My favorite margherita pizza is from Bertucci’s, an Italian restaurant chain in the Northeast that also happens to have the best dinner rolls around. Mmmm…I need a roll. But I digress…for the last 11 years or so I’ve been trying to replicate their margherita pizza. I’ve come to terms with the fact I never will, but I did discover a little trick recently that got me closer!

Whenever I made margherita pizza (which is essentially just tomatoes and/or tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella cheese and fresh basil), the basil never tasted like it does at Bertucci’s. I tried putting the fresh basil on top of the cheese, under the cheese, chopped, not chopped…but that flavor I love just wasn’t coming through.

Of course we went to dinner at Bertucci’s this last trip out East. When they brought my beautiful margherita out, the realization hit me like a pizza pie to the face! They add the basil AFTER the pizza comes out of the oven. That is why it always tasted so differently!

So there you have it folks. Throw your basil on AFTER you’ve cooked your pizza. It makes all the difference in terms of flavor. Mmmmmm….

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again…freezer jam is the best, for two important reasons:

• It tastes amazing, fresh, delicious, wonderful…did I mention fresh and amazing?
• It’s so easy to make. I mean EASY. And it’s easy to store, too. No canning necessary, just pop in a tupperware or jar or whatever you have and stick it in the freezer.

If you haven’t made freezer jam before, please give it a try! There are all kinds of yummy fruits just begging to be preserved this time of year, so go ahead and make their dreams come true.

A few quick tips:

• I don’t have a recipe to share because I just follow the directions inside the pectin box and everything comes out just lovely.
• Follow the directions to a T! One time I put the fruit in a food processor instead of mashing with a potato masher like the directions said – the jam barely gelled. Another time  I put the wrong amount of fruit in (apparently because I can’t read) and it didn’t gel at all. Just do what the instructions say and everything will work. Promise!
• To figure out how much fruit you need, buy the pectin, open the package and look at the instructions for freezer jam. Do that ahead of time so you get the right amount of fruit. You can generally find pectin in the baking aisle at the grocery store – go with the powdered pectin, I’ve had better results.
• Even though freezer jam is fast and easy to make, if you DO end up having fruit you want to make jam out of and just don’t have time, mash or chop the fruit up as per the directions, put in a ziploc bag and freeze the fruit…then make the jam later when you get a free minute. I’ve done this several times, with good results. That way you can take advantage of the in-season fruits, even if you’re not ready to make your jam.
• If you really want to know everything I have ever said about freezer jam in addition to this post, click here.

My favorite flavor by a long shot is RASPBERRY. But peach is pretty amazing. Who am I kidding, the strawberry is pretty darn good, too. Happy jamming!

This peach jam is taunting me this morning. Begging to be eaten. But I can’t. It’s not ready. Word of advice: when you make jam that needs to sit for 24 hours before eating, make it in the MORNING so that the next morning you can actually eat it…in the MORNING. Mmmmm….doesn’t it look good? It’s got to be ready, right? Walk away, Jane. Just walk away.

I’m going to do a little post tomorrow about jam. Make sure to check in. Until then…let’s plan a menu, shall we?

MONDAY:
- Spaghetti

TUESDAY:
- Red beans and rice (I KNOW. It’s been on the menu for 3 weeks. I haven’t been to a normal grocery store in those 3 weeks to get the ingredients I need…but I WILL be making it this week!)
- Cornbread (so many of you planned cornbread type foods last week, now I’m craving it)

WEDNESDAY:
- Homemade pizza (this is what Cate requests every week!)

THURSDAY:
- Leftovers

FRIDAY:
- Eat out

SATURDAY:
- I feel like grilling hot dogs and hamburgers…it is Labor Day weekend, seems like a fitting end to the summer
- Corn on the cob and baked beans

SUNDAY:
- Tacos

Bring it on! Show us what your menu’s got!

I am finally writing about the spice from this week’s menu post. As some of you guessed, it is annatto seed, also called achiote seed. And I made adobo chicken with it. And it was GOOD.

