sauce

How to Make Easy Basil Pesto

Homemade pesto is one of the quickest ways to brighten any dish from caprese chicken to pizza and even to macaroni and cheese. This is my tried and true method to make the perfect basil pesto recipe every single time.

I’ve made homemade pesto many times and totally loved it. And just as many times I’ve totally screwed it up. Why? There are likely several reasons, but it’s mainly because I veered away from my perfected proportions and added too much garlic or not enough olive oil or didn’t season my basil pesto sauce nearly enough.continue to the recipe… about How to Make Easy Basil Pesto

Simple Roasted Tomato Sauce

This roasted tomato sauce is made with 6 simple ingredients and requires less than 10 minutes of hands-on prep work. Enjoy now or freeze it for later!

“Toast to the tomato roast!” Or in perhaps more trendy speak, “totes tomahhhto roast.” Either way, roasting tomatoes has a hold of my heart, and I’m not letting go any time soon.

I spent this past weekend rocking the nostalgic. It was my yearly girlfriend getaway with my college besties. I’m a sorority girl, and because of the amazing friends I made in it, I’m damn proud of it.

The trip is the same as it is every year. No boys. No kids. Just the girls with cocktails and Jell-o shots, trashy magazines, and corn hole, and there always seems to be some sort of water in the form of an ocean, a river, a lake, or even just a hot tub. This year it was the tropical pool that saved us from the Las Vegas heat.

We are a group of girls that know way too much about one another’s past, and know one another well enough to help navigate the present in hopes of a fulfilling future. We’re nothing if not happy to share our opinions in helping one another grow.

It’s all in the name of love.

It was an anniversary year, one of those numbers that you never in your life would think would come so soon, and yet when it does, you marvel at the fortune you’ve found in developing a level of friendship and bond that runs this deep for this long. And the reason it does is because — it’s simple. It’s easy. We all put in and we all draw from the well. We just always have and we always will, at each and every milestone.continue to the recipe… about Simple Roasted Tomato Sauce

How to Make the Best Chimichurri Sauce

This Argentinian chimichurri sauce is a fresh parsley and cilantro salsa that gives grilled steak, chicken, fish and vegetables a garlicky kick.

Firing up the grill is a summer habit I’ll never get enough of. The smokey flavor and char of any protein or veg is something I crave all year long. But I also crave the tangy ying to grilling’s savory yang, which is why I totally dig a zesty, herb-infused chimichurri sauce.

Adding flavor to foods that hit the hot grill grates is usually accomplished with marinades like this versatile Greek marinade or adding a simple spiced dry rub. But when I want to keep things super simple, my secret to the best flavor bomb is adding loads of that favorite vinegar/garlic/herb flavor AFTER simply grilling my steak, chicken, pork, fish or vegetables.

And that’s when I am very generous with spoonfuls of classic chimichurri sauce.continue to the recipe… about How to Make the Best Chimichurri Sauce

Vietnamese Dressing and Dipping Sauce (Nuoc Mam Cham)

Nuoc mam cham is a simple Vietnamese dipping sauce made with rice vinegar, fish sauce, and sweetened with sugar that does double duty as a tasty salad dressing.

Just as Italy is known for it’s olive oil with balsamic vinegar, and Greece for it’s tzatziki, every culture has a dipping sauce that makes it’s signature mark. Vietnam is no exception.

This easy recipe for nuoc cham Vietnamese dressing and dipping sauce turns a bowl of rice noodles with raw veggies into a spectacularly slurpable flavor bomb and it’s the last touch of zest when Vietnamese spring rolls pass your lips.

It may take a minute to figure out nuoc cham’s pronunciation when ordering at a restaurant, but once you make it at home, you’ll see this sauce is easy to master.continue to the recipe… about Vietnamese Dressing and Dipping Sauce (Nuoc Mam Cham)

Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Whiskey Cream Sauce

Skip the traditional pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving and make this decadent pumpkin bread pudding with whiskey cream sauce instead!

