Lisa on November 30th, 2011

One of the few nice things about winter is that citrus is in season: grapefruit, tangerines, mandarin oranges, even kumquats. Any and all of those can perk up even the darkest, dreariest day. Usually, I like to just eat them out of hand — especially cute little kumquats with their very sweetly edible skins! — [...]

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Lisa on November 11th, 2011

Although sweet pies typically feature fruit enclosed by crust on both the top and bottom, savory pies are made with veggies and/or meat and often sport only a top deck. Shepherd’s Pie, for example, is made with beef and veggies on the bottom and a “crust” of mashed potato on top. An English version of [...]

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Lisa on November 9th, 2011

Now that summer has given way to leaf-strewn fall, the idea of going outside to grill something for dinner has gotten a lot less appealing. So much for mesquite-laced, smoky veggies and meats. (And fruits, too. Ever tried grilled pineapple? Sublime!) Seems like that signature mesquite flavor is only available during the summer months. …Or [...]

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Lisa on November 2nd, 2011

Imagine chocolate crinkle cookies. Now think about Russian teacakes — you know, those cute little balls covered with powdered sugar that are the mainstay of holiday cookie swaps. Then let your mind flit over to oatmeal-raisin cookies. What do you get when you put them all together? Chocolate, Cherry & Oat Balls. Or, if you [...]

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Lisa on October 14th, 2011

Got some green tomatoes still clinging to the vine? Or maybe you’re like me and you’ve got a bag of them sitting in your kitchen. Now that we’re firmly in fall, we can only pluck the last of what’s in our gardens and hope that whatever still needs to ripen ripens indoors. In my case, [...]

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Lisa on October 7th, 2011

Chocolate chips are great, but a few words of advice for my fellow chocolate purists out there: cocoa nibs are even better. The nibs are straight-up, unsweetened cocoa beans that have been chopped into rough…well…nibs. You know how steel-cut oats are whole oats chopped a few times across with steel blades? They wind up being [...]

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Lisa on September 26th, 2011

Dried fruit + nuts + seeds = an incredibly handy snack. Even dinner if need be. (Like when you land in an European city late at night on a Sunday and realize that NOTHING is open.) In this case, the trail mix is breakfast. If you don’t have any “official” trail mix on hand — [...]

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Lisa on September 19th, 2011

Today’s post is more of an ideas post than an actual recipe, but it’s an idea that you can take in uncountable directions, be that sweet or savory or as a main dish or a dessert. Another neat thing about this culinary concept is that you get to play the part of a pastry chef [...]

Continue reading about Crepes: So Much Easier Than You Think

Lisa on September 7th, 2011

It’s officially fall: the pears are falling off of the trees. (Especially when you have gusting winds like we’ve been having lately.) One of my friends has so many pears lying on the ground underneath her tree that she keeps giving me more and more — she can’t bear to see any wasted. Wish I [...]

Continue reading about Pre-Pearing for Fall (and bad puns…)

Lisa on September 2nd, 2011

Sweet and savory have always been the ying and yang of the food world. Any self-respecting cheese plate, for example, is going to offer a few sweet tidbits of fruit alongside the salty cheeses. Nuts often go hand-in-hand with fruit, too — even though nuts aren’t as salty as your typical cheese, the rich, full [...]

Continue reading about Transforming a Cheese Plate into a Scone