Listen to the Flavors

Equipment Ice cream maker 1 large and 1 medium bowl Glass or stainless steel bowl or measuring cup that can hold at least 1 quart Fine mesh strainer (sieve) Access to plenty of ice Cooking thermometer (optional) Quart size mason jar or similar container with lid Medium saucepan Medium skillet Wooden spoon or silicone (heatproof) spatula Plastic measuring cup (around 1/2 cup) for scooping Ingredients 2 cups heavy cream 1 cup canned pumpkin (chilled) ¾ cup agave or sugar Pinch salt ½ tsp cinnamon ¼ tsp nutmeg ¼ tsp ginger ⅛ tsp cloves ⅛ tsp allspice 5 egg yolks ¼ tsp vanilla extract 1-2 Tbsp or a shot glass of rum (preferably spiced dark rum) 1 cup raw pecans (heaping if you like a lot of nuts) ¼ cup unsalted butter 1 tsp salt Before you start Salt: Don’t use regular table salt. It’s far too harsh. Use either Kosher salt (widely available), Maldon sea salt, or fleur de sel. Pumpkin: You can use fresh cooked, pureed pumpkin if you prefer it to canned...

Let's get one thing out of the way. True carbonara is not a cream sauce. True carbonara has only these ingredients: eggs, hard cheese, bacon or pancetta, black pepper, and water. It's quite simple to make, but takes a little practice to get the texture right. This is a dish my boyfriend and I like to make. It's pure comfort food. He makes the pasta from scratch and I make the sauce. If you can, use fresh pasta. Soon we'll share a recipe for that. For now though, if you don't make your own pasta, use fresh or dried pasta from the store. We like this dish best with spinach fettuccini, but you could use any long stringy pasta. Carbonara is traditionally made with spaghetti. It doesn't work well with tubes or chunky pasta because it's too hard to get the egg mixture to coat it evenly. When you make carbonara, you rely on the heat of the pasta to gently cook the eggs. Now let's talk about pork. Use either bacon, pancetta, or a combination of both...

Ingredients 3 lbs. brussels sprouts 2 cups raw pecan halves 2 Tbsp. maple syrup 1/2 cup olive oil Salt and pepper White wine vinegar (optional) Roast the Sprouts Preheat the oven to 410 degrees. Get a large baking sheet ready. Line it with parchment paper to make it easier to clean later. Rinse the brussels sprouts and trim off the ends. Slice them in half, or quarter them if they're the really big ones. Toss them in a big bowl with the olive oil. Drizzle it all over and toss together to evenly coat the little gems. Spread them in a single layer on the baking sheet (which if it isn't lined with parchment, should be oiled). Sprinkle all over with salt and a little pepper. Pop into the oven and set the timer for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, make the pecans. After 30 minutes, stir the sprouts and then roast them for another 10 to 20 minutes, whenever they look golden brown but not burned. After the first 30, I set the timer for 10 and then another 5 and 5...

Wow. Have I really not posted anything here in four years? Hmm. It's probably not coincidental that four years is how long I've been at Salesforce. I guess I've been busy. But I'd like to get back to dabbling in a little food writing, or something like it.

A photo of a delicious looking cheese-less pizza that I found on the Internet I can't decide which I miss more: ice cream, or cheese. At least with ice cream, there is a reasonable alternative that is cold and sweet: sorbet. There really is no good substitute for cheese. Oh, there is, you say? No. No, there is not. I have yet to try to make a cheeseless pizza, since I've been forced to give up dairy, because it just seems too sad. Today, however, I was slightly encouraged by a delicious slice of veggie cheese-free pizza I had at Whole Foods. Tomato sauce and vegetables and a heavenly crust. I am inspired. There is hope. So, I don't actually have a recipe to share just yet. I'm open to ideas. I'm searching the internet. And when I next have time to cook, I intend to experiment with some pizza dough, tomato sauce, pesto, sundried tomatoes, pepperoni, garlic, and other vegetables and meats. I'm annoyed by most of the dairy-free pizza recipes I find ...

  On weekdays, I usually don't have time for breakfast, at least not before I'm out the door. Typically I eat at my desk when I get to work, and then it is a bowl of cereal. Since breakfast is my favorite meal of the day, I make a point of doing it right on the weekends. This breakfast is actually quite simple and didn't take that long to make. The oatmeal is from a bag of quick oats from Trader Joe's that takes about 10 minutes on the stove or 2 minutes in the microwave. Fraternizing with the raspberries and blackberries are sliced mini kiwis I picked up from Whole Foods last night. I didn't add any sweetener, but almost added a drizzle of the ginger syrup I also picked up from Whole Foods last night. I wanted to keep this breakfast sugar-free.  That, in itself, is probably a big enough breakfast. But I'm going for a bike ride this morning and I want lots of energy. Thus, the chicken apple sausage with kale and green onions, sauteed in coconut oil. ...

