If you need a tasty dish for a Cinco de Mayo party, look no further than the papaya in your backyard or at the farmers market. Papayas grow well in Florida and a mature tree can yield many, many pounds of fruit, so it’s common for neighbors and co-workers to share them with the “papaya-less” crowd. Just…
Sweets & Desserts
Strawberries & Cinnamon Mascarpone
“It’s time to get off the sugar train!” I exclaimed to my hubby Monday morning. To my surprise, he said he was ready to disembark, too. As I write this, 96 hours have passed since deciding to cut out refined sugar and carbs (for one month, that is, in order to push the reset…
Plum Cakes
Julia Child’s birthday was this week – August 15, to be exact. For those of us who love to cook, she was an inspiration because we learned so much from her, and we saw the passion and joy she displayed in her kitchen, so we celebrate her special day! I was really young when…
Grilled Pineapple with Cinnamon-Rum-Orange Yogurt
Growing a pineapple is one of the most rewarding things you can ever do. All you have to do is place the green top of a pineapple into some dirt and wait for it to produce a flower — one that results in a perfect pineapple. Easy, right? Like many things, it’s not that simple….
Have a Picnic!
(Note: this is an updated version of the original blog post I wrote July 20, 2017. Because it’s prime picnic season, I thought it was worth another look!) In July, 2017, I wrote an article for Edible Sarasota titled Florida Picnic which included my own creations for summer dishes like chicken sandwiches with mango-mayo, lime-infused berry…
Grilled Watermelon
When I was very young I had a friend who had some peculiar food preferences. She didn’t like popsicles, pie, corn on the cob, cereal, tomatoes, or anything with pineapple, to name a few. I considered that ‘peculiar’ because, well, I was the kid who ate anything (well, not liver and onions). Consequently, I was…
Hershey’s Chocolate Cake
My pantry is never without a box of Hershey’s Cocoa. While it may not be one of those high-end cocoas with a fancy name and a big price tag, it runs deep in the veins of my family. There was always a box in my mom’s pantry, which she regularly used to make their “Perfectly…
Rosemary & Lemon Shortbread Cookies
Rosemary is a beautiful, fragrant herb known for remembrance and friendship. It’s also a source of iron, calcium and B-6, and even has ancient healing roots for ailments like muscle aches, memory loss and hair loss. This stuff has it all! Because it thrives in a sunny climate and loves rain (we’ve been having a…
Strawberries, Black Pepper, Balsamic & Basil
Strawberries with black pepper. If it sounds to you like an odd combo, you’re right. But food scientists tell us it’s a magical combination that actually makes sense. Simply put, black pepper brings out flavor in strawberries, making them extra sweet and more strawberry-y (my term, not the scientists’). And you don’t really taste the…
Orange-Infused Chocolate Covered Fruit
Every shop I visited over the last week has been well-stocked with treats for the big day — Valentine’s Day, that is. All those treats looked so delicious – chocolate covered Rice Krispies treats, heart-shaped cookies, chocolate covered pretzels/cookies/dried fruit, things on sticks, things in stacks, tiny bags of cinnamon hearts (one of my faves),…
Almond Biscotti
When it comes to holiday cookies, I’m game for anything — thumbprints with yummy jam, spicy gingerbread, buttery shortbread, those little cookies with red or green cherries in the middle, cut out shapes covered in colored sugar — I love to bake ‘em AND eat ‘em. But there’s another cookie I especially love. Biscotti! These…
Homemade Pumpkin Butter
Halloween has come and gone, and the two sugar pumpkins (a.k.a. ‘pie pumpkins’) I bought for decoration have been sitting in my kitchen since then. I like to buy the small pumpkins instead of the big ones (which are perfect for carving) because they’re decorative AND edible (i.e, their flesh is sweet and firm, not…
