Sour Cream Noodle Bake

Over the weekend I was faced with that age old dilemma of what to make for dinner.  What...this surprises you?  I wish that, because I write a food blog, I could just pull a crown rack of lamb out of the drawer!  When I do make something more involved I usually plan ahead for it.  But most nights, dinner needs to be easy to make and involve ingredients that I either have in the house or are easily obtainable.

Honey Beer Bread

I have a lot of business to discuss with you all today in this very special group post.  I have a great recipe and yes, we have a fantastic giveaway.  Today's event is being hosted by Kim of Cravings of a Lunatic and Jen of Juanita's Cocina. They teamed up with their blogger friends to help raise awareness and support for Cancer and Hospice today in memory of Kim's dad. We encourage everyone to read the posts and share their own experiences with cancer. We also would like to encourage everyone to donate to the Canadian Cancer Society, the American Cancer Society and also to the Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association. Hospice was a key element during Kim's father's battle with cancer. They made it possible for Kim to care for him at home. So please show your support and donate if you can. You can also contact your local Hospice and donate directly to them if you wish. A little goes a long way!

Ice Cream and Berries and Cake, Oh, My!

There are a number of things that happen around here that I file under the category of Being a Food Blogger Does Not Suck.  Samples of fun new kitchen tools for me to play with and review.  Boxes that arrive with free cookies, bottles of liquor and all kinds of other tasty samples.  Coupons.  And the occasional really cool invitation.

Oven "Fried" Falafel

My love of falafel is nearly as old as I am.  My parents enjoyed that type of cuisine so I grew up eating lots of hummus, tahini and those delicious little fried chickpea balls.  And, over the years, nothing has changed.  Well, except my resolve to not eat too many greasy little fried things.

Strawberry Shortcake Light

I've got strawberries on the brain in a big way lately.  Partly it's because it's almost summer and there are lots of lovely berries in the market that are far too tempting not to buy.  But, I was also recently chatting with a PR representative for Driscoll's Berries.  She reminded me that National Strawberry Shortcake Day is on the 14th and was also generous enough to send me some coupons for Driscoll's products.

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Swirl Bundt Cake

What is it about bundts?  For me, the fun of this type of pan is the swirl you can make inside the cake.  So when the founders of our monthly bundt group, Anuradha of Baker Street and Lora of Cake Duchess, decided that our June theme would be swirly bundts, I was all in.  I've swirled before, even when it wasn't part of our challenge, but Murphy's Law stepped in this time.  My first attempt was a complete, although tasty, failure but I'll tell you about that another time.  Today let's focus on the success and complete peanut buttery deliciousness of this properly swirled cake.

Light Spaghetti Squash Gratin

I have a new love interest. He's short and squat and quite a bit yellow. He hangs around with the vegetables in the garden but, when you get him home to the privacy of your kitchen, he turns into pasta. Dreamy, forbidden, empty carbs, pasta. Yes, my new love is a veggie in a carb suit. What's not to love about that?

Tuscan Bean Salad

Have you ever eaten lunch at Costco? I don't mean that you've ordered a hot dog at their concession stand. What I mean is that, while you were pushing your shopping cart around, you stopped every few feet at the sample tables and helped yourself to whatever they were offering until you were full. Brian and I are definitely Costco diners although we rarely buy the product being sampled. We do spend quite a lot of money there, even if it's on non-sampled products, so I rather think they'd forgive us. And it's not that we don't think what we sampled tasted good. It usually does. But when we look at the nutrition panel of whatever it is, we ask each other how it's even possible to get that much fat and calories into that size container! But our dietary reluctance to buy doesn't mean we aren't inspired to cook.

Life in the Big City - Summer Style

I hope you enjoyed the first installment of Life in the Big City a couple of weeks ago.  No sooner do I start bringing you along with me through my days in New York City though, when summer hits and it's time to head out of the city.  OK, so technically it's not summer yet, but Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start to summer for big city folks.  For us, long summer weekends mean getting out of the hot city and heading to the south shore of Long Island.  Out there we're a couple of minutes drive from beaches and marinas but, best of all, is the nearly two acres of grass and woods right outside our door.

The Month in Review - May 2013

I really don't know where May went.  Wasn't it just yesterday that I was impatiently waiting for the start of summer weekends?  Maybe the cold temperatures threw me off because I certainly can't remember another Memorial Day weekend where we had to turn on the heat and sleep under an electric blanket.  But despite the strange weather and my apparent inability to keep track of time, we did eat quite well in May.

