Cooking Show: Bahama Mama Drinks, Cajun Shrimp Pasta and Valentine's Day Baking

You could say that our recent cooking show was a mish-mash of recipes.  My friend, Amy cooked with me.

We were all business as we tried to wish away our winter doldrums with cajun shrimp pasta and a tropical cocktail.

We were in a party mood, however, by the time we finished cooking our desserts!  Valentine's Day is right around the corner, so we prepared a couple of recipes featuring my favorite combination: chocolate and raspberries.

(Recipe titles are printable links; click on the title to be taken to the recipe!)

Bahama Mama

Amy and I both agreed that we can't wait for this cold weather to end!  We sipped this drink with our eyes closed and imagined that we were somewhere tropical.

 Cajun Shrimp Pasta

Just enough spice to warm you up during this cold weather! 

Nutella Puff Pastry

Amy and I made this into a heart shape to fit with our Valentine's Day theme.

Make it into any shape that you want, or leave it whatever shape the pastry happens to be, just please MAKE THIS.

It is so easy to make and it's SO GOOD!

Brioche Panini with White Chocolate Mascarpone and Raspberry

It was impossible to decide which dessert recipe to give you so I decided to make both.  

Please don't let my horrid photography skills deter you from making this.  Ignore the ugly picture!  

After we finished filming, this dish was quickly snarfed down. Just imagine slices of buttery, pillowy soft brioche bread, crispy on the outside, with a warm center of creamy white chocolate mascarpone and sweet raspberry.  

Happy Valentine's Day!

Cooking Show: Lemons!!

My friend, Gayle, recently told me that she lived in California when she was a child and there was a lemon tree in her yard.  My reaction was like, GET OUT!!!

It was fitting that Gayle should join me for our recent cooking show!  Lemons were the featured ingredient in each recipe that we prepared.

Gayle also told me that they had an avocado tree as well.  Mental note: future show.

Okay, back to lemons.  We started with Limoncello & Raspberry Fizz.  So refreshing!

Next, we prepared salad with grilled lemon chicken and lemon vinaigrette.

Click here for the printable recipe for the vinaigrette.  It's loaded with fresh herbs and a little goes a long way!

Toss together a salad using your favorite fresh salad ingredients.  We used 4 cups of romaine, 1/2 English cuke (chopped), 1 cup of grape tomatoes, 1 avocado (sliced) and 1/4 cup of kalamata olives.

We also used my favorite Grilled Lemon Chicken in this salad. It's one of my summer staples!  I like to prepare a large batch of this chicken at the beginning of the week and use it in weeknight dinners.

It's a great addition to salads, sandwiches, pasta and as you're about to see--pizza!!

Yes, PIZZA. Specifically, Chicken & Broccoli Pizza with Lemon Cream Sauce.   All the recipes you need--pizza dough, grilled chicken, cream sauce--are included in the link!

If you like Bertucci's Silano pizza, this is my attempt to replicate it.  It disappeared quickly when we finished filming the show...I think it was a hit!

Finally, we finished up with a Lemon/Almond Tart.  Sooo good, and also gluten-free.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cooking Show #4!

I've been trying to put the finishing touches on my holiday decorating...

I'm really slow this year.

I swear I used to be able to get everything done in one day.

It's been three weeks since I started decorating and I haven't even wrapped one gift yet!

We filmed an episode of the cooking show last week.  What did we prepare?

(Click on any of the recipe titles to go to the post of the recipe.)

Raspberry Brownies

Yum.

Chocolate-Raspberry Truffles

It takes a few tries to get the hang of dipping these, but I promise you that they taste fabulous no matter how they look.

Champagne Sundaes with Raspberries

Outback Steakhouse Alice Springs Chicken and Raspberry Coffeecake

This weekend wasn't a total waste in the kitchen.  I made two recipes that are worth making again.

First, we have Outback Steakhouse Alice Springs Chicken.  How do I happen to have this recipe, you ask?  It's in a recipe book that I have, "Top Secret Restaurant Recipes" by Todd Wilbur.  I have had this book since it was published in 1997. This week is when I finally got around to making this recipe.  But I probably will repeat this fairly soon, because it was outstanding!