Fluffy pumpkin pancakes topped with sweet, caramelized apples is the perfect holiday breakfast - whether you are celebrating Thanksgiving weekend, Hanukkah or just having guests for brunch! Thanks to WhatsGood for sponsoring this recipe post featuring seasonal ingredients from local farmers delivered right to my doorstep. Get $25 off your first ...
Perfect Dairy-Free Mashed Potatoes
With Thanksgiving right around the corner, you need this recipe for dairy-free - and even vegan! - mashed potatoes flavored with rosemary, garlic and olive oil. You won't miss the dairy! Dairy has been a tricky issue in my household since forever. My daughter, now 18, was allergic to dairy for years. Today, she is no longer allergic - it is ...
Rosh Hashanah Cheese Board
A festive and crowd-pleasing appetizer for Rosh Hashanah or your Yom Kippur breakfast: an apples and honey themed cheese board! And in keeping with the Jewish tradition of not mixing meat and dairy, this cheese board is completely vegetarian. Thanks to Cabot Creamery Co-operative for sponsoring this High Holiday recipe. Rosh Hashanah begins ...
How to Make Cannoli Dip
A super-easy no-bake dessert with all the flavor of your favorite Italian pastry, cannoli, and none of the hassle! There are some restauarant dishes that, as much as I love them, I never even consider making at home. Those dishes often involve deep-frying because I just can't deal with the thought of a bubbling pot of hot oil. The mess! The ...
Strawberry Muffins with Streusel Topping
Celebrate strawberry season with these buttery, moist strawberry muffins with an irresistible vanilla crumb topping. June is strawberry season and I am buying berries by the quart! Last Saturday, at the Oak Park Farmers' Market, I bought 4 (!) quarts of berries for jam, baking, and just eating out of hand. No one in my family can resist ...
Matzo Nachos aka Machos
Have fun with your matzo this Passover: make matzo nachos! Thanks to Cabot Creamery Cooperative for sponsoring this Passover recipe. Like many of you, my family is facing another pandemic Passover. Who could have imagined at this time last year that, a full year later, we would still be wearing masks and social distancing to stay safe from ...
Beef and Stout Pie with Cheddar
A traditional recipe for St. Patrick's Day, Irish Beef and Stout Pie becomes especially rich and savory when you add my secret ingredient: extra sharp cheddar cheese. Thanks to Cabot Creamery Cooperative for sponsoring this recipe. I love pies and I love hearty stews, so it is no surprise that I really love a pie filled with a hearty meat ...
King Cake Babka
Imagine a cinnamon babka topped with sweet icing and decorated with sprinkles in classic Mardi Gras colors of green, gold and purple. It's a King Cake Babka! Are you a fan of King Cake? My daughter has a friend whose mother is from New Orleans and every February when the girls were in elementary school, this mother would bring in an ...
Feta and Herb Egg Rolls
A classic Mediterranean mezze, feta and herb cigars, with a twist. Instead of wrapping my cigars in finicky filo pastry, I opt for easy-to-use egg roll wrappers. A perfect finger food for Game Day or any day! The eastern Mediterranean may be home to the best finger foods in the world. Within this region's tradition of mezze - which is the ...
How to Make Focaccia Bread Art
Your focaccia bread dough is a blank canvas! Turn it into art with herb and vegetable decorations for a fun, family-friendly baking project. There have been so many pandemic food trends over this past year. Remember Dalgona coffee? Pancake cereal? (I opted for cookie cereal instead.) Sourdough? And the latest thing seems to be the TikTok ...
Sheet Pan Chicken and Cauliflower Shawarma
Bring restaurant-style chicken shawarma home with this easy Middle Eastern-inspired sheet pan dinner of marinated, roasted chicken thighs and cauliflower. Trying to find dinners that everyone in my family will eat seems to only be getting harder. The lastest blow? My daughter announced that, for the time being, she's avoiding dairy. There ...
Air Fryer Macaroni and Cheese Bites
Shake up your Hanukkah traditions with these macaroni and cheese latkes, guaranteed to make your family smile! Thanks to Cabot Creamery Co-operative for sponsoring this Hanukkah recipe. Hanukkah is almost here, and like every other holiday in 2020 (except for maybe Groundhog Day), it will look different this year. No Hanukkah parties; no ...
