For the past two weeks, I’ve had some serious issues with sleep.

I don’t know what’s up, but it’s not good. I just can’t seem to actually do it.

Stress? Nah, not really. Anxiety? I mean…maybe…I dunno? But every night when it’s time to go to bed, I totally choke.

I just end up lying there for a few hours before my mind gives up and body wins.

My sleepy-but-can’t-sleep ritual has officially become googling cat videos. I mean, I do this when I’m not trying to fall asleep too, but late at night it’s juuust way more fun.

So a few nights ago when I was just minding my business watching those typical videos of cats giving surprise faces, I came across this video of cats…just straight going to town on honeydew popsicles.

HONEYDEW POPSICLES!!

Random, you say?!

Totally.  But maybe these cats know what’s up!!!

So with cats and honeydew popsicles on the brain, I figured I should do us all a favor and make ‘em, right?

Yes, yes…I think so.

You’ll need a honeydew melon. This is waay easy.  Scoop out the guts.

Chop it up, add it to a blender and squeeze some limes. This adds a little zing to the sweet melon. Yumalicioustown, USA.

And a little simple syrup never hurt no one. If I were to make this next time I might scale down the simple syrup juuuust a tad.

It wasn’t a huge issue but I like things less sweet than normal. If you’re like me, scale it down to 1/8 of cup.

I love control.

At the very last minute, I added some mint that was on its deathbed. I didn’t want to bite into gigantic leaves, so I blended it.

That was a pro move, right there, by the way. It ended up adding these little specs of mint throughout the popsicles that add this awesome layer of refreshingness (word? probably not).

And then…and then!! I just pushed it through a sieve/strainer and poured the mixture in popsicles molds.

These popsicles are zingy, limey, minty and super refreshing…and the color is just this gorgeous hue of light green. Beautiful!

No wonder those cats were in luuurve.

Hope you all have a safe and wonderful 4th of July!!

xo

Adrianna

P.S. A Cozy Kitchen might be acting a little wonky this weekend because some crazy changes are going to be happening. On Monday, fingers crossed, there’s going to be a whole new bloggy blog. Can’t wait for you to see!

Honeydew Lime Mint Popsicles

Recipe adapted from Gourmet

Yields 6-8 popsicles

Print this recipe!

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup water

1 (3 1/2-lb) ripe honeydew melon, peeled, seeded, and cu

1/4 cup of fresh lime juice

1 handful of mint leaves

In a small saucepan, over medium-low heat, add water and sugar and cook until dissolved. Take off heat and set aside.

Blend half of melon and half of lime juice in a blender until smooth. Add syrup and remaining melon, lime juice and mint and purée until smooth. Force purée through a fine-mesh sieve into a 2-quart glass measure or bowl, pressing on solids and then discarding them.

Pour mixture into molds and freeze until slushy, about 2 hours.

Insert sticks, then freeze Popsicles until completely hardened, at least 6 hours.

So…you may have noticed that I’ve been MIA lately. It’s also possible you haven’t noticed since if you’ve been too busy drooling over A’s more recent recipes.  At any rate, the short story is that I got a call to come back to NC for a 3-month job, and had only 5 days notice before I needed to start. If you’re trying to visualize what that must have been like, picture this:

Me, running around my apartment throwing whatever random clean clothes I had into suitcases.

Me, getting giddy with excitement about getting to be in Asheville for 3 months over the summer!

Me, crying because I’m not going to get to go to Cinespia this year.

Me, packing 4 pairs of high heels, which I wear almost never, and only two pairs of flip flops, which I wear every day. I, of course, will not realize this until I am all the way across the country. This will happen at the same time I realize I have 10 dresses to wear on the weekend, and only 3 pairs of jeans to wear during the work week. Packing fail.

So, to kick off my Southern summer, I give you this recipe: Hashbrowns – scattered, smothered and covered. Most of you will remember these from one too many late nights at Waffle House. For those that haven’t had the pleasure, this is what I typically would eat in college whenever I found myself still awake and hungry at 3am. As to what I had been doing to keep me awake that long…umm…I plead the fifth.

