Lemon Poppy-Seed Sour Cream Scones. How good does that sound? One of my absolute favorite muffins is a lemon poppy-seed sour cream muffin. Forget those flavored with almond. I’m always disappointed. And if you think to ask the barista or whomever it is that you’re contemplating buying said muffin from whether they’re flavored with almond or lemon, they look at you like, “Why are you asking this you crazy picky-muffin eater?” But seriously. Almond flavored poppy seed muffins? No thank you. Those with lemon? Superb. Refreshing. Made with sour cream? Even better. My favorites are from Baking from my Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. The recipe alone is worth the price of the book. That and the Perfect Party Cake, which I also made again recently for Luke’s baptism. [... To read more, click here ...]
Let me introduce you to someone. This is my Great-Great Grandma Laura Martinez. She was 100% Diegueno/Kumeyaay, a Native American tribe from near San Diego and Northern Mexico. She lived and gave birth to my Great-Grandma Louise in the Santa Ysabel Assistencia, a smaller mission incorporated with the San Diego mission. So when I tell you that I have my Great Grandma’s tortilla recipe, you can be sure that it is highly authentic. I love these tortillas. They are what my Grandfather remembers eating as a little boy, they are what my father remembers eating as a little boy and I am thrilled to be able to make them for my little boys. Same recipe, passed on, and made with love. By the way, this is the exact recipe, [... To read more, click here ...]
For Christmas, my parents sent a box of holiday treats. Home-canned Dilly beans for me, Big Jim chile’s for T., dried herbs from the garden and some homemade biscotti. I gave one to my two year old and he fell in love. Perfect sized for toddler hands and crunchy enough that it took him a long time to finish. A perfect treat. It’s interesting how my recipes get developed these days. This one? I ran out of (white) sugar.* But I wanted to make something sweet, and slightly healthy for my little guy for a treat. Biscotti was still on my mind from Christmas. I scoured my cupboards and found just enough brown sugar and decided to make up my own recipe. I figured that we’d at least have something [... To read more, click here ...]
Lent starts this week and we are on the lookout for great vegetarian meals to round out our Friday meals. I’ve been on a bit of a Thai kick lately and recently made this pumpkin and coconut soup (pictured to the left – picture is from the cookbook as it is much prettier than my picture was!) to GREAT reviews and I look forward to making the omelette soup, below, from the same cookbook in the weeks to come. Thai is such a nice, refreshing way to eat meat-less that you don’t feel like you’re missing out too much, plus both soups are quick and easy to make with little preparation (other than shopping for the ingredients!) Enjoy! Pumpkin and Coconut Soup from Thai: The Essence of Asian Cooking serves [... To read more, click here ...]
It’s been a long, cold winter, and I’m ready for some fresh, crisp spring vegetables. We’ve been enjoying several salads and slaws with winter greens and vegetables recently, but wanted to organize and share some of my favorite salad dressing recipes before spring gardens burst forth. Though salad dressing is not the most exciting topic, good ones can be hard to find . . . and a good one really makes eating salads enjoyable! I hope this inspires you to make your own and enjoy your garden’s bounty! Pesto Ranch seen to the left 1 part mayonnaise 2 parts sour cream or yogurt A good sized dollop of pesto salt and pepper to taste This is one of my favorite, easy recipes. My son will eat veggies galore if he [... To read more, click here ...]
Remember this post? When I declared that I’d no longer be buying mayonnaise? Ever again. Well, I haven’t. And I’ve been delving into all manner of mayonnaise recipes online and in books, in search of the perfect one ever since. I’ve resurrected curdled mayonnaise’s more times than I’d like to admit (I’ve included my favorite remedy, below) and I’ve experimented with only egg yolks, egg yolks plus one egg, lemon juice vs. cider vinegar, by hand vs. blender vs. food processor vs. hand blender. I studied Child, and Ruhlman. And over the past few months I’ve really figured out the flavors and technique that I prefer. And it surprised me. And then I decided to make it lacto-fermented, so that it would last in the fridge for six to eight weeks, just [... To read more, click here ...]
Reason #214 to maintain sourdough starter.
Because when you run out of bread . . . and tortillas . .. and your toddler requests peanut butter sandwiches or quesadillas for lunch (basic toddler fare), you can make sourdough crepes (crepes instead of pancakes, because we didn’t want syrup for lunch), fill them with cheese or peanut butter (or any other leftovers or jam you like), and then later, when someone asked what you made for him and you mention that you made him crepes (?!?!) they think you’re a crazy gourmand.
They don’t realize how easy these things really are.
Imagine that there is this amazing picture over there to the left. Creamy, smoky cheese fondue. A perfect meal for a wintry night, lightly melty over a forkful of sourdough french bread. Got that image? Good, because we ate it too fast to take one! This is not your typical, “traditional” fondue. First, I add the smokiness of my caramelized onion marmalade which I make in a big batch in advance in the crockpot and store in the fridge. Second, it includes cream cheese, which isn’t in a standard traditional fondue, but is a fixture in my fridge, plus I often use cheddar if I don’t have gruyere. And you know what? This cheese fondue is amazing. Creamy, smoky, delicious. I’m thinking I’m going to start using it in place [... To read more, click here ...]
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