February 25, 2011 
Bonnie 
New Year’s with my relatives in Nebraska is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you are going to get, but it is always Sweeeeet! One year, a gift from cousin Jinx was waiting for me under the tree. She had given me a copy of the Three Bowl Cookbook by Tom Pappas, the former
Extraordinary Wild Rice
A special dinner with Bonnie features Dr. Hauschka’s wild rice salad, presented in her own handmade pottery, and special sea bass.
Blue Ribbon Apple Pie
When it’s apple pie weather, Joan’s family bakes Prairie restaurant’s Blue Ribbon Apple pie.
Chocolate Toffee Chip Cookies
Joan’s adaptation of the classic cookie recipe uses two different types of chocolate and heath bar crunch.
Joan’s Lasagna
Cheesy, traditional lasagna, with a sauce made with ground beef and Italian sausage. Lots of steps in this recipe, but it’s worth it!
Going Bananas for Muffins
While more luxurious showstopping desserts may spring to mind when you think of Wolfgang Puck’s Spago restaurant empire, it’s the simple muffin recipes that keep the Spago Desserts, cookbook on my kitchen shelf. Banana Muffins and Blueberry Muffins are particularly good. Both recipes start on the stovetop, melting butter in a pot, then adding sugar and
Farm to Table Paradise
The nine-hour plane flight gives just a hint of the remote locale and isolation of the Hawaiian Islands. Before our trip I researched restaurants, farmers markets, farms and dairies on the islands and discovered it is easy to find chefs who are devoted to serving local products on their menus. As I thought about this
A Good Day for Chocolate
Valentine’s Day does seem like such a silly holiday. So commercial. So … pink. But I try to celebrate it for the silliness it is. The only thing I take seriously about it—besides making sure Max has enough cards for his second-grade class party—is choosing which dessert to make. Valentine’s is always an excuse to pull
Cooking with Winnie-the-Pooh
The first page is inscribed in a familiar hand: “To Bonnie. with Love. Christmas 1969. from Great Grandma Mitchelmore.” The Pooh Cook Book delighted me as a child. It was my second cook book and received on my eighth Christmas from Ada, an old school cook who was known far a wide for her raisin pie. Born in 1883,
Joan’s Famous Lasagna
What is it with me and Italian food? There’s not an ounce of Italian blood in me. Perhaps it was the influence of my Italian-American friends back in Solon, Ohio. Or perhaps it was my days in the Stop ‘n Shop deli, slicing salami and dishing up pizza. Maybe I believed it when I heard
Ode to Scones
Oh, how I adore scones! Not the cakey ones that make you think of muffins, but the flaky ones that make you think of a really good biscuit. It may be this craving is in my genes and due to my British heritage. My first encounter with a proper scone actually occurred as an adult on