Here’s all you need to know: These are potatoes fried in a pan (scattered), topped with sautéed onions (smothered) and cheese (covered). Seriously delicious, even if you eat them at a more respectable hour of the day.

Hashbrowns – Scattered, Smothered and Covered

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Serves 2

1 russet potato, scrubbed and grated.
½ cup chopped onion
½ cup shredded cheddar cheese
¼ cup of canola or olive oil

Fill a large bowl with water and liberally add some salt. Soak the potato shreds in the salt water bath for about 10 minutes to draw out all of the starch. Drain, and then squeeze all the moisture out of the potato using a clean dish cloth.

Meanwhile, heat about 2 tablespoons of oil in a large pan and sauté the onion over medium heat for about 5-10 minutes, until the onions begins to brown. Remove from the pan and set aside; wipe the pan clean with a paper towel.

Add another 2 tablespoons of oil to the pan and bring up to medium high heat. Scatter the potatoes onto the pan and fry until they turn golden brown. Using a large spatula, flip the potatoes over, keeping them as together as possible. Scatter the onions over the potatoes and then top with cheese. When the other side begins to turn brown, transfer the hashbrowns to a plate. Dig in immediately!

Remember those homemade coupons booklets we’d give our mama on Mother’s Day?

Ya know, for stuff like “1 night of washing dishes,” or “breakfast in bed,” or “laundry washing.” I always felt really crappy giving my mom homemade gifts like that–because my 4th grade self knew that that stuff didn’t cost any money, and therefore, I thought it was kinda lame.

I wanted to buy her the shiny, pretty jewelry in those Zales commercials. My 4th-grade self was totally their target audience, apparently.

FAST FORWARD!

Now, I’m old enough to know that my mom would love to be able to cash in one of those coupons. ‘Cause that’s all mamas want when their little ones move out and move across the country–they just want time…time to talk, to hang out and talk some more.

So this is my digital, grown-up coupon for my mama. Next time I see her I’m gonna make this sandwich for us; it’s jam-packed with stuff she loves.

Now, I know I just said all that and here’s a picture of raw chicken. My mama doesn’t like raw chicken, but she does like dark meat.

I made this chicken curry salad with roasted bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs. Everyone knows that dark meat has more flavor. It’s just one of those facts of life, ya know?

BUT…alternative alert: you can also make this salad by boiling boneless, skinless chicken breast. OR you can grab a rotisserie chicken from the store. Chicken part will totally be donzo.

Whether you do the rotisserie thing, thigh thing, or breast thing (I understand that this sounds weird), chop or or shred the cooked chicken.

Take your chopped onion, chopped apple, yogurt, salt, curry, pepper, lime juice and mix.

P.S. For all you mayonniase haters, this recipe is actually for you.  My mom isn’t a huge mayonnaise lover, so I made this with yogurt instead.

When you mix it all up, this is when you get powerful. Yes, you…

Meaning, if it’s a little dry for your taste, add more yogurt; if you want it a bit more spicy, add more curry, though, I thought both were perfect for my taste. I did add more salt. But I loooove salt. So you should do this to taste, too.

Next you’re gonna fold in the dried cranberries and chopped walnuts. If you don’t wanna do the cranberries, you can swap it out for dried blueberries, dried currants, or fresh grapes.

Flat leaf parsley! Freshness! Fold…

If you or your mom is super dainty, then maybe you wanna do a little open face sandwich situation.

Or sangich it together and eat the shiz out of it.

Happy Mother’s Day to all of you fighting the good fight, raising, teaching and guiding little humans through each day. Amazing. The whole world reaps the benefits of your labors.

xo

Adrianna

P.S. Below you’ll find a bunch of recipes that you also might enjoy this weekend!

Ginger Lemonade topped with a splash of cucumber juice.

Chicken Curry Salad

Print this recipe!

