We all know how we can go moths without eating bread, then out of nowhere we get one slice with butter and go on a bread and butter rampage for a strong week. Well you will not even need the butter with the recipe, and I can almost guarantee you will not be able to stop after a week. This is one of my favourite recipes. After testing out many different ways of making this bread I have finally found a perfect combination of ingredients to make it the perfect mix of crunchy, moist, cheesy and delicious in one simple recipe. Be sure to learn a new bread making skill or update your old recipe, or simply add a recipe

Cooking With Nightshade Free Spices and Herbs

Holidays with my family and special Birthday sleepovers with my kids always called for this special treat! Just the smell of guacamole and cilantro always bring back my teen memories, as well. Seemed to linger in the house for days especially at Christmas time when that special smell mingled with all of the other special smells of the season.

From an early age, I was a huge pizza and pasta fan. I loved anything with mozzarella and cheddar cheese and would still include it in things like pasta dishes and salads. As an adult, I figured out that I am a cheese addict, since I would use cheese in pretty much anything. Early in my adulthood, I used to put so much cheese on my food that my mom would beg me to quit melting cheese on my food. Cheese was the only thing that I could depend on to add flavour to the food, since I wasn't a fond of spices. When I did not like a dish but wanted to give it one more try, I would cover it with cheese and melt it in the microwave to cover up the original taste.

Growing up as an Asian, my Mom had taught me to eat rice 3 times a day; once for breakfast, then lunch and lastly dinner. There would always be rice on our dining table. But most of the time, I found myself enjoying it the most while eating it along with any soup or broth. On the other hand, I have married someone who almost never eats soup. My husband much prefers anything that is potato-based (wedges, chips, waffles or hash browns) and roasted chicken (totally plain with no added seasoning).

It was the summer of 1968 and I was 10 years old. I was spending the weekend with my maternal grandmother's sister, my great aunt Gladys. I had a lot of firsts when I was at her home. We lived in the county and did not have indoor plumbing. The first time I took a bubble bath in a real tub was at the home of Aunt Gladys. She took me and a good friend to see our first movie which was The Knome Mobile. I also got my first taste of French Onion dip while visiting my aunt. Aunt Gladys had four children, three boys and a girl. My cousin June was good friends with a family two houses away where there were four girls. One of those young ladies was having a birthday party and I was invited.

So for the past two mornings we wake up to temperatures in the 40s. Can this be possible in the middle of September? Well, after the year we have had, anything is possible. Thankfully, the forecast looks better towards the end of the week and we may even hit 75!

It all started with John Barrowman aka Big Hair Boy, and his lockdown videos that kept his fans sane during the seemingly endless months of nothingness. One morning I awoke to the video that would begin my own food challenge. John aka Captain Jack, had created a tutorial for three ingredient Brownies and it seemed so simple I decided that I would give it a go. They were delicious but I became convinced that I could make them better, stronger and ever more chocolatey. For months, I have slaved over the great Brownie conundrum. I have made so many different versions of these Brownies. Some had marshmallows (which while tasty made the texture so wrong) , some were cooked at 200C for 20 minutes others at 160C for an hour. Gradually I made the recipe my own until finally, I bit into that first perfect batch.

It started out as your average school year. Lunchtime was noisy and messy and a little crazy most days, and then it wasn't.

I can't remember the last time that I cooked over an open fire, at least not anything more than hot dogs or marshmallows. At one point, it was a regular occurrence, as much a part of my life as school, sleep, and cereal. Even though it's been years, the smell of an open fire still brings me back to those wonderful moments of family and community around an open fire.

Come in really close! Even closer! I'm about to share a recipe that I've held close since I was a child, if not for how light and spongy the outcome is, then how simple the recipe itself is, making it the first thing I baked when I moved out of my childhood home. Even when set aside and frozen for another day, (which happened a lot for us growing up), it was still always my first pick.

There isn't anything better than eating Bread Pudding. In my Italian family, my mom made the best bread pudding. My dad loved it so did I and my sisters. My mom would put raisins in it and when she took it out of the oven we all could not wait to eat it. Sometimes she would serve it to us with ice cream. Boy was that good we all wanted more bread pudding with ice cream. My mom liked to cook and bake and taught me and my two siblings to cook and bake too. Making bread pudding is pretty easy but if you have never made it before it could be overwhelming. In my Italian family, my mom always made sure everyone ate first. Then she would serve her self last and eat. No one walked away from the table hungry.