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This simple appetizer recipe is quick to assemble and best of all it eliminates the problems of dips and double dipping at a party buffet. I made a simple cream cheese spread using low-fat cream cheese, minced red onion for aromatic surprise, a bit of lemon juice for tartness, a few tablespoons of heavy cream […]
This is one of my favorite summer dinners that is quite easily adaptable to vegetarian or variation. Can’t beat that. The sandwiches for dinner tonight were served with an Asian style cabbage slaw on the side (not pictured). The recipe was a simple construct: Portobello mushroom and mixed bell peppers in a homemade balsamic-garlic vinaigrette, […]
Halibut is usually so expensive that I substitute cod in recipes that call for halibut since their textures are so similar. Recently I got a deal on halibut so I snatched it up. I love the way halibut tastes so I don’t embellish it much. For this halibut I used a simple butter/lemon sauce flavored […]
Easy as pie! One homemade whole wheat crust, pre-cooked and brushed with a couple of tablespoons of hot chile oil. Layer coarsely grated mozzarella, provolone and asiago cheeses evenly over the crust. Before you clean the grater, finely grate some Parmesan for dusting the top as a finishing touch. Next thinly slice one medium zucchini, […]
Grillin’ season has begun! Tequila Lime Grilled Chicken with Corn and Black Bean Salsa over Brown Rice. Dinner is ready! Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: brown rice. jalapeno, chicken, corn and black bean salsa, dinner, grilling, lime, lime juice, tequila, tequila lime chicken
Leaving Mother’s Day fare in our wake, for tonight we decided on simple vegetable grilled sandwiches. We used a marinated portobello with garlic and vinegars, red pepper and almond puree, caramelized onions with spinach and basil leaves on a ciabatta bun. It’s one of my go-to recipes for an easy yet healthy meal. I put […]
Fun is what makes a weekend different from the humdrum weekday routine. Sightseeing in your hometown can take surprising turns. We were out shopping for a baby gift, visiting all the haunts for deals so we could put together a great “baby basket” for the expectant couple. This meant a sightseeing tour of neighborhoods we [...]
Tonight’s dinner was an adaptation of a recipe we found in Cooking Light magazine from May of 2012. Our adaptation utilized most of the same ingredients but we reduced the olive oil, upped the ginger and we used less salt and it worked just fine. Since we like spicy food around here so we upped [...]
A cooks night out is a wonderful experience. For a few hours, being away from a flame and out of harm’s way from razor-sharp knives while removed from the demands of meal preparation is a delightful treat. For me, dining out doesn’t have to be a fancy meal spanning several hours but it has to [...]
One of my favorite and easiest dinners is a simple risotto with spring vegetables. I knocked this one up a notch by grilling the asparagus and the chicken. I used fresh-shelled peas, homegrown asparagus and some organic chicken. I had some wonderful Australian chardonnay (a gift from a recent guest) to use in the risotto [...]
A simple vegetable medley that makes a great side dish or becomes a whole meal with the addition of some protein. Fresh snap peas, thin slivers of red cabbage, crimini mushroom slices, caramelized onion with a touch of garlic and a small knob of fresh ginger finished with a splash of seasoned rice wine [...]
Last night we served a Grilled Cheese Sandwich Buffet with 3 different grilled sandwich delights. First was the Jalapeño Cheese grilled cheese with softened cream cheese, roasted jalapeño and mixture of spicy Jack and Sharp Cheddar. The second sandwich was a combination of tart Granny Smith apple, thick sliced Applewood Bacon and Sharp Cheddar Grilled [...]
One of the best aspects of a holiday is the leftover food. There are dozens of ways to deal with leftovers from using them again as they were or remaking them into new and different dishes. I usually choose to create something new from the old so that it’s seemingly fresh and inviting all over [...]
Of the many legends and stories about love, one of the most famous is the tale of Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet written by William Shakespeare. Their romance takes place in Verona, Italy in the 13th century. The Piazza Bra is an area where lovers strolled in days of old as much as today. Imagine [...]
This is a wonderful, flavorful Italian meal called Pollo All’Arribbiata (Chicken in Angry Sauce). I received the recipe in Italy last fall. Basically this dish is a braised chicken (dark meat) in a spicy tomato sauce using an assortment of peppers, onion, garlic and herbs. Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: all'arribbiata, angry sauce, braised, chicken, dinner, [...]
We’ve been following the Cheesy Amigos Food Truck around San Diego. Last night they were at Green Flash Brewery where we caught up with them to taste their panini sandwiches. Terrific blends. This one is The Bacon and Cheese Pick Me Up with Bacon, Egg, Cheese, Tomatoes and cayenne. Delicious. Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: cheesy [...]
