This fresh made hummus is so delicious. You’ll be amazed at all the flavors, especially if you are accustomed to store-bought hummus. This is a great dish to take to a gathering any time of the year! People love it!
Monthly Archives: February 2024
31 posts
I think with the convenience of bagged salads and bottled dressing, we often forget how simple it is to pick greens out by hand and make a fresh homemade dressing. I find that a custom-assembled salad and fresh dressing is just SO GOOD. It’s fresh, crunchy, juicy and balanced in flavor between sweet, salty, vinegary and peppery. This simple dinner salad is a common-sense combination of green lettuce, cucumbers and tomato. Fresh mustard vinaigrette – always versatile, is both easy and delicious. I like to keep my dinner salads simple for two reasons: Less ingredients means less steps. I want […]
This is my modern take on the old “shake and bake” although we don’t actually shake our chops – they wouldn’t get nearly enough of the delicious seasoned coating on them if we did. Instead, I place each chop in a pie dish that’s been filled with the seasoned panko, turn it once, and after I place it on the pan I heap more bread crumbs over it – just for good measure.
This is the kind of dish that will transform a regular Saturday or Sunday into a memorable, cozy day. Chicken and dumplings is really just a stew without potatoes or any other starches in the stew portion. Instead, it’s topped with raw biscuit dough and the dough is allowed to steam and puff up into perfect little orbs of soft, pillowy pastry. Plan to spend 5-7 hours in total on this recipe. While this is definitely a “slow cooking” dish, the hands-on work for this recipe totals only about thirty minutes. It’s the stewing and the simmering that take […]
This icing is made with meringue powder – a product made with pasteurized egg whites. You can confidently make this icing without worrying about salmonella – a risk always when using fresh egg whites in a product that is not cooked. To “flood” a sugar cookie, outline each cookie by piping a thick border. Let the border dry a little, then “flood” the inside of the cookie. The border will prevent the “flood” from pouring off the cookie. My recipe for the perfect sugar cookie is below.
There is nothing like savoring a fresh weekend morning like making a batch of pancakes. Make these when you find some big, juicy fresh blueberries at the market. Be sure to remove all blueberry stems and withered blossoms before using. It’s a good idea to rinse fresh blueberries and lay them out on a clean dry towel to dry. Pick over the blueberries and remove any smooshed or otherwise undesirable blueberries before you add them to your batter. If you have a little helper, be sure to buy an extra punnet of blueberries so you can be generous when little […]
A soft, delicious bread studded with buttery roasted garlic cloves and fragrant rosemary. You could also add Kalamata olives if you’d like. A light dusting of a hard cheese like Parmesan after the bread bakes gives it a savory, salty finish. This bread is EASY. In fact, I recommend this bread for first-time bakers. For a well-practiced baker, consider this a very simple bread to accompany a full dinner, or as an appetizer – dipped in small bowls of olive oil dotted with Balsamic vinegar.
It may feel impossible to imagine a salad as a feast, but whenever I make this dressing, I feel that all the notes of bitterness, creaminess, savory-ness and the bite from the garlic – along with the sweet crunch of romaine lettuce combine to make a whole, complete eating experience. This Caesar dressing is for garlic lovers. This has been my “house” dressing for years. It’s creamy and the garlic gives it a magnificent “bite”. The mustard and anchovy paste give it a depth of flavor that makes it unforgettable. You can make this dressing up to two days in […]
A big pan of these vegetables disappears in seconds at my house. Whether we’re loading up large bowls of it and eating it while curled up on the sofa (comfort food!), scooping it up with crostini (baby toasts) or serving it at a side dish, this recipe is so easy, so simple and so very epically delicious.
This is my favorite kind of cornbread because the edges are slightly crackly and the insides are soft and cakey. The buttermilk makes this twangy and delectable. A family favorite!
A quick marinating process is all you need to get this flank steak started. It broils in just minutes making it a fast, easy and delicious dinner. Marinates in 2-4 hours – although you can marinate for longer if it’s convenient for you. I’ve served this with mushroom risotto, with mashed potatoes, atop a spinach salad, and most recently with vegetable lo mien. It’s always excellent.
This is a no-fuss gorgeous bread that you can make and serve on the same day. You’ll need to reserve about three hours start to finish for making this bread, although you’ll only need to work at it for a total of about ten minutes. I use my heavy duty stand mixer to make this bread.
These are the pancakes that my family has been making for decades. At first, I was the one who always made the pancakes. Then I taught my husband to make the pancakes and he took over for many years – as “breakfast time Daddy” – the fun dad who would make pancakes on a Saturday morning so I could sleep in. Then, the kids all learned how to make the pancakes, and now my husband and I can both sleep in (although he usually gets up earlier than I do). This is the pancake recipe that is tacked to […]
There are so many ways to make a roasted chicken great. This is my easiest, most simple way to prepare roasted chicken. Sometimes I think I like the flavor and texture of this chicken the most. You really taste the “chickeny” chicken here. The white pepper on this chicken is really good – I highly recommend using white pepper over black pepper for a simple chicken like this.
Even a reluctant carnivore will be transformed into an enthusiastic carnivore when a properly-cooked pork belly is presented. The ribbons of fat turn into lush, juicy bites of flavor and the crispy, crackly pork skin, bubbled to perfection, is the thing you never knew your teeth were wishing they could chomp into. Crunch, crunch, crunch. There are three things to remember when you are roasting a pork belly: 1) Score the skin into thin strips – as thin as you can get them. 2) The pork belly will not be perfectly level when sitting on just the pan. It will […]
For a long time I was of the mind that Irish Soda Bread had to be made as frugally as possible. Just some flour, baking soda, salt and buttermilk. As it’s a peasant’s bread, I was not too far off. Being 99.6% Irish myself, I felt as if I was betraying the struggle of my ancestors to be as “extra” as to add EGGS and SUGAR to my Irish Soda Bread. Oh, the horrors! “They didn’t have an egg to spare”, I argued with myself. “And they certainly didn’t have sugar”. For me, Irish Soda Bread was the bread […]
My family loves a good veg casserole. It’s a great way to familiarize young people to the textures and tastes of cooked vegetables. I serve this with any number of main dishes. It was wonderful with a roasted chicken tonight.
The easiest way to enjoy asparagus! I’m always happy to see fresh asparagus in the stores this time of year. This lightly-roasted asparagus is so delicious. Crispy, crunchy, with a tender flesh inside. You might just eat them right off the pan like finger food.
The easiest, best buttercream for icing and decorating cakes, cupcakes or cookies. This formulation tastes like vanilla ice cream!
HOT ARTICHOKE DIP: Looking for a last minute dish to take to a gathering? This is it! Everyone loves a hot artichoke dip. This whips up so fast, and it only needs to bake for about twenty minutes. It’s creamy, savory and has a flavorful kick thanks to the pepper, garlic powder and fresh chives. Be sure to use the canned artichokes packed in water, as opposed to the jarred artichokes packed in oil.