My grandmother used to have a house dress, house hair, and house shoes.  She made no apologies for boiling her fresh vegetables half way to kingdom come.  She sat with her Bible at every spare moment.

I… well, I have a house sweater.  It’s big and grey with floppy sleeves and giant buttons.  It’s just a house sweater, unless of course I decide that it can handle a quick trip to the store or a quick meet with a friend.  It really should stay in the house, as beat up and unattractive as it is… but sometimes it’s just too warm and cozy to part with.  I don’t even want to talk about introducing the house sweater to someone that you’re dating.  That’s a whole other beast to tackle.

My grandmother would support my house sweater.  She’d nod in quiet understanding.  She’d also love that I have her Bible on my nightstand, and I read and reread all the bits she underlined in red pen.  This salad?  She would not understand.  It’s entirely too fresh and crisp and… unboiled.  I suppose that’s the difference between her Tennessee blood and my California living.

Blood oranges are here and I couldn’t be happier.  Every orange is different.  The red tinting can be subtle or totally bonkers.  Beauty fruit.  I’m so into it!

I combined sweet blood oranges with creamy avocado, salty feta cheese, and crunchy sunflower seeds.

Spinach too.  Fully of flavor and health.  On the real.

This is the sort of salad that you can eat and feel like you’re indulging in a good life.  Not like you’re on a diet.  Not like you’re depriving yourself of peanut butter cups.  This salad is a treat in itself… and totally justify peanut butter cups for dessert.

This salad was inspired by a really lovely book.  Tender by Nigel Slater.  It’s like an encyclopedia for vegetables with gorgeous, simple, indulgent recipes for each vegetable.  I love the photographs and recipe lay outs.  Very laid back and personal, but beautifully intentional.  The man knows has a gorgeous respect for food.

Thanks sister!  Major gift!

This recipe is in paragraph form… that means take it easy and enjoy the process.  Just go with it.  Don’t have feta cheese?  Try goat cheese crumbles.  No sunflower seeds?  Toasted walnuts would be lovely.  No blood oranges?  Grapefruit is the way to go!

My hair is straight today.

My hair is straight today only because a woman spent about two hours pulling, tugging, blowing, and spraying my hair into this state.

It’s still curly on the bottom.  It’s also still frizzy on the top.  It would appear as though the outside of my head is as stubborn as my inside brain.  Stubborn!

I should just let my hair be how it lives.  Curly with a charming hint of frizz.  But… sometimes you want a change.  Sometimes you want to toss your bangs like the girls with the long straight hair.  Whatever.   Sometimes you want to bake your brie up into little bite-sized squares so you can eat too many of them without feeling like you’re eating an entire round of brie.  Again… whatever.

Also… it’s raining today.  I don’t even want to talk about the frizz this will induce.  I’m probably going to stay inside where the baked cheese is.  Just so you know.  Leave me be.

These bite-sized treats come together with puff pastry.

It’s buttery.  It’s flaky and light.  It’s buttery.

It’s totally buttery.

I cut the sheet of puff pastry into 12 rectangles… then each rectangle in half.  That means 24 little rectangles that will make 12 little puffs.

That was math.  I’m totally sorry.

I brush half of the squares with egg wash, a little nibble of cheese (do not be afraid of the brie rind!), a touch of jam, and more puff pastry.

It’s happening!

Yes.  I put these little brie bites on sticks.  I stuck a small popsicle stick half way up the puff pastry and then pressed it all together.

You don’t need popsicle sticks.  You totally don’t.  The sticks just make things more… sticky.

Sweet little cheese pockets.

A lot of brie was eaten in the making of these pockets.

Egg washed and a sprinkling of salt.

Major magic.

Baked and puffed and sometimes they bleed jam and cheese.  No biggie.

These bites are best served warm… but I sure did eat several of them at room temperature.  Delicious still.

It’s warm cheese baked in buttery crust with sweet jam.  If you need convincing… I just… I dunno.

Let’s be people that host parties.

Let’s not just have people over… let’s host parties.

Let’s be people that look effortlessly elegant all night… even if this just means wearing the perfect pair of flattering jeans.

Let’s be people who always have perfect lipstick. Let’s be people who wear comfortable and stylish heels all night. Let’s be people who rock the most appropriate obscure playlist.

Let’s be people who start the game of Pictionary.

Let’s be people who send guests home with full bellies and warm cookies.

It all starts with a perfect cheese plate! And it’s totally not even hard! Come on… Play along!

The Perfect Cheese Plate!

These are just suggestions.  It’s totally a create-your-own-adventure situation:

You’ll need a clean board, a piece of parchment paper, or a large brown paper bag, cut open and crinkled.

4 to five cheeses.

Try an aged cheddar like Hook’s 12 year cheddar. Pair cheddar cheeses with sweet cherry or blackberry jam. The sweet fruit and sharp cheddar combination is stellar.

Try a French cheese like Abondance. Semi-hard, raw cow’s milk, almost Swiss like cheese with salty pickles and crisp crackers. Straight classy!

