Laura Rebecca's Kitchen

“A Butter icing is like a favorite cotton dress…simple and easy to put on…cooked white frosting like a perky street ensemble…and the extra touches of tinted coconut, toasted nuts, or allegretti are the gay accessories that make a costume ‘special.’ Your family will enjoy your ‘dressed-up’ cakes the more because they look so pretty.” – […]

So many Peeps, so few plans. I can’t imagine it’s a coincidence that on the first day it actually feels like Spring, my annual Peeps obsession kicked in. I bought four 3-packs of the chicks today (no bunnies; I’m a purist) and now have to figure out what the hell I’m going to do with […]

Ah! Fudge. Sadie the stepdaughter sampling sweets. Read the recipe here. Two things about fudge: 1) it’s notoriously difficult to make 2) I’ve never made it before. Recipe … for disaster! (Cue musical sting.) But this month’s Martha Stewart Living, which calls like a culinary siren,had a fudge recipe replete with “money shots”: a pile […]

Another Saturday, another dinner party! Last night, we had Carolyn (not the banana bread Carolyn; a different one) and her family (sans teenage daughter, whose band was invited to play in Disney World) over for what turned out to be a smorgasbord: Pulled pork sandwiches, shells and cheese, homemade apple sauce, hand-picked and home-frozen corn […]

It’s been a pretty hectic week around here, which has precluded me from doing much blog-worthy cooking. We ate corned beef and cabbage leftovers, homemade chicken soup, some take out and tonight, we had an impromptu potluck with some good friends. We had a great time: five kids and five adults feasting on smoked pork […]

Photo-illustration courtesy of Google Image Search. I forgot to take a picture of our corned beef dinner before we ate it. Oops. While St. Patrick’s Day was this past Friday, we ate corned beef, cabbage, and potatoes today. (We had friends over for dinner on Friday who don’t eat beef, so I baked up some […]

There are recipes everyone loves, and there are recipes that loved by only a few. This may be the latter. You’ll have to judge for yourself. My dad’s mother – my “Me-ma” – came over from Italy in the first half of the 20th century. She was a fabulous cook; Sunday dinners were always replete […]

Apparently, all that fur makes him look slimmer. Maybe I should try that. My husband and I just came back from taking Flurry, our American Eskimo dog, to the vet. I was quite worried about him as in the past month, he’s had two can’t-stop-running-seizure-like episodes, the second of which happened yesterday morning. They weren’t […]

In the pan and on the plate. Spicy Banana Bread2 cups flour1 tsp. baking soda1/2 tsp. salt1/2 tsp. cinnamon1/4 tsp. nutmeg1/4 tsp. cloves1/2 cup unsalted butter1 cup sugar2 eggs1 cup mashed bananas1/4 cup orange juice1 cup chopped walnuts1 tsp. vanilla Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Grease and flour a 9x5x3 inch loaf pan. Soften butter to […]

TIP: Cutting angel food with a regular knife will squash the cake. If you don’t have an angel food cake comb (above) saw through it with unflavored dental floss. This recipe comes from Creighton, the 12 year old daughter of two good friends. She has made this — by herself — on several occasions. In […]