Eat The Love

Grape and Blueberry Pie

This luscious juicy grape and blueberry pie with tender flaky crust is the perfect early autumn dessert that you need in your life. (Jump directly to the recipe.)

“Well you know, a lot of those slaves had better lives before they were free.” said my first boyfriend’s stepmother as she passed me a bowl of mixed vegetables. I was 19 years old and stunned at what I had heard. It was the first time I had met my then boyfriend’s family and I was on my best behavior. Or at least trying to be. My boyfriend noticed my uncomfortableness and immediately changed the subject before I could explode or storm out of the room. But the damage was done. I avoided visiting his family after that, and after a serious of dramas that can only be associated with someone in their young 20s, post-college, with your very first significant other, we broke up. …

Crispy Oven-Roasted Potatoes (and remembering a childhood friend)

These easy to make crispy oven-roasted potatoes are crackly crisp on the outside with a tender fluffy inside and are made without frying. (Jump directly to the recipe.)

It was walking home from my ceramics class last week that I found out my childhood friend Chris has passed away. I was staring at my phone, scrolling through Facebook when his brother Tim wrote about his passing on. I stood there in the BART train, the world passing by in a blur out the windows as I tried to absorb the information of a world without him. Chris and I weren’t close but he was an integral part of my childhood, something that now seems even farther away than it did 5 minutes before I turned on my phone….

Steamed Mussels with Angostura Bitters and Cochon 555 Heritage Fire [Sponsored Post]

These steamed mussels with Angostura bitters are a fast and easy sophisticated dinner. Serve with lots of crusty toasted bread to soak up all the liquid! (Jump directly to the recipe.)

This post was sponsored by The House of Angostura. I was compensated for this post and for developing the recipe as well as provided tickets to the Cochon555 Heritage Fire event. However, all opinions below are completely my own and not endorsed by The House of Angostura.

“In Trinidad they use Angostura bitters like salt and pepper!” said a friend of mine as we stood in the hot Napa heat waiting in line for some roasted meat. I was up in St. Helena, in the heart of Napa Valley, at the Cochon 555 Heritage Fire event. The House of Angostura was a sponsor of the event and had brought my partner AJ and me up to experience all the heirloom roasted meats and vegetables dishes that the amazing California wine country chefs were creating. We drank wine and sipped Angostura mixed with sparkling water as we tried to stay cool from the heat. I love Angostura bitters in my cocktails, it never occurred to me to use it in my cooking until that moment. I made a mental note to try it out when I got home….

Olive, Green Onion and Cheese Beer Bread [Sponsored Post]

This deceptively fast and easy olive beer bread recipe with green onions and cheese uses Linsday Organic Kalamata olives and tastes amazing! (Jump directly to the recipe.)

This post was sponsored by the Lindsay Olives. I was compensated for this post and for developing the recipe. However all opinions below are completely my own and not endorsed by Lindsay Olives.

There are a few “secret ingredient” weapons in my pantry. Most chefs will talk about how fish sauce adds a subtle umami punch to everything (like my not-bolognese sauce). Pastry chefs will occasionally add milk powder to bake goods giving it an extra boost of goodness (like my cookies and cream cookies). But both of those specialty ingredients are exactly that. Specialty. My go-to secret ingredient weapon is something much more basic and standard. Olives! Like Lindsay’s Kalamata olives which take a basic beer bread and turn it into something amazing ridiculously good….

Grilled Double Cheese Cheeseburgers [Sponsored Post]

This double cheese cheeseburger, made with Safeway’s O Organics® ground beef and cheese is the definition of summertime grilling favorites! (Jump directly to the recipe.)

This post was sponsored by Safeway. I was compensated for this post and for developing the recipe. However all opinions below are completely my own.

If you have followed AJ and me on social media for the past few weeks, you’ll know that we went on a road trip and camped a lot. Though I try to take this sort of time to get offline and “off-the-grid” it’s hard for me to completely separate myself from social media. Photos of the gorgeous nature that I experience are hard not to share with everyone. And, of course, when we’re out and about, away from home camping, we’re grilling food, like these double cheese cheeseburgers made with Safeway’s O Organics® Ground Beef! Now, if it were up to me, my preferred choice of making food would be grilling. There’s something summertime magical about cooking over an open flame outside. So, when Safeway reached out to me about making something with their O Organics® Ground Beef, I knew immediately what I wanted to make….

Peach, Basil and Olive Oil Coffee Cake [Sponsored Post]

This peach, basil and olive oil coffee cake is bursting with summer flavor. The Filippo Berio extra virgin olive oil gives it an extra dimension of flavor! (Jump directly to the recipe.)

This post was sponsored by Filippo Berio. I was compensated for this post and for developing the recipe. However all opinions below are completely my own and not endorsed by Filippo Berio. To learn more about Filippo Berio olive oils, see where Filippo Berio will be visiting on their summer tour, and enter their sweepstakes for a chance to win an all-expense paid trip to Tuscany visit www.followfilippo.com, or follow along with the hashtag #FollowingFilippo.

Summer is in full swing and that means some of my favorite fruit has arrived at the grocery store! And one of my all-time favorite fruit is peaches! I have been buying peaches by the bushel full and desperately eating them as fast as I can as they ripen. But, as with all fruit, there comes a point when I have to use them or lose them! And so, I gathered some leaves off my basil plant, grabbed a bottle of Filippo Berio extra virgin olive oil and made myself a peach, basil and olive oil coffee cake!…