We kicked the month off with a lots of Mexican themed Cinco de Mayo recipes and added another entry to the bundt cake collection.  There were a few other desserts but also lots of lighter, healthier fare in anticipation of the warm weather.  We also started a new Life in the Big City feature that I hope you'll like.  So let's take a quick look back before we move forward to summer, sun and surf.  Enjoy!

Cauliflower "Fried Rice"

Cauliflower masquerading as rice?  What?  Huh?  Having recently turned cauliflower into an amazing "cream" sauce, I've come to the conclusion that it must be the most versatile veggie on the planet.  Still, when I saw this recipe on Family Fresh Meals, I worried that the cauliflower would soften too much and turn into a paste.  But I just had to try it because it was much too fascinating to pass up.

Happy Memorial Day!

Welcome to our unofficial start of summer.  The start of long weekends out east near the water.  The start of steaks grilling and frozen cocktails chilling.  The start of a happy me.  For Manhattanites, in general, Memorial Day weekend is the start of summer cottage rentals and weekend beach house shares.  Many corporations let folks out early on Fridays so they can get on jitneys and trains to start their weekends away.  The bustling city is much quieter in summer.

Roasted Beet and Herbed Goat Cheese Sandwich

The combination of roasted beets and goat cheese is pretty common and definitely one of my favorites.  I use those ingredients frequently in salads and also tend to order it when I see it on a restaurant menu.  But it never occurred to me to make a sandwich out of it until now.

Tarragon Chicken Salad Slaw

This is what happens when a chicken salad meets coleslaw with some seriously tasty results. I actually love tossing shredded cabbage in with various salads because it boosts the volume, and nutrition, without adding calories. But this past weekend was the first time I'd tried it with chicken. Yummy!

Lemon Blueberry Ricotta Bread

Another sweet quick bread recipe? Oh, yeah. There's no end in sight! So easy and so good and so many variations. I mentioned on Saturday in my Life in the Big City post that I've been pinning loads of lemony bread recipes and yesterday I played around with one of them. I wasn't using anyone's particular recipe but rather borrowing the idea of including ricotta in the batter. Although it seemed a bit odd at first, the more I thought about it, the more I realized it answered one of my quick bread problems.

Life in the Big City

Today I'm starting a new feature that I hope you'll enjoy.  I always try to take you behind the scenes of how our recipes and cocktails were inspired and you've seen plenty of cameos by our furry sous chef.  But, as I'm going about my days, I always have my camera and always have the urge to bring you all along with me.  The big city, for us, is New York, specifically Manhattan.  It's a small island that's also the financial and cultural capital of the world.  The most visited, most filmed, most crowded, most populated, most crazy place on earth.  I was raised here. I hope you'll like sharing a bit more of our lives.  Weekly?  Monthly?  Don't know yet.  Life happens...  Enjoy!

The French Cosmo

A few weeks ago, when Brian and I had dinner at the Central Park Boathouse, we got to enjoy a couple of their delicious specialty cocktails.  I opted for the mango mojito and Brian was drawn to the French cosmopolitan.  He and I both like traditional cosmos although they're a bit on the strong side for me.

Creamy Lemon Dill Dressing From a Barking Dog

A couple of blocks from our apartment is a fun little cafe called The Barking Dog.  Somewhere between a diner and a cafe, they have good burgers, amazing beer battered onion rings, comfy Yankee pot roast and the best Cobb salad we've ever had.  It's huge, with lots of grilled chicken, bacon, blue cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, sprouts and a whole sliced avocado.  I usually share one with Brian as a starter but I'm perfectly fine with skipping the entree and just eating this salad as my meal.  That's assuming, of course, that I can have extra dressing because I really, really love this dressing.  Really.

Chocolate Chip Bread

Do you ever find that you get into food moods?  Every once in a while I definitely do and, lately, I've been in the mood for chocolate chips.  Snacking on them, baking with them, etc.  What's odd is that there is usually a bag of them in my freezer but it's only Brian that snacks on them.  Most of the time I'm content to let them be but, these days, they seem to be calling to me.

Quinoa and Chickpea Salad with Lemon Tahini Dressing

Lately I seem to be a little obsessed with quinoa.  I know it's trendy now but I wasn't such a fan the first time I tried it a couple of years ago.  Somehow it grew on me, though, and now I'm constantly thinking up new ways to prepare it.  I'll be considering making a salad or a pilaf or some other traditional dish and I'll think to myself - hey, why don't I put some quinoa in there? Oh, well.  Considering how healthy quinoa is, I'm far better off with it than, say, my cheesecake obsession.

