Recipes Archives - Cupcakes and Cutlery

Garlic Basil Mustard Dip

July 23, 2014 by Sharon Garofalow Leave a Comment

*This post is not technically sponsored. French’s sponsored my post the other day about a picnic. But I also wanted to share the recipe for the dip I made. So this post isn’t sponsored but I DID use mustard they sent me. And this photo IS from that sponsored shoot. Have I covered all my bases? All opinions are mine. Full disclosure, I bought almost all pre-cut vegetables. And then I reused them after the shoot on friends. There. Now you know everything. Veggies and dip. Match made in heaven. But I’m kind of sick of ranch. And a vinaigrette would have been too messy (I will NOT ruin this blanket. It’s my new fave. Is it weird to have a special occasion blanket?) So I decided to modify a recipe for French’s Basil and Garlic Mustard (which I can’t find on their site to link to) and turn it in to a dip.

I first showed you this dip in my summer picnic post from the other day. But today, you get the recipe. This Garlic Basil Mustard Dip is super tangy AND creamy with a touch of heat from the garlic and herbaciousness from mi amor basil. I added some chives for good measure. A quick squeeze of lemon juice and you’ve got yourself a dip! Eat with fresh vegetables and behold the wonder that is nature.

Garlic Basil Mustard Dip

Ingredients

Adapted from French's Basil and Garlic Mustard recipe
1/2 cup French's Classic Yellow Mustard
1/2 cup mayo
2 6oz. containers of Fage 0% Greek Yogurt
2 TBSP chopped fresh basil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 TBSP chopped fresh chives
Juice of 1/2 of lemon

Instructions

Combine all the ingredients.
Refrigerate until ready to use.
You can leave out the mayo if you are looking for more of a "clean eating" recipe.

http://www.cupcakesandcutlery.com/garlic-basil-mustard-dip/

Filed Under: Food, Recipes Tagged With: appetizer, Recipes, summer, vegetables

Lavender Lemonade Recipes

July 22, 2014 by Sharon Garofalow 3 Comments

Lavender lemonade! How refreshing does that sound?! It has been in my head since before school was out and I finally decided to make some. I’m not usually a big fan of lemonade. It can’t be made from a powder and it certainly can’t be too sweet. I did tons of research on how to make it before I started. And then had to research a little more when I finally came across food grade dried lavender. I mentioned I was making this to several people and they all looked at me funny. I guess lavender lemonade recipes are not something that a lot of people are looking for. I get that there is a fear that whatever the lavender is in might end up tasting a little soapy since that is how we know lavender. I love me some lavender soap and lotion. But I adore the herbal quality to it and thought it would bring a really cool “flava” to lemonade. And I just tried to turn lavender “street.”

Lavender lemonade is the perfect thing to bring to a summer picnic. I also brought it along on our duffy boat trip through Newport Harbor. I mean, you can’t JUST drink wine. That would be uncivilized. And if you actually drank it and didn’t forget that you brought it with you, it would probably prevent you from getting a severe hang over the next day. Not that I did…

So, I headed straight towards Mother’s Market (hippie town) looking for a lavender plant. In most of the lavender lemonade posts, people have these beautiful sprigs of lavender (see above photo. spoiler alert, I finally found some beautiful sprigs!) that I am guessing they fuss and fiddle with in order to make an infused simple syrup of some kind. Well, there were no beautiful plants to be found that day. Wait, I’m a liar. They had one plant that they brought out for me from the back that they “were trying to save” that they let me buy. But hold the phone, it didn’t look at all like the sprigs I had seen. Apparently there are different varieties of lavender plants. And we weren’t sure that it was food grade. Luckily they also sold the dried leaves in the spice section. You guys!

You’ll also need a crap load of lemons. And maybe some limes. I freaking love limes. Like, I love limes like I used to love the California raisins (not the fruit just the characters). I got one of those hand squeezer juicer things and it’s AWESOME! It makes juicing citrus super easy and you get the more out of the fruit than if you are doing it by hand. If you don’t have one, and you want to make lemonade, or margaritas, go get one (but not at Target. Apparently Target thinks these squeezer things are a luxury item and wants to charge you $12 for one. Uh, no. My grocery store had it for about $6. Come on Target, be cool.)

But these photos are a little misleading. Because if you are using the dried lavender, you really need to start this process the day before you want to make the lemonade. I know! What a pain! But worth it. Now, if you ARE making a simple syrup with the pretty sprigs, then you can do that the same day. I don’t like simple syrup. I think it makes everything too sweet. And I like really bold flavors so when you infuse the simple syrup, it is hard to get the flavor I like, without it turning too sweet. That and the fact that I still hadn’t found those dumb supermodel sprigs yet.