We had an evening out to taste some local So. Cal eats. Our primary stop was Papa Luna’s Empanadas in Pacific Beach , California. My first taste was: Sunny Goat Empanada with organic goat cheese, sausage, sundried tomato. We took eight people with us so we could try most of the menu. These are Argentinian [...]
Recently, a client brought me a recipe from Cooking Light magazine that looked good as far as flavors go. After following Cooking Light’s recipe exactly, I changed some ingredients to be more to my client’s liking and ended up with a delicious, flavorful and pleasing casserole that was even a wee bit healthier than the [...]
Lentil & Chickpea Curried Stew After a craving for Indian food and after realizing there was no time for lengthy preparations this week, I settled on a stew with the flavors of the rich curried sauces that I love so much in Indian cooking. This is not an authentic Indian recipe but rather one I [...]
We decided to do things differently for our New Year’s Eve party this year. We happily abandoned the elegant, complicated menu we usually serve. As an alternative, we enjoyed a simple yet succulent paprika/garlic roasted chicken with pan juices on a bed of roasted tomatoes and onions complimented by oven roasted sweet potato planks (to [...]
This is one of my favorite “go-to” recipes because it is so fast and easy. I call it Simple Parmesan Chicken. I’ve been making it for years and each time I “dress” it differently. Sometimes I use a salsa verde, other times a jalapeno jam or even a Major Grey Chutney. Tonight I opted for [...]
Wending our way from Malpensa through Genova (founded in the 4th century), we ventured down the Ligurian coast to Italy’s Riviera. The Liguria region is known for its fresh seafood, served at local trattorias, using local olive oils, pesto and fresh herbs. It is simple cooking with complex flavors. After a couple of hours of [...]
About eight weeks ago, I was offered an unbelievable opportunity. My love of travel and passion for food melded into one beautiful adventure almost seamlessly. I had little time to prepare for my 3 ½ week trip. I read about the history and culture as much as time allowed and took a crash course in [...]
Holidays are a great time to share food with friends. This year I decided to make a quinoa salad celebrating the theme for the Fourth of July. So I chose to make a Red and White Quinoa Salad and serve it in a big blue bowl. This salad is large enough to feed 35 people [...]
A short while ago, I sent out a plea for help. My gardens were producing Swiss chard faster than I could use it. I was washing it, blanching and freezing it in order to preserve those precious leaves. I do not believe in wasting anything but I could not cook it up fast enough. I [...]
I have a love of foods that are stuffed. I adore the original one dish meal that comprises several ingredients, or even just a few, stuffed into either a vegetable, pasta or a protein. Even a twice-baked potato brimming with healthy additions is a joy. With spring giving way to summer soon, I’m excited about [...]
Quinoa is such a versatile ingredient. Serve it warm, serve it hot or serve it chilled and the results are pleasing. I love my old tried-and-true Quinoa Tabbouleh that I serve over the summer months. True too, that I love my winter Quinoa Vegetable Salad with pumpkin and winter squash. It only makes sense that [...]
In the heart of Woodinville Wine Country just east of Seattle, next to the Sammamish River, is The Herbfarm. To paraphrase the introduction we received, The Herbfarm’s story began in 1974 when Ron Zimmerman’s’ mother planted some chives along the roadside and posted a simple sign that read, “Herb Plants for Sale”. What followed was [...]
Everyone who knows me knows that I travel. I travel a lot. I love it too. And I always find new and interesting foods as well as quirky things to see as I go. What’s not to love about that, right? My last trip, however, will probably be presented from end to beginning because I [...]
For quite some time, the ultimate vegetarian “meatball” recipe, which should possess great strong flavors and a sturdy texture that is slightly dense, eluded me. One or the other was easy to attain but finding the right combination that would not crumble or be as bland as a wet noodle meant many hours of testing [...]
Country Captain Chicken My first introduction to Country Captain Chicken was decades ago in the kitchen of a family friend. I believe it was 1964. I ate the dinner and loved it. No, I was crazy about it! Several years later at the home of another friend, my now sophisticated palate recognized the dish on [...]
The history of oatmeal pie is difficult to verify. Rumors assert that this pie originated during or around the Civil War, in Charleston, South Carolina, when pecans were in short supply. That would mean it is an idea that has been around since the 1860s or close to that era. Oatmeal Pie is now considered [...]
