With each passing year, some foods tend to lose favor and it’s not that they lose flavor. We’re quite picky and demand new ingredients and products to meet our finicky needs. And so, with the close of 2016, many of us will subtly push some of last year’s favorites like kale aside and seek something new. Maybe we will jump on the purple craze and bring this hue into our cooking hoping to load up on antioxidants and nutrients with lilac asparagus, potatoes or cauliflower.
Featured Posts
Shaved Fennel Salad
I felt inclined to use what I had on hand in the fridge to create a few salads. With her help, we shaved and sliced two very tasty salads which I believe are worthy of sharing with you. It’s a good lesson that even the oldest veggies buried in the fridge can often be used and transformed into something which is actually quite good. A good example of the old saying: “Waste not, want not.”
New Year Recipes
But for my first recipe of the year, I’m sharing my banana bread recipe which I do believe is a winner. (At least with all of my friends and family!).
Vintage Inspiration
A Taste of Gefilte Fish
These two bite Gefilte fish appetizers are the perfect way to serve this classic food at your Passover dinner. Served with a tangy horseradish sauce, you might not even have any leftovers!
“Good Nutrition Brings Double Happiness” Betty Crocker
I scored a first edition 1950 copy of a Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook at an estate sale last Friday and I am having a hard time containing my excitement. I think this beautiful red binder is going to alter my life in some way (not sure yet how) and that’s why I love estate sales so much. You never know what you’ll find and how your life will be affected by someone else who lived before you.
Little Bites
Cranberry Sauce Filled Muffins
Reminiscent of old fashioned jelly filled donuts, cake flour makes these muffins light and airy. The cranberry sauce is a tart surprise with every bite of these sweet treats. They are a terrific way to use up your leftover cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving.
Salmon Cakes with Chipotle Lime Mayo
These fresh salmon cakes served with Chipotle Lime mayonnaise are packed with spices, peppers and scallions which give them plenty of zing. Trust me, they will hit just the spot. Plus they freeze exceptionally well and can be pulled out for individual meals throughout the busy work days. Make them dinner sized or two bite sized and serve as a party appetizer.
Buttered Pecan Dulce de Leche Turtles
A layer of buttered pecans, Dulce de Leche and dark chocolate set in heart shape molds are topped with just a hint of sea salt for a sophisticated take on the classic chocolate caramel turtle.
In Case You Missed Them
Bittersweet Barberries
Zereshk is what they are called in Persian and that’s what they’ll always be known as to me. As I write this post, I do so bittersweetly. Just as the tartness of these tiny berries which need to be sweetened slightly with sugar, so too are my thoughts as these berries evoke fond memories from my childhood. Barberries bring with them nostalgia, times cherished with a family who opened their hearts as they welcomed me into their home and their kitchen.
Fiddle-de-Diddle Fiddleheads
What are those strange looking tightly curled up things? The ones that look like “rolled up asparagus” to my ten year old. Fiddle de diddle, they are Fiddleheads, a strange and wondrous vegetable that look and taste like no other. And they are in season, farm fresh, here in the Garden State (New Jersey if…
ENTER FOR A CHANCE TO WIN — ANOLON CUTLERY 3-PIECE SET
I really truly love these knives made by Anolon. This 3-piece set is ideal for an home cook since they are really the only three knives you must have to do most of your prepping, chopping, mincing and dicing.
It’s “Chili” in Sedona
No vacation is complete without some culinary inspiration, especially when it’s a remarkable food we savor and then recreate it back home in our own kitchens. Most recently inspiration struck among the Red Rocks in Sedona Arizona, where sheer cliffs tower above deep leafy canyons and you’re continuously left awestruck.
“Oh my goodness” Doce de Leite Macaroons
With only five ingredients, these delightful chewy cookies are simple to make. But you might want to double the recipe if your family is anything like mine! Enjoy.
Put the Lime in the Coconut
These sweet and zesty coconut macaroons are a refreshing change from traditional macaroons. One bite and you’ll be swept away to the Caribbean, with palm trees blowing in the breeze.
On My Bookshelf
Seven Spoons By, Tara O'Brady Maybe it was the cover of this delightful and delectable new book which lured me at first glance. Perhaps it was the freshly sliced figs which caught my attention and brought me back to lazy days filled with figs ...
Flour + Water By, Thomas McNaughton Finally a book from San Franciso's very popular restaurant Flour + Water. And it comes just in time for some cool weather cooking and in my house that means lots of pasta! This new cookbook inspires home ...
French Roots By, Jean-Pierre Moulle & Denise Lurton Moulle This lovely new cookbook captures the country lives of a couple defined and enriched by local and regional food. The book eloquently merges the old French rural way of cooking with the ...