Food Bloggers Los Angeles Celebrate Their Heritage Recipes

For the purebreds among us, making something from the kitchen that expresses your heritage can be simple. You pull out your grandmother’s best recipe, and go to town.

But for the mutts and Muggles, with the Heinz 57 ancestry that makes up the background of many, it can be wildly confusing. Your Italian or Lithuanian grandmother? Your Pennsylvania Dutch/German or Canadian grandfather? Pasta or palacinke?

The possibilities are endless, says Food Bloggers Los Angeles, the merry band of blogging cooks in greaterL.A. We had ample opportunity to express ourselves when we met recently for a roots and heritage potluck. Join us for our eclectic brunch:

Delicious Beginnings

Cathy Arkle from She Paused 4 Thought channeled her Swedish roots and brought the gorgeous Toast Skagen.

Lynne Hemer from Cook & Be Merry brought Danish Smørrebrød — Herring & Apples on Rye.

I (Dorothy from Shockingly Delicious) brought my favorite Italian-esque Mozzarella Prosciutto with Basil cheese roll. I serve it all the time!

Melissa Lanz, our hostess who runs Internet meal plan service The Fresh 20, kept us busy with her trademark mimosas (tangerine juice and bubbly). Winter citrus never had it so good.

Middle courses

Kelli Abrahamian from I Had a Delicious Time brought Armenian Cheese Boereg — a flaky, savory turnover.

Ellen Rosentreter of Within My Means brought an English high tea with chocolate banana bread, lemon curd and mascarpone, figs, dates and a couple of her favorite teas.

Erika Kerekes of In Erika’s Kitchen brought a frozen vegetable medley, because, although she loves her mother dearly, she never passes up an opportunity to tease her mom about her lack of culinary expertise.  😈

Adair Seldon of Lentil Breakdown brought Vegan Tzimmes. Although she doesn’t have a recipe on her site, you can make it from carrots, sweet potatoes, apples, sauteed onion, golden raisins, dried apricots, orange juice, cinnamon and some coconut oil.

Greg Henry of Sippity Sup brought Pimiento Tea Sandwiches that expressed his “white trash meets English” heritage. They were down-home delicious!

 Sweet Endings

Judy Lyness from 2 Broads Abroad brought Pastiera, an Italian lattice-top ricotta pie/cake with chewy wheatberries. Deliziosa!

Valentina Wein from Cooking On The Weekends brought Chocolate Truffle Espresso Muffins. Yes, that is a whole truffle nestled inside.

Dana from Foodie Goes Healthy brought Sweet Apple Noodle Kugel.

Jennifer Richmond from Kitchy Cooking also brought Sweet Noodle Kugel. Two things are true about kugel — everyone’s recipe is slightly different, and you can never have too much kugel!

Newbie Jeannette Hartman of Fido Confidential brought Walker’s Shortbread, always welcome at any party! She also has some recipes for doggie treats and biscuits over on her site, so if you have a mutt, go poke around.

Judy from Bumbleberry Breeze brought Mandelbread, which harkens back to her Jewish/Eastern European heritage.

Christina Conte from Christina’s Cucina brought Frappe — Italian bows and ribbons — a deep-fried pastry dusted with powdered sugar. They flew like angel wings right into my mouth.

Kristina Vanni from Better Recipes had a kitchen entirely torn up for remodeling at the time of our meeting, but wants you to know she would have brought Finnish Cinnamon Rolls “Korvapuusti” (vegan version). We expect to see them at the table next meeting, Christina!

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