French Pear Tart - TwD
Tuesday, January 6, 2009 at 12:01AM 
It's Tuesday but not just any Tuesday. This is a special Tuesday because Dorie Greenspan herself chose this week's recipe for our Tuesday With Dorie (TwD) baking group! TWD turns 1 year old this week and, to celebrate such an incredible occasion, THEE Dorie Greenspan was selected as hostess! So yes indeedy this week we truly are baking with Dorie! She chose her French Pear Tart for the recipe and lucky for me she had other fruits in the Playing Around options because 1) I have not a pear in the house 2) I wasn't about to hit the market to buy pears and 3) I have a whole bunch of apples that need to be used up :)
Em's Potato-Corn Chowder
Sunday, January 4, 2009 at 4:00PM 
It's Sunday afternoon and I have a busy, busy day planned in the kitchen. The last day before we return to work after a nearly two-week "vacation" and psychologically I'm bummed. Where did the time go? Maybe I spent too much of it playing Guitar Hero World Tour with DH and the kids ;-) Anyway, I made this soup this afternoon and it turned out so tasty, so amazingly good, that I just had to rush and post it so that I could share it with all of you. It's something great for a cold wintery day... a nice thick, rich, chowder. Paired with some crusty bread... or better yet in a bread bowl... and you've got yourself quite a meal.
Pumpkin Spice Cream Cake
Saturday, January 3, 2009 at 2:20PM 
It's a lazy Saturday morning... and I'm wanting some kind of sweet-bread for breakfast. Sure I could easily whip one up but there's a little bit of a problem though. I made coconut shrimp last night and the kitchen is still a mess. I hate going to bed knowing I've left a messy kitchen downstairs - kinda upsets my gyros or something. It's even worse since the shrimp was fried and the smell of fried food permeates the house. Ugh. If we had better weather, I'd open the windows and air the place out... just to get rid of the smell. But that's not about to happen. I'm cleaning up the kitchen in prep for starting the sweet-bread I'm wanting when DH pulls out the foodie gift basket my sister gave us for Christmas. Ooooooh Yeaaaah :) We sit down and enjoy some Cinnamon Toffee Bundt Cake... courtesy of Wolferman's and my sister. But of course I still had sweet-bread on the brain and remembered this amazing pumpkin spice cream cake I made early in December but in the hustle and bustle of the month never got around to sharing with you. This got such incredible raves from my co-workers that I really wanted to give you the recipe. Sure, the holiday season is over but it's still winter in the US and that means it's still okay to make pumpkin cake :)
Tall and Creamy (Lemon w Blackberry Swirl) Cheesecake - TwD
Wednesday, December 31, 2008 at 11:59PM 
The final 2008 recipe for our Tuesdays with Dorie group is the Tall & Creamy Cheesecake. I made two variations... one was a Lemon Cheesecake with a Blackberry Swirl all nestled on a gingersnap crust... and the other was a Toasted Coconut Cheesecake with a toasted coconut graham cracker crust. If you are looking for a creamy cheesecake that comes together easily, I truly must say this is a fantastic recipe. It's certainly not a dry/crumbly/New-York-Style cheesecake... oh no. This is thee creamiest cheesecake I've ever ever made! So if your tastes lean in this direction, you gotta give this recipe a whirl!
2008 - My Blog In Review
Wednesday, December 31, 2008 at 7:25PM Can you believe it's New Year's Eve!!?!?! Some of you may have already celebrated in your part of the world but here in Southern California we've got about 4 hours left until the ball drops.
I came across a very creative end-of-year post over on one of my favorite blogs today... Quiet Life. The idea was so good I thought I'd do something similar here on my blog :) After all, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery! So without any further adieu, please click to see some of my favorite creations of 2008.