Smoked Salt & Pepper

A few weekends ago, Reid and I went to a techniques class at Williams-Sonoma.  Technique classes are basically free classes where they teach you...you guessed it...cooking or baking techniques.  You should check one out at your local store:  Williams-Sonoma technique classes .  The one Reid and I attended was on how to make homemade pasta.  The pasta dough recipes I'm posting here are from the handout they gave us.   Williams-Sonoma Classic Fesh Egg Pasta Recipe  and  Williams-Sonoma Fresh Spinach Pasta .  The Alfredo sauce recipe is from Food.com.  Better than Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce Recipe .  Did you know that Alfredo was a chef who created Alfredo sauce for his picky pregnant wife by tripling the butter and cream in a traditional pasta sauce? Thanks, Dinner Party Download ! Dinner Party Download is an awesome Podcast, and I highly recommend it to everyone.  It starts with an ice breaker joke, has a drink inspired by histo...

One of my former lacrosse teammates, Lizzy, introduced me to pizza dip.  She would bring it to lacrosse parties and get togethers and pretty much any other time we could beg her to bring it.  It's amazing! You dip tortilla chips in the dip and it literally tastes like pizza.   In your mouth.  But on a tortilla chip.  We used to have "Fun Food Fridays" on some of our rotations at vet school, which is pretty much an excuse for residents and interns and the doctors to get fed by the 4th year students.  Anyway, I brought this 1 or 2 times and it was a hit.  I also brought this to work once when we had a pot luck day.  It's super easy to make and definitely a crowd pleaser!  Great game day food, too.  I altered Lizzy's recipe a little by adding oregano and dried basil to the cream cheese base. Pizza Dip Ingredients: 8 oz. softened cream cheese 1 tbs dried oregano 2 tsp. dried basil 3/4 c. tomato sauce 1&1/2 c. shredded mozzarell...

So you know how I love my new ice cream maker? Well, if you didn't, I do.  I've made blueberry pie ice cream  and vanilla ice cream.  My favorite so far is this salted caramel ice cream recipe from  http://espressoandcream.com/2012/07/salted-caramel-ice-cream.html .  It's really good.  My parents were in town once after I'd made some and my dad kept on saying I needed to start selling it.  Yea, it's that awesome.   I think my dad even told my sister about it and said we needed to start selling it.  Hah! The first time I made it the cream boiled over on my stove and made a huge mess, so watch it carefully! Don't leave even if you really have to go pee!  Also, the first time I made it I was really paranoid about the chunks of caramel that remained after adding the cream, but the second time I wasn't too worried and it turned out fine.  Espresso and Cream does not say when to add the vanilla, so I guessed.  Also, some of the dir...

Ok, I've been really slacking on my posts lately, so I'm about to unload so many. Hope you're prepared. I found the inspirations for this recipe on Pinterest at  http://cookingbride.com/main-courses/tequila-lime-skirt-steak/ .  I googled Tequila Lime Steak and also found a Food Network recipe here:  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/grilled-tequila-garlic-lime-flank-steak-recipe/index.html  and kind of took from either one what I liked.  The result was a really delicious, flavorful, tender steak that both I and Reid really liked.  It was very easy to put together.  Plus, it uses skirt steak, which is super cheap! I served it with some roasted corn on the cob and potato salad I had made earlier in the week. Tequila Lime Steak Ingredients: 1&1/2 lbs. skirt steak 2 minced garlic cloves 1/4 cup tequilla 1 tbs. Worcestershire sauce 1/2 c. squeezed lime juice (2-3 limes) 1 tbs. soy sauce 1 tbs. brown sugar 1 pepper (Guy Fieri's rec...