Nate came home one day saying how good the adobo chicken at work is, so I started searching for recipes. Oh my, there are so many recipes and they are all so different from one another…so I just picked one that sounded good and went for it. And the result was delicious! Different than what Nate had at work, but delicious just the same!

Before I get to the recipe, I have to talk about the tortillas we used with our chicken. Tortilla Land sent me some of their uncooked corn tortillas to try out. I’m a tough corn tortilla critic and, I have to say, I’m so glad Tortilla Land sent me their corn tortillas. They are wonderful! They are not dry at all and don’t fall apart or break, which is what you normally get with store bought corn tortillas. I saw Tortilla Land at Costco just this week, so keep an eye out next time you go!

Okay, back to annatto seed and adobo chicken. I used a recipe from About.com, but I’ve changed it up and written it out for you below. I know the recipe looks long, but honestly, this was an easy recipe, so don’t be scared!

The sweet but spicy sauce is oh so yummy, and grilled chicken is always the best. We served the chicken with tortillas, tomatoes and avocado. You could serve over rice if you like (which I think is how it’s generally served), or just eat straight up!

Adobo Chicken
- 4 chicken breasts (I actually used 3 drumsticks and 3 boneless thighs b/c that’s what I had on hand!)
- Salt (pref. kosher)

Rub:
- 1/2 Tbsp. annatto (achiote) seeds
- 1 Tbsp. orange juice
- 4 Tbsp. white vinegar
- 1 tsp. cayenne
- 1 tsp. black pepper
- 4 garlic cloves

Sauce:
- 1/3 of the rub above
- 1 cup orange juice
- 2 Tbsp. vegetable or canola oil
- 1 tsp. basil
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- a splash or two of white vinegar
- a few shakes of cayenne pepper
- a few shakes of black pepper
- about 1 tsp cornstarch, whisked with some cool water

Directions:

Cover annatto seeds with boiling water. Cover and let sit overnight.

Drain seeds. Place seeds along with the rest of the “Rub” ingredients in a food processor. Grind until you have a coarse paste, without too many large pieces of seed left.

Place chicken in a casserole dish and sprinkle all over with kosher salt (or regular salt if that’s what you have). Cover pieces with about two-thirds of the achiote rub. (Note on the picture below: I just sprinkled salt and pepper over a few extra pieces of chicken for my girls, so they would be less spicy – they still ate the sauce, but the chicken had less heat for their younger palettes.) Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerator for a few hours.

Preheat grill. Grill chicken about 10 minutes on each side over a medium flame or until done. (Click here with even better directions for grilling chicken pieces – this follows closely to what Nate did over a charcoal grill, he’s smart like that.)

To make the sauce, mix all the sauce ingredients (except the cornstarch) and bring to a boil, then simmer for 5-10 minutes. Add the cornstarch mixture during the simmer.

Pour sauce over grilled chicken and enjoy!

By the way, if anyone out there DOES have an adobo chicken recipe they love, please share! Would love to try it out!

I’m doing something today I never do. I’m recycling a recipe AND a photo. But I just feel like I NEED to. The warm weather calls for it and, since I first wrote about this recipe, there are a lot more of you reading this here blog. I’m saddened to think you may have missed the original homemade frozen yogurt post from back in the day.

I love my frozen yogurt recipe. Great texture, just sweet enough, and downright addictive. Also, you can freeze the leftovers without it getting icy. (Xanthan gum is the key and worth tracking down!)

Jane’s Homemade Frozen Yogurt

• 2 C plain yogurt (Trader Joe’s European Style is my favorite yogurt for this, Greek is good too, or just plain old plain yogurt will work as well!)
• a little less than 1/2 C sugar
• 1/2 C milk
• 1/8 – 1/4 tsp xanthan gum (see my comment below (comment #2) for more details about xanthan gum)

Mix ingredients together and follow directions for your ice cream maker (Cuisinart – 25 minutes)

It’s kind of tragic, I haven’t made this frozen yogurt in aeons (which Nate has reminded me of more than once!). I’ve recently discovered Pinkberry and their amazing coconut frozen yogurt. I think today’s post has inspired me to dig out my ice cream maker that’s been hiding and figure out the coconut flavor. Mmmmmmm…..

