It's the most wonderful time of the year!!!

Hello to those of you who are still faithfully checking in wondering where the hell I've been... Well summer has once again slipped through my hands like the drips of a cold popsicle on a warm day. It's August and gasp, I haven't written in 2 months. My apologies.... This does NOT, however mean I have not been cooking. I've made quite a few great dishes this summer. Most recently, I did a TV show where I showed viewers how easy it was to make End of the Summer Gazpacho.

Here's the recipe:
End of Summer Gazpacho

4 medium ripe tomatoes, chopped
4 cubes frozen garlic
1 English cucumber, peeled and chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 medium red onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded and chopped
4 cups tomato juice
1/4 cup or balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
½ tsp. cumin
kosher salt and pepper to taste
croutons


Place all ingredients in a large bowl and toss. In a blender or food processor, mix a few cups at a time until just slightly chunky. Add salt and pepper to taste and drizzle with olive oil before serving. Serve chilled.
Makes 4 servings.

I also made some extremely easy bite sized cannoli's from these cute little pastry cups I found at Stop and Shop of all places. They've created a great line of store brand items which are fab... These little cups are so versatile, if you're really in a pinch, you can even use tuna salad and shove a little spoonful in a cup with a little garnish of parsley and a dash of cayenne pepper. These cups make everything look beautiful.

This recipe is to make Cannoli Cups:

Mini Cannoli Cups with dark chocolate shavings


1 (15 ounce) container ricotta cheese
1 cup confectioners' sugar a.k.a. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 bar dark chocolate
1 package mini tartlet cups


Mix ricotta, sugar and vanilla in a bowl until well combined. Fill a Ziplock bag with mixture, cut a small hole at one end of the bag and squeeze mixture into cups. Using a vegetable peeler make shavings of chocolate. Garnish cups with chocolate shavings.

School is starting next week and I hope to be able to begin my daily dinnertime blogs again.

Try these 2 recipes, you can throw together an impromptu late summer dinner party with a few really cold beers.