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When I was younger, I wanted to be a famous race car driver.Hmmm, no, that's not right. When I was younger, I wanted to be a pitcher, but I got into some trouble with a loan shark...no, that wasn't it either ...When I was younger, I wanted to run off and join Ringling Bros. (That might actually have been true for a while.) When I was younger, I wanted to be a fisherman. Heck
Are you a pasta lover? If so, have you ever had it fried? Fried ravioli have become more and more common over the years, but before I first encountered those, I was presented a platter of deep fried farfalle pasta with spinach and artichoke dip. I remember it like it was yesterday. It was love at first bite! Every once in a while, I'll fry up a batch with some marinar
Not that long ago, I posted a recipe for Copper Pennies, mentioning that I had acquired the recipe while visiting with a friend's family when I was living in New Orleans. Ironically, I just recently got an e-mail from her sister, who apparently stumbled onto my blog through one of her Google+ circles. She reminded me that I had made Peanut Butter Corn Flake Treats with them and mention
Growing up in the Boston area, I used to love when the folks would take us to Faneuil Hall Marketplace to wander around in all the cool shops and go to brunch at The Magic Pan Crepe Shop. My favorites were always their Chicken Divan Crepe and their Spinach Salad with Mandarin Oranges and Almonds. It wasn't until I was in college that my roommate talked me into deviating from the c
This post was inspired by Robin Donovan, author of CAMPFIRE CUISINE: Gourmet Recipes for the Great Outdoors. You may recall that I had an opportunity to review Robin's cookbook last week and that one of her recipes was for an Aram Sandwich. I had mentioned that "Aram Sandwich" made me think of a lamb sandwich but that it really referred to the bread she used - lavash. I started t
Because I haven't made them in so long, I've had Chocolate Chip Cookies on the brain lately. I have been putting off making them because I didn't want to eat them all! I finally broke down. I figured I would make one tray and freeze the rest for another time. Then I started thinking about how there are different camps when it comes to Chocolate Chip Cookies. Some like
When first offered the opportunity to review Robin Donovan's Campfire Cuisine, what caught my attention was was the mention of one of the items - Aram Sandwiches. Why did that catch my attention? Because Aram is a very common Armenian name. I was thinking it might be some sort of lamb sandwich, but in this case, the name is in reference to the type of bread used - lavash. L
I give up ... on store-bought pizza dough anyhow. I had a heck of a time with my last attempt - first rolling it out, then having a power outage, but I figured that was a one-time deal since I've used the dough for bubble breads, breadsticks, poppers, calzones, etc. with no problem. Apparently, I just can't roll it out into it's intended purpose ... a pizza crust! Next time, I'll eithe
I have been nominated for another Liebster Blog award, this time by the lovely Stephanie over at Life, Unexpectedly. If you have been following me here for a while now, you know I nearly drove myself crazy the first time, in trying to find the actual origin of the award, because the requirements seem to keep morphing from one thing to another. In an effort to maintain what little sanit
A while back, I received a sample packet in the mail of Chocolate Cream of Wheat. For most people, that would mean a new breakfast treat, but for me, having grown up eating Imrig Halva, my mind automatically went to dessert. So, if you're in the mood for a chocolate fix or are in need of a dessert but don't feel like baking, break out the Cream of Wheat!INGREDIENTS :2 T butter1 packet
I pirated a pork chop dish that my sister makes to twist it up a bit and make my own version. I love that the apple adds a sweetness, while you get a crunch with the water chestnuts, and the brightness of the orange permeates throughout. INGREDIENTS :6-8 pork chopssalt and pepper4T butter3 ribs celery, chopped1 lg sweet onion, diced1 clove garlic, minced2 small crisp apples, diced1 ora
This week's Finish the Sentence Friday hop poses the question: If I could live anywhere ...I would live on Cape Cod. I grew up between Boston and the Cape, so I always summered on the Cape, then lived there for a few years before heading off to New Orleans. Even though I didn't actually live there for long, the Cape has somehow always been "home" to me. I know it's not the
