Carrot Cake with Dulce de Leche/Cream Cheese Frosting

This easy-to-make carrot cake is topped with equally easy-to-make dulce de leche/cream cheese frosting—and the results are so delicious. Recipe below.

I AM A CARROT CAKE LOVER, but my sole previous foray into baking one was, to be honest, a mess. I’m still not sure what I did wrong, probably every possible thing, and the whole fiasco put me off trying to bake carrot cake for quite a few years. Up until the other day when I stumbled on a recipe that nudged me into giving it another shot. Continue reading “Carrot Cake with Dulce de Leche/Cream Cheese Frosting” →

Neapolitan Style Soup with Beans and Dandelion Greens, quick and easy

This hearty traditional Italian soup with bitter greens and white beans comes together quickly. Recipe below.

WE HAD A BIG DAY THE OTHER DAY, full of traipsing and talking and seeing people we love and getting home after dark all worn out. After all of that, all we wanted was something simple and comforting. As so often when we feel like that, the answer was: soup. Continue reading “Neapolitan Style Soup with Beans and Dandelion Greens, quick and easy” →

Pecan Tassies (think teeny tiny shortbread pecan pies)

Pecan Tassies are buttery, rich pecan pies made bite-sized with shortbread crusts. Recipe below.

AS IT HAPPENED, THIS YEAR, FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MORE THAN 20 YEARS, we did not host Thanksgiving. One of our daughters got married in the spring, and we now find ourselves part of a big new family of the nicest, kindest, most fun people walking the earth. We spent Thanksgiving out of town with them, in Milwaukee (which admittedly is not that far out of town for us). I committed to bring a number of dishes, and among them were pies. Continue reading “Pecan Tassies (think teeny tiny shortbread pecan pies)” →

Wild Rice Mushroom Soup

Wild Rice Mushroom Soup is a hearty, savory, satisfying vegetarian soup, perfect for cold nights. Recipe below.

I’VE NEVER HAD LUCK WITH WILD RICE, which is my way of saying that in the distant past I’ve made some really awful things with it. So when our friend Carmen gave us a beautiful bag of black, shining wild rice from Minnesota, it took me some time to get over my fears and figure out, already, what to do with this thoughtful gift. No one should be surprised that the gateway to a wild rice dish that I actually love was: soup. And mushrooms. Continue reading “Wild Rice Mushroom Soup” →

Quick Berry Cake—berry, berry delicious

Fresh blueberries and raspberries, brown sugar and sour cream create a delicious not-too-sweet snack cake. Recipe below.

SINCE WE CAME BACK FROM OUR TRIP, I’ve been blundering around with simple, fruit-laden quick bread recipes. One that I was very optimistic about included oat flour, cinnamon and fresh chopped apples. That smelled great and looked so comforting, and it was a lot of fun to whiz up rolled oats in the blender to make the oat flour. But in the end it was an aesthetic disaster, totally falling apart when sliced and even when speared with a fork. Yikes, no idea what I did wrong. Then I remembered some of the simple Polish cakes of my youth, featuring sour cream, blueberries and loads of sugar. Continue reading “Quick Berry Cake—berry, berry delicious” →

Thai-style Watermelon Salad

Chilled watermelon cubes, Thai basil, mint, peppers, pickled red onion and fish sauce create a refreshing salad with a touch of umami. Recipe below.

I AM NOT A BRUNCH PERSON, but there’s a place in Milwaukee, Uncle Wolfie’s Downtown, that is making me change my ways. It’s always so delicious, and friendly, and interesting, and I always have something that opens my eyes. TBH, it’s one of my favorite places to eat on the planet. Continue reading “Thai-style Watermelon Salad” →

Rich Fudgy Brownies with (or without) Pecans

These rich, chewy, chocolaty brownies are topped with a delicious two-ingredient icing. Recipe below.

THE OTHER DAY, OUR NEIGHBOR ROSA INVITED US TO A COOKOUT in her backyard in honor of her sister Lorena’s birthday. We love her cookouts—there’s always great food and great conversation and her yard is an elegant, shady oasis—even on the hottest days, she somehow conjures cooling breezes. And we love Lorena, so celebrating her birthday? in Rosa’s yard? sounded like a perfect evening. Continue reading “Rich Fudgy Brownies with (or without) Pecans” →

Red Currant Chutney

Red currants, apple, shallots and lots of spices create a deliciously acid/sweet/spice chutney to serve with various meats or tofu or… Recipe below.

I LOVE RED CURRANTS. When I was a kid, my father always had currant bushes, and to this day I always make room for one red currant bush, even in our very small yard. Continue reading “Red Currant Chutney” →

Baked Polenta with Roasted Mushrooms

Roasted mushrooms combine with polenta and Parmesan to create a creamy, earthy, cheesy vegetarian meal. Recipe below.

THE OTHER DAY, SOCIAL MEDIA OFFERED ME A VIDEO of someone making what he called Mushroom Polenta Bake. It was one of those super short, super telegraphic videos, the sort of airy thing that breezes past the nonsense side of cooking—measurements, timing, a lot of the ingredients—in favor of a quick, charming impression. But, as with so many of these sort-of-cooking videos, the information may have been ridiculous, but the visuals were alluring—so very alluring. Continue reading “Baked Polenta with Roasted Mushrooms” →

Gołąbki in casserole form—unrolling cabbage rolls

This layered cabbage roll casserole delivers the comforting flavor of gołąbki (cabbage rolls) without all the effort of making the rolls. Recipe below.

IF, LIKE ME, YOU GREW UP WITH A MOM WHO WOULD MAKE GOŁĄBKI—the comforting, homey classic that not-Polish people call cabbage rolls—then you sometimes just get a hankering. And it’s an itch that is not easy to scratch. Gołąbki (pronounced go-UMPki), frankly, is a colossal nuisance. It is complicated. It is time consuming. It demands a particular appearance, and it is very easy to ruin. Continue reading “Gołąbki in casserole form—unrolling cabbage rolls” →