Although they’re often a favorite side dish staple, sometimes mashed potatoes need a little inspiration.
Root vegetables make a perfect addition to potatoes, and I particularly like the sweet flavor of carrots in this recipe, but parsnips, rutabagas, turnips, and celery root will work just as well.
Yukon Gold potatoes are a great choice because of their rich, creamy flavor. It’s important to rinse the potatoes well to remove excess starch, which can make the mixture gluey.
October is National Apple Month!
It's apple season (and the upcoming holidays) and hopefully more brisk weather have put us in the mood for apples, any variety, whole in a lunchbox or in any of the lovely versions from our contributors' kitchens!
Apple-Lime-Mint Spritzer
Epic Apple Pie-Buttermilk Shake
Spiced Mulled Cider
Toffee Apple Martini
Beet and Apple Salad with Honey Dressing and Pomegranate Seeds
Brussels Sprout Slaw with Apples and Walnuts
Endive, Apple and Pecan Winter Salad
Autumn Apple and Potato Salad
Homemade Apple Sauce
Acorn Squash Stuffed with Spiced Cranberry Apple Chutney
Baked Butternut Squash with Apples & Cranberries
Pomegranate Glazed Baked Squash and Apples
Apple and Walnut Cornbread Stuffing
Sausage, Dried Cranberry and Apple Stuffing
Sweet Potato Gratin with Apples, Rosemary, Sage and Gruyere
Pork Cutlets with Sweet and Sour Apples
Roast Pork Tenderloin with Apples and Fennel
Cinnamon French Toast with POM Apple Compote | German Apple Pancake | Spiced Apple Waffles | Apple-Maple Walnut Breakfast Quinoa | Mimi's Apple Butter | Old-Fashioned Apple Streusel Muffins
Fall Harvest Cinnamon Apple Cake | Teddie's 1973 Apple Cake | Apple Crisp | Grandma Ople's Apple Pie
Cranberry Apple Cobblers | Easy Apple Phyllo Crisp | Louisa May Alcott’s Apple Slump
Sweet and Salty Caramel Apples | Apple-Pumpkin Delight
Deep Dish Apple Pie | Green Apple Gallette | Pomegranate Apple Pie
Oscar Wilde said, "I can resist everything but temptation." I think he had fresh figs in mind when he said that.
Consider this: Yesterday morning at the Hillcrest farmers' market, I spotted close to a dozen people eating fresh figs as they shopped. That's because everything about fresh figs is irresistible -- their pleasingly plump stature, their velvet skin splitting with ripeness, their ambrosial pink flesh.
Despite fresh figs' high price tag, usually $4-6 per pound, San Diego shoppers couldn't get enough of them, including me. I also can't get enough of these simple, no-bake Greek Yogurt, Fresh Fig, and Black Currant Parfaits. This dessert proves that opposites attract -- sweet figs and tart black currants, syrupy honey and spicy cinnamon, and earthy rosemary and tangy lemon zest are enfolded in luscious, creamy Greek yogurt.
I just know Oscar Wilde wouldn't have been able to resist them either.
Pumpkins are EVERYWHERE! It is just starting to cool down in L.A. and the flavors of fall are creeping into my home. Meals like Shepherds Pie, Claire’s Brisket, Butternut Squash Soup, Lasagna, and Chili are cooking in my kitchen. Making pumpkin soup is a weekly request. With left over pumpkin puree I am always finding ways of using up the left over puree.
The usual suspects; pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin doughnuts, and now pumpkin ice cream. Having a few egg yolks in the fridge always ingnites my desire to make ice cream. I have to admit, I have become a little bored with our old favorites (butterscotch pecan, coffee cookie dough, sweet cream). Don’t get me wrong, they are good, better than good. But I wanted a new flavor and with this being fall, all I can think about is pumpkin. So glad I did. While the custard was cooking on the stove, it smelled just like fall. The smells of cinnamon and nutmeg infused my house.
It was so overwhelming that I couldnt help myself, I did stick my finger in the warm custard, before putting it into the ice cream machine. I was tempted to drink it. Really tempted. But didn’t.
The applesauce doughnuts I made the other day didn’t stick around in the kitchen very long. Off they went to the guys at the gas station, to the owner of the tea shop in town, along with one of her customers who happened to be in for a cup of tea, and a few to my friends at the food co-op.
Fourteen little doughnut balls remained on a plate on my kitchen counter. My two-year-old doughnut-ball-loving grandson lives hours away from me, so this time, I couldn’t share with him.
I decided to surprise my bread-pudding-loving husband. I mixed up a liquid mixture, rich with egg and butter, sweet with white and brown sugars and spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg. Broken doughnut balls (there were only 12 little balls on the plate by this time. Apparently, there is a doughnut-ball-loving person right in my own house.) took a long bath in that liquid before I stirred in some chopped apples.
There was just enough to fill two ramekins. Breakfast in bed on a chilly autumn Saturday morning? Dessert by the fire after dinner? If you decide to serve this for dessert, it can be baking while you’re eating dinner. If you decide to serve it for breakfast, it can be chilling while you’re sleeping.
Fragrance of fall. Warm. Delicious. Comfort. Just for two.