During these dog days of summer, there is absolutely nothing that cools you down faster than an ice-cold fruit sorbet. Refreshing and flavorful, they’re also easy to make with a flavor range limited only to your imagination. Stick your head in the fridge (another fast way to lower your body heat index) and use whatever […]
Baking + Sweets
Eat a Peach
One would never suspect that a morning of picking peaches at Masumoto Family Farm would be where sweat, spirituality, and sensuality culminate in a cloud of fine dust for a mind-blowing experience that leaves you begging for more… take me Elberta, I can’t live another year without LeGrand. We’re not talking’ the big “O” here – […]
Light + Skinny Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ahhh! Back in the good ole U.S. of A. after an educational, vin et fromage-filled, emotionally charged week in Paris that began with a harrowing emergency landing and unplanned overnight bunking in fair Salt Lake City and ended with gypsy children snatching Don’s cell phone from his cafe table, chasing down the little thieves and […]
Baked Apples for Santa
We all want to eat, drink, and be merry during the holidays. The question is: how to avoid the high fat, high carb overload that greets us at every turn and flows so naturally from hand to mouth. Sure, it’s OK to break out the fat pants for a night, but that doesn’t mean we […]
Asian Pear Clafoutis
A clafoutis saved Thanksgiving Day at our house this year. While pies were being “oohed” and “aahed” over and providing the grand finale at houses across the country, our pie was a flop. Literally, said pie (a vegan pumpkin pie recipe found online) never set up as it should have and it was looking as […]
Banana Coconut Muffins, Mario Lopez & a Giveaway
“Thank you for voting my muffins into today’s Foodbuzz Top 9!” 11.11.11 After traveling for three weeks, I’ve returned with renewed vigor, ha! What I have done, is create a Facebook page that has the same name as my website, finally. I’ve had a Facebook page all along, but it was called TopMomBlog; and I […]
Star Olive Oil Tasting
A few weeks ago I was among a group of food writers, bloggers, publishers, lovers, invited by STAR Fine Foods to celebrate the launch of their first Extra Virgin Olive Oil made exclusively from California olives. It is the first locally grown olive oil for the importer which has introduced thousands of Californians and households […]
Quick Peach Crisp
No one seems to be happy about the state of public school lunches in America – they are quite appalling. When I think back, it seems that complaining about school lunches has always been the norm – it’s just that now we’re more concerned with the actual nutritional value that kids receive from a lunch […]
Summer’s Last Hurrah
Welcome back, or maybe you didn’t do any traveling for summer’s last hurrah, either way – I hope you had a relaxing and fun-filled Labor Day weekend! Whether it’s with a sigh of relief or a twinge of regret, we wave good bye to summer and return to our school/work routines while anticipating the balmy […]
True Food Kitchen’s No-Bake Chocolate Tart
A rich chocolatey dessert that requires no baking! Bonus: it’s deliciously raw, vegan, diary free and gluten free! Lately, it’s become my mission to find heart healthy items on the menus of Orange County’s finest restaurants. I mean, what happened to the emphasis on lighter, lean protein, lower-sodium, fiber rich entrees with those cute hearts […]