Cooking Show: Spice is Nice! Fajita Rice, Cinco de Mayo Salad with Chicken, Ginger Soy Shrimp Salad and Frozen Mango-Peach Cocktails

Our recent cooking show featured recipes to wake up your taste buds.

A bit of spice makes everything nice! 

My friend, Maribeth, cooked with me and we covered all the bases with salads, festive rice, and a fruity, frozen concoction to wash it all down.

Frozen Mango-Peach Cocktails

We've featured this recipe on a previous show, but it bears repeating!! Toss frozen mango chunks, simple syrup, lime juice, peach schnapps and ice cubes into a blender and minutes later you'll be sipping this tropical cocktail.  

Fajita Rice with Chicken

Easy clean-up because you only need one pan! Rice, veggies, seasonings, broth, rotisserie chicken--stir it up, let it simmer, sprinkle with cheese...

 ...add your favorite toppings and voilà!

A fabulous combination of spicy/melty/creamy/YUM.

Cinco de Mayo Chicken Salad with Salsa Dressing

A meal that's easy to throw together if you're pressed for time! 

This has recently been the go-to salad in my house.  I marinate the chicken for 15 minutes (a simple mix of olive oil and spices) and while it's marinating I prep the salad and whisk together the dressing.

 Ginger/Soy Shrimp Salad

If you're in the mood for an Asian-inspired salad, we've got you covered!

Another quick salad where you're going to marinate the protein (in this case, shrimp) while you prep your salad and dressing.  A few minutes under the broiler is all it takes to cook the shrimp!

Cooking Show: Copycat Recipes!

We whipped up a few copycat recipes on our most recent episode of the cooking show.

We started with an attempt at The Cheesecake Factory's Georgia Peach. 

What's not to love about a frozen, slushy peach concoction swirled with raspberry puree?

We then moved onto Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana.

I've been making this soup for 20+ years.  It's soooo good.  It's so good that it makes me forget my aversion to sausage!  To be taken directly to the printable recipe, click here.

If you're not in the mood for soup, we've got a another recipe for you!  Do you like the Sonoma Chicken Salad at Whole Foods?   Stuff it into a half pita like we did, or serve it over a bed of fresh greens.

Click here for the printable recipe!

And finally...

We whipped up a batch of our own version of MacDonald's Shamrock Shake.

Okay, we whipped up more than one batch.  The blender was going non-stop until we ran out of ice cream.  They were a big hit!

Cooking Show: Farmers Market Episode #2

We filmed an episode of the cooking show last week.

It's been two years since our last Farmers Market-themed show!  I decided there were a few seasonal recipes that I needed to share.

My obsession with heirloom tomatoes is right up there with my obsession with anything caprese, which is fortunate since the two can easily be combined!  

Except I couldn't decide on which caprese appetizer I wanted to prepare.  So we went with two!

Grilled Eggplant Caprese Stacks

Layered with pesto and fresh mozzarella, with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and a sprinkling of shredded basil...is your mouth watering yet?  Here is the printable recipe.

Caprese Garlic Bread With Heirloom Tomatoes

Maybe the only thing better than adding heirloom tomatoes to a caprese recipe would be adding garlic bread.  Yum!  Click here to be taken to the printable recipe.

Crabcakes with Lemon Dill Sauce

After he devoured two of these, Dan the Awesome Cameraman sighed and declared, "Oh, those crab cakes are good."  Here is the printable recipe.

Can you spot the umbrella drinks lurking in the background of some of the photos?  That would be our Frozen Mango-Peach Cocktails.   I neglected to take a photo of them, but here's a photo of another batch from a different night!

And finally...

Blueberry Oatmeal Crumble

If you're looking for a blueberry recipe, look no further.

This is a perfect dessert while it's still warm out of the oven (topped with ice cream, of course)!

Here's the printable recipe.

Frozen Peach Daiquiris

I'm totally in denial about summer's end.  Last week's 85-degree heatwave may have been summer's last gasp, but it gave me the perfect excuse to whip up a batch of daiquiris.

You can substitute any fruit you like.  Strawberries or mangoes also work well.  Use frozen fruit, because it's a frozen drink! But if you prefer to use fresh fruit, freeze the fruit ahead of time and you'll be good to go.

Alcohol-Free Pina Coladas

Summertime makes me so happy.

 What's not to love?

 Sitting on my deck, surrounded by flowers.

 Love. It.

 Even the window boxes that I put up this year are filling in nicely.

We spent the past weekend in Vermont, Erin had a softball tournament there.  It was wonderful to spend some time with our favorite softball families.

 We spent a lot of time hanging out on the hotel balconies, enjoying the view and the cool breeze coming from the river.

 We spent more time at the ball field, though..........three games on Saturday and Erin's team was seeded #1. That led to more games on Sunday.

Have you ever seen a more spectacular view at a ball field?

On Friday night, we were all sort of exhausted from traveling.  We went out for dinner and then called it a night, as we had to be at the ball field by 7 a.m.

 Look at the size of this bug on the window!  (For those of you who are wondering, the bug was on the outside.)  It was HUGE.  Probably about 3 or 4 inches long.  I couldn't help but snap a picture.

The table by the bug was not occupied while we were eating dinner, but as our group of twelve was leaving there were people being seated by the bug.  The woman that was sitting at that window was oblivious to the creepy-crawley bug on the window, but I think at some point she would have noticed and I like to imagine that she let out a nice shriek.

I admit it, I smiled (okay, I smirked) as we walked past the Inferno with its promises of "music, temptation and booze."  

This pina colada recipe that I'm about to give you is family-friendly so there is no alcohol in it........but if you're tempted to booze it up, add a splash of rum!