Blog Posts by Kim Hamill

If I learned anything this weekend it is that wine makes moms happy. And wine popsicles make moms really happy. (Especially my mom, who enjoyed three of these.)

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We had the best weekend with lots of family and food. The best combo. THEM and I were very busy in the kitchen for a Mother's Day brunch. We made granola cups, blueberry cake, frittata (coming this week on LTM), and then we had these Wine Ice Pops. They were easy, fun, and delicious. I liked the Sauvignon Blanc/Peach best, but Dean picked the Pinot Noir/Blackberry/Blueberry as the winner. I guess we'll be making both all summer.

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I realized something a little strange about myself recently. Earlier in the week, my back was super tense and in the hope of preventing a migraine, I went for a massage. The masseuse was fantastic and at the end of the hour, she told me I was in terrible shape. My shoulder blades were tough as bricks. My back was spasming. My neck was beyond tight. And you know what? It was exactly what I wanted to hear. It was somehow validating. Am I crazy? Has anyone else everyone felt this or am I the only nut?

Then I made this tomato salad and my husband said it was better than any salad he'd ever had a restaurant. For a moment, I didn't believe him. I mean it was yummy, but better than a restaurant? But then I thought about how I believed the masseuse and decided to accept validation from my smarty hub too.

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Layered Tomato, Avocado, and Feta with Basil Oil
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
1 tablespoons finely chopped shallots
2 tablespoon balsamic Read More »from Very Validating Tomato Salad

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I do most of the cooking in our house. The only exception is on the grill. My husband is The Grill Master. All I do is prep the food and then happily collapse on the couch until dinner is served. Shortly after we moved in together, I realized how much I enjoy these nights. So began the hunt for more and more grill-required recipes. We tried several cuts of steaks, various rubs, chicken marinated every which way. But I needed more nights off which called for more creativity. Charred Mexican Corn. Check. Grilled Clams in Lemon-Ginger Butter. Check. And then one day I suggested something in desperation. Pizza on the grill. And it was crunchy, salty, and divine. We've since made several different types of pizza: plain cheese, fig & arugula, and my favorite is this BBQ chicken pizza. The only problem with my husband grilling is like any self-respecting chef, he wants me to do the dishes.
For more recipes and fun check out my blog Love U Madly!

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BBQ Chicken Pizza Pioneer Woman Read More »from BBQ Chicken Pizza

The other night I realized I didn't quite have all the ingredients or the focus I needed to follow the recipe I had planned on for dinner. So I did something I NEVER do. I cooked on the fly. I started pulling ingredients from the fridge, freezer, and pantry. And it worked. I found chopped meat, onion, tomatoes, half an avocado, cilantro, canned black beans, taco seasoning, cheese, fat free sour cream. That seemed like an obvious taco night to me except for the tiny little fact that I didn't have tortillas or tacos. I dug to the bottom of my freezer (mental note: time to clean that bad boy out) and found frozen dough (empanada discs) and voila the Sunday night taco cup was born.

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Recipe is a bit haphazard and you can change any of it based on what you find in your kitchen.

Preheat over to 350. Spray muffin tin and form a cup in tin with empanada disc (wonton wrappers would be great for this or anything that can act as a taco. I was going to use whole wheat wraps that

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My high school English teacher hated Alanis Morissette. That's NOT irony, he would scream. She's teaching an entire generation incorrectly! He went through each line of her popular song, "It's like 10,000 spoons, when all you need is knife." Not ironic! "It's meeting the man of my dreams, And then meeting his beautiful wife." Not ironic!!" An old man turned ninety-eight. He won the lottery and died the next day." Not ironic!!!

So he would have each of us stand on our chair and we couldn't sit until we could give an example of something truly ironic.

Organic coffee served in a styrofoam cup? Grape-Nuts cereal contains no grapes or nuts? A grocery store with no food?

I wonder what he would think of an Egg McMuffin made healthy. Would that allow me to sit in my seat? Or does that qualify more as an oxymoron? Quite frankly, I still don't know and I don't care, Mr. LaChance. The facts are that Alanis Morissette still rocks and I can make a healthy Egg McMuffin. Better yet, I can

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My sister once told my mom that she shouldn't compliment her own cooking, no matter how good it is. We do that kind of thing to my mom a lot. By "that kind of thing" I mean… we gang up on her. We roll our eyes. We poke fun. It's really rotten having three daughters. Last weekend, I made this Blueberry "Breakfast" Cake. It filled the house with the most delicious smell and as soon as I took my first bite, I couldn't stop telling Dean how good it was. Then I made him tell me several times how much he loved it. I finally heard myself and realized two things: 1. I am my mother. 2. It's nearly impossible not to pat yourself on the back when something is that good.

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Blueberry Breakfast Cake

½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tsp. lemon zest or more - zest from 1 large lemon
7/8 cup* + 1/2 tablespoon sugar**
1 egg, room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla (or 1 vanilla bean)
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. kosher salt
2 cups fresh or

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Enchiladas kind of scare me because:

1. I don't eat cheese so I could never order it in a restaurant.
2. They always look so messy.
3. I'd rather fill up on the salty tortilla chips and guacamole.

But my husband loves them. He even loves the frozen Trader Joe's ones (which I must admit are good but I'm scared to know what's actually in them). I found this recipe and now I can proudly say, I LOVE enchiladas. These are baked so they're not greasy at all, I can omit the cheese from my portions, and they are low-maintence so they can be made-ahead and reheated and they even freeze really well.

For more recipes and stories, check out my blog: Love U Madly

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Chicken Enchiladas
www.annies-eats.net

Ingredients:
1 medium onion, chopped fine
1-2 jalapenos, seeded and chopped fine
1 tsp. canola oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp. chili powder
2 tsp. cumin
1 tbsp. sugar
1 (15 oz.) can tomato sauce
1

Read More »from Drop the Chalupa and Viva Homemade Enchiladas

Though I was raised primarily Jewish (the Passover recipes will come later this week!), I remember the thrill of Easter egg hunts in my grandmother's backyard. My Dad's mom, Nannie, was a devout Irish Catholic lady who somehow ended up with three children who all married Jewish. But we were lucky enough to be able to celebrate with her. I remember the baskets stuffed with plastic grass and delicious chocolates. I remember a jelly bean guessing game (though I feel like this was at Friendly's, not Nannie's) and I remember digging up her garden looking for every last cadbury foil-wrapped egg. I can still taste the Entemann's raspberry danish twist Nannie always had waiting for us and I can still see the hiding spot she said was just for my crayons and coloring books. She passed away 15 years ago, but as I made these granola yogurt cups I couldn't help but think of how perfect they'd be for her Easter brunch.

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Almond-Honey Granola Cups With Yogurt and Berries
Adapted from:

Read More »from Granola Cups for Easter Brunch