LouLou Sucre: March 2011

Tomato Bread with Prosciutto

3.31.2011

This is my "go-to" appetizer.

I love to make this if it's just my husband and I or if I'm having friends over for the evening.

You can make as many or a few as you like.

There are only a few ingredients and they are all things that are easily found in the local supermarket.

Also, it is super good.

The grilled tomatoes take it to the next level--they become so sweet and bursting with flavor.

Tomato Bread with Prosciutto

1 pint cherry tomatoes
olive oil
salt and pepper
french bread
2 cloves garlic
prosciutto, very thinly sliced
ricotta cheese

Slice french bread into 1/2-1 inch pieces and brush with a small amount of olive oil on both sides. Grill until lightly toasted.

Cut cherry tomatoes in half and place in foil. Drizzle lightly with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill these until lightly browned or roasted.

Remove from grill and place bread on a platter and tomatoes in a bowl. Finely chopped the garlic and add to the tomatoes. Mash garlic with the tomatoes. Spread approximately a tablespoon onto the bread. Top each with a slice of prosciutto. Place approximately 1/2 teaspoon ricotta cheese on top of each piece.

Enjoy,

I'm linking up with:

Beautiful Pillows for Spring

3.30.2011

Pillows are a great and inexpensive way to change things up in or outside of your home. I've found some great examples of beautiful pillows that will add color and style to your home or patio this spring.

I love the graphic designs on these pillows. The bright colors are beautiful.

Decorpad, LouLou Sucre, Finding Fabulous

I am completely loving the ocean inspired designs on these pillows. I am in love with the chocolate octopus!!

Finding Fabulous, Cottage and Bungalow, Finding Fabulous, Velocity Art and Design

Florals always give fresh style to your house or patio.

Anthropologie, The Company Store, Wabisabigreen

I think that I must add the Zinnia pillow from Anthropologie to my patio. I wish that I had a place for that chocolate octopus!!!

Bar Essentials and Blackberry Lemonade Martinis

3.29.2011

This weekend I am planning a dinner party. This has me thinking about cleaning the house, planning the menu, and most importantly ----preparing the bar. Wine is usually my drink of choice, but every once in a while I love a really good cocktail.

Every home bar should have at least a bottle of:

Vodka

These are great--love all the fun flavors!

White Rum
Dark Rum

I love these Rums--made in New Orleans on Frenchmen's Street

Gin
Bourbon
Scotch
Tequila

Triple Sec

All of these are essential in making just about any kind of cocktail imaginable.

You can also add bottles of :

Coffee Liqueur
Cointreau
Grand Marnier
Vermouth
Rye Whiskey

( I am not recommending any of the above brands, just giving a few examples--well, maybe I am recommending the rum!!)

Just in case, I've put you in the mood for a good cocktail. Give this one a try.

Blackberry Lemonade Martinis

For the Lemonade:

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups water

Combine and bring to a boil. Allow to thicken. Will make 2 cups simple syrup.

2 cups simple syrup

2 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 cup blackberries, muddled and strained

1 cup water

Place blackberries in a pitcher and muddle

Strain blackberries and place back into the pitcher. Add simple syrup, lemon juice, and water.

Now, you could stop here--this is really good lemonade. But, what fun is that! So go for it--try this fabulous martini.

For the martini:

1/2 cup blackberry lemonade
1.5 ounces vodka
1 ounce Grand Marnier

In a shaker, over ice combine all ingredients and shake vigorously until combined. Pour into a chilled martini glass and garnish with blackberries.

Bottoms up!

Enjoy,

Louis Attacks the Leaf Blower

3.28.2011

My puppy, Louis, is obsessed with the leaf blower!! He goes CRAZY when my husband cranks it up. He kind of sounds like a turkey when he is barking and attacking. We think this is extremely funny. Hope you do too.

Pretty Chicken

3.27.2011

I call this chicken dish "Pretty Chicken" because of how beautiful the colors appear when plated. I love to make this because of the gorgeous bell peppers, prosciutto, and capers--a wonderful flavor combination. That sounds like a commercial, oh well, it's really good. You should try it.

Pretty Chicken

5 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 yellow bell pepper, sliced
1 red bell pepper, sliced
4 ounces prosciutto, diced
4 cloves garlic, diced
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup white wine
1 tablespoon thyme
1 tablespoon oregano
1/2 cup reduced sodium chicken stock
2 tablespoons capers, drained
grated parmesan cheese

Liberally season chicken with salt and pepper. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Cook chicken on both sides until browned.

Remove chicken from skillet to a plate once browned. Add prosciutto and bell peppers. Cook until prosciutto is crispy. Add garlic and cook about 1-2 minutes. Do not burn garlic. Add tomatoes, wine, thyme, and oregano. Scrape bottom of pan with a wooden spoon to remove brown bits.

Return chicken to the pan, add chicken stock. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and allow to simmer. Cover skillet and allow chicken to cook approximately 30 minutes. Add capers.

