California Pizza Kitchen's (CPK's) Awesome Artichoke Spinach Dip Recipe Pictorial

Brown the Onion & Garlic in Olive Oil and Butter

Sprinkle in the Flour & Stir

Add in the Chicken Stock...

Add in the Cream (I used Organic Milk)...

and then the other ingredients according to the recipe.

If it seems to "watery", then turn up the heat, keep stirring, 

do NOT leave the stove, turn down the heat when it thickens.

If it's too thick, add some more milk/cream/half and half until it's the right 

consistency.  It should be kinda thick, sorta Thicker than Elmer's Glue.

 

Last step, Add in the Spinach, Sour Cream, and rest of ingredients. 

Try this on Toasted slices of Baguettes or French Bread

...a bit more filling than the chips.

I've made this California Pizza Kitchen Spinach Artichoke recipe twice already. Each time I made it, People Raved about it. I mean it. It's absolutely to "die for". Yum Yum.

When we go to CPK, we sometimes splurge and get this dip. It's delish!  This past Christmas, I decided to make a hot gooey dip for our family Christmas dinner party.  I did some internet research and found this recipe.  I made it, tasted it, and knew that everyone would just love it...it tastes just like how it does at the restaurant. And I was right, everyone loved it. My younger brother even wanted to keep the leftover dip...that's how good it was. 

My sister-in-law told me that CPK had a recipe book. The very next day, I used my Border's 40% off coupon and got their Pasta, Salads, and Sides cookbook. It had this very recipe that I had found on the internet. 

Recently, I made it again because I just wanted to. I shared it with some of our friends....they loved it. OK, enough said. Go and make it the next time you need to prepare a hot dip...like the Superbowl game, Oscar night, the next family get together. It has a lot of ingredients but nothing you probably don't already have or can readily get. And, while it does take a little longer to prepare than your normal dip, it IS well worth the extra effort. 

Here's to a bunch of Happy Tummys!

Here's a link to the recipe online...just Click HERE.

The Story of the Glorious Mango

The Glorious Mango

Once there was a little green mango sitting in his tree wondering what happened to all his friends who turned orange and suddenly disappeared. He didn't want to turn orange but he couldn't stop himself no matter how much he would say to himself "stay green, stay green".

He kept growing and growing and growing. First, his greeness had a bit of yellow showing. Then, more yellow and more. Then, the yellow started to turn orange and then other parts of his skin turned red where the sun hit.

Mango in his Mother's Arms

He started to get real nervous and couldn't sleep well at night. Besides all the slight murmurs of the birds nesting in his mother's branches, he could hear things falling to the ground. But he couldn't see what was falling from where he sat.

Then one day, a weird looking object came by him and plucked him from his mother's arms. He didn't know what was happening or where he was being taken. Next thing he knew, he was somewhere he had never been to before. There was no wind blowing thru this area. He was surrounded by his other mango friends so he was happy...for the time being.

Mango and his other Mango Pals

He noticed that a few of his friends would be gone. And then more, and then more. Until one day... EEEEEeeeeeekkkkk! Okay, I can't continue on with this crazy story b/c now I can see where's it's going and it'll sound like Mango Murder.

Mango on the Chopping Block...EEEeeekkk!

My neighbor has a HuGe mango tree in his yard. Throughout the day and night, our house sounds like a war zone with heavy ThuDs onto our poor old roof. Anyhoo, with all these Mangos---glorious mangos---Jimmy and I have been making Mango Bread. Between the two of us, we've cranked out 24 loaves of Delicious Mango Bread.

Mango Bread...Onolicious!

I'm going to ShaRe with you, not the Mangos, but the Mango Bread recipe which is "Ono"licious (aka "Delicious" in Hawaiian). Here it is:

Mango Bread

* 2 cups flour
*2 teaspoons Baking Soda
*2 teaspoons ground Cinnamon
*1 1/4 cup Sugar
*1/2 cup shredded coconut
*1/2 cup chopped nuts (macadamia, walnuts, pecans, etc.)
*2 cups chopped ripe mangos
*3/4 cup canola oil (or vegetable oil)
*3 eggs, beaten
*2 teaspoons vanilla
Other Optional Additions: chocolate chips, raisins. (we're going to try adding some banana next time and see how that turns out)

Okay, this is THEE Easiest Recipe you will find.

