I’ve been on a yogurt kick lately, and there’s a darned good reason for that: I finally found sheep’s-milk yogurt! Old Chatham Sheepherding Company sells their sheep’s-milk yogurt in various grocery stores to the lucky folks on the East Coast and through their website to sheep-curious shoppers who aren’t within shouting distance of New York. [...]

Continue reading about Being Sheepish Can Be a Good Thing When You’re Talking Yogurt

Lisa on April 22nd, 2011

Just as there are open-faced sandwiches, there are open-faced pies, or “free-form pies,” as they’re often called.  Free-form pies are fun to make since the whole idea is to wind up with an irregular, imperfect result.  And whether you’re making a whole-wheat pie or a gluten-free pie, it’s liberating to not have to worry about [...]

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Lisa on April 15th, 2011

Until I took my first bite of this fruit-filled crepe, I had forgotten about blintzes, but then fond memories of the frozen blintzes from Trader Joe’s came rushing back.  If you haven’t had a blintz, though, don’t worry — you’ll still be amazed by how creamy, rich, and sweet these crepes are.  Happily, they’re a [...]

Continue reading about The Blintz Reborn

Lisa on February 21st, 2011

It’s always fun to discover new ways of using an established ingredient, like toasting almonds before using them (they’ll have a much deeper, nuttier flavor) or running sucanat through a coffee grinder to get a more natural form of powdered sugar (which you can use in chiffon cakes and meringues and icings exactly the same [...]

Continue reading about Toasting & Baking in a Tropical Kind of Way

Lisa on January 21st, 2011

I’m always on the prowl for new unrefined sweeteners — not only are they a healthier alternative to heavily processed white sugar, unrefined sweeteners like maple syrup and honey have flavor instead of just being super-sweet.  It’s fun to play with flavor pairings to see which sweetener you like with what.  (I think honey is [...]

Continue reading about Sweet Palms, Healthy Breakfasts

Lisa on December 27th, 2010

Got extra trail mix? Want to make cookies? Then you’ve got a done deal. It occurred to me that trail mix is the perfect cookie ingredient: you get a whole handful of dried fruit and nuts and seeds at once (and it’s more cost-effective to buy a single bag of trail mix than several bags [...]

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Lisa on December 13th, 2010

Not that you ever need an excuse to enjoy some good-quality chocolate, but now that the holidays are here, what better time to make your own truffles?  And this version is much, much quicker to make than the traditional version, because instead of slowly heating cream and chocolate and then using molds to get a [...]

Continue reading about A Trio of Truffles

Lisa on December 2nd, 2010

I admit it: I’m on a chocolate-cake-made-in-a-food-processor kick.  It’s just so easy to toss everything into a processor, blend it, pour it into a pan, and bake it!  And nuts and dates just seem to lend themselves to being blended, poured, and baked.  I have a feeling the chestnut cake I made recently is just [...]

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Lisa on October 20th, 2010

Some things in life are just worth being picky about, no matter how much they cost (okay, within reason) or how far you have to go to seek them out (which, in the Internet Age, usually isn’t too far).   I’d say cheese, beer, and chocolate fall into that “picky is good” category.  You can [...]

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Lisa on October 18th, 2010

There’s a hot culinary secret just waiting to be discovered in the dairy aisle, one that can create luscious dips, spreads, and sauces, especially when it comes to desserts: full-fat Greek yogurt.  Yep.  If you want amazing flavor and texture, skip the low-fat variety.  (You can always make your own low-fat yogurt by pouring in [...]

Continue reading about Creamy Fruit Dips & Desserts