Cold Wild Rice Salad w/ Grapes

Ok, where has this been all my life!? It was H...O...T, HOT!! so I wanted to make us some cold yummy side dishes to accompany the bison meatballs that I made to tote to the Hollywood Bowl. I pretty much used items I had on-hand and made this "salad"...

Serves 6

1 box of long grain wild rice, prepared- but with low sodium chicken broth instead of water, olive oil (not butter), you can toss the "packet o' seasonings" it comes with, you won't need that- set cooked rice aside to cool.

Dressing~ (you'll have leftovers, so plan on a salad later in the week when you make this :o)
About 3 Large spoon fulls of Hosin Sauce
A small (like tip of a butter knife) spoon full of Chinese Hot Mustard
Rice Vinegar, Sesame Oil and Low Sodium Soy Sauce (just kept adding bits of each until the taste & texture were right)
A dash of sesame seeds
Whisk with fork until all ingredients are well combined

Green grapes- washed & cut in half (I just kept adding till I knew I'd get a grape half in almost every bite!)

A few handfuls of slivered almonds

Toss the cool rice, grapes and almonds together in a large bowl and slowly drizzle about 1/2 (maybe a bit more if needed) of the dressing over the rice and continue lightly tossing (and tasting) until all ingredients are incorporated.

Summer Broccoli Salad

Cool, easy-peasy summer salad. I made this for the Hollywood Bowl excursion we recently took and LOVE this at picnics. It's no Mama-Corrado Pasta Salad (coming soon to rock your world..) but this is an AWESOME salad for big fun stuff where people come to eat (you know, everything that happens in the summer...bon fires, concerts, picnics, etc.) I certainly did not invent this, it is an old school staple that I love. After buying some at Whole Foods recently I made it from my memory of how that tasted.

This is a somewhat "wingin-it" type of recipe, so taste and adjust and taste and adjust and you will be just fine...

Serves 6-10 people
4-6 cups broccoli crowns chopped into bite sized pieces
6-8 pieces of bacon, cooked- cooled- crumbled
1 c mayonnaise
3-4 T white vinegar
2-4 T sugar
a few handfuls of sunflower seeds
1/2-2/3 cups chopped sweet white onion
a few handfuls of crazins (or raisins, or golden raisins- I mucho prefer crazins)
Sprinkle of ground sea salt and some fresh black pepper to taste

In small bowl whisk together the mayo, sugar and vinegar~ set aside. In a BIG bowl toss the broccoli, bacon, crazins, onions & sunflower seeds. Pour the mayo/vinegar/sugar over the broccoli and add salt & pepper to taste. Toss it up and refrigerate at least a few hours, or overnight is even better!

Summer on PCH

Exploring your home state is always a good idea, hop in the car, grab a map and start discovering the yummy, beautiful goodness that surrounds where you live! We were invited to a wedding on Tiburon (a FUN ferry ride from San Francisco) and thought it would be fun to drive there up the Pacific Coast Highway.

We left LA on a Wednesday and headed for the coast...ending up in SF by Friday evening for a weekend of friends, weddingness and a brilliant Sunday in Napa before heading down the middle of Cali for a quick drive home mid-Monday.

I will be posting (in several installments) the edible highlights of our adventure, so if you live in California (or close) I hope this will inspire you to experience, eat, embrace and embark upon Highway 1 and enjoy the ride...



BUT first, I will post up those yummy Hollywood Bowl recipes I promised before we left~

Summer nights at the Hollywood Bowl

If I move away from Los Angeles there is a top 20 of things I am really going to miss...I am not sure what order that list runs down in, but spending evenings in the summer at the Hollywood Bowl is on there. I know I can always drive to LA & enjoy the goodness of the Bowl, but it just won't be the same. We are seeing a few shows there this summer & one reason the reason the Bowl rocks so hard is because you can bring in your own food & bev...including BOTTLES OF WINE (Hello, that is beyond awesome, seriously.)

So here is what I made for our bowl dinner & concert snacks~ recipes comin' soon...

Meatballs
Broccoli Salad
Cold Wild Rice Salad w/ Grapes
FRUIT!! (I brought one lil container with watermelon and another with a mix of strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries...see below)
Wine, Cheese, crackers (yay Lexie!), salami
Beer (yay Joe, you are a champ, hiking up from the church lot with a Heineken Mini-Keg!!!)
Oreo Cookies (yay Lexie!)



Whilst you read this Nate and I are setting off on a journey!! SUMMER ROAD TRIP!! We left this morning for a looooonnnnggg slow drive up PCH all the way to the bay baby~
I hope you enjoy these picnic-y summer photos while we eat, visit friends, surf, camp and relax our way up the state of Cali.



HAPPY YUMMY SUMMER!!! "See" you all next week when we get back to reality (aka, Los Angeles...lolz)

Housewarming Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

I am not so much "boxed cake mix" type of gal. Don't get me wrong, I do use it, eat it and use it as a base for other fun stuff. My homie Naomi LOVES Funfeti...and there is only one Funfeti, even if you bust it out "from scratch", we're sure it's still good, but it's not actual FUNFETI unless it has the Doughboy on the box.
She recently moved into a new place and made us all a KICKASS Carribean-Style-Thanksgiving FEAST of a party. I was going to be making guac, but should have gone to farmers market because the grocery avacados were not buneo.



