Brownie Points

Whoops: mistakes in the kitchen

Nothing like a round of bad luck with pie dough to set your kitchen ego straight. This was suppose to be a beautifully golden baked pie crust to build my chocolate raspberry coconut cream pie...

Success! Homemade potstickers

“Oh, I didn’t know you could buy these!” exclaimed our grocery store bagger as she stuffed the last of our haul away. Ah, caught in the act of walking the semi-homemade line....

Playing with homemade pizza dough

I lightened up the rules of culinary rigidity today and went a bit crazy making pizza dough. The sort of pizza dough that would make an Italian look at me in despair. This current batch has a hefty...

Homemade tomato jam: restoring my faith in sandwiches, one bite at a time

This formerly tomato-hating jam eater is finding herself in an odd situation. I’m finding myself on the obsessive end of a relationship with my tomato jam. I blame it on a number of things,...

White Castle virgin no more

Last week was a whirlwind visit to Michiana for a friend’s wedding, and a perfect opportunity for some de-virginizing: White Castle, that is.White Castle slider in box - Chicago,...

Handling raw and cooked meat around a grill

My planning for my big camping trip meal is underway. The shopping list has been created for our Saturday night meal of fajitas for 85 people (less than a 100 people this year!). Now I’m...

Kefir and Buttermilk

I just got a good question in my comments: What is the difference between buttermilk and kefir? I have heard that both are good for you (talking health here) and just wondering what the differences...

Keifer and Buttermilk

I just got a good question in my comments: What is the difference between buttermilk and keifer? I have heard that both are good for you (talking health here) and just wondering what the differences...

Grocery store inventory quirks

This weekend I was making a quick ingredient run to get pastry making ingredients together for a crazy afternoon of cake making. My smudged list included the standards- cream, chocolate, eggs, sugar...

Oregon summer salad: warmed cherries with Oregonzola and hazelnuts

Sometimes salads just compose themselves. No need to struggle over what flavors go together or which textures accentuate your lettuces the best- seasonality often takes care of those questions for...