With summer and summer produce in full swing, I have been taking advantage of making dishes that highlight all my favorite foods that are in season only this time of year. Two of my favorite foods that are best in the summer are farm fresh Heirloom Tomatoes and Basil. Basil and tomatoes go together like Batman and Robin and the addition of my favorite Italian Cheese, Burrata is just icing on the Batmobile (horrible metaphor but you get where I am going with this….). I originally was thinking of making this salad with my Basil Pesto, but decided to go the route of a Basil Vinaigrette instead (lighter, and more salad-like). I found a recipe for a basil vinaigrette from a fantastic food blog I love, and changed up a few things like using Spring Onions instead of shallots because, spring onions are also in season! Some other variations of ...

As I have mentioned in past posts, I recently partnered up with our friends, and local Organic Farmers over at Greenflash Farms. I provide recipes for their farm share program, and in return, I get 1 box a week filled with their amazing produce (bartering at its best). Springtime yields a lot of lettuce for the farm, so I have been making many salads each week, which I will admit, prior to this farm share, I barely ever made. I attribute my lack of salad making mainly to my bizarre and unprecedented hatred of making salad dressings (I don’t know why I dislike making salad dressing, but every chef has their likes and dislikes, and dressing is my culinary nemesis). So when I find a recipe that makes not only a tasty dressing, but also an EASY one, I go to my happy place, and we eat salads. I found ...

Urban Cookery has recently partnered with our friends and local Organic farmers over at Greenflash Farms! SUPER exciting! And yesterday I received our first box of local produce from their farm share program (typically known as a CSA)! For anyone who doesn’t know what a farm share is, you basically sign up for a weekly box from your farm of choice, which is filled with their current farm produce and other farm goodies! Anything from fruits, veggies, eggs, flowers or whatever else your local farm produces. Yesterday’s box was filled with some amazing green veggies, herbs and root veggies which put me in chef heaven planning out this week’s meals around all this bounty! The first thing I got excited about was the spinach. Huge, leafy greens that smelled like actual spinach (it’s amazing how different farm fresh food is from the grocery store stuff)…and for some reason, every time ...

I have been sick for the past 2 ½ weeks. I am not one to usually complain about not feeling well, but literally, this is the virus that won’t go away….and the worst part of it all, was that for the last 5 days, I couldn’t taste ANYTHING. Let me restate that, I couldn’t taste ANYTHING. If you gave me dog sh*t and a filet mignon on the same plate, and told me to eat them, I wouldn’t be able to taste the difference…. And after 5 days of this chef torture I was convinced my career as a chef was over and that I would never taste food again. I really don’t know what there would be to live for at that point (besides my family)….but seriously, imagine never being able to taste anything ever again?! HORRIFYING. However, after a wonderful turn of events, this morning when I woke ...

I truly love Indian food…. And every time my husband and I go out/order in Indian food I ALWAYS get the Chicken Tandoori. I have tried many times to recreate the flavor that a Tandoori Oven gives you, but have usually failed miserably, and longed for the days that we own a house so that I can install a Tandoori Oven in my backyard (I am not kidding). However, over the past week I have been experimenting with various flavor combos and I have not only come up with a perfect Tandoori taste, but I have to say, this might be one of the best dishes I’ve ever cooked in general. The Tandoori flavor I was able to get from this dish was due to two components: My newest discovery is Tandoori Paste (pictured below) – this paste is clearly magical, and by combining it with a variety of spices, ...

Last week, my daughter had an impromptu play date at a classmate’s house. I hate showing up anywhere empty handed, but I didn’t have time to run out to the grocery store to pick up supplies, so I had to come up with something from the stuff in my pantry. Baked goods are always a hit with kids (and the mamas) so I decided to go sweet, and landed on making Muffins. I’ve made lots of different muffins before…. Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins, Zucchini Muffins, Banana Muffins, Fall Spice Muffins…. But I wanted to make something I KNEW would be a hit with the kids (especially my kid who is Captain McPicky-Pants). My first thought was: Cinnamon Bun Muffins. Not sure how my brain took me there, but it did and I am glad it did! I’ve made Homemade Cinnamon Buns before which were BEYOND delish, but those are a ...