No need to cross a bridge to go holiday shopping, all you lucky folk in Marin: you've got lots of great gifts right here at your local farmers' markets. Here's a few favorite seasonal treats for sale at the Sebastopol and Marin Civic Center markets this week.

Newcomers Joel and Carleen Weirauch of Weirauch Farm & Creamery are already generating a buzz about their small-batch cow's-milk cheeses. Now, you can serve them in style on the handmade, one-of-a-kind oak cheeseboards they're selling this month. The boards are made from oak salvaged from a 100-year-old Kentucky tobacco barn, finished satiny-smooth with olive oil and beeswax ($35-55). Get to the market early enough, and you might be lucky enough to pick up a block or two of their flower-embossed soap, made from sheep's milk and local olive oil in scents like rose geranium, lemongrass, lavender, and star anise. The Weirauchs are raising a herd of dairy sheep in Petaluma; come next spring, once lambing starts, they'll be making their own farmstead sheep's milk cheeses, too. Find them on Sunday at Sebastopol and Thursday at Marin Civic Center.

Also at the sweet Sebastopol market: Terra Savia's bright, peppery new-crop olive oil, made from organic olives grown along the Mendocino/Sonoma border and pressed just last month at Terra Savia's olive press in Hopland. This luscious olio nuovo is a Tuscan-style treat that's perfect for dipping into with a chunk of fresh, crusty bread. Terra Salvia also offers several single-varietal olive oils as well as wildflower honey, olive-oil soaps and a soothing botanical salve for moisturizing winter-dry skin.

And while you're there, don't miss the snappy, poinsetta-red boxes from Sonoma Chocolatiers, filled with handmade, chocolate-dipped salted caramels ($20). You can also put together a chic assortment of truffles ($2.25 each) in nifty flavors like fig-cardamom, holiday spice, smoky chipotle, and tequila-lime, or pick up a stocking-stuffer bag of crunchy chocolate-covered organic almonds, sugared or cinnamon-spiced.

Feeling a little DIY? Believe it or not, you can still turn out a few gift jars of homemade, local strawberry jam using Tomatero Farm's late-crop, Watsonville-grown organic strawberries ($3.50/pint), sold at the Marin Civic Center market. Or pick up a mix-and-match assortment of low-sugar, big-flavor berry jams made by Swanton Berry Farm, in flavors like tayberry, olallieberry, strawberry, and blackberry ($7-$9). They're all made using the farm's organic, union-grown berries.

Tea drinkers take their brews seriously, but they're often outnumbered by the coffee geeks. Show your tea-drinking friends that you respect their cuppa with a gift from Sky Tea at the Marin Civic Center market. Tea lover Jeni Quigg started her luxury tea company a little over a year ago, travelling around the world to source rare, small-batch, artisan-grown teas--what she calls "legendary teas." Her personally blended masala chai, which she also sells brewed by the cup, has a bright, clean spiciness to it, thanks to cardamon and peppercorns that Quigg picked herself on the Malabar coast. Even decaf drinkers can find something to love here, thanks to several blends made with rooibos or decaffeinated teas, including a rooibos chai and a seductive cinnamon plum sprinkled with saffron, flax seeds, and marigold petals.

Known for their rustic, rough-hewn hearth breads, Della Fattoria bakery also has a popular side line of pastries, including gift bags of biscotti and chocolate-chip cookies ($6) sold at the Marin Civic Center market. This year, they're offering an Italian holiday specialty, panforte ($16). Dense with dried fruits, honey, nuts, and spices, this chewy confection has a history stretching back centuries. "It was the Crusaders' little powerbar," says owner Edmund Weber. It has a deep, winter-spiced taste, lovely with a cup of Sky tea or a glass of dessert wine, the perfect reward for shopping local this season.

A note to shoppers: Both the Sebastopol and Marin Civic Center markets will be operating this Sunday, December 18. The Marin Civic Center market will be operating on Thursday, December 22. Both markets will be closed on Sunday, December 25.

It's summertime, and we might just be the one place in the country actually enjoying itself, rather than wilting under an onslaught of brain-melting heat and humidity. So get out of the house! Some of our favorite bloggers have already told you where to eat outside this summer. Still, maybe you'd like to find yourself some green, rather than spending it. Forget the food trucks for a minute; let's go hang out with the farmers!

Getting on the electronic mailing list for Marin Organic, promoters and advocates for sustainable agriculture in Marin, is a great way to keep on top of tours, talks, and special events happening just across the bridge. Coming up next month are a dairy tour of Straus Family Creamery, an orchard walk through the olive groves of McEvoy Ranch, and a discussion with bakers Chad Robertson (Tartine Bread), Celine Underwood (Brickmaiden Bakery), and David Muller (Outerlands) about their adventures in sourdough. You can also go to Sonoma Farm Trails to downloads maps and farm guides and plan your own tour of that area's rich agricultural offerings.

CUESA, the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture, is best known for running the San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market, but they also organize periodic tours of local farms and producers. On August 10, you can join CUESA for an Organic Greens & Blue Cheese Tour featuring County Line Harvest, growers of excellent lettuces, strawberries, and more, and the family-run Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company.

Chez Panisse is planning a series of pricey fundraisers for the Edible Schoolyard in conjunction with its 40th birthday next month, but there is one free, family-friendly OPENeducation event happening on August 27 at the Berkeley Art Museum. (Tickets are free but must be reserved in advance.) The day is planned as a series of "interactive cooking installations" between museum-goers and a posse of farmers, educators, and artists, using corn, beans, and squash planted in the outdoor spaces of the museum.

