People often ask me for ideas – what to cook? I get it. I cook dinner most nights (especially for the past two years) and if I don’t plan, it can be a pain in the neck. I get most of my recipe inspiration from Instagram, food blogs and magazines. Here are some of the accounts and blogs I follow. Many of these people have cookbooks – which would make a wonderful gift to yourself!
The pastry for this pot pie is less “pie” and more “biscuit” – hence the name. Make the pastry first, wrap it in plastic, and let it sit in the refrigerator while you prepare the filling ingredients. Three ounces of butter may seem like a lot, but do it. You need it to make a roux with the flour, which serves as the base for the gravy. It comes together relatively quickly for the delicious meal it delivers! Read more for the recipe…
This Peach & Blueberry Crumble Pie combines two of my favorite summer pie recipes – Smitten Kitchen’s Blackberry-Blueberry Crumb Pie and Sam Sifton’s Perfect Peach Pie. Why I combined these recipes:
~ If you start with a hot oven, then lower the temp to finish the bake, you don’t need to blind bake the crust (from the peach pie recipe)
~ If you add enough cornstarch, the fruit juices concentrate and thicken in a wonderful way (from the blackberry-blueberry crumb pie recipe)
~ Because…peaches AND blueberries
~ Crumble topping!
If you want, you can skip the piecrust, place the prepared filling in a pie dish, top it with the crumble, and bake. Enjoy…
Why is it that images of food on Instagram and in magazines look…so…finished? Without going into all the trickery of food stying, typically, when it comes down to it, it’s garnished. Garnish is both a verb and a noun, referring to decorating or embellishing something, usually food. In culinary school, we were taught to only […]
Whenever I see celery in the refrigerator, I think Waldorf Salad. Crunchy, healthy and supremely flexible, it’s just what I needed for lunch today. There’s no recipe required, really. The ingredients and quantities are flexible. Combine salad ingredients in one bowl. Mix your dressing in another. Mix them to combine. I hope you love it as much as I do!
I’ve been pulling out my favorite Christmas cookie recipes in preparation for a baking frenzy.
This morning, I noticed (as if the universe intended it) my recipe for Old Time Gingersnaps sitting on top of my Banana Nut Quick Bread recipe and thought – *magic.* I took the best of both and gave it a whirl. This loaf combines all of the warm spices and molasses goodness of gingersnaps with the reliable, moist crumb of banana bread. I hope you love it, too.
These muffins are worthy of that last can of pumpkin sitting in your cupboard! I found this recipe on the New York Times Cooking website. After reading the comments, I decided to cut the brown sugar and maple syrup in half – with great success! The muffins are sweet, but not overly so, allowing for the caramel notes from the browned butter to shine. Next time, I may add chocolate chips, a crumble on top, or a little cayenne to the batter. Because, there WILL be a next time…
Friends and relations have asked about my Thanksgiving menu this year, which I am happy to share! I am cooking for 4 people, so I may be cutting some recipes in half, but I plan on playing all the hits and trying some new tricks!
Read more for li
It’s been a minute since I posted here. Actually, more like 7 months. When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, I went to volunteer at World Central Kitchen, got hired as a contractor, and have been cooking as a member of their Chef Relief Team. By October, we had prepared over 900,000 meals for front-line workers and members of our community in need. I met some very special people. We made a lot of great food and even better memories. But, enough about me…
Let’s talk Curried Sweet Potato Soup. Find the recipe here.
I suppose it comes as no surprise that I keep a stocked pantry. When I say pantry, I mean staples that can be found in the cupboard, the refrigerator and the freezer. These days, I’ve been making a lot of what I call “Pantry Pilafs.” Hearty and satisfying, they can be served hot or cold, over […]
