Today I went out to water all my plants and was startled to see that ALL of the parsley was gone. Not dead–completely missing. The other day I saw some small (maybe 1 cm long) caterpillars basking in the sun on some of the parsley leaves. I didn’t particularly care to kill them, it’s nature after all. But I didn’t expect to go out today and find that those tiny caterpillars were really very hungry […]
How-To: Making Chiffon Cake
Have you ever tried Chiffon cake? It’s a very light, airy foam cake akin to Angel Food Cake that is made with flour, sugar, vegetable oil, and eggs. (Angel Food Cake is made without oil or egg yolks.) Chiffon cake is very versatile–you can fill it, frost it, freeze it, forget about it for a few days, and it tastes great. I made this Chiffon cake months and months ago and realized I never posted […]
Garden Update #3
(the peas growing wildly in and out of their container) Our porch garden has come a long way in three weeks since my last little garden update. And a really long way since we first planted seeds at the beginning of May. (Nasturtiums) This picture was taken yesterday afternoon, and just this morning I noticed an actual blossom. Oh, how we’ve been waiting for some pretty flowers to bloom! (Red Lettuce) I’m so ready to […]
Apple-Blueberry Salad with Apricot Vinaigrette
I bought some awesome blueberries the other day and wish I’d bought more. My little girl has eaten almost all of them by herself. I managed to steal a few of the remaining blueberries and toss them into my salad for lunch. I used leftover Apricot Vinaigrette, but I think this salad would be awesome with poppyseed dressing. And furthermore, now I’m thinking that peaches would be a great substitute for the apples… Apple-Blueberry Saladoriginal […]
Chickpea Salad
This was supposed to be a new menu in the Summer Menu series. Alas, I cannot lie. The crab cakes you can barely see in the picture (on the left with roasted red pepper coulis) were terrible! I’ll have to revisit that recipe sometime. So, as a peace offering, I am giving you the recipe for a delicious chickpea salad. It’s really, really good and light and healthy. Perfect for a hot, humid day–I hate […]
The Strawberry Pickin’s
I live pretty close to Manhattan. While to some New Yorkers, that seems like “upstate” it’s still pretty urban for the suburbs. I love–no adore–the chance to get away to the “country” for a day. We drove up to Secor Strawberry Farm in Wappingers Falls, NY, which is about 1 1/2 hours from where we live. It was a cool, cloudy day. Perfect for picking strawberries, although we missed tasting the warmth of the sun […]
The Peanut Butter Ice Cream Cake Disaster
My son turned two last Saturday. Because we had a heat wave that week, there was no way I was turning on the oven to make him a cake. I felt inspired by Aran’s post about the ice cream cakes she made recently for a birthday. Um, yeah. My cake had nothin’ on hers. (Seriously–go over and see them. She is so amazing!) This is what I ended up with: Oh, yeah, it sort of […]
Kitchen Q&A: Buying an Ice Cream Maker
A few readers and friends have inquired about which ice cream maker I would recommend buying. I wrote a post on Homemade Ice Cream 101. I included a bit about my Cuisinart ice cream maker, which I love. (Update: I have two now actually!) I own and adore my 1 1/2 quart Cuisinart. I think any of the Cuisinart ice cream makers would be a reliable way to go. If you have a KitchenAid and […]
Kitchen Q&A: Peanut Butter Swirl for Ice Cream
I’ve had a few e-mail requests for a peanut butter swirl recipe for ice cream. And I thought to myself, “Yeah–why haven’t I done that yet?” So, for my little guy’s second birthday, I decided to make him a peanut butter swirl ice cream cake. (Don’t get too excited–the cake was a disaster, despite how delicious it looks!) I did my research on different peanut butter swirl recipes. There are quite a few out there. […]
Strawberry Season!
(picked last year at Secor Strawberry Farm) I gave my daughter a choice for today– “Should we go to the zoo, the park, or go pick strawberries?” Her reply– “Pick strawberries AND then go to the park.” Oh, geez. I hope I have enough energy for that. The weather is going to unbelievably beautiful today and it may be our last big outing before I curl up and die in front of my A/C window […]