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Here we are...Day 5 of Salad Week is here already! Today I made Mediterranean Pasta Salad using fresh garden cucumbers, tomatoes and crumbled feta cheese. A simple, flavorful salad you can make in 30 minutes that goes well with just about anything else you decide to serve. Mediterranean Pasta Salad Prep Time: 15 minutes &nbs
It's Day 4 of Salad Week and I brought you another vinaigrette-based salad to add to your summer salad repertoire. This time, I used some leftover corn on the cob I had after making too many ears (go figure!), mixed it with some grape tomatoes; then made this sweet and tangy honey-wasabi vinaigrette to give it an Asian flair. Corn typically is in season June-August; however, you w
Welcome to Day 3 of Salad Week! If you follow my blog regularly, you know that my mother was in from FL a couple of weeks ago. She doesn't come to NJ often and when she does, she doesn't get a chance to visit with her extended family often. Heck, I live here and I don't see my aunts, uncles and cousins besides weddings and funerals much anymore either and the furthest one only
Today is Day 2 of Salad Week here at CEK and I couldn't wait to share this Green Bean & Tomato Salad with Ginger-Wasabi Vinaigrette with you. Especially since in a short time, all of those fresh garden vegetables you planted will be coming to fruition. I've mentioned before that I hail from the Garden State and one of our most famous crops are tomatoes. I love all types of tomat
May is National Salad Month so to kick off the unofficial summer barbecue and party season, I will be bringing you a new salad recipe each day this week to get you ready. Especially since Memorial Day is right around the corner (can you believe it?!). The first salad I made for you this week is Red Bliss Potato Salad with Dijon Vinaigrette. Potato Salad is one of my favorit
TGIF! It's supposed to be a gorgeous weekend here in NJ, so if you live in the tri-state area, stop by Ray and Judy's Book Stop located at 40 Main Street in Rockaway between 1pm-3pm Ray and Judy's Book Stop I will be hanging outside enjoying the beautiful weather, samp
The next recipe I wanted to revisit from the cookbook for my Family Favorites theme was this Herb Creamed Spinach. My kids LOVE creamed spinach; however, my husband can't eat the store bought variety that comes in the frozen section. His tongue starts to swell so I think there must be something in there that he is allergic to. I actually prefer this variation better as it has that e
I recently received the latest Williams-Sonoma catalog in the mail and I love to peruse it each month to see what new kitchen gadgets they have; as well as look to find some new recipe inspiration. This time I found a recipe for Chick Peas with Lemon, Oregano and Olives that looked wonderful. So I decided to give it a little twist. The day before we had grilled some sausage and ha
Grilling season has officially arrived here in NJ (well at least at my house...I don't like to use the outside grill unless it's above 60 degrees!) and I couldn't wait to try out some new grilled chicken recipes. The first one I experimented with was a basic brine marinade like I've used in the past on pork, and came up with this Lemon-Thyme Brined Grilled Chicken. I've said it befo
While my mom was in town, we took advantage of the gorgeous Spring weather and headed about an hour north to the outlet mall in Tannersville, PA. I know I've mentioned that NJ is the mall capital of the world, but 95% of our malls are indoors and it was just too nice not to be outside. This particular mall is similar to a mall that we visit when we're in FL called Ellenton Premium Outlet
Have you started Prepping for Summer yet??? No??? Well then you'd better start...it will be here before you know it! We're ready to help you get ready for swimsuits, vacations, barbecues. I've teamed up with some amazing bloggers / friends to put together a great Prepping for Summer Giveaway! What can you win? Well let me tell you.
