Fall

Greek-Inspired Chicken and Rice Soup

Greek-Inspired Chicken and Rice Soup

Brrrr – This winter is especially chilly, often with a daily temperature range from the high-30’s to high 40’s on several days running.  Snow atop the Bay Area’s highest peaks also attest to this fact. This soup can come together using ingredients you may already…

Pear Cranberry Cake

Pear Cranberry Cake

One of our favorite fall and winter fruit combinations is pears and cranberries. This cake speaks of the seasons and is welcomed on a dessert table for brunch, coffee or teatime, and dinner. I enjoy its simplicity but use your imagination on how to serve…

Spanish-Style Garlic Bread Soup

Spanish-Style Garlic Bread Soup

A recent series of dental procedures required I expand my repertoire of soft food dishes.  No chewing, so either puréed or very, very soft to eat.  I made my way through Chinese jook (rice congee), lentil soup, and this bread soup through the several weeks…

Anytime Zucchini Crumb Cake

Anytime Zucchini Crumb Cake

And by “anytime” I mean morning, noon or night.  This cake is equally enjoyed as a breakfast sweet, mid-afternoon coffee or tea pick-me-up, or dinner’s dessert! Technically zucchini is a fruit since it grows from the flower of a plant and contains the seeds for…

Oven-Roasted Ratatouille

Oven-Roasted Ratatouille

  Now is the perfect time when ratatouille ingredients are abundant at our markets.  Every year, late summer into early fall, versions of zucchini, eggplant, and tomato dishes appear on our table for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We enjoy ratatouille as a versatile accompaniment to…

Weeknight Chicken Curry Stir-Fry

Weeknight Chicken Curry Stir-Fry

This quick-ish stir-fry is inspired by a recent dinner with friends.  I prepared a veggie-only side dish of stir-fried zucchini and cherry tomatoes.  It made an easy switch to a weeknight dinner, with added chicken, for an all-in-one skillet meal. The “weeknight” in the recipe…

Ham and Sweet Potato Strata

Ham and Sweet Potato Strata

Spring brunch time is nigh, and this “strata” features the classic pairing of ham and sweet potatoes.  Technically the method here doesn’t layer the ingredients, thus a strata, but over the years I’ve found the layering process doesn’t make a big difference in the end…

Chocolate Cherry Scones

Chocolate Cherry Scones

I’ve been on a bit of a scone binge recently, ever since I made a batch of my cream scones with homemade lemon curd from my backyard harvest of three trees.  Scones in winter are an easy, one-bowl creation with basic ingredients many of us…

Rustic Portuguese-Style Kale and Potato Soup with Sausage

Rustic Portuguese-Style Kale and Potato Soup with Sausage

This recipe can be the start of many improvisations on its theme.  I always appreciate an easy, mix-and-match, recipe that’s built for flexibility depending upon what might be on hand. By now we have grown accustomed to making swaps to recipes, old and new, based…

Pear Cranberry Upside Down Cake

Pear Cranberry Upside Down Cake

2020’s Holiday Season will be different for most of us. Scaled back. Way back in our family. I usually bake in volumes (well more than usual volumes) whilst we enjoy gatherings and gifting with friends and family. Sometimes my holiday baking projects are fancy but…