Orange French Toast with Pears and Cherries

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Orange French Toast with Fresh Pears and Cherries

This year’s commercial love weekend is a lonely feast. My love package of Chocolate Chip Yogurt Cookies, Cornmeal Lime Butter Cookies, and Roast Lemon-Thyme Almonds was shipped last week for the West coast. In the spirit of maintaining a busy mind, this declared romantic weekend is full of freelance work.

However, I’m treating myself to Orange French Toast topped with fresh Pears and Cherries. This version uses stale Honey Wheat Bread made from scratch in my kitchen. French toast is not a popular breakfast dish, because it’s made with soft, commercial bread that has a longer shelf life because of the preservatives. The result is a French toast with a soggy center. It’s actually a recipe at its best with thick slices of French or Italian loaves (since moving to New York, I’ve discovered Challah is a buttery option, too). Such bread is fresh for one day. It’s a great bread to include in a romantically planned menu. I recommend serving half a loaf as garlic bread to accompany a meal of lasagna and salad. By the next morning, the loaf is hard and stale (slice it the night before if making French Bread). Using the mantra, “no food goes to waste,” day-old bread slices are temporarily soaked in a milk and egg mixture, before it’s lightly fried in a skillet. Read more →

A Tale of Two Lasagnas

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Both "New and Old" World Lasagnas
Food Bloggers visit other sites quite frequently to support, inspire, comment, and learn. I found Anjali Shah of The Picky Eater: A Healthy Food Blog, through another excellent food blog, The Duo Dishes. I remember leaving a comment on her site about being an inspiration. The voice of her food blog is of good spirits and full of adventure. She responds immediately to request a guest post for her site. “We’re really aligned in our food philosophies,” she reasons. After several emails are exchanged, we agree to collaborate on writing about lasagna. Both of our versions are relatively healthy, and they have plenty of vegetables and cheeses. Anjali’s version is an “Old World” traditional recipe with a classic tomato sauce, and my version is a “New World” traditional recipe sans the tomato sauce. To be historically accurate, both tomatoes and squash are ingredients from the “New World.” It’s the techniques and stories that separates our recipes, which makes them endearing and comforting to both of us. Read more →

Radicchio Frittata

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Radicchio Fritatta
Radicchio Fritatta

A few weeks ago, Menu-Masters.com, requested a guest post. The website emails weekly recipes and a shopping list to hurried individuals. There are menu plans for the unrestricted, vegetarians and gluten-aware diets. When thinking of what to contribute to Menu-Masters.com, I decided to write about the weekday breakfast. In addition, my thoughts are about crisp radicchio leaves and devising savory recipes with it. One such recipe, a Radicchio Frittata, came to mind. Enjoying this savory egg dish on a weekday is quite possible when meals are planned ahead. When packed and stored right, it’s enjoyed throughout the week. It’s an extravagant (and easy on the budget) recipe. If bacon is omitted, it’s a “Meatless Monday” dish. Visit Menu.Masters.com to read the guest post or get the recipe… Read more →

Boozy Banana Brownies

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Boozy Banana Brownies
Boozy Banana Brownies

This is seriously a quickie dessert. Simple to make. A bit boozy. It’s bananas. It was made for a friend’s party at the last minute. We were planning to bring banana bread, but there was a missing ingredient. Promptly scanning the cookbooks, I decide to make brownies. Luckily, all of the ingredients for making this chocolate dessert are in the pantry, but it can’t just be a brownie recipe. This dish has to be special. Overripe bananas are still available to use. There’s a little rum in the refrigerator. Is it possible to make Brownies with rum and bananas? Sure, let’s try. If the recipe fails, we’ll stop by a wine store en route to the party. Read more →

Vanilla Chai Ice Cream

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Vanilla Chai Ice Cream with Banana Pecan Bread
Vanilla Chai Ice Cream with Banana Pecan Bread

What’s your coldest, Winter memory? I’ll answer first. It was a brain-freeze type of cold day. A thick pea coat covered layers of clothes and a wooly sweater. No one could tell I wore a few socks underneath a pair of bright yellow rain boots. The winds pierced through layers of clothes to chill my back. Fingers underneath my gloves froze numb. Large, billowy snowflakes floated swiftly to the ground. The snow was piled one to two feet deep, and there was slippery ice everywhere. Then a child is seen walking in my direction. She’s happily skipping in this frigid, cold weather, while licking an ice cream cone. The mother is walking behind the child. She sees a perplexed, astonished look on my face. She shrugs her shoulders to communicate, “I know, I know… my child is strange…right?” We warmly pass each other, smiling and giggling. Read more →