(This post will appear on The Spirit World blog, a member of the Well Fed Network) I received a sample of the 100% Organic Partida Agave Nectar some time ago and it has been quite a journey as I developed recipes for this interesting product. The Partida Tequila company makes their tequila, as you might expect, from...

Hmmmm, chocolate. It’s likely something we all take for granted. You might think that the definition of chocolate is an inherent thing and you might think that when you go to the store and when you buy something that is called chocolate that it would, indeed, BE chocolate. For the most part, that is what it...

(Chocolate Coconut Hedgie Cookies) I am a super bad mom, I really am. Once the caffeine hit the system this morning I jumped up and baked these cookies (the dough was in the fridge overnight). The bad part is that we essentially had these for breakfast. We are going to have a second course of...

Stay tuned for the whole story and more delicious pics. Related Posts: Local Foods: Auntie Cathies Bakery – Gluten-free to order Local Foods: Another visit to Auntie Cathie’s...

As I mentioned in my previous post, I have a new cookbook called “Tried and True Cookies”, recipes from AllRecipes.com contributors. There are quite a few of the old home favorites and several iterations of various types of cookie to choose from. As I was thumbing through the book, I saw a group for lemon bars,...

(My winning image: Spice cake with homemade dark chocolate sauce © 2006 Nika)I am very proud and honored to say that I am one of the four first place winners in the first annual Food & Wine Magazine food photography contest! They write about the contest on the Food & Wine Magazine web site. The grand prize was...

Now with order restored I am looking forward to being productive again. I have taken a break from the chocolate and have found the most delicious California navel oranges. More than just being pretty, I have in mind a way to use these as an accent in some spreadable white chocolate that I am...

I continue to look for ways to use my chocolate sauce (this is what happens when you use a pound of chocolate!). I had a ripe mango on hand and felt like assembling it into a dessert with various textures. I made a smoothie from the remainder of the mango (that is always good ...

Having more fun with my chocolate...

This chocolate sauce is astounding in how delicious it is and how beautifully it coats things. A Flickr Flash slideshow of these photos is shown at the end of this post. As a starting point, I pulled out my trusty and, as yet underused, pastry culinary textbook from the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) called The Professional...