Baking

A Delicious Savory Sweet Potato Tart

Recently, I found myself with a lot of produce in the house, but a short time to use it up. I was heading out of town that weekend. Being that I don’t like to waste food, I thought about how I could quickly use it all up. Of course, a dinner party was the answer. […]

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Improvised Summer Fruit Tart

If you haven’t already noticed, I’m a pretty casual cook. What I mean is that I don’t follow recipes exactly. Often, I don’t even use a recipe, I just throw things together based on my experiences. This didn’t come naturally. I took a series of cooking classes starting in high school, which have taught me […]

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Terrific on Tuesdays: Dress Up Your Day-Old Bread

I’ve already talked about bruschetta and croutons, but I have to say that day-old bread can be dressed up and simply eaten with soup or a salad. Take any crusty bread (I have whole wheat baguette pictured here) and jazz it up with 3 basic things that every chef has. Drizzle good extra virgin olive […]

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A Site I Love: Nuts.com

Being a digital marketer, I’ve learned a thing or two about a good online shopping experience. One site that I absolutely think does it right is Nuts.com (formerly Nuts Online). These guys have an easy-to-use website, great selection, and great service. They ship with incredible speed, and every once in awhile they email coupons with […]

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An Experiment with Cocoa Brownies

I totally love brownies, so when I found this cocoa-based brownie recipe via Pinterest (follow my Irresistible Recipes board, by the way), I was excited to give it a whirl. Mine turned out a little too dense (probably need a minute or two less of baking), but definitely chewy. I like the idea of making […]

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Fast Fridays: Caramel Graham Bars

If you’re looking for a quick-to-make dessert item, try my quickie-cheat caramel bars. Simply lay a layer of graham crackers in a shallow baking pan. Prepare a basic sugar/butter caramel (I like to do 1 cup of light brown sugar, 1 cup of butter, boiled for 3 minutes, while stirring constantly to get that caramel […]

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Fast Fridays: Croutons–A Great Way to Use Up Leftover Bread

It seems counter-intuitive that bread would be further improved by more baking, but croutons demonstrate that extra baking does indeed create a wonderful texture that puts stale bread back to work. I like to take by stale bread (any kind really–French, Italian, rolls, etc), break it up into chunks (about 1 inch pieces), toss it […]

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A Little Taiwan Flavor in NYC

Last week, Taiwanese American Professionals (TAP) held a night market in Lower Manhattan. I was super-disappointed that tickets were already sold out by the time I heard about it, but I’m excited to see that there’s interest in Taiwan’s awesome tradition of night markets. I would LOVE to see American cities like NYC have these […]

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Bake Up Some Quick Office Gifts

During the holiday season, I usually like to whip up some homemade treats for my office mates. To make them extra festive, I place my treats (this year featured zucchini bread, caramel graham bars, and cranberry orange bread) in cellophane bags, tied them with some different types of yarn (we do love yarn at the […]

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Fast Fridays: Sweet Potato “Fries” and Mayo

Roasted carrot and sweet potato “fries” are easy to make. Just toss your long strips of carrot and sweet potato with a little drizzle of olive oil, a little paprika, and chili powder. Roast in the oven at 375 degrees for 40 minutes or so. Toss the veggies about halfway through roasting to get even […]

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