Quick Spicy Pineapple Salsa

Want to spice up you sex life? I mean dinner. Make this quick spicy pineapple salsa and serve it along side your simply grilled/broiled/roasted chicken/fish/fish tacos/pork. It’s so easy, can be made a day in advance and requires nothing other than a chopping board and a knife. I buy the cubed pineapple from Whole Foods. Yes, you heard me. It’s a huge timesaver but do not use canned!

This summer when you’re sitting outside grilling, you’ll think of me.  Continue reading

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Shannon’s Sesame Citrus Fish

I have a dear friend who is naturally good at everything. She casually decides to pick up a sport, say golf for example and a month later is hitting that ball like she’s been doing it her whole life.  She trains for her first marathon and has a magnificent race finishing way under 4 hours. So when she  invited us over to her house for dinner I wasn’t one bit surprised when she served an unbelievably flavorlful sesame citrus halibut and poured me an intoxicating cocktail :  The Shanny Fanny. Why the name? Because you will be flat on your ass after a just couple of these babies.

Oh and did I forget to mention that she’s 5′ 10″, has thick brown hair like Jacqueline Smith, legs as long as my whole body, can dance like a pro, is fiercely loyal, imitates people like a stand up comic and would die of embarrassment knowing that I am unabashedly singing her praises?

I know, could she be any more flipping enviable? I’m a secure woman otherwise I might just hate her a little bit. This is my love letter to you Shannon!  Continue reading

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The Marinate Anything Marinade

To feel comfortable in the kitchen it really helps to have one or two basic recipes committed to memory. It just builds confidence. When you can make a quick marinade with just a few ingredients, one that pairs perfectly with fish*, poultry, pork and flank steak and also works on the grill, under the broiler or in the oven, you will feel like a rock star.

And it is so unbelievably easy.  Continue reading

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Marathon Brownies

It’s marathon Sunday here in NYC and I am sitting at my kitchen counter, staring at my computer asking myself how I can pay tribute to and honor the unbelievable and awe inspiring physical feat that is the ING New York City Marathon.  I’ve cheered my friends on, gotten choked up at the sea of warriors refusing to give up, sent out all the congratulatory texts and emails, and have high fived runners walking home wrapped in their orange blankets. But what more can I do? Bake some kick ass brownies of course because that’s just what I do. Those who can’t run (this year) bake!

These brownies are easy, quick, require few ingredients, and elicit loud and wildly inappropriate moans from all who indulge. And to all of you who ran 26.2 flipping miles today…. INDULGE THE CRAP OUT OF YOURSELVES

Marathon Brownies

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Are we sick of chicken yet?

I rarely make red meat at home since a) I don’t eat it b) my husband watches his diet like a girl (no offense honey) c) burgers and steaks are so much better on an outdoor grill and d) steak dinners just masochistically taste amazing when the markup is 500 percent and you’re being served by cranky waiters in ugly suits. So, I buy enough organic chicken to feed an army at Costco and within two weeks it’s gone. Yes, this is another flipping chicken recipe. But it’s delicious, so so easy (have I lied to you about that yet?), and perfect for a fall night when you don’t feel like cooking but feel like a shitty wife and mother if you don’t.

Roasted Red Chili Paste Chicken Curry Continue reading

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“Grandmother’s” Chicken

I’ve been debating since I started this blog if I should share this recipe. Why? Because it’s the type of ‘Good-Housekeeping-Sandra-Lee-semi-home-made” recipe that I hesitate to admit I love. Let’s face it no one REALLY reads this blog (yet?) and other than my family and friends (that I generously bribe), no one really gives a rat’s ass what I have to say. I’ve got nothing to lose so here goes.  Continue reading

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Beaucoup Butter Blondies

Some recipes fall squarely and unapologetically in the ‘indulge’ category and without fail those  recipes are the ones most often requested. We just can’t fight the fact that butter tastes so flipping good. Sometime there is just no substitute. Bow your head. Accept. Move on.

This recipe for Chocolate Chip Blondies is one of those recipes. And you won’t be surprised to hear that it’s adapted from an Ina Garten’s recipe. I adore that woman and I love that she loves butter and her husband Jeffrey almost equally.  Continue reading

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Can’t Let Go of Summer Salad

New York City’s late summer weather is Colorado’s weather all summer long. Rarely above 80, low humidity, cooler at night, great hair weather and the blessed absence of summer city stink. Although I can smell fall in the air and have planned our apple picking day trip, I’m not yet ready to start making chili, soup or short ribs. I’m still craving light, refreshing, raw salads. I made this salad Sunday night for a casual get together with friends and I’ve been making some version of this simple salad for decades. I mean really simple. So simple, I’m almost embarrassed to call it a ‘recipe’.  Continue reading

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THE Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies

I’ve been baking these cookies at least once a week for ten years (you know since I was 20). I originally found the recipe inside the Baker’s semisweet chocolate box (nuh-uh don’t start getting all chocolate snob on me, this supermarket brand works perfectly in this recipe) and have tweaked it over time. It’s a simple one bowl recipe with few ingredients that requires no electric or standing mixer, just your arm and a spatula. My son and I have been making these together since he was a toddler and this is how he learned to crack an egg.  My family loves them, they are perfect in my boy’s lunchbox, popular in a bake sale, a dinner party favorite, great on a road trip and in a get well care package, they make a perfect ice cream sandwich, they are unbelievable with a dollop of fresh whipped cream and berries, or dunked into some ice cold milk. These cookies are loved by young and old. Stoned or straight. They are the bomb. Period. Continue reading

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