From the category archives:

Fruit

Tangerine Tart with Cookie Crust

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For more than a decade, I’ve held onto this Sunset Magazine page. You see, the prolific tangerine tree that came with this house disappeared the day our yard was demo’d for landscaping. Waaaaa. Not sure why I never just bought fruit to make the tart; maybe I was insecure.

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Road Trip: On The Hunt for Ojai’s Pixie Tangerines

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My niece, Danielle, and I were on the hunt for the most awesome of snacks, the Pixie Tangerine. They only grow in Ojai. The region produces just enough to keep the best local stores and farmer’s markets supplied and then, BUMMER, gone ‘til next season (March through summer). If Larry and I hadn’t attended a [...]

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Thai Green Papaya Salad

Well, I now know what to make when our four-couple Gourmet Club has a Thai themed dinner – this delicate Thai Green Papaya Salad. The dressing is Thai-YUM, I wanted to lick the bowl. It’s a combo of textures, too – crunchy almonds to crisp cucumbers to soft papaya to airy fried rice sticks. [...]

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Chicken Pumpkin Lemongrass Soup

Things to cook with pumpkin were getting boring here, so I thought an Asian flavored soup would be different. I took this ‘n that from about five recipes and came up with a pot of flavorful, thick Chicken Pumpkin Lemongrass Soup.
What gave it Asian oomph was fresh-cut lemongrass from our patio. And juice from [...]

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Pumpkin Pie Rice Pudding

Making fresh pumpkin puree the other day yielded 9 cups of potential. Larry and I like pumpkin pie, but we also like rice pudding, so I googled around for recipes and ended up combining a few to produce this one.
I suppose I could have tried to crockpot it. But even with constant stirring, this [...]

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Canned Pumpkin Shortage? Simple Steps to Make Fresh Pumpkin Puree

About a month ago, I noticed my local store had no small cans of pumpkin. A week later, still none. Then Larry showed me a newspaper article about the super scary national canned pumpkin shortage. Another week later, friend Marlene circulated an email about it but by then, I had three “sugar pumpkins” to [...]

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Greek Watermelon Salad with Feta Cheese and Olives

The simplest salad of all presented at LA Greekfest’s cooking class: Watermelon Salad with Feta Cheese and Olives. Just those three ingredients, no dressing.

Slices of watermelon, chilled
Feta cheese in bite size pieces
Black olives, Kalamata or others, pits removed, sliced

Remove rind and seeds from melon. Cut into triangular pieces. Place on a [...]

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Light Pumpkin Custard

Is it really, truly, finally Autumn? Gimme Pumpkin! Here is what’s so great about Light Pumpkin Custard… you can eat piles of it with little concern. The calorie intake is fairly low, your Vitamin A intake is sky high and you are enjoying one of the best holiday flavors ever (which then contributes to [...]

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Pomegranate Popsicles

The weather here today in LA is perfect. Our Augusts are usually nicer than September as the beginning of school often coincides with a furnace-blast heat wave. As kids, we had the double whammy of wool Catholic school uniforms and classrooms with no AC. Brutal.
To cool her kids, Mom froze cubes of cranberry [...]

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Blueberry Stuffed Apples in Pastry

Naming this recipe was tricky; besides being stuffed with fresh blueberries and baked in flaky pastry, the apples are sweetened with Red Hot candies and pure maple syrup. TMI for a recipe name, but Larry thought the Red Hots were a pretty good idea. I like using up the second pie crust in the [...]

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Easy Fresh Apple Tart ~ Homage to Julia Child

Fellow IACP members, who recognizes this plate? Julia Child was a founding member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals; over the years, the group’s cookbook awards gala grew to a rather big splash. The year 1997 was so splashy, attendees received this commemorative platter and Julia took the time to autograph plates for [...]

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Glazed Lemon Poundcake

Do you have a go-to recipe that works for most occasions? Add Glazed Lemon Poundcake to your list. Hostess gift? Check. Dessert for potluck? Check. Neighbor thanks for taking in your mail? Check. Oops, I forgot a birthday? Check, check, check.

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Peppered Strawberries in Balsamic Vinegar

The year was maybe 1965. My dad’s job involved transforming a Southern California strawberry farm into a housing development. Families were invited to “pick all you want berries” on a festive day prior to plowing the field under.
Our family of seven had a Country Squire Station Wagon. With all the seats down and five [...]

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Orange-Flavored Shortcakes with Strawberries and Cream

The article in the LA Times Food Section was long-winded, but I was committed to discovering if it was a good shortcake recipe: Orange-Flavored Shortcakes with Strawberries and Cream. As a kid, I tasted two versions of shortcake. One was made from Biscuick, which I don’t buy. The other was technically the outside of [...]

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Big Bucket o’ Lemonade

Once a week, I volunteer at Project Angel Food as a kitchen helper. Very rewarding, good fun, and an important community service, the organization cooks, packs and delivers meals every day to homebound, terminally ill clients. Sometimes as many as 1700 of them, at no cost to the client. That, alone, is pretty heartwarming.
As [...]

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Fresh Homemade Applesauce in the Crockpot

Those two apples were not getting eaten. And the bruised lemon was one I found on the ground under our tree. It is a sin to buy a lemon if you live in LA; there is always a neighbor’s tree with lots of fruit within reach of the sidewalk (we ask permission – most [...]

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