Lisa Cavallari

Author Archives: Lisa Cavallari
- W.O.W. Chateau De La Coste: Margaux
  
  Posted at 6:16 am by Lisa Cavallari
  
  Sep 16th
  Wine On Wednesday is back! It’s been over a month since my last post on wine and, frankly I needed to detox a little. 😉 In all seriousness, where has the time gone? I feel like school just started, but soon it will be a month that my oldest has been back with her classmates. Then I thought that with school starting I would have plenty of time to write. Ah, no. Extracirricular activities, homework, volunteering at school, etc. Where the heck is the pause button?!
  
  So this wine was a gift from a dear friend along with a very cute wine glass for simply picking up her mail and watering some plants while her family went on vacation over the summer. Michelle Y, I will gladly do that for you any day and a gift is never expected or necessary… but always appreciated.
  
  This wine is produced in the Margaux appellation of the Bordeaux region. This wine is soft, subtle and elegant with flavors of lush berries and a hint of cinnamon. The blend is 50% Cabernet, 45% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc. A very easy wine to drink with asparagus wrapped in prosciutto, mushroom risotto or pair with Montrechet (goat) cheese.
  
  My palette is still adjusting to appreciate the softer wines so here’s my rating:
  
  🍷🍷🍷 out of 4 wine glasses.
  
  Cheers!
  
  Credit: Edvwines for their serving suggestions.
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  Posted in Wine | Tagged Chateau De La Coste, Margaux 2010
- S’mores Bars
  
  Posted at 9:00 am by Lisa Cavallari
  
  Sep 7th
  Happy Labor Day! Are you taking it easy this weekend or finishing up some projects around the house? We are doing both. School and life schedules have been a little hectic lately so it’s kind of nice to tackle a few home maintenance tasks and still enjoy some relaxing downtime with the family.
  
  With fall coming up, I thought I would share a recipe that has turned out to be my husband’s favorite. The old-fashioned S’mores are fun to make, but these S’mores bars take that dessert up a notch. Let’s call it the gourmet version for adults.
  
  Enjoy your day however you choose to spend it!
  
  Recipe from Cooking Classy
  S'mores Bars
  - Servings: 9
  - Time: 40 minutes
  - Difficulty: moderate
  - Print
  Ingredients:
  
  1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  
  3/4 cup fine graham cracker crumbs (just run them through the food processor)
  
  1/4 tsp baking soda
  
  1/4 tsp salt
  
  1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
  
  1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
  
  1/4 cup granulated sugar
  
  1 tsp vanilla extract
  
  1 large egg
  
  1 7 oz jar marshmallow Fluff
  
  3 full-size Hershey bars (1.55 oz each)
  
  Directions:
  
  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8×8-inch baking dish. (You can line it with parchment paper for easier lifting and cutting, but if you plan to serve these bars straight from the dish, you can skip that step.)
  
  In a mixing bowl whisk together graham cracker crumbs, flour, baking soda and salt until combined. Set aside.
  
  In a separate bowl, cream together butter and sugars. Add egg and vanilla and mix again. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet until dough begins to form. Separate dough in half.
  
  Take one half and place in bottom of baking dish. You can use a flat-bottomed glass sprayed with non-stick cooking spray to evenly spread the dough out. Remove this piece of dough from your pan and place on a non-stick cookie sheet as you will be using this as your final layer.
  
  Now, take your other half of dough and press this into the bottom of your pan.
  
  Take your chocolate bars and place on top of the dough.
  
  Carefully spread out marshmallow Fluff evenly over the top of the chocolate layer.
  
  Bake in oven for 27-30 minutes, until top layer is golden brown.
  Here are the steps:
  
  Second layer.
  
  Third layer.
  
  Final layer.
  
  Enjoy! If I can make one more suggestion, use a spoon to get out the last bit of marshmallow creme to make your own peanut butter/Fluff sandwich. Remember those? Mmmm! So good.
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  Posted in Baking | Tagged S'mores Bars
- Tomato Bruschetta
  
  Posted at 8:09 am by Lisa Cavallari
  
  Sep 2nd
  The tomatoes in our house abound! From just one Roma tomato plant we have grown at least two and half dozen…and counting. Are you in the same predicament? What to do with all those ruby-red tomatoes?
  
  You probably already have most of the ingredients on hand to make Bruschetta. With a drizzle of olive oil, some minced garlic and a few other seasonings, you can start making a dent in that pile of tomatoes littering your counter. This recipe can easily be doubled or tripled for a crowd.
  
  Classic Bruschetta
  
  adapted slightly from Epicurious
  
  Ingredients
  
  4 ripe Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
  
  1 Tbl minced garlic
  
  1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh basil
  
  2 tsp fresh lemon juice
  
  1 tsp olive oil
  
  dash of red pepper flakes (optional)
  
  1 baguette, cut in 1/2 inch thick slices
  
  3 cloves garlic, cut in half
  
  Directions
  
  In a medium bowl, mix together tomatoes, garlic, basil, lemon juice, olive oil and pepper flakes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Allow to rest at room temperature for up to three hours to allow flavors to meld.
  
  Heat oven to 350 degrees. Toast bread on a baking sheet 5-7 minutes or until toasted to your preferece. Rub cut side of garlic on each slice while bread is still hot. Top with tomato mixture. Enjoy with a glass of wine. 😉
  
  Looking for more ways to use your tomatoes?
  
  Try my homemade salsa recipe.
  
  Or tomato basil soup. It freezes well too!
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  Posted in Cooking | Tagged Tomato Bruschetta
- Wine On Wednesday – Toasted Head
  
  Posted at 7:46 am by Lisa Cavallari
  
  Aug 5th
  N
  
  Yet another long overdue post to share with you all. This wine was a winner at a wine tasting from a few months ago. We did a blind tasting and this Chardonnay from Toasted Head blew the competition away. It tasted of toasted oak (obviously from the name) and creamy vanilla with a hot finish (again, refer to the label).
  
  We tried this wine again over the summer with a salad of spinach, feta, toasted almonds and a lemon poppy-seed vinaigrette. It was delicious!
  
  Rating: 3 1/2 out of 🍷🍷🍷🍷
  
  You can find this wine at any local grocer, or even Target for about $10.
  
  Sorry for the short post, but I have to get back to reading The Girl On The Train. So good!
  
  Cheers my dears!
  
  Thank you to Rochelle for introducing us to this lovely wine.
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  Posted in Wine | Tagged Toasted Head Chardonnay
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