Okay, you may be thinking the title of this post is nuts, since summer is over. Apparently Mother Nature doesn’t think so. After a downright cold summer here in the Bay Area, the last two days (including the first day of school) have been steamy hot. What the? So, despite the fact I’m annoyed I can’t take Cate swimming and none of her new school clothes work in hot weather, at lease I can eat my way out of my sorrows.

How about a strawberry milkshake? Sounds good to me!

People, my milkshakes last night rocked. Actually, I would say that they brought all the boys in the yard. And I can teach you how to make it. But I have to charge.

Okay, now that I have that out of my system, and that song is permanently in all of our heads, on to the recipe. The texture for our strawberry milkshakes last night was perfect. Hopefully this “recipe” comes out just as well for you!

Strawberry Milkshake
From Jane Maynard, This Week for Dinner

- 2 handfuls of strawberries
- 1-2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 – 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup milk
- 1 large handful crushed ice
- 7 or so large scoops of vanilla ice cream

If you have a regular blender, slice strawberries. If you have a nice heavy-duty blender, just halve the berries. Place in a bowl, sprinkle with vanilla extract and coat with sugar. Let sit for at least 20 minutes (can be refrigerated for later).

Place the following ingredients in the blender in this order: Milk, Ice, Ice Cream, then Strawberries. Blend well.

This recipe made four 10-oz milkshakes.

I visited one of my favorite spots yesterday and bought this…

If you can tell us what spice (or, more accurately, seed) it is, you win the Spice Queen/King title for the day! And if you don’t know what it is, you’ll find out soon enough…I’m trying a new recipe this week involving this beautiful seed and you can bet I’ll be writing about it (crossing my fingers it actually tastes good!).

Last week there was a lot of shifting with my menu. I ended up changing a lot of what we ate based upon the stores I had a chance to shop at. So, we’ve got a few repeats from last week’s menu.

MONDAY:
- Recipe that uses the above spice that I’m keeping a secret for some reason…I guess I’m bored?
- Fresh corn on the cob from the farmstand

TUESDAY:
- Homemade pizza just for Cate, who will officially be a KINDERGARTENER on Tuesday!

WEDNESDAY:
- Red beans and rice (Thanks for the link, butterfly wishes! And Emily, I’ll be sure to try the recipe you shared last week as well!)

THURSDAY:
- Leftovers

FRIDAY:
- Chili

SATURDAY:
- Eat out

SUNDAY:
- Scrambled eggs with tomatoes, basil and mozzarella cheese
- Fresh fruit

As always, I’m incredibly appreciative of you all sharing your menus. I love that you provide ideas for each other, and, more importantly, for ME. Yeah, this is all about me in the end. Seriously, though, my brother recently asked me where I go for ideas every week. I don’t go any further than this blog…I just browse through previous weeks’ menus and look at your comments from the week before. That’s it. So, THANK YOU!

Can’t wait to see what you’ve got planned for the week! Have a good one!

I’m finally sitting down to write about the 2010 Avery SocialLuxe Lounge. Ah, SocialLuxe. Even now, two weeks later, I don’t know where to begin! The party was a-maaaaaay-zing. Our sponsors were wonderful, the location was off the HOOK, and throwing the party with Allison Czarnecki and Marie LeBaron was by far and away the best part of it all. I simply feel grateful for the chance to be a part of it.

Allison, Me, Marie – The Dream Team

Warning: this is a long post. But it’s FUN and represents a year of my life, so I just gotta make it a big ole monster post of SocialLuxe fabulousness. (If, after all of this, you are still dying to see and read more about SocialLuxe, we have a pretty sweet Flickr page here, and we’re collecting posts about the party here.)

