In Erika's Kitchen

Grapefruit guacamole - it won't turn brown!

2013-05-15T08:26:00.000-07:00

Last week I made a delicious, miraculous guacamole that will not turn brown. This guacamole hung around for almost a week in a normal plastic container in the refrigerator and it barely discolored at all. (It lasted because I made a huge batch and we were out of tortilla chips, not because it wasn't good. Just in case you were wondering.) I assume the secret is the grapefruit flesh. I love

Kinhaven's legendary butterscotch brownies

2013-05-07T20:58:00.000-07:00

When I was a teenager I spent July and August at The Kinhaven Music School, a small summer music camp in Weston, Vermont. At Kinhaven, there were things you could count on. Bare feet from the moment you arrived until your parents came to pick you up seven weeks later. Mosquito bites. Making beautiful music with people you knew would become lifelong friends (hi Andrew, Shari, Wendy, Sarah,

Salmon salad with avocado for Cinco de Mayo

2013-05-04T21:05:00.000-07:00

Eight-seven million pounds. That's how many avocados the California Avocado Commission estimates we'll be eating on Cinco de Mayo this year. I'd bet most of those 87 million pounds of avocados will be consumed in the form of guacamole, scooped up with tortilla chips and washed down with beer and/or margaritas. But I'm planning something a little more delicate for Cinco de Mayo this year.

Nambé CookServ cookware giveaway and Thai fish stew

2013-05-02T08:15:00.000-07:00

{Scroll to the end of this post to enter Nambé's great giveaway!} A long time ago, I got engaged to a wonderful man. And like many young brides-to-be, sparkling diamond on my fourth finger, I immediately trekked down to Bloomingdale's and registered for flatware, dishes, pots and pans, serving dishes, and crystal. One of the pieces I threw onto the registry as a lark ("You need to include

How to make good scones: Whole wheat scones from King Arthur Flour

2013-04-29T06:30:00.000-07:00

Whole wheat scones with the mix-ins I happened to have on hand: dried figs, pistachios, chocolate chips Thanks to King Arthur Flour, I can now make scones I'm actually willing to eat. Until last week I never understood why people like scones. Scones are tough. Crumbly. So dry they're hard to get down, even when they're slathered with butter or jam. Aren't they? Turns out I'd never had a

Chewy oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with Craisins

2013-04-14T14:49:00.000-07:00

The secret to soft, chewy oatmeal cookies loaded with chocolate chips and tangy Craisins: Conquering my fear of raw cookie dough It took me 46 years to learn how to make soft, chewy oatmeal cookies. Hi, I'm Erika, and I'm an overbaker. Until this week, I've always overbaked my oatmeal cookies. Chocolate chip cookies, too. Any cookie that was supposed to be soft and chewy cooled down crisp.

Chocolate caramel matzoh crunch, aka Stuff From Hell

2013-04-04T20:29:00.000-07:00

Passover has come and gone, but I bet a few of you have leftover matzoh sitting around. Chocolate caramel matzoh crunch is a really good way to use leftover matzoh. Possibly the best way. There's only so much matzoh brei a girl can take. This recipe was inspired by the amazing cooks at The Kinhaven Music School in Weston, Vermont. I went there as a teenager and Emery has attended the

Average Betty makes Idaho mashed potato pops

2013-03-29T12:41:00.000-07:00

My friend and fellow food blogger Average Betty features my Idaho mashed potato pops in her most recent video recipe. I love her variations: She makes a Jalapeno Popper Pop with pepper jack cheese and bacon, and a Garlic Parmesan Pop with garlic powder and grated parmesan cheese. Click the video above to watch her make these easy and completely delicious Idaho potato snacks. Isn't she

Whole wheat jam muffins, and Weston's first internship

2013-03-26T21:49:00.000-07:00

My 11-year-old son Weston is spending his spring break doing an internship. Yes, he's young to be working. But he's a passionate budding entrepreneur and keenly interested in how businesses work. So I hooked him up with my friend Blake, a serial entrepreneur who most recently founded eLocalRank, one of the top search engine optimization companies in Los Angeles. Blake offered to teach Weston

The genius of The Fresh 20 meal planning service

2013-03-21T10:02:00.000-07:00

The first time I met Melissa Lanz, founder of The Fresh 20 meal planning service, she challenged me to change the way I thought about writing this blog. "I don't know why food bloggers are giving away all this great content," she said. "Content is valuable. People will pay money for it. I don't know about you, but I want to make money." I can't remember exactly which other members of Food

SmallBizLady Melinda Emerson's classic macaroni and cheese

2013-03-13T20:04:00.000-07:00

Melinda Emerson's old-school macaroni and cheese Sometimes you get really lucky and you meet someone who inspires you, makes you think, and fills you with confidence that you are smart, wise (not the same thing), and capable. And if the stars are all in alignment, said luminary happens to mention that she's got a kick-ass recipe for classic macaroni and cheese. Last summer, I was that

Grandma Rose's rugelach on The Shiksa in the Kitchen

2013-03-06T09:07:00.000-08:00

My grandmother Rose Chankin Sharron and me, c. 1989 Tori Avey, also known as The Shiksa in the Kitchen, came over a few weeks ago to bake my Grandma Rose's rugelach with me. My mom was visiting at the time and the three of us sat around the dining room table for hours, talking about family, cooking, and "the olden days," as my kids refer to them. I think you'll like the way Tori captured

Fruity braised chicken thighs for my mother

2013-03-02T10:17:00.000-08:00

Plump braised chicken thighs - perfect for my mom's next dinner party My mother (hi Mommy! Love you!) is one of my most devoted readers. This surprises me only because my blog is about cooking. My mom cooked our family meals when I was growing up, but she didn't like it much. And it showed. I grew up on baked chicken breasts (sprinkled with paprika for color), baked fish (sprinkled with