Very Berry Streusel Bundt

As I think most of you know, I participate in a monthly bundt baking group, and every month we're challenged to use a different theme or ingredient by our group founders, Anuradha of Baker Street and Lora of Cake Duchess.  May's theme was berries and I knew immediately that I would use my two favorites - blueberries and strawberries.

Individual Chocolate Pudding Cheesecake Parfaits

What do you do when you see a recipe for a dessert that you absolutely, positively want to eat but you know that, if you make it, you will end up finishing the whole big pan, mostly by yourself?  Well, first you try to forget about it but that doesn't seem to work so good.  Then you wonder if you can invite half a dozen friends over for a coffee and dessert party but it's so hard getting people together on short notice...like...in about an hour?

Cinco De Mayo Round Up

With Cinco de Mayo being celebrated this coming Sunday, I'm definitely planning on making a whole lot of Mexican food this weekend.  And while my days of clubbing and pounding down tequila shots may be over, Brian and I can still knock back some holiday appropriate cocktails to go with that food.  Enjoy!

The Month in Review - April 2013

I'm used to seeing an absolute riot of flowers and blooming trees in April but this year New York was pretty dry and much too cold.  I don't remember ever waiting this long and this longingly for spring to arrive.  But now that April is over, we're at last being treated to tulips and cherry blossoms.  We've started to spend more Sundays in the park and are beginning to think less about soup and more about salads and sweet fruit.

Dinner in Central Park - The Loeb Boathouse, New York, NY

East 72nd and Park Drive North, New York, NY 212-517-2233, www.thecentralparkboathouse.com

A business associate of Brian's was in town for the weekend with his wife and we took them out for a lovely dinner at the Boathouse. Whenever we entertain, Brian always leaves it to me to choose a place that out-of-towners would like and that would show off our city. Since we're in Manhattan, there's no shortage of impressive places but I like to feature the quieter, less touristy aspects of this city.

Tropical Fiesta Cocktail for Cinco de Mayo

This past St. Patrick's Day, I got together with a group of other food bloggers to create Irish themed recipes and we had an absolute blast doing it.  So much so that we decided to call ourselves the Holiday Food Party Bloggers and choose a few occasions throughout the year on which to unleash our creativity.  I think you can guess from the title of this post that now we're doing it up for Cinco de Mayo.  The holiday celebrates Mexico's independence but, in New York, it tends to be an excuse to gather at the many wonderful Mexican restaurants in the city, eat great food and drink margaritas.

Light Spinach Lasagna with Cauliflower Sauce

For those of you that enjoyed my cauliflower sauce recipe, I thought I'd show you another option for how to use it other than just pouring it over a pound of fettuccine and stuffing your face with every last bit of it.  Not that I think there's anything remotely wrong with that idea.  And I may have done that with my first batch of sauce but now, I've gotten hold of myself.  Also, I'm out of fettuccine.

Crispy Cheesy Buttermilk Chicken

Breaded chicken cutlets that are baked in the oven instead of fried.  Boring.  Yawn.  Zzzzz.  Everybody knows how to make those, right?  Well, until recently, that would be everybody except me.  The few times I'd tried it I ended up with dry, flat tasting chicken that made me feel like I was the only person on earth who couldn't cook this simple dish properly.

Mango Madness Martini

TGIF!  I'm particularly happy to see Friday this week. Such a busy few days with so many annoyances and errands and running around. And, to make matters worse, my running is more like hobbling as I struggle with an injured ankle. Ouch. But, Brian and I do have some fun Saturday night plans so I think I'll spend today resting my ankle and maybe sipping on our latest favorite cocktail.

Creamy White Bean Soup

I had expected to put away my soup pot by this time of the year but the weather hasn't warmed up enough to cool my cravings. In fact, we've had some pretty chilly nights where all I want to do is climb into my warm bed with a bowl of soup. And since I ran across this tasty looking concoction on one of my favorite blogs, I figured it was well worth putting the soup pot to some more use. Stephanie from Sarcastic Cooking has so many wonderful savory meal options along with stunning photographs and this soup was no exception.

Happy Birthday, Hadley!

Our little furry sous chef turns 4 today and we don't know where the time has gone. She may not be a baby anymore but she's still a happy, playful, tail wagging, ball chasing, people-loving pup. She's brought us so much love and happiness and we can't imagine our lives without her. I think this calls for a biscuit!

Creamy (and Light) Cauliflower Sauce

We love cauliflower and it appears on our dinner menu pretty often. Raw, steamed, roasted, mashed...we'll happily eat it in any form. But cauliflower sauce? I'd never heard of that. The other day, though, I was reading one of my favorite blogs, Pinch of Yum, and Lindsay was expounding on the virtues of her cauliflower sauce in place of creamy, heavy pasta sauce. Huh? Whaaa? I had to make it. I mean, immediately! And I had a head of cauliflower in my fridge because I pretty much always do.

