Some HUGE news...

I'm beyond thrilled to tell you that I am writing my first cookbook, titled Siriously Delicious.

I'M WRITING A COOKBOOK!

Sorry for shouting at you, but this is the type of news that requires the caps lock button, and happy dances, and celebratory handfuls of chocolate chips (which I guess are different than my regular handfuls of chocolate chips?).  Even to say it out loud, or to see the words on paper, makes me feel giddy.  I am writing my first cookbook, and I am so excited to finally share this news with you.

I am working with TimeInc Books, and the process has been incredible so far!  From recipe development, to taste testing (hard job), to our first photo shoot last week... it has been one pinch-me moment after another.  One of the most incredible was having the gloriously talented Ellen Silverman shoot our lifestyle and cover shots (the magical force behind some of my favorite cookbooks).  

Here she is at work...

Mr. Photobomb...

I can't wait to share more of the process with you as we move forward, so continue to check in here or on Instagram or Twitter.  And come back tomorrow for a perfect summer pasta dish!  Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to go eat more chocolate chips, and I think you should too.  

Glowing Skin Green Smoothie

Did you know we are old?  I don't mean to collectively group "us" together, because I know "we" are all different ages.  But whatever that age is, it's older than you used to be (what up, Debbie Downer!!?).  I'll never forget the day I realized that I was older than the fictional characters in The Baby-sitters Club books.  It was mind blowing.  There was just no way I could be as cool and mature as Kristy, Mary Anne, Claudia and Stacey, and don't get me started on Dawn from Cali (sigh).

That sudden awareness of my age still happens as I get even older.  Like when college students suddenly look like babies (and it's even possible you could be the incoming freshmen's mother).  The day you realize professional athletes are actually much, MUCH younger than you.  Or even that mom friend you see every day and you just assume you were born on the exact same day because you both have kids and then you realize she's not even in her 30's yet.  And so on, and so forth.

My point is, I feel young, which is good I guess!  But sometimes I'll have those long, stare-at-your-face in the mirror, somber moments and it will again occur to me... I'm older than I used to be.  One of my new year's resolutions was to take better care (or ANY care) of my skin.  I'm usually so tired by the end of the day that I'm lucky if I brush my teeth.  But I keep vowing to wear some masks, exfoliate, put on night cream, I don't know, something.  Anything!  Enter, this smoothie.

I have to admit something: I am not a smoothie person.  Or a juice person.  I like to chew my food.  I like to chew it reeeeeal good.  It has always seemed like a lot of work to make a smoothie in the mornings when toasting a bagel requires little to no effort.  Alas, as I slowly become a Golden Girl, I've decided I need to embrace all of the different ways of the world, like the smoothie ways.  And I'm glad I did!  This took me MINUTES to make, using mostly frozen fruit, fresh avocado (which we always have on hand), a handful of spinach and coconut water.  Best part?  It's supposed to make my skin glow, so my goal is to try one for breakfast every day this week.  Check out my Instagram for the before pic... and next week I'll post a transformed photo in which I look exactly like Dawn from The Baby-Sitters Club.      

You can find the recipe HERE.

p.s. This kept me full for HOURS, which is Breaking News in my world.  

Chocolate Peanut Butter Layer Cake

When is your birthday?  Is it lumped next to another holiday, like Christmas or Halloween?  My mom's birthday is Cinco de Mayo, which always lands relatively close to Mother's Day.  When we were kids, our neighborhood held a block-wide garage sale, and so just as my mom was attempting to rid her house of junk, we went to other people's homes and bought her junk... for her birthday and Mother's Day... one big lump of junk.  Happy Mothers-Birth-Day!  She really deserves an Oscar for her thank you speeches.  Similarly, Carson's birthday is June 22nd, which usually falls extremely close to - if not on - Father's Day.  I think I have guilt over buying my mom someone else's hand soaps, or worn tennis t-shirts for 75 cents, so I make an EFFORT to separate the two for my husband.  I capitalize "effort" because it's not always easy.  This year for certain reasons we had to celebrate both in one weekend, so I knew I needed to bake an epic cake.    

This cake, THIS CAKE!!!  (Imagine I'm violently shaking your shoulders and shouting in your face.)  It is just absurdly good.  It's my friend Audra's recipe (Audra, it's cool that I call you my friend even though we've never met, right?) and she basically NAILS IT as my son would say.  If you like the chocolate and peanut butter combo, then you will die over this cake.  The chocolate cake layers are perfectly moist, and in between each is a layer of thick chocolate ganache and peanut butter frosting.  Nothing is overly sweet, but it is rich and indulgent and a chocolate lover's dream.  Please bake this for the next lumped celebration in your life, or... for no reason at all.      

Recipe HERE.

