LoveFeast Table

Many of you have asked (and twittered) for Devon’s homemade chicken Caesar salad recipe. If you didn’t attend BlogLove European Marketplace Event, this chicken Caesar salad recipe will give you a taster of what we served! This recipe goes back to our coffee shop days. It is a favorite at our Table and we make it often when we want to give our guests a fresh twist on a traditional Caesar salad. We call it a Spanish Caesar, because we make it with Manchego cheese instead of Parmesan. It does not call for raw egg, but Greek yogurt (Chobani is one of our favs!) as it’s base.

Devon didn’t want to share it…it’s kind of a “Chef’s Secret” thang, a “for THE Cookbook” kinda thing….but, with a little coaxing, an ice cold beer and space to play x-box with Chris Ann’s husband, Todd, for a few hours, I got it out of him!  So, please treasure it. Please make it and share it and send the love back Devon’s way. This is a gift from our Table to yours!

LoveFeast’s Spanish Caesar Salad Recipe

Dressing:
2-3 cloves of garlic
1 Tbls. whole grain Dijon mustard
1 tsp. anchovy paste
3 limes, juice of
1/2 C. Greek plain yogurt
1 Tbls. Italian seasoning
3 C. extra virgin olive oil
3 Tbls. shredded Manchego cheese

Salad:
3 heads of chopped romaine
1 C. sun-dried tomatoes (re-hydrated, meaning…pour hot water over tomatoes to cover and let sit for at least 15 min. to soften.)
1 C. cashew halves
1 C. pumpernickel croutons…or any homemade croutons
1/2 C shredded Manchego cheese

Chicken:
4 boneless chicken breast
1-2 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. cracked pepper
1 Tbls. Italian seasoning
3 Tbls. white wine vinegar

(Fire up your grill!)
1. Put the garlic in a Kitchen Aid food processor and pulse.
2. Add Dijon and anchovy paste and pulse until combined.
3. Add in juice of three limes and pulse again to combine.
4. Add yogurt and herbs and pulse.
5. Turn food processor on and ever so gently, stream in olive oil, starting off with a very thin stream. Once ingredients begin to emulsify, you can increase the flow. (This part is a bit tricky and may take time to perfect. You want all the ingredients to come together without breaking. There is a way to fix it, should it happen. If so, feel free to tweet us @LoveFeast for a quick walk through!)
6. Add cheese in and pulse to combine.

7. Grill chicken breasts until no longer pink in center. (The trick to tender chicken, is not to over cook it!)
8. Let cool so you can cut the breasts. Slice the chicken into thin strips.
9. Toss chicken with salt, pepper, herbs and vinegar. Place to the side while you toss rest of the salad.

7. Toss chopped romaine, sun-dried tomatoes, cashews, croutons and cheese together. Add dressing to coat (but not soak) salad.
8. Either toss chicken into salad or serve on top of individual salads.

Serves 4-6 people

There are some things that would be fairly difficult for our suburban family to experience if were not for the fact that my husband’s sister and husband and their kids, live in Colorado.  My husband and I, together with our kids get to experience and see some things that are pretty amazing thanks to them.  The picture above is all 10 of us four wheeling on the Grand Mesa.  The trail was fairly rugged, over boulders, small rivers and rocks, and up and down hill.  We all lived.  Nobody fell off a cliff.  That’s why it’s so dang, invigorating.  And, liberating.  This trail ride, was one of my all time favorite life experiences..even knocking off my all time favorite spa treatment at the Arizona Biltmore off it’s pedestal.  I’ll admit it.  I’d rather trail ride on a perfect day than spa.  Just sayin’.

Trail riding makes you hungry.  And, Uncle Tony never disappoints with excellent steaks and smoked ribs.  But, he threw me this time.  Grilled lettuce.  Charred to be exact.

You start with some lettuce hearts, salted and peppered.  Then, throw them on a nice hot grill.

Add, some balsamic vinegar…

And some Parmesan cheese..