Mother's Day is this coming Sunday (as I'm sure you're all aware), but did you know that Brunch is the most popular meal eaten on this day? Well at least it will be in other homes. I don't really care for breakfast food; which is why there aren't that many of them here on the blog. Give me oatmeal or a simple egg white omelet with mushrooms or fresh spinach and I'm happy. I'm not even
Many assume that when cooking with certain types of herbs, they are restricted to certain types of cuisine. When in actuality, they are also quite popular in other areas of the world as well. Such is the case with many Mediterranean fresh herbs and spices. There are many herbs which you might automatically think would be associated in this list like basil, rosemary an
By Carrie Farias Have you ever purchased a watermelon and cut it open only to find out that it is not sweet at all? This happens to me every now and then. In fact, Gabrielle was just telling me Friday night that whenever I have to take a fruit salad somewhere the fruit is sweet...make it home, not sweet. I guess it's just my luck. So a few weeks ago I purchased a waterme
Can I just start off by saying that I LOVED these potatoes created by my foodie friend Laurie Bakke?! When I first got her cookbook over the holidays I wasn't sure which recipe I was going to try first. Should I try the Thai Marinated Cucumber Salad? The Mediterranean Orzo Salad with Basil, Mint and Sherry Vinaigrette? Or maybe the Stuffed Gourmet Meatloaf? Decisions. Decisions. Then while
Happy Monday, I hope you all had a lovely weekend! I don't have many of these, but I recently had a recipe flop. Well, not a complete flop because I was able to ultimately salvage the meal. But this recipe for Chicken and Rice with Zucchini first started off as something else. I had originally wanted to use my bone-in chicken thighs as a braise with the zucchini, but the sauce looked a
Since Friday is generally a "light" viewing day here on the blog, I thought I'd share some of the things that happen in my week that I post on Facebook and Instagram that you might not catch if you don't follow me there. Out and About.. ~Thursday night I cut my hand on some broken glass. The top of a corning ware dish came crashing down on my granite cou
We don't generally celebrate Cinco de Mayo which is this coming Sunday (May 5th); however, who could pass up a good guacamole? I know we can't. In fact, guacamole has become one of our favorite weekend snacks. So when I purchased too many avocados on my last shopping trip, I had to use them up before they went bad. I combined all of the same ingredients I'd use to make my guacamole, but
If you recall, I attended an event in March hosted by Buick and Food & Wine Magazine called the Buick Discovery Tour. While one of the guest chefs was preparing their dish, they were randomly talking about food and asking questions from the audience. I wish I could remember who it was, but all I heard was "Cauliflower Popcorn". Sometimes, that's all it takes and the wheels start spi
Last week, I shared one of our favorite recipes included in my cookbook for Grilled Pork Chops with Lime and Cilantro and today I have another Family Favorites recipe that I couldn't wait to try again. When making dinner, I like to keep the same flavors going with my sides and vegetables so I created these Baby Carrots in Honey Lime Butter to go with them. I love using fresh vegetables, they jus
My family and I generally don't eat onion rings. In fact, I think the last time I even ordered one out was several years ago when the kids first wanted to try a Bloomin' Onion. I was making some steak on the grill recently and my usual topping would be sauteed mushrooms (like these Mushrooms Vittoria..YUM!), but when I reached for them, they were starting to go bad. I decided to make th
I know I just started the Week in Review last week, but tomorrow marks my 2 year blogging anniversary here at Carrie's Experimental Kitchen so I had to do a little something different this week, but first I'll give you a quick snapshot of what went on here before we start the celebration: Last Friday started with me getting a call from the EMS that my 94 year old grandmother was b
Today is Bring Your Child to Work Day. This is a wonderful opportunity for children ages 8-18 to see what it is we as adults do each day and find a possible career path for themselves. Whether it be working in an office, working in the great outdoors or even writing your own food blog; teaching our children by being a positive role model with a good work ethic is important for them to succeed in
Today is National Picnic Day. I can't tell you the last time I went on a picnic. We used to go often earlier on in our marriage and when the kids were small, but as they got older, it became harder and harder to do impromptu things like that on the weekends. Now our picnics consist more of backyard/deck barbecues with family and friends, but no matter what the occasion, salads are always on the
