World Cup of Yum

Pear Ginger Cardamom Crisp

A couple weekends ago, I wandered into a pie shop during a post-lunch walk. I’d just eaten, but I never pass up an opportunity to window-shop pie flavors. The pear ginger cardamom pie caught my eye, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I had pears, ginger, and cardamom, but wasn’t feeling energetic enough to…

Watermelon Rind Curry

Most people are delighted when they cut open a watermelon and find a thin rind… more fruit! I am disappointed. The watery pink flesh of the watermelon doesn’t do anything for me. The rind, on the other hand, is my jam… actually, it’s my pickle. It’s also my curry. So the next time you slice…

Peanut Butter Banana Cake

One day my aunt was complaining about how my uncle would always buy bananas with the idea of having peanut butter and banana sandwiches, but never actually get around to making them before the bananas went bad. A couple days later I was looking at a bunch of overripe bananas on my counter… and got…

Pinto Bean Dip

Somehow over time I’ve acquired quite the stockpile of dried pinto beans. During football season I had gone to a dip-themed watch party for one of the Niners games. It reminded me how much I love dip (especially with football!), which seemed a great way to use up some pinto beans. Luckily I had plenty…

Muhammara

I recently went to a wine tasting, where the vineyard served sourdough with muhammara as an accompaniment to the wine flight. It was my husband’s first experience eating muhammara and he raved about it. The vineyard’s muhammara was tasty, but I thought I could make something even better. It just so happened that I had…

Mint Chocolate Cookie Pie

Pi(e) Day is my favorite holiday, but as some of you may have noticed, I was conspicuously silent on 3.14 last year. Horrors! I had just moved and all of my baking supplies were packed away in a box, so for the first time in 9 years I didn’t do a Pie Day party. But…

Asparagus Soup

It’s asparagus season, so I had a big haul of asparagus. I was looking for something interesting to do with it, and it’s been rainy and chilly for California, so soup came to mind. There are lots of recipes for asparagus cream soup, but I didn’t have any heavy cream and didn’t want to venture…

Grapefruit Cake

It’s grapefruit season, and I got it in my head to make a grapefruit cake. As I searched around the internet for ideas, I was surprised to find that there weren’t many recipes available. And the reviews for the ones that did exist almost universally referenced very subtle grapefruit flavor. I wanted intense grapefruit flavor,…

Carrot Apple Butternut Squash Soup

Credit for this Guessipe goes to my cousin! He made a carrot Asian pear butternut squash soup for me years ago when I was laid up after surgery. Ever since then I’ve been trying to get him to tell me how to make that soup, but since he Guessipes like I do but without documenting…

Lazy Hummingbird Cake

Hummingbird Cake is traditionally a banana pineapple pecan layer cake with cream cheese frosting. I was in the mood for some banana pineapple goodness, but honestly didn’t want to put in the effort required for a layer cake. I also didn’t have any cream cheese, but lately I’ve been enamored with Greek yogurt frosting. Thus…

Garlic Croutons

Homemade croutons are so easy. You can season them any way you like, but even this simple version is so delicious. Once I made these, my husband swore off eating store-bought croutons ever again! Guessipe Toss the bread with the olive oil, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Spread in a single layer on a foil-lined…

Sausage Strata

We were going to a baseball game and staying overnight with family who live near the stadium. I’d recently somehow managed to accumulate several loaves of bread and was looking for ways to use them. It occurred to me that a strata would be perfect – I could make it before the game, leave it…