Made. by Lia, Everyday Craft Baking by Lia Holter, Reviewed

Growing up in a suburb of St. Louis, I’ve always had a soft spot for local gems, so discovering Made. by Lia, Everyday Craft Baking by Lia Holter, the heart and soul behind the adorable Made. by Lia bakery, felt like a homecoming. As someone who doesn’t consider herself to be a master baker (though I dabble), I was drawn to this book not just for its recipes but for the warmth and nostalgia Lia pours into every page. Her story, rooted in family, community, and a triumphant win on “Next Great Baker" resonates deeply, especially since her bakery is in the very suburb where I spent my childhood.

What I love most about this book is how approachable it feels. The recipes, from crowd-pleasing Lemon Blueberry Scones to the indulgent Chocolate Cherry Birthday Cake, are written with such clear, concise instructions that even a baking novice like me feels confident tackling them. The Birthday Cake Scones? Adorable and drool-worthy. The Butter Biscuits? They’re on my to-bake list this week, and just looking at the photos makes my mouth water. Lia’s ability to balance simple and complex recipes ensures there’s something for everyone, whether you’re a seasoned baker or just starting out.

The book’s design is a thoughtful touch, especially for someone like me who appreciates readability as I get older. The sans-serif font is large, clear, and easy on the eyes—perfect for flipping through while covered in flour. I was also thrilled to see vegan and gluten-free options, making this a cookbook that truly welcomes all bakers. The chapters on scones and cakes stole my heart, particularly the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake, which had me practically licking the page.

Lia’s passion for baking as a craft shines through, and her professional tips make you feel like she’s right there in the kitchen with you. This book isn’t just about recipes; it’s about creating memories, sharing love through food, and embracing the joy of baking. It’s become a staple in my kitchen, and I can’t wait to pass these recipes on to my own family.

 You can order a copy here.

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 Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Ready Press Publishers in exchange for my honest review.

A Taste of History: Chicken Salad with Macadamia Rum Dressing

 

This gem of a recipe hails from the 1989 Westerfield House Luncheon Cookbook, a rare treasure from a once-iconic restaurant and inn nestled in Freeburg, IL, just 30 minutes from St. Louis, MO. The Westerfield House, open from 1983 to 2002, was a culinary haven, even earning a spot among the top 250 U.S. restaurants in ‘Conde Nast Traveler’ (April 1995). 

This Chicken Salad with Macadamia Rum Dressing was featured in their “Potpourri of Salads” luncheon menu, alongside delights like Orange Marmalade Muffins (coming soon to the blog!), Homemade French Bread, Fresh Fruit Fantasia with Poppyseed Dressing, Crab Imperial, and the whimsical “Flowerpot” dessert—a layered treat of cake, cinnamon ice cream, and meringue, served in a flower pot with a live flower on top. Dining at Westerfield House was truly an experience to remember.

Here’s the recipe to bring a piece of that magic to your table:

Chicken Salad with Macadamia Rum Dressing

3 c. diced, cooked chicken
¾ c. Duke’s mayonnaise
1 c. finely diced celery
Sea salt  and white pepper, to taste
Crisp lettuce leaves
Macadamia Rum Dressing (recipe below)
Macadamia nuts, for garnish

Season diced chicken with salt and white pepper to taste. Mix with ¼ cup mayonnaise and chill for about 2 hours. 

Combine chilled chicken with remaining ½ c. mayonnaise and diced celery. Using an ice cream scoop, portion onto crisp lettuce leaves. Just before serving, drizzle with Macadamia Rum Dressing and sprinkle with macadamia nuts. 

Serves: 8

Macadamia Rum Dressing

¼ c. pineapple juice
¾ c. Duke’s mayonnaise 
1 t. rum extract (I used 2 t. for extra flavor)

Blend all ingredients until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Yield: 1 cup

This dish is a perfect blend of creamy, crunchy, and tropical flavors—a true nod to the Westerfield House legacy. Enjoy!