Did you know that I have created and shared over 650 new recipes since I started this blog? In fact, this coming Saturday will be CEK's 2 year blogging anniversary! Many of the original recipes are no longer on the site, but you can find them in my cookbook available at many online retailers like Amazon, BN.com and IndieBound. Carrie's Experimental Kitchen: A Collection of
Since Friday is generally a "light" viewing day here on the blog, I thought I'd share some of the things that happen in my week that I post on Facebook and Instagram that you might not catch if you don't follow me there. It was a very busy week here at the Farias house with the usual running around with the kids and keeping up with the house; however, for the last 13 days the hubby has
Right after I made the Spinach Pesto my kids were craving panini's for dinner and it would have made a nice spread with the grilled chicken. So instead, I made a quick batch of this Sun Dried Tomato & Asiago Cheese Pesto to go on our sandwiches and they were AMAZING! The family liked them so much that I didn't even get a chance to photograph the sandwiches themselves. Pesto will last ab
Last week, I had taken chicken out to make a new dish, but as the day progressed I really wasn't in the mood to cook...GASP! So I decided to make this quick and easy Chicken Scampi over Fettuccine instead. You all know I don't eat shrimp, but the rest of my family loves it. I make it for them on occasion and when I do I generally make a chicken version for me; similar to this one. It w
Today, I'm a happy to be helping out my fellow foodie friend and Jersey Girl Brianne from Cupcakes and Kale Chips while she is on maternity leave with her new baby boy Peyton. Please visit her page to see my recipe for this Avocado Quinoa Salad along with a quick tip I learned on how to cut grape (or cherry) tomatoes in half more efficiently. Curious yet
Why, YES I AM! Actually I just turned 45 a couple of months ago and with each year it gets harder and harder to keep my weight in check. Not that I'm the role model for nutrition and yes, I can certainly stand to lose QUITE a few pounds, but I do what I can to at least be aware of the food I am consuming and try to follow the parts of a Mediterranean diet I can and avoid adding p
Seafood Frenzy Friday will be taking a brief hiatus. Though I know you all love this weekly segment, it takes me many hours to get permission from the other bloggers to share the photos and recipes you see here; hours which are getting harder and harder to find in my daily life. I'll be on the lookout for great seafood recipes to share with you in the future. Thank you for understanding!
I have mentioned before that my father in-law is Portuguese and until I met and married my husband over 20 years ago, I never even heard of chourico, let alone cooked with it. So when I saw a similar recipe in Bon Appetit Magazine a couple of months ago, I knew I wanted to give it a try. Of course I changed it around a little bit to suit our liking, but this dish was fantastic! The
I have a confession to make. I didn't make up the name for this recipe. Alexandra Ricardi did when I posted the picture on Facebook last week asking for suggestions. I don't know Alexandra other than the fact that she is a loyal CEK reader and also follows my Facebook page. And little does she know until she reads this post, I'm going to give her a signed copy of Carrie's Experimental Kitchen Co
I wanted to make a new chicken dish that used sage, since I needed it for another recipe I was making and had some left over. I came up with this Chicken in a White Wine Sage Sauce and it was perfect! I served it with some rice (because my family likes to add whatever sauce I'm cooking with on top of it!), Maple and Sage Glazed Petite Carrots and a tossed salad. Chicken in
Both of my kids are not overly fond of mayonnaise; however, Gab will eat it on occasion in certain salads and lightly smeared on bread when eating a turkey sandwich. Which is why I find it very odd that one of her favorite salads to eat is this Ceci Bean Salad. There is a Japanese Hibachi restaurant not far from our home where we like to go out to eat once in a while that serves this ty
Goodbye Google Reader... For those of you that haven't heard, Google Reader will no longer exist as of July 1st (though since the announcement, there have been changes already). If you're not familiar with Google Reader, it was a way for you to save a number of your favorite blogs into your personal reading list so that you can follow the ones you like. For me (as I'm
Remember when I did a photo retake of one of my favorite recipes for Bruschetta last month? In that post, I also mentioned how bruschetta can be used for other dishes other than to top toasted bread as an appetizer. One of those suggestions was to mix it with pasta; which is what I did with the leftovers from my last batch. This Mediterranean inspired meal has so many wonderful flavors an