Try a a creamy goat cheese like (mmmm!) Truffle Goat Cheese. Let the truffle take center stage. Simple crackers and a sprinkling of black pepper are totally major. This is a popular cheese. It will be gone in a flash. Be warned!

Try a stinky and bold blue cheese. This cheese is made from raw cows milk… Making it even more crazy tangy… It’s also aged in grape leaves. This strong, blue-veined cheese pairs really well raw honey. The sweetness eases the aggressive nature of the cheese.

These are two VERY simple recipes.  Feel free to just eyeball it all.  Keep it simple.

Who am I to tell you how to make a dang sandwich?

I don’t know how much mayonnaise you like to spread on your bread.  I don’t know how spicy you like your mustard.  I don’t know how cheesy you like your situation.  I can’t know how tall you like to stack your ham.

I don’t want to get into your sandwich making business.  It’s a personal thing.  I know.

But!  May I just offer you two humble suggestions?

Pickles and Potato Chips.  Inside.

You knew this was bound to happen.

Typical animal.  Always after the good stuff with his smelling nose.

Grilled ham and cheese is easy .  I don’t have to convince you that it’s a simple and delicious sandwich.  Adding pickles and potato chips is a salty, crunchy stroke of genius.  Enjoy warm, just after grilling, with a hearty handful of potato chips.

Grilled Ham Cheese Pickle and Potato Chip Sandwich

You’ll need:

2 slices of sandwich bread

Dijon mustard

cheddar cheese sliced thin

about 5 thinly sliced pieces of ham

sliced dill pickles

a handful of salted potato chips

1 tablespoon of butter for grilling

What you’ll do:

Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat.

Spread mustard over both sides of bread.  Top with cheese, ham, pickles, potato chips, and more cheese.

Smash sandwich breads together.  Grill in melted butter on both sides until golden brown and the cheese is melted.

Slice in half.  Serve immediately before the chips get soggy.

Dear Success,

I got you.

I’ve got a jar of Sharpie markers on my desk, a frozen coffee cake in my freezer just waiting to be baked, a handful of people tell me they love me, and there’s spinach in my bowl.  See?  I’ve got you, Success.  We’re totally roommates… and I’m totally not letting you move out, ever.

It’s Friday!  Double Success!

Love,

Joy

Look around.  I bet you live with success too!  …sometimes success is as simple as a jar of markers on your desk.

Enjoy your weekend!  I’m rooting for you.  Go do good things!

This recipe was inspired by Heidi’s Super Natural Every Day.  Do you have this book?  Lovely! … thank you Molly and Kelsey.

This book is full of whole grains, whole wheat, spices and health.  Just flipping through the book makes you feel strong.

Do you know how hard it was to not put melted butter in these quinoa cakes?

Like… really hard.

When quinoa is in my house, it’s all I eat…. from scrambled eggs to sauteed dinner.

It’s filling.  It’s delicious.  It’s major healthy.

This quinoa is a salty and bright combination of flavors.  I love green olives and lemon.  They’re super bright and complimentary to the earthy/base flavors of the quinoa.  Onion and garlic?  Easy.  Parsley and cheese?  Always.

Eggs and a splash of water are the binder for the quinoa.  I like to think of these as mini veggie patties.

Warm quinoa patties, packed with flavor, served over seasoned spinach… with extra cheese.  Duh.

This meal is a lovely lunch, a dreamy dinner… and the quinoa can even be served up at breakfast.  Every meal, people!  Every meal!

The best part about this recipe is that you can make up the quinoa mixture and fry up to order.  The uncooked quinoa mixture will last in the fridge for a few days.  That’s fresh food for days!  I’m way into it!

I stayed in bed this morning because there was a scary pile of dishes in the kitchen, a living room full of unpacked bags and a warm little man cat on the pillow next to me.

I dreamt my way through several snooze buttons.  I dreamt of shopping for sunglasses and shoes.  I dreamt of anything and everything better than shoe shopping.

Then, I remembered a very important fact about my kitchen.  Yes… there were scary dirty dishes everywhere… but there was also a package of Oreo cookies.

Oreos.

I got out of bed today because I wanted to eat Oreos.  I stayed out of bed because I wanted make spicy scones.

Things sort of worked out.  The Oreos are gone.  The scones are delicious.

These scones are inspired by my friend Suzanne.  She put cheese in scones this weekend and I absolutely fell in love.

So…. I’m a copycat.

Cheese and spice and a touch of cornmeal in a tender scone.

I’m super happy about this.

It would seem that these little buddies are good with breakfast coffee or dinner soup.  I support versatility (and Oreos).

You can control the amount of spice that you find in these scones.  Most of the spice in jalapenos comes from the seeds.  If you’d like mild scones, scrape all of the seeds out of the center of the scones before you throw them in the saute pan.

Also!  When dealing with hot peppers, either wear plastic gloves (do you have these in your kitchen?  yea… me neither) OR wash your hands really well after you touch the inside of the peppers and before you rub your eyes or pick your nose.  If you forget to wash your hands and your pepper fingers come in contact with any delicate part of your body… you’ll want to die… and you’ll never forget to wash your pepper hands every again.  So… there’s that.

