Posts in What's New
Milk Chocolate Pretzel Tart

I have a bunch of old Gourmet magazines that I am saving. Saving for what I am not sure, but still saving none the less. I was flipping through one recently and came across a recipe for a milk chocolate tart with a pretzel crust that I must have ear marked 8 years ago but never made. I thought there is no time like the present and made the recipe. It was a total fail and way too complicated. Since I love the idea of a chocolate pretzel tart, I decided to write my own recipe and I love it. It is basically like a candy bar in tart form. The combination of salty and sweet is perfect for sweet tooth and dessert nay sayers alike. Also it is perfect for Valentine's Day because Valentine's day is the perfect excuse to eat nothing but chocolate...all...day...long. 

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Curried Ginger Carrot Soup with Crispy Chickpeas

I have posted this recipe for carrot soup before but  because I love it so much I wanted to adapt it slightly by adding some roasted chickpeas. I don't know about you, but sometimes when I eat soup I am pretty much still hungry almost immediately after finishing it. It is sometime not hearty enough and doesn't seem to fill me up. Since it is so good for you, I decided to top it with some roasted chickpeas adding some heartiness all the while still keeping it healthy. 

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Romesco Sauce

A friend of mine recently asked me to bring over an appetizer to a dinner party she was throwing. After giving it some thought I decided to try and go healthy. Often times appetizers are heavy and not necessarily healthy - or at least the ones I am used to serve. I love a cheese board but who doesn't totally pig out on a cheese board to the point where they are no longer hungry? (Am I the only one?) I decided to go with a crudite platter  (because crudite is the next cheese board? Maybe I have been living in LA too long)  along with the most delicious dip out there, romesco. 

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Blood Orange Gin and Tonic

After a particularly crazy holiday season filled with lots of food and LOTS of booze, I decided to try to out dry January (basically no drinking all of January).  For the most part it was really easy (thanks to the flu) but it becomes crazy apparent, for me at least, how often I drink. Wine is my total drink of choice but when you don't have it, especially when you are out to dinner, it becomes obvious how often you are drinking! So I am not giving up booze completely but I am glad I did this "mostly" dry January because hopefully it will make me more cognizant of how many glasses of wine I am sipping. 

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Zucchini Lasagna

I am not one for gimmicky food - you know trendy food that is trying to be different just for the sake of being different. Like for example carrot hotdogs, if I want a hot dog, I will eat a hot dog. Maybe that is a bad example because vegetarians want hot dogs sometimes ( I would imagine) but you know what I mean. Or here is a better example - a ramen burger. A ramen burger is a hamburger that uses ramen noodles instead of a bun. Consider me old and uncool but that is not my jam at all. Give me an amazing hamburger or an amazing bowl of ramen - just don't give me a hybrid to both of them.

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Homemade Soft Pretzels

I get asked all the time how I resist all the food that I make; the truth is I taste everything but try my hardest not to eat it all. I also never recipe test on an empty stomach because that is just asking for trouble. I can usually resist most sweet baked goods, plus I actually send them immediately to my husband's office to give it to the neighbors - it if it is in front of me, I will eat it.

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Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches

I was cleaning out my fridge recently, something that I need to do more of,  and discovered a bottle of buffalo wing sauce. I bought this bottle for a recipe development project a couple weeks ago and since I was in search of a relatively healthy dinner, I decided to make some buffalo chicken in my Instant Pot.  I served it with a vinegar based cole slaw and a pretzel hamburger bun and it hit the spot.   

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Instant Pot Turkey and Sweet Potato Chili

Pretty much everyone in my family got an Instant Pot as a gift for the holidays. They were seriously discounted on Amazon just in time for the holidays. Since I don't want my family to starve I thought I would start writing up recipes for them and put them on here as well. There is already a killer chicken taco recipe on my site, but up next is turkey and sweet potato chili. 

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Peanut Butter Pie

When I was home for the holidays I think I finally discovered why I love pie so much. My whole family was there and we were telling family stories (as you do after a couple glasses of wine).  Somehow it came up that my brother remembered reading an article in my dad's high school newspaper where my dad declared that his favorite food was pie. Not sure how my brother got his hands on my dad's high school newspaper, but regardless it showed that my love of pie, is in my genes! I can't help it, I was born to love pie! 

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One Pot Pasta with Kale and Lemon

I am back with another one pot pasta - this one is full of kale, lemon zest, and pine nuts. If you haven’t already noticed I am a huge fan of pan sauces in pasta dishes because they use kitchen staples to create a complete meal. Plus they work in a pinch when you forget the pasta sauce or are not feeling a heavy pasta dish.

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Meyer Lemon and White Chocolate Tart

I am going to the Golden Globes! What alternate universe did I just fall into? I keep on thinking they are going to email and say just kidding, your invitation was meant for someone else, someone in the “bizz.” Since that hasn’t happened yet at least, I have teamed up with Lindt Chocoalte to create a “golden” Meyer lemon and white chocolate tart in honor of the 74th Golden Globe Awards.

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Faux Chicken Pho

I am no expert, but I am pretty sure chicken pho cures everything. A while back I travelled through Vietnam and I came down with the usual travellers sickness. I was down for the count until I tried my first bowl of pho. It completely cured me. More recently I enjoyed a couple too many glasses of red wine one night over the holidays and woke up feeling pretty awful. One bowl of chicken pho and I was back to normal.

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