2 lbs of chicken thighs (approx. 4 thighs)

2 tablespoon of olive oil

Dash of salt and pepper

1/4 of a white onion, diced

1/2 of a green apple, diced

3/4 a cup of yogurt

2 tablespoons of curry powder

1 teaspoon of salt

1/4 teaspoon of pepper

1 handful of dried cranberries

1 handful of walnuts, chopped

1 handful of flat leaf parsley

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the chicken thighs (or breasts) on a baking sheet and rub the skin with olive oil and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, until the chicken is cooked. Set aside until cool enough to handle. Remove the meat from the bones, discard the skin, and dice the chicken into bite-size pieces.

In a bowl add the chicken, diced white onion, diced green apple, yogurt, curry powder, salt and pepper and mix until combined. Fold in the cranberries and walnuts. Then fold in the flat leaf parsley. Serve in between two pieces of bread or on a bed of mixed greens.

Salted Caramel Mousse because what mom doesn’t love chocolate?! Bonus: it has salted caramel all up in it.

Lemon Pizza! Eating lemons might sound weird. But slice ‘em thin, with creme fraiche and smoked salmon. Hells yes! I like to serve this as an appetizer.

And then there’s Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake. This thang is amazing. It’s definitely the most moist (<–gross word) cake I’ve ever eaten. And the icing is heavenly.

If you’re having brunch with your mom, I suggest this Dutch Baby with Lavender Sugar. It’s as girly as it gets. I lurve it.

And then you can wash all of it down with this sweet, tangy Watermelon Limeade.  It’s simply perfect.

CINCO DE MAYO in the hiiiizzz-ouse.

I know what you want. You want something Mexican, and cheesy with salsa…maybe something that’s even sprinkled with cotija cheese and avocado…

But I don’t have that. I’ve got nothing of the sorts. I had plans to do this, I swear. But something happened. A heat wave came ploughing through LA with 90-degree temperatures, and all I had the desire to do was to drink like, everything in the world. Not alcohol-wise, but like, lemonade, iced coffee, limeade, watermelon raspberry slushies, etc.

I did have a plan, though–it involved lots of shredded pork, a fried tortilla and lots of cotija cheese. I didn’t make that, obvi. It was too hot. I’m sweating now just thinking about standing over a hot stove with even hotter oil.

Instead I made this…for lunch…and dinner.

Ginger Limeade with a side of Guacamole and chips. The perfect I’m-too-hot-to-eat snack/meal.

And really, it’s kind of amazing even if you aren’t sweating.

Let me explain…

You squeeze the limes until you have about 3/4 of cup of fresh lime juice.

Then there’s a ginger syrup you’ll need, which is just made of water, agave (or sugar) and minced ginger. If you want more ginger flavor let it simmer for 5 minutes; want less gingery flavor? Less time. Easy peasy!

Combine the rest of the water, ginger syrup and lime juice together…and BOOM! Ginger Limeade!

Other good ideas: juice a half of a cucumber and top if off with cucumber juice! Yum!

Or…add some tequila, gin, or vodka. All good ideas.

And then garnish it with something you kinda want to eat while you’re drinking. I chose a slice of a cucumber, candied ginger and a slice of lime.

Welcome to yum-town, population: YOU!

Ginger Limeade

Recipe tweaked from Gourmet

Print this recipe!

3 1/2 cups water

4 tablespoons of agave (or 3/4 cup sugar)

2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger

3/4 cup fresh lime juice

Thin lime slices for garnish (optional)

Cucumber slice for garnish (optional)

Candied ginger for garnish (optional)

In a small saucepan stir together 2 cups of the water, agave (or sugar), and the ginger, bring the mixture to a boil, and stir.  Let simmer for 5 minutes.

Strain the syrup through a fine sieve set over a bowl and let it cool. In a pitcher combine the cooled syrup, the remaining 1 1/2 cups water, and the lime juice and stir the limeade well.

Divide the limeade among the tall glasses filled with ice cubes and garnish each drink with a lime slice, cucumber slice and/or candied ginger.

Other options include: adding a splash of soda water; adding booze (gin!); or the juice of half of a cucumber.

 

It’s Friday, sunny and I’m sipping on iced coffee. All is amazing in the world.

I bought you something.

Yea, YOU! I wasn’t talking about the person behind you.