I am currently dairy-free, most definitely NOT by choice, so I'm doing what I can to fill the sad ice cream void in my life. I liked sorbet before I went dairy-free, but always thought of it as a decidedly different food than ice cream. That is still true, but I've become a little creative with toppings to get closer to that ice cream happy place. This is just a scoop of raspberry sorbet topped with coconut cream and raw chopped walnuts. Coconut cream is basically coconut milk but the creamy, higher fat part of it. It comes in many brands, and is sometimes labeled as coconut milk or culinary coconut milk. Just make sure it has around 14 grams of fat per 1/3 cup or something like that, and it only takes a drizzle to make this deliciously rich and creamy. Well, at least for me, on my sadly dairy free diet! I have yet to appreciate the soy, rice or other dairy alternative ice creams. Maybe that will come with time. For now, they just taste like impostors. Chocolate chi...

You really can make this in seven minutes if you have all the ingredients ready to go, like this... Look at you! You are so organized! Why is the goat cheese orange? Because it's Sweet Chile Goat Cheese. Ingredients: 2 eggs 1 clove garlic Handful of kale or other greens Small red or other potato Goat cheese or other cheese Salt and pepper Butter or olive oil Tools: Garlic press Knife Ovenproof small skillet/pan Microwave (or small saucepan) 1. Preheat your oven to BROIL. You need a hot oven to make a frittata! 2. Cut the potato to about 1/2" dice to make about 1/2 cup. Microwave in a small bowl with a little water for 2 to 3 minutes until almost fully cooked. (You can stick a fork through it but it doesn't fall apart when you do.) OR if you don't have a microwave, steam it for about 10 minutes or to same tenderness in a saucepan. Drain them so they're nice and dry. You don't want a wet frittata! 3. Meanwhile, chop the kale in small piec...

Banana Soft Serve I don't recall where I first heard of the idea of pureeing frozen fruit to a soft serve ice cream consistency. I had tried it once or twice at home awhile ago but then sort of forgot about it. Then, this summer I was in Denver and had some banana soft serve from a food truck called  Ba-Nom-a-Nom  that was delicious! You could get other fruits mixed in and choose from many healthy toppings. I had plain banana topped with coconut and enjoyed it on a bench in Civic Center Park. Back home in the summer heat, I wanted to make this for the kids, who both love mango. I tried both plain mango and a combination of mango and banana, using my small Ninja blender. I found that it works best to add some frozen yogurt and a little liquid (juice or kefir milk) for consistency and easier blending. My kids both prefer the mango version, and here is our recipe. (Don't tell Molly. She says it is a secret.) In your blender, mix 1/2 cup mango nectar, 1 cup frozen ...

One of my resolutions is to eat a green salad EVERY DAY. Every day! I can tell I've been sticking to it so far, because I can never seem to keep enough lettuce in the house. I am buying 3-4 heads of lettuce a week instead of 1-2. A nice side effect of this, rather unexpected, is that my 12-year-old son is also eating tons of green salad now too. As long as I keep the Caesar dressing flowing, he is totally into the salad. I've usually been doing red or green leaf lettuce, tons of chopped fresh parsley, carrots, celery, cucumber, maybe some green beans...and sometimes protein like beans, chopped deli turkey, or tuna. Sometimes a few walnuts. My favorite "dressing" is just a drizzle of fresh lemon juice and a little olive oil, but if I don't have that, I have to get a little creative. Like today I don't have any lemons so I squeezed some grapefruit juice and a little olive oil. I don't really like using vinegar because it's too harsh and overpowers t...

As a way of procrastinating just a bit from what I really need to be doing, I'm writing about the homemade mac 'n cheese I made tonight. I found that coconut flour makes a damn fine replacement for regular flour in homemade mac 'n cheese. Coconut flour is low carb, gluten free, high fiber, and high protein. Is there no end to the virtues of the coconut? You can use brown rice pasta to make the whole dish gluten free, if you wish. This lightens it up quite a bit and it is still tasty. Melt 1 to 3 tbsp. of butter (depending on how thick and creamy you want the sauce to be) in a pan. Once it's melted, add an equal amount of coconut flour. (I used Bob's Red Mill coconut flour which I'm sure I found at Whole Foods.) Stir continuously on low to medium heat until the coconut flour is gently browned, a few minutes. Then add 1 cup of milk, bring to a boil, then quickly turn down to low heat and continue stirring frequently as the sauce thickens. If you want it really thi...

