When I served this Buffalo Chicken Dip last weekend during the play-off games, the hungry football fans at my house went wild!  In fact, Mr. SGCC told me not to bother making Buffalo wings anymore because this dish was easier to make and eat, and was just as delicious.  I don’t know if was just the beer talking, but it was quite a testimonial!

The first time I saw this dip was about a year ago at this time.  I was shopping at my neighborhood supermarket and my friend Jeanne, the Publix Aprons lady, was handing out samples of an almost identical dish.  Jeanne is great!  She was a caterer, food writer and cooking instructor in the Boston area before moving down here several years ago.  Now, she cooks up lots of tasty stuff at Publix.   I always stop by her makeshift store “kitchen” for both good food and conversation.  If you get a chance, check out her new blog,  Sola Gina Nella Cucina: Cooking On My Own.  It’s a good read with lots of great recipes.

Now, where was I?  Oh yes, the dip.  I remember thinking at the time that this dip was the perfect nosh for sitting in front of the TV, watching football.   It has all the great flavors of Buffalo wings, without the mess or the bones.  I slipped a copy of the recipe in my purse with every intention of making it.  Yeah, well the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and so, apparently, is the road to my kitchen.  Winter melted into Spring and football season was long gone.   That recipe card sat  in the corner of my kitchen counter for months and I never got around to making it.  When I finally was ready to make it, I couldn’t find that darn recipe anywhere!  I couldn’t find Jeanne anywhere either.  She had taken a few days off to spend some time with her kids.  

I remembered which ingredients I needed for the dip, but not the measurements.   I searched the Aprons web site – several times.  The recipe wasn’t there.   By this time I had become a little obsessed.  So, I turned to Google.  I found several different versions of Buffalo chicken dip, but none were exactly how I remembered it.   The closest came from the Baltimore Nesties Cookbook web site.  I have no idea who the Baltimore Nesties are, but I owe them one for that recipe.  I adapted it based on what I remembered of Jeanne’s recipe.

To make this dip, you will need a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket, cream cheese, bottled buffalo wing sauce, blue cheese dressing, chopped scallions and shredded cheddar.   Just heat up the cream cheese, wing sauce and dressing, toss with the chicken and scallions, sprinkle on the cheddar and pop it in the oven.  That’s it!    You can serve it with crackers, tortilla chips or even crudités, if you want.  Personally, I think it would be fab served with those big scoop-shaped Fritos.  Wish I’d had some of those when I made it.

This recipe is super easy, and takes hardly any time at all to make. If you made it during the Super Bowl, you could probably pull it together during the half time show.   And, it is so, so good!  Creamy, cheesy and spicy all at the same time!

If Buffalo wings are a Super Bowl tradition at your house, why not try this dish instead?  Whether you’re a Giants or a Patriots fan, this Buffalo Chicken Dip is something everyone will root for!

I have been dreaming about this cauliflower soup ever since I first saw it on the Food 52 site last month.  I don’t know why.   There’s nothing at all that’s fancy about it.   And, it’s probably one of the simplest soups in the world to make.   But, something about it just spoke to me – or rather gently whispered in my ear, over and over again.  It looked so light and bright and pure – almost cleansing, in a way.   I filed away the recipe, knowing that I would get back to it as soon as I found some beautiful, fresh cauliflower that was worthy of it. 

This recipe for this soup comes from Paul Bertolli’s book, Cooking by Hand.  Bertolli was a chef at the famed Chez Panisse for over ten years, so it’s not surprising that he knows exactly how to make a cauliflower sing.  And, sing it does!  There are only five ingredients in this soup, and one of them is water.   None of them are butter or cream.  Yet, it is so smooth and velvety, you’d never guess.  It’s the perfect little, guilt-free indulgence after eating your way through a long Holiday season.

To start, onions are sautéed in olive oil over low heat until they are tender and sweet.

Then, the cauliflower is added and stewed with the onions.  After that, the water is added to the pot and everything simmers.   I swapped out a cup or so of the water with some chicken stock.  You don’t need to do this.  I just did because I had some broth in the fridge that I needed to use.

Once the cauliflower has finished cooking, the whole pot is pureed into the smoothest, most divinely luxurious soup you’ll ever taste.  I swear!  But, don’t take my word for it.   Make a pot for yourself.  Then, slide into your fluffiest bathrobe, put some cool cucumber slices over your eyes and pretend you’re at a fancy schmancy spa.

