I know we've been on a bit of a dessert spree of late (if you can call three posts in three months a "spree"), but this one is worth it.  Promise. When I was little - I think maybe kindergarten? - my mom packed me a peanut butter sandwich every single day for the entire year.  At least it felt that way to 5 year old me.  Some days, if she let me help put my lunch together, I'd skip the jelly and add marshmallows instead, which is some serious culinary genius to a small child.  Only years later did I find out that this not-so-original creation is called the fluffernutter.  You may find it hard to believe, but these cupcakes are just slightly better than a mangled peanut butter sandwich, and are probably a really good idea to make for whatever event you have next.  Like, this weekend for example? I got the frosting recipe from Cupcake Hero, but used Smitten Kitchen's everyday chocolate cake recipe for the base.  Feel free to use a cake mix if it means you make these sooner rather than later! Fluffernutter Cupcakes For the cake:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease or line your cupcake tins.  In a large bowl, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugars and beat until fluffy. Add the egg and beat well, then add your buttermilk and vanilla. Mix together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt and add into your wet ingredients. Stir together with a spoon until well-blended, but don't over do it.  Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a tester comes out clean from the center of a cupcake. While those are baking, get to the frosting:

• 1 c. marshmallow fluff
• 1/2 c. creamy peanut butter
• 1/3 c. butter, softened
• 1/4 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/3 c. powdered sugar
• 1-2 Tbsp. milk

In mixer bowl, on low speed, combine fluff, peanut butter, butter, and vanilla until blended.  Scrape down the bowl, and add powdered sugar, beating until it's all mixed together.  Add just enough milk to make frosting spreadable.  Then try not to eat it all straight from the bowl.  Enjoy!

You guys.  These cookies are so good.  They are so good, in fact, I've been sitting on this recipe for almost three weeks now, because I cannot come up with the words to be funny or smart and I feel so very guilty for depriving you thusly.  You should make them, not only because they are delicious and quite a bit less messy to eat than a regular s'more, but also because they are incredibly, deliriously easy to make and that is almost reason enough by itself.  You won't be sorry.  You can and should thank Kitchen Stories for this one.

S'more Cookies

• 11 tablespoons butter, room temperature (if unsalted, add a little pinch of salt to the dry ingredients)
• 1 cup brown sugar
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 ½ cups flour
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1 cup mini marshmallows
• Hershey’s bars (I think I used three?)
• Graham crackers (1-2 packages, or 2/3 a regular box)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and cinnamon. Set aside. In an electric or stand mixer, cream your butter with both white and brown sugars until fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat to combine.  Now add the flour mixture to the butter mixture slowly and on low speed until everyone's all mixed together.  Fold in the chocolate chips and marshmallows. Pop your dough in refrigerator while you're doing this next part. Line your cookie sheet with graham crackers, broken into single squares (s'more size).  You can space them a little, or snuggle them together.  Doesn't matter.  Now scoop a spoonful of dough on each graham cracker. You'll want to flatten the cookie dough just a bit.  Stick the sheet in the oven for about 5 minutes, and while they're baking, break your Hershey's bars into single pieces (you'll need one piece for each cookie, so you do the math on how many bars you'll need). Take the cookies out of the oven and press a chocolate bar piece on each.  Put the cookies back in the oven for another 5 minutes.  They won't darken much, and a dry cookie is a sad cookie, so err on the lower end here.  Let them cool a bit on the sheet, then serve and be happy.

I'm going to bet you've got some kind of barbecue next weekend.  Call it a hunch, but probably you're either invited to or throwing a get-together.  Possibly you're just going to gate crash a party.  In any situation, I'm sure these will make you some friends.  I know what you're thinking: aren't deviled eggs something that sad housewives made in the 60's before we knew what good food was?  To you I say, maybe.  But these are better, tastier, fancier (but most likely easier!) than those things you're thinking of from the pages of Betty Crocker. Ina made these up, but she also wanted you to include a garnish of fresh salmon roe.  Now, for someone's backyard grilling fête, you could maybe leave that part out.  Someone's lovely and tasteful bridal or baby shower?  Sure, knock yourself out.  But to tag along with hot dogs and sparklers?  Nah.  So, I've tweaked a bit to make the process a little more streamlined.  Also, if you can swing it, I'd get those pre-boiled eggs from your grocery store's deli section.  Makes the whole experience a total breeze. Smoked Salmon Deviled Eggs

• 8 eggs (if already boiled...do I need to say it?  Skip the first step.)
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 2 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature (I used whipped cream cheese, a little easier to incorporate)
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons minced chives
• 4 ounces smoked salmon, minced

