Sometimes my friends and neighbors comment that a few of my recipes are too complicated or time-consuming. For you lovely ladies, I offer this…

On my quest to use up a bunch of cubed peaches left over from cooking classes, I stumbled upon a cole slaw “kit” in the produce department at my neighborhood Safeway. It not only included the usual julienned carrot and shredded red and green cabbages, but also a little packet of “sweet & creamy” dressing.  I added in some diced red bell pepper for color and crunch, my peaches, and then dressed up the dressing with a little Dijon and had the perfect easy-breezy side dish.

[Read more →]

Before we get to today’s recipe and before I forget, I need to tell you that I’ll be on NBC – Channel 12 Valley Dish tomorrow – Wednesday, June 29th.  It’s going to be an especially important and good show, so tune in at 3:30, if you can… or there’s always TiVo! xoxo

They say that spicy food cools you off in the summer. Strange, but true; hot spicy food makes you sweat, then your body temperature actually dips. But then you’re sweating, not my favorite cup of tea. In hot weather, I generally gravitate toward cool and refreshing foods like yesterday’s grape cooler cocktail, or ice cream, or watermelon.

If you lean more toward spicy food to bring your body temps down, give this grilled dish a try. And even with the addition of all that spice, just the sight and idea of sweet juicy peaches sounds nice and cool!

[Read more →]

I had planned on posting one of the several peach dishes I made over the weekend, but instead, I must share this totally fab and oh-so-refreshing grape cooler. Remember these lovely grapes my dad brought me from the garden of a friend of his? Well, I put them to their highest and best possible use… a cocktail, of course!

[Read more →]

These grilled peaches are the epitome of easy-breezy and oh so delish! Between this dessert I served on Father’s Day and classes last week, I’ve finally used all the peaches from my tree. But that doesn’t mean we’re done with peach recipes, far from it. One of the desserts for the teen graduation lunch on Friday was peach shortcakes, and there is SO many juicy cubed peaches leftover from that… I’ll be making “peach-fill in the blank” all weekend… recipes to follow, of course.  No quantities for this recipe, just make as many or as few as you need.

[Read more →]

Today marks the last day of the forth week of kids’ summer cooking classes. It’s been a great month and there is only one week left. This year I had the great opportunity to partner with Shamrock Farms. They provided me with all the dairy I needed and in turn, I created several recipes featuring their products and was also able to give coupons out to my students. Certainly a winning situation for me, especially with the ever-increasing food costs!  One dessert we made used up quite a bit of the buttermilk Shamrock provided me.  It always feels good to use up buttermilk, since its expiration date is usually shorter than other dairy products.  This pie was a huge, a really huge, hit with the kids.  Plus, it is super duper and easy breezy!

[Read more →]

That is the literal translation for dulce de leche, milk candy. Sounds good either way you say it and these sweet little mini cheesecakes are the perfect vehicle for the sweet stuff!

I’ve used the cute little mini cheesecake molds and told you where you can purchase them before, back in December when I made THIS RECIPE. Also, I’ve told you how to make your own dulce de leche from sweetened condensed milk back in April when I made THIS. But you can also purchase ready-made cans of dulce de leche in the Hispanic section of most grocery stores.

[Read more →]

I have a bad habit of taking a “snapshot” of images I see online that I like, putting them on my desktop, and then eventually into a folder and forgetting about them for a long time. Later, when I want to use it, like the one above – which I really LOVE, I have no idea who or where to credit it to. Needless to say, that is not my image, but it is super wonderful! Isn’t it?

Before I even tell you what today’s recipe is, let me say that the dry rub is a wonderful staple to have on hand and is great on any meat or poultry.  And the lemon garlic butter sauce is another fantastic staple, perfect for baked, broiled, or grilled fish.  That said, today we are making…. oh wait, a little story first.

[Read more →]

I thought I’d had good homemade hummus before, but then I had hummus made from dried chickpeas, instead of canned, and now I know what good hummus is!

Nick Malgieri, the former Executive Pastry Chef at Windows on the World and cookbook author, is a frequent teacher at Les Gourmettes.  The last session he made this recipe by another teacher and author, Paula Wolfert, who has three fabulous Mediterranean cuisine cookbooks.  The difference between hummus made from canned chickpeas and the hummus made from dried is incredible. It’s not hard to do, it just takes a little more forethought, since the beans need to soak overnight.

You can find dried chickpeas in bulk at Whole Foods and health food stores and I get the tahini at Smart and Final, but it too can be found at health food and Mediterranean stores.

Bonus:  There is a food processor tip at the bottom of the recipe.

[Read more →]

Today is Phase 2 of Marissa moving away from me! Don’t get me wrong, I am so happy for her, so thrilled for this new and exciting chapter in her life!  This is what you wish for; for your children to be independent, on their own, living their lives, chasing their dreams! But I’m going to miss her! She is a perfect daughter and a gorgeous, caring, smart, and amazing woman and I am proud.  I shall be putting her on a plane to San Francisco today at 3:30.  When she arrives there, she has a place to stay for the next three nights, and then… not 100% sure. On Sunday she has an appointment to go see an apartment that hopefully (more like praying to God!) she will be able to sublease, beginning on the forth day.  If that doesn’t go through, oh I can’t even begin to think about that! And on Monday morning, she starts her new job.

When I get home from the airport I think I’ll just get on the internet and start planning my trip to visit her, to see her in her new wonderful home by the bay.  Either that or sit down and have a good cry!  Honestly, I am so excited. I am so very proud. And mostly, I am exceedingly blessed! Blessed and honored to be her mom.  Marissa, I love you!

I promised you a recipe today and a great recipe you shall get … not only am I a proud mom, I am also a carnivore.  I am not a vegetarian, vegan, raw vegan, or any other such noble person.  I am more of a Big Night,  Like Water For Chocolate, Babette’s Feast, or Mostly Martha sort of movie girl rather than a Food, Inc., Fast Food Nation, Forks Over Knives, or Earthlings movie girl.  I like to live with my head buried deeply in the carnivore sand.

That said, I don’t think I’ll ever make beef, chicken, or pork taco again!  Obviously, not because I have anything against beef, chicken, or pork… but because these red lentil tacos are so much better.  Really they are!  If you make them and you don’t agree, I’ll give you your money back.  Honestly, every penny you’ve ever spent coming to my free blog, I shall refund to you, in full, if you don’t think these are the best tacos ever!!!  Now that’s a money-back guarantee if ever there was one. xoxo

[Read more →]

I was surfing around the net yesterday between blogs I follow, Twitter, and Facebook and I came across a Top 10 list I can truly relate to – The Top Ten Signs of a Bad Cook posted by Chow. Check it out and let me know what you think.  Number three had me laughing out loud, I know people like that!

I promise, if you have this wonderful strawberry jam in your refrigerator, you will show the world that you are not “one of those people”!  And although it takes hours to make, it doesn’t take much effort, if you are planning on being home, just set a timer to go off every 15 minutes, stir, and there isn’t much more to it than that!

[Read more →]