When it comes to Thanksgiving, my brother-in-law has the right idea. His take on dessert? “You need a little sweetness to take away the fullness.” Truer words may have never been said, especially when it comes to Thanksgiving day dessert.

But, I can almost see you shaking your head, “no. way.”

There’s no way you’re going to forego your favorite pecan pie for T-day dessert. And don’t even think about me suggesting you skip the classic pumpkin pie flavors that reel in childhood recollections of fall’s favorite holiday.

Take a deep breath. There’s no need to despair, you can have all of those flavors and more, because bread pudding is here.

But is bread soaked in drippy goodness really a worthy of this hallowed day dessert? You bet! I’ll take it in my favorite baked french toast, or baked in the bird’s turkey day stuffing, or even as a hot roll dipped in mashed potatoes and gravy.

Bread pudding always reminds me of cajun and creole flavors thanks to a waitressing job I had in college at a New Orleans flavored restaurant that served it for dessert. I’d never tried it before working there, and how I got to college without ever doing so is a shocking mystery to me. Because once I tried it, laced with a dripping whiskey sauce, I was a goner.

continue to the recipe… about Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Whiskey Cream Sauce

Easy Chicken Piccata

This easy chicken piccata recipe with a lemon-caper sauce is a classic you’ll find on the menu of nearly every Italian restaurant, and because it can be made in just 20 minutes, it’s one of my favorite at-home recipes too.

“I have too many easy chicken dinner recipes” said nobody ever. And you guys agree, the more healthy the flavor, the more better. Not grammatically correct, but dang it tastes good.

When it seems there’s nothing to cook for dinner, this chicken recipe is one I can always pull out of my magic hat and wow my family with dinner on the table in under 20 minutes.

Because nobody ever said they didn’t want more fast dinners, too.continue to the recipe… about Easy Chicken Piccata

How to Make a Healthy Tzatziki Sauce and Dip

This easy to make 5-ingredient Greek yogurt tzatziki sauce recipe is not only great with grilled meats, fish and gyro sandwiches, but makes a terrific, healthy dip for vegetables of every color.

This post is in partnership with Oikos Greek Nonfat Yogurt who has compensated me to create a recipe using their product. All opinions are my own.

Just yesterday, I happily discovered I have something in common with the famous food philosopher Alice Waters. Yep. Me and Alice Waters. It’s like we’re twins, living the same foodie ways, and it all stems from our refrigerators. Because apparently, she…like me…is a condiment junkie. Okay, so it’s a stretch, I know, but hey, when you’re 6 degrees of separation from the queen of slow food, you take what you can get.

Condiments are just as important to a dish as the dish itself. They’re the flavor builders. The meal toppers. And they’re all the things that make my mouth go “ZING!”, and that’s why tangy Greek yogurt fits really well into the condiment category for me.

Besides being a favorite part of breakfast parfaits or acting as the base to my fave afternoon bowl of fruit and nuts, nonfat yogurt does double duty in so many more ways. It subs for buttermilk to tenderize chicken, it’s a lower fat alternative to sour cream or mayo-based sauces for grilled meat and fish, and it’s my healthier stand-in for mayonnaise in any classic mayo-mixed sandwich. I even use it on my summer BLT’s.

But while yogurt is a great sub for other ingredients, there is one recipe that can not, should never, would totally not be PC to flip the tables on, and that’s to replace yogurt in the classic Greek tzatziki sauce.continue to the recipe… about How to Make a Healthy Tzatziki Sauce and Dip

Greek Turkey Burgers with Tzatziki Sauce

These light and juicy turkey burgers cooked on the grill are going Greek, with the addition of sun-dried tomatoes, oregano, feta cheese, and a creamy homemade tzatziki sauce, for a healthy lunch or dinner recipe!

This post is in partnership with Kroger

January is all about making easy swaps in the kitchen to prepare dinners that are a bit more healthful—but still cure your cravings.

I mean, I love, love, love a great quinoa salad, and I’m totally down with eating my favorite egg white fritatta nearly every day of the week. And a 10-minute salmon dinner? There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.