Serve over fettuccine. Top with grated parmesan cheese.

Enjoy,

Featured on Casa Sugar!!

3.25.2011

Wow, I'm so honored to be featured on casasugar.com. I first posted on their fabulous website when I did my office re-do. So the other night I posted my fabric corkboards, and they featured it today. Thanks so much Casa Sugar!!!

Here's a post from CasaSugar Community member srnewell from the Su Casa group:

DIY: Fabric Corkboards

Friday - 6:00AM / Read More: DIY, Community, Cork, Su Casa, Fabric, Corkboard, Nailhead / Popular:Kitchens, Wood, Living, Children, How To

I recently made a couple of fabric-covered corkboards for my office re-do. I started with some beautiful terra cotta geometric fabric. I measured and lined up the fabric. I cut it to size and stapled the fabric tightly over the boards. After completing the fabric portion, I placed nail heads approximately one inch apart for the finish. You can see more of this project on my blog.

Have you been doing any DIY projects lately? Be sure to post your photos and tutorials in theSu Casa group! Has anyone ever tried this project?

Make sure to visit this site and comment!!!

My Favorite Potato Salad

I love potato salad. I mean really love it. I make it every way imaginable, but this recipe is by far my favorite. It is creamy, vinegary, and a little sweet. Perfect!!

My Favorite Potato Salad

3 pounds of small red potatoes
3 extra-large eggs
salt

1 medium red onion, diced
4 green onions, sliced white and green parts
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup dijon mustard
1/4 cup finely chopped sweet pickles with 1/4 cup juice
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons drained capers
salt
freshly ground black pepper

In a large pot, bring potatoes with skins and eggs to a boil in salted water. Boil until potatoes are fork tender. If you use larger potatoes then remove the eggs after 10 minutes so they do not overcook.

After potatoes and eggs cook remove from water and allow to cool. Peel potatoes and eggs. Place peeled potatoes in a large bowl. Grate eggs into bowl with potatoes. Add red and green onions (reserve a few green onions for garnish).

In another bowl, mix together mayonnaise, mustard, pickles, lemon juice, and capers.

Pour mayonnaise mixture into potato mixture. Break potatoes into bite size pieces as you stir.

Garnish with green onions. Salt and pepper to taste.

Fabric Cork Boards

3.22.2011

I finally received the beautiful terra cotta fabric that I ordered over a month ago to make my cork board project. I thought that it would be great to use this geometric fabric with cute gold nail heads to frame them instead of traditional ribbon. My only complaint--they could have been larger because they are so fabulous!!

Here's how you make them---

Select fabric and cork boards. I used boards with a slight raised edge on the back so I (my husband-he's been super sweet since I hurt my wrist) could staple the fabric easily to them.

Staple one side and make sure that the fabric is straight and following the pattern.

When you get to the edges, fold it over and staple the fabric to make a simple envelope edge.

Continue all the way around the cork board edges.

Repeat all of these steps on next board. Make sure that your fabric is even and lined up perfectly.

Next, measure the sides of the boards subtracting 1/2 inch from all corners. Decide how far apart you want your nail heads to be. I chose one inch. I was able to place 17 nail heads horizontally and 16 nail heads vertically on each side by using these measurements. I used a sewing ruler because of the notches and I could easily place the nail heads in each notch so that they were perfectly spaced.

Finished product--I then repeated all of the steps and made sure that the nail heads matched on each board.

Once I finished the boards, I trimmed the excess fabric and used a little fray stop around the edges. I then hung the boards with 3M photo hangers--one of the best inventions ever!!

Nanny's Pound Cake

3.21.2011

If you have a love for pound cake like I do, then this recipe is for you. This recipe is from my late grandmother, Nanny Vera. She was an excellent cook. She made this pound cake often for my grandfather and always for me when I would come to see them.

Nanny's Pound Cake

What you need for the cake:

2 sticks butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup Crisco
3 cups sugar
5 extra-large eggs
1 teaspoon coconut extract
1 teaspoon rum extract
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk

In a large bowl, cream butter and crisco together until smooth. Add sugar and mix.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each egg.

Add coconut and rum extracts, mix.

In another large bowl mix flour, baking powder, and salt. Add flour mixture to butter mixture alternately with milk. Mix thoroughly after each addition.

Pour into a greased and floured bundt pan.

Bake at 325 degrees for 1 1/2 hours or until toothpick when inserted comes out clean.

Garnish with strawberries in syrup and whipped cream.

Enjoy!!

Spring Flowers

3.20.2011

I have really been focused on the outside for the past few weeks--planning the rock garden, preparing the vegetable garden, planting a few early spring flowers. I realized, that I have been neglecting the inside!! Oh, no!! No I haven't stopped cleaning--uugh!! I've really just been too darn tired to start my spring decorating. So, I thought I would start with beautiful flower arrangements. What says spring more than fresh flowers inside. I found a few that I thought were really beautiful.