Bakery

Nutella and Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwiches

If you’re a regular reader of food blogs then you’ve likely noticed that the whole world seems mad for Nutella™. For those of you who’ve been living in a cave or otherwise missed this trend, let me explain. Nutella™ is an alluring, proprietary spread that combines ground roasted hazelnuts, skim [...]

[go to recipe...]

Chocolate Chip Date Nut Cake

This simple and old-fashioned cake, a slightly updated version of one my mother has been baking for decades, is my favorite cake, hands-down, no question about it. Several attributes make it a winner in my eyes: It doesn’t need frosting and to me tastes better without it. It’s very moist [...]

[go to recipe...]

Strawberry Buckle Muffins

Occasionally, I take an online stroll through this blog to check on things, as I did yesterday. Aside from finding, and correcting, an embarrassing number of typographical errors that somehow slipped past me earlier (blush), I also asked myself: What’s missing here in terms of foods that readers and I [...]

[go to recipe...]

Ratatouille Bisque with Parmesan Croutons

Developing new recipe ideas for this blog is a joy, but, as in other aspects of life, sometimes the creative juices just don’t want to flow. A bit of a nudge is needed. And so yesterday I took a stroll through my organic vegetable garden in search of inspiration. Although [...]

[go to recipe...]

Key Lime Pie Magic Cookie Bars

OK, there are two unusual things about this post. First, this is a recipe for Christmas cookies, which I’ve only baked once in the past 20 years. Don’t get me wrong. I love the holiday season and am fully engaged when it comes to making Christmas dinner, decorating the tree, [...]

[go to recipe...]

Parmesan Cheese Straws with Rosemary

For a native of the American South, I discovered cheese straws remarkably late in life. I was all of 18 years old when they were introduced to me, and it was love at first bite. In the decades since then, the many wonderful attributes of cheese straws have made them [...]

[go to recipe...]

Carrot Cake with Pecan Coconut Frosting

Do readers ever wonder how food bloggers develop the recipes they publish? In my case, new recipe ideas sometimes come in a flash of inspiration and work out exactly as envisioned on the first try or after a couple rounds of experimentation. And sometimes they don’t work out at all. [...]

[go to recipe...]

Tomato, Corn, and Cheese Tart with Basil

I’ve just returned from vacation at my little cabin in the woods of our family’s organic farm, Yellow Branch Farm, in the mountains of western North Carolina. Real farm labor, as always, was busily underway throughout my stay there. Cows were milked, artisanal cheeses made, vegetable and fruit gardens tended, [...]

[go to recipe...]

Sangria Upside Down Cake

Each member of my family has a different notion of the perfect cake. My husband adores dark chocolate cake with matching buttercream frosting. My adult son favors banana cake with thick penuche icing. And my own longstanding preference is for unfrosted, not too sweet, fruit flavored cakes, such as the [...]

[go to recipe...]

Green Chili Cilantro Cornbread

Every culture has its quintessential comfort food staple dish, and my peripatetic career has exposed me to many of them. In many Asian countries, rice is part of virtually every meal. In Kenya, ugali (corn meal mush) rules, as does motoke (plantain mush) in Uganda. Italians are comforted by their [...]

[go to recipe...]

← Previous Entries