Lime Vinaigrette Salad

So,  every night,  I have a vegetable of some sort with dinner. Tonight I had salad. My mom has a great dressing that she makes called Lime Vinaigrette. She makes it right in the salad bowl so she doesn't have to dirty another dish. So here's the ingredients.

1 large or 2 small cloves of crushed garlic
juice of 1/2 lime (or more if you like it really citrusy)
Kosher salt and ground pepper to taste
1/3 cup of EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil)
1/4 cup of shredded parmesan or romano cheese
thinly sliced Bermuda onion (optional)

Mix up the first four ingredients til they come together, then add your favorite lettuce. I like iceberg but my mom likes Romaine or green leaf. Then toss together the dressing, lettuce and cheese. Mom adds red onion for her and Dad...

Anyway, I was helping my mom make it. My job was to squeeze the lime juice into the bowl. My mom says "Don't squeeze the lime in your face!" Then my mom takes it to finish it up. And PLOP! She splashes it all over my face! :) Still tastes good, though!

Which is Better: Cupcakes or Cake?

OK, I know there is a feud between cupcakes and cake. The deliciousness of a small, delicate cupcake with icing swirled on top. The amazing look on your face when you get your slice of cake. So I'm here to settle this feud. A cupcake cake! It's a cake on top, and underneath, but attached are about 14 cupcakes.(depending on the size of the cake.) But anyway, this may not totally solve the problem because I have taken a side. CUPCAKES!!!

Pasta with Pesto - my all-time favorite food!

It all started when I was little...when I tried Pasta with Pesto. Once I tried it, I couldn't get enough of it!  It has been my favorite dish since I was 2, so I hope you feel the same way that I feel about it.

Pesto is a sauce with basil, pine nuts or walnuts, Romano or Parmesan cheese, olive oil, and garlic. Pesto goes very well on rotini pasta - which in my house, we call romatimi because that's what my big sister, Haley, called it when she was a little girl.

When it's summer and there's a lot of basil in our garden, we make it fresh. Here's my mom's recipe:

• 2 cups basil leaves
• 2+ cloves garlic (we like a lot of garlic!)
• 1/4 cup pine nuts or walnuts
• 2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Locatelli Romano cheese

Just pop all the ingredients into a blender or food processor (a grown-up should do that!) and blend until it comes together into a paste. Thin with oil if you like. Add to warm pasta and eat warm or room temperature. I like it leftover for lunch!

It's also great on sourdough bread - and my mom puts it on salmon, too. So far, I don't really like salmon, but I bet I will soon.

Spaghetti Tacos

A couple of months ago, my Nana saw an article in the New York Times about spaghetti tacos. Well, we finally decided to try it! I absolutely loved it! I mean, what's not to like about spaghetti stuffed inside a taco shell with shredded Parmesan cheese on top? Anyway, we had leftovers. I immediately called it. But I said to my mom, "There's something missing." She replies, "What about a fried egg?" So, I try it. It is one of the most delicious thing I've ever had! You can try it with or without the egg because it tastes good either way. Enjoy!

To make spaghetti tacos you need:
Angel hair or your favorite long stringy pasta
Your favorite red sauce (as much or as little as you like)
Parmesan cheese to taste
Hard taco shells
Fried egg - my mom did it over easy in butter (YUM!)

It's so easy to assemble, even a kid can do it! Just put your sauced up angel hair or spaghetti into a taco shell, add the egg and gobble it down. I think you'll love it as much as I did.