And speaking of family fun, devoted Bay Area Bites readers may know Devil's Gulch Ranch as one of our favorite sources for locally produced rabbit, but they're more than just bunnies. They also host a ranch camp for kids, with three more weeklong sessions remaining.

Apples in August? For anyone born and bred on the East Coast, where apples mean autumn, the idea of this can seem a little bizarre. However, our California-grown heirloom apple, the Gravenstein, is a early ripener, ready for pie by mid-August. Celebrate its yellow-and-red striped delights at Sebastopol's down-home Gravenstein Apple Fair on August 13 and 14. You can even go up against this one-time grand champion in the Apple Pie Contest.

Most small producers have their hands full just getting their day-to-day chores done, especially when there are animals in the mix--which means your favorite cheesemaker or farmer is rarely available for drop-in visits. On August 7, Bay Area Green Tours is planning a daylong "Tomatoes, Peaches, Corn, and More" tour of Brentwood, with stops at Frog Hollow Farm, Dwelley Farm, and Smith Family Farm. (Don't forget your sunscreen and sun hat, as Brentwood bakes in the summertime. Good for the peaches and tomatoes, a little shocking to fog-dwelling San Franciscans.) On August 18, take a One Valley, Three Milks tour and get a behind-the-scenes peek of Bellwether Farms (sheep), Two Rock Valley Cheese (goat), and Valley Ford Cheese Company (cow).

You can also sign up (for free) as a member of Weirauch Farm, a small sheep dairy and creamery, and save the date for their next members-only tour on Aug. 13. The setting, in the rolling hills of Petaluma, is beautiful, and the sheep (pictured above) are as friendly and inquisitive as puppies. While owners Joel and Carleen Weirauch finish up their sheep-milking parlor (they're hoping to have it completed in time for next spring's milking season), they're making some delectable cows' milk cheeses, available after the tour for tasting and purchase.

But what if you want to stay closer to home, enjoying the flavor of local farms without getting mud on your shoes? Then head over to Potrero Hill's sweet, sunny Plow. Look for the metal pig hanging outside, or the many happy diners inside, all grooving on lemon-ricotta pancakes or (my favorite) dreamy French toast gobbed with mascarpone and topped with thick wedges of brown sugar-and-butter roasted Summer Zee peaches from Blossom Bluff Orchards.

The menu shifts daily, but a recent meal included breakfast and lunch offerings like a soft scramble with lambs quarter greens, mushrooms, and goat cheese; housemade yogurt and granola with fruit and Potrero Hill honey; cucumber-buttermilk gazpacho; green bean and Sungold tomato salad with purslane and fresh mozzarella; and a BLT stacked with Nueske bacon and glowing, gorgeous heirloom tomato slices. Farms, orchards, ranchers, bakers, and producers are thanked in four lines of small type at the bottom of the menu, name-checking all the purveyors we know from markets around the Bay Area: Mariquita Farms, Dirty Girl Produce, County Line Harvest, Hamada Farms, Frog Hollow, Straus Family Creamery, Marin Sun Farms, Acme Bread, and more. Happy summer!

As I'm sure you know, macaroni and cheese is all the rage right now. With entire restaurants dedicated to the creamy, comforting stuff, it's clear that it's a childhood favorite that we don't outgrow. Vegans have long been in the practice of creating amazing versions of animal-ingredient-free varieties. There's even an entire blog dedicated to it called the Noochy Noodle. But what if you are vegan and also gluten-free? Just because a vegan gets diagnosed with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity his or her ethical stance about animal products doesn't change. So, the elimination of gluten gets added to their vegan lifestyle.

The two main components in traditional mac and cheese are dairy and wheat. So, you may wonder how a gluten-free vegan could possibly, of all dishes, manage to eat some. Believe it or not, it's possible to create a delectable, velvety, savory bowl of noodles that will satisfy even an omnivore. I know of four restaurants in the Bay Area that serve gluten-free vegan mac and cheese: Source, Nature's Express, Cafe Gratitude (and a raw variety at that!), and Homeroom. However, everyone knows that nothing beats homemade. So, let's start with some cashews and some rice pasta and take it from there...

Gluten-Free Vegan Macaroni and Cheese

Summary: This makes a cheesy, gooey mac and cheese. I prefer not to bake it so that the nut base doesn't get too dry or congeal. The base for the cheese sauce was inspired by the Raw Cashew Cheese recipe on Chocolate & Zucchini.

Prep time: After soaking cashews, 15 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 15 min (some steps are done simultaneously)
Yield: 4 2-cup servings

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup cashews (soaked for 6 hours or overnight -- measure after soaking)
• 1/2 cup vegan milk (I used homemade cashew milk, but any other type would work)
• 1/4 cup roasted red peppers (from a jar works fine)
• 3 tablespoons white wine (find a vegan variety here)*
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Earth Balance (I prefer the soy-free variety, which would also make this a soy-free recipe.)
• 1 large clove of garlic, chopped
• 1 teaspoon salt
• black pepper to taste (but I recommend a lot)
• 1 bag Trader Joe's Organic Brown Rice Fusilli Pasta (This is the best gluten-free pasta I have found, and it's only $1.99. It comes in other shapes, but fusilli is the best.)**



*The addition of wine and vinegar helps give the sauce the sharp taste that the fermentation in dairy cheese produces.
**If you are not gluten-free, you can totally use regular wheat pasta here as well.
Note: If you're not feeling the macaroni part, you can also just make the sauce and use it for other recipes that call for cheesy concoctions, like a vegan fondue, over veggies, or drizzled on vegan pizza.