Several years ago, one of my cousins gave me a grapefruit-scented sugar scrub as part of a Christmas gift. I fell in love with it! When I asked her where she got it, she told me a friend of hers has a beauty line, and she gave me the website so I could re-order. I nearly fell over when I saw it was selling for $32! There was no way I was going to spend $32 on a jar of sugar
I somehow ended up with a surplus of carrots, so I was thinking about throwing together a carrot bread for a change, like a banana or zucchini bread. When I realized how thick the batter turned out though, I was a little concerned about it cooking through in the middle, so I pressed it into an 8x8" pan instead of a loaf pan. That worked out great.I really love these bars, but I'm havin
It occurred to me that I had made a big pot of Spaghetti Sauce a while back and froze it in batches but hadn't been using it, so I decided to make a pasta dish last night that I haven't had in quite a while. It doesn't call for a lot of sauce but I wasn't in the mood for plain spaghetti. (And by the way, I'm still here, so thankfully I didn't give myself food poisoning eating that
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I recently read a post by another blogger who had made a version of Lahmejune. I commented to her that I had been thinking about trying the topping on a regular pizza crust, and that has been stuck in my mind ever since. OK, no problem. Yesterday, I went to the grocery store, so I picked up a bag of fresh pizza dough from the refrigerated section and a few other things I needed,
My favorite soup has, for many years, been the Tortilla Soup served at Houston's. Sadly, they're not big on sharing recipes. They also serve my favorite Spinach-Artichoke Dip, and they make a mean burger. I had some cooked chicken in the fridge to be used up and had the soup in mind, so I decided to make my own. It has been so long since I've had it now that I can't remembe
If I could hang out with any celebrity, it would be ...When I read that, the first person who popped into my mind was Antonio Banderas, since he has been my celebrity "crush" since I first saw him back in The Mambo Kings and Philadelphia. Seriously, who could resist him in Desperado or Once Upon a Time in Mexico?!? Smokin' hot!! I still get chills just hearing his voice as the be
One of my cousins got me hooked on her Spinach Lasagna a million years ago, then my sister introduced me to her Spinach Lasagna Rolls, and I loved those too - they are similar recipes, so as long as I was around when one of them was being made, I was a happy camper. Given my love of kale since first trying it a few years ago, I decided to switch things up and make a kale version. Becau
If my sanity was ever in question, I'm pretty sure this one fully establishes that I'm a few fries short of a Happy Meal! Why do I do this to myself? I just can't resist a challenge ... well, at least a kitchen challenge. I volunteered for yet another Marx Foods recipe challenge, and this time around, the theme was Dinner for Dessert. Each participant was sent a sample of c
Judging by the other posts I've read so far, everyone seems to be stumped by this week's inspiration:One time when I was bored out of my mind, I ...When I read this last week, I started thinking about it, and for the life of me, I couldn't come up with anything either. I'm apparently not easily bored. I mean seriously, if worse comes to worst, there has always been TV, and I usually ha
This was my contribution to the family St. Patrick's Day dinner this year. My sister was making a boiled dinner and Irish Soda Bread, so I offered to make dessert. I was first contemplating a "green" option, but I didn't have the tools necessary for what I had in mind, so decided to go with Baileys instead.INGREDIENTS:2 c cake flour2 c castor sugar1/2 c unsweetened cocoa powder1 t baking pow
To be quite honest, I was both shocked and amazed that this bread turned out the way that it did! I was afraid it would be a gummy mess from all the moisture involved, but once I got the idea in my head, I just had to run with it. Who else would bake a yeast bread with tomato sauce??It all started when I read that my all-time favorite Top Chef contestant, Fabio Viviani, promotes period
For this week's installment of Follow This Sentence Friday, we were presented with the following:"I did something stupid once ..."I'm fairly certain it would be safe to say that I do something at least relatively stupid on a weekly basis, but when pondering this sentence, two things came immediately to mind.1. When I was a baby, or at least younger than 4 because that's how old I was when we