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Cuban Black Bean Soup From Fountain on Locust

Don't you love it when you see a recipe that you want to make, and know that you have all of the ingredients on hand? This is where I found myself last Wednesday while paging through the food section of the Post-Dispatch, spotting a recipe for black bean soup served by a popular eatery in the city called Fountain on Locust. Or, at least I thought I had all the ingredients. As it turned out, I only had one can of black beans, because I’d used the other can in a dip that I’ll be telling you about later.

As long as I didn't have two cans of black beans, I decided to use one can of black beans and one can of cannellini beans. Then, I realized that I didn't have enough homemade chicken stock, so I decided, what the heck, I'll just use 4 teaspoons of ham soup base dissolved in 4 cups of water. Then I thought, huh, I have a ham bone in the freezer, so why not toss it in for good measure?

I knew I wasn't going to stand in front of the stove for all of this -- I didn't want to be bothered with that -- so I threw everything into the crockpot. It turned out to be wonderful soup the way I made it, but I'm sure it's equally as good the way Fountain on Locust makes it as well. The original recipe is below, and it's vegetarian; if you don't mind eating meat and you’d like to try my version, just replace one can of black beans with cannellini, use ham stock, and toss it all into the crockpot with a ham bone. (I let it go on “low” all day long, so about 8 to 10 hours. At the 4-hour spot, I removed the ham bone, cut off the ham, diced it, and added it back into the crockpot, and continued to let it cook until I was ready for dinner.) I garnished with sour cream, diced avocado, diced tomatoes, black olives, and cilantro. It was a meal in a bowl!

Tasty! 

Cuban Black Bean Soup From Fountain on Locust

As appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch

2 tablespoons olive oil

½ medium green pepper, seeded and dice

½ yellow or white onion — not sweet — peeled and diced

½ cup diced carrot piece

¼ cup diced red roasted peppers (I used Melissa’s Fire Roasted Sweet Red Bell Peppers)

1 ½ teaspoons minced garlic

2 (15-ounce) cans black beans, approximately 4 cups, drained and rinsed

4 cups vegetable broth

1 cup crushed tomatoes

¾ teaspoon ground cumin

½ to 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes, to taste

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

¼ teaspoon chili powder

1 tablespoon malt vinegar

2 cups cooked rice

½ cup sour cream (optional)

Notes: At the Fountain on Locust, most soups are made a day ahead of serving to allow the flavors to blend.

• The Fountain serves this soup over rice and garnishes it with sour cream. The soup is vegetarian; vegan if no sour cream is added.

1. Pour olive oil into a large 4- or 5-quart heavy-bottom pan. Swirl to coat the bottom, then place over medium-high heat until the oil begins to shimmer.

2. Add chopped green pepper, onions, carrots and roasted red peppers, stir to blend, reduce heat to medium and cook until vegetables begin to soften. Add minced garlic, stir, and cook 1 minute longer.

3. Add drained and rinsed beans, broth, tomatoes, cumin, red pepper flakes, black pepper and chili powder. Stir to blend and simmer until done. If needed, add more broth to the soup to achieve desired consistency.

4. Remove from heat and allow to cool a little. Stir in the malt vinegar.

5. Divide rice evenly into bowls. Ladle soup over the rice. If desired, add a dollop of sour cream for garnish and serve.

Yield: 6 large servings or 8 medium bowls

PRINT RECIPE 

This post is linked to:

Happiness is Homemade Sunday

Dishing It & Digging It

Cooking & Crafting with J&J

Amaze Me Monday

Busy Mondays

Art of Homemaking Monday
Make it Pretty Monday

Celebrate Your Story

Inspire Me Tuesday

Tuesdays At Our Home

Tuesdays with a Twist

The Scoop

O My Heartsie Girls Wonderful Wednesday
 Homestead Wednesday

Wow Us Wednesday

Wine’d Down Wednesday

Moonlight and Mason Jars
Full Plate Thursday

Thursday Favorite Things

Home and Garden Thursday
 Friday at the Fire Station
Foodie Friday & Everything Else
Share Your Style

 

Salmon Wellington

It’s always a great day in St. Louis, when that doyen of cooking, Helen Fletcher, guests on the local CBS affiliate’s Great Day St. Louis morning program, one that has become a daily addiction.  Her book The New Pastry Cook will make your mouth water with every turn of the page.

