Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad with Avocado Vinaigrette + Weekly Inspirations

We just spent a marvelous week in the windy city.  I believe I am now at 28 states with 22 more to go to complete my bucket list of visiting all 50.  Chicago is an amazing city filled with great restaurants, a drop dead gorgeous skyline, friendly people, history and culture.  It was an inspirational vacation on many levels and will share some of the highlights for my weekly inspirations.

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Rhubarb Ice Cream + Weekly Inspirations

Rhubarb always catapults me back to my childhood in an instant.  My Mom would prepare it in a simple fashion by cutting into cubes along with adding a bit of sugar and then proceed to cook it until soft.  She would let it cool and we would eat it.  I absolutely love it prepared this way.  With the season in full swing, I thought why not make some Rhubarb Ice Cream to celebrate the season and near arrival of summer.  I wanted to add that something extra to the recipe, so I added pomegranate liquor.  Quite honestly, it was the perfect addition.

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Grilled Romaine Salad with Smoky Barbecue Vinaigrette + Weekly Inspirations

The last few days have definitely had summer reveal itself here in the Bay Area.  Personally I love it!  Each day this weekend we enjoyed our backyard with wine, food and friends.  Summer means salads too.  Recently I made what I deem the “Perfect Summer Salad”.  It is a Grilled Romaine Salad with Smoky Barbecue Vinaigrette.  Found the dressing recipe in the June issue of Food and Wine Magazine and created the rest of this divine salad.

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Individual Pineapple Upside-Down Cakes with Salted Caramel Drizzle + Weekly Inspirations

Fresh on the heels of attending the Dole Taste of SpainSalad Summit, I was inspired to recreate a classic dessert that we enjoyed at the summit – Pineapple Upside-Down Cake.  I served it my dinner party I hosted last weekend and decided to make individual servings and kick it up with my handmade Salted Caramel Sauce for that added WOW factor.  Easy, delicious and a crowd pleaser!

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Farmer's Market Salad with Sweet Paprika Dressing + Weekly Inspirations

Last week was chalk full of inspiration.  I was invited as a VIP Food Blogger to the Dole “Taste of Spain Salad Summit” in beautiful Carmel.  It was three days of talking about food, blogging, salads and learning about how the lettuce makes it to your table.  I gained new knowledge, met great people and will share the entire experience in a few days.  In the meantime, I was inspired to make a Farmer’s Market Salad with Sweet Paprika Dressing that I will share with all of you.

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Strawberries with Bourbon Brown Sugar Dip + Weekly Inspirations

I want to extend a very Happy Mother’s Day to all of the wonderful mothers.  Although I do not have any children, I am a doggie Mommy to our adorable Lhasa Apso, Max.  In addition, I am an Auntie to four wonderful nephews ranging in age from 3 to 13 years old.  We will be celebrating Mother’s Day by going out to brunch as a family and celebrating this special day.

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Rosemary Citrus Water + Weekly Inspirations

Many, many things give me inspiration.  I have always been a creative person since being a kid. Often my mind is running in circles with so many thoughts and consistently being inspired.  It could be from a photo I saw on Pinterest, flipping through a magazine, chatting with a friend or co-worker or something I dream up on my own.  Does this happen to you? 

We live in a world that is filled with diversity, creativity and so much to see, experience and accomplish.  Depending on what is important to you, life is rather short and my philosophy is like the Nike commercial – Just Do It!  Going forward, each weekend I will bring you a list of my ten inspirations.  Some topics will be consistent week to week and others will be simply what inspired me during the week.  As I always say to my team at work – “It would be awfully boring, if everyone or everything was the same.” 

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