Pre-party preparations

The Avery SocialLuxe Lounge took place on August 5 in New York City at Arena, near Bryant Park. We had 350 wonderful bloggers in attendance, including this unbelievable list of VIPs. UNBELIEVABLE, right?

The Bloggess (Funniest BlogLuxe Award Winner, 2009 VIP), Megan Jordan (Velveteen Mind), Christine Koh (Boston Mamas)

This year Avery was our title sponsor for the event. They were wonderful. Their conference survival kits for each guest were adorable and totally useful to boot. We absolutely adored working with Avery.

In addition to Avery, we had a whole slew of amazing sponsors. Frito-Lay, International Delight, Stride Rite and Ghirardelli were all at the party, providing their own unique and fun twists. Celebrity designer Heather Thomson was also there helping women to feel yummy with her Yummie Tummie line. (These waiters were also wearing Yummie Tummie products…which they admitted to loving.)

This year we featured a very special non-profit organization, Drop In and Decorate. They were at the party to meet bloggers, educate them about what the organization does, and gave guests the chance to design cookies to benefit the Center Against Domestic Violence of New York. Drop In and Decorate is definitely worth checking out, so click on over to their site!

SocialLuxe is all about the pampering. Hair, makeup, henna, manicures by OPI and the most fantabulous aromatherapy massages by Aveda really rounded out the evening. I could have sat in that massage chair for hours.

The swag was sweet, too. It was SO fun giving each guest a giant bag full of wonderful goodies. From totally delicious smelling Scentsy products to totally classy gifts from Cambria Cove to totally awesome face cream from StriVectin to totally rockin’ headphones from Skullcandy…and so much more. It was nuts!

This is what stuffing 350 bags looks like

Shabby Apple provided the three hostesses (including myself) dresses for the weekend. I can’t even tell you how many compliments I got on my Frida K dress. I sure was glad I was wearing it that night…made me feel all confident and stuff. And, confession time, I wore it again two nights later.

SocialLuxe was a TON of work, but it was worth it, for so many reasons. Oh, and I won the Tastiest BlogLuxe award with dear sweet Ree, The Pioneer Woman! Yippee! (Don’t miss the list of all the winners here.)

The weekend didn’t stop there. The BlogHer conference was just as overwhelming as ever, with over 2000 bloggers in attendance. The highlights of the weekend for me were two more parties.

Ree (The Pioneer Woman), Jaden (Steamy Kitchen) and Elise (Simply Recipes) held a cocktail party on Friday night, where I finally met Matt Armendariz from Matt Bites and got to hang out with the David Lebovitz. And I’m officially in love with both of them.

Some of my closest and favorite blogging friends, at Ree’s party…Kristen, Me, Allison, Rachael, Marie and Kami (Photo from Justin Hackworth)

And on Saturday night I had the chance to attend another cocktail party hosted by NATE BERKUS. He was super sweet and I love him now even more than I did before. I honestly can’t wait to see his new show in a few weeks.

Oh, and then I danced the night away at Sparklecorn, one of the official BlogHer parties. I haven’t danced like that since college. It was a BLAST. (And I make a brief appearance in this video, thankfully hidden behind some crazier girls than I…)

I’ve gotta say, New York City treated me well.

Oh! I almost forgot. Not only did I get wined and dined in NYC, but I also became an official minivan mom. That’s right, I had me a Swagger Wagon for my East Coast trip this summer. Toyota provided me with a Sienna to use the whole two weeks I was out East. It was fabulous having it on our family vacation on Cape Cod and, surprisingly, it was even more fabulous to have it in New York City for SocialLuxe. It hauled people and boxes of stuff equally as well and I don’t know what we would have done without it. And, once ‘Jersey Jane’ kicked in, I could handle driving that van in the city as well as any cab driver.

Cate and Anna loved having the van…they sat in the way back the whole time we had it and Cate was enamored with the sliding doors. And, because they look too cute (and hardcore!) in Skullcandy headphones, we of course had to do a rap album cover photo shoot.

