Kahluá Dark Chocolate Pot de Créme

Today I made a chocolate treat for me. I might be enticed to share it, and I might not. : }

This last week my husband said that he absolutely loved butterscotch pudding. Okay, I like butterscotch as well, so I made 8 ramekins worth. They were "curing" in the fridge in the garage. "Were" of course being the key word. 

Grilled Peach Salad 

With Fresh 'n' Sweet-Buttermilk Dressing

Grilled fruits are such a delicious surprise to serve, and eat. This one has a base of fresh spinach leaves. Then I carefully built up the flavors that would be enhancing or even contrasting with the addition of slightly warm sweet summer peaches by adding sharp tangy flavored green peppers, chunky-sliced endive for color and crunch, Mediterranean herbed and spiced Feta cheese crumbles, sliced raw almonds for crunch, and dried blueberries for a little extra sweetness. Everything was and always needs to be at the peak of freshness for my salads.

Grilled Garlic Cheese Toasts 
With Spicy-Mango-Pineapple Salsa

Talk about easy-peasy! This is another favorite pot-luck-dish. It has few ingredients, and they are either easy to prepare or they come in very acceptable pre-made forms, 
(like canned or frozen corn kernels). Of course the salsa is the best made with the freshest ingredients possible. If you haven't cut corn off of the cob to use raw in a salad or salsa, you've missed out terribly! The gorgeous sweet corn from summer just begs to be eaten in any form possible.

Chelsea's Favorite-Dreaded 
Green Bean Casserole!

So, this is the "dreaded casserole!" For the story about the green bean casserole, see my post about Every Child's Favorite Mac 'n' Cheese recipe. 

Chelsea loves green beans and will even eat Swiss cheese, but just not together. This dish has a creamy and slightly sweetened sour cream base that counters the tang of the Swiss cheese brilliantly. Add to that some tender shallots and a bit of black pepper, drained canned green beans (canned beans in this actually work and taste the best than any other form) baked to bubbling perfection. Then topped with your favorite brand of Swiss cheese (I use lite Alsace) and broiled until golden brown, oozy, and bubbly-crusty. To my family, there isn't any other way for cheese to be when it's cooked. We love those bits at the edges that are tender-crusty, and then again we love it when you take a portion of food and the gorgeous cheese pulls and strings from dish to dish! That's good eating right there!

Every Child's Favorite Mac 'n' Cheese

Fresh homemade mac 'n' cheese can and should be so much better than any boxed variety! Hook your kids (and yourselves) up on this simple pleasure that has a creamy delicious cheese sauce with soft but firm pasta. And guess what? It tastes like REAL cheese because it is! You can probably sneak in some secret "V". Let me whisper the dreaded word, (vegetables).

Fresh Banana Cupcakes With 
Dreamy-Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting

I just happened to have a very large plethora of very ripe bananas. I usually freeze them as they get past the point where the three of us like them. We'll only eat them if they are green tinged around the edges. This gives a clean, fresh and firm banana, not soft, bruised or mushy. The latter description is apparently how the Polynesians used to like them. Insert a nasty, tongue-sticking-out face here ☟.

Caldo de Albondigas

 Mexican Meatball Soup is a family favorite. Today however, I write this recipe for you with a heavy heart. My brother Dave, passed away just this past Tuesday March 4, 2014 of surgical complications. He was only 59. 

Chocolate Scottish Shortbread Cookies

I absolutely love Scottish shortbread! It's buttery, very lightly sweetened, and tenderly-crisp. I 've formed them into triangles, medium sized galettes as shown, 1" round buttons sandwiched with a fabulous frosting, the base for all of my Streusel Bars, plus the buttery-moist and sandy topping for bars, and added all kinds of things to the batter itself. I even made them into cutout "spoons"