Happy Birthday, John!

For my husband John's 58th birthday, I made him a lemon pound cake with intense flavor by using lemon juice AND lemon zest. It was also enriched with sour cream, so it was super-moist.

I started to arrange mango and lime slices on top, but spontaneously created this instead, which is a fun resemblance of him. I loved seeing him laugh really hard. Happy birthday, love of my life!!

Apple pie Williams-Sonoma style

I saw the cover of the Williams-Sonoma catalog this fall and it had an apple pie on it with the cut-outs of fall leaves embellishing the crust. I rarely, if almost never, buy something because of a photo I see on the cover of a catalog, but I was in love with the idea of making a pie crust that was actually beautiful.

So, I made Ina Garten's recipe (Barefoot Contessa) and it was delicious. And I had a ball making the fall leaves for the crust. What do you think of it?

Truvia sweetner

Doesn't it look like cane sugar on the scrumptous strawberries? Ah, contrar, my friend, I have finally found a sweetner made from Stevia called Truvia. It's almost exctly like white cane sugar to me! Yipee! It's made by steeping the leaves of the Stevia plant. People have been sweetening foods and beverages with stevia leaves for hundreds of years. The taste comes from a natural ingredient from the leaves called rebiana. Rebiana is what gives Truvia™ natural sweetener its clean, honest sweet taste.

Truvia™ natural sweetener is a great alternative for people with diabetesand is also kosher certified. And all this with zero calories! Thank you Lord!

Dandelions for free!

It's early spring here in Texas, and that means dandelions abound, especially in our yard. I picked some of these edible beauties to add to salads and as you can see in the photo above, to add as a garnish to my grain dish, red rice. Don't you love the pop of intense color and the texture of the petals?

Think of ways to add panache to your presentation of a simple dish by using out-of-the-ordinary containers, such as this martini glass. And I love how easy it is to use a small bowl to mold the rice in and plop it out on a plate. It gives such a finished look to the rice, doesn't it?

You can also eat the green leaves of the dandelion plant. They must be picked when they're very young or they will be bitter.

Bon apetite!

GA-nola

I've been making GA-nola (the GA stands for George-ann) since the mid 70's. I don't have a recipe and that should inspire you to realize one does not really need a recipe to make good granola---only a love of granola. The rest will take care of itself.

Simply start by going to a good natural foods grocery store and head for the bulk bins. If you're a novice, start with oats as your base. Then walk up and down the isle and buy about a half pound of whatever looks good to you. Think nuts, seeds, brans. Remember to buy raisins, cranberries or other dried fruit to put in the granola AFTER you have baked it. If you like nuts roasted, then put them in mix before baking. It is indeed true that some of the nutrients are lost in baking, but who can resist roasted nuts? Honey, I ain't one of them.

Then buy some oil and honey, maybe even cinnamon if you like it (good for digestion).

Mix it all together with you hands, of course. Spread on cookie sheets that have sides. It's best to use parchment paper for ease of getting it off the pan and also for clean-up.

Cook at around 350 degrees for about 20-25 minutes or until the desired brown shade that you like appears.

Bon apetite!