After all, this is a swagger wagon…and my girls know how to swagger. No diggity, no doubt.

Today the girls and I trekked north 1 1/2 hours to visit the Jelly Belly factory and go on their free tour. If you live in or visit Northern California, this is definitely a fun thing to do with the kids! And, come to think of it, it’s fun for all ages! My favorite part of the tour was watching the children peer through the windows down at the factory floor. I’m certain they could have sat their quietly for hours on end. (Sadly, no photography inside the factory itself…which was KILLING me. If only, if only…)

Want to know the trick to a successful Jelly Belly Factory Tour visit? Get there right when it opens! We didn’t wait at all….and when we finished our tour an hour or so after we arrived, the line was INSANE. Don’t go late! Don’t do it! No sleeping in! And definitely go on a weekday, when the factory is going strong! It’s just too fun watching all those jelly beans jumping around on the conveyor belts.

When I asked Cate a few hours after we got home what she thinks of the factory, she simply replied, “I love it!” She and I decided that the Jelly Belly factory is one of the happiest places on earth. The factory workers on the floor would look up and wave and smile at the kids over and over. I think making pretty colored candy all day must put you in a good mood.

Look. Even the french fries are happy.

Maybe it’s the hats.

Or the jelly bean art.

Honestly, I think the source of all the happiness is the kids, longingly observing the wonder that is millions of jelly beans all in one place.

Good morning! Here, have a fresh blueberry muffin.

It’s looking like all is calm on the blogging front. Sorry for all the malware fire drills the last two weeks. Nate said I should give another update and explain what happened. Basically, because I’m on a shared server, I was hacked. Both times it happened, we caught it right away, so no damage was done. Except Google blacklisting me, which was a pain. Everything is fine now, the site is totally safe. Phew! I am probably going to shell out some cash and start paying for a dedicated server, to minimize the risk. Although…my developer said he’s never seen one site get hacked so much in such a short period of time, so I think there was simply a lot of bad luck at play, too. Thanks for trusting me and coming back!

On to business…

MONDAY:
- Oriental Chicken Salad
- Dumplings

TUESDAY:
- Mac & Cheese (we’re going to the Jelly Belly factory that day, can’t wait!)

WEDNESDAY:
- Red beans and rice (Hey butterfly wishes….have a recipe you’d like to share? )
- Cornbread
- Carrots and dip

THURSDAY:
- Stuffed Shells

FRIDAY:
- Frittatas (flavor TBD – I have a billion eggs in the fridge that need to get used!)

SATURDAY:
- Eat out

SUNDAY:
- Chili (sorry for anyone living with heat and humidity right now…it’s downright chilly where we are, I’m ready to whip out the Halloween decorations!)

I think you know what to do now…share your menus! And have a fantastic week….summer is almost over, eat it up!

I know, I know…how can someone be in love with dish soap? Here’s how:

• I finally bought myself an olive oil dispenser to put my dish soap in. I’ve been wanting to get one of these for years and finally thought about it while I was simultaneously standing in a store that sold them. I was honestly giddy on Tuesday when I came home with this dispenser. I know, this isn’t an original idea, but that doesn’t make it any less awesome. And I LOVE the dispenser that I found. Isn’t it beautiful? (I’m also kind of loving this orange ceramic one as well. I’m committed, but maybe one of you can buy it in my honor? P.S. I got mine at Kohl’s in case you’re wondering.)
• I love Costco’s Kirkland brand environmentally-friendly liquid dish soap. It’s clear, it has a nice light scent and it cuts through grease. I normally love Method for environmentally-friendly products, but their dish soap wasn’t powerful enough for me. I was so happy to discover that the Kirkland version works fantabulously.

Now you can see why I’m in love, right? My soap is pretty, it works great on grease, and is nice to the environment to boot. Too bad it doesn’t make me want to do dishes more. I guess I can’t expect my soap to work miracles on top of all the other great things it’s doing!