When I saw Helen make Salmon Wellington one morning, I knew this was a recipe custom-made for my husband, my live-in salmon chef (he is currently writing a book of salmon recipes of his own creation).  According to Helen, “The recipe for the Salmon Wellington is based on one that Marlene Sorosky, a food writer I have long admired, developed long ago.”  Like Helen, we too admire Sorosky and, also like Helen, we decided to change up her version a bit by using a leek and mushroom filling.  Not that we don’t love artichokes, quite the contrary, but I am passionate about leeks, even going so far as to grow them in the garden every year.  

Below is Helen’s recipe from her wonderful website called The Ardent Cook.  Follow the link to see her very informative step-by-step pictorial on how to put this dish together.  At the bottom of this page is the recipe for the leek filling that we used.

SALMON WELLINGTON

Mushroom Artichoke Filling

3 tablespoons butter or margarine
8 ounce can artichoke quarters, coarsely chopped
1/2 small onion, diced
1/2 pound mushrooms
2 tablespoons Maderia
Salt and Pepper to taste

Remove the stems from the mushrooms by cutting or de-stemming.  Slice the mushrooms.  Then coarsely chop.  Set aside.

Melt the butter in the saucepan.  Sauté the onions and artichokes until slightly browned.  Add the mushrooms and Madeira and cook, stirring, until most of the liquid is evaporated.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Remove to a bowl and chill.  Can be made the day before assembly if desired.

Assembly

Line a perfectly flat plate with film with letting it extend on both sides.  Place the salmon on the film. Salt and pepper the fillets.  Divide the filling between the fillets.  Place one portion of filling on top of one fillet, pressing somewhat to compact it and make it fit the entire top of the fillet.  Wrap the film around the salmon and freeze at least overnight.

The puff pastry comes in sheets that are rolled.  Roll the pastry out 18 inches long cut it into two 9” x 9” sheets.

Place one fillet, filling side down, on one piece of the pastry.  If the puff pastry is too big, trim it so not more than 1 inch overlaps when both sides are folded.  Fold one end over the salmon.  Brush excess flour off pastry.  Egg wash the edge of the opposite side. Fold it over to overlap the other.  Brush excess flour off.  Make two cuts in the shape of a triangle on the top piece of puff pastry and remove it so it won’t be so bulky (see the photo).  Egg wash it so it will stick to the other piece. Fold it over.

Repeat with other side and fold over to enclose salmon.  Turn the package over and with a very sharp knife, lightly score the top in a cross hatch design.  Do not go through the pastry.

Glaze the top of the pastry with egg wash.  After glazing all, go back and glaze again.  Freeze overnight.

Baking

DO NOT THAW. It is important these be frozen hard so the salmon doesn’t overcook before the pastry gets done.    Place on a baking sheet in a preheated 375 degree oven for 40 to 45 minutes.  Let rest 5 to 10 minutes before serving.  Serve hot.

To make leek filling:

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter

4 large leeks (white and pale green parts only), thinly sliced

8-ounce package of mushrooms, cleaned and thinly sliced

Pinch of Old Bay Seasoning

Salt and pepper, to taste

1 cup whipping cream

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in heavy large skillet over medium-low heat. Add leeks; sauté until tender, about 7 minutes. Set aside.  Melt 2 tablespoons butter in same skillet and sauté mushrooms until golden.  Add leeks to mushroom mixture, slowly pour in cream and simmer until slightly thickened, about 3 minutes. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and Old Bay. (Creamed leeks can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.)

