Glide Zen

Anything that contains the word "Caprese" in the recipe title, I'm in. I love Caprese entrees and appetizers and I love a hot off the griddle grilled cheese. When the two are combined together you get an intensely delicious sandwich that you won't easily forget. Obviously you don't have to use fresh bread as I listed in the recipe, but I figure if you are going to fill a sandwich with fresh mozzarella, fresh tomatoes and fresh basil then you may as well keep a good thing going. Looking for a delightfully simple and quick lunch or dinner idea? Look no further because it doesn't get much easier than grilled cheese and this is grilled cheese done right. Enjoy!   Caprese Grilled Cheese Yields 1 serving Ingredients: 2 slices fresh bread (I recommend sourdough or rustic white bread) 3 oz fresh mozzarella, sliced into rounds or grated* 4 - 6 Roma tomato slices 1 Tbsp chopped, fresh basil ribbons freshly ground black pepper, to taste 2 tsp extra virgi...

Is there anything like a delicious, made from scratch Thanksgiving meal? Many people settle for the stuff that comes out of a can or a box, and that's just it, it's settling. If you find yourself to be one of those people that is settling, I would highly recommend this year you give the homemade alternative to the pre-packaged and processed Thanksgiving foods a try. The two are a night and day difference. Like this for instance, one comes in the shape of a can while it's homemade opponent has a spoonable texture and begins with fresh fruit. Not to mention this is unbelievable easy to prepare.  Cranberry sauce and turkey were made to be together. It's another Thanksgiving must. Here's a few random ideas if you happen to have any left over cranberry sauce after the holiday: spread over toast or pancakes serve warm over chocolate or vanilla ice cream spread in a turkey sandwich  make into a dressing or  vinaigrette spread over a cream cheese layered ba...

I'm not a huge casserole fan but this is the best sweet potato thing I've ever eaten! It's time for dinner and I would rather just skip the dinner meal and have a heaping plate of this in its place. I would be happy if this were the only thing I had to eat for the thanksgiving feast =).  Growing up I never cared for sweet potato anything but that has definitely changed. Now I say it's a Thanksgiving must! It's basically a dessert that passes for a side, so how could you not love it?  This recipe is a pretty basic recipe. I chose not to add in any spices, cream, citrus or even vanilla because I didn't want to drown out any of that incredible browned butter flavor. Some of you may be thinking this girl puts browned butter in everything. And I say, well why not? My motto: if it's going to have butter it may as well be browned. There are some exceptions to that but not many. Browned butter enhances everything that's lucky enough to contain it's goo...

Looking for a new favorite cookie recipe? With these, I know I've found one of mine. This is a cookie that will melt in your mouth as you savor every last exciting flavor it has to offer. It's loaded with decadent, rich, browned flavor (from not only the browned butter but the browned sugar of the caramel). I love the pairing of browned butter and caramel because they are both forms of browned ingredients. They just makes sense to go together don't they? The coarse sea salt takes these to a whole new gourmet level. You get lots of sweet with a delicious sprinkle of the perfect amount of salty. These cookies are simply amazing all on their own (without the Salted Caramel Frosting) but the silky frosting just adds so many exciting flavor compliments to the cookie that they just shouldn't to be made without it. Enjoy and share! Browned Butter Crinkle Cookies Yields just over 2 dozen cookies Ingredients: 1 cup salted butter, diced into cubes 2 1/4 cups a...

What's my favorite part of the holidays? The food, family, friends and the holiday parties of course! And would there be any holiday parties without the food? The more I become acquainted with food, the more I come to realize how much it has to offer. Not only does it give us the constant nourishment we need to live our daily lives but it brings us together. It builds friendships. It also opens a world of opportunity to experiment with exciting flavors and try new recipes. That's one thing I love about food, it never has to be boring and there are limitless combinations of what can be created. Another great thing about food is its array of seasonal flavors. I like how there is a rotation of fresh seasonal produce to keep things exciting. Winter can seem to lack quite as much abundance of fresh fruit, but the one fruit I'm glad I can always count on during the Christmas season is the plethora of perfectly ripe, deliciously sweet Navel oranges—the kind that don...

Two of the most popular recipes that I've posted are my traditional Lasagna Roll Ups and the Caprese Lasgana Roll Ups , both of which are covered with a tomato sauce. This time around I wanted to do things a little different. I decided to go quite the opposite by using a white sauce and chicken. I wanted something similar to Chicken Alfredo but also different. I keep seeing this recipe on Pinterest and every time it has my mouth watering, so I decided to use it as the base recipe for these and adjust it to be created in roll up form. I changed a few ingredients as well as omitted some things. I left out the artichokes and sun dried tomatoes (if you wanted to add them to this dish you definitely could, just be sure to chop them into very small pieces so they will roll well), I replaced the fresh basil with dried basil and also reduced the amount, t hen I added fresh parsley because I think white sauce and parsley just go together . I also added in some Romano cheese and a...

What is the best part of the holidays? Family, friends and FOOD of course! I love that I get to indulge in the deliciousness of the holidays a little early since I like to post the holiday recipes before the holidays arrive. This time around I wanted to create a dessert recipe that would be an exciting twist on a classic. I just have to say it, this cheesecake is dee-vine! Just imagine your favorite pumpkin pie meets a fluffy, rich cheesecake and then it's generously covered in salted caramel sauce and finished with sweetened whipped cream. Yeah, almost to good to be true. I don't know that I'm going to care much about pumpkin pie during the holidays anymore, this has definitely stolen its limelight for me. Start the holidays out right, with a gourmet and autumn inspired cheesecake! Enjoy! Pumpkin Cheesecake with Salted Caramel Sauce Yields about 10 servings Ingredients: 1 3/4 cups crushed graham crackers (from 14 sheets) 1/3 cup packed light-brown sugar 6 Tb...