Just a quick message…the red screen of fear popped up again today in regards to my site having malware. There is no malware. The site is safe. My developer has sworn on a stack of WordPress bibles that we’re good to go. Google blacklisted me again this afternoon, so we just have to {not so patiently} wait for them to review the site AGAIN and whitelist me. So…bottom line, the warning message may still be popping up, but you can safely click through to the site.

Thanks for your patience…and thanks to all of you who helped out!

This sandwich looks good, right? I mean, downright delicious? Tell that to Padma Lakshmi. This post is about redemption, folks. Defending my culinary honor!

While I was at BlogHer last weekend, I had the opportunity to compete in a sandwich competition held by Hillshire Farms and Padma Lakshmi, host of Top Chef. We had 2 minutes to make a sandwich that was then judged by 3 children judges and Padma. I received the invitation to participate a few days before the event, when I was completely buried in SocialLuxe preparations. So, let’s just say I didn’t think super hard about my recipes…AND I didn’t want to win since the final round was during my nephew’s 1st birthday party (although, that doesn’t mean I wasn’t trying…I WAS). Yes, this is all going somewhere…stick with me…

Pre-competition, blissfully unaware of my upcoming downfall

The esteemed panel of judges

So, I decided to do one of my most favorite sandwiches for Round 1. I thought it would be simple enough. Yeah, not so much. My sandwich required cutting a baguette, which may not have been a problem in and of itself, except that they gave me utility gloves that made it nearly impossible to get a handle on the bread. And the lettuce was shredded. And I couldn’t toast the bread. And I thought we were going to have 4 minutes, but we only had 2. Yes, I’m making excuses….okay, the stage has been set. Here’s how the competition went down.

“On your mark, get set, go!”

Jane, contestant #4, furiously trying to make a 4-inch piece of baguette into 4 lovely little sandwiches. Wearing utility gloves 10 times too large for her fingers. Don’t forget the utility gloves. Damn those utility gloves!

I look surprisingly calm in this photo. I assure you, I was not.

“Times up!”

Padma starts with contestant #1 and looks at each sandwich, asking what it is. After nicely checking out the first 3 sandwiches, Padma approaches Jane’s station, looks at the plate and says…

“And we can just throw this one in the trash.”

Oh, no she didn’t!

Oh, yes she did!

Everyone laughs. Including Jane. It was pretty funny….after all, the plate looked like a pile of tiny pieces of torn up baguette tossed with some shredded lettuce and decimated turkey. Then Padma says…

“So, what was it supposed to be?”

Jane then describes the recipe, assuring Padma {and the world} that normally it is quite delicious. Simultaneously, any faith anyone had in her cooking abilities is thrown out the window and run over by a NYC taxi cab.

Judging commences. Padma gets the results, announces that I am not in last place (albeit, not in first either) and says…

“Does that make you feel better?”

It did. Third place is definitely better than last. You can’t tell from the show. Padma is funny. And pretty darn sarcastic. Who knew?

So, yeah, that’s how my first quickfire food competition went down. In a ball of flames. Like I said, I kind of wanted to lose in Round 1 or 2 anyway. And if you’re going to lose, you may as well do it while Padma makes fun of you the whole time.

This recipe’s for you, Padma. I swear it’s good.

Turkey Boursin Baguette
– Baguette
- Sliced pepper turkey
- Romaine lettuce
- Boursin cheese, softened at room temperature for about 30 minutes

Toast baguette. Spread Boursin on both sides then top the bottom bread with turkey and a leaf of romain lettuce.

That’s it. Easy peasy and delicious. Unless you have only two minutes to make the sandwich and Padma Lakshmi is watching (and laughing at) you.

Thanks to the lovely Marie LeBaron for taking pictures during the competition for me! And to my Eat.Blog.Run ‘family’ for cheering me on!

Are you sick to death of my pictures of grilled corn and barbecue chicken? Well, lucky for you this is the last post with these pictures! I’m finally going to talk about the grilled corn on the cob that my soon-to-be brother-in-law Norman cooked up on Cape Cod.

