MaiTai Tracy’s Kitchen:  Our Favorite Recipes

 

 

 

From Our Kitchen To Yours

“A passion for food is a passion for life” – Old Italian saying

Welcome to MaiTai Tracy’s Kitchen!

Tom and I love to travel … and to eat!  When Tom started Travels With Mai Tai Tom, MaiTai Tracy’s Kitchen was added as a way to help Tom build content.  Somewhere along the way, I realized I enjoyed sharing recipes and really liked writing and taking pictures.  I started by posting some of our favorites recipes from our years of entertaining.  I have kept track of the menus for every single dinner and party we have had at our house since 1999.  We like to host, what can I say?

Our very first party in 1991 was a Blazing Saddles costume party where we served Yankee Bean Soup and Tuna Surprise (food from the movie – not to worry, those recipes are not here).  Our second effort was Thanksgiving, where the turkey erupted in flames.  Apparently, it was a very juicy turkey and the drippings spilled out and caught fire in the oven.  As I recall, everything turned out great despite our beagle snatching a loaf of cranberry bread from the table.

We are much improved since those two efforts.  The recipes I share with you are our favorites; ones that can’t go wrong and that we feel are worth the effort.  Our motto: “Good Food, Great Friends and Fun.” 

On the travel side of things, I am the “Scribe.”  I take copious notes that Tom magically transforms into his trip reports and posts.  These days I also take most of the photos on my iPhone.

I hope you enjoy these recipes as much as we like sharing them!

“People who love to eat are always the best people” – Julia Child

Tracy & Tom

Browse by Course

Breakfast 

Starter

Soup and Salad

Cocktail

Side

Main

Dessert

Dog Treats

 


August 24, 2017

Furry Godmother’s Peanut Butter Banana Pupcakes

Celebrating National Dog Day! Furry Godmother’s Peanut Butter Banana Pupcakes Dog Treats Recently, Frankie and Remi’s Aunt Susan (who is a total cat person) came across a recipe for these Peanut Butter & Banana Pupcakes while reading a cat caper by Julie Chase, Cat Got Your Diamonds:  A Kitty Couture […]
August 22, 2017

Ghost Pepper Strawberry Jam

Hot Damn Jam! Ghost Pepper Strawberry Jam Dessert For my birthday this year, I asked Tom to get me a galvanized steel watering trough … you know, the kind horses and cows drink out of.  Yes, you read that correctly.  I have coveted one for years.  It took 17 bags […]
August 15, 2017

Shrimp Scampi in a Garlic Butter Sauce with Pasta

From The Kitchen of Kim & MaryShrimp Scampi in a Garlic Butter Sauce with Pasta Main (Tom and Tracy Note: Two of our favorite places to dine on the road in Southern California or Northern California are at one of the homes of our intrepid traveling companions, Kim and Mary […]
August 7, 2017

Donna Jean’s Tropical Pork Carnitas Mini Tostadas

Bet You Can’t Eat Just One Donna Jean’s Tropical Pork Carnitas Mini Tostadas Starter For Tom’s 65th birthday party in July, we decided to celebrate with a fiesta catered by the terrific La Cabañita Restaurant in Montrose (technically Glendale).  Since La Cabañita was only bringing dinner items, I needed to […]
July 13, 2017

Chilled Carrot Soup with Cumin & Lime

Some Like It Cold! Chilled Carrot Soup with Cumin & Lime Soup & Salad It’s been blistering hot here in Southern California lately, so scorching in fact, that it’s too hot to barbecue or even turn on the oven.  So, what to make for dinner?  Soup…chilled soup that is.  I […]
July 3, 2017

Salsa Baked Goat Cheese and Chorizo Dip

Olé! Salsa Baked Goat Cheese and Chorizo Dip Starter This recipe is adapted from a Rick Bayless recipe that I found in a Williams-Sonoma booklet in 2002.  It has been a consistent winner over the years, but I got bored with it and decided it needed something …. something to […]
June 22, 2017

Barefoot Contessa’s Whole Wheat Peanut Butter Dog Biscuits  

Bone Appétit! Barefoot Contessa’s Whole Wheat Peanut Butter Dog Biscuits Dog Treats As some of you may know, we have two Pembroke Welsh corgis named Frankie and Remi.  They are brother and sister from the same litter.  We adopted them when they were two years old. They are joyful and […]
June 14, 2017

Borough Market Cheese Toastie

Say “Cheese!” Borough Market Cheese Toastie Main Having returned from our 2017 London/Scotland holiday (trip report here), we were in the mood for the delicious Cheese Toastie we devoured at the Kappacasein Stall at the Borough Market in London on a previous trip.  We tried this sandwich on our first […]
March 16, 2017

Mom’s Grasshopper Pie

Patience Grasshopper Mom’s Grasshopper Pie Dessert Grasshopper Pie is one of Tom’s childhood favorite desserts.  I make it for him every year on his birthday.  Today, we roll it out early in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, not because it’s Irish, but because it’s green! The easiest way to make […]
February 13, 2017

Limoncello Orange Sugar Cookies

When Life Hands You Lemons and Oranges… Limoncello Orange Sugar Cookies Dessert Our next door neighbor, she of the fabulous fig tree, also has an incredible Meyer lemon tree (a very pretty one) that fortuitously hangs into our yard and provides us with lemons nearly year round.  After reading the […]
February 1, 2017

Steakhouse Spinach Artichoke Dip

Tracy’s “Secret” Recipe Dip Steakhouse Spinach Artichoke Dip Starter There are lots of really good spinach artichoke dip recipes out there.  This one was given to me years ago and allegedly is the “secret” recipe of a famous steakhouse (although the restaurant was never divulged).  This recipe never fails and […]
January 24, 2017

Dorie’s Classic Jammer Cookies

A Hunky “Dorie” Classic Cookie Dorie’s Classic Jammer Cookies Dessert In late 2016 you could not pick up a holiday magazine without seeing a cookie recipe by Dorie Greenspan or reading about her new compendium of cookies, “Dorie’s Cookies.”  I had no sooner read a review in the LA Times […]
January 13, 2017

Italian Wedding Soup With Orzo & Spicy Chicken Meatballs

A Marriage of Pasta and Chicken Italian Wedding Soup With Orzo & Spicy Chicken Meatballs Soup & Salad Our New Year’s Eve plans changed at the last minute, and as it was an unusually cold and wintry day in Southern California (even rain!), I turned to my favorite cookbook author, […]
December 2, 2016

Nana’s Old Fashioned Christmas Oatmeal Gumdrop Cookies

Yuletide Treat Nana’s Old Fashioned Christmas Oatmeal Gumdrop Cookies Dessert This cookie recipe recently made it into the top 10 in the Los Angeles Times 2016 Holiday Cookie Bake-Off Competition. The results are not yet in as to the winner, but as December 4th is National Cookie Day, we are sharing […]
November 23, 2016

Pumpkin Pie Spice Vanilla Vodka Martini

Spicing Up The Holidays! Pumpkin Pie Spice Vanilla Vodka Martini Cocktail To help you get through the upcoming Thanksgiving and holiday season, MaiTaiTracy’s Kitchen is rolling out a Pumpkin Pie Spice Vanilla Vodka Martini recipe sure to ease the way.  This recipe was shared by a friend a few years […]