I’m not sure exactly how to say this, so I’m just going to go ahead and put it out there.

For the first time in…. ever… I had fun at a baby shower.   Real time, legitimate good times at a baby shower.  I wasn’t even faking it, not even a little bit.

I’m going to stand by what may be an unpopular position.  In the past I’ve found most baby showers I’ve had to attend, a troubling combination of boring and humiliating.  Between standing around listening to various labor horror stories and playing disgusting baby games that involve Tootsie Rolls and diapers, I typically just barely manage a fake smile.

This weekend’s baby shower was different.  My friends Mitch and Lara got together, got married, and made another human that Lara is currently growing in her belly.  These people are filled with hilarity, and an uncommon and humble goodness.  Watching them open their baby gifts with grace and a downright speedy efficiency (thanks!), I couldn’t help but imagine their little girl filling the onesies, hats and socks they received.  While it may sound silly, the reality of this impending life became more lovely and amazing as each gift was opened.

That I may or may not have been able to cheat at one of the baby team relay games has very little to do with me having a great time at the shower.  Don’t press me on this.  Please.

Now, without a well-crafted transition, I bring you Crustless But Still Dang Good Quiche.

Yes, I think the best part of a slice of quiche is the crust.  Yes, I still made this quiche without crust.  Sometimes crust, with all of its cutting butter and dusting and rolling pins, seem just a little too daunting for my late morning weekend breakfast.  It turns out, if you slather the pie plate with butter, the quiche will bake up beautifully and when sliced, jump out of the dish with no problem.

I used a combination of spinach, mushroom, walnuts and blue cheese in this quiche.  Feel free to play around with any ingredients you might have on hand.  Next time I make this, I’m going to stay away from blue cheese.  The flavor almost took over the whole quiche.  I think a nice cheddar or gruyere would work better.

Three things are true.  Let’s go over some facts.

I’m gullible.  I prefer to think of it as less naive and more trusting.  If you tell me something, in all likelihood, I’ll believe you.  For this reason, let’s keep the April foolery to a minimum this morning.  It’s not really my style, and chances are, if you try to fool me with falsehoods or pranks today, it’ll work.  Let’s not and say we did.

This day reminds me of one particular April Fool’s Day many years back.   I thought playing a prank on my little sister would be ripe with comedy.  It involved a toilet seat, petroleum jelly, and her resulting slippery bum.  As I giggled with success, my little sister busted out her fake (but oh so convincing) cry and I was in a heap of trouble with Mom.  She’s brilliant with the fake cry… award winning.  Well played little sister… I see how you turned that around… Well played.

Lastly, and this is no petroleum jelly joke-  I was featured in the London Times this week!  Check out the interview and the photos… and say hello to London.  Normally I’d tell you how being in the London Times makes me want to yell, and jump and otherwise spaz with excitement.. but I’m trying to play it cool.  You know.. like wearing sunglasses at night, or wearing Converse sneakers with a fancy dress, or putting ham and mustard in cookies…. cool.  Let’s play it cool.

A friend affectionately called these savory pastries, Ham Cookies.  While the name is less than enticing, the description is just about right.  I combined my favorite Dufour Puff Pastry with lovely Dijon mustard, thinly sliced prosciutto and Gruyere cheese.  Roll the dough in towards each other like you would a Palmier, and you’ve got a savory breakfast snack, or a super easy appetizer.  Easy and impressive… that means we all win!

I know this is a bit of a departure for me. But seriously- check out these grits with grilled sweet corn, grilled onions, jalapeno peppers and sharp cheddar cheese.  Amazingly delicious!

Grits are a corn based, sometimes breakfast, sometimes dinner, always delicious cereal type food.  Is that clear?  Grits are similar to something like polenta, which is another corn product.  Essentially grits are coarsely ground corn.  They’re popular in the Southern United States, where they know how to do them up right with butter, cheese and bacon.  Bless them for they’re fantastic use of fat.  Seriously.

My grits were cooked in water and salt, then graced with a generous pat of butter.  I grilled up some fresh sweet corn, onions and jalapeno pepper until they were nice a browned then layered that on top of the cooked grits.  The whole dish was topped with a handful of grated sharp cheddar.  I had a tub of sour cream ready too, just in case I needed an extra dollop of richness…. but I decided to be reasonable and skipped the sour cream.

With a little creativity, you can add anything you like to grits.  Whatever you’re in the mood for!  I’ll also post a sweet version of grits sometime soon!

The recipe below follows the water/grits ratio suggested on the box that I bought.  You may want to follow the directions of you particular brand.  Now….. go and make!

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Cut corn of the ear, dice jalapeno pepper and onions and saute in olive oil.  Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until well browned, about 5 minutes.  Remove from heat and set aside.

In a small sauce pan, bring water to a boil.  Add salt.  Slowly stir in the dry grits.  Cover and cook for 5 to 7 minutes, removing the cover to stir occasionally.  Remove from heat and stir in butter until melted and pepper to taste.   Top with corn and onion mixture and grated cheese.  Enjoy!

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