Spinach and Shrimp Risotto + TODAY

Ohhhh, here we are again.  Morning time.  For those of you with kids, when you hear that pre-6am "mama, mama, mama, mama," do you ever think, hmm, maybe today the breakfast fairy will whisk them out of bed and change their diapers and prepare a meal and I will be able to sleep for another 20 minutes.  Do you ever think that?  Yeah, me neither, that's weird and silly.  Anyways...

We're up!  And it's all good.  I actually needed to get up early to prepare for Father's Day weekend, which is also Carson's birthday weekend, so tonight I'm baking him a cake and I can't wait to share it with you next week.  In the meantime, if you missed my Father's Day segment with Carson on the Today Show yesterday, you can find all the recipes here.  Easy surf and turf... our kind of meal!

p.s.  That is a risotto my mom made while she was visiting last week.  IT WAS DELICIOUS!  She followed this recipe but added peas and pancetta (the latter she cooked in the beginning and added at the end).  I hope you all have lovely weekends celebrating the dads in your lives!  Go dads!  

Cauliflower Topped Shepherd's Pie

Happy March!  I was REALLY looking forward to this month, mainly because our February was taken over by all sorts of sicknesses.  I thought, we just need a new month... a month that signifies the beginning of spring, perhaps?  Then we will ALL be healthy and well and bursting with energy!  Right.  Last night both of my daughters had high fevers and kept me up all night long.  Thanks, March the First, thanks a lot.  

Oh well, I will not let this get me down.  I will be positive!  I will decorate my house with tulips and shamrocks and easter eggs!  (Who am I kidding, those decorations have been up for weeks.)  So in honor of these upcoming holidays, particularly the one where we all wear green and pretend we're super Irish, over the weekend I made a Shepherd's Pie that I've made before here, only this time instead of topping it with mashed potatoes I covered it with Cheesy Mashed Cauliflower.  Want to know a secret?  I'm eating it for breakfast.  Want to know why?  Because all of the photos I took over the weekend turned out blurry and I needed a shot for this post.  

The things I do in the name of blogging.  

However, it's a delicious breakfast, and it was a delicious dinner, too!  I really don't miss the potatoes, and I don't think you will either.  I do miss healthy kids, though, come on March...   

Veggie Burgers on TODAY

Hello Blogging World!  I have been SIRIously absent, as I'm sure you've noticed.  February has been a month of highs and LOWS in our house.  It started with Carson getting the flu, BIG time: low.  Then there was my 35th birthday: high!  Err, I guess?  Then our middle child had a 6-day fever: low.  Aaaaaand, then the baby got it: low, low, low.  After that, we flew to Pebble Beach, California to watch Carson play in a golf tournament: major HIGH.  During which, I came down with a really bad cough: low (imagine me on the golf course - a very silent setting - ducking into the forest with the deer trying to suppress a coughing fit).  I think I even cracked a rib or two from all the hacking!  Low!  Valentine's Day: blegh.  Now our son, who seemed to escape all the sick, has gone down: lowwwww.  Too many lows.  Anyone else ready for spring??

But this morning, I was at the Today Show: high!!  I made two different veggie burgers and some rutabaga fries (recipes here) and it felt so great to be back in the kitchen.  Once I knock this jet lag, I plan on making all the things I've been dreaming of these past few weeks.  So come back!  Don't forget about me!  (Photos by Samantha Okazaki)   

Wedding + Cake

This blog has been quiet as of late, but it's because I've been gorging myself on food and drink, spending time with a house full of family and GETTING MARRIED!  After 10 years and 3 kids, Carson and I surprised our moms with a tiny Christmas Eve "Eve" wedding, and it was perfect.  Thank you all for the nice wishes you've posted on Instagram and Twitter!  

So now that I can finally TALK about it (my GOD that was a hard secret to keep), let's discuss how for the longest time I convinced myself I was going to make my own wedding cake.  I was all, OMG I'm totally going to do it and it will be a challenge, but also super fun, and I'll blog about it and YAY! Then the date crept closer and closer and oh, SO DID CHRISTMAS, and I became a ball of stress trying to finalize last minute wedding details while shopping for gifts.  I wisely decided, along with the advice from my new husband, that in fact making my own cake would not be fun but would be TERRIBLY HORRIBLE.  So I turned to a pastry shop in Long Island and requested a wintery three-tiered cake with three different fillings (white chocolate, fudge and cannoli).  The only major bummer was the cake topper I ordered never came, so here's my mom holding up an image of what it should have looked like...  

Perfect, right?  These photos were snapped after our photographer left, but all the black and white images that have been posted online were shot by the INCREDIBLE Pete Thompson.  What a great and immensely talented guy, I can't say enough good things about him.

So, that's where I've been, I will be back to blogging regularly after New Year's.  Until then, keep eating, drinking, and have a Happy and Healthy New Year!

Dress and jewelry were J Crew, hair was done at Dry Bar and makeup was done at Sephora :)