The kitchen.  It’s where I do a majority of my… standing.  

Standing and staring.

Standing and staring and spreading cream cheese onto Wheat Thins.  

Standing and staring and eating cream cheese and Wheat Thins until I come up with a recipe and post idea.  

If you were a fly on my kitchen wall… well, I wouldn’t like that very much… but you would probably think that a) I have very few brain cells firing with all of the standing and staring I do and b) I have an unhealthy relationship with cream cheese.

You might be right about the brain cells…  I won’t argue that the standing and staring is a strange process.  But the cream cheese?  Yea… I’ll admit I have a bit of a problem with cream cheese and crackers.  I’m trying to break the habit with chick peas and olive oil and mint and parsley.  I think it’s working.  I really think it’s working. 

Delicious.  Delicious.  Crazy delicious.   This spread is hummus meets pesto meets lemon meets delicious.  

Ooh… and it’s totally healthy too. Dang! 

This spread  is creamy without the cream, a little tart, a little herby and all sorts of satisfying.  On warm spelt tortillas… it’s my new favorite thing.  For serious. 

Chickpea, Mint, and Parsley Spread

     Martha Stewart Living, May 2007

     Print this Recipe!

1/2 cup olive oil, plus more for drizzling

1 medium onion, coarsely chopped

4 small garlic cloves, coarsely chopped

2 cups chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1/3 cup fresh mint, coarsely chopped

1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, coarsely chopped

2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt

fresh ground black pepper

warm pitas, bread or crackers

Heat 1/4 cup olive oil in a sauce pan over medium heat.  Add the onions and cook until very soft, about 8 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook for another 2 minutes.  Add the rinsed and drained chickpeas and cook for another 3 minutes.  Remove the mixture from the heat and let cool for 15 minutes.  

Put the chopped mint and parsley into the bowl of a food processor.  Add salt, pepper and lemon.  Add the chickpea mixture.  I have a smaller food processor and did this in two batches, dividing all of the ingredients in half and blending it twice. 

With the machine running, blend all of the ingredients and add the remaining 1/4 cup of olive oil in a slow and steady steam, allowing it to emulsify.  Spread can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 days, or transferred to a serving dish, drizzled with olive oil and served with warm pita or warm spelt tortillas (pictured).

These bourbon laden treats were inspired by two things:  those still spring, but almost summer days that give you a hint at just how blazing hot this summer is going to be, and… this weekend’s Kentucky Derby.

Here’s what I know about Spring:

It’s green.  Once we get past the Easter Bunny stage, it’s all about blooming flowers and May showers.  Spring makes me feel like I’m in love with the world… probably because I am.

Here’s what I know about the Kentucky Derby:

Horses.  Hats.  Mint Juleps.

Here’s what I know about bourbon:

Dang, it’s good!

Here, for your Spring and Derby pleasure, are Mint Julep two ways.

The first is a classic Mint Julep cocktail.  If you’re from the South and think that somehow this recipe is not a classic version, then please accept my humble apologies as a native Californian.  This is the (ooooh so delicious) way I’ve had Mint Juleps foreva-eva-eva.

The second version is all of the Mint Julep fix-ins on watermelon cubes.  Brilliant, right?  So refreshing, so fun, and just the perfect way to get ready for the summer sun.

Mint Julep, the cocktail

makes 1 drink  adapted from Chow

Print this recipe!

• 3 sprigs fresh mint
• 1 teaspoon water
• 1 teaspoon superfine sugar
• 2 ounces bourbon
• club soda or filtered water
• sprinkle of powdered sugar

Muddle the leaves from two mint sprigs with teaspoons of water and sugar in a highball or collins glass.

Once the mint is bruised and the mixtures is super fragrant, fill the cup with ice cubes.  Pour in bourbon, and top with club soda or water and garnish with the remaining mint sprig and a sprinkle of powdered sugar.

Mint Julep, the watermelon

adapted from Gourmet May 2005

• 2 tablespoons bourbon or blended whiskey
• 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh mint plus 2 tablespoons whole small fresh mint leaves
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 small, seedless watermelon (about 2 pounds of diced watermelon, I just used a small mixing bowl full of diced melon)

Stir together bourbon, chopped mint, and sugar in a small bowl. Let stand 20 minutes (to allow flavors to develop).

Meanwhile, trim, peel, and dice a watermelon.  Place in a medium mixing bowl.  Pour bourbon mixture through a sieve onto watermelon. If you leave the chopped mint in the mixture, pour it all over the watermelon, and don’t serve it immediately, they’ll eventually turn brown and icky.  I learned the hard way.  Add whole mint leaves and gently toss to combine.  Place in the fridge to chill until serving.

I went into this post practically kicking and screaming today.  Let’s be honest-  sometimes the words flow, other times it’s a task just to get myself to sit in the chair long enough to post a few words and photos.

This whiny, kicking and screaming, can’t-even-stand-myself feeling seems to be a Labor Day holiday signature of mine.  See, the holiday represents the end of summer.  I’ve always had enormous jubilation for Memorial Day, the unofficial kick off of summer, and great disdain for it’s holiday evil doppelganger- Labor Day.  When I was a kid, we would always have to return to school the Tuesday after Labor Day.  The end of summer and the return to school always seemed like a great tragedy to me.  I’m talking Hamlet level tragedy.

