Cornmeal Gnocchi with Cumin Lime Refried Black Beans

March 11, 2020 by Maria Almeida in cooking, maria

The inspiration for this dish came from 1) how often we eat rice and beans or quesadillas with beans or burritos with rice and cheese and beans, and 2) a dish called Gnocchi alla Romana that my family loves. Gnocchi alla Romana, if you’ve never had it (but you should!), is nothing like the potato gnocchi you proably have had before. Basically you cook semolina flour in milk, beat in some eggs and Parmesan, let it cool and firm up, cut into circles and layer around a dish, and then recook in a hot oven until puffed up and crispy and golden. Its AHhhhmazing. We love it with a meaty red sauce or some roasted veggies and Italian sausage. Or just plain. But back to those rice and beans. We eat a lot of that kind of meal. And I doubt if we could ever get sick of it, but still - it’s nice to add a little variation. So I thought, why not swap in a corny grain, use cheddar or monterey jack cheese, and serve it with refried black beans? So I did and it was delicious and the kids loved it and I love having a new way to eat gnocchi (alla Mexicana?) AND beans.

Yogurt Cake with Citrus Glaze and Yogurt Drizzle

May 09, 2018 by Sarah Blanchard in baking, sarah

This recipe is YUM.

I'm trying to think of another more intelligent way to explain it.

Let me put it this way: I made two loaves one afternoon. They were gone by the morning. Let me try again: I brought a loaf to a girls night. The four of us easily ate 3/4 of it in two hours. I may or may not have finished it off when I got home. Here's another scenario: I pulled a fresh loaf out of the oven, a friend stopped by, chat chat chat, 30 minutes later she says good-bye, and half a loaf is gone.

Fresh zucchini corn salad with lime, feta, and cilantro

April 10, 2018 by Maria Almeida in cooking, maria

This salad is a delight. It's so fresh and flavorful and the perfect accompaniment to barbecue, spicy Mexican, or any lighter spring/summer meal. Fresh sweet corn contrasts with salty feta and the zing of the lime bounces around in your mouth with the herby cool of cilantro. The fresh zucchini gets softened by the vinaigrette but keeps a pleasantly firm texture which it otherwise loses when cooked.

Cuban Shredded Beef

March 21, 2018 by Sophie Barrows in sophie, cooking

This dish is a perfect instance of where few and simple ingredients come together and become amazingly, astonishingly flavorful. It's fantastic on its own with a side of rice, but also makes for a good burrito meat as it can be stretched while still providing a flavor punch.

lemon & lime drops

October 17, 2017 by Sarah Blanchard in baking, sarah

Like Maria mentioned, we all have our favorite variations of the Joy of Cooking's Sugar Drop Cookies with Oil. The original recipe is perfect, so I don't typically mess with it. At the most, I might add some vanilla bean powder to the sugar that the cookies are rolled in, giving them a pretty vanilla-flecked exterior. But sometimes for a party I think it's fun to have a whole spread of the same cookie in different variations. Since these are so simple to mix up, and quick to bake, you can churn out a bunch of different variations within an hour.

Lime & Coconut Cake

October 07, 2017 by Sarah Blanchard in sarah, baking

I've lived in Southwest Florida for eight years now, and not once have I made it down to the Keys. We had plans to make a family trip there over the summer, but things happened (like, I had a baby).

Much of Southwest Florida is filled with constructions built in the last few decades. So whenever I stumble upon anything in Florida that dates earlier than this century--anything that has the merest wisp of historicity about it--I am eager to soak it in. One of the places I have my heart set on visiting is Ernest Hemmingway's home. Sure, he may have been a less-than-admirable and deeply flawed character, but his prose defined a new style in American literature and his stories, though often troubling, are filled with an aching beauty, a longing for something beyond. Also, his home is worth visiting in itself, having been built in 1851 by marine architect and wrecker Asa Tift out of limestone he excavated directly from the site.