Banana Split Birthday Cake

If you’ve ever baked cornbread or muffins, you can make a really fabulous looking birthday cake with very little trouble. It looks like a fancy bakery creation, tastes wonderful, and is even relatively healthy. Or you can use the cake recipe to just make banana cupcakes.

Video Demo – How to Flour a Cake Pan

“Flouring” a cake pan is one of those cooking terms that sounds like someone doesn’t understand what’s a noun and what’s a verb. I think I’ve got it down now, though, and I have a few tips and a video demonstration in this post.

Homemade Gnocchi

Gnocchi uses very simple ingredients to create something that tastes sublime. Store-bought frozen gnocchi simply can’t compare – but the warnings on the recipes I’d read made me think it must be hard to make. I didn’t find that to be the case when I actually tried it, though you do have to be willing to get your hands a bit messy.

Feasting and Fasting vs. Routine

Friends who attend our occasional feasts sometimes suggest they’d like to sit at our dinner table every night. They  probably wouldn’t eat much if they did.  We’ve recently had to establish a daily dinner schedule just to make sure we don’t forage grumpily every night out of laziness.

Puerto Rican – Pastelón Plantain Casserole

A wonderful family recipe from my friend Iris – the “structure” is similar to lasagna or moussaka and many other layered casseroles from around the world, but the flavor is completely unique, the faint sweetness of the plantains contrasting with the richly seasoned meat filling.

Meal Planning – Puerto Rican dinner

We’re having another big Sunday dinner, this time with a Puerto Rican menu. I’m counting on a few tried and true favorites (Arroz con Gandules, Pastelón, Habichuelas, etc.) and trying some new things as well (Caldo Santo, Flan).

Sri Lankan Favorites: Pineapple Curry

This unusual, colorful dish is one you can mix up in 10-15 minutes (depending on how fast you chop an onion). If you keep canned coconut milk and pineapple on hand, this is also an easy pantry dish, though it does taste extra special with fresh pineapple.

Sri Lankan Favorites – Fish Cutlets

This recipe works nicely as an appetizer or as a quick main dish. It can be made ahead (mostly) or put together at the last minute. It’s cheap, versatile, and delicious. Of course it’s becoming a regular at our house.

Ben’s Favorite Chicken

This dish is an example of American pantry cooking at its finest, a hodgepodge recipe that looks like it was invented by going through cupboards and grabbing condiments and spices seemingly at random – yet somehow, it works: Sure, it’s sweet and salty and has its share of fat – all the usual markers Americans…

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St. Patrick’s Day: Corned Beef and Irish Soda Bread

This meal displayed both the strengths and the weaknesses of our family’s approach to food. It was successful in that we planned ahead and the results were tasty, healthy, and visually appealing. Unfortunately we all were depending on inexplicable telepathy to make the preparation details clear to my sister, who who was left to execute…

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Christmas Feast #2: Tropical Salad

If I saw this recipe in a fru-fru cookbook or trendy cooking magazine I probably would not have tried it. I sometimes suspect recipes like these of being designed by a food editor to photograph well without much thought for the flavor combinations. But I’ve tried several unusual salads from this cookbook before and always found…

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