January 21st, 2013 by
Got banana bread? I think the question really is: “Who doesn’t have a trusty old recipe up their sleeve?” Like china sets and pieces of fine jewelry, they’re handed down through family generations, but much more often used and appreciated.
I have to admit that I am one of the few that was left without granny’s heirloom banana bread recipe, but I DO have her zucchini bread formula which proved to be a great starting canvas for the gluten-free recipe I’m about to share with you.
July 12th, 2012 by
Recipe: Zucchini-Coconut Muffins
Zucchini. Coconut.
Not a familiar pairing, you say?
Well, maybe not to those of us who grew up knowing only enough about zucchini, a.k.a. “summer squash,” to dislike it.
And those whose only thought of coconut was a Mounds bar.
But for the younger foodies out there, zucchini and coconut go together as naturally as strawberries, bean sprouts, and avocado.
Or chocolate and gingerbread. Lime and mint.
How about pumpkin and Parmesan?
January 16th, 2012 by
Recipe: Baked Doughnuts Three Ways
You know, I used to be afraid of deep-frying.
Vats of boiling oil. I mean, doesn’t that sound like some form of medieval torture? Just the thought of it gives me the heebie-jeebies.
Still, if you want homemade doughnuts…
“Leave the kitchen, kids! Get out from underfoot, there, puppy dog. Cat: off the counter. Mama is making doughnuts!”
Hmph. Makes me want to don my hazmat suit.
May 26th, 2011 by
Recipe: Pineapple-Coconut Gelato
Ah, gelato, newest pop star of the fancy ice cream crowd.
So, what IS gelato, exactly?
Ice cream.
Italian ice cream, to be exact. But it’s a bit more complicated than that…
May 13th, 2011 by
Recipe: Easy Coconut Cream Pie
Pie truly is a beautiful thing.
Pie for breakfast? Absolutely. Lunch or dinner? Oh, yeah, it works.
And pie for dessert? Let me count the ways…
May 6th, 2011 by
Recipe: Pani Popo Samoan Coconut Buns
Confession time. Have you ever stood in your house in the middle of winter, an open plastic container in your hand, taking sniff after sniff of…
June 25th, 2010 by
Recipe: Coconut Ice Cream
Cool and creamy coconut ice cream is the fountain of youth for me. It takes me back to a time when I was thin, tanned, and away from home for the very first time. It was 1985, and I was 17…
May 4th, 2010 by
Recipe: Coconut-Filled Lemon Cake
Remember the famous Tunnel of Fudge Cake?
Clearly, this isn’t it.
And amazingly enough, there are people in this world who don’t live and die by chocolate.
The pages of whose cookbooks don’t automatically fall open to recipes for brownies and devil’s food cake and chocolate chip cookies.
You know who you are, vanilla fans. And lemon lovers.
And coconut connoisseurs.
March 18th, 2010 by
Recipes: Coconut Cake, Fudgy Coconut Cream Cake, Coconut Rum Cake, Coconut Doughnuts, Coconut Marble Cake, Chewy Coconut Chocolate Chunks
What is it about coconut that’s so attractive? Enshrined in popular culture from South Pacific to the Marx Brothers to Monty Python and the Holy Grail, it’s a food that’s provided as much entertainment as sustenance.I’ll admit, until a few years ago, it was a food I could take or leave with equal aplomb. I think the breakthrough happened in a restaurant kitchen where I was working, and someone made coconut shrimp with mango salsa for an appetizer one evening. Holy cow, was that good! Ever since, it’s been Katy bar the door, further cemented when King Arthur started carrying our dried coconut milk powder, and I started playing. I added it to classic buttercream, and used the resulting frosting on top Kahlua-soaked chocolate cake layers for a colleague’s wedding cake.
April 6th, 2009 by
Passover is to the Jews what Lent is to Catholics: a time of ritual, of family, a time of faith.
And a time when you have to stop eating some of your favorite foods.
For Catholics, it’s no meat on Fridays. Not so bad, really. Adults usually enjoy fish, anything from broiled salmon to Tuna Wiggle. Kids can always get by on pizza, or mac and cheese. For the more imaginative, a cheese soufflé, spinach lasagna, or Thai stir-fry are options.
But for the Jews, the eschewed foods are flour and leavening. Which means baking, as we know it, is pretty much out the window. read the rest of this entry »