Perfect All-Butter Pie Dough
With Thanksgiving just a few days away, here is a refresher on how to make flaky, flavorful pie dough using butter and only butter. I expect there are some people out there who are making pie for the very first time this Thanksgiving. And that prospect may be intimidating. You can, of course, make something else for dessert. Or buy a premade ...
Thanksgiving Re-Imagined (with Recipes)
As we rethink how to have a big holiday dinner during a pandemic, here are some of my best recipes and dishes for Thanksgiving 2020 - whatever size your gathering may be. What are your Thanksgiving plans this year? Chances are, they are different than last year. To be blunt, many of us are abandoning our usual traditions - especially the ...
Horseradish Cheddar Leek Patties
A gooey, cheesy version of traditional Sephardic leek patties with the bite of horseradish. Thanks to Cabot Creamery Co-operative for sponsoring this Rosh Hashanah recipe. A few years ago, I published a recipe for keftes de prasa or leek fritters. These latke-like vegetable pancakes are beloved throughout the Sephardic world - in places like ...
Chicago-Style Hot Dog with New Mexico Green Chile (Air Fryer recipe)
Thanks to the New Mexico Department of Agriculture for sponsoring this recipe post through Kitchen PLAY. Try New Mexico green chile in a dish from your region, like this Chicago-style hot dog with roasted New Mexico green chile - cooked in the air fryer to keep the kitchen cool! There is no question that New Mexico has one of the great ...
Blended Turkey Burgers
Get the healthy secret to juicy, flavorful turkey burgers. Perfect for grilling and just in time for Father's Day! Do you remember that episode of "Parks and Rec" when Chris Traeger went to great lengths to craft the perfect turkey burger and everyone still preferred Ron Swanson's plain, Food N' Stuff hamburger? Yeah, that's a real thing. ...
Cranberry Pecan Baked Oatmeal Cups
Baked oatmeal cups are a healthy, make-ahead breakfast that your family can grab and eat on the go - even if they are just going to another room. My version is studded with Cape Cod Select Premium Frozen cranberries and buttery pecans for extra nutrition and tons of flavor. Back when my kids left the house to go to school - remember those ...
Homemade Cookie Cereal
Think of this homemade version of cookie cereal as dessert and not breakfast, because this is NOT good for you - unless you count the milk. But it sure is delicious and fun to eat! I woke up the other day dreaming about Cookie Crisp - you know, that sugar cereal from childhood that your mom would never buy for you in a million years because ...
Cranberry Curd Bars with Pecan Shortbread Crust
Luscious cranberry curd sits atop a rich, buttery pecan shortbread for a marriage made in heaven. Best of all, this recipe uses Cape Cod Select Premium Frozen cranberries, so you can make it any time. No need to worry about buying perishable fruit! I have written before about my abiding love for cranberries - the original American berry that ...
The Pantry Project: Cooking with Kids
Thanks to Hormel Foods for inviting me to be a part of The Pantry Project: a special website with resources and ideas for stocking and cooking from our pantries while sheltering in place. While families shelter in place and try to minimize excursions to shop for food and other essentials, parents find themselves having to cook for their kids ...
Easy Whole Wheat Pita Bread
If you want to start baking bread, these easy, forgiving whole wheat pita breads are a great place to start. They are the perfect accompaniment for all your Middle Eastern and Israeli-inspired meals. Baking bread has become a national pastime of sorts during this unsettling moment of shelter-in-place and social isolation. (Provided, of ...
No-Bake Lemon Posset
This tart, creamy lemon posset requires only three ingredients and no baking! Perfect for Passover or that bleak moment when you run out of eggs. Well, we are almost a month into our self-isolation here in Illinois and now it is Passover to boot. So much for all the stress baking I have been doing! Not only can I not bake because it is ...
How to Start Baking Sourdough Bread
Jumping on the sourdough bandwagon? Let me help. With so much extra time on our hands these days and a shortage of yeast at the grocery store, many people are trying to bake sourdough, or naturally leavened, bread for the first time. Working with a sourdough starter and using it to create crusty, artisanal loaves is a worthy and soothing ...
Spinach, Leek and Cheddar Mina for Passover
A vegetarian and dairy dish perfect for a family Passover meal: a mazto pie or mina made with spinach, leeks and lots of Cabot cheese. Thanks to Cabot Creamery Co-operative for sponsoring this Passover recipe. The Jewish festival of Passover begins at sundown on April 8. This eight-day festival - which commemorates the Jews’ exodus from Egypt in ...