Posts from — June 2011

If you do, then you’ll adore this Buffalo wing-inspired lasagna. I’ve got a Buffalo Mac and Cheese that I may have to have a class of my students whip up and then post here before the summer is over as well.

[Read more →]

What makes something suddenly become a fad, the new “in” thing, all the rage?  Especially when it’s something that’s been around forever?  And when I say “forever” – I’m talking about more than 200 years.  And what I’m talking about are cupcakes!

According to the source of all modern knowledge… Wikipedia… “The first mention of the cupcake can be traced as far back as 1796 when a recipe notation of “a cake to be baked in small cups” was written in American Cookery by Amelia Simms. The earliest documentation of the term cupcake was in “Seventy-five Receipts for Pastry, Cakes, and Sweetmeats” in 1828 in Eliza Leslie’s Receipts cookbook.”

[Read more →]

Apple Pie is the picture of Americana. Tarte Tatin is a classic French dessert, basically an upside-down apple tart in which the apples are caramelized in butter and sugar before the tart is baked. And Apple Strudel, a perfect blend of spices and apples enclosed in a delicious flaky pastry is considered to be the national dish of Austria… along with Wiener Schnitzel. The German name is Apfelstrudel. Whatever you call them, apple desserts are true national treasures.

Oh, and by the way, this is my 600th post… how time does fly!

[Read more →]

There is no better time to make fresh tomato soup than right now, the height of tomato season.

So even if you’re not growing tomatoes in your own garden, get out to your local farmer’s market and pick up some ripe locally grown tomatoes and throw together this soup, enjoy hot, cold, or at room temperature.

[Read more →]

On the last day of classes each week, I ask the kids, “What was your favorite thing you ate this week, excluding desserts?” (I have to say, “excluding desserts” or all ten of the kids would rattle off one of 8 desserts we had made, trust me, I know – I was a kid once too and I’ve made the mistake before!) Six of the ten kids from last week said that the potato and bacon soup was their favorite dish.

Darn it, if I would have known that before, those six kids would have automatically been my teacher’s pets, because as you know… I Love Soup!

We made a couple of other soups too, and I’ll post those in the coming days, plus a few more of the pastas, cupcakes, and sweets – stay tuned…

[Read more →]

Tuesday of last week was “Pasta & Cupcakes” day. This was one of the pasta recipes the kids (8 – 12-year-olds) made. It was a favorite, we’ll see if the teens feel the same about it this coming Tuesday.

[Read more →]

Marissa gave me two valuable gifts for Mother’s Day last month. The first, is she guest blogging for me for two days, which you’ve already seen.  The second, a mother/daughter night out, I cashed in on last night. It became urgent to spend my gift ASAP because we just learned, the day before, that Marissa received a long sought-after internship at San Francisco Magazine.

Ironically she already has a 10-day trip for the wedding of one of her college roommates to San Francisco planned, she leaves for that today. Then she’ll be home for only 6 days before she needs to go back and report for her new position! It is a whirlwind (actually more like a tornado) around here now!

[Read more →]

Half of these cupcakes are topped with homemade Samoas and the other half with store-bought cookies

Yesterday in class we made the Samoa cookies, today we are using those cookies to make some seriously out-of-the-world cupcakes. I would say, “Hey, don’t let the 7 1/2 sticks of butter (nearly 2 pounds!) between the recipe for the cookies and this recipe for the cupcakes scare you off”… but I would be lying, it totally scares me! According to my math (and my math is iffy at best since I married a CPA and I rarely use that part of my brain), that is about 2 tablespoons of butter per cupcake! So let’s just agree that one cupcake would serve as your dessert for several days and not buy into the guilt. They taste delicious and I recently got some tips for storing frosted cupcakes so I’m hoping they’ll last for a while. That’s if we don’t eat them all first!

Speaking of guilt, I’m going to add a little “Linda’s Psych 101” into today’s post. This is what I feel about “guilt”… it is a wasted emotion. I’ve heard it said that “The Jewish people invented guilt, and that the Roman Catholics perfected it.” I would have to agree, and here is one Roman Catholic who wants to abolish it!

[Read more →]