Add some crumbled fried bacon…

Cut up your smoked ribs that have been smoking while you’ve been ridin’ the trails…

What?  You haven’t been smokin’ ribs for hours?

No day long trips over treacherous mountains with children ages toddlers to teens?

When you’ve both warned, “Take your shoes off before you go in that stream!” and “Slow down when you’re going down steep cliffs with boulders and rivers with your sister on back!”  This meal might be for you.

But, it was for them.  And, they liked it plenty.

Grilled lettuce.  It’s what they’re servin’ in Colorado after a hard trail ride.

*****

For more on our Colorado vacation:

Fancy Friday Frontiers

Prairie Dogs & French Crepes

Fancy Friday Be Yourself

Shooting prairie dogs and eating French Crepes for breakfast is not typically the way we roll in suburbia.  Well the French Crepes part, probably.  But shooting prairie dogs before breakfast?  Only on our Colorado vacation.

Once a year my family takes a road trip in the minivan to visit my husband’s sister and family.  We leave our home in the suburbs of Minneapolis, my husband leaves behind his corporate job and our kids their video games, soccer and friends.  As we wind down the road we let go of the city life, catch up, and eagerly anticipate a week filled with activities we only get to do in Colorado.  And, so far we have lived to tell about it!  We four-wheel, shoot guns, swim, boat, hike, picnic and take in our happy growing families.

Our first morning in Colorado started out just wonderful.  I got up early having heard the beep of the coffee pot going off.  After searching a few cupboards I found a coffee cup, poured some jo’ and found a place on the deck to sip and stare at the Grand Mesa.  Soon, the family drifted out to join me, my nephew first and then my husband, Todd, his sister Missy and her husband Tony.  We chatted, sipped our coffee and woke up.  Until, Uncle Tony spotted a prairie dog.

Game on.  Prairie dogs….they’re the demise of the garden, the grass, the rosebushes and anything else they find.   And, they dig holes in the pasture – a danger to the horses.  To top it all off, they carry the bubonic plague.

Therefore, when they popped their little faces up, our coffee mugs were set down and the gun came out.  My husband was now armed and dangerous (to prairie dogs, that is)!  We chatted, we spotted, we sipped our coffee some more and my husband took aim of the prairie dog.  Dead on, like, literally.

We had a funeral of sorts, um, we had a burying anyway.

He was laid to rest in a circle of witnesses.

The angels were there when he went to meet his maker.

Well, there is not good segue here, but it was time for breakfast, and to celebrate my middle sons birthday, he chose roll-ups.  That’s what they call them out here on the frontier.  In suburbia, I’d say they closely relate to the French Crepe.  They’re a favorite, and we usually have them at least once while we’re out here visiting our family.

Here’s the recipe for Frontier Roll-Ups ~aka French Crepes.

Ingredients:

4 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup flour

Mix eggs and flour into smooth paste.

And then, stir in the milk.

Put a little butter in a frying pan and then pour on top, like a thin pancake.

They will cook fast!

Frontier Roll-Ups….they make even the angels happy!

We ate ours with bananas, butter and maple syrup.  What do you like in your crepes?

One of things we like to do here at LoveFeast Table is to bring together people to share stories, experiences, and conversation.  We like to meet people along our journey and hear their story.  And, if it happens to be around the subject of food or drink, all the better!

On my flight to visit Kristin last week I happened to share some conversation across our drop-down tray-tables with a gentleman in my row named Don.  After some small talk, Don offered some explanation about his second mini-bottle of wine.  Instinctively, I asked, “Are you collecting the bottles?”  As a matter of fact he was!  I inquired why.  “For limoncello,” Don replied.  Don had my full attention.

You see Kristin and I, together with our husbands, fell in love with limoncello on our trip to Italy.

Specifically, our limoncello love began at our limoncello table in a charming little restaurant on the side of a hill run by a chef and his wife, in Florance.

