Joe and I were baking fiends last night. We successful made five varieties of holiday cookies plus chocolate and peanutbutter rice krispy treats–all before the clock struck midnight! We like to give our friends, coworkers and clients cute treat bags bursting with homemade goodies around the holidays.  In the bag this year: ginger snaps, sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin spice cookies and mini chocolate spritz cookies made with my cookie gun.

The other night we raided Trader Joe’s and created a mini-burger bar in our backyard. We put out a variety of cheeses (bleu, brie,cheddar, feta), veggies (tomato, avocado, lettuce) and tons of spreads (hummus, olive tapenade, pesto, Dijon mustard…) The little morsel pictured above features brie, avocado, lettuce, burger and tomato. The accompaniment? Sweet potato fries!

This is an old family favorite. Macaroni casserole has to be one of my greatest comfort foods of all time. I was feeling a little homesick, so I decided to make this old standby for my brother’s visit this week. I jazzed it up a little with some green chiles, pancetta and toasted panko bread crumbs on top.

My coworker and friend Kimberlee recently moved into a cute new place in Orange. She was gracious enough to invite Joe and I over for a house-warming party. I made these Butterfinger cupcakes with devil’s food cake and vanilla frosting. They were a hit!

Every Tuesday night, my brother Jimmy escapes the city lights and joins us in Long Beach for dinner. This particularly steamy April evening found us outside, grilling some fabulously juicy cheeseburgers.

We combined sun-dried tomatoes, minced onion, goat cheese, garlic salt and pepper into the ground beef. The onions help the burgers to retain their natural moisture. Some sharp cheddar, crisp lettuce, a thick beefsteak tomato slice, avocado and crispy fried onions completed the experience. And, naturally, we couldn’t use just any ol’ hamburger bun — a crispy on the outside, soft on the inside focaccia roll did the trick.

Throw some artichokes on the barbie and I say “Let’s eat!”

I kinda came up with this one on the fly. I’ve read endless dessert recipes that highlight the classic Italian combination of red raspberries and mascarpone cheese (a triple-cream cheese made from crème fraîche). I found I had a bag of raspberries and a package of fillo dough in the freezer, so I made sure to pickup some mascarpone when I was at Trader Joe’s.

How did I create these beauties, you ask? I folded each sheet of fillo in quarters (forming a square), lightly sprayed both sides with cooking spray and placed them into a muffin tin. I stuck the fillo cups in a 375 degree oven for about 10 minutes (just until they were golden brown).

While the fillo was baking away, I put the raspberries through the food processor then through a fine strainer to remove all of the seeds. Joe thought I was crazy for straining the seeds from the raspberries, but it made for a really nice, smooth filling – and it wasn’t that bad!

After allowing the fillo cups to cool, I beat together the mascarpone, seedless raspberries and about one tablespoon of powdered sugar. I then spooned the bright pink mixture into a pastry bag and piped it artfully into the fillo cups. To complete the look, I placed a whole raspberry on top and shaved some semi-sweet chocolate over the whole thing. A very light and flavorful dessert, great for your next dinner party!