Dinner Planner – Week of February 6, 2023

My newest online cooking class has been uploaded and it’s fabulous!  I have included so many interesting ingredients, great techniques, and favorite product recommendations. If you are not part of my monthly cooking class, I’d love to have you!  I promise you will learn so much in each class which you watch on your own and then you can join my live monthly office hours if you like.  I am confident you will start cooking more with ease and you will save money and be healthier.  It is 100% worth the price!! 

For those of you hosting a Super Bowl party and making guacamole, don’t forget to buy your hard avocados on Tuesday or Wednesday and refrigerate once they are perfect. Here’s your dinner planner for the week: Continue reading

Olive Oil Yogurt Cake with Citrus Glaze Recipe

I taught this cake last year in a Mediterranean-inspired class and it quickly became a favorite.  If you are skeptical about olive oil in a cake, try it!!  It’s a delicious, fruity fat and cakes last longer with oil instead of butter.  Olive oil is the perfect match with citrus, other fruits like apples, chocolate, and herbs in desserts (I have a crazy good recipe for a chocolate chunk cake with rosemary.) You can dust it with powdered sugar or make this glaze with whatever citrus you have.  Blood oranges and pink grapefruit are particularly pretty!Continue reading

Dinner Planner – Week of January 30, 2023

Monthly Cooking Class Students, the new February class will be uploaded this week!  It’s fabulous!  I also had “office hours” this past week on Tuesday at noon PT and it proved to be an excellent time. Check your email for the recording if you want to have a listen to what we chatted about.

Also, I am hosting a very exciting event in March at Pages Bookstore in Manhattan Beach.  The best-selling author Rebecca Serle will be in the house with me on Tuesday, March 6th at 6:30 pm for the paperback launch of her book, One Italian Summer, which is such a fun read and a great escape to Positano if you wish you could be there right now LOL. I’ll be having a discussion with Rebecca about the book while we sip Prosecco!  Tickets can be purchased here and I hope you can make it! Here’s your dinner planner for the week: Continue reading

Pasta E Fagioli Soup Recipe

Pasta e fagioli is the soup of my childhood and the first soup I ever learned how to make.  It was my father’s favorite so we ate it often, usually on a Monday night because on Sundays we had a pretty big meal.  Sometimes my mom put a piece of salt pork in the soup and used water, other times a small parmesan rind.  We usually ate it with bread and a wedge of cheese and some fruit afterwards.  Pretty simple, and I am craving that simplicity again. Everyone loves this soup and I know you will too!Continue reading

Dinner Planner – Week of January 23, 2023

Happy Weekend!  Never mind my thin skin and that I am wearing four layers to pickleball in the morning and it’s 50 degrees. I went out for my morning walk in my full-length puffer coat and gloves and I can’t stop making spicy hot chocolates and soup, soup, soup! For my lovelies who subscribe to my monthly online cooking class, I have live office hours on Tuesday, January 24th at 12:00 pm PT/3:00 pm ET.  Check your email for the zoom link and bring all your kitchen questions.  Or we can chat about anything – beauty products, happiness, kids, life, nothing is off limits!  Here’s your dinner planner for the week: Continue reading

Quick Asian-Inspired Tangerine Chicken Recipe

This tangerine chicken recipe is a family favorite and sooooo easy!  I like it more than similar dishes we have ordered at a restaurant and I can control the type of oil and quality of the ingredients.  I use the term “inspired” in the recipe name because I am not an authority in Asian cooking. I just try to duplicate dishes I have eaten out of the home with ingredients I have on hand and make them taste great!  In the case of this tangerine chicken, it was a major success!Continue reading

Dinner Planner – Week of January 16, 2023

The holidays may be over but I love entertaining this time of year!  Game Days, Valentines Day, and cozy dinners in are all my jam.  I hosted a birthday luncheon for a good friend this week and it was a gluten-free and vegan menu (because she is GF and vegan) and wow!  If you didn’t catch the details on Instagram stories, I will be sharing it all in this Monday’s newsletter with all the recipes and prep ahead tips. If you don’t subscribe to my free newsletter, you can sign up here. Thanks for all your great feedback!  Here’s your dinner planner for the week:

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Okonomiyaki-Inspired Veggie Pancake Recipe

I took a little break from posting both here and on social media but I’m back. And with a GOOD one! This is one of those recipes that will reward you if you’re open-minded.  There will be some of you who will look past this Japanese vegetable pancake, also known as Okonomiyaki,  and think it’s nothing special.  You need to trust me here and make this.  Not only am I obsessed with this, Hubs and my son fight over every last scrap.  This is very filling as a light meal, or sometimes I’ll add a slice of smoked salmon on top for extra protein.Continue reading