Vegetarian/Vegetarian Option

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 [...]

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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. [...]

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Cream of Pea Soup with Ginger and Cilantro

I feel that I can almost chart my culinary life with pea soup. It was the first dish I learned to “cook” at age six, and, as with other North Americans of my vintage, it involved a can of Campbell’s Split Pea. Mastering that canned soup gave me confidence to [...]

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Green Tomato Salsa Verde

September is a month when many home gardeners in the northern hemisphere start monitoring weather forecasts in earnest. Nighttime temperatures are dropping, but plenty of green tomatoes remain on the vine that will likely get zapped by cold weather in coming days or weeks. Pick them now, or hold off [...]

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Tex-Mex Stuffed Peppers, 7-Layer Dip Style

Do you remember Tex-Mex 7-layer dip, the outrageously popular appetizer and party buffet table mainstay of the 1990s? I’ve certainly dunked more than my fair share of tortilla chips into that wonderful dip while attending other people’s parties. However, I’ve never actually served it at my own. This appetizer always [...]

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Fresh Zucchini Pickle, Asian Style

Do you have zucchinis (courgettes) growing in your garden now? Have you reached the panic stage yet about what to do with them all? Most home gardeners I know have a love-hate relationship with this vegetable. They love it because it’s both delicious and productive. And they hate it because, [...]

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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 [...]

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Four Fruit Smoothie Popsicles: Mango, Raspberry Cheesecake, Blueberry/Coconut, and Avocado

“Summertime and the livin’ is easy….” That line from Ira and George Gershwin’s classic song keeps running through my head. Although “livin’” is supposed to be easy in summer, figuring out how to keep cool during the seasonal swelter can be quite a challenge where I live. Heating up the [...]

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Reuben “Sandwich” Bites

Grilled Reubens are my family’s idea of sandwich comfort food heaven, and it’s easy to see why. The origin of this superb sandwich is hotly contested, with some attributing it’s development to Omaha restauranteur Reuben Kulakofsky during the 1920s and others giving the nod to New York delicatessen owner Arnold [...]

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Feta Dill Bread Braid

Garlic bread, a twice baked bread typically made with store-bought baguettes, is an ever popular side dish at mealtime, but then so too is home baked bread, straight from the oven. As both a committed bread baker and garlic bread devotee, I often find myself puzzling out how to incorporate [...]

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