Salted Caramel Butterscotch Buddino
The first time I ever had salted-caramel-butterscotch-pudding-buddino-pots de creme-out of this world-amazing-dessert was at Gjelina’s on Abbot Kinney. Buggies was about 3 weeks old and this was Mommy’s 1st night out (yahoooo!) for Kim’s birthday. Molly and I had been celebrating Kim with champagne (as we tend to do) and by the time dessert came, our entire table needed about 8 more of this magical little gems of heaven. After having them at Gjelina’s, I recreated them for a foodie dinner party that I was hosting. Our friend, Karen, took all of the leftovers home with her and enjoyed every last bite.
Burrata Cheese Crostini with Basil Oil
Have you had it? Have you cried from happiness of eating this cheese? The first time I had it was before the Sex in the City 2 movie. My girlfriends and I met in our party dresses for cocktails and appetizers before heading over to see the SITC girls head to Abu Dhabi. We went to Farfalla in Westlake Village. I LOVE eating out with my girls because we usually order a ton of different things and share. And they like all of the things that my sweet hubby doesn’t. We ordered burrata cheese over a crostini drizzled with a basil oil. GASP! It was delicious. The cheese was creamy, the bread was warm and soaked in butter and the basil oil gave the perfect punch of flavor. Of course I had to recreate it. And it was kinda super easy.
Italian Quesadillas
I’m not gonna lie. It takes some planning to keep new recipes coming every few days. And my past two weeks have been crazy so my posts have dwindled for just a moment. But I’m proud to say that I’ve been stockpiling. I’ve got some ammunition that I’m ready to release people! That being said, I had a very ambitious night where I decided to make six (SIX!!!) new recipes for a casual dinner party. And of course because I hadn’t spent a few days in my kitchen and I’m pretty sure my Kitchenaid hummed to life on its own, I needed to cook. I was also craving mushrooms and because Ryan won’t eat mushrooms, I thought I could add them to an appetizer and get my fix. That’s one of my favorite things about entertaining friends, we outnumber my picky husband so I can make some really yummy dishes!
Oh! And these are vegetarian 😉
Hubby’s Note: Yes. I’m picky. But I’m really cute. So…I’ve got that going for me…which is nice.
Apricot and Ricotta Cheese Crepes
As I’ve told you, in my previous life I worked for a pretty fabulous international restaurant chain. I was their Director of Human Resources. It was a job that evolved over the years and I was self taught for. I almost felt like Superman leading a double life though. By day: HR. By Night! Cooking. My fabulous Molly came up with the perfect idea of me and Jessica, one of the 4 partners in crime, to start a catering business. And we did. And we were busy. I would spend my entire day processing payroll, dealing with health benefits, employee complaints and what not. By night, Jessica and I would come up with menus and marketing, recipes and recruits. A few months into the business we catered a baby shower at this gorgeous ocean view mansion in Santa Barbara. I’m going to get off topic for a sec. They had these walls in their house with zero texture to them. Smooth as a baby’s…. And then they acid washed them. These walls made this house look like it was floating in the clouds. If I ever hit those 6 little Super Lotto numbers, my house must have those walls. Back to the crepes. One of the menu items for the shower was these crepes. We seriously could not whip them up fast enough before the platters were empty again. After catering that event, I was talking with my sweet (strawberries!) co-worker Alisha who fell in love with these crepes. This is another recipe she’s been asking for and I’ve slacked on. YIKES!
Here is my thought. It’s Labor Day weekend. Four years ago it was 120 degrees and I was close to going into labor. So let’s celebrate and have brunch Sunday. Make these with my Green Chile Breakfast Casserole, serve up a bottle of champagne and let’s call this a relaxing weekend.