I have just discovered something amazing! I have “invented” a flavor-of-the-day muffin recipe that is fairly full proof. I have used it several times to make various muffins from run of the mill to exotic.
A couple of weeks ago it was pineapple coconut muffins, and today it is pear blueberry muffins with ginger and cardamom spices. It is tender and soft and full of fruity and spicy flavors. Continue reading
Lemonade is refreshing, yes, but lemon cake is memorable; especially this one. This lemon cake is NOT the syrup-y sweet kind that tastes like a lemon lollipop. This one is tart, blooming with hints of rosemary and the lightest, almost translucent, flavor of olive oil. The texture is exquisite. It’s full and solid, yet also soft and moist.
I’m in a lemon phase. Maybe it’s because it has been so cold and dark most of the month, and I am now basking in the warm weather here in sunny So. Cal, or maybe it’s because of the book I have just finished reading, The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake.
I guarantee that bread pudding is one of the simplest desserts you can make and this one is sure to impart its zesty, sunshine-y happiness onto anyone who digs in. It is comfort food at its finest and most elevated with a punch of lemon, plump blueberries mixed throughout and dotted with white chocolate chips for that extra creamy richness in every spoonful.
Have you ever eaten something that evokes strong emotion? Perhaps your grandmother’s noodle Kugel or your mother’s potato pancakes? Think back to your favorite foods; the ones you need in an emergency. Notice I said need, not want. The ones that once the aroma is permeating the room, you are transported to a time, place or event.
I know, you have seen this magnificent cake before. It is not new, nor terribly original in the blogosphere, but this Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake is a magical cake so just in case there are a handful of you newbie blog readers out there, or if you have just come off a long trip from the NASA space station, here it is adapted from Smitten Kitchen, but with my own tweaks.
If you have been fighting off the big, bad germs that have come your way, or if you simply want a delicious but healthy soup for tonight, make this creamy spinach soup. It has a hint of nutmeg and was started with a few nice cloves of sauteed garlic, so believe me, even though it’s easy peasy, it’s really tasty and has many layers of flavor. The ingredients list is so small it’s almost embarrassing…almost.
I want a ticket to somewhere tropical where I can lie on a beach and someone will bring me a nice, tall pina colada; where no one needs homework help, dinner doesn’t have to get on the table in 20 minutes flat and a skunk didn’t just run through my backyard to perfume my life. Unfortunately for me (and many of you I suspect), that’s not happening anytime soon, so I have decided that a sweet and tangy, pineapple coconut muffin will have to be my tropical mode of transportation for the time being.
Is it just too dang cold to go outside wherever you are? Me too.
I won’t tell you where I am because then you would know that I am a big baby. I’ve seen the news; I know that many of you have been snowed in something terrible. It’s been horrible out there in so many places, and I think the best thing you could do for yourself at this point is make soup. Continue reading
Sweet And Crumby 