This picture is a little out of focus.  But, so was that night….especially after the limoncello.  But, let me tell you it was like a dream eating in this garden.  The chef and his wife oversaw our table and brought us out small glasses of homemade limoncello.

Limoncello then became part of our story.  We have even themed our summer with it!

But, I digress…meet Don.

Don, like myself, is also from Minneapolis and he is famous for his limoncello that he gives as gifts in small little bottles to his friends and family.  That is why he needed to drink the wine on our flight!!  For the bottles, wink!wink!  Don was kind enough to give me his recipe for me to share on LoveFeast Table.

The Don’s Limoncello

11/2 liters Vodka  (Don uses the Kirkland brand from Cosco because it is the same as the Grey Goose brand for less money!)

20 Lemons (Finely zest the lemons ever so lightly over a plate with a micro-plane avoiding the white inside of the lemon.  Don gets organic lemons reasonably priced at Trader Joe’s.  If he uses regular lemons he cleans them with hot water and water purification tablets from Mexico.)

Fill a jug with rubber gasket on top with the vodka and lemon zest and shake.  Put in a dark corner.  The zest will turn white in 8-10 days.

Filter through a colander.  Don has been using a french press lately and it worked really well for him.

Add simple syrup.  Simple syrup is 1 part water to 2 parts sugar.  For this mixture Don used 21/2 cups of water and about 5 cups of sugar.  Refrigerate this mixture before you add to the lemon/vodka mixture because if it is warm it will cloud the mixture.  Put the limoncello in the freezer.  It shouldn’t freeze if it has enough vodka in it.

It is ready to drink.  Don says you can add a touch of 7-Up to it for a little “zip”.

Thank you so much, Don for sharing your travels and your recipe with us!!

” Simply Leap, is about these shifts. Sometimes it’s a huge step into the unknown. Usually, it’s altering how you think and your view of what’s possible.” ~Lauree Ostrofsky (life coach at Simply Leap)

Lauree went on to explain to us that sometimes when a person is ready to take a risk, they jump right off the cliff!  But, others need to have subtle shifts in their thinking before even making a small step.  Chris Ann and I quickly shared that we are cliff jumpers…it’s in both our first born personalities.  We usually risk and leap, then adjust the other steps to catch up.  We are both passionate.

What are you passionate about?

That was the question asked to us by Lauree at the Momz Share event we attended this past weekend.  Chris Ann and I usually answer, “What aren’t we passionate about?!”  We are passionate about our families, art, sharing meals, the moment, the future…and helping others find their passions!  We really like that part! We find ourselves constantly encouraging others to pursue their dreams.  “Why wait?! Leap!”  But, Lauree gave us a new way of seeing those who need to make subtle shifts first.  We tend to blaze right on by.

During Momz Share I found myself lingering behind during the raffle drawings.  I gave Chris Ann my tickets and we split up.  It was great, because I had all the food vendors to myself for a few moments!  I was first drawn to Theresa Luongo, Chief Sweetness Officer of Treets.

Treet is an online bakery that specializes in gluten free products that use local and organic products.  I loved her turquoise look! The girl was branded to the hilt!

Being totally curious, I asked her how she got in the business.  She was living in NY and was in marketing.  She decided life was too short to not be able to contribute back to the the world.  She started thinking about how she could make a difference.  Sweets! Treets!  She realized that such a simple thing makes people smile.  I was hooked!  She quit her job and entered pastry school.  She is pursuing her passion and making people smile along the way! Not to mention her Vegan Hot Chocolate Brownies are to die for!

Please go visit her and place an order.  You won’t be disappointed!

After sampling one of everything at Treets, I introduced myself to The SouperGirl.  This is a fabulous idea! Just like with Treet, you order soup online and they deliver it to you!  The soup was delicious!  I tasted a lentil apricot soup.

