Tasty Memories of An Iconic Chicagoland Restaurant Crispy Buttered Quesadillas with Warm Salsa evoke a food memory that lives for eternity in my mind. Crispy, buttered, and fried cheese quesadillas served with a warm and flavorful salsa that has been simmered with cumin, onions, and garlic makes an easy dinner that everyone in your family will love. Pepe’s Mexican Restaurant is a small chain I grew up with in Chicago. The Pepe’s I most often visited was on Archer Avenue near Harlem. My cousins and I would go when we wanted to treat ourselves. Kim is my cousin that has…
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Continue ReadingMaple Meets Mexico Maple Cinnamon Margaritas have all the traditional margarita flavors plus the vanilla notes of REAL maple syrup and the warm spice of cinnamon that I know you’ll love. These margaritas will have everyone guessing the secret ingredient that makes them so good! We live part time in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula about eight miles over the northernmost Wisconsin border. I write the bi-weekly food column for the local paper and every year I am asked to do a cooking demo and judge the maple syrup contest at the Phelps, Wisconsin Maple Syrup Fest. This past weekend I made…
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Continue ReadingA Heavenly Hunk Of Meat Maple Glazed Pork Shoulder with Chipotle Chili is a deliciously tender and juicy pork roast with a savory, caramelized crust made from maple syrup, brown sugar, and a smokey chipotle chili powder. This meat is perfect to eat on its own, as a sandwich, or for tacos. I am a long time food columnist in our small town that is in the Northernmost part of Wisconsin. Every April I am asked to participate in our town’s Maple Syrup Festival. I host a cooking demo where I use Wisconsin Maple Syrup to make wonderfully delicious recipes.…
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Continue ReadingWhen Two Culinary World’s Collide Polish Gnocchi Stir Fry is a culinary masterpiece of two delicious cuisines made from smoked Polish sausage, tender onions and garlic, and soft, buttery gnocchi. Toasted caraway seeds add a nutty flavor and the tangy mustard brightens the whole easy and unique dish. Polish sausage, kraut and pierogi are staples in my family for big holidays like Easter. I started making this dish and it was very much the essence of all my favorite things about pierogi. My family now requests this for lots of family parties. I love it because it is so easy…
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Continue ReadingClassic Cafeteria Comfort Food Tuna Noodle Casserole is a simple, affordable, and filling recipe made using canned tuna, creamy mushroom soup, green onions, water chestnuts, and mayonnaise. A few pantry staple seasonings add some zing before it’s topped with butter and potato chips and bakes up bubbly and delicious. A Recipe Born From Desperation Truth be told I have only had one or two tuna noodle recipes in my life that were really great. One of them was a casserole a former boss of mine named Peggy used to make. I have yet to get that recipe. Fast forward to…
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Continue ReadingA Summer Sipper To Be Shared With Friends Pink Lemonade Sangria is the perfect porch sipping drink. Made with frozen strawberries and mango along with some crisp apples and zesty lime, this is THE batch cocktail to make for all your Spring and Summer events. Porch Sipping Summer I used to live in a 6 unit condo with a large balcony in a very eclectic community. One of my favorite things to do was to mix up a batch of this Pink Lemonade Sangria. I often enjoyed it all by myself on my back porch. The porch, which I named…
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Continue ReadingA New Cheese Dip That Will Impress Your Guests Whipped Parmesan and Honey Pecan Cheese Dip is made with Parmesan, cream cheese, and a touch of soy sauce for the ultimate umami flavor. A hint of smoked paprika and black pepper take this cheese dip to the next level while the toasted pecans on top add the prefect nutty crunch. Parmesan, The BEST Snack One of my favorite snacks has always been a really good quality Parmesan, sliced thin, topped with honey and black pepper. This combination graced many a wine night at my home. I decided to turn it…
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Continue ReadingA Delightfully Easy Dessert If I have said it once, I’ve said it 100 times: I can’t bake. So when I saw these Three Layer Brownies all over Pinterest I knew two things. One was that I had to make them and two was that I needed to find a shortcut. This is where box and ready-made mixes come in. If youére like me and you canét bake but you also want to make delicious baked treats, then this is the secret cheat code youéve always needed. Thereés a recipe card with all of the ingredients and instructions at the…
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