Grilled Caesar Salad from Pacci created by Chef Kiera

Last Saturday I spent an amazing two hours at Pacci Restorante with Chef Kiera Moritz and her staff.  I love this sort of thing.  Think of it as a field trip for your mind, soul and your taste buds!  Pacci is located in Midtown.  It is a gorgeous restaurant.  Elegant, upscale, classy just choose any of these adjectives to describe it.  I was so impressed when I met Chef Kiera.  She is very personable, easy to talk to, witty, cute and she really knows her stuff!  And she is a Georgia girl.  She is a natural in front of an audience explaining each step of the recipe and adding all the do’s and don’ts to make the outcome a success.  It was a fun afternoon to say the least.  Here’s the three courses she prepared for us with an added dessert and drinks.  It was fantastic!

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Sausage and Cheese Balls

I love these sausage balls!  Even though this  recipe has been around for a long time,  my students have requested me to make this recipe and post it. So here it is.  This is day four of no school because of the snow and ice.  What better excuse do you have to get in the kitchen?   I think that these were originally intended to be served as a party food, but here we serve them for breakfast.  Let them cool and place them in a freezer bag.  They freeze well for a month, but if your family is like mine they will not last near that long.

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Filed under Appetizer, Biscuits, Bread, Breakfast

Apple Dried Cherry Turnovers

When it comes to cooking,  simple is better.  I love Ina Garten’s Back to Basics cookbook that the Athlete gave me for Christmas.  The photos are just gorgeous  and I want to make everything in it!  For the last 5 or 6 weeks I have received bags of apples in my CSA box.  It has been many more apples than I can eat for snacks or in salads so when I saw this recipe I had to try it.  I’m so glad that I did.  I have made these twice and they are well worth the calories!

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Filed under Desserts, Turnovers

Beef and Bean Chili with Nachos

A steamy bowl of chili is always a treat for me on a cold wintry day.  We have had our share of downright frigid days for the past couple of weeks.  Now I’m not complaining because we had a beautiful white Christmas that left roads clear and enough snow to build a snowman.  In fact we got to enjoy the white stuff for about four days! I’m just not the type person that likes outdoorsy activities in the cold.  It is so hard to stay warm.  This beef and bean chili is perfect for cold days.  So get in the kitchen and warm up with this great chili from The Best of Fine Cooking Magazine .  

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Top 10 Posts for 2010

BON APPETIT!!!

For the past two weeks I have not posted as often as I wanted to, but for a good reason.  The Athlete has been home for the last ten days and I just wanted to spend as much time with him as I possibly could. I spent a lot of time in the kitchen and will be sharing some really good recipes with you in the coming weeks.  For you to enjoy I have composed the top ten posts that were viewed this year.  I was so surprised at the #1 post! By the way the top photo is my favorite dessert of 2010.  Happy New Year to all of you! 

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Filed under Bar Cookies, Breakfast, Brunch, Cake, corn muffins, Desserts, Main dish, Pie, Quick Breads, Soup, Top 10 of 2010

German Chocolate Cake

This is one of my favorite cakes to make during the holidays.  It brings with it lots of memories.     My dad loved it.  Now I ‘m not one of those sweet lovers, even though I do love to bake.  But, I have been known to cut myself a huge piece of this German Chocolate Cake and love every moment of indulgence. There is nothing like it.  The coconut pecan frosting and filling is heavenly by itself, but with the sweet German chocolate layers it is completely sinful!   Putting this recipe together takes a  little more time especially when the baker (being me)  seizes the chocolate and then has to make a run to the grocery, which is a fifteen minute trek one way. 

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Spaghetti Squash Gratin with Walnuts and Bacon

This gourd of a vegetable is all new to me.  I had never tasted it nor cooked it until it arrived in my CSA box right before Thanksgiving.  I had no idea what to do with it.  Luck would have it that one of my favorite blogs Clotilde’s Chocolate and Zucchini  just happened to post this Spaghetti Squash Gratin that same week.  It looked delicious so I just had to try it.    I am so glad that I did because it is fantastic and super easy!  In fact the hardest part is cutting the squash in half!

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Filed under Main dish, side dish

Sweet Potato Casserole

Okay, don’t judge me on this.  I am not a fan of sweet potato casserole or souffle.  I am a lover of just plain sweet potatoes with butter and salt.  I just don’t like side dishes on the sweet side.  Sweet to me belongs in the dessert category.  You ask why did I make this sweet potato casserole?  Well, when bringing a dish for a get together and you ask, “What can I bring?”   Sweet Potato casserole was the answer. So I am making sweet potato casserole. 

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A Tribute to the Best Classes and Mexican Stuffed Shells

This is my 25th year at AHS.  I have taught in the same room and have taught an array of classes  from Clothing and Textiles, Interior Decorating, Technology in the Home, Child Development, Teaching as a Profession and Foods.  I’ve loved each and every one of them.  Yes, there have been students that stood out in each of these classes.  Many of them I stay in contact with today, but I’ve never had two classes as I have had this semester.  Don’t get me wrong  the semester hasn’t been a piece of cake.  I have worked myself to death.  We made 32 different dishes.  Half of these we had labs.  So that means that I have spent many hours making grocery lists, shopping, putting groceries up, cooking, cleaning, setting up labs, evaluating work and doing laundry! But, the students have been a different group.

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Angel Hair Pasta with Spinach, Shrimp, Tomatoes and Basil

I love this dish!  Oh My!  It has a lot of flavor.  It is very quick to make!  What else do you want?  Someone to make it for you?   This recipe is a cinch .  You will be in and out of the kitchen in no time.  The compliments will come flying your way and you will be wondering what happened.  It is just so easy to make this dish and it is amazing that it just has flavors that you would not imagine.  I was totally shocked.

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Filed under Main dish