Instructions

1. Start cooking the pasta according to directions. I've learned that exactly 8 minutes is the ideal time for the Trader Joe's brand.
2. In the meantime put all other ingredients into a blender and gradually increase the speed to the highest possible, and blend until completely smooth. I highly recommend using a good quality (preferably high-speed) blender like a Vitamix to get the creamiest consistency possible. But whatever blender you use, the key it to get it as smooth as possible and without any gritty texture.



3. Pour "cheese" mixture into a pot and over medium low heat, gradually heat sauce while constantly stirring with a whisk.
4. Drain noodles, rinse for a second, and while still wet combine with cheese sauce.
5. Stir.
6. Eat.

You can also customize this recipe easily. Add a little cayenne or jalapeños for a kick. Sprinkle with gluten-free bread crumbs or crumbled potato chips. Stir in peas or broccoli florets. Use your imagination! Then grab a bowl, pile in the creamy pasta, and relive your childhood (maybe add some grown-up cartoons for even more authenticity).

The Science & Art of Cheese
Cheese. It comes in more than 2,000 varieties -- hard, soft, fresh and aged -- and it’s been with us for thousands of years. Take a journey to Cowgirl Creamery in West Marin to learn how artisan cheese is made and how scientists are putting cheese under the microscope to gain new insights about this incredible, edible food.

The Terroir of Cheese
"Terroir" is a French word that has historically been used to describe the geographical features such as climate, soil and topography that lend unique flavor characteristics to a wine. Now this term is being applied to artisan cheese, underscoring the importance of location in the production of award-winning, handmade cheese. Watch this QUEST web extra to learn more about the role of terroir in artisan cheese.

Related Links:

QUEST Producer's Notes: The Science & Art of Cheese by Sheraz Sadiq

Somebody get Kim Severson a TV gig stat.

Seriously, The New York Times staff writer, currently the Atlanta bureau chief, is friendly and funny -- she reminds me a little of Ellen DeGeneres -- and a top-notch interviewer to boot.

And Severson knows food: She covers the beat for the Times and before that for the San Francisco Chronicle. Last year she authored Spoon Fed: How Eight Cooks Saved My Life, where she sings the praises of a group of female food icons, including Alice Waters and Ruth Reichl, who have played an important role in her personal and professional life. In an increasingly overcrowded genre (food memoir) Spoon Fed stands out for both its authenticity and candor.

Severson was in conversation last night as part of the City Arts & Lectures series with cheese maker Sue Conley, the co-founder of the celebrated Cowgirl Creamery in Point Reyes Station, and master baker Chad Robertson, co-owner with wife and pastry chef Elisabeth Prueitt of Tartine Bakery and Bar Tartine in the Mission, where long lines can be found for the store's over-the-top baked goods, desserts, and Robertson's coveted rustic bread.

The baker's new book, Tartine Bread (Chronicle Books, $40), is a step-by-step guide to making his signature loaves -- complete with 29-page instructions for his Basic Country Bread. Queuing to buy may not seem as daunting as tackling his trademark crust. (Read a recent review of Tartine Bread on BAB by Megan Gordon.)

The topic for the evening? "On Artisan Food," which seemed fitting for two food purveyors known for their singular obsessions, turning out small batches of award-winning, high-quality products using premium ingredients. What could be a more fundamental food than bread and cheese? And yet these two craftspeople have elevated their chosen culinary pursuit to cult-like status.

Am I alone in thinking the Herbst Theatre -- with its bright lights, high-backed, stiff-looking chairs, Persian rug, and formal backdrop -- is not the warmest or coziest of places to curl up for a chat in front of an audience numbering in the hundreds?

Here's where Severson showed her craft. From the get-go she loosened up the crowd and her interview subjects with one well-placed quip after another. There was the nod to the news with a Charlie Sheen reference and the jokey asides; when Conley confessed that her adventures with cheese began when she fell for a Marin County park ranger Severson sighed: "Ah, that's where it always start." She asked the probing questions in a soft-peddled way, with queries like: "Is there a point in every small producers life where you just want to see your products on the shelves at Costco?" which played for good-natured laughs.

Another thing I admired: Severson didn't use the stage as an opportunity to flack her own book, which is just plain tacky. Trust me, though, I've been to enough of these kinds of evenings to witness such bad behavior. At a recent book event the interviewer in question used his allotted time with the audience to talk up his own tome as often as possible, and while he promised to ask the author sitting next to him about his own work it never happened. Cringe worthy.

Severson teased out interesting tidbits that engaged both her fellow stage members and the audience. Who knew Robertson's wife is gluten-intolerant and can't eat wheat? Or that Cowgirl Creamery stopped selling its popular quark (a spreadable, creamy cheese) because it didn't pass muster with a then 80-something taste tester searching for the soft cheese of his German youth.

There was plenty of talk about cheese rinds, bread starts, and what it means to be a food artisan too. Also discussed: Conley's self-described epic fails and Robertson's new-found fascination with ancient whole grains. And there was Severson's running gag about resenting waiting in line for "100 hours" for Robertson's bread ("I'm not bitter."). The entire program is scheduled for broadcast on KQED on Sunday, May 1 at 1 p.m. Take note: Robertson offers frustrated food lovers a tip about how to avoid the crowds at Tartine too.

To see Severson's schtick in person, stop by Omnivore Books tonight at 6 p.m., where she'll be reading from and signing copies of Spoon Fed.

Photo Credits: Chad Robertson (Tartine Bakery), Sue Conley (Cowgirl Creamery), Kim Severson (kimseverson.com)

Outside of the Sacred Wheel Cheese and Specialty Market, on 51st and Shattuck Ave. in Oakland. Photo by Marlene Saroni

"Wait, there's still 10 cheeses here you haven't tried!" insisted Chris Howse, the enthusiastic, lavishly tattooed general manager of Oakland's' new Sacred Wheel Cheese and Specialty Market.

