Freshness and elegance. Pour some of your favorite olive oil into an unexpected clear glass vessel (like a simple vase, a really large mug or, how about a trifle bowl?) Add some fresh woodsy herbs like thyme or oregano, some cut garlic (just to flavor the oil), a bay leaf or two, a handful of whole peppercorns and a little kosher salt. Gingerly drop in some chunks of goat cheese and let them marinate in the oil at room temperature until your guests arrive. Serve with homemade crostini. For the crostini, thinly slice some French baguette, brush each slice with a little olive oil, sprinkle with kosher salt or fleur de sel and toast in the oven at 400 degrees until crisp and lightly toasted. Let dry out in the open so that they stay nice and crisp. Let your guests serve themselves to delicious marinated goat cheese spread onto your crunchy crostini. Experiment with herbs. Add a dried chile red pepper or whatever your palate desires. Fresh mozzarella would look really pretty also, however, I find that the goat cheese works well with this idea since it holds it's shape and it's smooth and spreadable. In any case, use your imagination and think "dramatic". Your friends will be impressed. Make a nice pitcher of Rose' sangria with lots of fruit and kick back. Do whatever you enjoy. Whatever makes your happy.You know . . . whatever floats your goat!
Love, Katie
During the last hour of cooking, I boiled halved red potatoes, carrots, parsnips and turnips until tender. After draining, I tossed them with olive oil, butter,s & p, and fresh, chopped flat leaf parsley. I also boiled an additional head of cabbage
Check out these beautiful potatoes! Warm potatoes really benefit from a little champagne vinegar, olive oil and country dijon mustard in this lovely and lively salad. When all was said and done, this colorful variety of blue, yellow, red and white potatoes were combined with haricot verts (thin, young green beans), sweet onions, cherry tomatoes, finely chopped radicchio and romaine, a few warm, soft-boiled eggs and a scrumptious, French style, champagne vinaigrette. A peasant style feast of a salad! If you're not already into mustard vinaigrettes, try whisking a teaspoon or so of dijon mustard into your next oil and vinegar dressing. Add a little s & p and you will be thrilled with the result! A little dijon adds freshness and tanginess to your oil and vinegar. Try it. I even drizzle some directly into the salad bowl when I'm in a rush and toss it all together with the salad greens, olive oil, vinegar, salt & pepper. More mustard, more zip.
Beans, beans, magical fruit, the more you eat . . . (when I was a kid, I thought it went "Beans, beans, musical fruit, the more you eat . . . " Anyway, I love to make a huge pot of minnestrone style soup that is packed with beans 
and vegetables and tons of flavor. So, last Thursday, it was dark and creepy outside, pouring rain for hours. I spent the entire day in my closet, organizing jewelry and various junk. A dreaded project. I never got dressed and soon realized that I would not be leaving the house or abandoning my project. I knew I would be cooking "off the shelf". I started late in the afternoon with a bag of Trader Joe's 17-bean and barley mix. Yes, I finally came out of the closet. I quick-soaked the dried beans by covering them with cold water, bringing them to a boil, and then soaking them for an hour or two. Yes, just read the directions on the bag. LOL. From that point, it was a refrigerator and pantry expedition for all things soup. I had a lot to work with and I was happy to be in Katie's Passion Kitchen, rather than Katie's Closet. I had half a bag of baby purple onions, one parsnip, a bunch of celery, a bag of carrots, a pound of bacon (thanks to Mark), plus some cute little pasta rings (Anelletti) (HOLD IT! I just thought of a name for this soup: Fioretti Anelletti Minnestretti ~ LOL ~ whatdya think?). OK. So, I sauteed a few strips of bacon, finely chopped) in some olive oil and added onions, parsnip, celery, carrots, crushed red pepper flakes and finely chopped garlic. Can you smell that? Then, I added the beans which had been soaked, then drained and rinsed. To that, I added chicken broth, canned whole tomatoes (crushed by hand) with their juice, some water, a few bay leaves and some salt, pepper & cayenne pepper. This soup simmered for a couple of hours with the lid ajar. (Q: When is a lid not a lid? A: When it's ajar). Some of the beans do take a LONG time to soften up. Some actually stay firm but it's a good firm. Once the flavors began to develop and the beans became tender (while I was back in the closet), I added a small head of savoy cabbage (finely sliced and chopped). After that began to cook a bit, I added a few yello