Thanksgiving is, without a doubt, the most food centric holiday of the year. And, anyone who has ever prepared a Thanksgiving dinner knows how much work – and stress – is involved. We obsess over every little detail as we strive to wow our families and friends with our culinary prowess. But nobody’s perfect, and sometimes even the best-laid plans go awry. That’s when it helps to have a few tricks up your sleeve.

One year, my mother-in-law accidentally turned my oven on to “broil” while I had two beautiful pumpkin pies baking in it. As I sifted through the ashes of my poor, incinerated pies, I just wanted to cry! Actually, I did cry. But then my creative spirit kicked in, and I came up with this super quick and easy alternative using ingredients that I already had in my pantry.  

Pumpkin Pie Parfaits with Gingersnap Crumbles are a riff on a traditional pumpkin pie. They have all the delicious components of the classic, with a fraction of the effort. The parfaits can either be made the day of or prepared in advance. Thus, they won’t take up valuable real estate in your oven.

The base of these parfaits is a cool and creamy custard made with cook and serve vanilla pudding mix and canned pumpkin puree. The custard is layered with freshly whipped cream and spicy, crunchy gingersnap and pecan crumbles. Despite their humble beginnings, they make a lovely and elegant holiday dessert.

Whether served in pretty wine goblets or funky vintage jars, your guests will never suspect that these scrumptious, little Thanksgiving treats didn’t take hours to prepare.

Seriously!  Are these little jars filled with creamy peanut butter and banana lusciousness not the cutest things ever?  I could just eat them up with a spoon.  As a matter of fact, I did just that.  And they were wonderful. I call them Peanut Butter Banana Cream Pies in a Jar, because…well…because that’s pretty much what they are.  They include all of the components of a classic pie, except they’re layered in small, self-contained, single serving jars.  Pretty clever, huh?  Yeah.  I think so too.

I was cleaning out a few things in my prop room, when I came across some Bormioli canning jars that I didn’t even remember I had.  I couldn’t find the rubber rims, so actually canning something in them was pretty much out of the question.  I thought it would be fun to fill them with some kind of scoopable dessert, like a custard or panna cotta.  Then, a bunch of bananas sitting on the counter caught my eye.  “Hmmm,” I thought, “What about banana pudding with vanilla wafers, just like my mother used to make?” That sounded like a plan.  Then, I noticed the jar of peanut butter next to the box of vanilla wafers, and remembered the most amazing peanut butter cream pie that one of our local restaurants is famous for.  I die over that pie!   Honestly, I just couldn’t choose between the two, so I decided to make them both – in the same dessert.  Peanut butter and bananas are already BFFs, so it made perfect sense to pair them up.  It was one of the best decisions I ever made! 

To make the “crust” for my “pies”, I pulverized some vanilla wafers into crumbs and mixed them with a little sugar and melted butter.  Then, I pressed a thin layer of the mixture down into the bottom of each jar.  After that, I added layers of homemade vanilla bean pastry cream, sliced bananas and peanut butter crumblies that I made by blending crunchy peanut butter and powdered sugar together.   After they were assembled, I snapped on the lids and stored them in the fridge until I was ready to serve them.   It was as easy as pie (pun intended)!  And OMG people, they were unbelievably good!   I could have slurped down that whole bowl of pastry cream all by itself.   Mixed with the other ingredients, it was completely off the charts!

I’ve made other desserts like this before.  I love the idea that everybody gets their own individual portion.  It’s a lot easier than slicing up a pie, it’s neater to eat and it’s a lot more fun.  I think I might really be on to something here.  I’m already toying with the idea of pumpkin streusel pie in a jar for Thanksgiving and apple crumb pie in a jar for Christmas.  Think about it.  You could literally do this with any kind of pie ingredients.  The possibilities are endless.  Deliciously and gloriously endless!