It would seem that the feelings of that 9 year old, who can’t come to terms with her new backpack and Trapper Keeper have followed me to adulthood.  I still don’t like Labor Day.  I still have a hard time coming to terms with the end of summer.  But now I get to add alcohol to the mix.

My Oh My.  Cucumber Raspberry Vodka Sparklers.

I hope you all have a lovely Labor Day weekend.  Be safe.  Be sound.  Don’t kick or scream.  That doesn’t help anything.  Trust me, I’ve tried that approach for the last 27 years.

Cucumber Raspberry Vodka Sparklers

makes 4 cocktails.  do share.

inspired by Martha Stewart

Print this recipe!

• 2 English cucumbers
• Small ice cubes
• 1 cup loosely packed fresh mint leaves
• 12 fresh raspberries, rinsed
• 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice (from 2 to 3 limes)
• 4 ounces (1/2 cup) vodka
• 1 ounce (2 tablespoons) Cointreau
• 1 large bottled sparkling water (this recipe is not terribly sweet, so you can use lemon lime soda if you’d like more sweetness)

1. Cut 4 thin spears from 1 cucumber, and reserve for garnish. Peel remaining cucumbers, and quarter them lengthwise. Scrape out seeds with a spoon, and discard. Coarsely chop cucumbers, then puree in a food processor until smooth. Strain through a fine sieve, pressing on solids to extract as much liquid as possible.
2. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add mint, sugar, raspberries and lime juice, and shake. Add 3/4 cup cucumber juice, the vodka, and Cointreau, and shake. Strain into 4 glasses filled with ice.  Finish with a splash of sparkling water in each glass and stir. Garnish each cocktail with a cucumber spear.

I absolutely LOVE Memorial Day weekend. It’s like all the good things in the world come together in one weekend. I look forward to this three day weekend at the start of May. Not only is it my birthday weekend, but it’s also the unofficial start of summer, the start of outdoor grilling and parties with friends, and just all around good times.

If I had a lake anywhere near me, I’d be down at the lake all the time, just so I could say, “I’m going down to the lake!” That feels like an ultra summer thing to say. Lake or no lake, I feel a beautiful summer coming on.

And as if I couldn’t get more excited, I’ve discovered I can make ice cream cupcakes! These little gems are really easy to throw together and you can make them with any flavor combination you can imagine. The only slight downside is that they melt (as ice cream tends to do) when they’re not in the freezer. Melting won’t be too much of an issue because these don’t tend to stick around long. I’ve already eaten 5, and the party isn’t until Sunday.

How to Assemble Ice Cream Cupcakes

Print these instructions!

Start with cupcakes. I made mine mini cupcakes in a tiny muffin pan, making 2 bite ice cream cupcakes. You can use a regular sized cupcake pan if you like! You’ll just have bigger treats.

Make any sort of cupcake batter you like. I used cake mix (gasp!) because… I just did. Spray the muffin tins with nonstick spray. Fill the muffin tins only half as full as you normally would. For the mini muffin tins, this means using a little less than a teaspoon of batter. For the regular muffin tins, this means using about 1 Tablespoon of batter. Bake cupcakes at 350 degrees F and check them after 8 minutes.

Remove the cupcakes from the oven, let cool in their tins for 15 minutes. Loosen the cupcakes by running a knife along the edges of the muffin cups. Make sure that none of the cupcakes stick to the pan, but keep the cupcakes in the cupcake pan, cover with plastic wrap and put in the freezer for 3 hours, or overnight is best.

Remove the cupcakes from the freezer when you’re ready to use them. If some of the cupcakes have domed up while cooking, remove them from their cup and use a small serrated knife to even out the top of the cupcake. Ideally, you’d like to have 1/2-inch little cupcake bottoms.

Remove the ice cream from the freezer to let soften before filling cupcake tins. Leave on the counter for 10minutes or defrost in the microwave. When ice cream is softened, use a quick hand to spoon and flatten ice cream on top of the cake. It’s a little messy, but don’t worry about that. When all of the cakes are topped with ice cream, return to the freezer to harden. I left my ice cream cupcakes in the freezer over night, but give them at least 4 hours.

Be creative and top your cupcakes with anything you like. Whipped cream, chocolate ganache or caramel would be lovely.

To remove the ice cream cupcakes from their tins, warm a small sharp knife under hot running water. Run the warm knife along the edges of the ice cream cupcake until it’s easily lifted out of it’s tin. This isn’t too hard a process, mine practically jumped out. Place the cupcakes on a plate and return to the freezer for 15 minutes.

Remove from freezer and apply whatever topping and decoration suits your fancy. I chose chocolate ganache and colored jimmies. Apply the topping and decoration quickly and return to freezer on the dish you’d like to serve them on. When ready to serve, remove from freezer and eat promptly!

Update: If you’d like to make ice cream cupcakes in cupcake liners, I wrote another tutorial.  Here it is!