Food tourist strikes again: Simma's Bakery, Milwaukee, WI

Tucked away in the West side of Milwaukee is one of the International Restaurant & Hospitality Ratings Bureau’s Top 25 bakeries in America. I was lucky enough to grow up in the neighborhood where Simma’s Bakery has been located since it opened nearly 30 years ago. I remember how my… Read more »

Epic Fail: Sarah (not Sandra) Bernhardt Cookies

Martha Stewart, domestic empress and ex-con, has a lovely book devoted entirely to cookies, which, as you know by now, I love. The 175 recipes in the book are conveniently categorized into seven sections, whose titles are descriptive but, oddly enough, sometimes read like personality characteristics: light and delicate; soft… Read more »

Highlights from our Memorial Day feast

Holidays can be summed up in three words: family, friends and food. I spent this Memorial Day experimenting with new recipes for salads and chocolates as well as making an old favorite dessert. I ended up with three delicious and utterly dissimilar treats: watermelon, feta and cilantro salad; peanut butter… Read more »

Cake truffles from C. Adams Bakery in Milwaukee

This weekend I was visiting relatives and friends in Milwaukee for graduation parties, birthday celebrations, and Memorial Day festivities. In my downtime, I frequented a number of local bakeries searching for unique desserts to review here on the blog. I found just what I was looking for at C. Adams… Read more »

New weekly installment: 'Too delicious to miss'

Three recipes a week is at once too few and too many. Too few considering the hundreds—literally hundreds—of recipes I sift through over the course of a month. Just this past Sunday, I had to choose between rhubarb crisp, rhubarb crumble, rhubarb muffins, and rhubarb chutney. Endless options, all of… Read more »

Easy banana-oatmeal breakfast bread

Every baker has her set of no-fail, go-to recipes—the old standbys that always seem to turn out right, and this is mine for banana bread. It’s moist, not too sweet, hearty enough to get you through a long morning, and it happens to be low-fat as well. I originally found… Read more »

Would you like some strawberries and rhubarb with your vanilla-cinnamon crumble?

Rhubarb is one versatile vegetable. The thick, crisp, slightly acidic stalks can be used in a slew of dishes, savory or sweet, but one of the more traditional recipes in which you’ll find it is your basic strawberry-rhubarb crumble, which, incidentally, is probably the easiest to make. The crumble portion… Read more »

Mini shortbread cookies with vanilla buttercream frosting

Shortbread cookies are an old favorite of mine—absolutely perfect in their slightly sweet, buttery simplicity and made even more so with the addition of a light vanilla buttercream frosting. These shortbread cookies have an almost biscuit-like texture, which is why I decided to top them off with the whipped frosting.I… Read more »

A note about the schedule for the next two weeks

Simply Sumptuous will be on hiatus until Friday, May 15.I know the end of the semester is frantically busy for all of us, and I wanted to wish everyone good luck with finishing all your work.In other news, I’m happy to announce I will be continuing to update the blog… Read more »

Shaved asparagus salad with dijon mustard and lemon dressing

After a number of days in a row of grabbing lunch and dinner on the go and being out of the house until 10 or 11 at night, I was ready for a simple, light, healthy, homemade meal yesterday afternoon—one that wouldn’t require too much time or effort, considering how… Read more »