Well, this certainly took a bit longer than I had planned!  Besides a nasty bout of bronchitis that totally took me down, I’ve found myself in the throes of college applications, SAT’s and ACT’s, plus a few magazine deadlines just for good measure.   Unfortunately, poor little SGCC has had to sit in the back of the bus temporarily, while I play catch up.  But, I realized that I’ve left you hanging in the middle of my Oregon trip, and that just won’t do.  The second half of  my adventure was just as fabulous as the first, and I really do want to share it with you. I had actually put together a very nice slideshow with music and everything for you.   It was perfect and I had my heart set on using it in this post.  Unfortunately, the artist who recorded the music that I wanted to use never responded to my request for permission.  After two emails and five days, I gave up.  Sigh… 

On Friday night, my fellow bloggers and I were treated to a burgers and brew bash high on a rooftop deck in the artsy Pearl District digs of Weiden & Kennedy.  There, Chef Gregory Denton from Metrovino and Chef Chris Carriker from The Gilt Club served up mini-versions of some of the tastiest burgers you’ll find anywhere.  These weren’t just any old burgers, either.  They were elk burgers, lamb burgers and Metrovino’s award-winning double decker burgers as well.   To go along with the burgers, we also enjoyed some lovely salads, gnocchi, fresh Dungeness crab and scrumptious sweets.

Saturday morning took us over to the Portland Farmers Market to pick up ingredients for a canning workshop and to marvel over the amazing bounty of Oregon’s growers and artisan producers.  I literally was blown away by all of the magnificent produce I found.  Everything positively glistened!  I’ve never seen anything like it.

Once we had scored all of our ingredients, Jennifer from Sassafras Catering had to pry the cameras out of our hands and drag us kicking and screaming over to Kitchen Cru for our canning session.  Honestly, I could have stayed at that market all day long.  Between the sights, smells and glorious weather, I couldn’t think of a more pleasant place to be.

Kitchen Cru is a shared use community kitchen.  It offers the use of a fully equipped, licensed, commercial kitchen and private event space for small catering businesses, private chefs and cooking instructors.    The facility also provides support services and business development guidance for their clients, like Sassafras Catering.  It’s a terrific and much more affordable option for these small businesses.  Without the financial burden and upkeep of maintaining their own kitchens, they can focus on the food – and that’s what it’s all about.

At our workshop, Jennifer and her partner, Erin, taught us the basics of canning and preserving as we made a big batch of tomato jam. Before we knew it, we were slicing and dicing a huge basket filled with drop dead gorgeous heirloom tomatoes.  Look at those happy faces!

The tomatoes were cooked down for a good, long time with lots of sugar and some aromatic spices, like ginger, cumin and coriander.  Then, the jam was ladled into prepared jars and tucked into a boiling water bath.

Here are the fruits of our labor.

Next, was a fabulous lunch prepared by more of Portland’s rock star chefs, Jenn Lewis of Lincoln Restaurant, Chris Israel of Gruner and Kask, and Scott Dolich of Park Kitchen and The Bent Brick.  Of course, great food also needs some great wine, so we also had Hilda and Hannah Jones from Abacela Winery and Rollin Soles from Argyle Winery on hand with some of their best vintages.

Here’s a picture of Helene making a picture of the Kitchen Cru crew.  Hehe!  I don’t think she knows I got this one.

After lunch, one group left to learn how to make artisan ice cream.  Another, went to fine tune their prowess at making cocktails.  And for the rest of us, it was all about charcuterie, baby!    Eric and Paula from Chop Butchery taught us how to make homemade pancetta and a divine little bourbon chicken liver pâté.   Mercy!

Here’s Sean taking a shot of the flambé.    You may recall that we were trapped in an elevator together on the 45th floor of our Atlanta hotel during BlogHer Food.  We’re soulmates now.  I love him!

The grand finale of our wonderful Portland adventure took us back to the beautiful Willamette Valley for a farewell banquet at the Penner-Ash Wine Cellars.  Ron and Lynn Penner-Ash were our most gracious hosts for a gala dinner and wine tasting at their lush and scenic winery.   It was a time to kick back and relax among the rolling hills and fields of wildflowers.

Chef Vitaly Paley of Paley’s Place cooked up a sumptuous feast for us.   During the cocktail hour, there was an amazing seafood bar overflowing with mounds of local Dungeness crab, spicy scallop ceviche and various kinds of Pacific oysters.  A few steps away, there was a charcuterie bar loaded with cured meats, cheeses and pâté.   It was a foodie’s dream!

