It was one of those days where I was struggling on the elliptical half listening and watching E!, flipping through gossip magazines and where every minute felt like ten.  Starving and climbing speedily for the last five minutes as if it would push time forward magically, I bumped into a recipe for Cacio e Pepe (cheese & pepper).   Ding, ding, lunch! I thought about ripping the recipe page from the gym's magazine but I a...

Making these adorable spring cookies was a successful family affair.  It was still chilly outside on Sunday morning so instead of running out to the playground we decided to make cookies.  John and I were excited but Gabriel beamed once he realized that the step-ladder his daddy brought over was meant to facilitate a first class engagement with the goings of the kitchen countertop.  All the ingredients were ready to go bu...

What to do with blueberries when they are about to expire?  Exactly. Make blueberry muffins.  And the same goes for apples. Just mix it all in a batter, bake and voila! And where can a girl get a to die for melt in your mouth muffin or cupcake that is both vegan and gluten-free?   I strive for my kitchen to be one of those places, although sometimes I really want someone else to bake for me.   Erin McKenna's bakery BabyCakes ...

The last few days of winter are with us and I am craving a savory tart brimming with olives and onions.  I have a massive sweet tooth but when I want savory and salty I need to have it right away.  My husband, the Francophile, remembers eating these types of tarts while living in Paris and he was overjoyed when he saw me making them.  Reading through a Living Without issue I found a sweet tart recipe that I made savory instead, a...

Carrots are a typical go to veggie for baked goods and I wanted something different this time.  Shredded beets are so beautiful in salads that I figured they would be as lovely in muffins.   Reading through recipe books I found a great carrot muffin recipe in Flying Apron's Gluten-Free and Vegan Baking Book that I adapted quite a bit by replacing ingredients including the carrots for the beets.   The tahini icing is my own recipe...

These beautiful little potatoes have been coming from Oregon to my local supermarket for the last two weeks.  They range in a medley of colors and the grocer has them in baskets where you can just grab and mix whatever hues you want. Seems like I spent more than a few minutes picking out the prettiest potatoes thinking how lovely they would look on my dinner table. Actually, it was probably not more than a minute since G reaches h...

Oh cupid, cupid where art my Romeo?  Well, my Romeo John is happy with his wine pears a few days before Valentine's Day.  I love the idea of Valentine's Day but with a two-year old mini Romeo bouncing off the walls our duo day is happily spent as a threesome and having a home cooked meal slinging pear across the dinner table.  We celebrated our Valentine's Day dinner during the impressive snow storm on Friday evening after anxiou...

Gabriel's school had an intercultural event and I thought arroz verde would be a perfect dish to make. Arroz verde is a typical Peruvian dish that is eaten as a side dish or as a second plate with something else. I can imagine few dishes as second plates in contemporary home life, although if you go to Lima today arroz verde is served as a second dish in the traditional sense of the word. My mother makes arroz verde with a third ...

After my morning yoga class and before picking up Gabriel from school today, I worked quickly to make these cookies and ate some of the batter along the way.  Bad, bad me.  The recipe should make 16 cookies but mine only made 12.  What a craving I had for these when I woke up today.  Luckily I had all the ingredients in the kitchen drawers so it was just a matter of putting them together.  When Gabriel got home he looked up on ...

  Have some leftover pesto?  Here is an idea for a quick small plate to snack on or impress a guest on the fly by whipping these out of the kitchen anytime.  These make a great easy canapé for a soiree as well.  I make pesto fairly often and keep some around for a quick pasta toss when I don't have time to cook. Last week I was searching the refrigerator for an afternoon snack but a cucumber is all I saw.  I frowne...