Looking for a new meatloaf recipe you can make and let your crock pot do the cooking? Then this one is it! While speaking with a long time family friend recently, she told me about this meatloaf recipe that she got from her Italian mother in-law over 45 years ago. I had just purchased some ground beef and wanted to give it a try, but the night I planned on making it we had some change i
Happy April's Fool Day! I'm not usually a big prankster, but I do love a good laugh (who doesn't?). So today's post is all about making you happy, and that means food too! Did you know that according to an article in Health Magazine "diet has tremendous effects on our short-and long-term health, especially when it comes to obesity, diabetes, and heart
Welcome to Week 54 of Seafood Frenzy. If you've missed any of the posts along the way, you can check out all of the previous Seafood Frenzy Friday posts to get more inspiration! In these posts, I share the name of the blog, an image of the recipe and a link to the author's original post. I also write a comment on each person's blog with a link back to this post letting them know t
Today is Food on a Stick Day (I know, there's a day for everything these days!) and since the weather is starting to warm up a bit, I thought I'd share these Rosemary Grilled Pork Skewers. They're so easy to make, are healthy and loaded with fresh, aromatic flavors like lemon, garlic and rosemary. The beauty of making a grilled meat skewer, or kabob if you prefer that term, is
My family and I celebrate Easter and since it is a mere 5 days away, I guess it's not too early to start talking about eggs. The kids still love to color them, but rarely eat them all. We ALWAYS tend to have leftover; mainly because they still fight over how many they each get to color and design (yes, they're 16 and 11!). The funny thing is that I don't really like to eat hard
Are you looking for a quick and easy weeknight meal? Whether it's for Meatless Monday, Friday during Lent or any night in between, this meatless recipe for Creamy Rigatoni with Portobello Mushrooms and Spinach is perfect! Cream cheese adds a wonderful, creamy texture and flavor when mixed with fresh garlic, spinach and Portobello mushrooms and your family will love it. I served mine wit
Welcome to the Spring Celebration KitchenAid Giveaway! Hosted by: Funny Postpartum Lady Recipes From A Pantry Story of a Girl A Kay Web Design Mommy Needs A Break That Suburban Momma Carrie's Experimental Kitchen To celebrate the beginning of Spring, we are giving away a KitchenAid Artisan Series 5-Quart Mixer in Empire Red
Welcome to Week 53 of Seafood Frenzy. If you've missed any weeks along the way, you can check out all of the Seafood Frenzy Friday posts to get more inspiration! First, CONGRATULATIONS to Gainya T. for winning the signed copy of The Everything Wheat-Free Diet Cookbook by Lauren Kelly C.N. and THANK YOU to everyone that entered! If you're a new reader to thi
This past weekend, I was invited to experience The Buick Discovery Tour, an event where consumers are invited to test drive Buick vehicles and can then attend demonstrations and interactive experiences with celebrity chef Michael Psilakis, Food & Wine Best New Chef George Mendes, and pastry chef Ben Roche. The event will be held across the country this year, in c
As a kid, I'd spend a complete day at my father and step mother's home making homemade ravioli for Christmas each year and it was definitely a "labor of love". The house would be buzzing with lots of noise; mainly laughter, as one person would be mixing the dough and another would be rolling out the dough using an old wooden closet rod that had been passed down. Usually it was my dad and gra
I want to see a raise of hands. Who has buttermilk all year round in their refrigerator? I certainly don't, but thanks to this tip I learned a few years ago, it's not a problem! Simply mix together 1 cup of milk + the juice of one lemon + 5 minutes to rest = Buttermilk. That's it...Easy Peasy! It will get thick just like the buttermilk you buy at the store. One morning while asking the
Did you know that nearly 18 million people suffer from a wheat allergy, sensitivity or intolerance? In an early report back in the 1980's, they found that allergies can affect any system of the body, including the central nervous system and can cause a diverse range of symptoms. According to an article on Foodforthebrain.org, most food allergies develop in reaction to the p
Welcome to Week 52 of Seafood Frenzy, I can't believe it's been a year since I started these posts! Since I started this weekly seafood round-up, I have shared 520 new seafood recipes from so many wonderful bloggers and have had over 15,000 views..that's amazing! And each week there are so many to choose from, but the most popular to date was Week 15. If you've missed any along the way, you can
