Baked Brie that will Melt your Heart as it Melts in your Mouth!

Ok…this recipe is SOOOO easy, and SOOOOO good!  If you are a lover of cheese and brie, you have got to try this one.  Purple Wine Bar is a restaurant here in Seattle that has a really fun menu, and one time, I tried their fabulous Baked Brie and this is my attempt at recreating that most delicious of appetizers!   I have made this for parties, bridal showers, baby showers, and just for dinner and every ounce of it is always devoured right before my eyes!  You can use any Brie in this recipe, but the softer and meltier the better in my book!  If you cannot have Dairy, you can even use a Goat cheese brie to make this.  I have done that before while cooking this for my family, a few of which are lactose intolerant.

I usually use a homemade apricot jam in this, made by my wonderful mother.  However, you can use any good apricot preserve you have or I know that seedless raspberry or plum jam would be good with this as well!  I am doing a double batch blog today, showing one baked brie with Apricot Jam, and the other with a Fig Spread in it.  YUMMMM….my mouth is watering and I think I will now take a break to go and eat a few more bites of the Baked Gooey Goddess that is sitting on my table!  Be back in a Jiff!

German Ranch Potato Salad

Potato salad is one of those foods that is definitely a summer food.  It shows up at BBQs, beach days and parties all throughout the summer months…and then sort of goes on hiatus for the rest of the year.  I had never made it myself until this summer when I started playing around with different ingredients to make a potato salad for the 4th of July.  In making this salad  I was trying play with some flavors that I have enjoyed in German Potatoes as well as using a ranch base instead of a really mustardy flavor.

We were in Germany last year and in the little town of Fussen, I ate the best potatoes I have ever or probably will ever eat!  I have since tried to recreate the flavors in those German potatoes at various times and have deduced that they were made with Butter, Red Wine Vinegar, Bacon and Onions among other things.   Now I did not put Butter in my potato salad, but included the other ingredients and using a ranch inspired dressing, this is what I came up with.  IT IS DELICIOUS!!!!  If you have been searching for a go to potato salad recipe…look no further!  It was hard to cover it up and put it in the fridge because my husband and I were hungry and wanted to eat the Whole Bowl!  However, we did show some restraint and were able to take MOST of it to the 4th of July BBQ the next day. ;0)  This is certainly a salad that is just as good day of  if not better…so don’t feel like you HAVE to store it overnight.  I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Pad Thai that is easy and delicious!

This is the final installment of my Thai Recipes and the Grand Finale!  Pad Thai is one of my favorite foods and so it took me awhile to find one that satisfied the craving as much as my favorite Thai restaurant.  I looked up 10 or more recipes online, took the common denominators from all of those and then started experimenting until I found a mix that hit the spot!  Now, you might need to visit an Asian market to find all of these ingredients. If there is not an Asian market in your town, then you can also order them online.  With this post, I am going to take a little time explaining some of the ingredients so that you can be sure you have found the right ones.  Also, as with all recipes, experimenting on your own to find out what flavors you like and don’t like will be necessary as you make this dish your own!  This recipe will be a winner I PROMISE, and will be well received by your family and friends.  Keep in mind that Pad Thai is best made in small 1-2 serving batches so it does take awhile if you are feeding a lot of people.