Until I ate the corn in this picture, I had given up on grilled corn on the cob. Whenever I’d had it, it was grilled on the barbecue outside of the husk and the kernels dried out and got all yucky-like. I had decided grilling corn was just NOT the right way to do it…until now. (Side note: I still need to try it grilled IN the husk…but that’s another post for another day!) (Another side note: Click here for the recipe for the chicken in this picture)

The trick is this. Boil your corn first, then grill it quickly over the coals while brushing on some oh-la-la-lovely butter and taragon mixture. The corn stays crisp, fresh and moist, and the butter infiltrates the kernels in a splendid way!

So, there you have it. Grilled corn that’s not really grilled but looks it and tastes divine.

“Grilled” Taragon Corn on the Cob
- Husked corn on the cob
- Butter melted with a handful of chopped taragon and salt and pepper to taste

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, enough water to cover all the ears of corn. Once boiling, add corn and return to a boil. Once water is again boiling, cover pot with a lid and turn the heat off and let sit for 5 minutes.

Remove from water and grill over medium coals on the barbecue, while brushing corn with the melted butter mixture. Things may get a little smoky…it’s okay. Your corn will look good and have nice flavor.

Eat!

My mom is making dinner as I write this post and she just set this bowl of fruit dip on the table. I love visiting my parents’ and my grandparents’ homes and seeing dishes that have been around longer than me still getting used on a regular basis. I wonder which bowls I’ll serve to Cate and Anna in 30 years that we are using today.

I’m still in New Jersey, but the girls and I fly home tomorrow. What a trip it’s been! I can’t believe how much we’ve done in just two weeks. This week I actually do have to plan a menu since we’ll be home and needing nourishment. Not that ice cream isn’t nourishing.

MONDAY:
- On an airplane!

TUESDAY:
- Caprese paninis
- Crusty bread

WEDNESDAY:
- Boursin Turkey Baguette

THURSDAY:
- Butternut squash soup

FRIDAY:
- Leftovers

SATURDAY:
- Eat out

SUNDAY:
- Oriental Chicken Salad
- Dumplings

Okay, your turn! Please share your weekly menu! Whether it’s what you had last week or what you’re going to have this week, we love knowing either way!

Hello everyone!

First order of business: This website is SAFE and now Google knows it and you shouldn’t get that awful scary screen telling you This Week for Dinner might be harmful to your computer. Rest assured, it’s all good. The only damage you’ll get from this site will be a hit to the hips from my addiction to dessert.

Second order of business: I’m sorry I haven’t been writing any posts. Between the Avery SocialLuxe Lounge and BlogHer, I’ve been like a whirling dervish spinning around New York City. SocialLuxe Lounge was BEAUTIFUL and FUN and WONDERFUL, and the BlogHer conference has been fabulous. I can’t WAIT to share all the pictures and fun things that have been going on, but it will have to wait a few days. But you better believe we’ll have a menu going up here tomorrow, so get planning!

After much convincing, I’ve wrangled a sort-of recipe from my future brother-in-law Norman for his barbecue hot wings. He prides himself on his secret chicken wings recipe…but I suppose the desire to get on the blog overcame that pride.  He even took these shots of the prep process for me since I didn’t have my camera handy. Amazing how a NYC fashion photographer can even make raw chicken look good.

Last week on the Cape Norm grilled up some barbecue wings and drumsticks for the family – spicy wings and not-so-spicy drumsticks. They were delicious, so I wanted to share the sauce recipe with you.  If you remember from this week’s menu post, he also grilled up some amazing corn….that recipe is still to come. You’ll love it.

