Japanese Fried Rice

Japanese Fried Rice

With Thanksgiving coming up, I thought I’d share one of my favorite Thanksgiving side dishes.  I know, fried rice seems like a weird thing to serve with Thanksgiving… but it’s a family tradition for us!  It all started one year… after my dad spent all day making the Thanksgiving turkey and trimmings, my teenaged brother [...]

Asian coleslaw with sweet sesame dressing

Asian coleslaw with sweet sesame dressing

Here’s one of my basic stand-by side dishes: Asian style coleslaw with a sweet sesame dressing (no mayo!).  It’s pretty easy to prepare, and works well as a quick salad or side to accompany your meal! For best results, use Savoy cabbage (it’s the round head of cabbage with wrinkly looking leaves).  If you can’t [...]

Purple Sweet Potato Casserole (Purple Yam Casserole)

Purple Sweet Potato Casserole

About a year ago, I started getting a farm box of produce delivered to my door once a month.  (This is a really great way to try interesting and weird produce that the regular market doesn’t carry.)  Well, last winter, I ordered “purple yams”… and wow, those were soooo good!  I made a sweet buttery [...]

Homemade Refrigerator Pickles: Spicy Dill & Garlic Cucumber

Homemade pickles

I love pickles…. especially the salty and sour kind!  Kosher dill pickles, cornichons, giardineira, Japanese umeboshi… they’re all good.  If you like pickles too, they are quite easy to make – simple refrigerator pickles can be made to taste (you can make them with all kinds of flavors and spices… whatever you like), and are [...]

Simple Ratatouille (French Provençal Vegetable Stew)

Ratatouille (Mediterranean Vegetable Stew)

Although it is now officially “autumn”, the tomato plants in my garden must not have gotten the memo…. a few days ago, I had a ton of tomatoes sitting on the counter and I wasn’t sure what to do with them.  When my farm box arrived (it’s a once a month service that delivers produce [...]

Balsamic Roasted Carrots

Balsamic Roasted Carrots

When I was a kid, there was one way that we were served carrots at home… boiled, with a dollop of margarine.  Soft and mushy, with all the flavor dumped out with the water… these were not the best tasting carrots that I’ve ever had.  At a restaurant several years ago, I had Balsamic Roasted [...]

Avocado Tomato & Basil Tartine

Avocado Tomato and Basil Tartine

There is a small restaurant chain here in San Diego called “Swami’s Cafe.”  We’ve been going there a lot lately, as I’ve become addicted to their “Forked Avocado & Herbs on Toast” and their “Acai Smoothie Bowl“.  Their food is so unique – fresh and healthy – but really tasty and flavorful.  If you ever [...]

The secret to making perfect risotto (Basic Risotto Recipe): Artichoke Risotto

Artichoke Risotto

Last month, I posted a recipe for Butternut Squash Risotto that you can make with pretty much any vegetable puree.  However, I also wanted to share a  Basic Risotto Recipe that you can easily sub ingredients for whatever you have on hand.  This version calls for Artichoke – but you can use mushrooms, sun dried [...]

Sweet Potato Casserole

Sweet Potato Casserole with Sweet Pecan topping

With Christmas coming up next week, I thought I would share one of my favorite holiday meal side dishes… Sweet Potato Casserole!  Made from whole sweet potatoes (or yams), this dish is rich and satisfying… and perfect for a cold winter evening! I like to make this with a crunch pecan & brown sugar topping. [...]

Butternut Squash Risotto (or Pumpkin Risotto)

Butternut Squash Risotto

Butternut squash risotto is a wonderful warm fall dish – it’s comforting and is a rich and satisfying meal for a cold fall or winter evening!  If you have a lot of pumpkin puree leftover from Halloween… you can even substitute the butternut squash for pumpkin with no problem! In the produce section of the [...]