World Cup of Yum

Toasted Sesame Ice Cream

I was visiting Istanbul for a few days, and one evening when we returned to our hotel, they were serving house-made sesame ice cream in the lobby. It was one of the most incredible ice creams I have ever eaten – white sesame with and incredible deeply toasted flavor – and I’ve been hunting around…

Cream of Mushroom Chicken and Veg Casserole

I don’t often use frozen vegetables, because they tend to be mushy compared to fresh veg. But they can be handy when you’re short on time and haven’t been to the grocery store in a bit, and in this creamy chicken casserole topped with crunchy parmesan breadcrumbs they work great. Guessipe Season all sides of…

Chinese Chicken Salad

I picked up a rotisserie chicken at Costco, and as I was driving home remembered my mom’s Chinese Chicken Salad. She used to roast her own chicken, but then discovered the Costco rotisserie chicken and never went back. At $5 for a whole chicken, I don’t think it costs much more than it cost my…

Creamy Roasted Garlic and Zucchini Pasta

I bought garlic at the grocery store, only to discover I already had several heads of garlic at home. I roasted some to make Japanese egg salad, but figured I’d throw in a couple extra heads since I’d already have the air fryer going and I had plenty of garlic to spare. Needing to figure…

Pistachio-Crusted Lemon Bars

Cookbook Club – Sababa We used Adeena Sussman’s Sababa: Fresh, Sunny Flavors from My Israeli Kitchen as our April cookbook. Sababa means “everything is awesome” in Hebrew, and is the spirit Sussman uses in her Israel-inspired recipes. We did indeed have a sunny afternoon meal – go to my Cookbook Club site to experience the…

Parmesan Thyme Roasted Fennel

After using half of a fennel bulb to make Pasta Bolognese, I had to figure out something to do with the 1 1/2 fennel bulbs I had left. I needed a side dish to accompany my pasta, and roasted fennel seemed like it would go well. Turned out to be a great combo that I…

Pasta Bolognese

In the best spirit of the Guessipe, I’ve found Pasta Bolognese to have some pretty interchangeable components… red or white onion, celery or fennel, red or white wine, canned tomatoes or tomato sauce, milk or heavy cream. It’s the long slow simmer that brings it all together. Traditionalists might balk at this, but try it…

Roasted Pistachio Ice Cream

I recently had a fantastic pistachio ice cream at a local Middle Eastern restaurant. Since then I found myself constantly thinking about pistachio ice cream, so I decided I better figure out how to make some. I searched around for some recipes to use as a starting point, but found that they all call for…

Mom’s Corn Muffins

I was invited to a Sunday Supper-themed potluck, where the main courses were going to be pot roast and roasted chicken. As I was pondering what side dish I could bring, I remembered my Mom’s Corn Muffins, a holiday gathering favorite. As I was making them, it occurred to me that I had never documented…

Orange Blueberry Cake

My friends gave me a ton of oranges from their tree. When we couldn’t bear the thought of eating another orange, I had a thought – if lemon cake is good, why not orange cake? I also had some blueberries from the local community garden. My first Orange Blueberry Cake was entirely consumed in one…

Lemon Za’atar Cauliflower

One night I threw this Lemon Za’atar Cauliflower together using what I happened to have around. My husband lost his mind for it, saying he would choose this cauliflower dish over roasted pork (and he LOVES roasted pork). So I’ll definitely be making it regularly, especially since it’s also healthy and easy. I used green…

Key Lime Pie Cupcakes

I wanted to make a St. Patrick’s Day dessert, and my neighbor had just given me a bunch of limes from her tree. So I decided to make Key Lime Pie Cupcakes. To get that familiar key lime pie flavor I used sweetened condensed milk instead of sugar in both the cupcake batter and the…