Tag: almonds

Apricot Honey Almond Tart

Apricot Honey Almond Tart

  The photos of ingredients I’ve purchased for recipes I’ve tried recently grow in my photo library seemingly overnight even though I delete nearly as many as I decide to edit, mentally processing the quality of the recipe as I process my shots of it.  

12 Layers:  White Dobos Torte

12 Layers: White Dobos Torte

  I haven’t always been a contrary person, but when I saw the August challenge the Daring Bakers were to task themselves with smack in the middle of the dog days of summer, I knew I wanted  to work with a light cake  and feature 

Bittman Salad 29:  Balsamic Cherries & Bitter Greens

Bittman Salad 29: Balsamic Cherries & Bitter Greens

Rainier Cherries

There are any number of reasons I’ve decided to chop and chew my way through the 101 “Simple Salads” Mark Bittman conjured up for the summer season. Julie & Julia has been simmering in my mind since I finished reading the book a month or two ago, and as the movie opening date approaches and the resulting hubbub ensues, I guess I’ve spent quite a bit of time thinking about not only cooking my way through something to ground myself, but cooking period.  Sadly, my kitchen hasn’t been getting the workout it’s used to.  Does making salad count as cooking? Will Mr. Bittman deem it a stunt and suggest I’m a less than serious salad maker?  Is it possible that food snobs everywhere will comment on my efforts and suggest I’m not worthy of sampling this treasure trove of healthy minimalist fare?

Or, perhaps, there is the real reason I’ve decided to embark on this quest:   I will benefit from all the lovely green things I’m ingesting and could lose weight in the process.  Think about it:  101 salads in 101 days.  That’s a bit of roughage.  It’s healthy, easy and because I’ve scanned all the combinations Bittman suggests, I know I’ll find something new to add to my old standards.

I have some planning to do with organizing the salads into groups with common ingredients to make shopping more manageable, but in the meantime, I’ve begun with #29.  Why?  Because I had  Rainier Cherries in the fridge that were in desperate need of use.  I’m thinking that’s as good a reason as any.

Continue reading Bittman Salad 29: Balsamic Cherries & Bitter Greens

Nectarine Blondie Parfait

Nectarine Blondie Parfait

Perhaps you’ve caught yourself doing this before:  you’re lost in thought — truly daydreaming about nothing in particular.  Then you wonder, “How in heck did I end up thinking about that?” and you proceed to trace back which thought led to what until you either 

Roundies:  Almond Blondies

Roundies: Almond Blondies

I haven’t made brownies for a very long time. Years. Years as in, when my grown boys were very, very young.  I suppose that after countless results of either raw in the middle crunchy on the outside, or serious qualifiers for hockey puck status, I