Recipe of the week: Lemony vegetable salad

I realize I've neglected my blog for the past couple of months.  I've been really busy and it's been a hard couple of months.  My daughter's best friend past away the end of April and we have all been devastated, plus it was the end of the school year and we moved.  Whew, finally trying to catch my breath here.  Anyway, I made this the other night, and it came out great.  It would make an easy and refreshing addition to your 4th of July celebration.  A Votre Sante!

1-2 peeled and thinly sliced cucumbers
1 zucchini thinly sliced (use 2 if yours is small)
2-3 thinly sliced tomatoes
2 thinly sliced carrots
1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 Tbsp olive oil
3-4 large basil leaves cut into tiny strips (Chiffonade)
salt
pepper

I used a mandolin slicer for the vegetables so they would all be the same thickness.  For a 1/2 cup of lemon juice I needed 3 lemons.  I put all the vegetables in a large bowl.  In a smaller bowl stir the olive oil and lemon juice together, add salt, pepper, and basil.  Pour over vegetables and toss well.  The longer it sits the better it tastes.  Mine only sat about 30 minutes before we ate it.  Enjoy.

Recipe of the week: S'more Cupcakes

I love s'mores, they are hands down one of my favorite desserts.  I've looked and looked for a recipe and couldn't find one that I liked, so I had to improvise.  Last year I had dinner at a restaurant in Los Angeles called The Six, they had a very rich version of a s'more and I wanted something along those lines, not your typical milk chocolate thing, so this is what I came up with.  

The taste is every thing you remember from the campfire, only without the campfire and a tiny bit more sophisticated.  Let me know what you think.  A Votre Sante!

S'more cupcakes

Graham cracker crust (base)

1/3 cup melted butter

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (I used Trader Joe's honey graham crackers)

Cupcakes

You can use any chocolate cupcake recipe or boxed mix you like this is my favorite recipe.  I didn't have any  unsweetened chocolate, and I try to use what I have so I used 3 oz (approx 1/2 cup) dark chocolate chips and added 2 Tbsp of unsweetened cocoa powder.  Since you have the graham cracker crust you have to fill them a little less, you can probably make a few more, I think I made an extra three, just fill the empty spaces with water so they still bake even.  Bake as directed or until a toothpick comes out clean.

For the top:

I wanted to use what I had, which was large marshmallows, more chocolate and the left over graham cracker crust.  So instead of letting them cool, I cut the marshmallows in half, the first time I tried it I used 2 and 1/2 marshmallows which was too many because they slid off in the oven....second time around I used 1 1/2.  Put them back in the oven, set to broil and watch them closely.  I think mine took all of 4 minutes until they were golden brown.  While they're in the oven melt another 1/4 cup of dark chocolate (about 45 seconds in the mircrowave).  Once they're out, drizzle with about 1 tsp of the melted chocolate and top with a little bit of the leftover graham cracker crumbs.  Let cool for at least 30 minutes.  Voila, s'more cupcakes.  Enjoy!  I took them to a Fourth of July party and they were a hit!!!

This was attempt #1 with more marshmallows, I said I needed to work on the presentation....both were equally yummy so as always, play with your food, and let me know what you think!