But I digress. So lavender “tea”. I took about 1 cup of water and 1 TBSP of dried lavender and put it in a mason jar. Then I shook it up a little and left it at room temperature overnight. In the morning, you’ve got lavender “tea”.

All you have to do is strain it through a coffee filter. And you are left with this fantastic amber-ish water. Which smells awesome.

And THEN you are ready to make your lavender lemonade. So you need fresh squeezed citrus, lavender “tea,” raw honey and water. The sprigs above are purely decorative at this point. BTW I found the pretty sprigs at Trader Joe’s. But there was no telling if they were food grade or not. I’m wasn’t going to take any chances. I didn’t want my tombstone to say “She died, super relaxed, drinking lavender lemonade.” How much cooler if it said something like “She died valiantly while trying to defend the world from evil clowns.”

To a pitcher, add all the things.

I was worried that the raw honey wouldn’t be a great choice for mixing in to liquids. But it worked great, actually. I just used a whisk and whisked for a short time and it blended right in. I also thought it might harden back into a solid when I put it in the fridge, but it didn’t. I’m a fan.

And there it is. A delicious lavender lemonade. Everyone drinks their lemonade differently so modify any of these recipes to suit your tastes! I think I may have put a little bit too much lime in mine. It was quite bitter. Which I didn’t hate, but it also wasn’t the taste I was going for.

Take a look at these recipes and find one that works for you!

via Home Cooking Adventure
via A House in the Hills
via Amy’s Lavender Lemonade via AllRecipes.com
via Small Footprint Family
via They Call Me Oyster Girl

Filed Under: Food, Recipes, Sip it Tagged With: drinks, lemonade, Recipes, summer

Summer Picnics are #NaturallyAmazing

July 21, 2014 by Sharon Garofalow 21 Comments

*This post is sponsored by French’s, a #NaturallyAmazing product. All opinions are mine.

My kids ask for a dinner picnic almost every single night during summer. And fall. And spring. So we try to have them as much as possible. There is something absolutely magical about sitting outside as the sun turns golden. Eating outside brings an entirely different energy to dinner time. It is much more casual and playful. And the food is always kept simple and fresh. This picnic set up shared through out this post, however, is a dream scenario. In our real dinner picnics, the blanket gets all wrinkled, plates get kicked over and there is grass. Lots of grass. Everywhere. This is what summer picnics would look like if my kids were robots that I could control with a remote control.

My robot children would willingly try all the wonderful and delicious foods that I love. They would not be afraid of things that sound a little bit different. They wouldn’t turn their noses up at lavender lemonade. They would drink it and be instantly transformed in to a wonderfully relaxed state of mind. They would never ask for soda even though they know they only drink it very rarely.

I am very lucky that my kids do, in fact, like vegetables. They don’t hesitate to grab them off a buffet table and never complain when I send them in their lunches. Up until a little while ago, my oldest son couldn’t eat anything with milk in it so he never really had anything to dip them in. We are very fortunate that he seems to have outgrown that allergy. For this picnic I made a delicious mustard dip. French’s mustard is, and always has been a natural food. What I love about it is that is adds SO much flavor. And it is an absolute essential for summer grilling. It is perfect with hamburgers and hotdogs but also delicious grilled veggie sandwiches. It also sort of inspired the color palette as well. You normally don’t think of mustard yellow as a summer color but I think these rich colors are perfect for the time just before sunset. French’s wants you to get inspired also. They have a new Pinterest page and it features other great ideas for #naturallyamazing entertaining and recipes for any occasion: graduation celebrations, picnics, summer BBQs, light lunches and more! You can follow them by clicking the image below!

My real family has recently started eating more salads. I’ve always loved salads so this has made me so happy. However, only my robot children would eat this cabbage salad. While the cabbage is really mild in flavor, the herbs would totally throw my kids off. I loved the bright flavors of the mint, basil and cilantro. And the lime sesame dressing had a touch of sweetness that paired with it really nicely. Robot children are the best, aren’t they?

And only my robot children would be able to eat on this vintage blanket with a mustard dip…

I decided to keep the elements of this picnic really natural. I mixed wooden utensils with wooden plates and platters and recyclable paper containers for easy clean up. But since this was for pretend children who don’t break things, I used my fave blue glasses for a pop of color. In a real scenario I would probably use some clear plastic cups, nothing colored as I wouldn’t want to compete with this gorgeous blanket.

Succulents are a great thing to bring as decorations when entertaining out of the house. They are a really hearty plant and look great. I also like to use bright-colored fruits because they double as part of the meal and decoration. My robot and real children love cherries.

Eating healthier, more clean, doesn’t have to be boring. I look for ways to add in flavor to keep me the meals from tasting the same. I use a lot of fresh ground black pepper, fresh citrus juices and French’s mustard to add a wonderful savory tang.

