Recipes

This was our Thanksgiving Day appetizer and stole the show. Sorry Mr. Turkey!

Prep time: 10 minutes

This is my take on the Corn Scones recipe from the Moosewood Restaurant Collective. I normally leave out their cornmeal, substituting it with our freshly ground spelt flour. The currants and lemon zest can be replaced with whatever you have on hand and feel like. In our kitchen we often use walnuts, dried cranberries or apricot paste (a thick sheet of fruit roll-up available at Arabian markets).

On weekends when we feel like something special for breakfast, this is our go-to recipe.

Prep time: 12 minutes Cook time: 20 minutes

I am sitting here with a cup of green tea called Tribute to the Immortals and enjoy a slice of this delicious cake. I received this recipe from a friend and adopted it. I should do my Italian homework but I think I rather have another piece of this wonderful cake. I am sure you will love it!

Cook time: 50 minutes

This is my favorite tomato salad, and trust me, that is no small feat: I LOVE tomatoes and eat them by the pound when they are in season (preferably fresh-picked from the garden). This is a true Italian recipe out of a cookbook Mom bought in Italy. With recipes that are this good, let's hope she continues practicing her Italian by translating recipes from it into English for all of us!

Prep time: 30 minutes Cook time: 3 minutes

A few weeks ago we had a heavenly garbanzo bean soup in a small café in Fallbrook. I tried to recreate the same soup. I did not achieve this but created another really delicious soup. Very satisfying on an empty stomach.

Prep time: 30 minutes Cook time: 40 minutes

There are an abundant amount of different chai recipes. This one I tried yesterday for the first time and I love it.

Prep time: 7 minutes Cook time: 5 minutes

Mom gave me this recipe years ago. It is perfect for a cold fall or winter evening, either as an appetizer or served together with bread as a main dish.

Prep time: 8 minutes Cook time: 45 minutes

Dad and I came up with this while he was visiting this weekend. It is delicious! We decided on the title because the veggies in it are all in season right now. In fact, the zucchini, tomatoes, and thyme are all from the shared garden in my apartment complex and we picked them right before cooking this.

Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: 15 minutes

Try this cake. It's so wonderfully delicious!

Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: 45 minutes

Ripe tomatoes, onion, and garlic are roasted in an unoiled pan until slightly burnt, creating a rich, smoky base for this versatile salsa. Blended in stages to achieve a chunky texture and customizable spiciness, it's an ideal accompaniment for tortilla chips or Mexican dishes.

Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: 15 minutes

Perfect for any Mexican meal! Use this as a filling for burritos and tacos or as a topping for nachos.

Prep time: 5 minutes

This is a potato salad I love. I am not a potato salad person, but I had a big potato and yams I had to use up. Since it was a very nice and warm summer day I decided to try out a new recipe which I found in Barbara Kingsolver book "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle". Off course, because it is me, I can't let a recipe stand how it is, I had to change it. 

Prep time: 12 minutes Cook time: 40 minutes

This is the first time ever that I successfully baked meringues. The trick is to bake them for a long time in low heat. I usually bake everything on 400 F. No wonder the meringues looked good from the outside but fell right into themselves when I took them out of the oven. This time around they were in the oven for 40 minutes on 300 F and were perfect!

Prep time: 2 minutes Cook time: 40 minutes

The blackberry bushes growing along the fence of my apartment complex are overflowing with ripe berries, so I froze half of the ones I picked, intending to keep them for use in smoothies and/or berry pies/crumbles in the fall. But when craving a cold dessert on a hot evening, I decided to try making a sorbet out of them. It was absolutely delicious!

Prep time: 5 minutes Cook time: 0 minutes

Upon returning to Berkeley after spending 3 months away, I was unable to buy everything I needed to fully restock my apartment, so what was originally intended to be Szechuan Green Beans turned into this. I was quite pleased with the outcome.