Barbecue Chicken Hot Wings (or Drumsticks)
From Norman Nelson
- Stubbs spicy barbecue sauce for hot wings; Stubbs regular bbq sauce for drumsticks and breasts
- Soy sauce
- Vinegar
- French’s yellow mustard
- A1 steak sauce
- Honey or maple syrup
- Hot sauce (to taste, depending on how hot you want it)
- Allspice
- Salt
- Pepper
- Garlic salt

In terms of proportions – a few cups of the barbecue sauce should do it. Norman says the secret trick is the yellow mustard – maybe 3 Tablespoons or so, don’t be shy. For the vinegar, soy sauce, steak sauce and honey – I would say a tablespoon or two. A teaspoon or so of the spices should suffice. (I’ll check with Norm to make sure I got all this right!)

Mix sauce ingredients. Rinse and pat dry the chicken pieces. Coat chicken with sauce. Sprinkle with fresh tarragon. Let marinate for 2-5 hours. Add a little olive oil before cooking so the chicken doesn’t stick to grill.

Yesterday was a sad day. We had to pack up and leave the Cape. Total bummer. The week was fantastic and included this fresh corn on the cob and spicy grilled chicken wings (recipes to come if I can wrangle them from my soon-to-be brother-in-law). 

This week is going to be nutso banana pants CRAZY. I’m driving alone with the girls to New Jersey. Then the Avery SocialLuxe Lounge (which I am co-hosting) is finally happening on Thursday. And THEN I have BlogHer ’10.  It’s going to be a pretty amazing weekend…including a small private party with Nate Berkus. CAN’T WAIT.

Enough rambling, here’s my “menu.” Ha! Some menu. Please please pleae share your menu for the week so people can actually get some decent ideas on here!

MONDAY:
- On the road

TUESDAY:
- At my parents’ in NJ…I think we should just have lots of fresh corn on the cob for dinner

WEDNESDAY:
- Stuffing swag bags for SocialLuxe in NYC

THURSDAY:
- SOCIALLUXE!!! I selected the menu for the party. I can’t remember what I picked, I just know it sounded fancy and fab!

FRIDAY:
- There are about a billion parties for BlogHer that night. Who the heck knows what I’ll be eating?

SATURDAY:
- Early in the day it’s my nephew’s 1st birthday party! There’s no cake like 1st birthday cake! That night I’ll be hangin’ with Mr. Berkus. Yea!

SUNDAY:
- Last night on the East Coast! Dinner with my family.

Cape Cod and ice cream go hand in hand. I think every town on the Cape has an ice cream shop, most often selling homemade ice cream and with a loyal following claiming that that particular ice cream shop is the best on the Cape.

Our family visits Ice Cream Sandwich in Sandwich, MA every year. Usually we plan an ice cream night and go just once. This year? Um, yeah, we’ve been eating a lot of ice cream. Let’s not count the visits. No, really. No counting allowed.

By the way, I have created the perfect ice cream cone. Homemade waffle cone with homemade black raspberry ice cream topped with chocolate jimmies.* Heaven, people. Heaven.

*When I’m not in the northeast, I call sprinkles ‘sprinkles.’ When I’m here, I do as the Romans do and sprinkles suddenly become ‘jimmies.’ I think that’s because if I say ‘sprinkles,’ suddenly everyone within a 5-mile radius is looking at me like I have lobsters crawling out of my ears. Locally caught lobster, of course.

In case you were wondering about the rumor that the phrase jimmies is racist in origin, it’s not true. No guilt necessary when ordering your ice cream!

As I was researching all of this very important information, I discovered sprinkles/jimmies are also called “hundreds and thousands.” Romans or not, THAT is a mouthful. I am decidedly too lazy to ever use that particular phrase!

Even though SocialLuxe Lounge is next week and causing a few grey hairs to sprout on my head each day, this week has been unbelievably wonderful and relaxing.  We’ve hardly done a thing. Just the way I like it.

I lost my camera cord. Actually, more accurately, my sister-in-law lost my mom’s camera cord, because I forgot to bring mine in the first place. Which means I can’t download any pictures from my camera. Thankfully we are living a true vacation life this week and I have been a total food blogger slacker and don’t have any photos to share with you anyway. Don’t worry, I still love you. Just wanted to drop a quick hello!

Everyone send positive camera-cord-finding vibes our way!