Merry Christmas everyone!  Now that Christmas is almost here… I thought I would post my method for making cute little “Gingerbread Houses” from graham crackers.  I’ve been making these little graham cracker houses since I was a kid – because it is so easy and because you don’t need any specialized ingredients!  All you need [...]

Chicken Parmesan is a really easy Italian dish to make for dinner – it works well for a casual family meal… or can make a nice main dish to serve at a dinner party.  (Pair it with a side of pasta and a garden salad.) To bread the chicken, you can use the breadcrumbs of [...]

One of my most favorite cocktails is Roy Yamaguchi’s Hawaiian Martini (from Roy’s, a popular upscale Hawaiian fusion restaurant).  It’s a potent cocktail, and at about $12 per glass… somewhat pricey… but considering how good (and strong) it is – you usually only need one!  Roy’s is one of my favorite restaurants down in La [...]

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  This year I made a big humongous 22 pound turkey… and even after giving away leftovers for family to take home, I still had a ton of leftover meat.  Yesterday, we ate Thanksgiving 2.0 for lunch, and today we had Thanksgiving 3.0.  I don’t want to eat Thanksgiving [...]

Happy Thanksgiving!  Thanksgiving is almost here… and I’ve been slowly getting ready for the big feast on Thursday.  I plan to make most of the side dishes on Wednesday… but the pumpkin pie and other desserts can be made up 2-3 days in advance to help save time on Thanksgiving Day.  My husband always says, [...]

Ahh, November!  Around here… whenever this time of year comes around, it means crisp fall weather, Santa Ana winds… and cold/flu season!  :(  Last week, I came down with a terrible cold.  I was so incredibly miserable, and I found myself craving the Mexican chicken soup that we usually get at a local hole-in-the wall [...]

Happy Halloween!  Earlier this week, I posted a recipe for Pumpkin Cornbread – a slightly sweet cornbread that you can make with leftover pumpkin puree.  Today, I’m posting a recipe for Pumpkin and Chicken Chili – another way to use leftover pumpkin – which goes really well as a main dish with the pumpkin cornbread. [...]

It’s fall!  That means that pumpkin puree is on sale in many markets (I saw canned pumpkin on sale for $1.99/can, and sugar (pie) pumpkins at 2 for $5 at the market yesterday.)  But what can you do with pumpkin puree besides making pumpkin bread and pumpkin pie?  At some point, I get sick of [...]

Harusame are Japanese vermicelli noodles made from mung bean starch.   These noodles can be stir-fried, served cold/room temperature as a side dish, or can be used in soups.  (The noodles themselves are gluten free, which makes them a good option for those individuals with Celiac disease.**)  I like to stir-fry harusame with pork and [...]

Here is a quick and easy (but impressive) bite sized dessert/appetizer that you can serve at a holiday party or get together – triangles of filo pastry, stuffed with… whatever you want!  I’ve made these little triangles with savory cheese filling, different types of meat fillings, and my favorite – dessert fillings like Nutella!  This [...]