When was the last time you heard that over a cheese counter? Especially a few minutes before closing time, after you've already tried several dozen different cheeses, each handed over eagerly, complete with full description.

In my experience, 3 tastes is about the limit of most cheese-wranglers' patience. After that, there seems to be a tacit agreement that you'll pick one, pull out your wallet, and seal the deal, or else slink away to make room for the next dairy-loving freeloader in line.

Not at Sacred Wheel Cheese and Specialty Market, which opened early January in the rapidly foodie-izing district of Temescal. Here, the staff seems much more eager to discover your new favorite cheese, reveal their latest find, or simply blow your mind with a groovy but unfamiliar flavor or texture. Specializing in domestic cheeses from mostly small, farmstead producers, the emphasis right now is on mostly Northern California cheeses. But you'll also find wheels and wedges from Oregon, Utah, Minnesota, Wisconsin, New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire.

Going all-American was part of co-owner Jena Davidson Hood's plan to create an unpretentious, unintimidating, neighborhood-friendly shop, where anyone could drop in, taste, and learn, without being overwhelmed by an enormous selection or a wall of hard-to-pronounce names. And while Jena may have the most food knowledge, thanks to her culinary-school training and years as a chef with Michael Mina's restaurant group, she emphasized that "no one here is pretending they know everything. We really encourage tasting--we'll taste any cheese in the shop, because it's fun to learn with people."

Said Jena, "Now that we've been open a little while, people are starting to come to me," with handmade accompaniments. "I'd really like to see the shelves fill up with local stuff, tiny, small-batch products." Already, the shelves are stocked with hot-pepper jellies from Inna Jam; honeys from Five+Dime and Bay Area Bee Company; and baguettes from Berkeley's Bread Workshop.

Not everything will be local, however. Sacred Wheel is a family affair, and Jena, her brother Merrick Davidson, and her mother Bernice Davidson, all of whom work in the shop, are proud of their Virginia roots. "We grew up country," Jena laughed, "on a farm in Bedford County, so we wanted to bring a little bit of home here." In a green shelving unit (made by her husband, Brian Hood, out of an old truck bed) are all manner of edible Virginiana, including jars of sweet chow-chow and hot zucchini relish from Meadowcroft Farm and cans of she-crab soup and blue crab chowder.

Still, Jena is proud to be living "100% Temescal" lately. She and her husband, who did much of the carpentry and design work needed to turn the long-empty storefront into a homey and welcoming space, live just a few blocks away, close enough so that she can run home to walk their dogs at midday. Said Jena, "We moved here 5 years ago, but I think even if we hadn't, it would have ended up being our favorite neighborhood. We're hoping this will help make Shattuck less of a stepchild" to the more popular and already restaurant-lined Telegraph Ave. "I'm happy we got in when we did."

While the bulk of the business is in take-home cheese and products, there's also a short menu: a couple of soups, including chunky, beer-spiked "tomato PBR" and a daily special, like silky, creamy carrot and roasted garlic; and a simple, kid-friendly grilled cheese sandwich of Cowgirl Creamery's Wagon Wheel cheese on sourdough bread. On the second Saturday of each month, James Whitehead of Fist of Flour will be setting up his mobile pizza oven on the sidewalk outside, making pizzas with a variety of Sacred Wheel's cheeses.

So, it's clear: Temescal likes its cheese, the bigger and bolder the better. And what could be better than grilled cheese dunked in tomato soup? Well, how about mac and cheese washed down with beer?

A few blocks east of Telegraph, a lunchtime line is snaking from the counter at Homeroom, past the Kraft-yellow wall almost all the way to the door. As you might expect, woolly hats, trucker caps, goatees, and I hella (heart) Oakland tees are much in evidence. But despite the line's slow crawl, everyone seems to be smiling. And why not? Above the counter is a chalkboard reading A is for Apple, B is for Beer, C is for Cheese.

It's the last two that Homeroom is banking on, with a menu that's all mac and cheese, all the time, serving ten varieties (loaded with Vermont cheddar, Mexican chorizo, goat cheese, Prather Ranch hot dogs, and more--and yes, they do make both vegan and gluten-free versions) alongside a dozen draft and bottled beers. There's wine, too, a few veggie sides (broccoli with ranch dressing, roasted carrots, salad) and a handful of simple desserts (brownies, peanut-butter pie, homemade Oreos, ice cream floats made with housemade root beer or Old Rasputin stout). The mac and cheese, plenty of it, comes bubbling in wide ceramic dishes, while the beer arrives in Mason jars, a few ounces shy of a pint. Just enough for a pleasant little lunchtime buzz, especially over the ballast of all that cheese and starch.

In the kitchen, a wiry crew is sweating over the pots, shoulders hunched with the pressure. "Even working in a mac and cheese restaurant, I think I've lost 5 pounds since we opened," laughs co-owner Erin Wade. Less than a week after opening their doors on Valentine's Day, Wade and her co-owner Allison Arevalo are still getting their systems down, gearing up for an all-day schedule that will see them dishing up from 11am to 9pm from Tuesday through Thursday (and Sunday) and from 11am to 10pm on Friday and Saturday.

Like the crew at Sacred Wheel, Arevalo and Wade have made Homeroom into a community affair; with the help of their husbands and friends, they did much of the space's renovation themselves, giving the big, open space a sweet and quirky feel that's almost kitschy, but not quite. The chunky red coffee mugs, decorated with the Homeroom logo, are instantly covetable; the old-fashioned library card catalog, now a repository for customers' "buy 10 get one free" cards, is a nice touch, even if few of the 20something patrons here would remember ever using a card catalog for real. Still, there's no denying the moneymaking appeal of cheesy-good nostalgia, especially with beer and without homework.

