Pizza Bread Rolls

Pizza Rolls

Earlier this month, I posted a recipe for Carrot Ginger Walnut Sweet Rolls.  I love making sweet/filled rolls… they make a great breakfast, dessert, or afternoon snack.  Filled rolls also are great for a crowd – one recipe usually makes 16 servings – so it’s a great dish to make and bring to a potluck. [...]

Perfect Medium Rare Beef Ribeye Steak using a Big Green Egg BBQ Grill

Perfect Medium Rare Beef Ribeye Steaks on the Big Green Egg Charcoal Grill

Recently, we decided to invest in a “Big Green Egg” Charcoal Grill.   The Big Green Egg is a “Kamado” style grill - a traditional Japanese wood or charcoal fired earthen vessel used as  a stone or oven.  It uses natural lump charcoal to sear, roast, or smoke any meat of your choice.  This cooker is [...]

Carrot Ginger Walnut Sweet Rolls

Carrot Ginger Walnut Rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting

Happy Spring!  Here’s one of my new recipes… a carrot ginger-walnut roll, similar to a cinnamon roll.  The dough is made with pureed carrots, and the filling flavored with ground ginger – for a interesting variation on the sweet roll.  Topped with a salty-sweet rich cream cheese frosting, this is a wonderful pastry to serve [...]

Banana Coconut Bread (non-dairy banana bread)

Banana Coconut Bread

Banana Coconut Bread Every now and then I like to make different variations of banana bread.  (Sometimes it’s fun to change things up a bit.)  Aside from my favorite regular banana bread recipe, I really love this more tropical version prepared with shredded coconut, coconut milk, and coconut oil.  Because there is no dairy, this [...]

Corned Beef Fried Rice (what to do with leftover corned beef)

Corned Beef Fried Rice

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  I know many people feasted on corned beef and cabbage for dinner tonight to celebrate…  And – it means that tomorrow, packages of corned beef are probably going to be on sale for about 50% off at the supermarket!  The day after St. Patrick’s Day is a great day to fill [...]

Soondubu Jjigae (Korean Spicy Tofu Stew)

Soondubu Jjigae

Back when I was in school, I have great memories of visiting BCD Tofu House late at night after a long evening of studying.  They were open very late, so it was worth the drive to get a decent meal at that hour of night.  If you haven’t had a chance to try soondubu… it’s [...]

Vanilla Bean Cheesecake with Oreo Crust (Basic New York Cheesecake Recipe)

Basic Cheesecake recipe

One of my favorite cheesecake recipes is the Italian Cheesecake recipe that I posted previously.  However, that cheesecake recipe calls for specialty ingredients (mascarpone cheese + ricotta cheese) which can be somewhat expensive and a little bit harder to find – so I don’t make it all the time.  Most of the time, I use this recipe instead [...]

Earl Grey Tea Leaf Cake

Earl Grey Tea Pound Cake

The headline news this morning was, “San Diego’s weather forecast for Friday: A month’s worth of rain, all in one day.”  Whaaaaaat?  That’s the kind of weather that makes you want to stay home and sip a hot cup of tea while watching TV with your cat.  Extra points if you have some cake to [...]

Pistachio Pudding Cake (Moist Pudding Cake Recipe made with Boxed Cake Mix)

Pistachio Pudding Cake - made from boxed cake mix, a can of soda, and a box of instant pudding mix!

  If you don’t have a lot of time to make a cake from scratch, but want to have a soft and super-moist cake with a homemade flavor and texture – try my recipe for Pudding Cake!  It starts with a base of boxed cake mix with two secret ingredients: 1) a can of soda, [...]

Easy (no bake) Chocolate Silk Pie with Oreo Cookie Crust (Chocolate Mousse Tofu Pie)

chocolate silk pie

When making chocolate mousse (or chocolate silk) pie… a number of recipes call for raw egg white.  You can always use pasteurized egg white if you are worried about salmonella – but those recipes are typically more complicated to make.  Sometimes, I just don’t have the time. This recipe is SUPER SIMPLE, and can be [...]