 This post is linked to:

Totally Tasty Tuesdays

What's Cooking Wednesday

Foodie Friday

Sunday's Best Party

Wild Wednesday

Scallion Soup Redux

Sunday dinner is something special at our house.  We both work on the meal, each one making a significant contribution.  This evening we wanted to try another recipe from one of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Cookbooks.  Jim chose to make Steak Diane from Al's Restaurant.  It was heaven!  My contribution was a fresh salad with lots of ingredients purchased from the farmer's market visit, a cup of scallion soup (that morphed into true delicate deliciousness overnight in the fridge, so forget what I said yesterday about adding another potato to the recipe, I wouldn't change a thing), a crusty roll, and glass of wine.  It was a delicious meal, beautifully and lovingly presented. 

I wish you could have joined us!

Kirby’s Grandmother’s Meatloaf with Wild Mushroom Demiglace

I like meatloaf. I always have. As a kid, meatloaf night seemed like putting one over on mom because I always topped my slice with mustard and pickles and told myself I was getting away with having a hamburger for dinner. Like most kids back then, hamburgers were my favorite food; my dream meal was a hamburger, red Jell-O, and chocolate milk. I cringe at the thought today, but still love a good burger – cheeseburgers now -- and I still enjoy meatloaf. But unlike the tomato-topped loaf served to me as a kid, I’m now in search of the perfect meatloaf, the one with the most sophisticated combination of tastes, a firm texture, and topped with a sauce of complex and exotic flavors, a “company worthy” meatloaf that people feel privileged to consume. A meatloaf so good that even non-meatloaf lovers clamor for the recipe.  (Okay, maybe not clamor, but request with zeal.) I have found such a recipe, and by a rather circuitous course. Not only are the ingredients unique, but the method of cooking is as well (we’ll talk about this one later), but despite having found the meatloaf to end all meatloaves, I still search for something to exceed this level of perfection. I’ve come close, but so far my recipe is the winner. I do enjoy the hunt though, and even today while trying a recipe from a well-regarded local restaurant and thoroughly enjoying it, I can smile smugly knowing mine is still better.

Last night’s dinner was thick slices of Kirby’s Grandmother’s Meatloaf with Wild Mushroom Demi Glace from the Eleven Eleven Mississippi Restaurant in St. Louis, MO. It was relatively easy to prepare, but did call for a number of ingredients we don’t normally stock, including Veal Demi-Glace that I ended up getting as a gift for my birthday last week. It may sound lame, but this little jar goes for a whopping $30 at Williams-Sonoma, so was a thoughtful gift indeed for a foodie like me. From what I hear from people who’ve actually made their own veal stock, it’s well worth every penny.

The recipe for this dish came from one of my favorite cookbooks called More Special Requests, a publication of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and volume two of a compilation of the most requested area restaurant recipes. It’s a wonderful cookbook. A beautiful color picture accompanies each recipe, and I find this a must in a really good cookbook. Directions are clear and concise, so it’s easy to create restaurant quality food at home. I’ve been slowly working my way through this book as well as the original, simply entitled Special Requests, ever since I received the duo in the mail a couple of months ago. As a third volume, I’m told, is in the works, so buying these two now is a great deal because if you buy the second edition, you get the first one free. To purchase both, go to the online Post-Dispatch Store, and your cookbooks will soon be winging their way to you. I assure you, you will not regret it.

I like to assemble all needed ingredients before I start. I find this speeds up the cooking/baking process and will ensure I don’t forget anything. (This brings to mind the birthday cake incident of 2002, something I’ll share with you later.)

I cut the recipe in half since there’s just the two of us and not only did we have ample portions this evening, we’ll have meatloaf sandwiches for lunch tomorrow, and will freeze the remainder and extra demi-glace for a nice winter meal at some point in the future. I did not, however, shorten the cooking time, so if you make this, do let it go the full 90 minutes to assure doneness.

The amount of bacon seemed a bit hefty, but surprisingly there wasn’t a lot of excess grease after the meat had cooked, just a very flavorful, very moist loaf.

If you can’t read the recipe from the picture below and would like to have it to try this out for yourself, please email me and I’ll send it to you.

Bon Appetit!

You can also find this recipe and many more at Cookbook Sundays.