FoodFixe

Lemon Pie with Cranberry Coulis and Limoncello Cream

It’s National Pie Day this Monday. It’s citrus season. What better excuse for making a lemon pie? Besides, I didn’t get any pie during the holidays—homemade or otherwise—and I wanted some pie. And because I’d been deprived, I decided to doll up my lemon pie with a cranberry coulis (apparently, the holidays are over but I’m not over them!) and limoncello cream. The pie was pure sunshine on a plate—bright and tangy and a little bit sweet. The perfect thing to brighten up a dreary January day.

Bourbon Ice Cream

A couple months ago, I had the pleasure of discovering a wonderful local distillery—St. George Spirits. You might not be familiar with the distillery by name but you may be familiar with its vodka, Hangar One, so named because the distillery is located in one of the old hangars at the now defunct naval base on Alameda. (OK, so they’re really in hangar 21, but you can’t fault them for taking some liberties with paint.)

Oh, but St. George makes so much more than that vodka. There are incredible infused (not flavored) vodkas, including mandarin and Buddha’s hand (a citrus fruit similar to lemon that looks like, you guessed it, a hand); exceptional eaux-de-vie (the Thai basil is delish), stellar gins, and the most incredible coffee liqueur I’ve ever tasted, currently made with coffee from Verve in Capitola. St. George even makes absinthe and, to my surprise, I loved it.

Pork, Beans, and Avocado Daiquiris

For some reason, I’m having a hard time letting go of summer. Maybe because we didn’t get much of a summer this year in the Bay Area. At least it didn’t feel that way. So, in an effort to kick a little spice into what’s left of the season, I invited some friends over for dinner. My first real dinner since the “kitchenlift” and an excuse to make a couple dishes from my very long “recipes to try” list. Well, it’s not so much a list as a spreadsheet.

The food wasn’t fancy. It rarely is with me. But it was flavorful. I prefer to focus on what I’m good at, putting together a menu of complementary dishes. What I may lack in sheer cooking creativity, I make up for in planning and coordination. Or, as StrengthsFinder typed me, I’m a “maximizer.” I excel at making something that already exists into something better.

Hooray! It's National Cheesecake Day!

This Saturday, July 30, is National Cheesecake Day. To celebrate the occasion, I thought I’d share some of my favorite cheesecake recipes—sweet and savory. What’s a savory cheesecake, you ask? Think of it like an appetizer, warm and cheesy spread on crackers or crostini. If you’ve never tried savory cheesecake, you don’t know what you’re missing! (And nothing smells better baking in the oven. Yum!!) I’ve also included some tip that will help ensure cheesecake baking success.

Sweet

Peach Buttermilk Crisp Cheesecake

Pumpkin Hazelnut Cheesecake

Savory

Stilton-Port Wine Cheesecake

Wild Mushroom-Smoked Gouda Cheesecake


Tips & Tricks

Peach Blackberry Crumb Pie

Back in June, I saw a post cross my Facebook feed from Gluten-Free Girl Shauna James Ahern. She was organizing a pie party on the Internet to encourage folks to bake a pie to help them get over their fear of making pie dough from scratch. I enthusiastically jumped on the bandwagon.

I love pie, especially this time of year when fruit is at its best and the variety is spectacular. So any excuse to make pie was a no-brainer. Also, I really enjoy making pie, specifically pie dough. I have always loved tender, flaky crust (almost more than the filling), and I have fond memories of my mom baking little pie crust cookies for me from the leftover dough when I was a kid. And, I have a crust recipe that works every single time. So any occasion I have to pass along this recipe and hopefully encourage someone to try making pie crust, I’ll take it.

7 Summer Favorites

Just in time to celebrate our country’s independence, I thought I’d share some of my favorite summer recipes. They run the gamut from cocktails and appetizers to entrees and desserts. Truly, there’s something to suit everyone’s tastes and time constraints.

Happy 4th of July!

Raspberry Lemon Clafouti

It’s summer, finally! This is my favorite time of year to make dessert. All that glorious fruit—berries, cherries, peaches, apricots—in everything from pies and crostatas to cobblers and ice cream, even naked with nothing but a dollop of limoncello cream. Yum!

When I saw this recipe come from Sunset magazine, I was instantly inspired. Armed with a load of raspberries, my plan was to make just that. Then, I got lazy. I wasn’t in the mood to whip egg whites, prepare a water bath, yadda, yadda, yadda. It’s summer after all. I didn’t want to spend that much time making dessert.

Scalloped Potatoes, Lemon Mousse, Spinach Ricotta Pie ... Oh, My!

It’s Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial kick-off to summer. Well, according to the calendar, anyway; you certainly couldn’t tell by the weather here in NorCal. While there’s been nothing a barrage of summer- and grilling-inspired recipes buzzing coming across the channels—social and otherwise—I’m playing catch up from my last month’s worth of cooking, which includes Easter. (Yep, I’m a little behind. Hopefully I’ll get to summer fare before Labor Day!)

Here are three standouts from my recent kitchen escapades—two of which are certainly seasonally appropriate. The one exception, the Three-Cheese Scalloped Potatoes I made for Easter dinner, may not be typical warm weather fare. As far as scalloped potato dishes go, this one is on the lighter side, with not too much cream or cheese but lots of flavor. The recipe was inspired by one I had made at a cooking class several years ago at CasaLana in Calistoga, Calif. CasaLana is both a bed and breakfast and cooking school. It’s a great getaway if you want to both relax and learn something new.

Chocolate Fondue with Grand Marnier

The holidays are all about excess and indulging. And what better way to gild the lily, or coat the cookie so to speak, than with chocolate fondue. My friend Debbie Lacy is a fondue fanatic, having perfected the technique and recipes at her yearly fondue fests. I recently was lucky enough to attend her annual fete, and it was indeed decadent and delicious. Debbie even let me in the kitchen to help with the chocolate fondue, which I had never made before. Fun! If you’re looking for something a little special to add to your holiday dessert tray or table, a pot of warm Grand Marnier-spiked chocolate fondue will be the icing on the cake … er, cookie.

My thanks to Debbie for sharing her recipes (yes, there’s more a bonus fondue recipe at the end) and for letting me into her kitchen!


My fascination with fondue began on New Year’s Eve 1974 in Yorba Linda, California. My parents hosted a large party for the first time in the memory of my short life, and my sister and I were scuttled off to our individual bedrooms, only to spend the evening sneaking out into the hallway trying to spy on the party.

Chocolate Cranberry Trifle

Adina Barnett is today’s guest foodie. She contributed her recipe for Lemon Drops the first year I did The 12 Days of Christmas Cookies. That year, she had just launched her cookie company Sweet Little Sin—now a thriving baking business. Even during her busiest time of year, she found time to contribute this amazing holiday dessert. I should save this post for the 12th day, because it’s equivalent to the 4th of July grand finale fireworks. The Chocolate Cranberry Trifle is quite the spectacular display. Over-the-top deliciousness is what Adina’s all about.

Thanks for sharing such a sinful, decadent indulgence, Adina!


To me, Thanksgiving is the ultimate foodie holiday. The minute my November Bon Appetit arrives  in the mail, I pull out my stack of past November and December issues, curl up on the couch with a glass of wine, and pore through them all, dreaming up the perfect menu.  Over the years, there are a few recipes that have become untouchable. The Chocolate Cranberry Trifle is one of them. Layers of vanilla cream and tangy orange-cranberry filling surround slices of moist buttery pound cake, all building a tower toward a dark, decadent chocolate ceiling—the trifle is as festive and delicious to look at as it is to eat.