But when the burger cravings strike during my New Year-mindful-mode, and I’m somehow able to harness the willpower not to make my favorite garlic burgers, I turn to this burger recipe instead.

continue to the recipe… about Greek Turkey Burgers with Tzatziki Sauce

Salmon Cakes with Roasted Red Pepper Cream Sauce

Leftover or canned salmon made into these crispy cakes creates a whole new meal with tons of flavor made extra delicious thanks to a super simple, creamy roasted red pepper sauce.

I have very vivid food memories of my childhood and I’ve shared so many of them with all of you here on the blog, with more to come. But one of the challenges I’ve struggled with over the past year or so is the fact that I’m not creating those same types of memories for my daughter.

Think about it. Most cooks rotate 10-20 favorite meals for dinner time. Some drop in and some drop out of the menu line-up, but mostly, our favorite recipes go on repeat.

Not when you’re a food blogger.continue to the recipe… about Salmon Cakes with Roasted Red Pepper Cream Sauce

Sheet Pan BBQ Blue Cheese Chicken Pizza

The key to this irresistible sheet pan pizza with three kinds of cheese is a second rise of the crust in the pan for an easy, fool-proof, crowd favorite.

I had forgotten all about it until I pulled it out for my Smudge and her cousins to bake frozen cookie dough cookies with their grandpa.

I didn’t remember until I saw the lines etched in the “non-stick” glaze of the nearly non-existent-lip-of-a-cookie-sheet posturing as a baking sheet.

That cookie sheet. It had memories. My memories.

These are the lines of my youth that were made with a pizza cutter, or possibly a very sharp knife some 35+ years ago, separating pizza slices for this toe-headed blonde and my pig-tailed little sister. Back when my mom was a hard-working, self-employed teacher who had to get dinner on the table and knew what kids would actually eat.

Those lines are testament that homemade pizza then is not like homemade pizza today.

Then, there were no baking peels.

No ceramic pizza stones to preheat in the oven.

No fancy displays of perfectly round perfection, or shaggy, “rustic”-labeled looking pizzas meant to make misshapen pizza pies look perfectly acceptable because, hey! They’re real.

Instead, we had baking sheet pans (more likely called cookie sheets because what else did you use them for??) to make large, square pizzas for the whole family to devour.

That’s how you knew it was homemade.

Back when pizza was hip to be square.

continue to the recipe… about Sheet Pan BBQ Blue Cheese Chicken Pizza

How to Make Arugula Pesto

This twist on pesto subs arugula for traditional basil to make a bright, peppery addition to pasta, chicken, fish or steak.

I’m a basil fiend. In turn, my leafy herbed passion goes hand in hand with pesto. I mean, is it even summer without it?

But when I discovered a fresh crop of arugula at the farmers market, my basil obsession took a detour. And I happily followed.

This fresh, peppery switcharoo to the sweeter basil style variety makes a damn fine addition to countless dishes. Pasta? Naturally. Veggies? Load it on. Chicken? Lather it in the middle of a chicken breast with some melty cheese and a slice or two of prosciutto and bam! Dinner is served.

continue to the recipe… about How to Make Arugula Pesto

Sirloin Steak Sandwiches with Horseradish Sauce

It was the tiger sauce topping these beef steak sandwiches that pulled him in and took the rest of us right along with him.

Watching cooking shows on weekend mornings is how my husband and I ease into the reality that in a wink of an eye we’ll be smack dab in the middle of Monday. Oh, how we rue the day (fist shake at the sky).

It’s also the way we figure out what’s looking good on the Casa de Larsen menu for the week and usually my husband decides on at least a few of the recipes because we share time in the kitchen. See, I don’t always have to be in charge.

We get our fair share of episodes on Food Network, but you simply can’t forget about good old PBS and some of the long-loved cooking shows that have outlived many an episode’s kitchen timer like those featuring the 80-year-old Jacque Pepin and Lidia Bastianich and yes, even the doyenne herself, Martha Stewart.