I figure you’d like a little something to kick start your Spring baking.

I bought you polka cupcake liners and pretty striped ones for all the pink cupcakes that you’ll be making.

Umm…did you know edible glitter existed?! I didn’t until a few days ago. Sprinkle it on top of icing, or mix it in cake batter. Glitter cakes, glitter cupcakes, EVERYTHING glitter.

And for all the limeade, milkshake makin’ you’ll be doing this Spring, I figured you needed some cutesy straws. Duh.

Leave a comment by Sunday at noon. I’ll pick a random winner. Simply answer this question:

“What sort of Spring/Summer dishes are you most looking forward to whipping up?!”

xo

Adrianna

Update: Ann Goodman is our winner! Congrats, Ann!

Her comment:

“I look forward to the middle of summer when we pick wild blueberries in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. There is nothing better than a wild blueberry pie. The blueberries don’t need much assistance to be wonderful — just a little sugar, a pinch of salt, a splash of lemon juice and some lemon zest. OMG! I don’t know of anything better.”

I have had a decidedly not-cute week. First, I got a cold. The first morning with said cold I was out attempting to walk my dog when I tripped and fell in a HUGE puddle. So, so not cute. Oh, and to the guy that that was stopped at the intersection and drove off WITHOUT helping me: I understand that you were probably paralyzed with laughter and couldn’t get out of your car, but help a girl out next time, okay? I of course got up and tried to pass the other dog-walkers like nothing was amiss. As if I typically spend all of my morning walks dripping water from half my body.

Then I went to work. You know what you do at work when your nose is stuffed up with a cold? You mouth breathe. You ever really though about how not-cute mouth breathing is? Very. Especially when you zone out in front of your computer and have an empty glaze over your eyes while doing it. Seriously people, this is reason alone to stay home from work when you’re sick.

Yesterday I tried to buy myself some new lip stain from Sephora to pull myself out of this not-cute funk. I succeeded only in getting bright pink lip stain on my jeans. I’ve now accepted that  it’s just not happening this week.

However, I do have these cookies. These cookies are really cute, and full of Easter fun. And, they have Cadbury milk chocolate eggs in them, which cures all. Even this stupid cold.

Chocolate Chip Easter Egg Cookies

Print this recipe!

Chocolate chip cookie recipe adapted from Better Homes and Garden

1/2 cup  shortening
1/2 cup  butter
1/2 cup  granulated sugar
1 cup  packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon  baking soda
2 eggs
1 teaspoon  vanilla
2-1/2 cups  all-purpose flour
1 cup  semisweet chocolate pieces
1 cup Cadbury milk chocolate eggs, broken into pieces

In a large mixing bowl beat the shortening and butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add the brown sugar, granulated sugar, and baking soda. Beat mixture until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in the eggs and vanilla until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in remaining flour. Stir in chocolate pieces and broken egg bits.

Drop dough by rounded teaspoons 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in a 375 degree F oven 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and let cool. Makes about 60 cookies.

I made this sandwich for charity!

And not just any charity, but my favorite charity here in Los Angeles called Beyond Shelter.  Their mission is to combat homelessness in Los Angeles–and if you’ve ever been to LA you know that it’s a very large problem. Beyond Shelter helps families with everything from housing and employment to kitchen supplies, childcare and clothing. They basically assist families with everything that goes into getting a second chance.  Yay, for second chances, right?

Since I’ve now convinced you that Beyond Shelter is the most awesome charity ever, this means you now must vote for my sandwich (even if you’re a vegan and don’t eat chicken) at Momversation.  The poll is on the right handside of the page. If my sandwich wins Tyson Chicken will grant Beyond Shelter $5,000!!! That’s a lot of money. We can do this!!

And to top it all off…you can watch a video with me talking about the sandwich.  Awwwwkward.

P.S. Watching myself on the internets will never make me NOT cringe. Like hearing my voice on an answering machine. Terrible.

P.P.S. This soundwich is actually perfect for The Super Bowl. It has a blue cheese aioli.  Chicken tossed in hot wing sauce. It’s simple, easy and amazing!

