Cooking with Kids: Pizza, Pizza, Pizza

October 27, 2008 By 2 Comments

Recently I was contacted by a PR agency asking if I would try out new Pillsbury products.  I decided to do it because i had a few ideas on quick and easy appetizers as the holidays get closer. One of the products was their Pillsbury Pizza Crust and I ended up using this with my niece and nephews to make pizza.  I love cooking with the kids.  It is fun and exposes them to cooking.  They love rolling out the dough, brushing on the sauce and sprinkle the toppings. I did this on a Friday night after work so I [...]

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Apple Cinnamon Sugar Pancake

October 23, 2008 By 2 Comments

It felt like a fall Saturday, the winds and heat have gone.  Here in Southern California we have to take the hints of fall that we can! I decided to make an Apple Oven Pancake. With apples of all types available it is the perfect time. The pancake has a popover like texture, crisp on the outside and soft dough on the inside.  The almond extract adds a bit of a nutty taste.

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Chicken Parmesan

October 19, 2008 By Leave a Comment

There has been talk of people turning to comfort food in the midst of our economic crisis here in the US. Last Sunday when my friend, who had a crazy week, wanted to come hang out,  I thought Italian comfort food…Chicken Parmesan. I had seen Mario Batali’s recipe on a recent magazine cover.  The recipe had been calling out to me from my coffee table.  I pulled it out and loosely adapted it. The chicken was moist inside but had a nice crunchy on the outside.  The sauce was very fresh and full of flavor. I served the chicken on [...]

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Brown Sugar Shortbread and Roasted Peaches

October 16, 2008 By 1 Comment

Looking through my files I realized I had not shared one of my favorite new recipes that I made this summer.  In what appears to be a small recent trend the recipe includes both brown sugar and roasted peaches. At this little cafe near my house they had these cookies one day that my boss and my staff went crazy for.  They tasted like a nutty shortbread.  Looking over recipes I had pulled to make at some point I saw this recipe for Brown Sugar Shortbread and Roasted Peaches. It was in an old issue of Martha Stewart Living and [...]

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Bleak House Bars

October 12, 2008 By 3 Comments

I love a good mystery and imagine my excitement to find a series of murder mysteries featuring a caterer.  Authored by Diane Mott Davidson, the series features Goldy Schultz and each novel is full of recipes from the novel. They are dangerous to read while hungry.  On the way to Vegas two weeks ago I discovered one book I had not read, Sweet Revenge.  One of the first recipes mentioned are these amazing chocolate raspberry cheesecake bars. I decided to try it out and they were very good.  The nutty shortbread bar topped with chocolate, cream cheese, raspberry jam and [...]

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Martha Blogs

October 8, 2008 By

Recently Martha Stewart aired a show on blogging and included several food bloggers including Matt of Matt Bites.  She also created a contest asking people to leave their blog name and site and link back to her blog entry.  She will select several blogs to feature on her own blog, The Martha Blog. I  have my early Martha cookbooks from the 80′s and still find that I turn to her site or books for recipes.  Her Thanksgiving PerfectTurkey has become a staple in our family.  It has been passed on to friends of friends and family members.  Just recently I [...]

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Roasted Red Pepper Soup

October 6, 2008 By 3 Comments

This week we were teased by cool fall weather here in Southern California.  Teased in between 90 degree days.  Fall is my favorite time of year. I might have mentioned that I was a picky eater growing up.  Soups were not on my menu.  Boy, did I miss out.  Cooking has opened up the door for foods I never would have tried. This was one of the first soups I made at home.  It is from Mark and Nancy Silverton’s At Home cookbook. The recipe is fairly easy.  You put everything in foil,  seal it all up and roast.  The [...]

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Tropical Fruit Skewers with Pina Colada White Chocolate Sauce

October 5, 2008 By Leave a Comment

To round out the dessert table I served a Tropical Fruit Kebab. Fruit is a great alternative to sweets.  These days so many are gluten free or on a special diet so fruit offers a sweet and juicy addition to the menu. This is a recipe that you could involve your children in helping to make. I heavily adapted the recipe using pineapple, strawberries and cantaloupe.  But mango would have been great! I served these with the sauce in a bowl but for individual servings you could put a bit of the sauce under the kebabs. The sauce can be [...]

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