This oven-braised snapper with Puttanesca is a wonderful dish for fish lovers. I have blogged about Puttanesca already, but this version is a little different and not served with pasta. I found this lovely recipe in Fine Cooking and adapted it slightly, but the original one can be seen here. As many know, Spaghetti alla puttanesca […]

Ripe, juicy berries are synonymous with summer, and although we are slowly closing out that season, there is no need to panic, frozen berries, can make some amazing things as well. These outrageous and incredibly easy, summer berry crumble bars are loaded with fresh and frozen berries and they are exactly what you need in […]

It’s believed that the Blue Lagoon cocktail was created by Andy MacElhone, the son of famed bartender Harry MacElhone, at Harry’s New York Bar in Paris in the 1960s or early 1970s. So, despite what most think, the drink predates the 1980 coming-of-age film, starring Brook Shields, of the same name. Retro cocktails, as they’re […]

This is not a health blog, and not everything I eat is healthy. I can own that. Good health for me is all about moderation. I eat everything, but it’s balanced and I eat a lot of salads. I am a big believer in “eating the rainbow“. All those brightly colored vegetables offer amazing nutrients […]

Summer is all about easy, often healthy(er) recipes and limited prep time. In warmer months most of us naturally gravitate to lighter meals with more fresh vegetables and often less carbs. I aspire to cook like this as much as possible, year-round because I honestly feel better, health-wise, doing so. But truthfully, this is easier […]

Canning jam is an involved process, and although I don’t discourage it, I don’t enjoy doing it. But making jams and jellies is something I do enjoy. Sadly, people confuse the two and, as a result, avoid making them completely. That is a shame. The great news is that you can easily (and quickly) make […]

Coconut cream pie falls in the “retro dessert” category. By retro, I mean an old-fashioned/vintage dessert that evokes a feeling of nostalgia whenever I have it. This old-school dessert may have fallen in and out of popularity over the years, but it should not be forgotten. From custards and puddings to jiggly mid-century confections, many […]

Ice cream is a universal favorite on a hot summer day and nobody can deny it. Nothing cools you down and brings comfort on a sweltering day, quite like ice cream does. What’s remarkable, is the history of ice cream spans worldwide and over many centuries. This is my latest creation; matcha and dark chocolate […]

Close friends introduced my family to a special place in Hawaii we have come to adore. It was during our first visit there, years ago, that their signature kid “drink” won my children’s hearts, as we were told it would. The specialty frozen drink was simply called, “Ovaltine froth“. Ovaltine, for those unfamiliar (or too young…), […]

Old-fashioned brown sugar peach cobbler is the perfect, simple dessert you should be making for the July 4th holiday. A Cobbler is a dessert consisting of a fruit (every so often, they can be savory) filling poured into a large baking dish and covered with a batter, biscuit, or at times, dumpling, before being baked. Let’s […]

Strawberry cheesecake is the ultimate indulgence and something I find cathartic to make. Cheesecake travels the globe and can be traced back 4,000 years to the fifth century BC, to ancient Greece and the island of Samos. At this time, the cheesecake was made with patties of fresh cheese, flour, and honey. These cakes were […]

Crab Louie salad, (pronounced LOO-ey), known also as, “the king of salads“, is a well-known dish, most food historians agree, first began appearing on menus of finer West Coast restaurants, sometime between the turn of the 20th century and World War I. Dig a little deeper and you find the first printed recipe for the […]

Baba ganoush is a levantine dip of mashed broiled eggplants, blended with tahini, olive oil, and seasoning, and it’s a dip I love making in warmer months. There’s lots of speculation about the origin of baba ganoush, but this iconic dip (or a similar version) has likely been around, for over 1,000 years. In Arabic, […]

This matcha smoothie bowl is the recipe you should be making all summer long on repeat. The tropical flavors of pineapple and banana blended with almond milk and matcha ignite feelings of relaxation and good health. What is Matcha? In Japanese, the word “Matcha” is the combination of “ma“, meaning rubbed or ground,  and “cha“, […]

Let’s face it, pie baking is not for everyone. And that is fine. I fell into that category at one point, so I do get it. Pies are complicated endeavors. You’ve got to be invested in the process to make a great pie.  And that’s not so easy, as all elements of a pie matter; […]