Last week, I left my heavy coat and boots behind, and aimed my car down the mountain to the town I’d lived in for the past 25 years. It was the first time to be there as a visitor, since we sold our home in March to move full-time to the mountains around Lake Tahoe. It was a quick overnight trip, and I was curious how it would feel to be back as a visitor in a place that part of me still calls home. The weather was glorious, the trees well into leafing, and flowers popping up everywhere with ...
Einkorn Drop Biscuits with Peaches and Blueberries | #BreadBakers
Some people wonder why I join so many different blogger groups. I'm in SundaySupper, Progressive Eats, the Secret Recipe Club, post with The Food Network's blog - FN Dish, and now I'm solidly in the Bread Bakers group. My husband thinks I'm crazy, and he might be right at times. But these groups stretch me, they give me a focus I need for creative thought, and provide a wonderful community to play with. And honestly, I like deadlines. OK, so maybe my husband is right - I am crazy. A great ...
Strawberry Oat Crumble Bars
In celebration of Memorial Day weekend, #SundaySupper is celebrating with Red White and Blue dishes. You'd think this would be an easy one, right? I mulled around a bunch of ideas for almost two weeks. Should I make strawberry shortcake? Or blueberry pie? Then my mind drifted while I pulled out recipes for meringues with berries, and then pavlovas with berries. Too time-consuming, I decided. So I shot into the opposite direction with smoothies. Which of course led to ice cream. The more options ...
Blueberry Bars with Peaches, Lemon, and Coconut
Secret Recipe Club: soft bite-sized cake bars topped with a smear of lemon curd, then packed with blueberries and peaches, and finished with a crumb topping. Clearly I was in a fruit bar mood when I chose this recipe. No not the kind that serves drinks where singles mingle. I'm talking food here. Dessert or breakfast bars. I think I chose my Secret Recipe Club recipe the same day I signed up a recipe for #SundaySupper, when I chose to make Apple Pie Bars. Which is all to try to explain ...
Mom’s Glazed Blueberry Tarts
Easy tarts spread with softened cream cheese or mascarpone, piled high with fresh blueberries, and drizzled with blueberry glaze. When my mom got married, she moved directly from her parents home where her mom did all the cooking to one that she shared with my dad. Not the adventurous type, she refused to bake anything that didn't come from a box, scrupulously followed every recipe, and had a regular rotation of meals. But every meal was thoughtfully prepared, and really good (unless it ...
My Best Blueberry Coffee Cake
High Altitude Baking: Fabulous lightened version of my best blueberry coffee cake, made fluffy with egg whites. I had a ton of blueberries this week, and ate them every morning with some cantaloupe sprinkled with lime juice and mint. Sometimes with a mound of yogurt, sometime not. Very healthy. Very virtuous. Very delicious. But then I started thinking about blueberry coffee cake. By Wednesday, fluffy, streusel-crusted coffee cakes filled with blueberries were all I could think about. ...
Berry-Pineapple Salad with Poppyseed Dressing
Mixed berries, pineapple and gorgonzola come together for a great summer salad with a ginger-poppyseed dressing. Many years ago, a far-flung group of us came together every year for a ski vacation. We rotated it a bit between Deer Valley (Utah), Aspen, and other places in Colorado. One by one, we stopped skiing for any number of reasons, and after not seeing each other for several years, we cranked the group back up. We still rotate the locale, but now it's between our homes, ...
Very Berry Mini-Pies
Two-bite mini pies loaded with blueberries, blackberries, and a dab of cream cheese. Streusel topping includes ground flax seed and cocoa nibs. I’ve forgotten how to relax. How to flop down on a beach with nothing better to do than feel the heat of the sand between my toes, half-listen to nearby chatter and squeals muted by the waves, and just let my mind wander aimlessly. After weeks of jam-packed days filled with long “to do” lists to get our house on the market, I feel guilty about ...
Blueberry Buttermilk Corncake
Buttermilk corncake studded with blueberries and topped with streusel. Also, tips for baking at high altitude. Today marks the beginning of a new series I’m calling High Altitude Baking, which until I can think of something shorter and catchier, can be found under a new tab fittingly called High Altitude Baking. We spend, on average, a week every month in one of the little towns that dot the shores of Lake Tahoe, arguably one of the most gorgeous places on earth. The lake is roughly 6200 ...
