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…

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…

Girl Scout Cookies n Cream

It’s Girl Scout Cookie season! I went to a party and ended up coming home with boxes of Do-Si-Dos, Thin Mints, and Trefoils. Having already consumed many cookies, I decided to use some of the cookies to make Girl Scout Cookie ice cream. Cookies n Cream is my favorite childhood ice cream, so what could…

Chewy Fudge Brownies

Cookbook Club – Texture Over Taste February’s cookbook was Texture Over Taste by Joshua Weissman. Weissman divided the recipes into 6 texture chapters – Crunchy, Chewy, Aerated, Creamy, Fluid, and Fatty. To explore all the textures we experienced, go to my Cookbook Club site. For now – my dish! When it comes to brownies, some…

Thai Larb

The key to Thai Larb is the ground toasted rice, providing the flavor and texture that makes this refreshing and fulfilling ground meat salad. I used to order Larb when I went out for Thai food, until I learned that it’s so easy to make at home. It’s great for a main dish served as…

Key Lime Cake

I had a big container of sour cream, I had key limes, and I had a dinner party I needed to bring a dessert to. It was an intimate dinner party for 4, so I thought there would be leftovers of this Key Lime Cake, but I ended up having to make another one the…

Cream Soda

Despite Cream Soda not being the most popular of soda flavors, my boyfriend and I love it. We have been on a quest for several years to find the best Cream Soda, buying it anytime we find a brand we haven’t tried yet. Then it occurred to us to try making it ourselves. Not to…

Passion Fruit Soda

With all of the rain we’ve gotten this year, the passion fruit vines are fruiting a second abundant crop! And while processing all this incredible passion fruit, I discovered something fantastic… after straining out the seeds, if you store the passion fruit juice in a container in the fridge for a few days, the pulp…

Coconut Ice Cream with Passion Fruit Swirl

This coconut ice cream with a swirl of passion fruit butter is a tropical treat in a bowl. What more is there to say? Guessipe Spread the coconut on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees F until golden (about 5 minutes), stirring halfway through. Remove from the baking sheet and set aside. Bring…

Passion Fruit Butter

In my family, close family friends are “aunts” and “uncles”, and my Aunt Chaz was as much family as any of my blood relatives. This Guessipe is in memory of her. She was Hawaiian, and one of her secret recipes was lilikoi (Hawaiian passion fruit) butter. I have never been able to find or make…