The only thing missing? Some no-nonsense lunch ladies to keep the din down.

Sacred Wheel Cheese and Specialty Market
Address: Map
4935 Shattuck Avenue
Oakland, CA, 94609
(510) 653-1653
Hours: Tues-Sun: 11am-8pm
Twitter: @SacredWheelOak
Facebook: Sacred Wheel Cheese and Specialty Market

Homeroom
Location: Map
400 40th Street
Oakland, CA 94609
(510) 597-0400
Hours: Tues-Thurs: 11am-9pm, Fri- Sat: 11am-10pm, Sun: 11am-9pm
Twitter: @homeroom510
Facebook: Homeroom

A steaming plate of enchiladas is one of my favorite meals. I love how the depth of flavor in a good enchilada sauce wakes up the tongue; and then of course there's the added bonus of melted cheese. But the process of making enchiladas is a bit fussy. Baked while sitting rank and file, nestled against each other in a queue, they demand a tidy symmetry. The result is a row of neat and snug packages wrapped in their own corn tortillas, which is lovely on the plate, but unnecessary for a family dinner. Anyone who has gone through the process of making homemade enchiladas knows that filling each individual tortilla can be time consuming and messy; plus traditional enchilada sauce is difficult to make from scratch and it's hard to find a good one in a can or jar. It is for all these reasons that I abandoned making red sauce enchiladas at home and instead converted my recipe into a casserole. Little did I realize how good this dish would be, how inexpensive it would be to make, nor how much my family would love it.

The casserole's innate unruly character seemed like a perfect fit for enchilada's zesty ingredients. I figured I would use many of the same components -- chicken, cheese and a red sauce -- and then crossed my fingers that I would end up with something that was close to enchiladas. Yet as with so much in life, making what seemed a paltry amendment to preparation instructions ended up altering the finished product's essence. With the ingredients now added in a hodgepodge of layers, the spices and flavors were given the freedom to intermingle while chilies, sour cream and cheese were at liberty to melt into each other. And while conventional enchilada sauces are made up of dried chilies, I felt that the freewheeling nature of the casserole gave me license to be a bit more innovative. Okay, fine, I only added in tomatoes as a sauce base, but I never would have done this if I'd been making old-school enchiladas. When all was said and done, and I removed that bubbling cheesy dish from the oven, I found that enchilada casserole tastes even more luxurious than its authentic cousin.

As with enchiladas, this casserole is full of southwestern ingredients. Fresh Anaheim chili peppers cooked with chicken (or vegetables), onions, tomatoes, cumin, and Mexican oregano, not to mention a nice dose of chili powder, provides the satisfying Mexican flavors you expect but also a little more. You can also add in a jalapeno for some heat. If you want to keep this dish meat-free, just use roasted butternut or acorn squash instead of chicken (and savor the sweet earthy taste of those vegetables against the mildly picante flavors of the sauce).

Making the filling for this one-dish meal is a breeze, but assembling it is even easier. After toasting the tortillas a bit in a pan, you just layer half of them in a casserole dish, top with half the filling, some cheese and sour cream, and then add on another layer. That's it.

So if you love enchiladas, but aren't crazy about making them; or if you simply crave an easy-to-make hearty one-dish meal that will please your entire family, here is my recipe for Cheesy Enchilada Casserole. The main recipe uses chicken but I've also included a vegetarian alternative that uses butternut or acorn squash at the end. Both are great choices for an easy and hearty dinner at home.

Cheesy Chicken Enchilada Casserole

Makes: one 9 x 13 casserole

Ingredients:

12 corn tortillas
5 chicken thighs (or two cups leftover chicken)
½ cup chicken stock or water
2 large Anaheim peppers chopped
½ large onion chopped
1 Tbsp plus ½ tsp Ancho or Chipotle chili powder (regular chili powder can be subbed in, but the Ancho and Chipotle are so good they're worth seeking out)
1 tsp cumin
1 Tbsp Mexican oregano (or regular)
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
Salt and pepper to taste
2/3 cup sour cream
¼ cup milk
1 cup shredded Monterey jack, Colby or cheddar cheese (use 1 ½ cups if not using Cotijo)
½ cup Cotijo cheese (optional)
1 Tbsp lime juice
¼ cup chopped cilantro (optional)
1 Tbsp corn or vegetable oil (or enough to thinly coat the bottom of a large pan)

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. If using fresh chicken, place thighs in a pan, sprinkle with salt, pepper and about ½ tsp chili powder and then cover with chicken stock or water. Cook covered for 7-10 minutes, turning over after about 4 minutes. Simmer until cooked through and then remove both chicken and broth from the pan to cool. Shred chicken and keep the broth in a separate dish.

3. Heat the same pan (now empty) to medium heat and then add in the oil, chopped Anaheim peppers and onions. If using jalapeno, add now. Sauté for 10 minutes.

4. Add in the rest of your chili powder plus your cumin and oregano. Be sure to crush the oregano in your hand first (as this releases the flavors more thoroughly into the dish). Add salt and pepper to taste.

5. Add in your shredded chicken (if using chopped leftover chicken add in now), broth, and tomatoes and stir until everything is thoroughly mixed in. Taste and then add more salt if needed. Simmer for 15 - 20 minutes on low heat.

6. Heat a medium pan (I like to use cast iron) to warm up your tortillas. I use medium high heat. Add in a little oil (must enough to barely cover the bottom of the pan) and fry each tortilla until warmed through and slightly crisp. Set aside on a plate.

