Posts from — February 2012

I love San Francisco!

Saturday morning bakery breakfast…

… and market trip.

A cute fellow shopper.

Next stop – Coit Tower.

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How about a little Bundt pan history?

In 1950 Nordic Ware invented the Bundt® Pan; a ring-shaped pan with fluted sides.   The pan sold somewhat slowly until the 1966 Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest winner used the little-known Bundt® Pan for her Tunnel of Fudge cake recipe. This prompted a mad rush for the pans, causing them to surpass the tin Jell-O mold to become the most-sold pan in the United States. Since their introduction, more than 50 million Bundt pans have been sold by Nordic Ware.

Oh, and by the way, National Bundt Pan Day is November 15th.  And do you remember the scene in the 2002 movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, when the mother of the groom-to-be comes to the home of the mother of the bride-to-be and presents to you a Bundt cake? Still makes me smile, HERE IS A LINK to a grainy video from YouTube.

This super moist yogurt cake is perfect for breakfast, brunch, or dessert. So simple to put together and pop in the oven… seriously delish.

FYI: I used a decorative sunflower Bundt pan in place of the traditional Bundt that has the tube in the center, so it took about 20 minutes longer to cook than this recipe states.

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Yesterday I did my dip picks for the Super Bowl, today we have the real contenders. I failed to mention on yesterday’s post that light cream cheese may be used in each and every one of the four dips, with virtually no taste difference. Please just don’t use the non-fat disgusting cardboard thing they call cream cheese. That stuff should be illegal! There are a plethora of lovely non-fat dairy products, but non-fat cream cheese is not one of them.

Thinly sliced and lightly toasted French bread, baguette, or sourdough work perfect for both dips.  For the pizza dip, the bread simulates a pizza crust and for the clam dip, it reminds me of enjoying clam chowder in a sourdough bowl on Pier 39 in beautiful San Fran. Which coincidentally, is where I am headed later today to visit my sweet Marissa – for a food and a shopping-filled weekend!

Happy Super Bowl Weekend!

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The Super Bowl is in 3 days, so today and tomorrow, I’ve got a few party dips to share with you. These first two represent the two teams I’d rather see in the Super Bowl. Number one is, of course, my Arizona Cardinals. And the second would be the Green Bay Packers. I do realize that these two teams could never be in the Super Bowl together since they are both in the NFC (along with the New York Giants). But still, I’ve created a couple of dips as my show of support for next year. It was great coming up with the ideas for these recipes while looking online for fantasy football news and updates about the two final teams.

Tomorrow I’ll share the dips I created for the actual teams in Super Bowl XLVI, the New England Patriots, and the New York Giants.

Here in AZ, we love our heat and peppers. In Wisconsin, they love their cheese and beer. And we all love bacon…

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This is the final recipe from the grand lobster bake I hosted a week and a half ago.

First off, a few disclaimers. The photo above and 2 more in the body of the recipe (you will easily spot them!) is not my own but from an article in Fine Cooking. This recipe is inspired by the recipe in that article, created by the renowned baker and cookbook author, Rose Levy Beranbaum.  The reason for the snatched photos – yeah, I didn’t take enough while assembling the pie and when I served it at the lobster bake, I was in such a rush, I didn’t get a quality photo of a sliced piece either. No matter, this is one incredible pie~

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