Entries by Liya Levich

Summertime Lime

Our summer tradition continued this year with a waterfront vacation full of family, food and adventure! Our final night was all about the refreshing taste of lime. It was easy and amazingly delicious. After 26-30 count shrimp were chilled in a lime marinade for several hours, they quickly cooked up in hot cast iron skillets […]

Cajun Chicken Pasta

We developed this recipe for friends who wanted to serve Cajun Chicken Pasta at their son’s graduation party. After testing and tasting, we thought we had a winner. After making eight times the recipe included here (four full roasting pans), and watching it disappear in two hours, we knew we had a winner! The pasta […]

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Mighty Microgreens

How’s this for a spring salad… tender salad greens with peas and pea shoots, strawberries, toasted almonds, and poppy seed dressing? Now imagine it with local grown strawberries! Spring has finally arrived in the upper Midwest, hopefully the strawberries will too. We’ve been learning about microgreens after receiving a gift from Kinney Mini Farms. They […]

Baked Tomato Gratin

Tomatoes! Can be eaten fresh or cooked, and equally nutritious both ways. Good source of vitamins A, C, and K. Full of antioxidants, especially lycopene*. Available year round from hot houses. Plentiful and delicious late summer from local growers and neighbors. *Lycopene is a natural pigment that makes tomatoes red. When building menus it is […]

Inspiring for 5 Years!

Favorite Chocolate Cake INGREDIENTS STEPS 1 1/2 cups Vanilla porter beer, or stout 6 oz Unsalted butter 2 1/4 cups Sugar 1 cup Cocoa powder (high fat) 2 1/2 cups Flour 2 tsp Baking powder 1 tsp Baking soda 1 tsp Kosher salt 3/4 cup Sour cream 3 Eggs 1 T Vanilla Spray 2 – […]

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

WARNING: You will feel hungry after reading this! As you you can see by the inside of these pancakes, they are lemony (notice the zest), luscious (trust me), and light (evidenced by the airy texture)! They are also incredibly easy to make. Whisk together the dry ingredients, whisk together the wet ingredients, and fold the […]

Soft Pretzels

I’m not going to lie, these are a bit of a project. But one bite of a warm soft pretzel and the effort is worth it. Shaping the dough into pretzels takes some practice and when you get frustrated a simple knot works fine. Tastes just as good too! For a quicker snack at home, […]

Winner winner chicken dinner!

Question: What is the best part of Buttermilk Chicken? The tender, juicy, and delicious chicken. The bones you can use for making fresh stock. The extra chicken for soup. How simple it is to prepare. Answer: All of the above! I think we have all experienced the disappointment of biting into a piece of chicken […]

Gifts from the Heart

Christmas cookies… oh, the pressure! Sometime between Halloween and Thanksgiving the magazine racks at the grocery checkout become full of covers adorned with perfect looking and exquisitely decorated holiday cookies. Every year the holiday cookie bar (pardon the pun) seems to get higher. I learned long ago to resist the urge to flip through the […]