Based on the feedback and comments that I have received, I decided to compile the recipes that you loved the most.  If you didn’t make them when they were first published, you should try them now!

Happy New Year, friends!  Best to all of you in your kitchens and everywhere else you find yourself in 2024!

Lots of love,

Francine

Smoked Salmon Crostini

Smoked Salmon Crostini is a lovely appetizer that is simple, delicious, quick to make and gorgeous to look at!  I’m always on the hunt for easy appetizers and this is it!  I regularly make Beet-Cured Smoked Salmon and this is a perfect use for it.  You don’t need to make you own (but why wouldn’t you?  It’s so easy!) as any smoked salmon will work.  Continue Reading…

Chili Crisp Chicken Ramen

As the weather starts to cool, Chili Crisp Chicken Ramen is the perfect way to warm the bones!  The butternut squash broth is flavored with ginger, garlic and shallots. The chicken is crisped up in a Thai red curry and fish sauce coating.  The soup is topped with a crispy garlic butter.  All together it is a mouthwatering soup that you’ll make all winter long! Continue Reading…

Cherry Tomato Tartes Tatin

One of my new favorite appetizers is Cherry Tomato Tartes Tatin.  It’s easy to make and is so very tasty, especially with ripe cherry tomatoes!

This impressive appetizer is one you will make over and over again!

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Easy Peach Crumble Muffins

These muffins are easy, peachy, crumbly and delicious!!  Encase them in a pretty muffin liner and they are also summery and show-stopping!

You can substitute frozen peaches for fresh, so let’s make these amazing muffins!  

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Chocolate Chip Loaf Cake

This loaf cake is an easy way to answer that chocolate craving!  A moist, tender cake filled with bursts of chocolate and topped with a luscious chocolate ganache.  What could be better?  A tall glass of milk to go with?

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Grilled Chicken Caprese Salad

This delicious salad is a perfect recipe for year-round feasting.  The presentation is spectacular (don’t you agree) and the taste is soooo good!  Besides, it’s quick and easy to make and that’s a huge bonus!!!

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Shrimp Fried Rice

Shrimp Fried Rice is one of the easiest, tastiest rice recipes that I’ve found!  Combining cooked rice with seared shrimp and ham, peas, carrots and scrambled eggs, and finishing it off with a splash of soy sauce makes this the perfect light dinner or side dish.

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Strawberry Shortcake Cookies

If you only make one cookie this year (but who really does that?), you must make these Strawberry Shortcake Cookies!  Filled with both freeze-dried strawberries and strawberry jam, drizzled with strawberry icing and sprinkled with crushed strawberries, the delicious flavor of fresh strawberries is loud and proud!  They also look so pretty, don’t you think?  Continue Reading…

Glazed Carrots with Goat Cheese & Honey

These carrots are a beautifully flavored side dish that is so colorful and delicious!  Sautéing carrots with herbs and spices and then caramelizing in honey creates a mouthwatering accompaniment to any main course.  Top it with a lemony gremolata and it’s hard to beat for flavor and beauty! Continue Reading…

Scandalous Brownies

These Scandalous Brownies caught my attention from their original name.  Don’t shoot the messenger, but they were originally called Slutty brownies.  There are lots of recipes on line for them and there are lots of reasons for the name (such as there are so many different things that go into them ) but my favorite is because they are scandalously delicious!  Continue Reading…

Salmon with Basil Sauce & Tomato Salad

This salmon recipe is a lovely, all-in-one dinner that will satisfy everyone!  A spice-rubbed salmon is baked and then plated with a fresh summer tomato and corn salad and topped with an herby basil sauce.  Add a rice pilaf or grain of any kind and you have everything you could want on the plate!  Continue Reading…

Chocolate-Dipped Croissant Biscotti

These Chocolate-Dipped Croissant Biscotti are the most delicious treat I’ve had in a long time.  They are beyond easy to make and create quite a hubbub when folks try to figure out exactly what they are!

