It’s no coincidence that the header on this page features lemon zest.

My addiction to lemons is real, recognized and wholeheartedly accepted.

This latest episode in lemon mania comes from way back in the good ol’ days (A.K.A. the ’90s).

If you’re new to this particular recipe, let me introduce you to the lightest, fluffiest, most perfect pancakes ever.

All other pancakes should really just stop trying.

I mean, it starts with lemon zesting, so it’s automatically great.

Then you take that lemon zest and mix it with egg yolks, CHEESE and a teensy bit of sugar.

You might be wondering where the egg whites went. They’re the magical part: beaten to stiff peaks and then folded into the batter.

GENIUS.

All the other pancakes are mostly flour and milk.

These pancakes are all like get that milk outta here – replace it with cheese!

Cut most of that flour out – don’t need it!

Throw in more eggs though, and make all of that fat seem pillowly light through the magic of egg whites!

And when these pancakes are in my house, they also request to be drenched in homemade blueberry syrup.

These are some smart pancakes.

(This blueberry syrup, by the way, was made possible by my awesome mother who bought us a FREAKING VITAMIX FOR CHRISTMAS!! So there may be a sharp increase in the amount of blended things on this site…)

A close friend of my mom’s first made these pancakes for me. She owned a B&B when I was little and these were in her regular rotation. It’s easy to see why!

So thank you Trish for contributing to my lemon obsession in such a delicious way!

Click here to view this recipe.

Is it bad that part of the reason I look forward to having children is that I’ll be able to cook and eat a greater variety of things?

Don’t look at me like that – let me explain.

Currently, it’s just the hubs and me. And hubby is picky.

So when it comes to making something he doesn’t like, I have to factor in that part where I’ll be the only one eating it. I can’t stand wasting food, so I pick my battles carefully!

I’m going to have to eat this entire galette by myself.

I’m not really complaining.

Once we do have kids though… he wants me to “cook whatever” and plans to just suffer through the things he doesn’t like in the interest of raising non-picky kids. Sounds weird but I’ll take it! Complete cooking freedom! Woooo!

In the meantime, the realm of fruit + breadlikethings is alllllll mine. And yours! If you like that sort of crazy thing.

So let’s get down to business.

Do you own a cherry pitter? I don’t, and until I saw this tip on how to pit cherries with a bottle and a chopstick, I didn’t use cherries for much beyond snacking.

Since finding that out… I think I’ve gone through about 12 pounds of cherries in this house. It’s been insane. And delicious.

One of my favorite ways to devour large amounts of any fruit is a galette. It’s like a pie without all the fuss. Plus, a galette cools down much faster than a pie, which means you can get to the devouring sooner!

This galette is mildly sweet with a super flaky crust. There’s a dash of almond extract in there because I love that flavor combination. It’s not enough to taste almondy really, but it gives the cherries that extra somethin’ somethin’.

Click here to view this recipe.

I know that braising isn’t exactly what comes to mind at the start of summer, but hear me out.

This isn’t one of those cold weather, giant hunk of meat cooking all afternoon kinds of braises. Nor is it loaded down with heavy flavors.

If a summery braise ever existed, this is it: fast, light and packed with bright flavors.

This comes from the “need to use up some odds and ends” recipe collection.

It started with a single tomato, some leftover white wine and fresh herbs on their last leg. Then I had these chicken thighs staring at me.

(If you had some different chicken parts staring at you – say breasts or drumsticks, you could certainly use those instead. Just adjust the simmering time accordingly.)

I had some pink peppercorns left from those lovely pickles and thought they might play nicely with the other odds and ends I’d gathered.

I love when things come together like this.

The rest is pretty much pantry staples!

This could be served family style on a bed of herbed rice (which I highly recommend), or with a side salad or veggies of your choice!

Click here to view this recipe.

If you don’t mind, I’d like to take a stroll over to fantasy land for a moment.

You know, the one where you have your own private island, endless free time, and people to fan you with palm leaves while you sip something delicious?

Maybe we can even keep this fantasy going into a world where I don’t have to work on Memorial Day? Perhaps I’m throwing a leisurely party instead? The kind where everything is done ahead of time, including drinks made in a large batch? Why yes!

Well… anyway. Let’s get real.

If you’re lucky and your reality doesn’t involve working on a holiday, I’m willing to bet you’re hosting a party. I’d also bet you’d like to serve up a refreshing drink that can be made in mass quantities ahead of time!

