you do, they'll tell you the story of me as a little girl, maybe 6, 7, or 8-years old (I don't remember), eating olives from the bowl set out at Thanksgiving. They'll continue the story, sharing that they tried to stop me from eating so many olives. But I couldn't stop; I wouldn't stop. Nothing could get between me and my olives. Well, then, the story continues with a car ride, and well....you know where this one's going. Hey, I was little and it wasn't my fault. I still love olives--I just try not to eat so many at once. : )

Today I have a much happier olive story to share. In this story, olives are baked into a soft, delicious bread dough that's been *lightly* sprinkled with kosher salt. In this story, olives are cut into squares, wedges, and sticks and dunked into olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Bright, summery flavors. Yum. Enjoy!

*I emphasize lightly because I might have gone a bit overboard, forgetting that olives can be quite salty on their own.

M is for Maple Cranberry Popcorn Balls (Jessica)

They look good, right?

Yo yo yo,

Ok, so this week I was still vacationing on the Cape with my family and we decided to make another gluten free recipe while we were together. What a great idea! We settled ahead of time on Mocha Meringues, yum. Sounds delicious, has good alliteration, and I've never made meringues before.

Fast forward to the afternoon we're going to hunker down and make them. It's raining. And by raining, I mean pouring. Oh there's lighting and thunder...and wind...and a whole lotta rain. If you've ever read any meringue recipe you'll know: don't make meringues when it's raining! Something about the extra moisture in the air prevents the meringues from setting properly and the consistency gets all messed up. Booooo! The choices were to plunge ahead recklessly or pick another recipe. Now, I probably would have just gone ahead with it, hoping it would miraculously work, but my wiser family started looking for other recipes and that's how we ended up with this one for Maple Cranberry Popcorn Balls...

L is (also) for Lemon Garlic Hummus (Jessica)

Hello there!

This week, I actually made TWO recipes that start with L. Something about vacation, a big kitchen, and so many kitchen helpers all combined to bring you this second recipe! How exciting and delicious.

On a more serious note, both the recipes for L are totally gluten free. Why, you ask? Well, one of my family members was recently diagnosed with celiac disease. I had heard of celiac disease (also called celiac sprue) before, but didn't know much about it until about a month ago. After doing some research, I found out that celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder, not a gluten allergy (as is commonly thought). The small intestine is damaged when gluten is present in the body. This damage prevents the body from absorbing the nutrients it needs to stay healthy (for example: proteins, vitamins, and minerals). There is no medication to repair the damage done to the intestine, the only way to treat this condition is to completely remove gluten from your diet.

As you can imagine, this radically changes how a person eats. Especially a person who loves pasta and bread. Gluten is in wheat, malt, rye and a number of other grains. Eating out becomes a challenge, special provisions must be made to ensure a meal has not been contaminated with gluten in the kitchen. Oh, and baking your typical cake/muffin/cupcake requires some serious alterations.
In light of all of this, we'll be tagging our gluten-free recipes and making more of them!

If you'd like to know more, here are some good links to read about celiac disease:
http://www.celiaccentral.org/
http://www.celiac.org/

And now, on to the recipe...

K is for Kale Chips (Jessica)

Good evening!

I fight the battle with myself every week (well, every day, in fact) of whether to eat something healthy or screw healthy and eat whatever I'm craving. Yes, occasionally those are one and the same and when that happens, life is good (for example: BLUEBERRIES). But more often, it's a struggle to avoid stopping by the candy bowl at the office down the hall for the third time in one afternoon. I'm not one of those people who counts calories or looks at fat content. My philosophy is to try to make healthier choices, but always indulge in delicious desserts, at least a few bites of them.  Life is not about depriving myself! 

This week, health won the battle in choosing a recipe. I made Kale Chips. No messing around, Kale is a ridiculously healthy vegetable (see here). But don't worry, these chips are tasty too, whew!