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Sweet Georgia Peach Ice Cream Sandwiches
Masters Week has come and gone, y’all. Didn’t make it to the tournament to grab one of those delicious Georgia Peach Ice Cream Sandwiches? Or perhaps you can’t help reminiscing about those quintessentially southern treats you noshed on last week? No worries. I gotcha. Let me be clear, however: this is NOT the sugar cookie recipe used by Nashville’s Christie Cookie Company. Like most things that concern the Augusta National, that recipe is veiled in secrecy. But chances are these will hold you over till next year’s tournament. The recipes for these cool confections are oh, so easy: simply bake up a batch of sugar cookies and sandwich a big…
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Curly Kale + Tandoori Chickpea Salad (and a lecture on massaging the Queen)
Do you enjoy a really good massage? If you answered yes, you know how revitalizing a massage can be. Relaxing yet invigorating; a bit painful at times but always worth all the tissue manipulation. Right? Now apply these same principles to your kale. No, I am not kidding. You are going to give your kale a massage. Massaging your kale will break down her cellulose or woodiness. Kale is the Queen of Greens, after all. She deserves it! You know why? She is the OG of superfood cred. For the price of a 2 minute massage, she has a lot to offer in return: 5 grams of fiber per…
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Fakes (Greek Lentils)
Sometimes a girl just wants some beans and rice. Or beans and pasta, as the case may be. Pronounced fa-KEE and sometimes called fakorizo, THIS is my comfort food. I absolutely begged for it as a child. It’s a security blanket in a bowl, like chicken noodle soup. Eating comfort food is my class of self-medicating. It soothes me physiologically. So when I am feeling blue, I reach for my drug of choice: comfort food. Hello, I’m Naked Epicurean, and I am a comfort food addict. My drug must meet requisite standards. For example: Is it easy to make? Check. Does it evoke nostalgia? Check. Is it loaded with calories?…
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Ooey Gooey Vidalia Onion Dip
Aaahhh, Vidalia onions. Those sweet colossal bulbs cultivated by Southern soil. Hailed as the paragon of all onions, they are so sweet you could bite into them like you would apples (or so I hear). Typically these horticultural gems are available Spring through Summer. I, however, pulled the onion for this recipe out of my freezer because around here we buy them 25 pounds at a time from the Boy Scouts. These onions are Georgia’s state vegetable, so famous that they even have festivals to celebrate their greatness. (FYI…the 2019 festival is April 25-29, if you’re interested in attending.) While these onions assume the lead role in this dip, the…
- appetizers + hors d'oeuvres, dips, Greek + Mediterranean, party food + snacks, sauce, Uncategorized, vegetarian
Tzatziki Sauce + Dip
Should you or shouldn’t you on the first date? The answer depends on how confident you are with yourself and how comfortable you are with your partner. It really has to be a commitment from both parties. After all, if you both eat garlic, you should be fine because your garlickyness will cancel out his garlickyness. Right? We were face to face with this dilemma on our first date. The culprit was tzatziki, loaded with garlic and garnished with scrapes. Garlic galore! The Man and I looked each other square in the eye. I think he could tell I do not easily part from my food. I was elbows…
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Buffalo Chickpea Pockets with Bleu Cheese Drizzle
We are counting down to the Sweet Sixteen. As the bracket narrows, The Man is brainstorming game day menus. One request is Buffalo Chicken Wraps. I agreed, but with the caveat that I make plant-based modifications, just for funsies. I gave these a practice run and WOW, let me tell you—these babies are a slam dunk! Blue cheese + buffalo sauce is one of my love languages (um, I seem to have so many). Today we are subbing chickpeas for chicken. Chickpeas are little pearls of protein with less cholesterol than the alternative. You’ll drench them with a spicy piquant sauce and then cool them down with a buttermilk bleu…
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Buttermilk Bleu Cheese Dressing
I CANNOT have enough bleu cheese in my life. I am a member of “The Bluer, the Better” society. My mom would make my dad’s favorite dressing for his birthday every year. It was a creamy, reddish Roquefort, and I remember stealing little nibs of cheese when she wasn’t looking. I absolutely loved it. Even her telling me the “blue” was actually mold did not temper my passion. To this day I remain an ardent devotee. * I mean, who doesn’t need a little Penicillium in their life? I like this recipe because it is less oily than so many other creamy bleu cheese dressings. Substituting sour cream and buttermilk…
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Lager + Gruyère Cheese Dip
Who is ready to get their cheese on? This girl, for sure. At any given moment, we have a metric ton of cheese in the fridge. Not to brag, but we do have a covetable stash at our fingertips. Suffice it to say, WE.LOVE.CHEESE. When I open the refrigerator door, this is what I see (in no particular order): a chub of goat cheese; two blocks of feta; 3 bags of various shredded cheeses (for emergency use); a sizable hunk of Gruyere; an aged Parm with the most beautiful crystals in it; Cotswold; Brie; fresh mozzarella; smoky gouda; and a half-eaten block of creamy Cambozola (someone has been nibbling).…
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Sticky Sweet + Spicy Asian (v) Meatballs
I am a cheater. There. I said it. I’m not gonna lie—I don’t really feel too bad about it. In fact, I think you’ll want to be a cheater, too. Here’s how it happened. We found out last minute that another couple was coming to our Super Bowl Puppy Bowl Party, and I wanted to make ABSOLUTELY sure I had enough food for everyone. One of my big hang-ups is running out of food. We are a very food-oriented family, so I have nightmares about such things. I made an impromptu decision to throw some things together, and am actually proud of how good of a cheater I am! By…
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Soft Boiled Eggs with Caviar
Breakfast in bed? Yes, please. ‘Tis the stuff dreams are made of. Who hasn’t had a fantasy about that? So simple, yet so elegant. What a statement this presentation makes! It whispers you are worth every minute of my time and every ounce of my soul. Okay, maybe that’s a bit much. But still. Look at this loveliness! Gently boil the egg and then sabotage it to expose the runny yolk. Embellish it with a dollop of crème fraîche, caviar, and a snip of chives. Then dip your toast soldiers into that golden goodness and, well, what you do with the rest of your day is up to you. About…