And look at that: I happen to have one right here.

I’m not gonna lie – there is a lot of lemon juicing involved in this recipe. It’s good to have a hubby around who’s willing to work for his drinks.

Muddling is a great stress reliever.

Now, I’m not going to say that the two of us made this pitcher this afternoon and boozed our way straight through to tonight’s Mad Men…

But… I’m not going to say that we didn’t either.

What I will say is this: my jaw is still on the floor after that episode. Woah. Woah!

Click here to view this recipe.

I have some partially completed projects floating around right now:

An advertisement that’s finished in my mind, but not on my computer screen.

A pile of merely thumbed through magazines sitting next to the new ones that won’t stop arriving.

A stack of manuals for a new camera that I made a weak attempt at starting.

I’m guessing… 5 loads of laundry I only got down to 3.

Multiple lists of things to cook - at least I’m at 9 out of 16 on that one.

Getting to this point in this very post was done over the course of 2 evenings.

And now you’re looking at some beautiful fresh peas that are in no way part of this recipe, but were going to be at one point!

Last week a friend and her daughter came over for an afternoon of foodieness, during which the peas would become a puree, served with the pan seared cod and rainbow chard.

As we started shelling them, we noticed them getting smaller and smaller. Slightly discouraged, we kept on shelling. Then some got crushed at the hands of a hilarious 2-year-old. We were left with barely a handful and figured, “eh”.

I just couldn’t let their lack of involvement sentence them to the “whoops” folder where my failed recipes (& their accompanying photos) go to die. Live on through the photos, you lovely little peas, LIIIIVE!

And so, this recipe also goes on my growing list of partially completed things.

Maybe it’s best this way. With my brain in a million different places at once, a two-part dish is a little more my speed. Pea puree can be done another day.

For now, simple pan seared cod with sauteed rainbow chard that is exploding with flavor. Mmhmm!

Click here to view this recipe.

It’s party time people. Swanky part time.

We’re talking bow ties, Louboutins, diamonds – the works. Pinkies up.

At least this is where my mind wanders to when I hear words like “crostini” and “canapes”.

Does this really have to be the case though? Can’t we just eat fancy, without having to be fancy? Maybe even get some elegant flavor from humble ingredients?

I say yes!

I will still take some Louboutins though… if someone is just handing them out (maybe these? or these?).

No? Ok, back to reality.

A delicious reality. And a simple one, too. One where we take common ingredients like garlic and fennel, and bring them to a whole other level of flavor simply by roasting them. Then combine them with a can of white beans, a touch of rosemary, and lemon juice.

At this point, you could eat it straight out of the food processor, in your pajamas, while watching The Chew. No judgement here.

Or, you could dollop it on some crostini, garnish with a fennel frond, and serve them up at a fancy food, non-fancy attire cocktail party like we did over the weekend.

Then, you eat the leftovers the next morning in your pajamas while watching The Chew. If I wasn’t having the party, I would’ve just skipped the whole crostini thing… and then there would’ve been a food processor in my lap. If you’re going to go this route, might I recommend those new Roasted Tomato Kettle Chips for dipping? Unbelievable.

By the way, I feel like I should mention that I murdered my fry thermometer at said cocktail party. There was a saga involving onion rings that needed some serious batter adjustment, so by the time I finally got a successful batch I was so excited to sit down and eat some that I kind of left the pot of oil on the stove with the burner on pretty high. I returned to a kitchen filled with smoke and a fry thermometer that had exploded in the extreme temperatures of the oil.

It’s not a party until you nearly kill all your guests, right? RIGHT?! Well, at least that one batch tasted really good.

Anyway, I guess what I’m trying to say is whether you’re eating it in your pajamas with chips or at a semi-fancy, nearly-murderous cocktail party on crostini, this dip/spread is delicious!

Click here to view this recipe.

I know what you’re thinking. More lemon?

Yes!

More lemon!

I’m not even going to apologize. Sometimes I’m a little extremely obsessed with an ingredient, and right now it’s lemon.

Breakfast, lunch, or dinner; sweet or savory – lemon is always welcome at my table.

We went savory last time, so I figured a lemony dessert was in order.

