Laura Rebecca's Kitchen

Look, it’s good carrot cake. Moist, thanks to the buttermilk glaze. Tender. Flavorful. The frosting is to. die. for. But the cake itself? Meh. I think my issue with it is that its only spice is cinnamon and, in my ideal carrot cake, there’s more going on. It kind of reminds me of an oatmeal […]

These recipes are coming, I swear. Apple Crisp Chicken Marsala Slow Cooked Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic Carmelized Onion Pot Roast Stay tuned!

And clink this link to see Kian’s (my stepson) first animated film. It’s extremely violent. Maybe this is how Tarantino got started?

I was so, so happy to find this cookbook. One of the joys in watching The Sopranos was seeing archetypes, words, locations, and even brands that are familiar to me from growing up and living on Long Island and NY. (OK, the Sopranos live in New Jersey, but there’s a lot of overlap — trust […]

I have always maintained that, if you are an Italian-American from the NY-metro area (and parts of NJ & Conn, too) that you are either in the mafia or know someone who is. (And, for what it’s worth, I fall into the latter category. ) I have a similarly sweeping statement about those of Italian […]

SCORE!!! I stepped into my department’s conference room this morning to find a pile of books free-for-the-taking boxed up on the floor. I poked around and YES! There it was…. Entertaining with the Sopranos. Do you know how long I’ve wanted this book? Do you know how big a Sopranos fan I am? (Do you […]

Click image for source. This is just so good. But when you combine fresh tomatoes and basil with extra virgin olive oil, garlic and Parmesan, it’s hard to imagine something bad! (Looking forward to tonight’s leftovers…) One thing though: I think12 oz of pasta (as the original recipe calls for) overwhelms the sauce. You may […]

I love, love, loooooooooove comfort food. Homemade mac-and-cheese, lasagna, meatloaf, mashed po-taters, apple cake, PB brownies, banana bread; the list goes on. I lurve them all. So pork chops with country gravy are right up my alley. Here, boneless pork chops are lightly coated in seasoned flour, pan-seared until golden brown, and then topped herbed […]

Once again, Lis from La Mia Cucina and Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice have teamed up to host La Festa al Fresco. The event is a celebration of fresh, seasonal (and preferably local) ingredients. Such a good idea, no? So, armed with plenty of zucchini from my neighbors’ garden plus 2 lbs of fresh, […]

Our neighbors, Chris and Shelly, are about the nicest neighbors anyone could ask for, always ready to lend a hand. Or a vegetable — Shelly sent over two giant zucchini and an equally large summer squash on Sunday, grown in their backyard garden. The squash & ‘zuke were perfect for the Vegetable Tian recipe I’d […]