By the time I sat down to dinner, I must confess that I was pretty much stuffed, and more than a little drunk.  (I should have gone a little easier on that crab.)  But, I took one for the team and forced myself to eat at least a few bites of each impeccably prepared course.   All of the food was sourced from local farms and producers, including Vindian Farms, River’s Edge Chevre, La Mariposa and Carman Ranch.

To complement all of the deliciousness, we sipped wines from King Estate Winery, Apolloni Vineyards, Troon Vineyard and of course, Penner-Ash.

As all good things must come to an end, eventually it was time to say goodbye to our new friends and head back to Portland.  As I struggled to keep my eyes open on the bus ride back, the snippets of conversation that drifted by made me smile.  What a weekend it had been – for all of us!  Oregon is a magical place, and I am so grateful that I not only had the opportunity to experience it, but that I got to do so with such a talented and creative group of people.

My sincerest thanks goes out to Travel Oregon for inviting me into their little slice of heaven, and for making me feel valued and special.    I’d also like to thank all of the participating chefs, growers,  winemakers and artisan producers.  Their dedication to their crafts, commitment to sustainability and respect for the land is an inspiration to me and an example that we can all follow.  And  last but not least, I thank my fellow travelers just for being the great group of bloggers that they are.  I couldn’t imagine sharing this experience with a more fun bunch!  I enjoyed spending time with each one of them and look forward to the next time our paths cross.

When we arrived at Kitchen Cru on Saturday morning, the ladies from Sassafras had tall, chilled glasses of watermelon lemonade waiting for us. It was wonderful! So wonderful, in fact, that I probably drank a whole gallon of the stuff all by myself. Tomato jam aside, I knew that when I got home I would be making that lemonade.   While I didn’t use their exact recipe, I think my version, inspired by the original, comes pretty darn close.

This lemonade is light, refreshing and utterly delicious. Plus, it’s one of the prettiest shades of red you’ll ever see. It is made by pureeing fresh watermelon and adding a lemon and basil infused simple syrup. Basil does wonderful things when paired with fresh fruits, and it’s a natural in this drink.

You can adjust the sweetness of the lemonade by adding more or less of the syrup to your taste. Plus, you can take it up a notch by adding a shot of vodka or gin for a grown up version.

I’m still able to find watermelon in the markets here, but I’m sure not for long.   So, if you’re looking to celebrate summer’s last hurrah, hurry and make some basil-infused watermelon lemonade – while you still can.

My father had the most magnificent fig tree in his yard.  It was about twenty-five feet tall and the breadth of its branches was almost as wide.  Though he would never actually confirm it, the rumor is that he bred the tree using cuttings smuggled here from a bigger and even more magnificent fig tree that sits on the grounds of his ancestral home in Italy.  I have seen that original tree with my own eyes, and eaten its fruit.  It is amazing!

Dad’s fig tree was the jewel in his garden.  He babied and fussed over it.  He nurtured it through winters that were too cold and summers that were too hot.  That tree was the Goldilocks of fig trees.  Everything about it was just right, including the lush, moist fruit that grew from it.  Dad’s figs were almost the size of small fists!  Ripened by the sun, their flesh was so sweet that droplets of dew-like nectar oozed freely from them.   There was nothing – and, I mean nothing, people – that could rival the taste of my father’s figs.

Almost five years ago, on a grey November day, cancer stole my father away.  Within two weeks, the fig tree dropped all of its leaves, shriveled up and died.  I kid you not.  It was like the tree was in mourning and died of a broken heart. The only sign of life that has come from that tree since is the occasional appearance of a gorgeous, crimson cardinal, who swoops in from time to time and perches itself on a bare, brittle branch.   The bird just sits there, calmly looks around for a minute or two, and then flies off again.

None of us has the heart to chop down the fig tree.  Dad loved that tree, and to do so would almost be like losing him all over again.  So it still stands in its place beside the house as a bittersweet reminder of what once was.

Perhaps it is because of all of those wonderful, homegrown fresh figs I’ve devoured in my life, that I’m in so love with them.    Even now, I have a hard time passing them up when I find them at the market.  Sadly, they’re not quite the same when they come out of a plastic container.   I still buy them however, even though I’m often disappointed.