I think we've been over this, but for the record, cornbread is not my bag.  I would never tell you I'm a southerner, despite living below the Mason-Dixon line for well over half my life, because Florida just doesn't count as The South.  Well, most of it, that is.  Certain areas with names like Okahumpka would definitely qualify.  But I digress. Anyway, most of the time I make cornbread, I use the mix that you can find at any fine grocery store for less than a dollar.  It's easy, it's fast, it fills a starchy void that some dishes require.  So, I'm not quite sure what it was about this particular recipe on Smitten Kitchen's site that enticed me so, but entice it did.  Homemade cornbread?  From scratch?  On a 95 degree day in June?  But friends, I am so glad I overcame my own skepticism, and I think you will be, too.  This stuff is good. It's so good, I only got to eat one piece despite each of our dinner guests being on some kind of ridiculous diet.  It's diet-breaking good, is what I'm saying, and you should probably go ahead and make a batch pretty soon.  Oh, and fear not the goat cheese - it's subtle and just adds a bit of extra creaminess and balance to the sweetness of the onions.

Caramelized Onion Cornbread

• 1 cup cornmeal
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 1 medium onion, diced (I used a Vidalia for extra sweetness)
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 6 ounces goat cheese
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 2 cups corn kernels (fresh or frozen works, but the fresh corn right now is oh so good)
• 2 tablespoons butter (yes, in addition to the previous two tablespoons)

Take out your goat cheese and let it soften on the counter while you work on everything else.  Stir the cornmeal into the buttermilk (if you get coarse cornmeal, you can soak it in the buttermilk overnight) and let it rest while you do this next part. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Heat a large pan over medium heat and throw in a few tablespoons of oil.  Toss in the onions and cook them until they’re well-caramelized with browned edges. Sprinkle them with salt and leave them alone to cool off. Stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside (sorry, lots of bowls, but it's worth it!). In a large bowl, beat the goat cheese until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time and mixing together in between additions. Add your melted butter, honey, sugar and cornmeal/buttermilk business and mix until smooth. Mix in the flour mixture until combined and then stir in the corn and onions, mixing them until the ingredients are evenly distributed. Put the last two tablespoons of butter in a 10 inch round cake pan (supposedly you can also use a an oven-safe skillet, 9 by 13-inch baking dish or a 12-inch square pan, but move as the spirit leads). Pop your baking vessel of choice in the oven for about five minutes, until the butter is all melted and hot. Take out the pan, pour in your batter, spreading it out evenly and put it back in the oven for about 30 minutes.  If you can slide a knife in and it comes out clean, it's done!  Let it cool for maybe 10-15 minutes and then cut into pieces and serve.  Oh, and be sure to grab a piece before the company nabs it all!

Oh, hello there.  How was your month of May?  I'm sorry we spent it apart; I could give you excuses but somehow I feel that bacon and blue cheese and lobster would soothe you far more expertly than my empty apologies, so let's just dive in, shall we? Ina made this one up - I've altered only a little.  I did not, for instance, purchase kill and cook a live lobster.  That felt excessive, so instead I purchased a package of frozen langostino (its overly complicated definition here, but basically a small shrimp-lobster hybrid that just so happens to be far less expensive than its purebred cousin) and it worked beautifully.  What with the bacon and blue cheese and vinaigrette (homemade!), the subtlety of lobster is pretty much rendered useless.  Which is not to say you can't taste it - it's light and sweet and meaty little bites within the creaminess of avocado and crumbled cheese on toasted bread, which is very nice indeed. No one can agree on the name, so just call it what you will.  Somewhere between a lobster roll and a Cobb salad, here we are:

Cobb Salad Sandwiches

• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1/8 cup lemon juice (1 lemon should do it if you're going fresh)
• 3 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 avocado, diced (so sorry that they are insanely expensive right now, but worth it, I promise!)
• 1 big handful arugula or spinach, torn into small pieces
• 8-10 ounces lobster or langostino or whatever seafood you like, really
• 1/2 pint cherry tomatoes, slice them in half
• 2-3 slices bacon, fried (get it crispy!) and crumbled
• 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
• 4 hot dog/hoagie/whatever rolls

Are you a jalapeño fan?  Do you love accidentally brushing a bit of its wicked juices against your mucous membranes and then feeling the irritating burn of your mistake for many minutes after?  Is there a stash of milk in your refrigerator for your bi-monthly hot pepper tasting events?  I must confess, I am none of these things.  I prefer subtle, nuanced, layered flavors over HOT and LOUD and HOT.  No thank you.  But when I found this recipe on The Kitchn, somehow I forgot everything about myself and felt compelled to try this thing out. It took a few trials (and more errors) and now I think the husband is officially scared of anything I give him in a cocktail glass, but I've finally got a combination of hot and cool and fruity and tequila that is both refreshing and interesting and I think you should make some this weekend.  Or possibly sooner, if it's just that sort of week.

