Black Bean & Corn Salad

It's time for a remake! Since I've started blogging back in January 2007, I've tried to feature a different recipe every time I post. With so many recipes out there I'd love to try, it wasn't hard to make a new dish everyday. However, I do have some standby recipes I enjoy making often. One such recipe is this Black Bean & Corn Salad. I recently made this for a Latin inspired dinner for family that's currently visiting from out of town. As always, it never fails and is a great side dish especially with Mexican and Latin inspired recipes...I originally featured this recipe on May 27, 2007, where this salad was enjoyed during a picnic pa

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French Vanilla Cake with Raspberry Filling

It's been a really hectic past couple of days in my kitchen, hence the lack of recipe posts lately. However I will be posting an explosion of recipes within the next couple of days, if not weeks to make up for it! For one, my sister and her family are driving in from Virginia and staying the week, so I've got some great meals planned during their visit. But before that, I've been working on a special baby shower cake for my friends Suzanne and Josh. They're expecting their first child, a baby girl, which they'll name Lily Grace. Suzanne and Josh had a baby shower today and I made their shower cake for the celebration. I was left to decide what flavor

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And the Taste of the Nation Chicago winners are...

Thank you to all the local Chicagoland folks that participated in the Share our Strength: Taste of the Nation Chicago giveaway! Two lucky winners have been randomly selected based on the number of their comment, in response to what one of their favorite restaurants is in Chicago. Find out who won and what culinary adventures are planned for What's Cookin, Chicago in August... It's been several months since I've been really active hosting events for our culinary group, What's Cookin, Chicago. I took a slight hiatus to focus on my rather challenging pregnancy but now that my little one is just about 3 months old (seriously, where did the time go?!), I'm

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Southwestern Chicken Stuffed Shells

Leftovers... you either love them or hate them! In our house, we like them and afford throwing away food as much as possible. So when we have a mish mosh of ingredients leftover, one way I like using them up is to come up with a filling of some sort. In this case, I had a few ingredients left over from a Tex Mex dinner I prepared. Looking what I had to work with, I made these Southwestern Chicken Stuffed Shells which turned out delicious!...These jumbo pasta shells are filled with a mixture of chicken, Monterey Jack cheese, cilantro, diced jalapeno, taco seasoning, corn, black beans, and cream cheese. Once the shells were filled, I topped them with sa

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Ginger Pork Spring Rolls

Vietnamese cuisine is full of refreshing flavor and perfect for hot summer days. It's been awhile since I've had some really good Vietnamese fare (oh, how I miss living in the city!) but the cuisine really isn't too difficult to make at home. One of my favorite Vietnamese appetizers is the fresh spring rolls, also known as Goi Cuon. Traditionally, they're made with a combination of shrimp, pork and vermicelli noodles. For an easier twist on the traditional recipe, I made these Ginger Pork Spring Rolls. Although not quite authentic, it's a great substitute...A common complaint I hear from friends who want to cook Asian cuisine at home is that some key

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I Don't Understand HOW This Could Happen: Autistic Man Dies Horrible, Needless Death in Hot Van

 I don't understand how this could happen.The Trentonian reports that a 20 year old autistic Middleton, Pennsylvania, man, living in a residential facility was found dead in the back of a hot van. He had attended an outing with three other residents and two counsellors, each counsellor responsible for only 2 residents. How could a person forget and leave one of only two persons in their care in a hot van? The matter is under investigation but what could possibly explain this result? I just don't understand."Police detectives are investigating the tragic death of an autistic 20-year-old client who had returned to the Woods Services residential fac

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Triple Citrus Cheesecake Bars

Citrus flavors are all the rage during the summer months for it's refreshing flavor. With the raves I received on the recent Key Lime Cheesecake Bars I made recently, I decided to make them again with a slight twist. I used a combination of lemon, lime and orange to make these Triple Citrus Cheesecake Bars. It's one of the best ways to highlight summer's citrus fruits!These were fantastic and so flavorful! I prepared the same recipe for Key Lime Cheesecake Bars where I made the substitution of changing out the lime juice and zest for a combination of lemon, lime and orange juices and zest. It certainly had more zest than the key lime version but it wo

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Texas Autism Filicide: A Mother of an Autistic Child Provides Perspective and Sound Advice

