Spring

Giant Heart-Shaped Chocolate Share Cookie

Giant Heart-Shaped Chocolate Share Cookie

There is so much to love about this chewy, chocolate-y, colossal cookie!  It whizzes up quickly in the food processor with a few ingredients you are likely to have on hand.  Following a quick shaping and baking, you are happily munching a warm cookie –…

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Tahini Cookies

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Tahini Cookies

Crisp autumn air means the start of baking season for me, although I can rationalize a quick baking project on even the warmest summer days.   In our house cookies reign.  I saw this recipe in a recent newsletter feed and it got me thinking…

Thai-Style Meatballs

Thai-Style Meatballs

In the span of a recent week I had been out for dinner several times and, upon slight reflection, I realize I ordered meatballs every time.  Three meals, three orders of meatballs!  The selections were of a Mediterranean bent, Italian, Greek, etc. and all equally…

Vegan Banana-Chocolate Chip Muffins

Vegan Banana-Chocolate Chip Muffins

A VEGAN recipe?  Well yes, but I haven’t done a 180-degree turnabout from my preferred eating habits.  I recently created this egg and dairy-free recipe for a hostess gift to a dear friend who is seriously allergic to both.   I brought them to a…

Farmers Market Spring Lo Mein

Farmers Market Spring Lo Mein

For years, actually decades, my family owned the Chinese restaurant within the large Roseville, California farmers market.  One of our keys to success was everything we prepared used fresh, quality ingredients and all dishes were from scratch.  This included making our own stock from chicken…

Asparagus Soup

Asparagus Soup

We are finally getting our winter storms here – as I write in the first week of March it’s finally raining. Much needed raining!  But previous bouts of warmer weather have brought some spring produce to market earlier than usual, and just in time to…

Lemon Marmalade Cake

Lemon Marmalade Cake

My publisher made a request for an orange loaf cake – he has a fond food memory of a cake his mother baked; redolent with orange in every bite, including on top of the cake.  So off to my collection of classic cookbooks I went,…

Fresh Herbs and Garlic Cream Cheese Spread

Fresh Herbs and Garlic Cream Cheese Spread

Is it just me, or did September fly by?  I must have been ecstatic last month, (“Time flies when you’re having fun…”).  So it’s with a bit of a rush that I prepare this month’s Piedmont Pantry column for The Piedmont Post, because I blinked…

Spicy Chicken Kebabs

Spicy Chicken Kebabs

     It’s time to get the grill going!  We’ve got birthdays and Father’s Day cookouts planned at our house – and I’m hoping for a few fog-less evenings so we can enjoy a dinner al fresco.  (Warm nights are not guaranteed here in the…

French Yogurt Cake with Lemon and Rosemary

French Yogurt Cake with Lemon and Rosemary

     A walk around my neighborhood tells a tale of bumper crop lemons.  I am only seeing front yards, and they are laden with lemons!  This quick loaf cake recipe uses only the lemon rind, leaving you with options for using the juice.  I…