Lisa on May 1st, 2012

I recently prepared these millet cakes for a cooking class, and reactions ranged from “This would make a good breakfast!” to “It kind of reminds me of rice pudding…except crispy.” My thoughts exactly! I also think these cakes would make a great dessert if you topped them with ice cream and/or fresh fruit and an [...]

Continue reading about Patty Cakes, Patty Cakes…Millet-Style!

Ricotta cheese is like a reversible coat: it has two distinct sides and both are equally appealing. Ricotta salata (or “salted ricotta”) is a hard, aged cheese that is lovely for grating and garnishing; it reminds me a lot of Parmesan. Fresh ricotta, on the other hand, is creamy and sweet and tastes like summer. [...]

Continue reading about The Secret to Moist Muffins (or Taking Advantage of Fresh-Milk Cheeses)

Plenty of “convenience” foods are far more convenient to make yourself — while the commercial versions tend to have unpronounceable ingredient lists and a mind-boggling amount of sugars/sweeteners, you can whip up a homemade version with a few simple healthy ingredients…and in less than a minute. Sixty seconds spent preparing AND at least 30 minutes [...]

Continue reading about DIY Yogurt (or How to Make “Convenience” Foods Truly Convenient)

Lisa on January 13th, 2012

Lemons are lovely, especially when you pair them with oats and almonds and eggs and call them breakfast. Baked goods (or leftover pancakes) are my favorite things to have for weekday breakfasts since they require zero work first thing in the morning. Fifteen minutes of effort once or twice a week can provide you with [...]

Continue reading about Making Lemons into Squares

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 July 4th, 2011

My basilophilic nature (yep, just made up that word) has spurred me to figure out yet another way to use my favorite summer herb: in ice cream. Freezing basil is pretty much only way you can chop, slice, or otherwise cut basil and still have it be green rather than chop, slice, or otherwise cut [...]

Continue reading about Basil’s Sweet (and Frozen) Side

Lisa on March 28th, 2011

As promised in yesterday’s post, I’m back with more ways to use goat’s-milk yogurt!  This time, I paired goat with oat in the form of muffins.  And since I used honey instead of sugar, these muffins are very moist and slightly crunchy on top — honey caramelizes more readily than sugar does, so baked goods [...]

Continue reading about Going for Goat

Lisa on March 16th, 2011

I have a new favorite ingredient!  (Although I’ll admit that as a recipe developer, I tend to have a new favorite ingredient every two weeks or so…)  I’ve been using my Ingredient of the Month in everything from desserts to dinners to baked goods.  What’s my latest culinary love?  Goat’s-milk yogurt.  It has that distinctive [...]

Continue reading about Trading the Moo! for a Baa! in Your Ice Cream

Lisa on October 13th, 2010

Is there anyone who didn’t love Rice Krispy Treats as a kid?  Even the thought seems un-American.  Rice Krispies and S’mores: the two best desserts you could make yourself, both entailing minimum fuss and maximum delight.  Nowadays, even though I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, I still savor the memories of crunchy RKTs. [...]

Continue reading about Reclaiming a Childhood Favorite

Lisa on January 4th, 2010

When I was a kid, I thought cranberries were sweet — after all, cranberry juice sure was!  But then I finally tasted an honest-to-goodness whole cranberry and realized that good ol’ Ocean Spray had added a fair amount of sweeteners to make the juice palatable for the American tongue.  Now that I’ve veered off the [...]

Continue reading about Tart & Sweet