Green garlic chicken enchiladas

2013-02-24T13:58:00.000-08:00

Of all Mexican food, I think I love enchiladas most of all. I can't promise these are the most authentic chicken enchiladas you'll ever make, but they do have a few things going for them: Quick and easy homemade enchilada sauce Leftover roast chicken or store-bought rotisserie chicken The mild flavor of green garlic if it's in season Cheesy deliciousness! (Well, okay, that's true of most

Truffled avocado mousse on toast

2013-02-20T20:28:00.001-08:00

Avocado mousse with fresh truffles on toast (Photo: Lynne Hemer, Cook and Be Merry) When you're planning the menu for a big party, always include one or two truly simple dishes. That's how this truffled avocado mousse was born. Every summer I throw a themed foodgasm party called Trufflepalooza. Last year I made 20 different truffle-laced dishes for 200 people. Of the 20, a few were very

Euro Greens creamy green soup {dairy-free}

2013-02-13T18:58:00.000-08:00

It pays to have friends in high places. A few weeks ago I ended up with a half-dozen bags of assorted greens from Cut 'n Clean Greens, a local southern California company that grows all kinds of greens and packages them in ready-to-eat-or-cook bags and plastic containers. My friend Dorothy of Shockingly Delicious has been working for them for a while now. When we planned the "Kale-a-palooza"

Homemade oatmeal bread with flax seeds

2013-02-08T18:36:00.001-08:00

I have been on a bread-baking tear lately. A rampage, even. I don't think a day has gone by in the past month when there has not been homemade oatmeal bread on the counter. Why oatmeal bread? I've tried many combinations of grains for homemade bread. My former favorite homemade bread recipe combines white flour, whole wheat flour, wheat germ and cornmeal. But this version, with rolled oats,

How to plan the perfect Girlfriend Getaway

2013-02-06T22:58:00.000-08:00

Patti, Erika and Dorothy at Hofsas House, Carmel-by-the-Sea Husbands are great, but sometimes this girl just needs some girlfriend time. Which is why I jumped at the opportunity to hit the road for a Girlfriend Getaway with two of my best food blogger pals: Patti Londre of Worth the Whisk and Dorothy Reinhold of Shockingly Delicious. Thanks to the generosity (and PR-savvy) of Carrie, the

Postcard from Carmel: The coolest dining room table in the world

2013-02-02T21:13:00.001-08:00

Yeah, okay, I'm a furniture geek. I spotted this ultra-fabulous round wooden dining room table in Carmel during my Girlfriend Getaway with fellow food bloggers Patti Londre (Worth the Whisk) and Dorothy Reinhold (Shockingly Delicious). When I saw the ingenious way the table went from big to bigger, I had to pull out my camera. I love dining room tables that expand. But I hate having to

Postcard from Carmel: Fried garbanzos with truffle salt at Mundaka

2013-01-30T08:32:00.000-08:00

Day one of my "girlfriend getaway" to California's central coast with fellow food bloggers Patti Londre (Worth the Whisk) and Dorothy Reinhold (Shockingly Delicious) and we're happy and well fed. At last night's dinner at Mundaka in Carmel, these fried garbanzos with truffle salt were the surprise hit of the evening. Crisp on the outside, soft and melting on the inside, warm with just a

Swiss chard and bacon pie

2013-01-26T08:25:00.000-08:00

Last year I was lucky to work with wellness coach Rachael Pontillo of Holistically Haute Wellness. In our sessions we talked about everything from nutrition to stress relief to feeding our families. I wasn't a perfect student, but I realized yesterday that my work with Rachael had one lasting impact: When I open the refrigerator in the morning, my first thought is "How am I going to get my

Quick multi-grain banana chocolate chip muffins

2013-01-19T21:33:00.001-08:00

I love shortcuts that save me time but don't compromise the end result. Witness these multi-grain banana chocolate chip muffins. I've been experimenting with making muffins out of pancake mix. I mean a good multi-grain pancake mix - I like Coach's Oats multi-grain pancake mix, which I buy in a huge bag at Costco. I know that using pancake mix instead of flour and leavening only saves me the

Cheesy hash brown muffins with bacon

2013-01-14T05:30:00.000-08:00

Have you ever woken up in the morning with a powerful urge to make one very specific thing for breakfast? That's how I ended up making these hash brown muffins. I woke up last weekend and all I could think about were crispy hash browns mixed with eggs, gooey melted cheese and crisp bits of smoky bacon. Why? No idea. Most of the recipes I found for hash brown muffins call for frozen hash

Erika's colcannon - mashed potatoes with kale, cabbage and carrots

2013-01-07T22:14:00.000-08:00

A steaming bowl of mashed potatoes with cream and butter is divine. A steaming bowl of mashed potatoes with cream, butter, cabbage, kale and carrots is sublime. This is my riff on colcannon, the national dish of Ireland, in which shredded sauteed cabbage is added to buttery mashed potatoes. I wanted a little more vegetable to balance out my potatoes, so I added thinly sliced kale and

Chocolate chip cookies from Baking for Friends

2013-01-03T22:17:00.001-08:00

Despite the fact that I live with three men who love chocolate chip cookies, I don't bake a lot of them. That, however, is about to change, because yesterday I made Kathleen King's Chubby Tates. King owns Tate's Bake Shop, the revered bakery in the tony New York town of Southampton. I've been there, and I've bought cookies there. Tate's thin, crispy chocolate chip cookies are famous, but not