Game Night Buffalo Chicken Sandwich

Yields 4 Sandwiches

Bleu Cheese Aioli
1 cup of bleu cheese, crumbled
1 1/2 cup of mayonnaise
Salt and pepper to taste

Chicken
4 Tyson Chicken Breast Fillets
Store-bought Wing Sauce

Sandwich
Good quality buns
Lettuce (sturdy lettuce like romaine)
Tomato

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 425 F.

For the bleu cheese aioli, grab a food processor and add the crumbled bleu cheese, mayonnaise, and, salt and pepper. Pulse for 10-15 seconds, or until thoroughly combined. Remove from processor and set aside.

On a baking sheet, place chicken breasts and cook in oven for 18-22 minutes. Remove from oven and toss with hot wing sauce. Then place back on the baking sheet and top with a slice of provolone. Place baking sheet back in oven at 400F and bake until cheese is melty.

While cheese is melting, smother on the bleu cheese aioli onto one half of the bread. Top with lettuce and tomato. Then add the chicken breast and top with the other half of bread.

There’s a scene an episode of the show “Six Feet Under” where one of the characters describes the perfect lunch as being a block of cheese, a crunchy apple and a piece of crusty bread.

Seriously, truer words have never been spoken. This is absolutely one of the best lunches you can have. Or snacks. Or…whatever excuse you wanna come up with to eat.

Let’s break it down for a second. First, you have a crunchy apple. You’ll wanna pick whatever your favorite one is. I’m a Gala girl myself, but I won’t judge if you prefer Fiji. I might judge a Golden Delicious. Sorry, I just don’t get those things.

BTW – if anyone has access to Honey Crisp apples, will you send me some? Those are the bomb, and apparently as rare as unicorns in LA.

Now we have cheese. You’ll wanna go with a nice sharp cheddar. It’s just better that way. And now the dark bread. If you can find a sweet pumpernickel that would be awesome, but a dark rye is good too. My bread wasn’t really crusty all on it’s own, so I grilled it for a just a bit to get that crunch.

Apple and Cheddar Crostini

Print this recipe!

1 large apple, cored and thinly sliced
1 block of cheddar cheese
1 demi-loaf of dark bread, or about 6 slices of a regular loaf
1 tablespoon sugar
¼ teaspoon cinnamon

In a small saucepan toss together the apple, cinnamon and sugar. Cook over medium-low heat for about 5 minutes, or until the apples are just beginning to soften. Remove from heat and set aside.

If using a demi-loaf of bread, slice into ¼” slices. If using full slices of bread, cut into quarters. Grill or toast the slices until they start they start to darken around the edges.

Using a vegetable peeler, slice away thin strips of the cheddar cheese. Build the crostini by layering the apples and cheese on the bread, in whatever proportions fit your taste. I prefer to go heavy on the cheese, but I won’t judge if you prefer more of the apple flavor.

This may have been the dumbest week to make soup considering that LA actually set a record for highest temperature ever recorded in the city. I have been lazing around my apartment in shorts and tank tops while the air conditioning has struggled to try and keep the heat at bay. And for some reason, I got an absolute hankering to make soup. Please note – this is perhaps the first time I have ever written the word “hankering”. I like it; expect more to come.

I can blame this soup entirely on Cafe Magazzino in Burbank. See, on Friday’s this place makes a tortilla soup that is good enough to bring tears to your eyes. I have actually woken up in the morning with drool sliding out of my mouth because I was dreaming about this soup. Okay, that’s kinda gross, but it totally happened.

Here’s my issue with Magazzino’s though – they are only open on weekdays and only for lunch. And that soup only shows up on Friday. So onWednesday   when I absolutely could not control my craving any longer I had to resort to making my own. This meant I had to stand over a hot stove in the middle of the day while it was 95 degrees outside. And then I devoured a steaming bowl of soup. That’s how much I love this stuff.

Since Magazzino’s won’t give up their recipe I had to come up with my own. This one turned out pretty good, although I after tasting it I wanted to tone down the onion and garlic flavor which I’ve reflected in this recipe. It’s thick and hearty soup that is full of flavor; way better than your average tomato soup. If it actually feels like fall where you are I suggest you give this a try.

