Spring Salad with Maple Mustard Vinaigrette

With the weather starting to warm up, and fresh produce is easier to find, preparing salads is so much more enjoyable. The following salad is one example of that.

“Invisible” Apple Cake

As a fan of apple cakes, when I saw a few recipes for one with an intriguing name – “Invisible cake” – it immediately got my attention.

As I started digging into it, I’ve learned that the cake originated in France, and is also quite popular in Japan.

Sweet and Spicy Baked Sesame Tofu

The following tofu snacks will no doubt delight even hard core carnivores.

Stewed Rhubarb Two Ways

Rhubarb season is at its peak, and, as I’m very fond of its unique texture and tangy flavor, I ended up buying quite a few stems lately. After making my favorite upside-down cake with it (click HERE for recipe), I opted for lighter ways of preparing the stems.

Sweetened Condensed Milk Dough Filled Cookies

The following tasty cookies were inspired by THIS blog post. Though the cookies looked very tasty, I was mostly intrigued by the dough, which listed condensed milk as one of the ingredients. The use of condensed milk in pastry dough was new to me, and I wanted to give this unique dough a try.

Almonds, Dried Cranberries and Maple Cake

The following cakes will indulge anyone who is into moist, syrupy cakes.

Plums, Almonds and Maple Syrup Cake

When I bought some early season plums at the store, I was a bit disappointed with their flavor. As cooking, or baking, intensifies the flavor of unripe fruit, my solution was to use them in a cake. The fact that fruit cakes are my favorite, only added to the motivation.

King Oyster Mushrooms with Soy Sauce, Maple Syrup and Sesame Oil

King oyster mushrooms (also known as king trumpet mushrooms, and by other names), are large mushrooms, with plump white leg and brown cap. Unlike most mushrooms, the cap is not separated from the leg, and the leg is actually the tastier part. It has a somewhat meaty texture, often compared to abalone, or scallops, and it keeps its shape and size when cooked. Though the mushrooms are native to the Mediterranean, they are more known in Asian cuisines, especially Japanese.

Coconut Milk Pudding with Fresh Fruits

When entertaining a large party, it’s always a good idea to serve a dessert buffet, with small portions of a few items, that the guests can help themselves to, according to their taste. On such a buffet, dairy-free, gluten-free, low sugar or vegan options are likely to please not only those who have dietary concerns, but rather, all the guests, especially after a fairly heavy dinner.

Herbs De Provence Pork Tenderloin with Maple Roasted Red Cabbage

I usually pair pork tenderloin with fruit, but this time, as I also had a nice red cabbage head,  I’ve decided to go in a different direction. I roasted the cabbage with only salt and pepper, then poured a bit of maple syrup and red wine vinegar over it, when it came out of the oven. It was delicious.

Grape Galette with Almonds, Lavender and Maple

As much as grapes are popular in many areas of the world, they are not often used in baking. It is understandable when it comes to large, thick skinned grapes with seeds, but less so with smaller, thin skinned and seedless ones. When I found such ones, I knew I wanted to incorporate them in some kind of cake.