By Ari, on February 28th, 2012%
“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” – John Lennon
So true. So very, very true.
As some of you now know, John and I are expecting an addition to our family this fall (!!). September, to be exact. Which means that as of this week, I have survived the first three months of pregnancy. Hooray!
 (Beign-yay! onesie courtesy of Baby Laing’s aunt from New Orleans!)
My initial reaction to being pregnant was as follows: “Omg, I’m going to vomit nonstop for months while simultaneously becoming a large whale.” (I also imagined my loving, wonderful husband running to the store at some obscene hour to buy me ice cream, but that has yet to happen. No worries, we’ve still got 6 months to go…)
Continue reading Life Changes
By Ari, on February 24th, 2012%
You know the saying, “When life hands you lemons, make lemonade,” right? Well when life (read: your amazing, wonderful friends) send you homemade fettuccine with sage and a wild mushroom and sage olive oil, what do you make?
Isn’t the answer obvious?! Mushroom and sage fettuccine!
And you make it immediately. Continue reading Mushroom and Sage Fettuccine
By Ari, on February 21st, 2012%
Pistachio. Ice cream.
You heard me. Continue reading Pistachio Ice Cream
By Ari, on February 20th, 2012%
Do you own a slow cooker?
I bet that most of you do. Continue reading Bourbon-Honey BBQ Chicken
By Ari, on February 13th, 2012%
Remember that time I made soft pretzels? They were good. They were really, really good.
Some of my friends had the genius idea to turn them into pretzel bites. And who doesn’t love finger food?!
So when I came across this recipe - pizza pretzel bites – it would not be an exaggeration to say that I squealed a little with delight and quickly informed John that I had to make them. Like now. And by “now”, I meant the upcoming weekend.
And I did.
And they were delicious!
These definitely require a bit of prep, but it’s so worth it. Again, not exaggerating. Continue reading Pizza Pretzel Bites
By Ari, on February 10th, 2012%
Are you ready for the simplest salsa recipe ever?
Not only does it call for canned tomatoes (don’t be a skeptic — this makes your life super easy!), but other than a little knife work, everything gets thrown into a food processor, pulsed a few times, and that’s it.
That’s the whole recipe. Combine ingredients, pulse, chill for an hour, eat.
Continue reading Salsa
By Ari, on February 2nd, 2012%
I realize this has nothing to do with the big game that’s taking place this weekend… but I made vanilla extract!
It’s not much to be proud of, really. It took me all of 30 seconds to throw together.
Combine sliced vanilla beans and plain vodka in a container. Store in a warm place and give the bottle a shake daily. In two months (or thereabouts), you’ll have the most intense vanilla extract ever.
Here it is on day 1:
Two months later:
A little darker, a lot more intense, and ready to contribute to many baked goods here at Tasty Retreat!
And the best part? Whenever you run low, just top off the bottle with more vodka. I can’t believe I had never made this before.
Not bad for a 30 second recipe, eh? Well, 30 seconds plus two months.
Continue reading Homemade Vanilla Extract
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(Beign-yay! onesie courtesy of Baby Laing’s aunt from New Orleans!)