The first time I made this lemon-mint cake was a few years back for a casual family dinner at my mom’s house. My mom, who uses a giant bowl filled with fresh lemons as a dining room table centerpiece, was a huge fan. Perhaps this lemon obsession is genetic…?

I’m totally open to partaking in a study on the subject – assuming we’d be consuming copious amounts of lemons.

This time, I had some fresh mint leftover from my recent experiments in cocktail creation with my friend. I had to use it up before going out of town (I can’t bear to waste food), and lemon-mint cake was the first thing I thought of.

This cake uses one of my absolute favorite baking techniques: egg whites are whipped up and folded into the batter to lighten it. It’s like baking magic. The same eggs that would be added whole to a denser cake become something completely different when used separately.

And as if this super light cake wasn’t flavorful enough, it’s served with an intensely lemony syrup that the cake just sucks right up. Lemon fanatics rejoice!

Click here to view this recipe.

Oh, hello again!

That brief recess in posting was brought to you by my best friend – Patrice! She came to visit for 5 magnificently lazy days filled with gluttony, bad TV, even worse movies, and some short-lived adventuring in and around Mountain View. We even made up a couple of cocktails! One of which might be worthy of posting, the other… maybe not so much. We also burned things with a kitchen torch. Delicious things.

As soon as I dropped her off at the airport yesterday morning, I was missing home. Good thing I’ll be there in 3 days! Woohoo!

To tide me over until then, I needed to make something from my childhood. Lemony Caesar Salad, perhaps? Why yes! There was a time when my mom made this damn near every night as part of our dinner and I loved it.

I called my mom to get the recipe. We spent several minutes bouncing a series of guesses and approximations off each other as we struggled to remember exactly how this salad was made years ago. I jotted down some notes and set off to experiment.

It tasted just like I remembered – only better. Anchovy paste was replaced with whole fillets, and pre-shredded grocery store brand parmesan cheese was swapped out for large shavings of Parmigiano Reggiano (you have to say that in the Giada voice); I even used organic lettuce. Then there’s the homemade croutons from good quality bread.

Oh. My. Gosh. Heaven. Josh said it was the best caesar salad he’d ever had – and that was after it sat around for a while being photographed!

This salad is legit. It has elements of a classic caesar salad – the coddled egg, anchovies – but it’s different. My mom loves lemon, so her version has a good amount of lemon juice, and no mustard or worcestershire to stand in its way.

This is the caesar salad I grew up on – the one all others are compared to. It’s bright and acidic, which explains why I never really liked the super creamy kind. My mom made sure to remind me to put “2-3 garlic cloves” in the recipe, because not everybody loves garlic as much as I do. Yes, mother…

Click here to view this recipe.

Are you noticing a pattern yet?

I love soup.

And I saw a cloud in the sky yesterday for the first time in about a week, so I made some.

This has to be my favorite soup genre. The “chop stuff up, roast it and blend it with some stock” kind. It works for every vegetable you can think of. Seriously. Broccoli? Check. Butternut squash? Oh yeah. Tomatoes? You bet. Bell peppers, garlic, sweet potato, fennel, asparagus… You get where I’m going with this.

Roasted potato leek soup is what started it all, really. It was one of the first things I cooked from Barefoot Contessa’s Back to Basics. And boy is it basic – in preparation, that is. The flavor is about as far from basic as you can get. Probably in my top 5 favorite soups. A couple of those other top slots are also filled from this very same book. This woman knows her soups.

And so it began. I started roasted and blending everything I could get my hands on. Perhaps this is why my immersion blender seems to be dying… Sorry buddy, I know I’ve put you through a lot these past few years.

This time I used carrots and parsnips, two flavors that get along beautifully. Can’t you just see a carrot and parsnip holding hands, skipping off into the sunset?

Maybe that’s just me.

Anyway, they’re delicious together. Sweet carrot, peppery parsnip. BFFs.

I got a little fancy with this soup and made a lemon ginger cream for drizzling. Isn’t everything better with an extra pop of flavor at the end? Well, it’s totally optional. But I do highly recommend it. It’s extremely bright and acidic, which is a nice finishing touch on something that’s been cooking for a while. It would also be delicious on many of the other chop-roast-blend type of veggie soups.

As much as I hope you make this particular soup, I’m equally hopeful that you’ll go to your fridge right now, pull out whatever grabs you, chop it, roast it, and blend it up. You can thank me later.

Click here to view this recipe.