It’s almost cliche to say that Italy changed my food life. Even though I was raised in an Italian foodie family that cooked the healthiest, seasonal whole food, before that became “the thing,” Italy changed my food life, because Italy changed my husband. He returned to the states with an Italian palate and a love…
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Green Beans Salad with Pears and Citrus Vinaigrette
Green Beans Salad I received an email yesterday that said, “you must be cooking up a storm for Easter.” Surprisingly, no, we were invited to a friend’s house, and I’m only bringing the coconut cupcakes and a green salad. I am always asked to bring the salad, which makes me very happy. You might not…
Coconut Cupcakes made Two Ways
These cupcakes won second place at the Nashville Cupcake Palooza. For years I’ve told people these are award winning and it turned out to be true. For the contest, I adopted an Easter theme and dyed the coconut in several pastel colors. These are grown-up cupcakes with sophisticated flavors and not only will you become…
Shrimp with Mussels and Scallops in Cream Sauce
When I saw that our Whisk Wednesday group would be cooking mussels and using the broth for a cream sauce, I hesitated. I thought of all kinds of reasons I could skip this dish. I could say my dog ate page 78 of Le Cordon Bleu at Home and I had no recipe, or I’ve…
Banana Cream Pie or Banana Cream Tart
It’s so much fun to make something for the first time. I warn you. This is not really a Spinach Tiger kind of pie. It’s very rich, and quite a splurge and much more a Retro Rose dessert. Retro Rose is my mom who goes all out for comfort food, sparing no calories, baking from…
Chicken with Mushrooms and Walnuts in Red Wine Sauce
This week the group made frog’s legs and I opted out to do an improvisation of last week’s recipe. You don’t want to miss the posts on frog’s legs at From Laptop to Stovetop and Whisk: a food blog. Last week’s dish, Pintade a la Cevenale (Guinea Hen with Mushrooms and Chestnuts) was another challenge…
Tuesdays with Dorie: Coconut Butter Thins
These aren’t the prettiest looking cookies, but paired beautifully with coconut gelato make a lovely, spring dessert and they taste good. It may be the buttery, nutty crunch, the bright flavors of coconut and lime or that dash of coriander that make these cookies delicious. I made my first batch following exact instructions from Dorie’s…
Pumpkin Carrot Curry Soup
Pumpkin carrot curry soup with peanuts in the Spring, not the Fall! Well, yes, if I waited until October, you might miss out on something delicious, savory, sweet, spicy, and yet, healthy and light. No, I need to share it now. And when the fall comes, I’ll develop a completely different pumpkin soup. This is…
Blueberry Crumb Coffee Cake
Tuesdays with Dorie has over 200 members who make the same recipe and post each Tuesday. Joining this group is exciting because it is currently closed and only opened up to new members for just for one day last week, St. Patrick’s Day. I jumped right on it, which means that you can look forward…
Salmon with Cream and Apples on Salad Greens and Citrus Champagne Vinaigrette
This not Wednesday and this not Cailles á la Normande, which calls for quail, and there was no salad in the original recipe. I made this dish with cornish game hen as a substitute, but I just didn’t like how it tasted. Chicken and apples didn’t quite appeal to me (it could have been my…
Ravioli, Orange Basil Browned Basil Butter and Pine nuts
Yesterday was National Ravioli Day. In researching this, I found out there are all kinds of national food days and I look forward to celebrating National Spinach Day next week. This recipe looks long and complicated. It’s not. The way I save myself time is that I take one day to just make ravioli and…
Beef and Bean Pie, in Honor of National Pi Day
Today is national PI day, not to be confused with national PIE day. But what the heck? So let’s talk math and update a 1950’s meat pie by adding a ton of nutritionally dense beans and using ultra grain flour. If I had a diner, I would name it Retro Rose, after my mother, and…