We hope everyone had a happy and safe Memorial Day weekend! This weekend, I headed to Chicago to see my family (and dog, Bailey!) and Michigan to see one of my best friends, Brittany, marry her best friend Allen. It was a whirlwind weekend of traveling, laughing, and good beer, where Jeff and I managed to go to a National Park (Sleeping Bear Dunes), enjoy Lake Michigan, and see one of the prettiest weddings I’ve ever been to. It was an honor to be part of such a lovely weekend, and we got to see old friends and make new friends!

It as a great weekend, and we hope you had a great weekend, too!

Happy Friday everyone! You’re probably looking forward to the holiday weekend as much as we are. For us, Memorial Day usually involves a lazy outdoor barbecue with friends. Here are a few of our favorite party and picnic foods that we’d recommend for your long weekend.

Try one of these variations on a caprese salad. A macaroni salad with basil, tomato and mozzarella or these caprese bites that are so easy and great for picnics!

If you’re grilling out, we’d try some bacon-wrapped bbq sliders to feed your hungry masses.

Or if steak is more your speed, this cilantro-jalepeno marinated steak could bring a little spice to your get together. Plan to marinate this one overnight for maximum flavor!

Let us know what you plan to make for your Memorial Day celebration!

Considering my obsession with feeding people, I’m a notoriously bad hostess. I am terrible at little things like taking someone’s coat, showing them where to stash their purse, offering them a beverage, or providing hors d’oeuvres. That’s why easier is always better for me when it comes to party foods, and these crostinis are so easy I actually discovered them by accident!

I wanted something salty and crisp to go with my pea soup, so I bought a few supplies – brioche toast, goat cheese, mascarpone, and prosciutto – and made these easy crostinis in about 20 minutes.

Arrange some brioche toasts on a baking sheet and preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Spread a generous teaspoon of goat cheese or mascarpone on each toast, then chop some prosciutto into quarter size pieces and pan fry in a small amount of olive oil until they just begin to turn crispy and brown. Sprinkle a few pieces of prosciutto on each toast and bake for 10-15 minutes until the cheese begins to melt. Serve warm for guests as individual snacks or as a side for soup!

Here’s a tip! These are great with goat cheese as a small bite or appetizer, but use the mascarpone if you want to serve these as a side for soup. I promise you won’t regret it.

There are so many exciting green vegetables in season right now! Peas are one of our favorites, and the season for them is so short that we had to celebrate with a quick pea soup recipe.

In the course of making this soup, I rediscovered the simple joy of soup-making. It is the easiest thing in the world! I took a quick glance at my grand-memere’s leek soup for inspiration. Her instructions are fairly open-ended – they begin with “melt a piece of butter” – so I took a casual approach.

I sauteed some leeks in butter for a few minutes, then added a few potatoes, a few carrots and a lot of peas. The quantities are really up to you. Just do what you feel in your heart! Add some chicken or vegetable broth. I think I used about 16 oz of chicken broth and added another cup of water to the mix. Bring to a boil and let it all simmer for an hour. Salt and pepper to taste and puree until smooth.

If you’re feeling adventurous, you may want to make some pan-fried prosciutto crostinis to have on the side. More about those later!

My paternal Grandmother was born in Sicily, Italy. She came over to America as a very young girl and lives in New Jersey currently. She is 89 years old, and she still has a fully stocked kitchen and is constantly ready to feed an army with her amazing Italian cooking. I have asked her a million times for her recipes, but she doesn’t cook from recipes as we know them. Nothing is written down, and nothing has units of measure! I was lucky enough to help her make eggplant parmesan, and watch my dad remake her eggplant parmesan, several times. I have tried to recreate her amazing dish to the best of my ability here in proper recipe form. Just a quick note: the amounts of the ingredients are more of a suggested range as the precise amount will vary on how big your eggplant is!

Prep time: 30-40 minutes
Cook time: 20 to 30 minutes
Servings: 6-8

Ingredients:
1 eggplant (or aubergine if you live in the UK!)
Salt
¼ to ½ cups flour
3-4 eggs
1 container Panko bread crumbs
Olive oil
1 jar tomato sauce
1 ½ cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 ball fresh mozzarella cheese
½ cup parmesan/romano cheese
Basil leaves

Directions:

1. Slice your eggplant into thin circles, as even as you possibly can.
2. Lightly salt your eggplant slices and set aside for about 20 minutes. This draws out the moisture. Don’t use too much, you will end up with a very salty final product!
3. While waiting for the eggplant, preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
4. Prep three dipping bowls: one with flour, one with eggs, and one with bread crumbs. 5. 5. The eggs should be lightly beaten, as if you were making scrambled eggs.
6. When the eggplant is ready, dip your slices first in flour, then egg, then bread crumbs until they are all fully and evenly coated.
7. Heat up olive oil in a frying pan. Fry up the dipped eggplant slices until they are golden brown on both sides.
8. In an oven safe dish of pretty much any shape or size (mine was round this time, but I’ve also used 13×9 and 8×8,) add a layer of sauce to cover the bottom of the pan. Add a layer of eggplant covering the whole dish.
9. Cover the eggplant layer with shredded mozzarella cheese. I also added some fresh mozzarella.
10. Add basil leaves to taste.
11. Cover with sauce and repeat with a layer of eggplant, cheese (both shredded and fresh mozzarella, and basil. On your final layer (mine was only two, yours could be more!) top with parmesan/romano cheese.
12. Once your eggplant parmesan is assembled, bake it in the oven for about 20 minutes,
13. Once the cheese is melted, allow to cool, serve, and ENJOY!

Possible variations:

Instead of frying the eggplant, for a healthier option you can bake the dipped slices in the oven.

What is your favorite family recipe?