7. Mix the cilantro and lime juice into your filling and stir. Taste one more time to see if you need to add any salt or pepper and then remove from heat.

8. Mix the milk into your sour cream (whisking to combine) and then set up a workspace with your 9 x 13" pan (which you should spray or line with oil), tortillas, grated cheeses, and filling.

9. Using a ladle, scoop mostly sauce (i.e., not much meat or vegetables) into the bottom of the casserole dish and then lay 6 of your heated tortillas into the bottom of the pan. Top with half your filling followed by drizzling on half your sour cream (making sure you even distribute). Set half your cheese on top of that and then repeat by laying on the remaining tortillas, filling, sour cream and cheeses.

10. Set dish in the oven for about 30 minutes (25 if using a convection oven) or until the entire casserole is warmed through and the cheese is bubbly.

11. Serve and enjoy.

Cheesy Squash Enchilada Casserole Variation
Follow the above instructions with the following alteration:

1. Instead of cooking the chicken in step 1, roast your peeled and chopped squash in the oven with some olive oil and salt until al dente.

2. In step 5 leave out the chicken (obviously) and add in ½ cup vegetable broth instead. Also, do not add in your squash yet as you don't want to overcook it. Instead just simmer your other vegetables in the tomatoes and broth.

3. Add your cubed and roasted squash in step 7.

To say that the grilled cheese sandwich is one of my favorite things in the world would be an understatement. And you know what? I'm not alone in that. I come from a generation that grew up on the beloved grilled cheese. The dish I came to love was simple and comforting: a layer of warm, melty American cheese embraced by two fluffy slices of toasted white sandwich bread, so crispy and buttery that it crackled like the top of a creme brulee at every bite.

Ok, so maybe I'm romanticizing a bit. I grew up on Kraft singles and Wonder Bread, and if I ate those things today, I doubt they'd taste as good as I remember. I grew up, and dammit, I wanted my beloved grilled cheese sandwich to grow up with me.

After years wandering in a grilled cheese arctic wasteland, someone stepped in to save me: Nate Pollak and Heidi Gibson, the "Big Cheeses" at a hot new South Park lunch eatery, the American Grilled Cheese Kitchen. Nate and Heidi matured the dish, taking it to a level of adult grilled cheese perfection that will completely overshadow any trace memories you have of thin Denny's cheese sammies that linger in your subconscious. Think gourmet cheeses, local produce, and a levain bread that would make Baby Jesus cry.

To give credit where credit is due, I was introduced to this place by my good friend Kirstin Jackson, the goddess of all things dairy. Whenever Kirstin tells me to jump at a new cheese dish, I listen. Kirstin and I met for lunch at the American Grilled Cheese Kitchen a few weeks ago, and I ordered something called the Butternut Buster. I had no idea what I was ordering, though I knew that I love butternut squash and cheese, so why wouldn't they go together?

A few minutes later my lunch showed up, and before me sat a sandwich that must have measured 4-inches thick. Between the thick, moist slices of toasted levain bread were layer upon layer of fresh sage butter, caramelized onions, roasted butternut squash, tender prosciutto, and some of the most gooshy, melty gruyere and fontina cheese I've ever eaten. I dove into the sandwich like a dinosaur eating a caveman, and before long I was covered in cheese, meat, and breadcrumbs. I swear, I don't think I took a breath through the first half of my lunch. For that two minutes, my life was nothing but a lambada of flavor, texture, and aroma.

The menu at the American Grilled Cheese Kitchen changes frequently, peppered with a series of tantalizing daily specials on top of their hometown heros. Here's a sample of their current lunch offerings:

• Piglet -- Tillamook sharp cheddar, artisan cured ham, apple mustard, rosemary butter
• Mushroom Gruyère -- fontina, gruyère, roasted wild mushrooms + gold potatoes, melted leeks, caramelized onions, thyme butter
• Jalapeño Popper -- chèvre, monterey jack, applewood-smoked bacon, apricot-jalapeño relish
• Club Turkey -- Tillamook sharp cheddar, creamy havarti, Willie Bird smoked turkey, applewood-smoked bacon, Sierra Nevada stout mustard, roasted tomatos, arugula
• Mousetrap -- Tillamook sharp cheddar, creamy havarti, monterey jack, on artisan sourdough (extra add-ons: applewood-smoked bacon, artisan cured ham, roasted tomato, and/or bread n'butter pickles)
• Moscone -- fresh mozzarella, fontina, roasted tomatoes, basil-lavender pesto, kalamata olive tapenade
• Smoky Tomato Soup -- house made with crème fraîche, croutons
• Stella's Cobb Salad -- chèvre, organic mixed greens, egg, organic cherry tomatoes, pickled red onions, smoked turkey, applewood-smoked bacon, buttermilk dressing
• Tilly's Veggie Salad -- fresh mozzarella, organic mixed greens, egg, organic cherry tomatoes, kalamata olives, capers, croutons, champagne vinaigrette

Nate and Heidi even offer breakfast sandwiches:

• Classic Breakfast -- sharp cheddar, jack, cage-free egg
• Veggie Breakfast -- sharp cheddar, jack, egg, roasted tomatoes, caramelized onions, bell peppers
• Breakfast Piglet -- sharp cheddar, ham, egg, apple mustard, rosemary butter
• Farmer's Breakfast -- sharp cheddar, roasted potatoes, applewood-smoked bacon, cage-free egg, chive butter

Food allergy note: Guess what? The American Grilled Cheese Kitchen makes their own gluten-free bread, and all sandwiches on the menu can be served on this amazing bread for only fifty cents more. They even sell their bread by the loaf, and I guarantee you'll want to pick some up for reconstructing your own grilled cheese dreams at home.

