Naan... For the most part, I have had a lot of luck with bread recipes.  If it does not work out the way I want on the first try I begin the tweaking process.  It is not always fast but I get there in the end.  I say for the most part because I have had one bread nemesis.  One bread that, no matter how I tried, would never work out the way I wanted.   That bread was the delicious Indian flat bread called naan. Naan...

Cream Filling for Cupcakes... This recipe is not specifically for cupcakes, but it is REALLY good in cupcakes.     I found a recipe on the most excellent blog Nosh With Me for Oatmeal Cream Pies.  I loved those plastic wrapped cookie sandwiches when I was a child so I knew I had to try them.  The pies were good, but it was the filling that grabbed my attention.  I wondered, how it would work if piped into a cupcake?  So, I tried it out.     If...

Cheese and Onion Enchiladas with Chili con Carne... I live in Texas and have a shameless addiction to Tex-Mex food.   I grew up on the stuff and from an early age remember going to restraunts that served dishes of fragrant, spicy food and warm, soft tortillas. Among the things I love most are cheese and onion enchiladas.  Now, most places serve them with red sauce, or chili gravy, and that is fine, but if it is an option I order mine with chili con carne.   I love...

Flourless Chocolate Cake... If you love chocolate then this recipe is the one for you.  My husband, who used to work in restaurants, would make this for me years ago when we were dating.  I found his old book of formulas and remembered how good this simple cake was and decided to go about making it.  His formula was for enough to make ten cakes, certainly too many for little old me, but it was easy enough to scale it own for one 9″ round...

Flour Tortillas... When I was growing up in South Texas we had this neighbor who would, on Saturday afternoons, make her tortillas for the week.  Believe me, I made friends with her children so I could make myself available for tortilla day.  I think she enjoyed my enthusiasm and always had a few extra tortillas for me to take home.  They were sublime!  My family would fight over them, and no matter how many she sent home with me...

Wacky Cake... Guess what this cake is missing?  Can’t do it?  Then read on … My husband was listening to the radio a few days ago and the reporter was discussing money saving recipes.  One recipe was from the Great Depression called Wacky Cake. In an effort to save money, and because food items such as eggs, butter and milk were selling for a premium, home cooks had to use what was on hand.  Wacky Cake is one...

Crepes with Fresh Fruit, Whipped Cream and Ganache... Sounds fancy, right?  Well, it is fancy but it is not as complicated as you might think.  If you have never made crepes before then you need to know a few things. First, the thinner the crepe the better.  Crepes are quite eggy and if you make them too thick they will overpower the dessert.  I use an 8 ” omelet pan to cook my crepes and I use 3/4 of a standard size ladle, which is about 1/4 cup of batter. ...

Who Wants Pancakes??... We recently had an ice day I got to stay home with my husband and our three dogs.  On such occasions, which are few and far between in my part of Texas, I like to make a big breakfast to celebrate a day of unexpected freedom.  So, I made a big stack of fluffy homemade pancakes. Pancakes are a wonderful way to start the day, take ingredients you almost always have on hand, and they are dead simple to make.  My recipe...

Molten Chocolate Cakes... Many, many years ago, before I went to culinary school, I tried my first molten chocolate cake.  I was perplexed as to how they were able to have a perfectly firm cake on the outside while having a molten chocolate core inside.  I was sure it was done by placing some sort of frozen chocolate center into he cake before baking, or by injecting the cake with a hot center after it had come out of the oven. Now I know...

Apple Cake... Have you ever had a bag of apples sitting around and you don’t know what to do with it?  Well, I found myself with that problem a few weeks ago and I decided to get creative.  The results were outstanding and I want to share.  Green apples are tops in my book.  They bake well, they slice and eat well, and they are tangy, sweet and firm.  As much as I like just plain apple, I was getting a little tired of...

Guacamole … My Way...  This is guacamole, my way.  It may offend purists, who insist that guacamole is best when it is avocado and lime juice only, but I have made it this way for years and so far I have had no complaints.  Even with the mayo.  Trust me, it’s so good.   I served this dip for parties and it is eaten with greedy abandon.  It is also lovely on top of fajitas or spread inside a whole grain wrap sandwich.  The options...

Bacon Explosion … Yes, Really.... My local newspaper, the Dallas Morning News, posted a recipe just before Superbowl Sunday titled Bacon Explosion.  Since bacon is the candy of meat, I had to click the link and see what was what.  What I found was intriguing, and hard to resist. Bacon Explosion - Before It is a blanket of woven, thick cut, bacon that encases a pinwheel of sweet Italian sausage, BBQ sauce, BBQ rub, and crisp bacon bits.  I amended...