Few foods find themselves intertwined with the highs and lows of life. Chicken noodle soup is reserved for an illness. Chocolate cake is reserved for a promotion at work. Pumpkin bread fills all the in-betweens. Eating a slice of pumpkin bread gives me the ultimate food warm and fuzzies.
Lucky for me, our summer vacation to visit my Aunt and Uncle in North Truro coincided with blueberry season. I was delighted to go wild blueberry picking near the dunes with their friend, Ira. We let some air out of the tires, and Ira drove us to his secret location. We were quickly enveloped in curtains of blueberry bushes the size of redwood trees. I entered “the zone” and began to pluck the large, vibrant berries from the bushes with methodical precision. Too much pressure and you could rupture the berry in your fingers. It was an artful dance to procure the ripest blueberries for pancakes and muffins. At the end of the morning, my stomach was almost as full of berries as my bucket.
Laissez les bons temps rouler. For some, Mardi Gras might evoke thoughts of beads, booze, and Bourbon Street. But for many, Mardi Gras is about crawfish boils with friends and family, hoisting children onto hand decorated ladder seats, and waking up at 5 am to secure your spot on the parade route. My Mardi Gras experience changed in 2019 – the year I joined the Krewe of Iris. The oldest and largest all-female Krewe in New Orleans was founded in 1917. Being a member of Iris has, in the best possible way, forever changed my Mardi Gras experience. Friendship is now at the center of my Mardi Gras experience.
I grew up on Bisquick pancakes. In the Giurintano house, the most coveted pancake was the first pancake. I know what you are thinking – this is counterintuitive. The first pancake lacks the delicious, browned butter flavored coating. But in a kaleidoscope lens that only a child can see through, the first pancake was a prized possession that we all fought to win. It had the most perfect light brown hue around the edge – as if a young tree had just been cut down and you could count the rings. And the intense liquid butter flavor was mouth wateringly good.
Quiches are a perfect way of repurposing leftovers from dinner into a delicious breakfast. The leftover caramelized onions and thyme from a chicken entrée the night before blend nicely with the leftover cheese from homemade macaroni and cheese. Feel free to substitute the cheeses for whatever you have in the refrigerator. In fact, this whole recipe is nothing but a framework for repurposing leftovers. Endless creative quiche-friendly ingredient combinations await you in your refrigerator.
One of my favorite things to do with holiday leftovers is make quiche. And what more perfect of a leftover to be used for quiche than honey baked ham?This recipe is a perfect example of a “what’s in my refrigerator” frittata.This recipe is a perfect example of a “what’s in my refrigerator” frittata. Susan had brought me a large serving of her pimento cheese (which is delicious on a ritz cracker with a glass of cabernet sauvignon). I also happened to have a mountain of sweet potatoes on my kitchen island. And since sweet potatoes go with anything, why not combine them with pimento cheese and eggs?
One of my favorite things to do with holiday leftovers is make quiche. And what more perfect of a leftover to be used for quiche than honey baked ham? Whether it be Christmas or Easter, my mom loves to bring over a honey baked ham. We all thought this was especially ironic when she first started doing it…since my husband is Jewish. But my husband doesn’t abide by the culinary exclusions of his religious upbringing and instead delights in the crunchy sweetness of the honey baked ham. His first bite is accompanied by an audible crunch and then an almost banal “uuummmmm” (minus the y-) followed by “this is just so good.”
I love a good blueberry muffin. The kind of mythical blueberry muffin that has the perfect balance of blueberries to fluffy moist muffin dough that you discover at a breakfast cafe in a small town. The kind of magical blueberry muffin that is so delicious that you buy extra to take home for the next morning. The kind of muffin that I could NEVER find a recipe for in a cookbook. Year after year, I baked blueberry muffins that were, to say the least, underwhelming. Until I stumbled upon brown butter blueberry muffins.