Spicy Orange Margaritas

• 1 ounce jalapeño tequila (instructions for making your own below)
• 3 ounces blood orange juice (I've used plain old orange juice and it's also good)
• 1 ounce lime juice
• 3 ounces Cointreau or Triple Sec
• 3 ounces regular tequila

I probably should have warned you that this is not an instant recipe before I got you all hopped up on the idea of an exotic margarita, but the first time you do this, you'll need to prepare your jalapeño tequila first.  Cut open one jalapeño pepper lengthwise and scrape out the seeds and white parts with the blade of your knife.  Try not to touch the knife and then rub your nose right after you do this, or you'll be sad for a good long while.  Now plop the pepper into your cup of tequila and let it sit for an hour.  If you are a hot-loving fiend, you can let it soak longer or even leave the seeds in, but I'd go slow at first and ramp up the heat if you feel it lacks.  Strain the tequila and store it in a well marked container. Now mix together all of the ingredients and shake, then serve, over ice.  Should make two friendly beverages.

I've been recently attempting more grown up meals, more ma-toor events.  Martha and Helen Jane are in my ear lately, telling me that one course is no longer sufficient.  They say my guests would like something to nibble while I finish the cooking (and I am always finishing the cooking), something good or at least impressive that sets the tone for the meal. Well, those ladies are probably disappointed in my efforts, because usually I resort to the seductive temptress that is the cheese department at the local Whole Foods.  Olives?  Maybe.  Crackers?  If you're lucky.  But this recipe popped up in my monthly browsing on Martha's website and it was so simple it could not be denied.  It would go with any number of meals you might be serving, or maybe it would make a tasty lunch for just you tomorrow.  I won't tell a soul.

Artichoke Bruschetta

Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a pan over medium heat.  Add the garlic and stir it around for a minute, then add the artichoke hearts.  Stir around for three or four minutes, breaking apart the hearts, and get everything warmed through.  Transfer to a bowl. Brush both sides of your bread slices with olive oil.  Then slap them all down in your still-hot pan (you might turn the heat up to medium high).  Get both sides all golden and toasty. While that's going on, salt and pepper your ricotta cheese (I added a drizzle of olive oil to make it easier to stir) and then once your bread is ready, spread a few spoons full of the ricotta on each slice of bread. Top with artichokes.  Sprinkle just a little salt and pepper on the top, and then shave a bit of Parmesan cheese over everything (I used my vegetable peeler).  Serve.  Feel grown up and well fed.

I have a new favorite soup.  Even though temperatures here have started knocking on upper-80's door, I dove into this pot like it was the last wool scarf in a snow storm.  It's got some heat on the back end, but don't be afraid of it - your lips told me they could use a little tingling.  Mostly it's bright and flavorful and hearty and suits itself to a wide variety of toppings, which always makes me happy. I found this over at Soup Chick, and have tweaked only a bit.  These proportions should serve about four, or two for dinner with some very tasty leftovers (to which I am very much looking forward).

Tortilla & Lime Soup

• 2-3 medium-size tortillas, sliced into thin, two-inch long strips
• 1 large red onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 canned chipotle chiles in adobo, minced, plus 1/2 tsp adobo sauce
• 1 14 -oz can chopped tomatoes (I used ones that were spiced with basil and oregano - yum)
• 4-5 cups low-sodium chicken stock (depending on how thin you like your soup)
• Zest of 1 lime
• Juice of 2 limes
• 1 rotisserie chicken, shredded (about 2 cups meat)

In a large pot, heat a few tablespoons of oil over medium heat. Toss in the onion, salt and pepper it heartily, and stir it around until it's soft, maybe 4 minutes. Add the garlic and chiles, and stir for another minute. Add the adobo sauce, lime zest and tomatoes, and stir for a couple of minutes. Now add the stock and lime juice. Let it come to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer about 10 minutes. Add the shredded chicken. While the soup is simmering, toss the tortilla strips in a little oil over medium-high heat in a pan.  Salt them a little bit, too.  Let them get brown and crispy and delicious.  Now serve the soup, and garnish it with whatever your little heart desires, adding the crispy tortilla strips first and last so you get some good texture.  I used chopped avocado and crumbled queso blanco and some extra lime juice.  Perhaps you'd rather have chipotle Tobasco sauce and sour cream.  Maybe you've been yearning for fresh buffalo mozzarella and chopped onion.  Don't let me limit you - the world is your oyster.  Enjoy!

