Even though my loving father died shortly past my tenth birthday, and that Dad was barely home – working tirelessly at his bakeries – in spite of this–his smiles and baking endeavors have resonate in me for decades. All aspects of baking flash before me, daily; they hound me to bake something, anything. I love…
Tag: baking
Stuffed Jumbo Shells, 4 Cheeses, Layered with a Meaty Marinara Sauce, Baked
Pasta for lunch, usually curly kinds or other elbow shaped varieties were common in my childhood. That’s what our live-in maid/housekeeper cooked for us, ( my 3 younger siblings and I) often with butter swirled in, plus a smattering of American cheese scattered from above. As an adult I’m still fond of that meal, but…
Creamy Baked Chicken, Rice and Vegetables
Chicken and rice sounds so passe, normal, average, but it may be however, it’s truly more than that too. Cooking this dish gave me an opportunity to use my skills, talent, create something delicious, extrodinary, a stick-to-your-ribs-meal that, with some of it, the ideas and ingredients, and part of the process just popped into my…
Jam-topped cheesecake and peanut butter squares
Although living in Colorado for over 40 years, my roots–especially my food roots–lie mostly in New Jersey where I grew-up and in New York too, where a replica of this dish is famous. Even if a person buys cheesecake in another part of the country, many menus reference “New York cheesecake”. Its title is iconic,…
Sweet Potato-blueberry-walnut bread-lemon iced
After cooking sweet potato soup, which was delicious, I’ve dug around the extensive sweet potato website based in North Carolina, and learned historical facts and viewed many recipes. Most of the historical information can be found on my recipe for the soup. But personally, I’ve discovered my own small tidbits about sweet potatoes. One, I…
Glazed Lemon Pound Cake – a sweet dessert with pucker power
At the beginning of my fora into cooking and baking, which started fifty years ago, I never thought of using real lemons. Unknowingly I bought those plastic bright-yellow lemon containers. Naturally there was lemon juice in them, but who knows what else? It took me many years to discover fresh lemons, and their many benefits…
Rugelach : A Classic, Flaky Dessert Filled with Nuts, Cinnamon and Sugar
I never saw my mother or father cook or bake in the kitchen, ever. Lucky for them, (and us too) my parents were affluent and hired a housekeeper/maid to do all of our cooking. And too, since my father was a baker and owned six bakeries, that enabled us (my three younger siblings and…
Food Art: A Shortbread Cookie Decorated with Sweet and Salty Treats
This new idea came to me as I was about to bake. At the grocery store earlier I had purchased several bag of mini candies for just this purpose, but at the time I had not realized the extent of the possibilities…
Pie crust (easy) for the holiday season
With a knife or a bench scraper, cut the dough in two even pieces, and form a low round disk.