Sandwich Artist: The Best Sandwiches. Period.

I love a good sandwich.  To me, there is nothing better than biting into a BLT on toasted white bread, preferably the kind that sticks to the roof of your mouth.   In keeping with the momentum of motivating my readers to entertain, I bring you the idea of a ladies lunch. Not the fancy kind with invitations and a motivational speaker, but rather the impromptu gathering of a few friends  a BLT , Ruffles potato chips and a good ole' fashioned Coke. Right now I am loving the new Oscar Mayer Butcher thick cut bacon with sea salt. I cook my bacon in the oven, 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. It's perfectly crisp and eliminates the dreaded bacon grease splatter from pan frying.

The perfect sandwich dessert? Nye's Key Lime Pie Ice Cream Sandwich. You WON'T be disappointed!

Nye's ice cream sandwich.

Speaking of Sandwich..... While hunting through Pinterest, the ultimate source for all things eye-candy, I came across these incredibly cool "Scanwiches." Wouldn't a few of these pictures be great featured together on a kitchen wall?  Which ones are your favorite? Get even more of the sandwich scoop on my Smashing Sandwiches Pinterest board.

BLT Scanwich

Turkey Hero

Lobster Roll

The Entertainer

A big thank you to Lonny Magazine for the wonderful article in the January / February issue.  This article features my home in Maine where my family and I spend our summers.  While in residence, I absolutly love to entertain people in our home. Be it breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Entertaining friends and house guests comes easy for me. I enjoy having people in my home because I feel it is  more authentic and intimate than going out to a restaurant. Entertaining friends and house guests comes easy for me. That is not always the case with many people.  Perhaps you are one of those individuals who is afraid of not being able to "pull off" a dinner party. Here is a simple suggestion and menu and idea for motivating you to plan a dinner party. The more you practice your host or hostess skills the more comfortable you will become with having guests in your home.

Keep it simple. Prepare a dish that you can make ahead so you are not stuck in the kitchen when your guest arrive.  Here are a few of my favorite easily prepared meals for a sit down dinner.

Cheeseburgers.  Totally unexpected. Why not haul out your good china. If you are like me, you might not use it much so here is an excuse to put it to use.

Make a plate of lettuce, onion, tomato so your guests may personalize their burger.  Buns in a basket and you are halfway there. If you want to step it up a notch, serve the burgers with home made sweet potato fries. I like Ina Garten's recipe. If cooking is not your thing, serve Alexia sweet potato fries.

I love a beautifully set table.  Placemats, linen napkins and the good silver and china. Why not? Life is short and usually the "good china" and the "silver" usually only come out at Thanksgiving and during the Holidays.

Not in the mood to wash dishes? I am equally content with Chinet. I am loving the new 9 1/2" square dinner plate!  Who knew Chinet could be so chic??

Now go on and plan a dinner party. Your friends will thank you for having them over and you just might enjoy how authentic and intimate a last-minute soiree can be.

images via pintrest, Alexia Foods.com, GDS interiors, and amazon

Tootin' Our Own Horn! Winter Press

Some days you deserve to give yourself a pat on the back and today is one of those days. We just got the latest issue from  Ivy and Piper, Australia's online design mag, and couldn't be more thrilled than to find our spread in their winter issue! There's nothing better than feverishly flipping through (or in this case, clicking through) a magazine and seeing your finished product on a page. Enjoy! And don't forget to look at the rest of the issue- they had some amazing gift ideas that I'm obsessing over.   
                                                                (all photos by Emily Redfield)