Cooking Method: Baking

Caprese Pesto Pasta Bake

Caprese salad is a simple Italian salad, made of sliced fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, and basil. Like pizza Margherita, it features the colours of the Italian flag: green, white, and red. This Caprese Pesto Pasta Bake is taking all those ingredients with some pesto and mixing it with pasta. You can make it ahead and bake it later in the day.

By Leslie Blythe

Buttermilk Pie

Buttermilk Pie is a staple of Southern Cooking and is known as a “desperation pie” (i.e. when you only have staple ingredients like butter, sugar, eggs and flour on hand). That said, these few simple ingredients are greater than the sum of its parts and make for a seriously rich and satisfying dessert. Our friend Kathy who runs a large cattle ranch/horse farm in Texas recently whipped up one of these and was kind enough to share the recipe.

By Leslie Blythe

Dairy-Free Spinach Quiche

This Spinach Quiche is not only Dairy-Free, but it's also gluten-free and vegetarian. I often get requests when catering to add an option like this quiche for people with dietary restrictions. It uses oat milk, which seems to be gaining popularity, which is a plant milk derived from whole oat grains by extracting the plant material with water. I used a frozen store-bought gluten-free crust, though you could also make a crust out of hash brown potatoes. I was told this quiche was delicious.

By Leslie Blythe

Ginger & Lemongrass Salmon with Greens in a Parcel

I made this Ginger & Lemongrass Salmon with Greens in a Parcel for dinner. The salmon is cooked in parchment paper and nestled on a bed of zucchini, sugar snap peas and green onions. You then pour soy sauce and mirin over the salmon and top it with lemongrass, ginger, garlic and red chili peppers. The lemongrass adds a bright citrus flavor to this dish. I served it with jasmine rice. It's healthy and delicious.

By Leslie Blythe

Simple Summer Peach Cake

I made this Simple Summer Peach Cake for my friend's birthday. There's nothing quite like fresh summer peaches. This cake only takes 15 minutes to prepare. You could serve it with some whipped cream or ice cream, but it's delicious on its own.

By Leslie Blythe

Tomato & Goat Cheese Crostata

This Tomato & Goat Cheese Crostata is from Ina Garten's latest cookbook Modern Comfort Food. It's easy to make and very versatile. Truth be told, I didn't have goat cheese or leeks, so I used Gruyère and a shallot. You can use what you like, however, the pastry must be made exactly as written. It's the flakiest crust ever, which is due to the amount of ice-cold butter!

By Leslie Blythe

Cheesy Chicken & Broccoli Rice Casserole

Over the years, I have had many personal chef clients. I cook many different meals and package them up for the freezer. This Cheesy Chicken & Broccoli Rice Casserole is something I made recently. This can also be made in one large casserole and it freezes really well.

By Leslie Blythe

Orange Muffins

These Orange Muffins a super simple, but really lovely and easy to make. There is a subtle sprinkling of cinnamon sugar on top.

By Leslie Blythe

Crabbies

Last month we spent the weekend in La Quinta, California and had a lovely time seeing our friends at their home in Palm Desert. Judie made wonderful hors d’oeuvres, which included these Crabbies. She was kind enough to send me the recipe. The recipe has been around for years, though no one seems to know where it originated. It calls for a jar of Kraft Old English Cheese, which is a key ingredient. If you can’t find it at your local market, you can buy it online. The beauty of this recipe is that it makes a large amount that you can keep in your freezer and pull as many out as needed and bake until golden.

I make a similar hors d’oeuvres called Curried Shrimp Croustades.

By Leslie Blythe

Indian-Spiced Salmon

This Indian-Spiced Salmon roasts in the oven on a bed of onions. The aromatic spice mixture pairs perfectly with the richness of the salmon.

By Leslie Blythe