For this week's installment of Finish This Sentence Friday (which I keep forgetting about), the sentence we needed to finish was:I tried to cook ...Presumably, this was to get everyone to confess to a major kitchen disaster. I'm usually pretty good at salvaging things, but that sentence immediately brought me back to Christmas of 2010, when "I tried to cook [make] a Strawberry Vacherin for a
The first time I had Copper Pennies was when visiting a friend's parents in Alabama one weekend several years ago. Her step-mom made them, and I had to make sure to get the recipe before I left. Served cold, this is a very refreshing salad, but if you want, you could certainly serve them hot as a side dish, then refrigerate the leftovers to have the rest as a cold salad.I did tweak the
Maybe it's just because I'm not really a breakfast person, but I don't typically think to make these until I find myself wondering what to do with an apple or two that have been sitting around uneaten. This time, I actually made it on purpose. I was walking through the produce department the other day, and when I passed by the apples, this image floated into my head.It's super easy to
One day last week, I found myself contemplating avocados. Yes, I do strange things like contemplate avocados. I got thinking about how their texture is similar to that of a hard-boiled egg, so I decided to give it a try as a substitute in an egg or chicken salad type application. It actually worked out great, and I didn't do anything different to it than what I would have used/do
If you live near an Armenian church and happen to notice when they are hosting a bazaar/festival, make sure you stop in for lunch! You might automatically be enticed by the Shish Kebab, but don't pass up the opportunity to try the Losh Kebab instead. They are usually served up with a serving of pilaf, some salad, and pita bread. And, of course, you can get Paklava for dessert. &n
It's official, the polls are open ... The polls will close at 11:30pm PST on Thursday 2/14/2013, so make sure you vote before the deadline. On Friday, 2/15 we will announce the two winners, one from this public poll and the second from our internal vote. Each of the winning bloggers will receive a $100 credit to MarxFoods.com.* * * * * * *
If the names sounds familiar, I'm not surprised. Some of you are familiar with husband and wife team Lindsay and Taylor from their blog, Love & Olive Oil, while others of you are familiar with Lindsay from her first cookbook, The Cookie Dough Lover's Cookbook. This particular book is especially great for people like me who aren't programmed for breakfast in the morning.
Normally, when someone mentions tacos to me, what comes to mind are the crunchy-shelled ground beef version with tomatoes, onions, lettuce, shredded cheese, maybe some salsa, sour cream and cilantro. Sometimes my sister will call or e-mail me on a night when I'll be there for dinner, letting me know it's taco night. I don't know why, but I'm always disappointed to get there and realize she m
This week's Finish This Sentence Friday installment is: "When it comes to reality TV shows, I ..."I hate to admit it, but sadly, my response would be "... I'm an addict." In my defense, I am also an insomniac whose brain won't shut off, so the only way I can fall asleep at night is watching TV, preferably something I have seen before or something stupid so my brain will be more likely
A while back, I made a batch of Kahlua Beef Short Ribs, and Kenya over at Here's the Thing... commented that although her hubby likes beef (and Kahlua), she's not a big beef eater, so she was wondering if the recipe would work with chicken. My thought was that it would probably work great with bone-in dark meat chicken. She also commented that should she make the ribs for her hubby, th
This post has absolutely nothing to do with food, but I was scrolling through my Google Reader feed and saw a post by Kate over at Can I Get Another Bottle of Whine...with my morning quiet time that read I Sold Beer Out Of My Locker. Naturally, I had to open the post to see what that was all about! It appears that Kate did, indeed, once sell beer out of her high school locker, among ot
I absolutely LOVE vanilla! Whether it's a candle, perfume, lotion, cookie, cocktail, or oatmeal, I'm all over it, so I was very excited at the prospect of reviewing PURE VANILLA IRRESISTIBLE RECIPES and ESSENTIAL TECHNIQUES by Shauna Sever. If that name sounds familiar, it's because Shauna is also the author of Marshmallow Madness and writes the popular dessert blog Piece of Cake. &nbs
This particular recipe was borne out of sheer laziness. Well, laziness and the cold. I had some ground beef in the fridge and was thinking about making some form of Asian influenced meatloaf but was too cold and lazy to hit the grocery store for additional ingredients. It pretty much would have just been soy sauce and water chestnuts - not good! I could have made my usual v