I am a big breakfast fan.  Breakfast at breakfast time, long lazy brunches, breakfast for quick dinners - I am all about it.  A few weeks ago I went to a diner to eat breakfast for lunch (truly, my passion knows no bounds) and a menu item of scrambled eggs with smoked salmon, cream cheese and dill was ordered immediately.  And oh my gosh, it was so good.  I resolved to recreate it at home, slaving over several iterations to get the ratios just so, working tirelessly for you, dear readers, and here are the efforts of my experimenting.  This recipe should serve four.

Scrambled Eggs with Smoked Salmon

• 12 eggs
• 2/3 cup whipped cream cheese
• 4 oz smoked salmon, chopped (this is a messy process, and I'm sorry it can't be avoided)
• 1 tsp minced dill

Crack your eggs into a bowl and beat a little to break the yolks.  Add the dill and season with salt and pepper.  You can add a splash of milk to the mix if you like, but it's not necessary.  Pour the eggs into a pan over medium heat, and while you're stirring those, pop the cream cheese into the microwave for 20 seconds or so, until it's super soft.  When the eggs are almost ready, stir in the cream cheese and get it evenly distributed.  Then add the salmon, mix it up, and serve.  Garnish with more dill if you are a dill fiend.  But mostly, enjoy your breakfast!

One of our friends here in Florida loves to celebrate his birthday each year at perhaps the tackiest, loudest, most obnoxious restaurant on earth.  I won't name names, but this is a themed Greek place with several locations around Central and South Florida.  The music is deafening.  The waiters toss paper napkins in the air every 4 minutes, which invariably land on top of your meal.  There are costumed ladies dancing on tables and the sight of stiletto in my hummus is hardly appetizing.  Also, these people try to haul your non-dancing self up to join them at various intervals, making the evening more about a dislocated shoulder (if you refuse) or deep and abiding shame (if you accept).   However, it must be said, the food is delicious.  It's a testament to how very delicious that we keep going back, despite the genie-pant-clad shins at eye level.  (We also like our Greek birthday-obsessed friend a great deal.)  This year, for one reason or another, we missed the annual feast of Grecian delight, so I decided to attempt a few of the dishes on my own, and not to toot my own horn, but it was a raging success.

Halloumi is technically from Cyprus but is big in the Middle East and Greece as well.  It's got a ridiculous melting point, so it's sometimes called the grilling cheese, because, you guessed it, you can slap it right on the grill and it won't melt on you.  This recipe was originally meant for the grill, but since I know most of y'all are not enjoying current temperatures of 79 degrees, I tried this out in the oven and it worked beautifully.  My regular grocery store was completely baffled by my request for halloumi, but of course Whole Foods ponied up immediately.  I hope you can find it as easily!  I found this recipe at Epicurious, and barely changed anything.

Halloumi with Lemon

• 2 lemons, you'll need both juice and zest
• 1/2 pound Haloumi cheese
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 4-6 thick slices of bread, or a piece for every cheese slice. I used sourdough of course, but any peasant-style, hearty bread would work

Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees.  While that's heating up, zest your lemons (you want a couple teaspoons of zest) and then juice them into a small bowl.  You'll want at least two tablespoons of juice.  Add the minced garlic and mash it a bit with the backside of a spoon.  Then add the zest if you haven't already, salt, sugar and olive oil and whisk it all together. Now slice the cheese.  Epicurious got uppity and suggested the following: halve cheese diagonally, then cut each triangle, cut side down, into two or three slices, depending on how thick you like them.  You needn't be so fussy if you don't feel like it.   Dredge each piece of cheese through the lemon-olive oil concoction and then lay them out on a cookie sheet.  These only need maybe four minutes in the oven, so start your bread before you start baking the cheese.

Put a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a pan over medium-high heat.  Once the pan is hot, add the bread slices (you may have to work in batches, but the result is totally worth it) and then sprinkle everyone with a little kosher salt.  Leave the bread be until it's golden and toasty and olive-oily and then flip them over so they can get equally gorgeous on the other side.  Add some more oil if you like so both sides are coated. Did you forget to bake your cheese while you were toasting your bread?  It's ok, they'll still be good when they're cooler.  Put the pan in the oven now and then take it back out when the cheese is all sizzling and hot, about four minutes.  Serve the cheese with the bread and the leftover dressing for drizzling.  Enjoy!