What’s not to like about a curry?  Tantalizing aromas that tease your senses and fill the kitchen with a sense that one has escaped to an exotic land!  Cannellini beans (also known as white kidney beans) are large white beans with a nut-like flavor.  They are a favorite in our house and I use them…

Another delicious recipe from Cooking With Booze!  Thai meals typically consist of either a single dish or it will be rice with many complementary dishes served concurrently and shared by all.  When it comes to taste, nothing surpasses the famous four Thai flavorings: spicy, salty, sweet, and sour.  With their Buddhist background, Thais shunned the…

A baked potato or jacket potato has a crispy, crunchy skin with a fluffy interior.  It is stuffed with fillings such as butter, cheese, ham, bacon bits or chicken.  Nutritionally, a large percentage of the vitamins, minerals, and trace elements in a potato are found within or immediately below the skin.  A baked potato (dressed…

According to The Oxford Companion to Food, salad is a term derived from the Latin sal (salt) which yielded the form salata, ‘salted things’ such as raw vegetables eaten in classical times with a dressing of oil, vinegar, or salt.  Salads were enjoyed by the ancient Romans and Greeks. Dinner salads were popular with Renaissance…

There’s something sinfully delicious about fast food when it’s made at home.  Perhaps it is the love and attention one puts into making the dish or maybe it’s just to satisfy a craving.  For me, it was the combination of both!  Fried foods aren’t the sort of cooking style I adhere to on a regular…

Souvlaki is Greek fast food consisting of small cubes of pork (usually marinated in olive oil, oregano, thyme and a little vinegar or lemon juice) threaded on a wooden skewer. Not a fan of pork?  You can also use chicken, beef, lamb or swordfish.  Souvlaki is usually wrapped around grilled pita bread and accompanied by…

With the Super Bowl 44 coming up on Sunday, these ribs seem like a natural choice for good hearty fare to help kick-off the game.  Football fans love to eat with their hands so keep the menu of finger food easy.  Things such as pizza, guacamole, baba ganoush, hot and spicy wings, nachos, hefty sandwiches,…

Wow!  The soft lemony flavors coming from this dessert is a gastronomic delight!  To be honest, I had never heard of a Meyer lemon until I saw them in Pete’s Frootique.  The Meyer lemon is smaller than the common yellow lemon and is much sweeter in taste and less acidic.  This citrus fruit is native…

Salads are always at the top of the food list in our family much to my daughter’s chagrin.  That said, she does enjoy this type of salad.  Couscous is a versatile pasta made of tiny grains of dough that are steamed. Couscous originated in Morocco and northern Algeria, and is a staple throughout North Africa.…

I have been a huge fan of Dr. Andrew Weil for quite some time not only for his alternative ways for a healthy lifestyle, but I also enjoy trying his recipes.  Polenta is made with ground yellow or white cornmeal (ground maize) originally made with Chestnut meal in ancient times. It can be ground coarsely…

The first Key lime pie was created in the 1850’s in the Florida Keys (the Key’s signature dessert) and the graham cracker crumb base dates back at least to 1949. Key limes are also known as Mexican lime and West Indies lime which were cultivated for thousands of years in the Indo-Malayan region.  There are…

This is a super easy hors d’oeuvre to make and the key here is to purchase quality smoked salmon where the smoke doesn’t overpower the fish.  Willy Krauch’s smoked salmon does just that.  The smoke is natural and subtle and doesn’t overwhelm the lovely flavor of the salmon.  Studies have shown that smoked salmon can…