I don't have much time so I think this is going to be the shortest post ever. Warm Fall Breakfast: Miso Ramen Soup. It's filling, it's nurturing, and it provides better energy for the day than cereal. When there isn't enough time in the morning to make eggs or bacon, it makes a nice, quick, hot meal. I don't remember the brand offhand but there are miso ramen packets at Whole Foods in the soups section. There are different flavors and they're really good! Highly recommended. Goes well with coffee and orange juice. Any other ideas for quick, warm Fall breakfasts?

Fast food seems not quite fast enough here these busy school days, so fast and furious food is more like it. In "spare" moments, like when I'm pushing Molly on the swings at the park and sort of zoning out, I've been thinking a bit about food, cooking, and food writing. I became bored with it pretty fast, and I think that's largely because there is a part of cooking that is just labor. For me, it is a huge part of it because I am always preparing food for my kids, one of whom is on a special diet. Still, here I am writing about food. Really fast. While scarfing down a spinach salad I just threw together with kidney beans, walnuts, cucumbers, and a simple lemon juice/olive oil dressing. The kids are at school right now, eating lunches we threw together this morning. Eli's latest craze is this pomegranate berry coconut water that comes in individual-size plastic bottles from Whole Foods. It's very low in carbs, and apparently really good for you as it is...

The new school year has begun, and my cooking style has turned upside down. Suddenly it is not about what would be interesting, fun, or new to cook. It is about what I can prepare in less then 30 minutes while simultaneously supervising math homework and playing Whac-a-Mole. Ideally....something everyone likes, and something healthy. This is taking some getting used to. I welcome ideas on this if anyone has any. For now, this is what I'm thinking: Pizza. Homemade pizza is the no-brainer dinner for me because it is so easy and everyone likes it. I get the refrigerated pizza dough from Trader Joes, and do some combination of cheese/vegetables/sometimes pepperoni or sausage. (Note: I'm calling it "homemade pizza," although I am not making the dough. Why do that, when Trader Joe's makes it for me?) Hot dogs. When it's not raining and we're not in the middle of a heat wave, I grill them outdoors. Same with sausages. Eli (on his special diet) can't have the ...

Our next stop was Cowgirl Creamery, where we were treated to a cheese tasting and talk by the cowgirl herself, co-founder Peggy Smith. We learned about and tasted some incredible cheeses. But I have to admit: I am a little intimidated by cheese. Or at least, talking about cheese. Oh, I like to eat it. But when you start talking about the history of it, how it's made, how the taste of milk varies throughout the month based on the cows' monthly cycles, etc., I'm like "What? Can we just taste it?" Maybe it's because I have never made cheese or even seen the cheese making process, so I don't feel as intimately connected to it as I might to some other foods. We tried a Mt. Tam cheese, which is made with whole milk and cream added to it, so in other words a LOT of fat. The next one we tried was very interesting - St. Pat's. It was wrapped in a nettle leaf and there was this whole story about how they came up with the cheese and the name. Something about how ...

On Wednesday, I was reminded of just how lucky I am to live in the San Francisco Bay Area. I am so fortunate to live a short drive and ferry ride away from the food heaven that is the Ferry Building Marketplace. I've been to the ferry building many times before, but this time I was part of a class sponsored by The Book Passage in Corte Madera. The class was Food Writing and Inspiration, taught by Joanne Weir , cookbook author, cooking teacher, and host of the PBS show "Joanne Weir's Cooking Class". So this time, I got to see it through Joanne's eyes. I have also never spent an entire day in the building, something one can easily do, with all there is to see and taste. Our group of nine started our day riding the ferry from Larkspur to San Francisco. On the ferry, we huddled around a big table on the lower floor. Joanne told us her story of how she got started in cooking, and how her food career blossomed. It was an inspiring and exciting story. We all then int...

I'm continuing to maintain my other blog, Cooking My Way Through The Columbia , about the Columbia Restaurant Cookbook. But I wanted to start another one so I can talk about other cooking and food topics. Listen to the Flavors came to me as a name when I was tasting an eggplant-basil-mozzarella bruschetta sandwich I'd made for the first time. There were kids and a lot of noise in the room, and I excused myself to the patio so I could have some peace. "I need to listen to the flavors," I found myself saying. Somehow, the quiet helped me hear what I liked and didn't like about the new recipe I had just created. It allowed me to notice that it really did not need tomatoes as I thought it might, but it did need some kind of tangy drizzle, like white wine vinegar. Listening is also the best way to enjoy food. I can't always go to a quiet place to taste food, but as I cook, eat, and write more, I strive to be a good food listener. I hope you enjoy what you read here...