Another thing I can’t pass up is a good deal.  A few days ago, my market was having a BOGO sale on fresh figs.  They looked really lovely, so I slipped two quarts in my shopping cart, hoping that they would be good.  As I suspected, they were all style and no substance.  Out of the two dozen or so that I had, only about six were worth eating.  The rest were a little hard and dry, and the only thing I could think of that might save them was heat.  I find it intriguing how stewing, baking or roasting lackluster fruits can bring them back to life.  I’ve tried it with  berries, peaches, tomatoes and now, figs.  It works every time.

I thought about making some kind of tart with my figs, but honestly, I wasn’t in the mood to make a crust.  So, I decided that they would be just as delicious in a clafoutis.  For those who don’t know, a clafoutis is a French dessert where fruit is baked in a custard base.  Think of it as a crustless pie.   Traditionally, a clafoutis is made with cherries, but almost any kind of firm fruit will work well.   I love the combination of figs and honey, so I also decided to use that instead of sugar.

Despite its fancy, French name, making a clafoutis is very easy.  The first thing you need to do is cut up your fruit and artfully arrange them in a pie plate or glass baking dish.

Then, whizz up the rest of the ingredients in a blender and pour it over the fruit.

Bake the clafoutis until the custard sets and the top is nicely browned.

Look at how pretty it is!  And it tastes as good as it looks, too.  The custard was rich and creamy, with soft floral notes from the honey and the splash of orange flour water I also added.    Once baked, the figs took on a soft, jammy quality, and their sweetness intensified.   It was a lovely and elegant dessert that took hardly any effort at all.

I wish I had known about things like clafoutis when my father was around.  As delightful as this one was, I can’t help but wonder how spectacular it could have been with his figs.

*Photo of cardinal from iStockphoto.com

In just a few short days the kids will be heading back to school, and parents everywhere will be breathing a collective sigh of relief. Summer vacation can be tough on us moms and dads! Sure, it was great not having to get up at the brink of dawn these past few months. And, I’ve especially enjoyed not having to fight those homework wars. But I have to admit that I’m really looking forward to getting back into my own groove again.

This school year is going to be a bittersweet one for me. In less than a week, Mini SGCC will be beginning her senior year in high school. I can hardly believe it!  It seems like only yesterday I was telling you that she was just starting high school. There have a lot of changes and challenges in our family these past three years, not the least of which has been my beautiful child’s journey to become the extraordinary young woman she was meant to be.  It’s exciting and scary at the same time. 

I’ve tried to be a good role model for her, sometimes with success, and sometimes with miserable failure.  In spite of our many similarities, we are very different people, and my choices are not always going to be her choices.  One of the hardest things for me to learn has been when to keep my  mouth shut.  I’m still working on that.

These days, our lives revolve around the SAT, the ACT and college applications, while trying to maintain some kind of balance.  My head is spinning.   So is Mr. SGCC’s.  Mini SGCC seems to be taking it all in stride as she hurtles forward a mile a minute.

Although I often feel powerless  on this e-ticket ride to my daughter’s future, one thing I do have some control over is the food goes into her body.  It’s no surprise that teenagers have the worst eating habits, especially in times of stress.  But, I’ve found that if I keep tasty, healthful and easy food choices on hand, Mini SGCC will usually indulge in them.  These Whole Grain Krispie Granola Bars are one of her favorites.

Regardless of your kids’ ages, one universal challenge that comes along with a new school year is getting them to eat something reasonably healthy for breakfast in the morning and as snacks throughout the day.  Granola bars are a popular choice.  But, the store bought kinds are often dry and dense, bearing a striking resemblance to toasted sawdust.   Most kids do love cereal bars, but many of them contain high fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated palm oil, which are deal breakers for me!

My way around this dilemma is to whip up these wholesome and incredibly delicious whole grain granola bars from scratch. They’re made with rolled oats, dried fruits, nuts and crisped brown rice, glued together with honey, pure maple syrup and almond butter. Trust me. They are addictive!

The beauty of this recipe is that it takes very little time and effort to put together. Just mix the ingredients in a bowl, press into a pan and bake. Any combination of fruits and nuts will work here, as will any kind of nut butter.  I’ve made these bars many times using both almond butter and peanut butter.  I prefer them with almond butter, but Mini SGCC likes the ones with peanut butter best.  (It figures!)  Use whichever works for you.

