Thankful for My Full Plate

Pecan Crack

Napa is my Happy Place (Long Recap)

I recently went back to Napa for a work trip. I left home a little before 5am and 2 flights and a short rainy drive later, rolled into Napa County at exactly noon.

Party Girl

Someone in our household recently turned 8!

Look at her expertly holding her jello shot while blowing out her candle!

#nailedit

Food Things to Make

Parking these here for when I have a free cooking moment this fall and winter:

Dumplings!!!

S'mores Fudge Bars

Greek Salad - I would like to have a salad or two in the fridge at all times for lunches and snacks. This looks like a nice go-to.

Mimosa Sangria

Chick-Fil-A Sauce

Slow-Roasted Beef Ribs - what hooked me with this recipe was how Martha served the ribs, with green olives and fresly grated horseradish !!

Irish Soda Farl

Ullster Fry

Skillet Wonders

Recently, I listened to an episode of The Splendid Table featuring baking with cast iron. Besides corn bread, I had never baked anything in my cast iron skillet, but I was more than inspired. And on a recent camp out, we made Dutch Oven cobblers, so the idea has been swirling around in my head.

The first thing I baked this past week in my cast iron skillet was meatloaf. I preheated the pan beforehand so that the meat mixture sizzled and seared when I was putting it into the skillet, and it baked up in half the time of a normal meatloaf. It turned out so much better than normal, although normal is pretty good.

We ate on this mammoth loaf for two nights! #success

Winemaker Dinner with Friends

18 months ago, Scott and I had the honor of dining with my friend Gail and her man, Nils, who is considered the "King of Cab", at the Saddleback Wine Cellars Dinner they hosted in Yukon. I was glad to partake in that lovely dinner punctuated by even lovelier wines and I had hoped they'd host a dinner in Norman sometime soon. Last night they did!

Plus One