I know, I know. WORST. BLOGGER. EVER. But you have to understand, since my last post, I've been slowly going a bit insane. I finished renovating my house. I sold my house. I went to Cuba. I bought another house. I got a new job. and I'm having a GIRL! So yeah, it's been a little busy!  read more »

Today's fruit pizza recipe: A thin cookie 'pizza' crust topped with sweetened and reddened rhubarb. Surprisingly good! "Is it healthy?" asked the first taste tester, age eight, upon learning that the rhubarb atop her slice of rhubarb pizza -- yes, you've read that right, rhubarb and pizza in the same sentence -- is botanically a vegetable. Uh. No. Rhubarb pizza is hardly a 'health food' but it sure is 'fun food'! But hey, if laughter contributes to good health, that qualifies rhubarb pizza as health food, yes? Okay, not. Still, this rhubarb pizza was truly much fun and it ranks right up there with the recipes for Kool-Aid Pickles and Green Smoothies as outright food oddities . The recipe comes from my dear Auntie Karen, who always writes when she collects a big pile of rhubarb from a good neighbor. So when I made the rhubarb pizza, using a recipe she shared a couple or more years back, I wrote her too, saying, "I finally made your rhubarb pizza! It's excellent!" Imagine, a few hours later, my surprise while flipping through a box of old 3x5 recipe cards: the exact same recipe , clipped from a magazine many years ago. Ha! The universes collide. Rhubarb pizza tastes much better than it sounds. It's essentially a thin cookie topped with rhubarb, with the color and sweetness bumped up by a box of strawberry jello. It's very sweet, but the sweet-sour mix of sugar-rhubarb was oddly addictive. I was muchly glad it didn't last long since all the taste testers loved it, kids and grown-ups alike. 4TH of JULY RECIPES So if the blueberries had been worth buying on the 4th, I would have added blueberries for a red-white-blue dessert. But I couldn't figure out what to use for the white. Any ideas?  read more »

Again, I should REALLY be in bed. My preggo butt will be T-I-R-E-D tomorrow.

Especially considering I'm in a new job and should really be trying my utmost to impress all and sundry.

But I can't sleep without sharing this cake.

So here it is....from the Best of the Best of Bridge, this is what I craved. I was all set to make a much healthier dessert (a very good one!) from Self magazine. It's a lovely apple caramel strudel in phyllo, done with a creamy caramel sauce. As long as you eschew the cooking spray for butter, it's a GREAT dessert.

But then I saw this one. And it was like the helpless moth, fluttering blindly, yet oh so lovingly, toward the flame.  read more »

Today's vegetarian recipe: A Greek recipe for Kourkouto with Zucchini (???????to e ??????????a), not quite quiche, not quite bread pudding, not quite frittata, served hot or at room temperature so good for brunch or light supper. Kalofagas means 'gourmet' in Greek and it's the perfect name for the Canadian food blog which celebrates -- make that CELEBRATES! -- traditional Greek food. Kalofagas is a not-to-miss food blog. Peter Minakis lives and breathes Greek cuisine / home cooking in the way some (who?!) live and breathe vegetables. When he described this recipe for a zucchini pie as a "cheater's pita" and "somewhere between a quiche and a frittata, utilizing Greek ingredients" I couldn't wait to make it. (True confession: while this same affect occurs many times a day, perhaps one of a hundred recipes actually get made.) My own take is that it's as much a bread pudding, especially when baked in a pie plate versus a larger sheet pan. It's also similar to a humble but delicious Bisquick pie such as the Ham & Cheese Bread from my long-time friend Lisa (and now Portland food blogger) which I've made at least once before. Whatever it's like, I love how this zucchini pie uses pantry ingredients and can be served either hot (when it's more quiche-like) or cold (when it's more like bread pudding) and thick (more quiche-like) or thin (more frittata-like). Thank you, Peter, for the inspiration!  read more »

I have had a fascination for anything sweet, and especially cakes right from when I was a kid! And I had this extra-special affection for swiss rolls, those colorful, spiral cakes that tasted like heaven, and even with the minimal frosting and decoration, they always attracted the attention of dessert-lovers, including me!!  read more »

Looking for something to make with the abundance of limes that flood the markets in the winter months? Look no further - here is a recipe for lime cookies, courtesy of Carole Walter, that actually taste like lime! Imagine that!  read more »

Welcome to my weekly edition of Tuesdays With Dorie where I get to tempt you, my readers, once more with a delicious recipe and photos from my most bestest baking book of all time . . . Baking, From my home to yours by my most bestest baking book author of all time . . . Dorie Greenspan! Yes, this is the one day a week I join in with some couple hundred plus (my . . . how we have grown!!) "Like Minded" bakers from across the world and bake yet another tempting delight from within it's pages. I was so excited when I read that this weeks recipe challenge was going to be the Fluted Polenta and Ricotta Cake as chosen by Caitlin of Engineer Baker !!! I have always wanted to make a polenta cake, but have always been a bit afraid of it. Perhaps because I was thinking that it may be too much like cornbread and I'd have to break out the baked beans and ham . . . instead of the ice cream . . . I could not have been any more wrong in my thinking than that! This beautiful cake in no way resembled cornbread and I have to say it turned out to be the moistest, most lucious cake anyone could ever want to eat . . . . and . . . . oh so very yummy!  read more »

I have had a fascination for anything sweet, and especially cakes right from when I was a kid! And I had this extra-special affection for swiss rolls, those colorful, spiral cakes that tasted like heaven, and even with the minimal frosting and decoration, they always attracted the attention of dessert-lovers, including me!!  read more »

"Spring is nature's way of saying, 'Let's party!' " Gimme a layered cake to make & I'm in 7 th heaven! As you can obviously guess from my blog posts, I love baking cakes. I have Morven @ Food Art & Random Thoughts to thank for posting such a wonderful challenge.. Dorie Greenspan's 'Perfect Party Cake' . After my first 2 challenges I was pretty much on shaky grounds (what with LMPs & French loaves), I must admit I procrastinated even going to check on March's challenge! Crumbs...by the time I checked, had already begun work on our anniversary cake ( Chocolate Orange Cloud G ateau ; nice one) so felt like kicking myself! The next opportunity was grabbed with both hands & I marched into a cake baking frenzy! As M orven , the large-hearted lady said...put your stamp on it. In her words..." I wanted to pick something that had potential for putting your personal stamp on. Although this is essentially a white cake I know there are some lemon haters among us so feel free to use your imagination. If you inner chef tells you that you need to make a chocolate layer cake then by all means do so." I did just that. My stamp had to be COFFEE!! So, I flavoured the basic sponge with coffee essence & a medium roast instant coffee blend. The icing was of whipped cream, again mildly flavoured with coffee. Drooooooooooooooolicious !! The edges I finished off with a dripping of thick chocolate ganache ; the 2 flavours really compliment each. A few coffee beans completed my stamp!! The theme was worming its way into my mind. Here's what I did. I made an Easter basket of sorts with melted chocolate & filled it up with Easter eggs & crystallised flowers from our garden! This is something that gave me a lot of satisfaction & creative pleasure. I also added a few flowers & butterflies that I piped onto parchment & peeled off when they had set. Thank you Morven for giving me such endless joy...this is actually my passion in life, to be able to fill up a 'cake canvas' & extempore!!  read more »