The Golden Nugget Gourmet

Carlty Bryer. The Man. The Myth. The Legend. 

These pics are from last summer but the memory of his "just out of the oven" fig cake served with a cold scoop of Breyer's vanilla ice cream is fresh on my mind. He couldn't wait to pluck the ripe figs off the tree at the beach house and make this wicked easy cake inspired from a recipe in The Fannie Farmer Cookbook.




Whether you are lucky enough to have fig tree in your back yard or can find them in your local grocery store, Carlty's quick and easy fig cake is a must have recipe. It's FIGGIN awesome!

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Carlty Bryer's Wicked Good Fig Cake

We are about to take teleworking to a whole new level, getting ready to pack up and spend the next two months at one of our favorite hidden spots on earth. Over 60 days of toes in the sand on a secluded beach, sunrise and sunset walks to the light house searching for shark teeth, warm night time swimming in the Chesapeake Bay, and beach side breakfasts and BBQ's. Just to be clear, while this may sound like the Lifestyle of the Rich and Famous (we do have an old guy with a charming Mainah accent) we are able to swing this on an educator and mental health therapist's budget thanks to our dear family friends with a beach house.

The only thing I love more than being in the kitchen is being on the beach, so quick and easy meals are essential. One of our favorite quick and easy bayside meals is Mussels over Linguine in a Garlic Butter Sauce. Thanks to Next Wave Seafood, we can whip up this meal in less than 15 minutes and under $10.


No recipe needed for this one. Just a run to your …

This Ricotta recipe is nuts, literally! I had no idea that you could make a Ricotta substitute out of almonds. Wow! I just used this recipe to make my Roasted Butternut Squash Lasagna and the result was unbelievable. I would not have known that it wasn't actual Ricotta cheese if I hadn't made it myself. This is a must have recipe for Vegan, lactose-free, dairy-free, and plant-based diets.


GNG Tip: Using blanched slivered almonds instead of raw almonds is a huge timesaver. If using raw almonds, you need to soak the nuts in hot water for 3 hours before processing. 
What makes this recipe unique from most of the Vegan ricotta recipes out there is the addition of truffle oil. I found this golden nugget tip at Yummy Mummy Kitchen. I purchased Truffle Oil by The Truffleist which was a hefty $25 at Whole Foods. It may seem like a lot, but it's worth it and you get a lot of mileage out of a bottle! I have included substitutions for the truffle oil on the recipe card if you do not …

Last Fall I was asked to cater a breakfast for Morgan's former phenomenal teachers and staff at The Center for Young Children at the University of Maryland. This Chipotle Roasted Corn Avocado Toast was a cinch to make and a huge hit. I promised CYC staff that I would get the recipe up on the blog, so here it is. Just in time for summer!

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My little SIL Rachel introduced me to avocado toast a few years ago on a family vacation in Scottsdale, AZ. No surprise here, I even took a pic to document.


What is your favorite avocado toast combination?

My husband Scott gave me the challenge of making Thai Red Curry like he had at Thai at Silver Spring. I tried a few different recipes but didn't quite get a "thumbs up." While perusing the web I found a recipe from the Adobe Nido Bed and Breakfast in Albuquerque, New Mexico (now closed) and headed over to the local Thai market to get the ingredients.  Incorporating some suggestions from one of the market employees, Scott says I've got the winner right here!

Since that challenge back in 2012, this recipe has become one of my favorite authentic Thai recipes to cook for family and friends. Pictured below are a few vintage shots of a cooking lesson with my sister-in-law Erica.







Expensive farm table or a cheap sheet of plywood from Home Depot nailed to our old pub table? 

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After my dad retired from over 40 years of paper mill management, he did a short stint working at Moe's Southwest Grill before he and my mom moved down here to Maryland. After working a shift, he would often bring home Moe's famous queso and heat up their fresh tortilla chips in the microwave. I started craving Moe's queso, this unique white cheese dip packed an addicting heat that I had never had at any other Mexican restaurant. I started searching the web looking for the best copycat recipe and found the closest replica at Seeded at the Table. I think it's right on the money!

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Here are my go-to recipes for guacamole and restaurant style salsa.