Sylvia's Scenario

I made another really great salad this weekend when my family came over for dinner that is from  Heather Christo's blog .  She is a food blogger who I've followed for a long time who lived in Seattle.  They have since moved from the area but I still love reading her blog.  Her family has a lot of food allergies so her recipes are geared toward omitting common allergenic foods such as gluten, dairy, soy, eggs, etc.  It's really interesting to read her story  here  and she also has a lot of information about allergies or just food intolerances in general.  She also has a cookbook you can get here .  I've used a lot of her recipes on my blog, mostly in the "alcoholic beverage" section of my blog.  For whatever reason, Heather has A LOT of really good cocktail recipes and her photos are gorgeous.  Hey, the girl knows how to have a good time, is all I can say... Now that I am on this journey to clean-up my own diet, I am more attracted t...

In Morocco, this soup is called Harira - a hearty lamb, garbanzo bean and lentil soup.  Today, was a soup kind-of-day with temperatures in the low 30's but windchill probably in the teens.  It's been the coldest all year, surprisingly.  There were even some snow flurries today at our house.  How exciting!  Lauren and Ari came over for dinner tonight so I made this soup, along with our favorite  dill bread  to soak up every last drop of this soup.  I got this recipe from the cookbook  Easy Soups From Scratch and Quick Breads To Match .  My sister recently got this cookbook and had made three soups from this book and all were delicious.  Well, now I can vouch for a fourth one to add to the list.  In Morocco, this soup is traditionally served in the evening, after everyone has fasted all day during the holy month of Ramadan.  The soup is seasoned with harissa, a fiery red-chili-and -spice paste. I experim...