First, I’d like to say, pardon the hiatus - lack of motivation…whatever you’d like to call it! I promise I have been cooking and have collected some great photos and stories to share with you along the way. I’ll play catch up soon enough, but for now, let me tell you about tonight’s adventure in the fondue pot.

My day started at Einstein’s bagels for coffee with a lovely GSU student. I enjoyed my Pumpkin Spice Latte (not to be confused with #PSL – that’s BUX only yal!) immensely at the time. However, the post-lunch sugar spike hit me hard this afternoon. I decided I needed two things in my day to make me feel better: spin class and vegetables!

After a tough, yet enjoyable spin class, I took a trip over to my fond Publix – you know the one (or one of the four) I used to work at. I always love seeing my old coworkers there and catching up. But the thing I love most about Publix is the produce. This is the most colorful and healthy section of the store. I loaded up my basket with peppers, scallions, garlic, potatoes, and tomatoes. I had an idea in mind.

After making my way home, I washed up and headed straight to the kitchen to begin crafting tonight’s masterpiece. This recipe is one I discovered with my one of my best girl friends, Mateja, while in Slovenia earlier this summer on vacation. Yes, we like to cook on vacation! This particular evening we were in the mood for tex-mex fare and stumbled across this charming recipe that brings together an abundance of flavors and really lends itself to free-styling – which is always good in the kitchen!

I pulled up the Warm Corn and Tomato Salad recipe still saved in the notes on my iPhone from my trip. First I sliced and diced the whole rainbow of veggies – red and orange bell peppers, scallions, tomatoes, cilantro and garlic. If you’ve ever cooked with me in the kitchen, you can attest that it was incredibly difficult for me to refrain from eating a handful of the colorful peppers – they are like candy!

This recipe is a good one to adjust a bit depending on what you have in the fridge. It calls for corn, which I conveniently had leftover in the freezer from another dish. I followed the main frame of the recipe, but mixed it up a bit according to my preferences. I used lemon juice instead of fresh lime (to save a buck, since I already had lemon juice in my fridge!) and left out the ground cumin and paprika – two spices that are surprisingly not in my collection!

This recipe is a great compliment to a taco night or quesadilla meal. In Slovenia, we served it with homemade chicken quesadillas. Tonight I decided to go vegetarian and serve it with some adorable potatoes I found on sale at Publix as well. The Potato Inspirations brand sells small bags of itty bitty potatoes that I knew would be no hassle and fit easily in my fondue pot – and they were BOGO! I cooked the potatoes with a bit of butter, salt, pepper, and threw in some fresh rosemary from my budding herb garden in my windowsill. I forgot how wonderful rosemary smells – and tastes!

The best part about the fondue part is the easy clean up. Tonight I had two dishes to make in the fondue pot, but all I had to do was rinse it out in between preparing the two courses. After portioning out the Warm Corn and Tomato Salad (which makes about 4 portions as the recipe indicates) and the potatoes (probably 5 servings for me!), I served my scrumptious fondue pot fixes with some guacamole and chips to spice up my meal a bit!

And look – a lovely vegetarian ensemble…and another success in the fondue pot!