Hello portobello mushroom burgers! I grew up seeing these as a vegetarian option in restaurants and cafes. But heres the thing, for mushroom lovers (that would be me, you too?), portobellos are perfe...
When I was a kid, Home Ec was a required course in junior high, and we all had to learn how to make English muffin pizzas in a toaster oven. Did you make English muffin pizzas? Or bagel pizzas? This ...
My mother has always taken delight at the patches of mint that thrive along the edges of her house. "It keeps away the ants!" she insists. I have no idea if this actually works, but having he...
Sugar snap peas are a garden staple in the spring. At least around here you plant them in November or December and see them poking out of the ground late February to early March, depending on how war...
About once a week, for my entire upbringing, my mother would prepare a very simple side of pasta with a sweet, buttery tomato sauce. Usually she used elbow macaroni pasta, because usually a small bow...
When my friend Kerissa Barron first told me about this buttery rice pilaf, I couldnt wait to try it. Then she told me it had saffron in it. Uh oh. For some reason, saffron is a spice that sort of tas...
My father recently celebrated his 82nd birthday. In our family, we arent big on presents or cards, instead we honor the occasion with a dinner and family gathering. For dads birthday, we prepared a w...
Have you ever made colcannon? Its a traditional Irish mashed potato dish with lots of greens. If theres a heaven for kale, its this, mixed in with mashed potatoes and butter. Colcannon cakes, sort of...
One of my earliest memories as a kid was my father taking the family out on excursions to Antelope Valley, about an hour and a half outside of Los Angeles where we lived. We used to go out there to p...
This is my lazy girls lunch. Lazy, because even when Ive eaten every last pickle in the fridge, I can usually find a few fresh eggs, a couple mushrooms, and half an onion there. Lazy, because when I ...
February, March, not much is growing this time of year, and usually the weather is blustery and rather gray. That is, except for the citrus. All over Sacramento, and most of California, orange, grape...
Please welcome guest author Garrett McCord as he shares a lip-smacking recipe for mushroom stir-fry he recreated from one he enjoyed in China. ~Elise During a recent trip through China I ate a lot of...
When I was a kid, my mother often used to add sliced raw jerusalem artichokes to our salads. I have no idea why. She doesnt do it any more, and hasnt for years. At the time I just thought they were w...
Gobsmacked. I thought I was pretty well versed in what one could do with cabbage, addicted to the stuff as I am. Whether its braised, in stewed, stuffed, boiled, or made into coleslaw, we eat cabbage...
Although at first glance it may not look like it, with our Northern California sunny skies and green lawns, winter truly is here. The leaves have all fallen. The fish in the pond are half asleep. Sev...
Hank Shaw is back, tempting us with pumpkin ricotta gnocchi. Its crazy good, and actually not as hard as you would think to make. Enjoy! ~Elise Pumpkin ravioli with brown butter and sage is a classic...
Homemade stock almost always tastes better than boxed or canned, and this is never more true than with vegetable stock. In the case of chicken or beef stock, the stock comes from cooking bones in wat...
Edamame (eh-dah-MAH-may) are nothing more than fresh soy beans. Typically cooked in heavily salted water, they are usually found in the shell served at Japanese restaurants. Having first encountered ...
I never used to know what to do with fennel, but these days, I cant get enough of it. Fennel is the most wonderfully versatile vegetable. You can slice raw fennel thin and serve it with a little shav...
Oh my, this is a good one. I never would have thought to pair kale with tahini (thank you to my friend Peg for the suggestion), but its great. Sort of reminiscent of a popular Japanese dish with spin...
One of my favorite foods is quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wah), a grain-like seed native of South America. Its a lot like couscous, but nuttier in flavor, and smoother on the tongue. Its also high in prote...
Have you ever had broccoli rabe (pronounced "rahb" or "rah-bee" depending on where you are from)? I have sort of a love hate relationship with it. It looks like broccoli, but it doesn...
Years ago I visited the Caribbean island of Trinidad and was struck not only by the music of steel drums filling the air everywhere, but also by a street food called "roti", which is sort of ...
Called papas bravas or patatas bravas in Spain, this dish is essentially potatoes cooked in a spicy sauce and served as an appetizer, or tapas. Variations abound in both the cooking methodthe potato...
Updated, from the recipe archive. Originally posted in 2005. Here in the San Joaquin Valley, the eggplant season is in full swing. At our local farmers market last weekend one could find eggplants of...
My dad is the kind of dad who will notice we arent doing something to his standards and then just take over. (Insert growly voice.) "The recipe says mince, not finely chop, but mince. This isnt m...
One of the things I love about red lentils is that they cook up so quickly. Unlike their sturdier brown and green lentil cousins, when cooked, red lentils quickly fall apart into a smooth mush-like c...
If you didnt catch this recipe the first time round, its a winner! And perfect for ripe garden tomatoes. From the recipe archives, first posted August 2009. ~Elise One of the great things about going...
Im on vacation this week, so am pulling forward a few recipes from the archives that weve recently updated. This gorgeous Greek salad is one of them, originally posted in 2005. So pretty, isnt it? An...
Revised and updated, from the recipe archive. Original recipe posted in 2005. ~Elise Tucked away in funky Bernal Heights, my old neighborhood in San Francisco, used to lie an Italian trattoria which ...
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