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Tomato harvest + Brioche BLAT with tarragon mayo

We had our first red tomatoes this week! Thank you, God, for letting the sun out to make them nice and ripe.

I always try my first tomato with a few speckles of sea salt. Next, I could think of no better way to honor the tomato than with my version of a BLAT. I baked some brioche (which didn’t really work out since I pushed the dough a day to long because I was tired…oh well) then whipped some mayo with lemon, chopped tarragon, and cracked pepper. I used pancetta (or italian bacon) instead of regular.

My favorite sandwich…ever.

B acon

L ettuce

A vocado

T omato

For my husband: the Peleo version as an egg scrambler.

Camping Birthday Party…s’more included

*Warning*

This post contains unhealthy like materials that are un-Bon-like and might be harmful to your body. Birthday parties are the only exceptions to eating these foods. Ok…maybe not the only.

My little buddy had his 4th birthday recently. He was super into campers at the time so we both decided a camping themed birthday was prefect. I had a lot of ideas of things to make and do, but in the end, camping is meant to remind us how simple life really can be. S’mores reminded me of simplicity and at party planning time, I had been seeing tons of Pinterest pins on s’more related things…mmm…I’m hungry now.

Crushing the graham crackers in a bag means easy clean-up and more freedom for them to help.

Cream the butter and sugar, then beat in the egg and vanilla. Separately, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. Combine butter mixture and flour mixture.

Press half of the dough on the bottom of a spring-form pan, saving the rest for the top.

Add the chocolate bars on top. I HAD to use Hershey’s because what other chocolate bar do you grab for a s’more, right?

Spread the creme on top of the bars and then lick your fingers. Add the remaining dough in flat discs, then bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes, until brown.

Other camper add-ons were an actual camper brought by Daddy, the camper crayons I made in an earlier post, party favors in a baked bean can, and pin the bumper sticker on the camper. We grilled some grub and just enjoyed a relaxing party with our loved ones.

My wonderful mom also turned a fire truck pinata into the awesome camper! Isn’t it great? Thanks, Mom :)

Recipe adapted from Lovin from the Oven

What so many of you have been waiting for…

It’s jam time!

My little knucklehead helpers.

I’m making it with a friend next week who has never made it so I’m super excited!

Remember that pillowcase?

I almost forgot to show you what I made out of this vintage pillowcase. I was going to make a dress and was all set up when I realized the pillowcase was going to be too short for a dress…like WAY short. Ugh. I was finally going to make one and I was too late. Instead, I made something way less cool and just plain practical. It’s a bed frame cover for my little guy. He falls out of bed constantly so I knew it was time.

It turned out, the pillowcase was just the right size. Trust me, I’ve been sewing a long time and this kind of thing rarely happens.

I just trimmed the end off, finished the ends, and used it for the piece that holds onto the bar.

I just finished it by adding some horizontal stitches for the bars.

No more 2 am wake-ups…at least not for the little bean falling out of bed :) Easy Peasy.

Sit down and stay a while

Just wanted to give a shout out to everyone who just started coming to my little space here. Welcome and I hope you stay a while!

I am super excited about helping people learn to do things they’ve never done before. I meet so many women (and a few men too) who are aching to learn how to cook and just need that little shove to get themselves going. So, consider this my little shove :) I’ve seen friends and even strangers, through the catering I’ve done, change their eating habits and try new things that they are uncomfortable with, only to find they love them! I made turkey burgers for a big BBQ crowd in Vegas and had one lady tell me months later that her family started eating turkey meat in so many dishes. Their son was apparently hard to please in the food department and ended up loving the turkey burgers and then eventually turkey meat in general. How awesome is that? I’ve seen carnivores enjoy vegetarian soups and being satisfied when finished. I love to see people make such good changes! I knew then that there had to be more people who desperately want to feed their families good food but don’t know how, especially with the convenience of takeout food.

So, this brings me to my plan…

I’m going to be starting this series soon about how to make a healthier version of some of your very favorite foods. It’s gonna be awesome! I’ll have a button so you can put it on your own blog or website.

One question I get a lot is about how to bring the kiddos in the kitchen. I’m going to have a little sticker tucked all over like below to give you ideas on how to get the munchkins involved.

Your job: ideas!

Let me know what you want to learn how to make so you don’t have to feel guilty anymore about eating the trashy version. No, I can’t find a way to make sodas healthier but I can suggest a lovely seltzer with crushed fruit and a handful of calories instead. I could also suggest my favorite drink, ice water, but I’m afraid that would leave me with unhappy readers. You get the picture.

Here are some of the Junk Food Remade recipes so far: