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A healthy vegan spread that has a rich flavor and can be used as a dip, a sandwich spread, or added to pastas or salads. It is made in no time and will nourish your body with wholesome food for days. My friend, Diane, and I decided to start a book club with some of our friends. At our first meeting at my house, we were off to a good start. Everyone enjoyed themselves and we talked about our personal relationship with books. Three of us (myself included) told stories about reading under the blankets with a flashlight when we were children. All of us love to read and admit that we often don't take the time to do so. Oh, those busy lives we live! As a hostess, I nominated three books and our group chose The Schopenhauer Cure by Irvin Yalon, a beautifully told tale about a psychotherapist who is diagnosed with a fatal disease. Knowing he has only one good year left, he is inspired to reexamine his life and work. He chooses to continue to work with his therapy group during this final year. He reconnects with one of his former patients, who is miraculously transformed by the teachings of the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer. Schopenhauer lived an isolated life, without friends, wife, family, or colleagues. He was a troubled individual and a most peculiar man. Yet his work showed an extraordinary range of depth in his vision. Some philosophers argue that his work contains more interesting ideas than other famous philosophers. He advised to minimize our natural desires for the sake of achieving a more tranquil frame of mind. He was the first western philosopher to look to the east and the Buddhist teachings for guidance. The book is a moving debate about the end of life.  Let's not become too philosophical and return to one of my favorite snack. I like it because it makes me believe that I am eating healthy food, even though it tastes so rich and sinful. I have made this tasty spread for years. My inspiration comes from Ina Garden's recipe. I have played with it and used it for different purposes. The originally recipe is for a dip. The spread is great with homemade or store-bought pita chips. But it also great as a vegetable added to quinoa or on a sandwich. I love to snack on it. I get hungry just thinking about it.  This dish can be made a day ahead. If you don't like the spicy kick that the red pepper gives this dish, feel free to reduce the amount or leave it out.
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A light and refreshing desert with a pudding like texture and a crunchy crust. This cake is easy to make.  Right now my lemon trees are full of lemons. I have been picking them as soon as they are ripe and sharing them with friends and neighbors. Actually, my lemon trees are a hedge along the driveway in front of my garage facing a busy street. Often people take some, which I usually don't mind until last year when someone came and picked all my lemons. I was not a happy camper because these lemons are my treasure and I take pride in caring for them. My favorite are the Meyer’s lemons with their thin aromatic peel and fleshy fruit that is sweeter than others. They are a cross between a lemon and a mandarin or orange. Frank Nicholas Meyer, an employee of the United States Department of Agriculture, brought a plant in 1908 from China. Wouldn't you know, it was Alice Waters of Chez Panisse in Berkeley who made it popular in the 1990s.  I have a jar of preserved lemons in my fridge and a bowl of lemons on my kitchen counter. When I run out of my own lemons, I get some from a mature tree in my neighbor, Josephine’s, garden. She graciously shares them with me. The recipe I'm going to share with you comes from Deborah Madison's cookbook The Savory Way. This one, in addition to her Greens cookbook, have recipes from her days as a chef at Greens, a wonderful vegetarian restaurant near the waterfront at Fort Mason in San Francisco. This restaurant was a pioneer of the farm-to-table movement almost 30 years ago. Anyway, I have used these two cookbooks for many years and they have never failed me. I have made this lemon pudding cake many times and always get rave reviews. It is easy to make and has a sweet and lemony flavor. I serve it with some fruit, like raspberries or blueberries, and sometimes with a dollop of whipped cream. Here are some more desserts using lemons . Click on the photos for the recipe.
 I use low-fat milk for this recipe. If you want a richer flavor, use whole milk or half and half. Sprinkling the raw sugar over the cake gives it a delightful crunch.
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WELCOME TO SUNNY COVE CHEFThank you for visiting my blog. My two passions are cooking and traveling. Traveling exposes me to a wide variety of food and experiences. I walk around cities looking for markets, restaurants, bakeries, shops, you name it, and if it is related to food you will find me there, tasting, smelling, talking to vendors, and having a great time. Categories
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