Coffee Granita

 

If it's hot where you are, Italian granitas are a refreshing and delicious way to enjoy something frosty.  They are super simple to make, require only two or three ingredients and everyone loves them.  For this post, I'm showing you how to make a coffee granita, which is popular is Sicily, but once you understand the technique, you can make all kinds of granitas - watermelon, strawberry, lemon, even almond - which is a favorite in Catania.  

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Chocolate Cake with Red Wine Glaze

 

Do I need another bundt cake pan?  No.  But I couldn't resist this swirl cake pan from Nordic Ware.  I was picturing all kinds of cakes in it.  Lemon pound cake, Coffee Cake, and of course, chocolate cake.  For this recipe, I'm using my favorite chocolate cake recipe and combining it with a rich red wine chocolate glaze that I spied in Bon Appetit.  Chocolate and red wine are such a great combination, why not combine them in a cake?

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Casarecce Pasta with Pesto, Eggplant and Slow Roasted Tomatoes (and a Barilla Pasta Giveaway!)

Did you know there are hundreds of different pasta shapes in Italy?  Each region seems to have a special shape or two which is popular in that area.  Thanks to the good folks at Barilla, you will be able to experience some of these shapes because they are introducing five new pasta shapes with Barilla® "Collezione" pasta. I'm so excited about this line of pastas. And Barilla is even offering a giveaway gift basket for you, which includes each pasta shape plus goodies from Williams Sonoma, to a lucky reader.

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