This has been a tale of my robot children and this fantastical picnic we all enjoyed together. All the tips still hold true, just maybe not as a family picnic. Maybe your picnic won’t be as fancy as this one but French’s and I encourage you to bring some fresh tastes to your table this summer! Don’t forget to follow French’s for time-saving hacks and useful cooking tips as well as memorable meal ideas!

Thank you for supporting the companies, like French’s, that sponsor my posts and allow me to create. My robot children appreciate it also.

Filed Under: Family Life, Food, Lifestyle, Party Inspiration Tagged With: entertaining, picnic, Recipes, summer

Clean Eating Recipes

June 17, 2014 by Sharon Garofalow 4 Comments

I found myself in a really crazy, unhealthy spot a month ago. I was concurrently taking antibiotics for a sinus infection, along with steroids for said infection, a muscle relaxer for a strained muscle and had a pain shot for the pain from said strained muscle which I was instructed not to take with my headache pill because they would not react well together. I looked at all of that and just stopped. I don’t want to be taking all of that. It just shows how unhealthy my whole life is. I don’t fault the doctors for just layering all of that on, they can’t be the only director of our health at this point. Gone are the days where they truly care about our overall health and focus more on the ailment at hand. Which leaves us to be the controller of our temple. And my temple was falling apart. In conjunction with Andrea’s challenge, I decided that I need to make some changes in my life. And I’m starting with food. I attribute all my cellulite to processed foods and see that my kids are consuming an awful lot of junk food in our crazy, busy life. So while I am not going whole hog (I refuse to throw away the food that is in my freezer and cupboard simply to start over – there is far too much money invested in that to throw it away), I am changing our meals a little at a time and taking this time to really learn about clean eating. My kids don’t love it but they are trying. My husband is totally on board. And I have to say, aside from trying to get in enough protein to keep me feeling full, the food has been delicious! I wanted to share a few of the things I have made recently with you. So feel free to change these up to suit whatever your diets needs or flavor preferences are. And not all of these recipes might not be the cleanest as written, I know I can modify them to be.

Fantastic Clean Eating Recipes

This cold, roasted veggie farro salad is AMAZING! I brought this to a barbecue and everyone loved it. I was able to make most of it the day ahead so it is a great entertaining recipe. I left the cheese out of mine but served it for anyone else who wanted it. And the leftovers were fantastic too!

A strawberry vinaigrette? Yes! SO good! Perfect on baby spinach and chicken and whatever. I have not made her whole salad recipe as she has it in this post, I just wanted to try out the dressing recipe for my son who doesn’t like salads. This didn’t make him like salads. But it made me love this dressing.

I’ve been addicted to popcorn because I get snacky and feel like it is probably a pretty safe, clean bet. Well, probably better than cheetos. I have not tried this Sea Salt and Coconut Popcorn recipe yet but it seems like the perfect snack when you need a little treat.

I made this strawberry chia seed jam to replace the hopped up stuff I had been putting on my kid’s sammies. Chia seeds are amazing. They sort of congeal making the fresh cooked strawberries not runny but, duh, like jam. And it tastes amazing! And it is super easy. And you can see how you could use all different kinds of berries to make more combos. Mmmmmmms, maybe a little ginger peach chia jam for my oatmeal?

I have not made this yet but how crazy does this coconut “bacon” sound? I know it will probably never really take the place of legit bacon but I love coconut and might be another great way to add some texture to salads. I try not to have too many nuts around the house because of an allergy so sometimes my salads aren’t as well-balanced, texturally speaking.

I’ve started a clean eating board on Pinterest if you want to find more recipes to try out. And don’t forget to browse Andrea’s site for some REALLY helpful posts on healthy swaps and how to handle the prep involved for making clean eating meals a priority.

Filed Under: Food, Uncategorized Tagged With: clean eating, healthy, Recipes

Best Caramel Corn Ever

June 12, 2014 by Sharon Garofalow 2 Comments

You know you have good friends when they gift you the world’s best caramel corn ever. Well I mean, I think my recipe is the best caramel corn recipe ever, but prepackaged this is the stuff. Kristin picked this Pinkleton’s caramel corn up on her recent vacation to Portland and knowing my love of snacks, caramel corn and cardamom, she knew I needed to try it too. The flavor is outrageous. It is at once bitter and sweet with subtle and bold flavors. It’s the perfect crunchy texture. And I didn’t want to share it. I also knew that if I wasn’t careful, I would end up eating the whole bag in one sitting. I ate some on the beach during a family picnic. I packed this in my suitcase for my New York trip (I never like to be snacky in a hotel with only a mini bar available) and brought the rest home with me. This would make a great gift for the foodies and snack lovers in your life. I’m dying to try the other flavors too! I mean – salted vanilla, salted molasses and spicy mexican cocoa?! Order some for you summer vacations. You’re welcome. And thank you, Kristin, for knowing me so well!