Daube de Boeuf

Daube de Boeuf - a dead-simple French beef stew with carrots, mushrooms, cooked down with vermouth and gin. Sounds weird as hell, but your guests will love it

This is quite a step away from my usual offerings. I think I can count the number of French recipes on this site on one hand. Or less. Let’s see . . . Gougeres, quiche Lorraine, mushroom quiche. That’s it. And now, this daube de boeuf which is an absolutely fantastic cold-weather recipe that’s very easy…

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Black Plum Vinaigrette

Black plum vinaigrette - similar to raspberry vinaigrette, but better. This may be my new favorite way to eat plums (my least favorite stone fruit)

I had a whole collection of little black plums, neglected and going soft in my fruit bowl until … I turned them into salad dressing. Clearly, plums are not my favorite stone fruit, but in this plum vinaigrette they shine. The flavor reminds me of a raspberry vinaigrette, but less acidic and more fruity. And…

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Sweet Potato Waffles

Sweet potato waffles with orange and vanilla = Creamsicle Waffles

Sweet potato waffles that also taste like orange-vanilla Creamsicle? Line starts at the left. But seriously, have you ever seen a naked waffle picture like this? I admit. Waffles look a little sad in a photo when they aren’t covered in whipped cream and syrup and melted butter pooling in all the pockets. But  .…

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Peach Bacon Salad

Wonderful main-dish summer salad with fresh peaches or nectarines, crispy bacon, toasted almonds, and arugula in a simple, homemade honey mustard dressing

Before you say “that does NOT sound like a salad” let me say that peach bacon salad also has arugula in it so it actually IS a salad. But peach bacon arugula salad with almonds has too many words. So peach bacon salad it is! This pretty little number makes a great main-dish salad for hot…

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Jackfruit Ropa Vieja

This jackfruit ropa vieja is a vegan version of Cuba's famous shredded beef dish, ropa vieja. Excellent served with black beans and white rice

Since making these jackfruit tinga tostadas, green jackfruit has become a pantry staple. (Although I do severely limit the canned food items I buy to reduce my family’s exposure to BPA and its equally-bad replacement BPS, I make exceptions for green jackfruit and for coconut milk because they are very hard to find otherwise.) If…

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Turkey Burger Stacks

Healthy, low-carb, grain-free turkey burger "stacks" with a layer of fried sweet potato, spiced turkey patty and creamy green chile sauce

Ahh, the good ol’ turkey burger. Popularized during the low-fat 90s and then coldly abandoned, along with Snackwells cookies and Lay’s WOW! chips. Or so I thought. Turns out, turkey burgers have not lost their place in California. They’re still on restaurant menus, like, a lot. And not in the “substitute turkey patty” kind of…

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Salmon Tacos

Fresh salmon tacos with kale slaw and creamy jalapeño salsa

Listen all ye lovers of fish tacos and what-not. Do not be a’feared of the sorta long ingredients list found hither for these salmon tacos! You’ll want to make these post-haste, my friends. (Unless you don’t like salmon and in that case make my other fish tacos recipe with cod or another white fish. People…

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Chipotle Hummus

Slightly spicy, smoky chipotle hummus recipe with garlic, lime and chipotle en adobo

Like everyone else who came up in the 90s, I have a soft spot in my heart for hummus. Vivid memories of party snack tables spotlighting pita chips and hummus — so exotic! — and beach days with Triscuits dipped in hummus and then blown with sand so that with every bite you could feel…

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Summer Squash Fritters

Summer squash fritters with sharp Cheddar and spicy serranos are a quick and easy vegetarian lunch or snack

Y’all ought to know by now I’m a fritter fanatic. They’re one of the best ways to eat vegetables and that’s the lord’s truth. Corn fritters, feta zucchini fritters (which I evidently used to call zucchini pancakes but forgot?) and now these dang ol’ summer squash fritters. Our neighbors gave us a few extra yellow summer…

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