Get your kids – and yourself – off to a good start this school year with Whole Grain Krispie Granola Bars. Served with low-fat yogurt for a nutritious breakfast or tucked into their backpacks for a mid-day snack, these bars score an A+!

Remember eating English muffin pizzas as a kid? I do. My mom used to make them for us all the time. She’d take a few muffins, slather on some marinara sauce (homemade, of course) and top it with whatever kind of cheese she happened to have in the fridge.  Then, she’d pop them in the toaster oven until they were hot and bubbly. The sauce would puddle up and settle into those nooks and crannies under a gooey blanket of melted cheese. We loved them!

Later on, when I was in college, English muffin pizza became one of the mainstays of my diet – and my social life. With a hotpot and toaster oven being the only appliances allowed in my dorm room, my culinary options were limited to canned soup, ramen noodles and whatever I could find to toast. Preparing anything beyond that required both resourcefulness and creativity. I spent many a late night study break whipping up English muffin pizzas for my dorm mates and me with sauce from a jar and regular old Kraft singles. It was far from gourmet, but every bite was filled with the taste of sweet independence.

When Mini SGCC was little, I carried on the English muffin pizza tradition. By that time, I had a well equipped kitchen, a fully stocked fridge and a lot more choices. I began to experiment a little with different sauces and toppings, and tried to sneak a few healthy bits of fruits and vegetables into my pizzas.

Last May, I met some of the folks from Bays English Muffins at BlogHer Food in Atlanta.  After the conference, they were nice enough to send me some free samples to try out.   When the package came in the mail, the first thing I thought of was pizza.  English muffin pizza to be precise!  So, I put on my pizza-making thinking cap and came up with a few ideas to take them to the next level.  These are not your mama’s English muffin pizzas, people!

This one is topped with a zesty basil pesto sauce, slices of fresh Roma tomatoes and grated Parmesan cheese.  I had some homemade pesto in the freezer, but store bought pesto would work fine here.

For this pizza, I cooked diced red onion and zucchini in olive oil until soft.  For the “sauce” I used Boursin cheese, a spreadable garlic and herb cheese.  Topped with a little shredded mozzarella, it was out of this world!

I think that this one was my favorite of all.  I spread a layer of cream cheese on the toasted muffin, and spooned on a mixture of diced fresh pineapple, pepperoni and red onion sautéed in butter.  Then, I sprinkled some shredded Swiss cheese on top.  When I sank my teeth into it, I got sweet, salty, crunchy and creamy all at the same time. Divine!

The topping possibilities for these pizzas are literally endless!  Pretty much anything that you have in your fridge can be turned into a mini pizza masterpiece.  It’s a great way to use up leftovers too.

Making English muffin pizzas is one of the easiest things in the world to do.  It’s almost impossible to ruin them.  But, there are a few tricks you can use to make them even better.  First of all, you should always lightly toast the muffins before you add on any toppings.  By doing this, you’ll prevent “soggy bottoms” and keep your pizzas nice and crispy.  Second, if you’re using fresh tomatoes, set them on a plate lined with a paper towel for ten minutes or so before putting them on the pizzas.  This will help to “dry” them up a bit so that they hold their shape when baked.  Finally, if you are using fresh vegetables to top your pizzas, take a few extra minutes and sauté them on the stove to get tender.   The pizzas only bake for about ten minutes, and I found that the veggies were still kind of raw.

English muffin pizzas are fast, easy and super delicious.  Plus, they’re a lot of fun!  They make a great lunch for the kids, a quick weeknight dinner and a perfect, self contained nosh at cocktail parties.  So, channel your inner child and make some now!

Thank you to Bays for providing the English muffins used in making these recipes.  As always, however, the opinions presented are mine – all mine!

With the heat-o-meter high up in the stratosphere these days, I’m always looking for ways to keep cool. Spending hours in a hot, steamy kitchen, churning out heavy meals is not my idea of a good time! This is the perfect opportunity to take advantage of what the summer’s best produce has to offer, and eat lots of salads. But, I’m not just talking about a slab of iceberg lettuce here, folks. Why not take the opportunity to get a little creative and take your salads to the next level, like with this light and lovely Green Bean and Potato Salad with Dijon Vinaigrette?