It is very difficult to read each and every news account of filicide, the killing of a child by his or her parents.  Sometimes the killings flow from bitter, nasty domestic relationships.  In some, perhaps most, the parents involved had mental health issues.  Each instance has to be examined on its own set of facts and, given the nature of the act,  by the appropriate legal and mental health authorities.  We should all be extremely careful not to make sweeping generalizations based on the personal characteristics of the individuals involved in a particular case. This week there are news reports of a Pakistani-American wom

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Toronto…the finale

So I told you I had fun when I was away right?  But unless you follow me on Twitter or on Facebook (Judy Chiappini) you may not know what exactly I was up to… It was a friend of mine’s birthday and he invited me to a party at his house… We had some dips (roasted red pepper and egg plant)… Some marinated and grilled shrimp… Grilled Octopus… Salads… (Photo courtesy of Paula @ Dragon’s Kitchen) (Photo courtesy of Paula @ Dragon’s Kitchen) Grilled Pork Belly… Homemade Chicken Gyro’s… with homemade tzatziki, tomatoes, and onions… And then came the cake… You see how lucky I am??? 

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Καινούργια οπτική γωνία

Καινούργια οπτική γωνίαΕΥΓΕΝΙΑ ΗΛΙΟΠΟΥΛΟΥΈνα ηλίθιο ατύχημα με καθήλωσε για αρκετές ημέρες σε θέση προσωρινής αναπηρίας. Διάστρεμμα δεξιάς ποδο-κνημικής .Το πόδι ακινητοποιήθηκε με γύψινους επιδέσμους και απαιτούνται 10 ημέρες ανάρρωσης και ξεκούρασης για να τελειώσουν όλα καλά. Εκτός από το ότι μουντζώνω τον εαυτό μου για τον τρόπο που τραυματίστηκα δεν μπορώ να μην παρατηρήσω πόσο πολύ άλλαξε η ζωή μου μετά από το συμβάν. Πόσο άλλαξε κυρίως η οπτική γωνία για πάρα πολλές δραστηριότητες εντός και εκτός του σπιτιού μου. Πόσο διογκώθηκαν και πήρανε τρομακτικές διαστάσεις κάποιες απλές κινήσεις όπως η περιποίηση του σώματός μου η το πότισμα των φυτών μο

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Best Ever Beef Dip Sandwiches

Number of hours cooking - 12 hours. Number of ingredients needed - 6 common ingredients. Number of pots/pans to cook in and clean - 1 slow cooker. Having an amazingly delicious dish on a sweltering summer day with little effort ... priceless. With the crazy heat these days I figured I'd use my slow cooker to make a meal and made these Best Ever Beef Dip Sandwiches. They certainly lived up to the name and who knew such a super easy recipe would result in something this good?!I've been trying to find ways to keep cool while preparing meals during this summer. What's really helped is using my slow cooker/crockpot since it doesn't heat up the kitchen an

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Rowing to Italy - A New Autism Blog You Should Follow

Blogs, including autism blogs, come and go. There are many out there.  I am very pleased to give a shout out for Rowing to Italy a new autism blog by a personal friend, Charlotte Robinson-Rocca. Charlotte is a dedicated mother and an autism therapist who  has been a major player in New Brunswick autism advocacy over the past decade. In addition to providing autism interventions to her own autistic children,  she has also worked with  other autistic children in New Brunswick. I am not going to get too specific in my description of Charlotte.  When Charlotte sees a problem to be fixed or a challenge to be addressed she does

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Cherry Cream Cheese Tart

 I look forward to birthdays... especially those that aren't even mine. My mother in law recently had a birthday and the family got together to celebrate the other night. As a special treat, I made this Cherry Cream Cheese Tart to share. It makes for a beautiful presentation and is a great summer dessert, which is even better if you make your own cherry topping from scratch.Out of convenience, I didn't have a chance to make a homemade cherry topping so I resorted to the canned stuff. But nonetheless the tart was really good! The crust is made with a mixture of flour, confectioners sugar, butter and an egg yolk. As for the filling, it's a straight

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Toronto…

Probably all of you know by now that I am Canadian and come from a city just outside (about 10 minutes) of Toronto.  I wasn’t able to make it up there last year and it hit me really hard so I was determined to make it up there for my Brother-in-Law’s and sister’s birthday this year… We hung out with dogs and family… Went to the beach on a very hot and hazy day… Swam in Marlene’s pool on a very hot and sunny day… Played at the Ontario Science Center (see how tall and thin we are?)… And we ate, oh did we eat… Recipe to come… Next up is the grand finale!  And what a finale it is…

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