Batter Licker

I’ve been admittedly absent lately. Important wedding decisions have been eating up my spare time. Critical questions, like whether to use aubergine or eggplant or plum linens, are getting answered. Choices, like whether to use vodka or tequila or champagne in my signature cocktail, are being made (in case you’re curious, I went with this). Methods of affixing mini floral clusters to jackets and dresses are being selected.

A pin? But then there will be a hole in the dress. A wrist corsage? But then it will be bulky and obnoxious to wear, especially while dancing. A magnet? Perhaps the best option, assuming not wearing a corsage is not an option. Technically, not wearing one is an option, but everyone else will be wearing them. So deal with it, or decide not to and save us $50. At this point, whatever.

But just as I’ve reached the “whatever, I don’t even care anymore” point in the minutia of wedding planning, it has come time to work on the part that I have most looked forward to and have more experience and confidence in making decisions about. Project Wedding Dessert Bar begins!!

Welcome to my month-before-the-wedding blog series. … Read the rest of project wedding dessert bar: part 1 (mexican wedding cookies) on BatterLicker.com!

On Sunday each week, I compile a grocery list, taking careful inventory of the contents in my refrigerator and pantry and cross-referencing them with the ever-growing list of recipes I want to try. But before I add ingredients to my list and recipes to my meal plan for that week, I force each recipe through the reality filter. On a week night, after a full day at work, a workout and possibly laundry or working a shift at Bar Method, I can’t always muster the energy or the patience it takes to cook a preparation-intensive meal and have it not be ready to eat until 9 p.m. Earlier in the week on a Monday or Tuesday, I can usually make it work. But come Wednesday and Thursday, fast and easy take priority. So on those nights, I shove my desire to innovate and experiment aside, and embrace familiar, fast recipes that allow me to eat dinner well before 9 p.m. Enter pizza.

While pizza is often associated with the unhealthy varieties featuring at least a half-inch thick layer of cheese and loads of fatty meats, they don’t have to be that way at home. And they don’t have to be boring either. You would be surprised how far a little dusting of cheese can go when you get a little creative with wholesome yet richly flavored ingredients.

… Read the rest of collard greens, black beans, and potato pizza with parsley pesto on BatterLicker.com!

Whether you count yourself among those who work hard or hardly work in the kitchen, a fresh pesto sauce that comes together after one minute of chopping and one minute of blending is something you have no excuse not to make. What I love most about pesto, beyond its fresh flavor and minimalist prep time, is its unlimited versatility, which extends not only to its uses but also to its ingredients.

… Read the rest of parsley, almond and sunflower seed pesto on BatterLicker.com!

If I had known breakfast could taste like a berry-vanilla milkshake, I would never have become a Pop-Tarts fanatic in elementary and middle school or a Cocoa Krispies junkie in high school or a leftover-pizza-for-breakfast snarfer in college. And that’s not even taking into account how quick and easy this smoothie is, much less the [...]