Crisp tender green beans, potatoes, sweet grape tomatoes and thin slivers of red onion are paired with a zesty vinaigrette, and accented with Dijon mustard, lemon, garlic, honey and fresh herbs. The dressing is enriched with hard-boiled egg yolks for a bit of richness without the health risks associated with raw yolks, making it an excellent menu choice for extreme temperatures.

Any kind of green or yellow string beans will work in this recipe. However, if you can find the slender, little French green beans, known as haricots verts, go with those. They’re delightfully crunchy and they cook in half the time as regular green beans. The same goes for the potatoes. I like to use those tiny, little Yukon gold potatoes. You can boil them whole and they’re done in ten minutes.

Of course, as with any dish, the end result is only as good as the ingredients you put into it. Make sure that all of your vegetables and herbs are super fresh, and please, please, please, people, use real Dijon mustard and the best extra virgin olive oil you can afford!

Paired with some succulent grilled meat or fish, this Green Bean and Potato Salad with Dijon Vinaigrette makes a wonderful accompaniment to any meal, be it a picnic at the beach or dinner “al fresco” on your lanai.

I couldn’t live without my coffee!  Seriously, I don’t just drink it for the caffeine kick, although that is a plus.  I really enjoy the taste of coffee.  And, I love waking up in morning to the wonderful aroma of fresh coffee brewing.  What I don’t love so much is that bitter, burned taste it gets after it’s been sitting in the pot for too long. Yuck!   At our house, whoever gets up first is responsible for making the coffee. Unfortunately, that means that by the time the rest of us are ready for a cup, it is often already past its prime.

About a year ago, I found a solution to this problem:  the Keurig home brewing system.  With this machine, you brew one cup of coffee at a time – when you want it.  It is fresh and hot every time.  The coffee comes in these little sealed, plastic containers called “K-cups”.  You just fill the tank with water, pop in a K-cup, push the brew button and voilà – coffee in about a minute!  There are a gazillion different kinds of coffee blends available in K-cups, so you can still have whatever kind of coffee you like.  Plus, they even have tea, hot chocolate and iced beverage K-cups.  How cool is that?  Not only that, but the machine comes with a teeny, tiny coffee filter, so don’t even have to use a K-cup.  You  can use any coffee you happen to have on hand.   Sweet!

So, here’s the best part. The nice folks from Keurig reached out to me a while ago and offered to send me one of their machines to try out. Since I already have one, I asked if they would be willing to send one to a lucky SGCC reader instead. They said yes, and so I’m thrilled to be able to offer one of YOU a Keurig Platinum Brewer of your very own!  And trust me, you do want one of these.  

All you have to do to be eligible for a shot to win is to do one or more of the following:

• Leave a comment telling me what your favorite coffee recipe is.  It can either be a coffee drink, or food using coffee in some form.
• Tweet about the giveaway on Twitter, with a link to this post, and leave a another comment here telling me you did so.  Make sure you @mention me in your tweet, so that I will see it.
• Share the link to this post on Facebook or Google+ or both, and leave a comment here.
• And last, but not least, I will give two extra chances to win to each new person who “Likes” my Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy fan page on Facebook.  That’s right – TWO EXTRA CHANCES!    But, make sure you also leave a comment here letting me know you’re a new fan.

You have until midnight EDT on Saturday, July 30, 2011 to leave your comments.  Next Sunday, July 31, I will randomly select and announce the lucky winner.

On your mark…Get set…GO!!!

Of course, I couldn’t leave you without sharing one of my favorite ways to enjoy coffee this time of year. When the temperature rises, I like my coffee iced, or better yet, frozen. So, I made these easy, peasy Vietnamese Coffee Popsicles to help you beat the heat.

To make your own popsicles, the first thing you have to do is brew some super strong coffee. I use a dark French roast. There are several varieties available in K-cups that would be perfect for this. You’ll need two cups of brewed coffee, or about three K-cups worth. Mix the coffee with some whole milk and sweetened condensed milk, and chill. Then, freeze the coffee mixture in popsicle molds until frozen solid. That’s it! It doesn’t get any simpler than that, people.

So, if you’ve been feeling as hot and bothered as I have lately, cool off with some frosty and refreshing Vietnamese Coffee Popsicles.

And, don’t forget to enter for a chance to win this fab Keurig Platinum Brewing System!

Enjoy!