My recipe for Chicken and Hominy Stew came about as a means to use leftovers and to prevent wasting ingredients from one recipe and another. I rarely prepare just one recipe per day so I frequently end up with leftovers from two or more dishes. From my younger, leaner years (in both body and bank [...]
When my friend Sonia, the notorious foodie sleuth, sent me the link for this recipe, I wasted no time getting to it. With a title like “Sweet Cheese Bread”, it called my name. I like to give credit whenever possible to the source of a recipe when it isn’t my own creation. So before I [...]
The original “Alice B. Toklas brownie” was named “Hashish Fudge” in her cookbook and was not a brownie or fudge at all. It was a mixture of spices, dried fruits and nuts that included cannabis sativa leaves (marijuana). With the exception here of the marijuana that I replaced with a dose of Cointreau, a drastic [...]
In the spirit of good health and in an effort toward minimizing our impact upon the planet, we are eating more vegetarian than animal protein based meals. We are also taking full advantage of our winter garden to supplement our grocery shopping. Whatever we can’t or don’t grow we try to buy at the Farmer’s [...]
With the chill of fall in the air, baking seems like the perfect way to spend a morning. Recently, with a houseful of guests, time for baking was short. Yet there were plenty of mouths to feed. It is times like these when a good old-fashioned Oatmeal Date Bar comes in handy. This version is [...]
As cold and flu season moves onto the scene with the changing seasons, it seemed time to pull out the old “cold remedy” soup file. Chicken soup is the most common soup that people think of when they want to alleviate a stuffy head, achy body or nourish a lagging appetite. I like to enhance [...]
As much as I love and embrace summer fruits and vegetables, there is something particularly comforting about produce in the autumn and winter times. Warmer flavors as well as warmer colors that are rich and mellow invite family and friends to gather around. This is a very flexible soup in terms of additions or subtractions. [...]
This salsa recipe arrived in my kitchen due to my complaints that I had more radishes and habanero chile peppers than recipes to use them. My dear friend Rosalynn, who is from El Salvador, listened to my litany. Then she tilted her head to the side as she asked, “Too much food, how does one [...]
A New York Times business article highlighted one of my growing concerns today. The article addresses the increasing cost of packaged foods while the packages are actually shrinking in size. I’ve answered several correspondences from home cooks who are increasingly failing with old family recipes and time-tested recipes from cook books which they relied upon. [...]
My dedication to eating whole foods spurs our latest response to requests for natural foods with flair, flavor and plate appeal. Therefore, assuming the plate is a canvas for the artistry of whole foods, we continue to work with the idea of a Portobello Mushroom Pizza. We have evolved it to a heartier main course [...]
Pizza doesn’t get any easier or simpler than this! Ingredients (for 4 servings): Four 6″ Portobello Mushrooms, rinsed, stems removed and degilled 1 cup of chopped yellow tomato 1 cup of chopped red tomato 1 garlic clove, minced 1 leek, thinly sliced 3 large basil leaves, chopped Panko bread crumbs, about a ½ cup Low-fat [...]
Our first attempt to grow the ancient grain, Quinoa (pronounced “keen-wa”) in our gardens proves to be successful with these healthy stalks standing proudly. Quinoa is an ancient grass from South America where the Incas grew it as their main crop in the cool weather of the Andes. As creative farmers, they terraced the slopes [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: california sunset, dusk, january 1st, new year, sunset
Since I highlighted my grandmother in my previous post, the one who was an avid yet not very good cook, I should turn some attention to my other grandmother now. She was a top-flight cook. Grandma B could take dust and air and create a cake or a “bulkah” (a thick yeast roll with filling) [...]
My grandmother was an avid cook although not necessarily a good one. She grew up in an oppressed area where she learned to eat things pulled hastily from the ground, sometimes without lighting a fire to mellow them, and then consumed on the run. As a result, she didn’t bake well in spite of entertaining [...]
After a summer that never happened, I expected our garden to be a disaster this year. With cloudy skies obscuring the sun day after day, certainly those vegetables would lack flavor, refuse to thrive or turn to mulch after too long. What a surprise it was when those raised beds yielded plenty of greens, vegetables [...]
This month didn’t require me much traveling so I’ve been in town and cooking. When I cook for guests, I sometimes post the results of my efforts. What seldom gets posted is what I eat when I have the time to cook for myself. Recently I received an email asking me, “When you are at [...]
The Greens Restaurant, operating out of an old Army machine shop at Fort Mason in San Francisco since 1979, is a surprising success. As one of the first restaurants to offer a completely vegetarian menu, before it was fashionable, the Greens established itself early as a trend setter and firmly in the food world as [...]