After a memory jogging convo with my mother, I can inform you that this is OLD SCHOOL. We used to make these together (how can anyone wonder how I ended up loving creative food) when my sister & I were little. I thought these would be fun twist on her favorite cake mix, and decided to bring these to the gathering...I was a little nervous because once they were made and gorgeous, I had to get them from my apartment to Naomi's with out dropin the cones!




Fortunately Nate hooked up a brilliant tote using a disposable cookie sheet and 4 plastic cups...we cut holes in the cookie sheet and he taped 4 plastic cups to the bottom...I should have snapped a pic of it, but could draw it for you in a pinch~

This made 12 Ice Cream Cone cupcakes and about 20 mini cupcakes
What you'll need
1 box o Funfeti cake mix (plus the eggs and oil required by said cake mix)
12 ice cream cones
paper cupcake liners for the cupcakes
1 container of FUNFETI frosting
Sprinkles!!

Line a muffin pan with paper cupcake liners (12 regular size and about 20 mini, so prep both pans...)
Preheat oven & make cake according to pacakge...how mellow is this recipe so far??
Fill the cupcake liners about 1/2 full of cake batter and on the 12 full size cups tip an ice cream cone, upside down (BOTTOMS UP!!) into the batter..on the minis just fill em about half full...if you can find mini-ice-cream-cones...then by all means cone them ALL!
Bake according to package for cupcakes, and let cool for about an hour on a cooling rack, with the cones still bottoms up. When they are cool, flip them so they are standing up and peel the paper liners off the cupcakes. Frost with funfeti frosting and decorate like crazy with sprinkles!!

Fourth of July Pie

I initially made this pie with blueberries and cranberries here , but I am posting an alternative recipe to make it with raspberries instead. Both blueberries and raspberries are very much in season and delicious at the moment, or if you prefer, another way I've made this is in pot-pie tins with blueberries and black cherries HERE.So if you are having a get together this weekend for the 4th, this pie with some vanilla bean ice cream would make a great addition, and in it's own way reps the Red, White & BLUE~ HAPPY 4th of JULY!!

I pretty much use Dorie Greenspan's Good for Almost Anything Pie Crust recipe~ you can find it as posted by Dorie HERE
Blueberry Raspberry Pie
3 cups blueberries (if fresh rinsed & pat dry, or frozen- I used frozen)
2 cups raspberries(I used fresh, rinsed & patted dry)
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
4 T plus 1 tsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
a wee pinch nutmeg
1 T butter (cut into small cubes)
Top and bottom pie crust for a 9" pie

Preheat oven to 375 & grease a pie tin (or glass in my case)line with bottom pie crust. In a large bowl mix berries, sugars, cornstarch, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg until berries are coated. Pour berries into bottom crust and sprinkle butter cubes evenly over the top. For the top pie crust, it's your choice- I did mine lattice.
After the top crust is on securely, cover the edges of the pie crust with foil to prevent burning (I totally forgot that step & burned the crap out of mine). Place on a foil covered baking sheet & bake for 45-50 minutes or until pie crust is golden brown.
Then turn off the oven and let pie set in oven for 15 minutes. Then let pie cool on the counter for at least one our before slicing.

A quick time out for a big shout out!

Getting back to blogging is BIG work!!
Every once in a while I like to post links here to a few of my FAVORITE blogs, and since I've been "away" for quite some time, here are some that I've been enjoying~ and if you are not already...click on over to these awesome blogs!!

Bite Me Kitchen

~by Rose a favorite lady that I've known since we were in high school with a SUPER inspiring, beautiful and fun to read blog about everything exceptionally delicious

Zinnias

~ What recession?! Bring on the decorating!!! This site saves me from tearing bazillions of photos out of magazines and collecting them in a pile to decorate my some-day house. Totally fabulous taste over at Zinnias a true collection of all things fabulous.

Deep Fried Awesome

~ What a great name for a site!! This is another lovely lady I was in high school with that features the best freakin' gift ideas I have ever seen. (for self or anyone in the universe) I've got my office addicted to see what she will post next, and we use it as a reference for our corporate gift buying because it is so creative and really has something for EVERYONE.

Also, here are some classic faves that are the whole reason I got all up in the "blogosphere" to begin with, just in case you are not already STARVING and ready to spend your whole paycheck on gifts or home-goodness...

Culinary Concoctions
by Peabody (the blog that made me have to blog)

Closet Cooking
by Kevin (the blog that makes me hungry and brave to try new things)

Joy the Baker
by Joy (the blog I love to read and drool over)

Good Eats N' Sweet Treats
by Jaime (the blog of a fellow OC girl webfriend, and O.G. member of TWD that has sensational photos and recipes to enjoy!)

If you are spending the summer with a book on the beach or checking out the latest blockbusters- then you need to get yourself registered over at A Better Opinion. By rating the books, movies and video games you love (or don't) this fab site will find opinions in it's database that reflect similar taste to your own, helping guide you to your next entertainment experience with mucho confidence!!

Hope you dig the inspiration as much as I do!! HAPPY SUMMER EVERYONE!!! Keep an eye on these blogs and of course, on the Sweet Life Kitchen for some sensational summer sweets (and sweet buys on Zinnias and Deep Fried Awesome!!)

Oh! And if you wanna show some love, keep current on my latest FROSTED ~ GLAZED ~ GRILLED ~ BRAISED goodness;

CLICK RIGHT HERE to become a FAN of The Sweet Life Kitchen on Facebook~ That would be pretty sweet!!

Cheers!