I always enjoy starting my lunch or dinner meal at a restaurant with a cup of soup. Except for French onion soup, which I don’t like, or something very spicy, I’m quite open to a wide assortment of soups, like creamed ones, thick ones with grains, like barley, orzo or others with meatballs, poultry, cheeses,…
Author: Marilyn Raff
Marilyn Raff is the award-winning author of The Intuitive Gardener, plus the author of two other garden books, Shrub Roses: Paradise in Bloom, and Ornamental Grasses for Western Gardens. For a decade she wrote a garden column for The Villager newspaper. Her poetry has been published in over twenty literary magazines, and Finishing Line Press has published her two poetry chapbooks—In the Palm of the Land, and Until Class Ends. Finally, her artwork, jewelry, and sometimes baked items are on displayed and for sale, at The Blue Chair, an art gallery and furniture store at 3473 S. Broadway, Englewood, Colorado 80113. With affection, Marilyn continues her passions of baking, cooking, painting, decoupage, sewing, gardening and making jewelry.
Buttery Snickerdoodles – Surprise!
I always thought snickerdoodles were dull, rather hard cookies, not tasty at all, and could easily be bypassed for something more desirable, like a thumbprint lemon filled cookie or a brownie bar. I often imagined people bought snickerdoodles because of their cute name, or maybe they liked a bit of crunch and their sugary pop….
Buttery Snickerdoodles with Surprises!
I always thought snickerdoodles were dull, rather hard cookies, not tasty at all, and could easily be bypassed for something more desirable, like a thumbprint lemon filled cookie or a brownie bar. I often imagined people bought snickerdoodles because of the cute name, or maybe they liked a bit of crunch and their crunchy-sugary pop….
Turkey Tetrazzini: A Tasty Treat with Thanksgiving Leftovers
From my childhood, with leftover turkey, I remember our housekeeper, Ann, serving an old-fashioned dish, common at the time – turkey-a-la-king. Sometimes she would use chicken. Ann added carrots, crunchy celery, and certainly peas, along with making a creamy white sauce. Aside from it’s saucy flavorfulness, what I affectionately recall were the colorful, but slimy…
Majestic Morning Muffins: Sweet or Savory
Aside from banana muffins, or simple toasted English muffins next to eggs for breakfast, muffins were often, decades ago, ho hum for me, kind of bland, mostly an aside to any meal. I never ate them as a child, even though my Dad owned bakeries. (We usually ate rye bread, bagels and yeast rolls, nice…
M and M Chocolate Chip Cookies – A Colorful and Tasty Treat
I’ve baked many varieties of chocolate chip cookies, all recipes purport to be the best, tastiest, most luscious! And they are – until I find the next one on line or in a cookbook, and then I begin to create my signature cookie. Cookies are quick, most are easy to concoct, and once baked, easy…
Oriental-Style Pork with Oyster Sauce and Mushrooms
As I’ve stated in other parts of this book, I didn’t eat pork until after I was married because my Jewish parents kept a kosher house. However, I still recall a whiff of bacon cooking in the kitchen and I loved that smell and flavor, still do! I think my mother followed certain rules, and…
Shrimp Couscous Vegetable Chowder
I’m a big fan of shrimp, cooked in nearly any manner. I ate shrimp often as a teenager, since our mother took us, my three younger siblings and I to Florida’s beaches for Christmas break. There, I acquired a taste for shrimp cocktail, served with lemon slices and hints of a spicy cocktail sauce. I…
Cabbage, Potato, Zucchini, Mushroom, Barley soup with Bacon
INGREDIENTS Serves 8-10 9 slices bacon, cut into 1-2 inch pieces 2 lbs Yukon gold potatoes, unpeeled, cut in 1/2 -inch pieces 1 small head cabbage – savory, green or Napa variety, cored, cut into 2 inch pieces (1 1/4 lb) 8 oz fresh mushroom, crimini type, brushed cleaned, or a variety you have –…
Baked Chicken, Pasta and Vegetable Casserole
I rarely make homemade chicken stock.