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Eggs Benedict

One of the most traditional breakfast items to order in a restaurant is Eggs Benedict.  But, why not make it at home?  Because you think it’s difficult?  Because who could poach an egg as well as a restaurant can?  Because a Hollandaise sauce is tricky?  Let me set the record straight that this is easy, very easy, to make! Continue Reading…

Strawberry-Glazed Pink Velvet Cake

How pretty is this cake?  It’s delicious and gorgeous and easy!!  It’s a surprise cake…when you cut into it and see that lovely pink color, you know you’ve arrived at dessert heaven!  This is a simple vanilla buttermilk cake that’s been brushed with a yummy strawberry glaze. Top it with an almond buttercream. It’s delicious, gorgeous and should be on your list for next dessert to make!  Continue Reading…

Sheet Pan Eggplant Parmesan

This eggplant parm is a delicious, healthy and simple way to make this traditional Italian favorite.  By broiling or grilling the eggplant slices to achieve a nice char and then layering the eggplant, mozzarella, tomatoes, marinara sauce and garlicky breadcrumbs, you have a sensational dish that is easy enough for a weeknight dinner but delicious enough for a weekend party. Continue Reading…

What happens when a bestie invites you to Sonoma, CA for a girls trip to include your two sisters, Robyn and Janet?  That’s easy…you say YES and hop on the plane!  That’s the little excursion that my sistahs and I took last month and I must say that not only did we enjoy incredible food and experience stellar wineries, we kinda tore the town up!  They very gently took away our key to the city and kindly suggested we not return.  I’m confused as to why exactly that happened but things can get a little whacky when we are all together.

But, I digress…

Our friend, Fran (not to be confused with me, Francine) summers in Sonoma.  She and her daughter, Tiffani, created an amazing itinerary for us to enjoy for three glorious days and nights.  For me, the best part was that I didn’t have to think or be in charge…Franny so sweetly took care of all the details.  And, I must say, she did an extraordinary job!  In this blog, I want to focus on the wineries, as they were so spectacular!

The first winery we visited was Scribe.  https://scribewinery.com/

The setting of this winery was stunning, and the wine tasting was situated in the Hacienda.   This winery, which was founded in 2007 on a property that pioneered pre-prohibition Sonoma Valley winemaking, is managed by 4th-generation California farmers and brothers, Andrew and Adam Mariani. We were greeted by the hostess with a lovely glass of 2018 Rose of Pinot Noir.  It was so refreshing and crisp!  We were seated at a perfect table on the patio and our tasting, which was paired with food, began.  By the way, we were going to dinner in 3 hours, so while we tried to temper the amount of food we consumed to save room for dinner, it was just too darn good to leave anything behind.  Our wine pairings matched the food pairings so perfectly.  This was a very impressive way to begin our long weekend!

The next morning, we got to experience Ram’s Gate. https://ramsgatewinery.com/ What an exquisite winery!  While appearing to have a rustic design sense to it, the interior, which was created by award-winning interior designer Orlando Diaz-Azcuy, incorporates eclectic furnishing and fixtures to make it inviting and sophisticated at the same time.  

This winery focuses on small-lot Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs.  The grapes are sourced from esteemed vineyards in Sonoma County and Carneros.  And the resulting wines are spectacular.  As with Scribe, the location of Ram’s Gate Winery offered up a gorgeous view of the Sonoma Valley.  It was pure bliss!

We finished up our wine-tasting journey at Hamel Family Wines.  https://hamelfamilywines.com/

To say that this winery is unique is an understatement.  First off, it’s very contemporary in it’s styling,  which is unusual for this area.  It has a chic dynamic to it, from the entry bar to the patio with the negative-edge fountain.  The wines are organic and biodynamic, and when we toured the wine cave, we were given the low-down on how they create these lovely wines without introducing anything that would offend the environment.  Speaking of the wine cave, it was as architecturally interesting as the rest of the winery.  Row upon row of oak casks created an elegant visual.

Our wine tasting included Rose, Sauvingon Blanc, Zinfandel and their red blend, Isthmus and was paired with a snack of house-made Ricotta cheese sprinkled with Sonoma Coast Sea Salt.  I dream of that Ricotta!!

If you have the opportunity to visit this winery, be sure to ask your Estate Ambassador about the love-affair with badgers…yes, I said badgers!  It’s an interesting story!!  

Although this wasn’t a wine tasting, I highly recommend spirit-tasting at Prohibition Spirits Distillery.  Not only was it fun and unique, they have some amazing spirits!  They offer a number of different takes on limoncello, a unique lemon flavored digestif, as well as whiskies, rum, brandy liqueurs, gin and more.  Definitely do not pass on this activity!  http://www.prohibition-spirits.com/ 

Sonoma is a little slice of heaven…the restaurants and shopping, the spectacular landscapes, the wineries and the people who inhabit this beautiful locale.  Sonoma should be on everyone’s bucket list.  I know I’ll be back…soon!

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