Easy Orange & Ginger Beer Cranberry Sauce

Several years ago my husband (then boyfriend–how casual, right?) illegally sold our mattress on craigslist (shhhh), packed up everything we owned into a U-haul and left our home in Los Angeles to make a new one in the SF Bay Area. We had a cushy beginning to our new chapter, and were blessed with a ridiculously nice house to stay in. My parents had converted the house I grew up in, into my Dad’s music studio. There was still plenty of house to be lived in above the music studio. Too much house for us, actually. We were just a couple of kids with a really cheap coffee table that moved into a very nice house on a very nice hill in a very nice neighborhood. My dad would work downstairs, and bass would pulse through the floorboards. Artists would come to work and occasionally stay. It was our job to make them feel at home since we were living there. I have stories, guys. So many stories. But, this post isn’t for those–this post is to lament about the year that I really started cooking. This was the year that I discovered that I could make my own cranberry sauce.  […]

Thanksgiving Meatballs with Easy Pan Gravy

Here we are again. It’s that time of year where I say predictable things like “What? How is the year almost over?” or “The holidays are chasing me down and I feel like I can’t breathe–can you pass me that paper bag to breathe into? Thank you.” Oh, was that second thing not as predictable? I dunno, it feels about right. The holidays are filled with a lot of joy, but they can also fuel a lot of stress and panic. For me, I’m pretty much always traveling on a holiday to get to family. So, a lot of the stress is logistical. I also get stressed out because my birthday is very near Thanksgiving and I’m getting old and I don’t want to feel my feelings–but that’s an entirely different post that isn’t centered around meatballs or topped with anything like gravy. […]

Papa Lou’s Famous Italian Stuffing {Grain-Free + Gluten-Free + Paleo}

In my house, Thanksgiving is all about the stuffing.We’re not talking that sad Stove Top cornbread stuff with mushy pieces of lackluster veggies. We’re talking my Dad’s famous stuffing– the kind of stuffing that is made with savory hunks of Italian sausage, mushrooms, celery, and flavored with an umami bomb of chicken stock, and the brine-y juices leftover in a can of olives. Oh, and butter. All the butter. […]

Grain-Free Apple Crumble Pumpkin Pie

I’m going to level with you. I had a fever when I created this pie.

Not in the dramatic “I have an insatiable fever and the only cure is pie” kind of way, and not in the overtly-sexy “you give me fever” jazz-standard kind of way. But, rather the “I’m cold sweating, and this thermometer tells me I’m NOT actually cold on the inside” kind of way. Things aren’t generally awesome when you’re sporting a fever. Shivering happens. Clammy-face happens. Your husband might come home from work to find you laying on the couch, wearing nothing but a long sleeve shirt with an ice pack stuffed into your bra. Who needs pants when you’ve got long sleeves? Using fever logic, the answer to that question is NO ONE. Or, maybe it’s seven. I’m not sure. Basically, things don’t make sense. […]