Mini Lemandarin Pies

A Lemandarin, also known as a Rangpur Lime or a Mandarin Lime, is a hybrid between a lemon and a mandarin orange. The tree in my neighborhood had a ton of ripe lemandarins in December. I’m told they’re great for making marmalade, but since they’re a bit like sour oranges or Meyer lemons (which you…

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…

Fun See

This is a really simple dish made of bean thread noodles that my family ate a ton when I was growing up, probably because it is so quick to make using ingredients we usually had in the house. Guessipe 1 package (10.5 oz) bean thread noodles 2 eggs oil for stir-frying 1 TBSP soy sauce…

Shoop’s Tomato Pesto Pancake

I’m not a huge fan of pancakes, but there’s a cafe called Shoop’s in my neighborhood that does a savory pancake I can’t resist. When COVID closed everything down, I realized I could very easily re-create this at home. I swapped in cotija cheese where Shoop’s uses feta because that’s what I happened to have…

Artichoke Dip Omelette

One day I was eating artichoke dip and had the inspiration that I could use the leftovers to make a kick-ass omelette. Silly me – there were no leftovers. For a long time I kept waiting for the day when I would actually have leftover artichoke dip… and then it finally occurred to me that…

Cheddar Fried Egg

This is a quick way to make a fried egg even better. It’s so easy and tasty that whenever I need a fried egg for a dish, I just automatically make it a cheddar fried egg. The oil that releases from the cheese as it heats up is perfect for keeping the egg from sticking…

Pad Thai

Pad Thai is so yummy, and pretty easy to make at home. Aside from the bean sprouts, I typically have all of the ingredients on hand. So I can dash out to buy some bean sprouts, toss this dish together, and happily go to town on a giant bowl of noodles. You can also include…

Lemon Curd

COVID-19 lemon series part 3 – Lemon Curd. What better way to round out a lemon-themed meal than with dessert? I am not a big fan of icing, but I’m all in on using lemon curd as a topping on simple vanilla cake. Bonus – you can spread the leftover lemon curd on pancakes the…

Soy-Ginger Dinner Scramble

Cookbook Club – Virtual Potluck Well, COVID-19 happened, and that made dinner parties impossible… almost. But we can’t let anything stand in the way of Cookbook Club, so we figured out how to do a virtual potluck. We provided some recipe options from Bon Appetit for “when there’s nothing in the fridge”, and then we…

Buttermilk Pie

Can I tell you one of my food pet peeves? I don’t understand why buttermilk comes in quart containers… why Why WHY??? I’ve never seen a recipe that uses more than a cup of buttermilk at a time, and yet I’m forced to buy four times that amount. It makes me crazy and I hate…

Orange Creamsicle Pie

Pi(e) Day is almost upon us, so it’s time to invent another pie! Do you remember those orange creamsicles you used to eat as a kid? That magical combination of orange popsicle with cream filling! Well this year I decided to turn that into a pie. Guessipe CANDIED TANGERINE SPRINKLES 2 tangerines, halved and juiced…

Caesar Salad

“Best Caesar Salad I’ve ever had in my life” – according to my friend who thinks Caesar Salad is the epitome of all salads. He also thinks he hates mustard, so I waited until after he was done eating his second bowl before I told him the dressing definitely contains mustard. Despite that, he keeps…