It was a New York Times recipe, fitting since one of the couples was B’s colleague Lexi and her husband Grant. She must have liked it, cause she instagrammed it afterwards — if ever there was a barometer of love, social media is it. [Though the photo at the bottom I actually stole from Lindsey, one of my other guests — thanks Linds! Guess she liked it too, obviously.]

Anyway the recipe called for avocado as well, but since I was serving some with my main course (recipe for that salmon tartare coming in a few days), I decided to opt out. Plus I had so much radish happening, I rolled with that instead. Aren’t the red ones below gorgeous? The last picture by the way, is me holding a daikon radish — in case you were wondering what one looks like.

I’m here all week.

Anyway last weekend I was so lucky — my 4 best friends from high school and I went away to one of their parents’ lake houses for some quality girl time. Since we were going to stay in the house all weekend — we were just going to gossip and drink anyway, no need to go out for that — we didn’t have any outfits to plan, only meals. Girls gotta eat! I (naturally) offered to take care of dinner and Darcey — one of my girls — said she’d bring some appetizers.

I wasn’t planning on breaking out the Official TV Dinner Camera (my iPhone), but this dip blew me away. It has a perfect little sweet zing to it, and since there’s corn and beans, it’s healthy, except for the fact that you’re shoveling it in with handfuls of salted tortilla chips. Nobody’s perfect. I’d even make it in a bigger portion next time and serve it as a side dish, perhaps to a barbecue meal.

I ate around the feta cheese cause I don’t eat dairy — but you should dig in and enjoy without hesitation — and when you do, thank my friend Darcey. And her Aunt Sue!

I swear I saw tears in B’s eyes as he chowed down on his marinated shrimp and green beans last night. He was in love! Or maybe he’s still in disbelief that such a gorgeous woman is cooking him such delicious meals? Ah, they were probably tears from the heat; this sauce is not for the faint of heart. It’s got kick that leaves fire on your lips and tongue — in a good way, that makes you want to keep going, licking every last drop off your fingers. You can tone it down if you like by adding more brown sugar and ketchup — but why ruin all the fun?

Chrissy Teigen says it’s still the most searched/most talked about recipe on her blog, even though she posted it back in August of 2011. And homegirl’s got a pretty serious arsenal of recipes. Anyway she suggested making enough to freeze for later, so I decided to make a jar of it since I already had all the ingredients. I’m going away with my girls this weekend so I’ll bring it with me and use it when I make that mexican salad with shrimp on top. So the recipe below is for one serving (enough to coat whatever fish or meat you choose, for two-three people) but if you’d like to follow my (and Chrissy’s) lead — just quadruple the servings.

I’m all about homemade sauces and dressings, because they are so much healthier. The ones you buy in a store — even the “healthy” ones — are loaded with so much sugar and salt. Homemade tastes so much better, too. I just whipped up a jar of my super secret spicy dressing last night that I’m also bringing with me this weekend to feed my girls; I’ll share that recipe with you when I get back. So stay tuned. Let’s be done with store-bought sauces and dressings!

The payoff? B not only told me this was his favorite dinner party meal yet, but he also confessed this: “I realized this was going to be my first time ever having tacos without cheese — and I was nervous — but they really didn’t need it. The slaw and avocado cream were more than enough flavor.”

So it passes the true litmus test: my meat and dairy eating boyfriend loved the no meat, no dairy meal.

And don’t worry about the prep time — the best part of this meal was that I could make everything well in advance — the fish marinade, simple slaw and avocado cream. (And I even think it got tastier while in the fridge for a few hours.)

Next time I’m going to make the tortillas a little crispier and have more toppings on the table — maybe some peppers? — let me know in the comments what you put on your fish tacos.

…or not so seedy, not so sticky — but definitely yummy — whatever consistency you please.

That’s the beauty of granola.

While my recipe is below, the best part about this homemade treat — and it is a treat — is that it is totally customizable. If you love coconut, knock yourself out and double my dosage. I know some people who add vanilla extract — that sounds delicious too. I’ve also read recipes that call for egg whites (to thicken and hold), cinnamon, nutmeg or even chocolate. So play with different spices, seeds and extras — see what you like — then let me know what you use, I always love trying new concoctions.

I know what you’re thinking now — this sounds like a lot of work, can’t I just buy granola in a store? Sure. But it’s not a lot of work, I promise — in fact, it’s the easiest thing you’ll ever make. PLUS, making your own is less expensive, so much healthier (the store-bought kinds are often loaded with sugar) and infinitely more delicious.

And you can make a huge batch that will last a month in an air-tight container. I always do — half for work, half for home — so I can eat it for breakfast or a snack. [I prefer mine with vanilla coconut milk yogurt and fresh berries.]

This time, I even made enough to bring a jar to my fabulous friend, Brew PR Queen @brooke, who had us over for a Super Bowl party yesterday. [jar + twine from the container store, a piece of a postcard — and voila — perfect hostess gift!]

Sounds simple enough — or maybe I’ve just made a short story long, as my parents have always said is a gift of mine — but here’s the thing. Sam used to be the restaurant critic of the New York Times. Sam hangs out and cooks with Mark Bittman. Sam wrote a book about how to cook Thanksgiving dinner properly.

I had basically volunteered to sew a dress and have it judged on the runway at Prada’s spring fashion show.

So I made two batches, studied Google images of others’ ginger scallion sauce, and even ate at Momofuku in Toronto — twice in one weekend! — to fully grasp the flavor and texture. (It’s pictured over on the right.) In the end I decided to put it in a pretty jar affixed with a handwritten neon label. Cuteness is the best distraction.

But lest me not deter you from making this sauce. There are 3 ingredients — 4 if you opt in on the hot sauce — and it couldn’t be easier to whip up.

Since B is at work writing his second Page One story in two days (I know, he’s somethin) I’m testing out  a new veggie recipe here in the lovenest. My mom cut this out of the Philadelphia Inquirer for me while I was home last week and I’ve been wanting to adapt it a bit — more veggies, more flavor — so tonight’s the night. If B were here, I would’ve cooked a piece of fish alongside this — any kind, really — so my man gets his protein. But it’s just me! No one else to worry about! So you know what that means, right? While he’s hunkered down writing a follow up to this Al Gore/Al Jazeera story [feign your intrigue here] it’s time for me to live on the edge. And what says wild, crazy, sexy more than a girl home alone, in her sweaty Lululemon, oven-braising some veggies? Exactly. Best part about this recipe is that you really can’t screw it up — it’s so simple — and so healthy, too.