Roasted Carrots and Potatoes

Sometimes I forget how freaking delicious simple roasted vegetables are.  On Sunday I finally got my act in gear and made something.  Granted, it was just roasted potatoes and carrots, but hey, there was peeling involved!  This recipe is from Jamie's Food Revolution, just minus the parsnips, and with his directions, it creates beautifully caramelized carrots and crispy-exterior potatoes with ultra-creamy insides.  It just doesn't really get any better.

Rosemary Apricot Turnovers

Over the weekend I made some Rosemary Apricot Turnovers.  I love the combination of rosemary and apricot together, it is a great subtle savory-sweet combo.  This recipe is made in two sessions.  The first half is a very simple poached apricot recipe, and the second is the assembling of the turnovers.  These are so cute, just perfect for a summer picnic.  They are best the day you make them, otherwise their flaky goodness is lost to this sticky New York heat.

The Best Thing I Had In My Mouth - Rosemary Jones

My friend made this Rosemary Jones for me this weekend.  Sweet, refreshing, and sophisticated.  You can make it too, just check out Design Love Fest for the recipe.  Definitely the best thing in my mouth!

Asparagus, Mushroom, & Caramelized Onion Pizza

Last Friday was pizza party time.  I got up early and went to the Greenmarket.  It was one of the best Friday mornings in a long time.  The farmers market is so peaceful at 8:00 in the morning.  I ended up buying fresh eggs, a small rosemary bush, asparagus, and a variety of mushrooms.  The rest of the day was spent sniffing my rosemary plant sitting on my desk, and daydreaming about making asparagus, mushroom, and caramelized onion pizza.

The Best Thing I Had In My Mouth - Rosemary Butter Cookies

This weekend I made Rosemary Butter Cookies again, and I almost had forgotten how good they are, until I took a bite!  I am addicted to these little cookies.  They are great on with a cup of Earl Grey tea, and just as good by themselves.  This batch of cookies turned out much better than my first attempt a couple years ago.  For one, the butter was not as soft,  second, I made my log into a skinny rectangle instead of a round tube, and third, I kept the dough in the freezer for two hours instead of just one.  These changes all allowed for more even baking, and the cookies actually held their shape.  Click here for the recipe.

Click here for a homemade pizza recipe.

Click here to learn about asparagus.

Plant an Herb Garden!

A three day weekend - like this past Memorial Day holiday, is the perfect time to do a special project. For the past month, I have been talking about planting a herb garden since I missed the one I had last year so much. Finally I made my way down to the Green Market in Union Square and bought: Mexican tarragon, chives, sage, rosemary, lavender, thyme, as well as an heirloom tomato plant and a cayenne pepper plant. I only had enough soil to plant the sage, rosemary, lavender, thyme, and the tomato plant, but I will finish planting the rest next weekend when I buy the basil and couple other herbs I have been eying.

Rosemary Butter Cookies

Recently, I have been eating a lot of shortbread cookies with my tea or coffee. I love their crumbly, buttery sweet flavor. I decided I should probably try to make my own, which reminded me of these rosemary butter cookies a friend had made around the holidays. They are the perfect combination of sweet and savory. These cookies are a Martha Stewart recipe, which coincidentally for Christmas I had received the Martha Stewart's Cookies book which had the recipe inside. This weekend, I finally took the time to make them, and it is really hard to stop eating them. Literally, I had ten while I was waiting for the next batch to come out of the oven. Although, my cookies didn't turn out as picture-perfect as Martha's, the flavor was not diminished. Click here for original recipe.