Having owned a vegetarian coffee shop, I told owner, Sara Polon, just how needed this was in the wholesale market as well.  When we owned Jahva House, it was nearly impossible to find vegan and vegetarian soups that were organic and delicious!  Sarah AKA SouperGirl, cooks with her mom AKA Soupermom.  They are the dynamic duo in the kitchen! Helping each other leap off tall buildings in a single bound!

Then I crossed the room to introduce myself to the token men of the evening, Jason Suggs and Gabriel Hawkes from Done Right Catering.  I love their story! Five friends who had a passion for food and service, quite their jobs, pooled their savings and took a major jump!  They started this catering company on pure passion!  I tasted their cheese and pepper dip and really was amazed.

Now I have to say here, that it takes a lot to get me to enjoy a “cheese spread” but this one was good!  They explained the love that went into the wings…aged jalepenos and habeneros soaked in rum.  I knew (being a total foodie) these were not just Sysco, outta the bag, caterers.

We began to share stories and favorite foods.  We talked catering and parties.  (These guys shared my language!)  Gabriel even let me in on a “family” favorite that is prepared by Jason every year.  White chocolate and cherry ham.  When I asked if it was “food high” worthy, they both murmured in agreement a firm yes! (They even knew what I meant by food high!) Now, I am always curious.  So I asked about this recipe.  “White Chocolate sauce…is it creamy?” They exchanged glances and obviously wanted to check with each other to see if I could be trusted.  “It’s more like a slurry.”  That was good enough for me.  We also talked following passions and what it means to gather people around the Table.  As my new brothers said, “We were havin’ church!”

At LoveFeast Table we love to meet people who follow their passions!  We love people who are leaping and taking risks!  We’re sorry we didn’t get to meet all of the risk takers that night, but we could feel the passion in the air!

Here are a few other women we met that night who are out there doin’ their thing!

Nilsen Life this lady can write!! Plus she hails from Catonsville…the town where Chris Ann and I met!

Land of Bean Cara is in a play group with me and has another amazing site BlogTrotting.

EllieBellie Kids Jennifer sells capes for those who want to fly!

Seriously A Homemaker Angie will keep you laughing with her antics!

Parentopia‘s Devra was incredibly helpful and full of much needed knowledge! Thank you Devra for taking time with us!

The Bingham Diaries This lady is one amazing mother and cool Casual Blogger!

A Parent in Silver Spring She did a wonderful job hosting!

Hip As I Want To Be Jennifer along with Chicken Nuggets of Wisdom’s Dipaola Momma are the masterminds behind Momz Share!

Thanks for a wonderful night~~We tip our Espresso Martini With a Kiss, in the air to all of your dreams & passions!!!

IRL also known as “In Real Life”, is the best! Especially when you haven’t seen each other in like 6 months!  Chris Ann (lives in Minneapolis) and I (Baltimore) talk multiple times a day on the phone!  We text each other and even exchange “multiple personality” tweets!  But, we live for the moments we have IRL time!  This weekend gave us such a gift!

Chris Ann arrived Wednesday night!  My kids, being budding bloggers, snapped pictures as she loaded into the truck!  We whisked her home!

That night she kicked her feet up, watched American Idol with my kids (I had a board meeting) and cried.  She cried because she was relaxing…because she finally made it…because she loves watching people who take risks to achieve their dreams!

The next day we threw ourselves into full on “work” mode…ie…cutting, pinning, coloring, dreaming, designing!

We are artists after all!  Blogging is a tool we use to share the things that inspire us…but, what we really live for are the moments where we surround ourselves with paint ships, fabric swatches, Prismacolor pencils and textured paper!

We had a little leftover Pesto Pasta Salad.

Thursday afternoons are crazy for me, so we spent the evening in the truck working in our Transporter Office on the ipad.

That day we received a message from the Momz Share organizers.  They had seen our signature cocktail created by Sippity Sup.  They wanted us to share the love and create one for the Momz Share event on Saturday night!  We never miss an opportunity to create!

This is what we came up with…

It’s an Espresso Martini With a Kiss.  We “sampled it”.  It was perfect!

Espresso Martini With a Kiss Recipe

1 oz. vodka

1 oz. Kahlua

1 oz. Godiva Chocolate Liqueur

Pour vodka and kahlua in a shaker with ice.  Shake until cold.  Pour into a martini cup.  Take a metal spoon and turn it upside down.  Have it touch the side of the glass.  Pour Godiva Chocolate Liquor gently over the spoon.  It will sink to the bottom of the glass.  Garnish with a coffee bean.  Enjoy!

I’m so grateful Chris Ann and I have this LoveFeast Table playground where we get to virtually spend the day together.  But, there’s nothing like IRL!

Anytime we are asked to make a dish, this is what we turn to.  It’s our “Go To” pasta dish!  It’s delicious, impressive and incredibly easy! It is best made the day before, but usually we can’t wait that long and dig right in!  I have to admit, it isn’t always the same.  We sometimes substitute ingredients for others in our pantry, but this recipe will give you the gist!  All of these ingredients can be found at Trader Joes!

Mediterranean Pasta Salad Recipe:

1 lb. hearty pasta (rigatoni is good!), cooked and cooled

1 jar of roasted red peppers (drain juice)

1 lg. jar of marinated artichoke hearts (cut down into bite size pieces) *use juice in the jar!

1 jar of chopped sundried tomatoes packed in olive oil (for this salad, I used oven dried tomatoes…oh my, so good!)  *use the oil in this jar!

1 jar of pitted kalamata olives (drain juice)

1 C. of fresh mozzarella cut in cubes (or use mini balls)

3 C. fresh arugula

1/2 C. chopped fresh basil

4 grilled chicken breasts, cooled and cubed

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1/4 C. Newman’s balsamic dressing

3 Tbls. of extra virgin olive oil

5 cloves of minced garlic

Toss all the above together. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

If you substitute oven roasted tomatoes, you will need a bit more olive oil.

We have used jarred marinated mushrooms or fresh mushrooms.  We have used fresh thyme in place of basil.  We have added 1/2 C of fresh pesto to the mix.  This mix can be changed around and fresh ingredients can be substituted for jarred.  We try and keep these pantry items available in a pinch!  Be creative!

Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe from The New Basics Cookbook, by Julee Rosso & Sheila Lukins.

Ingredients:

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup chunky peanut butter (I used creamy…you can choose your own life path here.)

3/4 packed light brown sugar

2 tablespoons maple syrup

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup salted peanuts, coarsely chopped (Too much peanut going on here for me…this is where I diverge from the path of peanut and look for something a little bit more colorful to add to my cookies, like M&M’s.)  But feel free to make your own destiny!

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

1.  In a mixing bowl cream butter, peanut butter, and brown sugar until light.  Then, beat in the maple syrup, egg, and vanilla.

2.  In another bowl, toss the flour with the baking soda and peanuts.  Beat this slowly into the liquid ingredients.

3.  Drop the mixture by rounded tablespoonfuls on baking sheets.  Flatten and print slightly with a fork.

4.  Bake until golden 7-8 minutes.

Makes 2 dozen cookies.

Need inspiration to take your ordinary to extraordinary?  It might be here.  Or, at any rate we can commiserate!

What do you add to jazz up your plain ole’ peanut butter cookies?

Ideas…please share…..and oh yeah…do you dunk or not?

*****

Sweet Tweet Tips from Twitterville!

