French Savory Cake Recipe (Smoked Salmon Cake)

Savory cakes ("le cake salé" in French) are the perfect dish if you want to serve a light, enjoyable lunch. Cake salé, as the name implies, is just a savory adaptation of a sweet cake. Sugar, chocolate and fruits are replaced with cold meats/ or fish (I used smoked salmon), olives and strong cheeses. For a nice contrast in texture, I added walnuts. Instead of baking the cake in a standard loaf pan, I used individual mini molds. So cute!

This cake is also ideal for picnics and potlucks, as it meets all the requirements for safe transport. No need to re-heat! I recently served cake salé with a salad and finished the meal with a fruit medley. It was a flavorful meal that no one felt guilty about afterwards!

Back to School Lunch Ideas: Fig Cheese Appetizer Recipe

My husband's youngest sister is starting 1st grade next Wednesday. We just met her new teacher and classmates during a lovely potluck picnic this week. Our first "homework" is to prepare a menu for her lunch box. She's very excited about what we will pack for her.

Our family friend Chú Quân had kindly just brought us humongous fist-sized figs from his garden. I immediately thought of a snack my little sis-in-law wouldn't be able to resist. This fig and cheese sandwich recipe is ultra simple. I pack separate containers of the ingredients (fresh figs, fig jam, camembert and pizelle anise cookies) and let her assemble the snack!

I'll be posting more B2S recipes next week as my little munchkin starts school, so stay tuned!

Pickled Plums and Onions (Home Canning Recipe)

Lulu and the girls gathered 4 large baskets of plums from our garden. I'm the only one who enjoys eating them fresh due to their sour-tasting skin, even though the flesh is sweet.

Instead of making my usual sweet fresh fruit preserves, I decided to pair the plums with the last crop of Creole onions and make plum and onion pickles.

Pickling fruit and vegetables is a lot easier that you might imagine. I made a sweet and sour brine out of white balsamic vinegar and agave nectar in which to submerge the fruits and vegetables. I added several spices such as juniper berries, a bay leaf, clove, garlic and cardamom seeds.

I let the food cure for about 6 weeks. Check back soon and see what I serve the pickles with!

Morel and Blue Cheese Pasta Gratin Recipe (Cheese Pasta Casserole)

Our vacation is coming to an end, and we head back home in the morning. For the ride back, I made a pasta gratin using radiatore pasta with fresh morels and a blue cheese white sauce. You know, just in case anyone gets hungry! I combined the ingredients in a casserole dish sprinkled with shredded Parmesan cheese and served the gratin casserole dish with tomato and greens.

I got many of the ingredients yesterday at the Rogue Valley Farmers' Market in Ashland, where I discovered a myriad of wonderful fresh products. I was particularly drawn to the white raspberries, Oregonian goat sausages and fresh morels. After purchasing the ingredients at the market, in the afternoon we visited the headquarters of Harry and David where I bought some delicious blue cheese that ended up in this dish. Southern Oregon has turned out to be absolutely delicious!

Nutella Crepes with Kiwi

Chocolate and kiwi are two of my favorite flavors. When combined, they enhance one another, creating subtleties that cannot be found in either ingredient on its own. In the past I've used them in cakes and other desserts, and today I thought it would be fun to use the combo as a crepe filling.

The chocolate part of the equation is satisfied by the French mainstay Nutella. Nutella, in case you don't know, is a chocolate hazelnut spread. I wasn't sure at first how the hazelnuts would play with kiwi, but after tasting the finished product, I can't imagine it any other way!