Lime in the Coconut Martini

I'm thinking it might be time for some kind of intervention.  Brian has apparently developed a condition whereby it is impossible for him to walk into any kind of liquor store without "discovering" some new Pinnacle flavored vodka for us to try.  He also insists that all vodka be stored in the freezer and we are WAY over capacity in there.  I'm not too keen on frozen food but there are a few things that do belong in there other than bottles of vodka, ice cube trays and cocktail glasses.  I nearly created an avalanche the other day trying to retrieve a package of frozen spinach!

Cheddar Apple Pie Grilled Cheese

Since April is National Grilled Cheese Month, I figured it was time I shared one of my favorite grilled cheese recipes with you.  Of course, it's more of an idea than an actual recipe since I'm assuming everyone knows how to put cheese on bread and toast it up.  It's the "extras" though, that make each version unique.  Tomatoes and avocados are popular additions and I certainly have no objection to a couple of slices of bacon.  But, since I'm usually trying to keep it on the leaner side, I tend to stick to this version more than any other.

Bacon, Egg and Cheese Tart

Do you remember the Bangles song "Manic Monday" where they sing about Sunday being "fun day" and "I don't have to run" day? That's pretty much how I feel about it. Saturdays tend to be busy and filled with errands but Sundays are for sleeping late and being lazy. Sometimes we meet friends for brunch and we frequently head out to the park with the dog but always in our own time. We also tend to be casual about food on Sundays. There are usually leftovers from Saturday so I'll just add a quick salad to whatever we have and we can tuck into bed for a light dinner and some Sunday night TV.

Double Chocolate Cake with Cherry Cheesecake Swirl

So, remember the other day when the bundt cake bakers got together to make cherry cakes for April? I had initially thought about combining chocolate and cherries but ended up making a more spring-like lemon cherry cake with a lemon glaze. It was delicious! But I still had chocolate and cherries on the brain. Plus I had a chocolate loaf cake recipe waiting to be tested and a leftover jar of cherry preserves and...the rest was fate. And a sweet tooth. :)

Lemon Cherry Bundt Cake with Lemon Glaze

This month, the Bundt-a-Month group founders, Anuradha of Baker Street and Lora of Cake Duchess, chose cherry as our theme and my mind immediately drifted to warm weather thoughts. I love spring and summer and the appearance of the first, sweet cherries in the market makes me very, very happy. Unfortunately, we've had a horribly cold winter and it doesn't seem to want to let go. No fresh cherries yet. Hmm. Well, as much as I love fresh cherries, I should be able to make a cherry dessert even when the weather doesn't cooperate.

The Month in Review - March 2013

This year, March was the month that saw us longing for an end to winter and being constantly disappointed.  It snowed, it rained and it snowed some more.  We took the word of a lying rodent because we wanted desperately to believe...and then it snowed again.

So, we stayed in a lot and we cooked and we ate.  We changed the clocks and we celebrated St. Patrick's Day and Passover and Easter and we waited for spring.  Below is a recap of all the tasty foods we ate while we waited.  Enjoy!

Baked Lemon Glazed Mini Doughnuts

So, I was browsing around Sur la Table a few months ago, minding my own business, when suddenly, through no fault of my own, a jar of bright pink baking decorations grabbed me by the sleeve and demanded that I purchase it.  I tried to explain that I don't usually do much with cute, sprinkle-laden sweets but it would not hear it and forced its way into my cart.  So I brought it home and parked it in my little baking cupboard to cool its heels over the winter while I wondered what on earth I would do with it.

Almond Frangipane Tart

I've always had a love of almond flavored sweets. It started when I was very little and my father would sometimes come home from work with a little mazipan treat for me. Sometimes on the weekend he would take me to the Elk Candy Company on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. It was an old world, European style confectioner with all kinds of lovely sweets to choose from. But I always chose one of the tiny cakes with layers of marzipan and chocolate. Elk Candy is long gone but I've found bakeries with more adult style almond and mazipan pastries to replace them.

Happy Passover!

This evening is the first night of Passover and the time when Jewish families will gather for a Seder. Some can be long and quite formal but, since there won't be any young children at our table, we'll do a simple celebration. The traditional requirement to avoid regular flour and leavening means there will be matzo instead of bread and dessert will be a rich, chocolaty flourless souffle cake. We'll also be serving some light and fluffy matzo balls and we'll take advantage of the matzos in the house with breakfasts of sweet matzo brie. But whether you celebrate Passover or Easter, we wish you a very happy holiday filled with family, friends and love.

