You are my lucky salsa…beautiful salsa…I’m singin’ in the salsa…

An easy recipe to customize and make into your signature salsa!

Rhapsodic Variations on a Theme of Tabouli

Tabouli. Just saying it makes me want to sing--Ta-BOOL-ool-ool-li. This summer, I've been going rhapsodic on a theme of Tabouli. This dish feeds my creative need to compose--to augment, ornament, substitute and transpose. Beat-the-heat bonus: you can make it in the morning while the kitchen is cool and serve it later (that evening or the next day) right from the refrigerator.…

Simply the best Rhode Island Stuffies

Stuffies are Vintage Rhode Island food. Quahog Clam Stuffing is to Rhode Island what Meat Loaf is to Iowa. Stuffies came into being in order to stretch 2 servings of clams into enough food for 6 people (and using up yesterday's stale bread is also clever). If you live on the coast and your supermarket…

Not your same old boring salad

Tired of your usual salad? This Arugula, Apple, Walnut salad with Ginger-Lemon-Dijon dressing is a sweet-tangy-spicy pick-me-up for your tastebuds. Bonus: it will ratchet up your energy-level, too. Salad Ingredients (per serving): 1/2 cup baby arugula 1/2 cup romaine or other lettuce, shredded 1/2 medium apple, cored, quartered and thinly sliced 1/4 stalk of celery, thinly…

Braciola (Italian Beef Rolls in Tomato Sauce) for 2, prepared with love

Braciola is slow food--weekend fare for people who love to cook. I enjoy chopping the ingredients and pounding the meat. There is art in rolling the beef and stuffing, making neat little bundles of yum. Aromas tantalize while the beef tenderizes in the simmering sauce, increasing everyone's anticipation. Braciola is best when it's prepared with love.  Here's…

The Queen’s Cranberry Relish, for a Royal Thanksgiving Feast

This English-style cranberry conserve (with nuts) is the bee's knees! My husband learned the chef business under Art Wood in the 1960's at the Wagon Wheel Lodge in Rockton, Illinois. Art cooked for the Queen--yes, yes, Elizabeth of England! I don't know whether he served  this to her, but he did serve it at the…

Welcome to My Community’s Autumn Soup Supper

Warm your belly with autumn soup and your soul with good company. It’s okay if you didn’t bring a dish to pass--we have enough here to feed any and all visitors. But before you dig in, let me tell you about this here community. We’re a cooperative group of bloggers. Oh, there are people out…

My Signature Apple-Nut Cake

To meet my signature requirements a dessert must:Have fruit;Be easily put-together from ingredients I always have on hand;Not need an electric mixer or any other whiny-noisy appliance;Be requested by family members so often I almost get tired of making it;Induce guests to ask for the recipe;Be amenable to my sneaking in 30-40% whole wheat flour without anyone…

Hambone, Hambone, Pea Soup (inspired by Nick and Joan’s Place)

Nick and Joan have been serving breakfast and lunch at their Place near T.F.Green airport for over 29 years. Known for their meaty slices of real ham cut off the bone and their caring, friendly welcome and service, they also make a delicious, hearty, homemade pea soup, the old-fashioned way, from a stock made from…

Sour Cream Almond Coffee Cake ala 3-Royal

If the people you share this cake with don't hug you, then you hug them. It doesn't matter who initiates a hug--either way you get an oxytocin boost. Oxytocin is the love hormone, and if you get enough of it, you won't be as tempted to devour the whole cake yourself; you'll be inclined instead to pass…