Sometimes you just need to feed your inner child. Last week, I was wandering around a Big Lots and a little box of Cap'n Crunch called out to me from an end cap. I just couldn't resist! I haven't kept up on the news, but apparently the Captain hasn't been retired as was heavily reported last year. I for one am glad. I don't eat it often, but I do love me a bowl now an
I get so frustrated grocery shopping here! I'll go in to pick up a few things and see something like golden beets, pear tomatoes, mustard greens, or a nice cut of meat and it will inspire me to make something, but that's not what I'm there for at the moment. I'll think to myself "Great, they're stocking golden beets [whatever], finally! Now I can make XYZ." I'll get what I needed
I actually made these pickles back in November and had decided not to post them. It wasn't that I didn't like them but rather that I didn't know how to describe them. No, I still don't really know how to describe them. When doing my post-Christmas ginormous garbage run of broken-down boxes, packing peanuts and other recyclables, and random miscellaneous stuff remaining in the fridge on
When first presented with the opportunity to review a copy of Tiny Food Party!, I was very excited. For anyone who has been reading along with me for a while now, you know that our family Christmas Eve tradition is to serve appetizers and desserts, so I'm always looking for new mini/app ideas. My sister and I will also on occasion get together with some friends before heading out to a
When stopping by the local distributor to stock up on take-out containers and that sort of thing before Christmas, I noticed that they had a great assortment of dried fruit. Among the usual pineapple, papaya, apricots, etc., I noticed that they had cantaloupe as well. I had never seen dried cantaloupe before, so I was eager to try it. I snacked on some, but I would actually have
When my oldest nephew was in college, he had my sister and I come out a few times to do cooking demos for him and his buddies. It was really more about us getting to know everyone and feeding them than their actually learning anything, but we were all good with that. On one such trip, we learned that one of his buddies, Liam, made an awesome Chicken Chili, so of course we made sure to
Is it just me, or are the rest of you going to be dating everything 2012 for at least the next month?? I can't believe we're at 2013 already. It seems like just yesterday was 1993 and I was moving to New Orleans from Cape Cod, so moving to New York after Hurricane Katrina feels like just last night, and starting this blog was surely only this morning. Where does the time go?!?In
You will have to excuse the terrible photos. It wasn't until I uploaded all of my Christmas pics from this year that I realized how much steam was floating around the kitchen. Most of my "in-progress" shots of everything were obstructed. I'll have to remember to swap out the pics for new ones when I make this again ... which should be soon, given how good they were! It work
I had a container of candied ginger in the cabinet that I figured had been sitting around long enough. I decided to use it in a new cookie experiment to go along with our Christmas cookie platter. I chose orange to go with the ginger because the two flavors pair so well. I chose oatmeal because none of the other cookies we had made so far were oatmeal. These cookies turned out to be soft and
When I was living in New Orleans, a representative from Charles Chips would come by the office to take orders and make deliveries. On one of his visits, he introduced me to White Trash. The version they sold was clusters of white chocolate with pretzel pieces, but I have since seen other versions of White Trash that include nuts, candies, and even cereal.On the holidays, everyone reque
One of my nephews loves Raspberry Pie, but I had never made one until now. A friend of the family made one for him at some point, but neither his Mom nor I had taken one on. Frankly, most pictures I see of Raspberry Pie look gross to me - usually a soupy soggy mess. That's probably what kept me from trying it before. After looking at dozens of recipes, I finally pulled toge
In our family, the guys always want meatballs on a holiday. My sister usually makes one of those slow cooker recipes with the jelly, etc., but this time, I volunteered to make the meatballs because I wanted to try making them from scratch and serving them differently. Because we love making antipasto skewers for an easy appetizer, I had it in mind to skewer a meatball with a tortelloni and a piece
