Tag Archives: Baking

Bacon, Kale, and Onion Quiche

What a shame that quiche is usually reserved for bridal showers and ladies lunches.  After all, it’s an economical entrée of endless variations that is equally at home on the table for breakfast, lunch or dinner.  Consider that you can prepare it ahead of time and serve it hot, cold or at room temperature and your probably kicking yourself that you don’t have a quiche in the fridge now.

Before you run off to the grocery store to buy the ingredients to make this quiche, stop for just a minute.  Peek inside your fridge.  I’m willing to bet that you have some milk or cream and a couple of eggs.  How about some flour and butter?   Yes?  Congratulations.  You can make a quiche.

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Cooking with Kids: Back to School Breakfast Parfaits


Where have I been?  It’s August and my last post was back at the beginning of June.  Since I last posted, I’ve taught over 30 cooking classes.  The bulk of these classes were Kids Classes that I taught at Cooking Uptown here in Charlotte.  In June, we offered four week-long courses for 9-13 year olds and then in July, we offered three week-long courses for 14-17 year olds.  The courses were a great success  (check out the press on WSOC-TV,  WCNC, and in Southpark Magazine) and I have a new-found respect for parents everywhere.  I have a better understanding of how you do it, but I still am in awe over how you do anything else!

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Caramelized Onion and Gruyere Tart

I’m of the belief that recipes should be shared.  I never omit an ingredient in a requested recipe or leave out a critical step so that the final product isn’t quite right.   I need all the good karma I can get and consequently tend to share all of my cooking secrets.  With that being said, my moral philosophy on recipe sharing has been severely tested with this tart.  To put it mildly, I’ve been a bit selfish.  It’s understandable though.   While you’ll never hear me claim that a particular recipe is my favorite (there are far too many wonderful dishes for that), if I had to list my top five this one would be at the top of the list.

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Profiteroles

To heck with New Year’s resolutions.  I know the season of over-indulgence is over, but I won’t deny that I’ve  stockpiled peppermint ice cream and have frozen Christmas cookies to make sure the season lasts just a tad bit longer.   For those who are starting out the New Year with the goal of shedding those holiday pounds, I apologize.  You should read no further as this recipe is not for you.

It all started earlier this morning when I had to test a recipe for cream puffs for an upcoming class.  No one needs 3 dozen cream puffs lying around their house and I was brainstorming about ways to use the puffs. They freeze beautifully and I was already thinking ahead to making them into savory appetizers filled with crabmeat or chicken salad.  Such thinking makes one hungry and before I knew it, I had dug out my carton of peppermint ice cream, melted some semi-sweet chocolate with a little cream, and made myself a delicious peppermint profiterole.  Sure you can use vanilla ice cream, but if you are like me and in a bit of depression now that the holidays are officially over, then peppermint ice cream will make you feel much, much better.

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Grandma’s Sugar Cookies

Christmas has long been my favorite holiday.  From picking out the tree to hot apple cider on Christmas morning, my parents somehow orchestrated a perfect Christmas every year.   As I’ve grown older, I have come to appreciate our many family traditions much more.  I’ve also begun to realize just how much work it takes to prepare for the world’s best Christmas. I’m not sure how my parents did it as just finding the time to make sugar cookies was tricky for me.

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Chewy Gooey Granola Bars

North and one of our good friends from Charlotte are running the Shut-In Ridge Run tomorrow morning.  For those who don’t like to torture themselves on Saturday mornings and as such, aren’t familiar with this race, it’s an 18 mile run UP Mount Pisgah in North Carolina.  Sounds grueling, huh?  The fact that autumn finally decided to show up causing the temperature to plummet, means that I’m especially pleased with my role as spectator for this one.

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Autumn Apple and Pumpkin Muffins

The temperature is not cooperating, but today is the first day of fall.  Thank goodness.  I’m ready to turn on my oven and spend hours slow cooking food.  I’m craving a hot bowl of soup on a cool, crisp autumn night.  And I can’t wait to start cooking with fall produce.

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Ham and Pear Sandwich on Cranberry-Pecan Bread

I have a confession to make. Peanut butter and cherry jam on whole wheat bread is my go-to lunch.  To its credit, it’s quick, economical, and a complete source of protein.  It’s also the sandwich of choice for 5-year olds and yes, rather boring.
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Mora’s Caramel Cake


Caramel cake is not for the faint-hearted.  Affectionately referred to as burnt sugar cake, it’s a specialty of the deep South and a tradition in my family. Growing up, a birthday wasn’t complete without this tender cake and its tooth-hurting, thick, sugary frosting.  While its fat and sugar content is enough to make you cry “uncle,” I promise you’ll have no problem ignoring this painful truth as you cut yourself a second piece.

This recipe originated with my Great Grandmother Ida in New Bern, NC and was further adapted by my grandparents’ housekeeper Mora.  Mora mastered the cake and as such, got her name attached to it.  Mora’s caramel cake has been the birthday cake of choice for my father and me for years and my mother lovingly turned them out each fall. Yet it wasn’t until I attempted to make the recipe myself that I realized what a labor of love it was.  While making the cake is simple, the icing requires resolve and a little luck.
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Upside-Down Cherry Almond Cake


Last summer I fell in love with a recipe in the August issue of Bon Appétit for a Peach and Pecan Upside-Down Cake.  And oh, was it good.  I made it for the 4th of July and then a couple of days later baked another one that I transported to a family reunion.  The peaches baked in brown sugar and butter were perfectly tender and the pecans added a great nutty taste as well as the a bit of crunch. It was a cake that made you want to turn on your oven when it was 100 degrees outside; a cake that lacked pretension, but was still far from ordinary.
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