Summer
Lebanese Village Salad
Lebanese Village Salad is a chopped vegetable salad. The ingredients are so flexible! Mine contains a special twist with chopped apple and a honey vinaigrette. At the top of the traditional Lebanese salad list is the Village Salad. This chopped salad typically includes cucumber, tomato, and onion. From there, the palette is as varied as…
Read MoreOlive Oil Cake
Olive oil cake is ultra-tender and moist, with added richness from yogurt in the mix. Why bake a cake with olive oil, you ask? I have asked same. Cakes, even our standard cake mixes, often call for oil in the mix. The reason: oil makes for a tender, moist crumb. Typically oil-based cake recipes call…
Read MoreApricot Upside-Down Cake
Apricot Upside-Down Cake is made with a brown-butter, brown-sugar topping and soft sponge cake. A hint of orange blossom is perfect here. I’ve never been good at favorites. As in, what’s your favorite cake? What’s your favorite color? What your favorite anything. I love them all. Same with this apricot upside-down cake. I would never…
Read MoreAsparagus Pickles with Grape Leaves
Asparagus pickles with grape leaves in the jar go extra-crisp! The grape leaves deliver tannins that impart more crunch. These are refrigerator pickles, quick and easy. So delicious for your cocktail hour or on the buffet. This recipe is as much about the humble grape leaf as it is about the grand pickled asparagus. I…
Read MoreHemingway Daiquiri
This post is written by Peggy Abood, sister of Maureen! She is one of the world’s great Hemingway devotees. The Hemingway Daquiri is so refreshing, using fresh-squeezed citrus. Blitz all of the ingredients with lots of ice to go for a frozen Hemingway Daquiri. I know when the love affair started. I wasn’t looking for…
Read MoreCaprese Salad with Pomegranate and Mint
Caprese salad with pomegranate and mint is a flavor explosion. The pomegranate molasses, like balsamic vinegar, lends a sweet-tart note to ripe tomatoes. I figure it was because we had such a cold and unforgiving winter last year (polar vortex, lest we’ve forgotten), but when the leaves made a full appearance last spring, I felt…
Read MoreApricot Chicken Recipe
This fabulous Apricot Chicken Recipe uses fresh apricots. The roasting method results in juicy roasted skinless, boneless chicken. I was rushing to make a dinner that both my mom and my nephew would like to eat. The chicken breasts seemed harmless enough, and I’ve been schooling myself this summer on how not to dry out…
Read MoreTabbouleh Hummus Platter
The Tabbouleh Hummus Platter is perfect on your grill buffet, as a side dish and a vegetarian main. Make it gluten-free using quinoa in the tabbouleh. Eat the tabbouleh hummus with thin pita bread or crisp romaine leaves. Someone asked me recently what is my favorite way to eat hummus. That’s a toughie, because I…
Read MoreFrozen Blueberry Labneh Swirl Bars
Frozen Blueberry Labneh Swirl Bars are gluten-free, creamy-tart bars on a pistachio crust. Ice cream maker optional! As big and crowd-worthy as our recent giant cherry slab pie was, these frozen blueberry yogurt swirl bars are about as small as you can get, pan-wise. They’re in an 8×8, which I rarely use. We’re so often…
Read MoreCherry Lime Slab Pie
Cherry Lime Slab Pie is a big sheet pan of a pie, with a high crust-to-filling ratio. The tart (or “sour”) cherries are key to classic cherry pie flavor. I pride myself on being able to put together a decent pie lickity split, without a lot of fuss. Knowing how to make great food without…
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