Browsing Tag

dinner

Appetizers/Starters, Desserts, Dinner, Lunch, Savory Snacks, Sweet Snacks

Sweet/Savory Apricot Chili Rosemary Walnut Crumble Bars

I am the queen of crazy flavor combinations, right? But even this one seemed a little crazy to me. Last weekend, I found some Divina’s Apricot Chili Rosemary Spread. Not exactly a sweet jam. In fact, it has a bit of a kick mixed in with the apricots. But I decided to make some of my ever-famous crumble bars, this time: Sweet/Savory Apricot Chili Rosemary Walnut Crumble Bars. It was an experiment. I totally didn’t think that it would work, but you know what? It works. I am not advocating eating this as dessert, but added to a charcuterie board with cheese, salami and olive and grapes, these crumble bars are a perfect addition. I was shocked. Totally surprised. Totally good.

18. July 2026

Dinner, General Reference/Tutorial, Lunch

Kat-style North South Lobster Roll

Happy 4th of July / Independence Day from here on the jagged coast of Maine. I’m beating the heat outside of Boston here in Eastern Maine and thought I would talk about something near and dear to any Mainah’s heart.

The beloved Lobster Roll

3. July 2026

Dinner, Lunch

Venison and Winter Veg Cottage Pie

As some of you know, I really like game meat (i.e. venison, boar, bear, moose, love rabbit, etc), but it’s actually hard to come by if you aren’t a hunter or just plain expensive. But I had some venison stew meat in the freezer that I thought I should use up so I made this venison stew. And it’s almost pie day (March 14) in the US, so ended u making a cottage pie out of it. Seriously delicious, if I do say so myself!

11. March 2026

Breakfast/Brunch, Desserts, Sweet Snacks

Easy “Fruit on Top” Mixed Berry Cobbler

Let’s talk about this “Cobbler” for a sec. First of all, it’s delicious. It’s modified from an America’s Test Kitchen / Cooks Country recipe, which described it as a “cobbler”. So, in my mind cobblers have the fruit on the bottom, no bottom crust and then a top crust of crumble, biscuit dough or a batter. So, it’s not really a cobbler. It’s also not really a pie, which would have at minimum a bottom crust and this has a bottom batter. I don’t really know what to call it, except yummy.

I also don’t really know when to eat it. It would be a great afternoon tea or coffee thing. It would be a great dessert thing with some ice cream and it would even make a fantastic breakfast casserole with maple syrup. So, I guess that is up to you. It comes together in a flash with mostly pantry ingredients: sweetened condensed milk, milk, butter, flour, baking power, salt and a touch of vanilla for the base. I used mixed berries, but you could also use just one berry type, or cherries or even chopped up peaches. Frozen berries / fruit work great here (bake 10 minutes or so longer) and best of all, it isn’t overly sweet.

Perhaps one of the easiest and quickest recipes I have done in a long time. I had it ready to go before the oven had even preheated.

2. February 2026

Appetizers/Starters, Dinner, Lunch, Soups

Maine Lobster Stew

There are times when I make something and I even stun myself at how good it is. This is pretty rare, I must admit, because I have insanely high standards and even when things are pretty spectacular, I will most often find fault with my own food. But this, this Maine Lobster Stew, this was perhaps one of the best things that I have ever made. It was spectacular. Now as a Mainer, generally I would say that seafood stews do not have potatoes — chowders yes, stews no and bisque definitely not. But I found these itty bitty (like 1/2 inch to 1 inch) mini red potatoes called Pee Wee Potatoes and they were just perfect for this, so I went with it and yep, they were great.

If you don’t want to make your own lobster stock, you can use the Better Than Bouillon Lobster Base for the stock, even though you add an additional tablespoon in the stew. Also, the mashed potato powder give it a lush consistency so I would highly recommend (just the plain flavor).

7. January 2026

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