What's my overall opinion? Get thee to the American Grilled Cheese Kitchen as soon as possible. Only open for breakfast and lunch, this place does mid-day meals right, and I can guarantee that the memory of your perfectly savory, perfectly grown-up grilled cheese sandwich will linger in your mind long after lunch if over. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if you headed back the next day.

American Grilled Cheese Kitchen
1 South Park Ave. Map
Suite 103A
San Francisco, 94107
Hours:
Mon-Fri 8am-3pm
Sat & Sun 9am-4pm

You can also follow the American Grilled Cheese Kitchen on Facebook and Twitter.

Butternut Buster
Butternut Squash Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Caramelized Onion and Sage Butter
By Nate Pollak and Heidi Gibson

Makes: 1 sandwich

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons sage butter (see recipe below)
2 slices of country bread
3 tablespoons caramelized onions (see recipe below)
3 tablespoons gruyere cheese
6 thin slices prosciutto
3 slices of roasted butternut squash (see recipe below)
3 tablespoons fontina cheese (preferably a stinky Italian fontina)

Preparation:

Sandwich Assembly and Cooking
Preheat oven to 500°.
1. Spread a thin layer of sage butter on the outer side of each of the slices of bread. Lay the bread butter-side down on a cookie surface.
2. Spread a thin layer of caramelized onions on the inside of one of the slices of bread. Follow with a layer of gruyere, a thin layer of prosciutto, 3 slices of roasted squash slices, and a layer of fontina cheese.
3. Place the other piece of buttered bread (butter-side out) on top of the layer of fontina.
4. Place the sandwich on a baking sheet and slide into oven. Cook for 1 minute, until top slice of bread is toasted and golden-brown. Remove the sandwich from the oven, flip it over, and bake again until the new top slice of bread is also golden-brown and all cheese is fully melted.
5. Remove from oven. Eat and Enjoy!

To Make Sage Butter

Ingredients:
1 pound salted butter
2 large sprigs of fresh sage leaves

Preparation:
1. Cream the salted butter with a stand mixer or electric hand beater.
2. Pluck leaves off sage sprigs and chop them coarsely.
3. Add chopped leaves to butter and mix until evenly distributed.

To Make Caramelized Onions

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 white onion, diced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Preparation:
1. Coat a skillet with a thin layer of vegetable oil, add the diced onions and salt, and cook on medium heat, stirring regularly, until onions are fully caramelized (dark brown color, sweet smell/taste, no more liquid in the pan).
2. Remove onions from heat and set aside.

To Make Roasted Butternut Squash

Ingredients:
1 butternut squash
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt.

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 375°.
2. Peel the skin off the squash and slice the squash into thin rounds (so you get thin squash "disks").
3. Spread the squash slices onto a baking sheet with a sheet liner coated in a non-stick cooking spray. Drizzle oil over the squash and sprinkle a few pinches of salt.
4. Bake the squash for about 10-15 minutes, rotating the pan half way through. Bake until the slices are soft and darken in color to a rich orange.
5. Remove from oven and set aside.

When you think of artisan cheese, fine wine, and a diverse, sustainable menu, most people don't think of Pleasant Hill, a small city nestled between Concord and Walnut Creek. Pleasant Hill isn't known for its exotic food culture, so the few gems that are hidden within the town's borders are not only rare, but well hidden. Locals know the game, though. They know about Nibblers Eatery.

While the name doesn't exactly evoke visions of decadent cheese plates, locally grown produce, or handcrafted chocolate desserts, that's what you'll find on the menu at Nibblers. With a constantly changing cast of dishes, the offerings at Nibblers are not your run-of-the-mill Contra Costa County fare. Guests will be tempted by the large selection of small plates -- indeed they make up the entire menu -- all developed by owner and Chef de Cuisine Daniel Clayton. Clayton's background is diverse, with stints at Culinary Institute of America's Graystone campus and Lark Creek restaurant in Walnut Creek. Passionate about fresh, seasonal foods, he brought those values home when he opened Nibblers with his life partner (and Nibblers pâtissier) Trace Leighton.

With a creative small-plate menu that rotates monthly, Daniel and Trace keep diners on their toes with a host of new things to try. Here's a sampling of their January dinner plates:

• Crispy duck confit & fuyu persimmon salad -- baby lettuces, Indonesian long pepper, sundried cherry vinaigrette
• Butternut squash risotto cake -- romaine chiffonade, sweet pepper aïoli
• Pan fried Iacopi brussels sprouts -- roasted shallots, sunchokes, farm egg, aged sherry vinegar
• Prosciutto wrapped Knoll kadota figss -- Shaft blue cheese, pedro ximenez glaze
• Skillet fried Peruvian Lantern scallops -- Buddha's hand julienne, baby fennel, maitake mushrooms, citron emulsion
• Frog Hollow warren pear flat bread -- Sonoma goat cheese, pignoli, Buddha’s hand zest

Besides the dinner offerings, Nibblers' cheese selection is enough of a reason to make the trek out to Pleasant Hill. Just a few of my favorites off their recent cheese menu:

• Achadinha capricious, portuguese style olive oil rubbed goat cheese
• Azienda tetilla, galician semi-soft cheese with sweet milk flavors
• Cypress Grove truffle tremor, triple créme goat with flecks of truffle
• Matias torta la serena, buttery sheeps milk cheese with complex nutty flavor
• Synnøve gudbrandsdalsost, norwegian caramelized goat's whey cheese

For those inclined to imbibe, I recommend taking a close look at the Nibblers beer and wine list. As one of the premier wine bars in the far East Bay, Daniel and Trace are known for stocking notable yet short-run vintages that will intrigue, possibly even educate, the most learned San Francisco wine snob.