Minty Pear Mojito

So, according to the calendar, it is now spring. Yay!  I love spring! OK, technically it's still snowing in New York but we're going to pretend. We're going to turn on the heat and sit under a bright lamp and pretend that mother nature is not currently being a heartless bitch. And we're going to drink a warm weather cocktail while we pretend. Actually, if we drink enough of them, we'll start to believe it.

Chickpea Burger with Israeli Salad

For the past few days I've had the biggest craving for some Middle Eastern food. Hummus, falafel, tahini...I love them all. Chickpea burgers combine a lot of those flavors and are wonderful, versatile foods. Apart from the basic ingredients, you can customize them by adding in whatever you have on hand. Grated carrot, zucchini, peppers or mushrooms would all be great. The chickpeas are also loaded with protein and fiber and I just love it when healthy food is so delicious.

Cream Cheese Crumb Cake

If you read this blog on a regular basis then you know by the now that there are some twists I just can't resist adding to desserts. For example, if it tastes good on its own then it's bound to be better with a crumb topping. And, if there's a way to get a layer of cheesecake swirl into it, I will do so. But considering all that, I just don't understand why I needed someone else to show me that adding a cream cheese layer to my beloved crumb cake would be a good idea. I'm going to have to go see a doctor or something.

Sweet Irish Soda Bread Biscuits

Last year, an Irish-born colleague introduced me to my favorite version of soda bread. Simple and sweet, almost like scones but baked into a loaf. It was delicious! I said I wouldn't wait until next St. Patrick's Day to make it again but, somehow the time got away from me. Oh, well. I baked up a loaf last weekend and the delicate aroma made me fall in love with it all over again.

Creamy Broccoli and Cheese Soup

You may have heard me mention, several dozen times, that I don't like winter. Technically spring will arrive at the end of this month but you'd have trouble believing that lately. Oh, I know, March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. But we're still very much in lion mode around here. We had snow, then torrential rain, then more snow than more rain. Sigh...  This past weekend we got a tiny little taste of what's to come. Not that it was warm but at least we could walk from here to there without risking frostbite.

Bailey's Irish Cream Cheese Trifle

With St. Patrick's Day a week away, a group of my fellow food bloggers and I are taking this opportunity to share some Irish inspired recipes. Now, technically I'm not Irish in the technical sense, if you're going to be all technical about it. But I do live in New York, a giant melting pot of nationalities, religions and cultures. Every year we have a huge St. Patrick's Day parade and our Jewish mayor and Italian governor proudly march. Besides, how technically Irish do you need to be to appreciate delicious food?

Bananas Foster Bundt Cake

For most of my life, if you'd asked me my favorite flavor, I would have said banana. As a kid, I loved banana flavored anything and I didn't care much if that flavor was natural or artificial. As an adult, I've gotten much more discerning and the fake, extract flavors found in most commercial products just won't do. So I eat a banana every day and periodically bake the over-ripe ones into a banana bread. There are always bananas on my counter and bananas in my freezer (for smoothies).

Cheesy Quinoa and Asparagus Bake

Today I'm joining a group of bloggers to help raise awareness of heart disease. The group was organized by Kim of Cravings of a Lunatic and Jen of Juanita's Cocina, both of whom have parents personally touched by the disease. Jen's stepfather suffered a heart attack and Kim lost her mother to the disease when she was only 15. In memory of Kim's mother, she and Jen asked that we share our own personal stories as well as a heart healthy recipe.

Asparagus, Feta and Oregano Pasta (plus a tasting box and discount coupon from Gourmet Spotting!)

A few weeks ago I was contacted by Gourmet Spotting, a subscription service that sends out monthly curated tasting boxes. Each contains between 4 and 6 gourmet products sourced from eco-friendly, organic and fair trade companies. In addition, every time they ship out a box, they donate a meal to charity.

Cheese Stuffed Brussels Sprouts

I think Brussels sprouts must be the most maligned vegetable because all I see are recipes that promise to turn their haters into fans. Granted there are good and bad ways to prepare these little cabbages but even the best way still leaves you with... well... Brussels sprouts. I happen to like them and have since I was very young but they do need to be prepared correctly in order to taste good. Undercook or overcook and you get an unpleasant bitter taste which is what, I think, most non-likers have against them. The overcooking places them in the "lunch lady" group of foods that were boiled to death by school cafeteria workers. Asparagus was a frequent victim as well.