Tortilla Soup

Print this recipe!

I only garnished my soup with tortilla strips, but a lot of people like avocado and/or cheese as well. I’ve never really caught on to the avocado-in-soup thing, but to each her own.

3 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup fresh onion, chopped
5 corn tortillas (6-inch diameter) coarsely chopped
1 28 oz can whole tomatoes
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 whole dried bay leaves
2 cups vegetable stock
1 quart water
Salt

Garnishes (optional)
3 corn tortillas, cut into strips
1 avocado, diced
Monterey jack or cheddar cheese, shredded

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Saute garlic, onion and tortillas for about 5 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring frequently. Blend with an immersion blender until smooth. (you can also blend in batches using a countertop blender)

Garnish with your choice of ingredients and enjoy!

There are a lot of remakes going on in Hollywood right now. Every week there’s a movie coming out either based on a book, or a remake of a classic older film, which isn’t exactly my favorite thing. I am definitely the girl that will read a book, go to see the movie, and spend the entire time making a mental list of everything that they changed. When I saw the movie version of “The Phantom of the Opera” I could even tell you when they had changed individual words in the songs. Yes, it bothers me. If something is good, just leave it alone. I see no reason why some snotty director or writer needs to come along and “make their mark” on a classic. Basically, I’m a big fan of the phrase “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Therefore it surprised even me when I decided to change up what is considered a Southern classic – peach cobbler. If you live in the South and manage to go an entire summer without eating a gallon of this, then you obviously live in some sad, dark cave and you have my sympathy.

However, this weekend as I started slicing the peaches to make a cobbler for the 4th of July, I had an itching to try something a little different. I knew it was risky, I mean, how do you improve on peaches and sugar baked in a pie crust? You wouldn’t immediately think that things could get much better. However, I found that if you add a little oatmeal to the crust, and a little almond liquer to the peaches, cobbler can actually achieve new heights in perfection. I guess sometimes a remake can be better than the original.

Peach – Almond Cobbler

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This crust recipe was tweaked from one that Joy the Baker recently posted since I thought buttermilk & crust was too heavenly a combination to pass up. I forgot to add butter to the filling and it turned out fine, but feel free to add a couple of tablespoons on top of the filling just before covering with the crust. It’ll add a nice creamy texture.

Crust:
1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter
¾ cup rolled oats
1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup cold buttermilk

Filling:
5 cups peeled & sliced peaches** (about 7 large peaches)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons amaretto
2 tablespoons corn starch
½ teaspoon cinnamon

To make the crust:

In a food processor, grind up the rolled oats until they are the consistency of flour. In a large bowl, sift together the oat flour, all purpose flour, sugar and salt. Cut the butter into cubes and blend into the flours using the food processor (you can also work the butter in with your fingers.) Once the flour-butter mixture begins to resemble coarse crumbs, place it back in the bowl and make a well in the center of the mixture. Add in the cold buttermilk and mix together with your hands. (yes, this will be sticky)

Roll the dough onto a floured surface and form into a rough disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least an hour. It will last in the refrigerator for 3 days if you decide to make it ahead of time.

To make the cobbler:
**If you aren’t sure how to properly peel & slice peaches, here’s the trick – blanch them first, by placing the peaches in boiling water for 30 seconds and then moving them directly to ice water. The peels should now come right off, and they’ll slice more easily. I simply used a paring knife to slice pieces away from the core.

In a large bowl, mix together all of the filling ingredients. Place in your baking dish. Roll out the dough until it is roughly ¼ of an inch thick, and then place it over top of the baking dish. Trim away the edges, and then flute the crust along the top with your fingers. Be sure that the crust hangs a little over the edge and that you press it firmly to the baking dish, otherwise the filling may bubble over and drip into your oven – you can tell I experienced this a bit with mine.

Beat an egg and brush the top of the crust with the egg wash. Bake at 375 degrees F for 40 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown. Serve with vanilla ice cream – mmm-mmm!