If you’re any sort of food lover in the kitchen you’ve likely run across America’s Test Kitchen and Cook’s Country on PBS. What a set up these guys have in their sweet countrified-porch-wrapped kitchen that makes you feel right at home so pull up a chair.

They do the testing. Lots of it. They work the recipes until they discover the secret to it’s success. And only then do they share it in all it’s glory. And Christopher Kimball…in his trademark bow tie. If you have a thing for a guy in a bow tie, this is your man.

These Sirloin Steak Sandwiches were a featured player a few weeks ago. They called them Baltimore Pit Beef Sandwiches. We simply called them delicious.

continue to the recipe… about Sirloin Steak Sandwiches with Horseradish Sauce

Todd Porter and Diane Cu of White on Rice Couple Plus Homemade Sriracha Sauce and a Cookbook Giveaway

With the release of their cookbook, Bountiful, Recipes Inspired by Our Garden, foodies Todd Porter and Diane Cu of White On Rice Couple invite us to share their insanely delicious seasonal recipes, including a condiment I can never get enough of, Homemade Sriracha Sauce. And you have the chance to win a copy of their cookbook for yourself.

Todd and Diane are often referred to as one and the same, White On Rice/Todd and Diane/Diane and Todd, most likely due to the fact they are equally talented and share duties both in the kitchen and behind the camera.

They take turns clicking the camera for print and video, they both cook, create and style their photos and recipes (Todd is often found as the author of most of their baking posts while Diane has a penchant for spring rolls) and they share a passion for gathering people around food they love.

But before there was a cookbook, Todd and Diane created a following of faithful food blogging novices, eager to listen and learn about food photography and styling at food blogging conferences across the country.

continue to the recipe… about Todd Porter and Diane Cu of White on Rice Couple Plus Homemade Sriracha Sauce and a Cookbook Giveaway

Grilled Salmon Fillet with Cucumber Dill Sauce

There are several staples in our arsenal of grilling recipes but when the salmon are running, Grilled Salmon Fillet with Cucumber Dill Sauce goes to the top of the list every time.

While I’m as guilty as the next Twitter fan when it comes to guffawing about celeb stars new baby names or following the hashtag thread when events are happening around us that will have a much wider affect than my daily instagram of what I had for breakfast, one of the best parts about Twitter is keeping up with my favorite food producers and distributors.

So when I saw a tweet from my local Whole Foods about wild, freshly caught Alaska Sockeye Salmon being sold for one day only for just $12 a pound—half the price I normally see it—I took note. Then I retweeted it to share the good news and promptly cleaned out my freezer so I could stock up.

And that’s when I started daydreaming about my favorite grilled salmon fillet recipes and sauces to go with it.

continue to the recipe… about Grilled Salmon Fillet with Cucumber Dill Sauce

10 Top Tomatillo Recipes and Roasted Tomatillo and Green Olive Salsa

I don’t know why but within one day I’ve become surrounded by the soon-to-be-wedded.

I spent part of last week watching a wedding photography seminar as I worked along on my computer. The week before I was at a wedding fashion shoot. And I’ve been working with my bridal editor at my day job on our upcoming editorial calendar. Did this cloak of weddingness suddenly spread to those around me?

I had to wonder because…

This past weekend we had a great friend from our old hood in Venice visiting us. And he brought his girlfriend. To pop the big question.

A semi-confirmed bachelor, our friend finally realized it was okay to let go of the trepidation of vacating his non-committed life. On Sunday, at 11,000 feet on a nearby mountain top he took to bended knee and proposed as I snapped away.

He’s finally getting married? How can this be? He’s spent his life looking out for number one, while always on the lookout for number two, three or four. None of whom could measure up to the perfect partner mystery ideal.

But he changed. Once he opened up enough to let her in she far exceeded his expectations.continue to the recipe… about 10 Top Tomatillo Recipes and Roasted Tomatillo and Green Olive Salsa