Have we talked about oven dried tomatoes yet? I don’t think so, but it’s time we did, because they are amazing. I know tomatoes are on their way out but in case you still have some dangling on your plants or see a straggling container at the farmer’s market, this is what you’ll want to do with them. Trust me. Making oven dried tomatoes requires very little effort at all. Simply halve the tomatoes, toss with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper, and bake for a few hours at a low temperature. As much as I love fresh cherry or grape tomatoes, I like them even better after they have been roasted. It brings out the natural sweetness of the tomatoes, reminding me of a savory candy.
The first time I made this meal was on vacation for my family. I threw this meal together on the fly from the random ingredients I had thrown into my shopping cart. I didn’t have time to snap a photo then or jot down what I had done, but not too long after we returned I made it again so I could take notes, get a photo, and share it with all of you. Prepping the tomatoes obviously takes a bit of forethought, but if you make them in advance, the rest of this becomes a quick meal for any night of the week. The biggest challenge is not popping all those sweet little jewels right into your mouth instead of using them in the dish. I hope you enjoy this as much as we do!
Ingredients
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
Olive oil
Small pinch of sugar
Kosher salt and pepper
1 lb. bowtie pasta
2 tbsp. unsalted butter, divided
1 lb. medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
¾ cup chopped yellow onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ tsp. red pepper flakes
½ cup dry white wine (or chicken broth)
6 oz. mascarpone cheese*
½ cup fresh basil leaves, chopped
¼ cup grated Parmesan, plus more for serving
*Mascarpone cheese is similar to cream cheese and can be found in the specialty cheese section of most grocery stores.
Directions
To make the oven dried tomatoes, preheat the oven to 225˚ F. Place the tomatoes in a small baking dish in a single layer, cut side facing up. Drizzle lightly with olive oil and season with a pinch of sugar, salt and pepper. Bake for about 3 hours, or until the tomatoes are mostly shriveled up. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Once boiling, cook the pasta according to the package directions. Drain well.
While the pasta is cooking, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the shrimp to the pan and cook in a single layer, flipping once during cooking, just until opaque, about 2-3 minutes. Remove to a plate, tent loosely with foil and set aside. Melt the remaining tablespoon of butter in the pan. Sauté the onion until slightly softened, about 4-5 minutes. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes to the pan and sauté just until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the wine or broth and scrape any browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
Reduce the heat to medium-low. Return the shrimp to the pan and add in the drained pasta along with the oven-dried tomatoes. Add the mascarpone to the pan and stir until completely melted. Stir in the basil and Parmesan, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately with additional Parmesan as desired.
Just when I was beginning to fancy myself an amateur barista because of my daily 
Popcorn is one of my very favorite snack foods. I love a lazy evening after the kids are in bed, watching a movie with Ben and a big bowl of popcorn between us. Unfortunately, Ben does not share my love of popcorn because of its affinity for sticking in your throat, teeth, etc. As a result I don’t end up making it nearly as often as I would like, and when I do make it, I end up eating most of it by myself (that part is not so bad, I guess). As soon as Courtney’s visit was official, we began planning what we would bake together. The only thing she said we absolutely had to make was some kind of French macarons, since she had never made them before. When I asked her what flavor she wanted to try, she mentioned this salted popcorn macaron with caramel filling. It combines three of my favorite things into one awesome dessert, so of course I was immediately sold on the idea.
Unfortunately despite all the batches of macarons I’ve made before, our first attempt was a flop. I’m still not entirely sure what went wrong, but for the second round we used a different base recipe with a few minor changes and had success! The key to these is to make sure the popcorn you use is nice and salty to balance out the sweetness of the cookie shell and the caramel. They really do taste just like the popcorn…it’s more than just a garnish! We opted to add popcorn to all of the macaron shells. It definitely helped the popcorn flavor come through, but on the other hand it did make filling the cookies a bit messier. Since they did not have a flat bottom to rest on, they were uneven and some of the caramel dripped out of the sides. This could be remedied by either making half the shells without popcorn or filling them with something a bit more solid like a caramel buttercream. However, I don’t think I would change a thing next time I make them. They were a bit messy, yes, but the flavor was awesome and I found these totally irresistible.
Note: The measurements for the macaron shells are listed by weight. A kitchen scale is necessary for making macarons. Attempting to make these by volume measure would likely be a waste of time and ingredients, so volume measurements are not provided.
Did you just drool a little bit reading the title? It’s okay, I did that too when I saw this recipe. I was lying in bed before falling asleep, flipping through an issue of Fine Cooking and the moment I saw this I sat upright and exclaimed, “We have to make these!” Ben hears these sorts of exclamations frequently but when I read the title out loud, he whole-heartedly agreed. While 
And, just because I think it’s pretty great, here’s a shot I took of Andrew “coloring” with Courtney’s iPad. He loved having her here almost as much as I did. The morning after she left, the first thing he asked when he woke up was, “Where’s Courtney?” So cute!
I’ve talked many times before about the wonderful friends I have made through blogging. We’ve had numerous virtual parties to mark occasions we weren’t able to celebrate together in person. We email each other several times a day to keep in touch. A few weeks ago, I could hardly contain my excitement when one of my best blogging girlfriends, Courtney of 
I’m normally not one of those people who goes gaga for doughnuts but for some reason, I’ve been thinking about them a lot lately. The craving had already set in before Courtney arrived so when she suggested making pumpkin doughnuts, I was stoked. We perused the internet for recipes and try as we might, we never found a yeasted version that looked worthwhile. Eventually we opted to try a cake doughnut instead and I can safely say that we were very happy with the results. We couldn’t decide whether to top them with cinnamon-sugar or a spiced glaze, so we did half and half. Both were delicious but in the end I think the glaze won out as my personal favorite. As with most homemade doughnuts, these really are best while fresh, but that didn’t stop us from enjoying them the next day or two. These will most definitely become a fall tradition in our home.