@IlikeitFrantic I like it Frantic “Hershey kisses”

@kellyhoosier Kelly’s Home “peanut butter chips”

@jjLassber JJ Lassberg “roll in sugar before cooking”

@QuatroMama 4Tunate “Hershey kiss on top”

@sincerenicole Owl Little Family “chocolate”

@mmarzipa Medicinal Marzipan “coconut and chocolate chips”

@oohamanda Oh Amanda “Hershey kiss on top”

@MyMan’sBelly My Man’s Belly “chopped up Reese’s cups”

@bestoffates Best Of Fates “love and joy and a small amount of awkwardness”

@wearsmanyhats She Wears Many Hats “chocolate”

*****

Things were a bit tight for our family this past Christmas.  I know we weren’t the only ones pinching pennies to try and give our kids a Christmas.  We were honest with the kids.  ”Don’t be disappointed if your pile under the tree is small this year.”  We are small business owners.  We own a home remodeling company and with the recession, not a lot of people were doing home beautification projects.  But, our kids were so understanding and gracious.  They said, “It’s okay.  We understand.  You don’t have to do much, BUT…it won’t be Christmas if we don’t have homemade cinnamon buns!”

Every Christmas, for at least the past 10 years, I have made homemade, ooey, gooey, cream cheese slathered, cinnamon buns.  There was even a year we were in Baguio, Philippines for Christmas.  The kitchen we were using had a tiny oven.  I emailed my mother in law back home for the recipe and I made those cinnamon buns for my family and the other 30 people that were with us for Christmas.  I even left the recipe behind for friends to continue the tradition.

Usually, these bad boys are reserved for Christmas.  But, I have to admit, with all the snow…all the days in doors…and then, all my boys who shoveled and shoveled and shoveled…I wanted to make something that would put a smile on some faces.  My daughter had her bff over and the two girls got to work!

They added the yeast to the warm milk.

They added the flour and formed the dough into a ball.

They put it in a “warming oven” to proof.  (Warming oven: turn oven on 250 degrees for five minutes.  Then turn it off.  It’s a great environment to proof dough.)

They rolled out the dough and spread the softened butter on the dough.

They sprinkled cinnamon sugar.

They rolled it into a long log.

They sliced the log into buns (Ok, I did this part.)

They proofed again and headed into the oven.

Seriously, this is what came out!

Can you taste it?  Can you smell it?  Yup!  It’s Christmas in your mouth…good anytime of year!

Cinnamon Bun Recipe

Rolls:

1 package of active dry yeast

1 C. warm milk (105-110 degrees)

1/2 granulated sugar

1/3 C. butter, melted

1 tsp. salt

2 eggs

4 C all purpose flour

Filling:

1 C. packed brown sugar

2 1/2 Tbls. cinnamon

1/3 C. butter, melted

Icing:

8 Tbls. butter, softened

1 1/2 C. powdered sugar

1/4 C. cream cheese

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/8 tsp. salt

Rolls: Dissolve the yeast in the warm milk in a large bowl.  Mix together the sugar, butter, salt and eggs.  Add flour and mix well.  Knead the dough into a large ball, using your hands dusted lightly with flour.  Put in a bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place for about 1 hour or until the dough is doubled in size.

Roll the doughout on a lilghtly floured surface.  Roll the dough flat until it is approximately 21 in. long and 16 in. wide.  It should be about 1/4 inch thick.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Filling: Combine the brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.  Spread the softened butter evenly over the surface of the dough and then sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar evenly over the surface.  Make sure you spread it all the way to the ends.

Working carefully from the top (the 21 inch side), roll the dough down to the bottom edge.

Cut the rolled dough into 12 slices and placein a lightly greased baking pan.  Let the rolls rise again until double in size (about 30 min).  Bake for 10-15 minutes or until lightly brown on top.

Icing: While the rolls are baking, combine all icing ingredients.  Beat well in an electric mixer until light and fluffy.

When the rolls come out of the oven, coat each, generously with icing.

Note: I will make these Christmas Eve.  After I have sliced the rolls and put them in a pan, I cover them and put them in the fridge.  Christmas morning, I pull them out first thing.  They have to come to room temperature than rise until doubled in bulk.  It can take about 2-3 hours.  But, then after all the gifts are opened, I pop them in the oven and we have them for breakfast!

(this recipe was given to me by my mother in law…it’s not original, but I’m not sure where she got the recipe.)