Combine the flour, baking soda, and cinnamon in a mixing bowl---I normally sift it all together so that the baking soda doesn't bunch up and ruin the flavor; add in the sugar, coconuts, nuts, and All the other remaining ingredients; Mix well by Hand. Pour this delicious batter into greased and floured pans. We've been using the approx. 3 x 5 inch tinfoil pans and baking at 350 Degrees for 45 - 50 minutes. It's done when the "toothpick" inserted into the middle comes out clean.

That's it. See how easy. This is hands down one DeliCiouS Mango Bread! Everyone LoVes it.

The End?

My Husband is a Terrific Cook & Baker

Yesterday, before I started making my Red Velvet Cake (see posting below on this), my hubbie made ScOneS from ScrAtcH...yes, he's as crazy as I am. My husband likes to experiment with food and try new things, more so than me. After eating some Apricot scones from our local neighborhood bakery, Liliha Bakery, (which has not only delicious pastries but a super vintage still running diner with great & simple diner food) which were scrumptious and flaky---the way we like them. he decided to try his hand at some of his own homemade scones.

I don't know which recipe he used but I believed it was from his Bread Bible book. Anyhoo, he added dried blueberries that he got from Sam's Club in those killer massive bags. They were delish! He made a whole batch for his office as they were having a morning meeting. So, he took along some honey, butter, and some jam to go with the warm scones. He told me that the men in his office didn't take any of the scones prior to the meeting...it just sat there. But once the meeting was over, "boom" all the scones were Gone! How's that?

I ate my hubbie's scone---it was hot and ever so yummy. Ohhhh, I poured some local honey over them and put a dab of butter...heaven. Here's a photo of his scones. I hope he makes them again.

LoVE Red VelVeT CaKe!!!

It was my BFF's birthday today so I got up super early and made her Red Velvet cupcakes from, yessirreee, ScrAtCh. YOu heard that right...sCraTch. This is my all time fav cake and my fav recipe.

I always remember eating red velvet cake when I was younger and remembering loving it. Don't know if it was the "redness" or the cream cheese frosting or both. While it has cocoa in it, can't really say it taste like chocolate cake. If you've never tried it, run to your nearest local bakery and buy some.

Anyhoo, I swear I smelled like some sugary bakery person when I was done frosting the cupcakes with the super delish cream cheese frosting (which I mistakenly added 2x the required butter...oh well, no one knows and it tasted super!). If you've ever made red velvet cake, you know that the one big problem is all the redness from the red food dye gets all over...your fingers, the table, etc. It's called washing your hands a lot so you don't turn your kitchen into an absolute red fest!

I decided to decorate the cupcakes with little paper parasols. By the way, these parasols had tiny tiny rubberbands around the parasol to keep them closed. Ok, some unfortunate person in China is sitting there all day putting these stupid rubberbands around these paper things and wondering why these crazy Americans buy these things. Akkk!

Besides the parasols, I sprinkled my favorite sprinkles on the top. Hey, you can't have real cupcakes without the sprinkles!

Needless to say, my BFF and my fellow co-workers LoVeD the cupcakes...I knew they would. Who can resist HOMEMADE SCRATCH Red Velvet Cupcakes???? Yummmmmmmy.

When I was first searching for the perfect red velvet cake recipe because I wanted to have this as my wedding cake, I researched on the internet and my old cookbooks. I compared the differences in the recipes. I read about other Red Velvet Cake ("RVC") fanatics who swore by one thing or another. I tried several different recipes but was unsuccessful at getting the "perfect" RVC. Until one day, when I was talking about my quest and my husband's niece said that she had the perfect recipe. She gave it to me. I tried it. My quest was over. I found the Holy Grail.

If you're interested in getting your hands on this all time favorite recipe of mine---it is a Winner!, then leave a Comment and include your email and I'll be happy to shoot it over to you. Check out some of the photos of the RVC process from beginning to end.