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...

My husband J, a francophile at heart, has been asking lately that I use herbs de provence.  He seems to miss them when I don't use them for a while.   I had to buy zucchini to reshoot a previous post from a few months ago and the greens and yellows looked so beautiful that I bought extra to roast with the herbs.    The morning light brought colors of pale white and faint purple through our side window, so after J took our toddle...

Pesto is easy to make, vegan and or not.  You can literally whip it up on the spot and serve it on pasta, salads, hors d'oeuvres or anything else.  And, yes, you can make pesto without the parmesan and have it taste just as piquant.  Instead of pine nuts, which are becoming harder to find and more expensive, I used walnuts.  Walnuts give it a thicker consistency and more nutty taste.  Pesto will keep fresh refrigerated in an ai...

Who doesn't love a comforting, buttery mac & cheese?   Probably only my toddler.  But I have still categorized this under "kids love food" because I know other little tykes (and adults) craze over the sweet creaminess of the squash and bursting peas in between the soft noodles. I have played around with this recipe quite a bit and I have refined it so that it is sweet and moist.  Because there is no cheese in this, I have ...

Beet and "Gorgonzola" Salad~ Beets always remind of dark burgundy lipstick, the kind worn by old Hollywood sirens.  Add the onions and the cashew Gorgonzola and it is like dressing and jeweling the siren to walk down the red carpet.  My grandmother used to tell me that her mother’s lips and cheeks were always a gentle crimson color (from eating beets) and I have been obsessed with that my whole life and, thus, beets.  As a teen...

Holiday Bread Pudding ~ I don't make this bread pudding too sweet  although I am a serious sweet monger.  The chocolate chips and raisins give it plenty of sweetness so much so that my husband and toddler love the resemblance of a chocolate chip cookie but in a bread pudding.  It's so difficult passing by the bread pudding sitting on the  kitchen counter without sneaking a bite...or two...or three... For the bread, I always u...

Low-Fat Spicy Hot Chocolate ~ Sweet, warming and less guilt than other hot chocolates.  What could be better than that on a winter chilly day?   Since I am using almond milk, it is lower in fat than regular milk or even soy milk.  I don't always love the taste of stevia so if you want to leave it out altogether just replace it with another teaspoon of agave.   I know, I know.  I always end up drinking all two serving portions s...