Posts tagged as:

easy

Strawberry Sour Cream Pie

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This pie was scrumdiddlyumptious. So much, in fact, that after Larry and I had our slices, I pawned the rest off on two neighbors’ households. It was TOO good and my fear was we’d eat it all. Larry wasn’t thrilled with this, scored one more slice, tucked it into the fridge and I bolted up [...]

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Easy Meyer Lemon Curd

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This is a sneaky trick. In my recipe binder there is a stunning magazine lemon custard recipe, which is baked in a water bath. I hadn’t made it yet, but had every intention. That is, until my friend Sandy told me her mother (native Californian, Meyer lemon tree owner) would make the lemon meringue recipe [...]

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Australian Impossible Pie

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The internet is a magic carpet ride for me when I go recipe surfing. And I’m drawn to Australian food blogs, like Gourmet Jack. His slogan: Foodie Nirvana, Australian Style. There he presented Impossible Pie — is it really impossible? Coconut, crustless, custardy… crikey – sounds great!

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St. Patty’s Recipe Roundup for “Our” Day

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On behalf of all Pattis, Patricias, Pattys, Patricks, Pats and Paddys, today is “our” day. Our weather here in Southern California just turned gorgeous, and stores are full of spring flowers (this photo was shot in Chicago – home of some pretty great St. Patty’s Day activities). Larry surprised me yesterday with a beautiful spray [...]

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Chocolate-Covered Pink Peppermint Patties

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Homemade peppermint patties.  Wonder “why?” Well, I once made marshmallows and proclaimed them infinitely better than bagged ones. Not sure I’d make THEM again, but I’ll definitely do these! Just about anybody can make Pink Peppermint Patties. The results are vastly superior to store-bought (read: mmmm FRESH). I will go so far as to call [...]

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A Valentine’s Meal You Can Do, Sherie

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Sherie and I were great pals in high school. She’s since raised three boys into independent grown men. Has been married forever. So I was surprised when she recently told me she “cannot cook.” Or doesn’t cook. Or is afraid to cook, the conversation was spotty since we were with a group of 15 fellow RHHS gal pals. But I didn’t forget it.

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Easy Almond Pecan Toffee

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This recipe made me wonder if our candy thermometer was broken. It seemed stuck at 240 degrees, all the while the syrup was getting pretty tan. After some brain wracking, I remembered how to do the “ol’ fashioned water drop.” You know that one, right? Cook your candy base over medium-high heat. As it reaches [...]

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Plain, Simple, Versatile Cooked Shredded Chicken

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“This is a recipe?” you may ask. Well, no, but it’s a favorite technique of mine to tackle a few things simultaneously on a leisurely Sunday, my happy cooking day. Chicken parts were a very good price this week, frugal friends. Sunday morning, I threw two pounds of them into the crockpot with two bay [...]

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Vietnamese Nuoc Cham Dipping Sauce

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How making fresh pumpkin puree got me to prepare Vietnamese Nuoc Cham Sauce is like six degrees of separation from Kevin Bacon. A) Can’t find Libby’s canned pumpkin.  B) Buy fresh pumpkins, roast and puree. C) Cook some sweet things with the puree, burn out, a good supply still in the freezer. D) Decide to [...]

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Thyme and Goat Cheese Tart Topped with Mixed Tender Greens in Champagne Vinaigrette

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This isn’t exactly how we eat around our home, putting salad on top of a cheese tart. Yet, as swank as this appeared, our “Thyme and Goat Cheese Tart Topped with Mixed Tender Greens in Champagne Vinaigrette” (whew, the name alone is a mouthful) was neither pretentious nor weird. This was the salad course during [...]

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Zinfandel Soaked Cherry Clafoutis

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There was Larry, the winning bidder of a Food Lover’s Basket at a recent fundraising event for Project Angel Food.  I was eyeing something a little more WOW, like the beauty basket which included botox services; I was outbid. The experience turned out OK, the basket had a pile of autographed cookbooks, biscotti, and a [...]

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How to Make a Tin Can Man

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A Peeping Tin was eyeing me from Cathi and Barry’s garden wall during their BBQ.  He was a gift from their daughter Kristi, purchased from a local Italian restaurant.  Once you know that, you can see the types of tomatoes used for cooking: diced, pureed, crushed, sauce, paste.  Isn’t this a perfect way for a [...]

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Greek Potato Salad from LA Greekfest

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Some cooks need an actual recipe to feel comfortable, so this was the PERFECT demo to help break free from those shackles.  LA Greekfest instructors Akrevoe Emmanouilides and Pitsa Captain were “a little of this, a little of that” cooks, and the audience ate it up. By the end of the salad session, we all [...]

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Light Pumpkin Custard

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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 one’s [...]

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Garbanzo, Onion and Tomato Salad from LA Greekfest

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OPA! For years, I’ve wanted to attend Greekfest at LA’s stunning St. Sophia’s Greek Orthodox Cathedral. I’m a native Angelino, yet had only been inside once before for the wedding of our favorite Greek, Helen. Larry’s been there often; his high school, Loyola, is next door. No waiting for the right year, I attended yesterday, [...]

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Lemon Lentils

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Autumn ~ the automatic trigger for my tummy to crave comfort food. Ordinarily, that means mashed potatoes or mac n’ cheese, but the ol’ hippie in me decided to cook lentils with lemon. Larry scarfed them down, and he doesn’t have an ounce of hippie in him. Lentils are legumes. Cheap eats. No soaking. Nutritional [...]

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How to Make Pots de Crème The Lazy Way

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This is positively YUMM-O.  I say yumm-o because Rachael Ray made this on Oprah.  I used to watch Oprah religiously (now, she may have jumped the shark… we’ll discuss that another time).  Rachael was talking my language:  Chocolate.  Easy.  Decadent.  Mom’s Recipe (any TV cook who features a recipe of their mom’s means that dish [...]

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Mocha Marshmallow Krispie Treats

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Having produced a spectacular batch of Homemade Mocha Marshmallows, it dawned on me that Larry and I would never just sit and eat marshmallows. I get enough s’mores on Camp GetAway weekends. I asked Larry, “Krispie Treats?”  He almost said “duh,” but wisely caught himself. Not so duh, try finding the right rice crispy cereal [...]

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Patti’s Noodle Bowl for Two

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Another name for the recipe could be, “What’s in the produce bin that needs eating NOW?”  With a teensy bit of leftover meat, Asian-ish veggies and some noodles, Noodle Bowl is served. One challenge to this dish is ~ it makes you sweat.  Not spicy sweat, but steamy sweat.  Great for winter, but we eat [...]

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Mocha Marshmallows

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Why make homemade marshmallows?  Because they really are SO much better than store-bought.   Fresh, fresh, yummy fresh.  Another reason is, because you are a grownup now, so you can do stuff to them, like make a batch with Amaretto.  I did that, and then decided it didn’t really do anything for them, but dredging them [...]

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