Overall, Nibblers is a gem in the otherwise drab culinary culture of the deep East Bay. There are only a handful of fine restaurants east of the Caldecott, and Nibblers is definitely one of them. Perhaps, though, the Nibblers can best be described by their mission statement:

Why small plates?

Small circles of friends & family.  Small communities in big cities. Small family owned farms.  Small artisan dairies & bakeries. Small neighborhoods. Small, intimate restaurants. And many, many small plates of irresistible food.

Creamy Red Kuri Squash Shooters from Nibblers Eatery & Wine Bar
Recipe provided by Daniel Clayton and Tracy Leighton

Ingredients:
1 medium red kuri squash, rinsed, quartered, seeded
2 T butter
1/2 medium onion, diced fine
1 carrot, peeled and diced fine
2 celery stalks, diced fine
1 bay leaf
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup cream
1/2 tsp nutmeg, freshly grated
Pinch white pepper

Method:
1. Fill a 5 quart pot halfway with cool water. Heat to simmer.

2. Add quartered squash and cook on medium high heat for 5 minutes to blanch. Remove squash to cool and reserve blanching liquid.

3. In medium pot, melt butter and add onion, carrot, celery, and bay leaf. Cook until onion is translucent, stirring occasionally.

4. Meanwhile, scoop or cut squash out of skin.

5. When vegetables are soft, remove bay leaf, add squash and stir. Add 1/2 cup blanching liquid to squash and stir until moisture is evaporated. Repeat this several times, until squash is mostly melted.

6. Add another 1 1/2 cups blanching liquid and stir in completely. Add milk and cream and mix. Add nutmeg and white pepper. Bring to a boil and then remove from heat. Puree mixture with immersion blender or run 2 cups at a time through food processor. Press through a fine strainer, return to pot, adjust seasoning, and heat to serve in tall, warm shot glasses.

Over Thanksgiving, I flew to New York to share Thanksgiving with my extended family. After the feast itself, I had a pretty lengthy list of places I wanted to try and dishes I had to taste before leaving the city. And when it comes down to it, Mario Batali's Eataly really deserves its own post. It is quite something--all 50,000 square feet of it.

Eataly is touted as the largest artisanal Italian food and wine marketplace in the world, and you certainly sense that upon walking in. The place is overwhelming in its variety, selection, and hungry crowds.

Back entrance to Eataly

What Mario Batali and partners Joe Bastianich, Lidia Bastianich (and a few others) have done with Eataly is successfully create a high-end marketplace that has distinct sections so it almost feels like a large, airy hall with its own pizzeria, fish market, cheese market, handmade pasta, fruits and vegetables, and wine and coffee bar. There are seven separate restaurants and they're trying to keep it that way, avoiding Eataly taking on more of a food court kind of vibe. We actually experienced this first-hand when my sister and I tried to finish our slice of pizza at the tables where you order your cheeses and meats. Apparently, so not acceptable.

The nice thing about Eataly is you can literally walk through and gawk and savor without purchasing a darn thing. It's an experience in and of itself. Besides our light lunch, we didn't actually buy anything (although there were dozens of opportunities to do so). I can certainly imagine if you lived in the neighborhood, it'd be a fabulous spot to pop in and pick up some homemade pasta or freshly pulled mozzarella. But I think on your first visit, it's all you can do just to take it all in.

There's the cheese. Oh, the cheese.

The friendly folks at the cheese counter

As if the cheese counter isn't enough, you turn around and there's a nice gentleman hand pulling mozzarella. You must try the mozzarella. It's to die for. It's just a little bit salty, ultra creamy, and perfectly soft.

Mozzarella!

After you check out the cheese, there's meat to be had. From housemade prosciutto to perfectly cured salumi, this is a tough area to pass up. And this is obviously in Batali's genes.

The vast array of cured meats & the meat counter at Eataly

And then, of course, there's the pizza and foccaccia. You can see the gentleman on the top right there preparing the foccaccia dough and that's my little sister Zoe doing a taste-test. She approved. We both did.

Pizza and foccaccia at Eataly

Everywhere you turn, there are little nooks and communal tables for folks to sit down and enjoy their meals, snacks, or quick tastes. This was my favorite part of Eataly, actually. It's very non-committal in terms of actually having a meal. They encourage trying a little of this and a little of that and coming together and sharing them. You see families splitting up and getting samples of things and coming back to show off their finds. And then, of course, you see families just sitting down and having a traditional meal in one of the restaurants.

Sharing a post-thanksgiving Italian lunch

My mom and sisters and I ended up parking it by the cheese counter, sharing a plate of house-cured meats and a variety of cheeses and olives. It was the perfect little mid-afternoon pick-me up.

Our lunch at Eataly

After you do a little grazing, there's always dessert and coffee.

Beautiful espresso machine and sweet dessert options

I actually noticed many people pulling up to have a quick espresso before delving into the market. Smart. You're going to need the stamina. But if you're in the right head space (that it'll be crowded and you don't have the place to yourself), Eataly is not to be missed. It's a visual smorgasbord of the best Italian packaged goods and prepared foods I've ever seen under one roof. If you are in New York and you're even remotely interested in food, this is stop #1.

Eataly
200 Fifth Avenue
(at 23rd Street)
New York, NY 10010
(212) 229-2560
Hours: Market 10am- 11pm daily; for to-go and restaurant sections of Eataly, check the website for more detailed information