The Blog

Once I saw Gabrielle Corcos & Debi Mazar make homemade limoncello on Extra Virgin on the CookingChannelTV.com, I just had to try it. Then I watched Valerie Bertinelli make her delicious Challah Bread Pudding with Limoncello, and I was hooked. I’ve tweaked both a bit and you’ll find the recipe for the limoncello below. Be patient, and then ENJOY!

Here’s my take on one of my all-time favorite cookies, an old, old recipe from Betty Crocker’s Cooky Book (©1963). Yes, they did spell it “Cooky.” I’ve tweaked the recipe here with the weight of the flour because this is one of the very rare recipes that requires measuring flour via the “dip method.” You get a very different measurement this way because you compact the flour as you dip, as opposed to sifting or scooping and leveling.

I recently got inspired by an episode of Alton Brown’s Good Eats to make cupcakes. Before I knew it, I was asking my Mom for my grandmother’s Hidden Treasure Cupcake recipe. There’s one similar to it on Food.com called “Chocolate Cream Cheese Cupcakes” (Yaaawwwn!). These are also known as “Black Bottom Cupcakes” (again Yaaawwwn!). I wanted to see how similar it was. Alas, it’s missing a one of the things that take my grandmother’s recipe over the top. The chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts) and sugar streusel topping really take these cupcakes to the next level.

As an homage to our new home, Albuquerque, NM, my first recipe published on this blog is for Carne Adovada (AKA red chile-braised pork). Never thought I’d be cooking with chiles, much less straight up New Mexican Hatch chiles, having come from the heart of “meat and potatoes” in Minnesota. There, “heat” is defined by “mild” Italian sausage.