World Cup of Yum

Turkey Tetrazzini

This was one of my mom’s go-to dishes when I was a kid. The creamy cheesy goodness made it such good comfort food. I always imagined it was a lot of work to make, so I was thrilled when my mom told me it’s pretty much just an assemblage of freezer and pantry items plus…

Persimmon Sorbet

This is the easiest dessert in the world. No exaggeration. It contains one ingredient. And it’s healthy, because that one ingredient is a fruit. If you end up with a bounty of persimmons from your tree (or from a friend’s tree in my case), this is also a great way to keep them from going…

Honeyed Persimmon Cake Topping

Whenever cake comes with the typical sugary frosting on top, I do my best to scrape off as much of the frosting as I can. It’s just too sweet for me and doesn’t have any other flavor. But did you know that you can use a simple mixture of Greek yogurt and honey to make…

Spinach Soup

This spinach soup is probably not what first comes to mind when you hear “spinach soup”. It’s not creamed or blended – it’s broth-based. But it’s what I thought of as spinach soup when I was growing up. I loved it whenever my mom made it. So when I got old enough to start paying…

Preserved Lemon Chicken and Leeks

I was feeling pretty good about cooking with preserved lemon after successfully making a Moroccan Lemon Chicken. That seems to be the predominant way that people use preserved lemons, but I still had a lot of preserved lemons left and wanted to find other ways to cook with them. My mom mentioned that she’d had…

Moroccan Lemon Chicken

A friend of mine gave me a jar of homemade preserved lemons. I was super excited because I love homemade food stuffs… and then I realized I didn’t know what to do with them. So I asked around and was given several versions of what is apparently a traditional Moroccan Lemon Chicken dish. Using those…

Veggie Bowl with Apple Carrot Dressing

In the last couple years, it seems like “Assemble Your Own Bowl” places have popped up everywhere. It got me thinking that I could buy my own favorite ingredients, whip up a tasty sauce/dressing, and for the price of one restaurant bowl have a large enough quantity to share with friends. My friends immediately declared…

Key Lime Pie Parfait

I got an impromptu invite to dinner at a friend’s place and needed to throw together a dessert quickly and with whatever I had in the house. This came out tasting just like key lime pie in a cup. This was such a hit and so fast to make that Key Lime Pie Parfait has…

Pickled Red Onions

When you let red onions sit in a simple mixture of vinegar, salt, and sugar, a magical thing happens. First, they turn an amazing bright pink color. But more importantly, pickling mellows out their bite, making them sweet and tangy and leaving them with a great crunchiness. Guessipe 1 red onion, thinly sliced 1/2 cup…

Broccoli Mac n Cheese

As a person who loves homemade food and isn’t much for packaged foods, I know this might sound crazy but… I have a fondness for boxed mac n cheese. There’s just something about the creaminess that results from that cheese powder that is so compelling. I’ve tried a bunch of mac n cheese recipes, most…

Butternut Squash Pasta

After avoiding going grocery shopping for far too long, in hungry desperation I threw this dish together using the remains of the food I had left in the house. My boyfriend declared it one of best meals he’s ever eaten, saying it tasted like a perfect autumn day. It has since become a regular part…

Japchae

Japchae is a Korean dish that uses noodles made from sweet potato starch. I love the flavor and texture so much that I eat it at AYCE Korean BBQ, even though I should be getting my money’s worth with the meats instead of filling up on noodles! It usually has beef in it, but I…