kitchen adventures
What’s a magic lemon cake? I’m so glad you asked. I wanted to tweak my family’s favorite snack cake – Magic Chocolate Cake – and make a lemon version. What’s magical about it? This is a cake that tastes great, is dead simple to make, uses pantry ingredients, and only one bowl. There
Green tomato spice cake: if you didn’t tell people what was in there, they’d never guess. This is a simple spice cake, that ordinarily would be stuffed with nuts and various dried fruit, including citron. I substituted raisins and green tomatoes, and found a new keeper! Preheat oven to 350ËšF
Delicious and creamy, simple chocolate truffles – a little heavenly bite – can be the end of a perfect meal, a tasteful gift for a friend, a secret trove of indulgence. Fine chocolatiers make and sell truffles, sometimes at exorbitant prices. They’re often enrobed in tempered chocolate, but they’re also very,
When the weather turns chilly, I turn to hot chocolate. I hate powdered mixes, though: they never completely dissolve, and just don’t taste right to me. Many recipes for homemade chocolate syrup call for coffee. I purely hate the taste of coffee. For me, even a hint will completely ruin
Brunch is a lot easier at my house since I’ve been making overnight cinnamon rolls. Everybody loves them, and you can’t beat the convenience. Who wants to get up early and fuss a lot? They’re perfect as the weather turns cooler, or for any day when you might expect a
I love a good tart, don’t you? This chocolate raspberry tart is a wonderful example of something that’s simple but delicious, and it’s especially good when made with local berries. I like to make a small 5-6 inch tart. This will give you 4 servings, or 3 if you are
In the late summer, I make seedless raspberry jam. It’s part of my calendar of the harvest, coming right after peach-oolong jam and before apple butter. I like to have the seedless version of raspberry jam in my pantry, even though it’s harder to make. It’s useful in a lot
My grandmother’s answer to hot summer weather was a cold supper, and it always included a potato salad. In general, I’m very much in favor of the cooking of grandmothers, but I’ve found that I prefer a lighter version. This recipe for a lemon dill potato salad is adapted from
In summer, there’s very little that’s more refreshing than a Japanese cucumber salad (sunomono). You’ll need seasoned rice vinegar – look for it at a grocery that carries a large selection of Asian ingredients. If you have only plain rice vinegar, then add a bit of sugar and a bit of soy
We’ve just passed week 13, so here’s the CSA late summer update. We’re 75% done. The veggies are beautiful! We still see summer tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, summer squash, and corn. The melons have come and gone (this makes me happy; I’m not much of a melon fan.) We’re also just
During the Midwest summer, it’s generally hot and often humid. I simplify my cooking in the hot weather: big salads, piles of corn on the cob, bowls of cool fruit, grilled meats. I’m a big fan of lazy summer cooking. Sometimes we’ll get a burst of cooler air, and for
Old kitchen wisdom: “If it grows together, it goes together.” This potato, tomato, and squash tian – a Provençal dish – is a very tasty example, using the super fresh vegetables of summer. A tian is both a food and the vessel it’s cooked in: either a dish of vegetables baked together,
I’m Maurita Plouff, and I write about cooking and preserving the local harvest in Southeast Michigan. Any recipe you find here is something I have cooked myself, and enjoyed, and think you might like too. I invite you to try the recipes, and leave comments.