I have just returned from a wonderful wine-filled weekend in Temecula Valley. Although I did some wine tasting in Stellenbosch, South Africa and vaguely remember visiting a vineyard with my parents when I was a kid, I can’t say I ever went wine tasting during a part of my life where I actually cared about wine. So this was a new experience. One that I would love to repeat, but have quickly learned must be paced slightly differently.

You see, I went with my parents and while my mom is more a sipper, my dad and I sort of treated it like a competitive sport to see how much we could possibly stomach in one day. Not the best way to do it, we found out. But enjoyable nonetheless…I think in about three months, I’ll be able to handle Napa!

Here’s a fresh, surprisingly light breakfast that made our drive to California tummy grumble free!

For the Recipe, click here:

Fluffy Lemon Ricotta Pancakes with Fresh Berries

Every year on Fourth of July, we have American Food day at work and inevitably, someone brings in McDonald’s or Kentucky Fried Chicken. I’m always a little queasy looking down the buffet line at the greasy gunk that I find pretty disgusting.

I figure a little fruit with bright pops of color won’t do anyone any harm. And on top of a traditional American Buttermilk Pie with some Rum Whipped Cream, I’m not being toooooo anti-fun. (Fun is defined here as fatty.)

For the Recipe, click here:

Fourth of July Buttermilk Pie

This is a labor of love and if I might say, a little hazardous. If you can zest five lemons and avoid zesting a knuckle, you deserve a gold star. Usually I nick at least one of mine and then have to search my cabinets for band-aids. Lovely, I know.

After zesting and juicing, you must continuously whisk for fifteen minutes, which, take it from me, is a taxing arm workout. But it’s so rewarding to watch it thicken and develop a sunshine burst of color that I always find it worth the effort.

Fresh fruit with homemade lemon curd is a dream. You could also layer it with fruit and fresh whipped cream for a zesty trifle. You can make this a day of two ahead so get moving now and enjoy tomorrow!

For the Recipe, click here:

Fresh Fruit Salad with Homemade Lemon Curd

I am hooked on barley. It is such a versatile and satisfying, chewy little grain. This fresh salad sparked when I came upon these cute clementines that looked almost too perfect to eat. Clementines remind me of my childhood and the single orange ball I would find at the toe of my Christmas stocking every year. Once we pulled everything out, my brothers and I would sit and eat our clementines while admiring our loot. Something about them just makes me happy.

So for a lunch date with my friend Jamie, I marinated and grilled some beautiful salmon to go with this spring salad. It was a perfect lazy lunch on the porch accompanied by sunshine and Monty contentedly munching on his favorite stuffed beaver.

For the Recipes, click here:

Orange and Maple Glazed Salmon

Clementine, Barley, and Spinach Salad with Cinnamon Citrus Dressing

If you aren’t familiar with the Cunningham Muffins video, you may not quite understand why whenever someone says Lemon Poppy-seed, I can’t help but snicker a little. Ever since I saw it, I can’t get the idea of a tart, pucker-up muffin out of my head.

I finally crafted this recipe to get my fix. It’s not a muffin, but I think it might be even better because you can have the equivalent of 3 muffins in one hearty slice and still just call it one serving. Also, if you haven’t clicked on the above link yet, you must. It will make any “Lemon Poppy-seed” concoction so much more entertaining.

For the Recipe, click here:

Lemon Poppy-seed Cake with Raspberry Glaze

Sometimes when I’m standing in line at Starbucks (sorry New Englanders, Dunkin’ Donuts in Vegas are a very rare thing) I ogle the flaky, size of your fist, sparkly scones and it takes all my willpower to resist. If the coffee wasn’t 5 bucks by itself, maybe I would just say “throw one in”, but the overpriced latte usually makes me feel guilty enough.

So I am left to make them myself and thank goodness cause these are a whole lot healthier than anything Starbucks would serve up anyway. They also make the house smell like “vacation” in the words of Ivan, which is a wonderful thing in itself.

Slather these with your favorite jam or some softened butter and pat yourself on the back for not allowing Starbucks to rip you off for a simple baked good.

For the Recipe, click here:

Orange and Raisin Cream Scones

So you are probably wondering, what happened to Day 1 of the cookie contest? I figured 5 days of baking would have been a little too much for even my baking-obsessed self, so I opted out of Hershey’s Kiss day.

So, onto Oatmeal. I have seriously looked through about a million oatmeal cookie recipes and it seems to me, the oldie, but goodie recipe under the Quaker Oats lid is the winner hands down. But this is a competition people, so while I would normally be completely content with this standard, I stepped off the edge and created my own! And since I didn’t even USE the Quaker Oats oats, I figured it would have been pretty rude to rip their recipe anyway.

And lo, and behold, my cookies WON! So now you really have a reason to try these out!

Oatmeal Pecan and Sour Cherry Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed

scant 1/4 cup honey

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour (or when not participating in cut-throat competition, whole wheat)

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

dash of cinnamon

dash of nutmeg

3 1/4 cups rolled oats

1/4 cup pecans, roughly chopped

1 cup sour dried cherries, roughly chopped

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle, combine butter, sugar, and honey. Beat until fluffy. With mixer still running, add vanilla and eggs one at a time.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add the dry mixture to the wet in increments, being careful not to overmix. Stir in oats, pecans and cherries. Place the batter into the refrigerator for at least 1 hour. (I swear this is the KEY to “chewy on the inside, crispy on the outside” cookies. The butter needs to solidify before you bake in order to avoid spreading)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Drop tbsp sized cookies on greased, wax paper lined cookie sheets. Bake 10-12 minutes until the cookies look slightly underdone but golden. Allow to cool completely. (Make sure to cool the baking sheets completely before each batch. Place unused batter in the refrigerator between batches.)

Bitter Salad with Cranberries and Apples

1 head Raddicchio, diced

4 Belgian endives, chopped

3/4 Romaine heart, diced

2 Granny Smith apples, diced

1/2-3/4 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

My mother is constantly on me to write down the proportions of my salad dressings, but until now, I have been a pain. Well Mamika, here it is at last.

Basically Balsamic Vinaigrette

3 tbsp olive oil

3 tbsp vegetable oil

2 1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

3 tsp dijon mustard

2 shakes of garlic powder

2 cracks coarse salt

2 cracks freshly ground pepper

1 1/2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

Personally, I am not a huge fan of breakfast foods. I tend to get so excited about cereal that I forget about everything else, but I realized the other day that because of this, my husband doesn’t get any breakfast love. I think he despises cereal as much as I love it! So, I got up early this morning and whipped up some blueberry pancakes and I gotta say, I had a bite of one and it was darn delicious!

Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup raw sugar

2 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 large eggs

1/4 cup butter

2 cups buttermilk

Fresh blueberries

Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl. Place the eggs, butter, and buttermilk in the bowl of an electric mixer and blend. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined, being careful not to overmix.

Using a 1/3 cup measure, pour batter onto a buttered, heated skillet. Sprinkle on blueberries. Cook 2-3 minutes each side.

Serve with maple syrup and/or fresh whipped cream.