Best Goat Milk Bread Pudding with Mapled Rhubarb (or For Mama)

best goat milk bread pudding with mapled rhubarb 3

Sunday is Mother’s Day.

The day we set aside to honor the good mamas of the world.

A simple “thanks” however seems hardly enough.

Especially for the extra special ones.

Like mine.

Now, I know that a lot of girls think this about the first, major female figure they laid their newborn eyes on but in Mama Lazarakis’s case, it’s extra true. Continue reading

Banana Molasses Cake with Sweet Crème Fraîche

banana molasses cake with sweet creme fraiche

I have no real stories to tell this week, dear readers, except to tell you that this cake rocks.

And I don’t even really like cake.

And if you’re not in-the-know already, I’m also here to spill the beans on a super-duper top-secret:

Bananas + Molasses = Awesome

And I don’t even like bananas.

But I do like molasses.

In fact, I love molasses.

If I weren’t madly in love with my husband, seriously, I’d probably run away with the stuff. Continue reading

Mexican Spicy Garlic Shrimp with Avocado and Lime

mexican spicy garlic shrimp with avocado and lime

Ah, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

It was wonderful.

Sun, sand and pounding waves, I cornered the market in strawberry daiquiris, chicken quesadillas and tortilla soup.

Ate my year’s worth of the recommended daily allowance of fish.

Practiced my bad Spanish badly.

And slept in the world largest bed (All hail to the King!) where Christopher and I never once accidentally elbowed each other in the head. Continue reading

Best-Ever No-Knead Bread (or It Will Change Your Life)

best-ever no-knead bread

In less than a day from now, this newlywed will be in Cabo San Lucas for a heavenly week with her husband, Christopher.

Sun, sand and more naturally acquired vitamin D than you can shake a sombrero at; if I were any more excited, I probably wouldn’t be allowed into the country.

What makes it all the more special though, is that it’s our honeymoon.  And not just that, but the eve of our one year wedding anniversary. Continue reading

Red Wine Red Velvet Cupcakes with Buttermilk Mascarpone

red wine red velvet cupcakes

Love.

We all want it and we all need it.

Tennyson said it perfectly:

Love is the only gold.

And when we have it, we are truly rich indeed.

It can be found in the most expected and unexpected of places.

In food made with it, in a heart filled with it and especially when we give it. Continue reading

Blood Orange Salad with Goat Cheese, Pistachios and Mint

blood orange salad with goat cheese pistachios and mint 4

This salad almost didn’t make it.

Initially setting out to make something totally easy and healthy for you all this week, what actually transpired went pretty much like this:

I cut my finger.

Knocked over the dressing.

Made a mess.

Had a near meltdown. Continue reading

Best Chunky No-Stir Wild Blueberry Almond Granola

best chunky no-stir wild blueberry almond granola 3

My eyebrows are evil.

Okay, okay, maybe not exactly evil, but unless regularly kept in line, always look like they’re up to no good.

It really is all the left one’s fault.  That one’s what people call the “bad crowd”.  The one on the right got involved with it from the very start and it’s been bad news ever since.

All by itself, Rightie just looks a bit too serious for its own good but together, they look like they’re about to take over the ship (that ship being me). Continue reading

Food Love First Fridays: January 2013 (or There’s A Lot to Love)

Image from Cuded.Com -- Photo by Marina Cano

Image from Cuded.Com — Photo by Marina Cano

It’s a brand new year, dear readers; we’ve survived the holidays and 2013 finds us with lots to love.

I find myself very thankful for what I’ve got, which has nothing to do with what I received for Christmas and everything to do with the love that I am blessed to have and that I am lucky enough to give.

I also find myself to be continual thankful for you, dear readers, and this community of fellow bloggers who keep me going, inspired, laughing, and feeling profoundly and incredibly blessed. Continue reading

Cheesecake Brownies

cheesecake brownies

res·o·lu·tion

/ˌrezəˈlo͞oSHən/

Noun  A firm decision to do or not to do something.

Truth?

I’ve given up on New Year’s resolutions years ago.

Not to be a downer at all, but though well-intentioned, they’ve historically tended to be embarked upon with inspired, unabashed vigor yet have very often crashed and burned without so much as a single woot. Continue reading

Best Dill Chicken Salad Sandwich

best dill chicken salad sandwiches

It’s December 19th and you know what time it is.

It’s less than a week ’til Christmas, that’s what time it is.

Just about the time when people (i.e. me) start to freak out that there isn’t any time.

It’s about the time when you realize that that box of holiday cards you bought weeks ago is still laying untouched on the floor where you last left it … Continue reading

Cast-Iron Cornbread with Salted Molasses Butter

cast iron cornbread with salted molasses butter 3

With the holidays now in full swing, I’ve found myself getting sentimental.

Now, I am a sensitive creature by nature and commercials have (and still do) make me cry.

But this time of the year, the emotion-meter is even higher than usual.

Perhaps it’s the Christmas carols making their way to my ear in every store, or the Christmas lights twinkling everywhere I go, but it all finds me thinking of family. Continue reading

Food Love First Fridays: The America’s Test Kitchen D.I.Y. Cookbook (Review)

americas test kitchen diy cookbook

Welcome to the very first Food Love First Fridays post, everyone!

Let’s kick it off right.  Together now …

Ready?  Get set … go!

I’ve been a fan of America’s Test Kitchen (ATK) for years.

They were people after my own heart: people obsessed with making great (even lackluster) recipes better, toiling away in their test kitchens so we wouldn’t have to.

My kind of people. Continue reading

Ultimate Oven S’mores

ultimate oven s'mores

Ooh, some exciting things are a-brewing here at SKC.

It’s time to spread the love.  Food love, that is.

Starting this Friday, December 7th, I’ll be launching Food Love First Fridays, a first-Friday-of-every-month post featuring at least one food-related thing I’m loving and want you to know about.

What, exactly?

Well, it could be one of many things, like: Continue reading