When it comes to healthy cooking, there's one woman who I admire from here to the moon....it's Carrie Vitt, author of the brand new Deliciously Organic cookbook! I recently met Carrie at a Food Blog Camp that my friends and I host in Mexico earlier this year and not only... Continue reading

One of my favorite blogs is called Salad Pride, written by Italian, David Bez. He creates a fresh salad each day posts a beautiful photo and simple ingredient list. A bonus? The recipe is also published in Italian - I love learning ingredient names in Italian! Here's his Broccoli, Sun Dried Tomatoes and Lettuce recipe for your to enjoy - in English and Italian. Ingredients for 1: 1 Broccoli (cut the flowers off and roast them in a pan with 2 tablespoon of olive oil till tender) Pinenuts, roasted with the broccoli (add them the last 5 minutes) Fresh Chives... Continue reading

When it comes to fish, simple is best. This grilled fish recipe only takes 10 minutes to cook, start to finish. I've used a combination of orange and lemon, capers, white wine and then finished it with a bit of butter. The most important thing to remember when cooking fish is to not overcook it, While I normally sear meats at a very high heat, fish is a different matter. I never let the stove get above medium heat. The slower you cook the fish, the more moist and tender the fish will be. Pan Seared Fish with Citrus Caper... Continue reading

My husband and I both work from home, and you'd think that we'd have the time to create fabulous lunches for ourselves with all the cooking that goes on in this kitchen. Most days, however, our lunches are anything but extraordinary and leasurely. Scott's usually waist-deep in some programming code and I reserve my mornings and early afternoons for computer and photo editing work. Sometimes, it's cold pizza, or leftovers hurridly thrown in the microwave or a sloppily made sandwich. So very unelegant! Recently, I've begun packing a box lunch while I'm making dinner the night before. It's just more... Continue reading

This is a recipe that I return to time and time again - it's a friends and family favorite and the entire plate gets devoured every time. That makes me a happy cook! Instead of deep frying wings (though I love that too) it's more convenient to bake or grill them. I'm always perplexed on what to do with a big vat of oil after deep frying. Grilling the wings gives them a nicely charred flavor and crisp bits that will delight any barbeque lover. The recipe is from my friend Virginia Willis' cookbook, Bon Appetit, Y'all: Three Generations of... Continue reading

I own more than my share of appliances, large and small. In fact, at one point it got so bad my husband had to ban me from watching QVC during its kitchen shows. I can divide my appliances into two categories: those that I use daily (and leave on the... Continue reading

It's asparagus season! Every trip to the supermarket, I can't help but throw in a pound of asparagus spears. I generally like them roasted - as it gives the asparagus a nutty flavor - though steamed asparagus is nice at times, but I tend to over-do it with the butter. To roast asparagus, first snap off the tough ends of one spear of asparagus. It breaks off in the perfect spot. Line up your asparagus "soldiers" and chop off the rest of the ends and discard. Throw them all on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and roast at... Continue reading

I have never seen my son, Nathan, so excited about cooking than the day we made Sweet Potato Casserole together. The evening before, Scott and I dined at the legendary Ruth's Chris Steakhouse and enjoyed not only the perfectly grilled steaks that they are known for, but also sampled literally every single side dish on the menu and a few of their new menu items (see end of post). Needless to say, we came up with bags of leftovers to enjoy the next day and one of the carefully packed boxes contained their Sweet Potato Casserole. Lucky for me that... Continue reading

There's a reason I don't bake much cake, that being I end up eating half of it myself. On the couch. Watching TV. At midnight. So, it's a danger zone for me. I don't even go there. Instead, when the urge for something sweet, chocolatey and warm comes along, I make mug cakes. Cake that's microwaved in a coffee mug - it just takes 3-5 minutes (depends on the size of your mug) and gives me a single-serving indulgence that won't ruin my diet. Plus, they are fun to make! (1) My friend Angie McGowan's Nutella Mug Cake. Absolutely gorgeous!... Continue reading

I haven't experimented beyond my basic, tried-and-true hummus recipe, which really just involves dumping a can of garbanzo beans with a lot of garlic (LOTS), tahini, olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice into a food proccessor. But there are so many variations that it's a shame not to play around with the basic foundation recipe! I've asked blogger Journey Kitchen to contribute a recipe - and she cheerfully gave me her Fatteh Hummus to share with you. "Fatteh" is an Arabic word for a dish that uses stale pita bread as part of its foundation (similar to using... Continue reading

Last month, I attended New York City Restaurant Week with my girlfriend, Wendy. It was her first trip to NYC since she was 19 years old and it was probably my 19th trip to the city ;-) The first restaurant that we visited was one of my favorite Japanese restaurants... Continue reading

Normally I think of chestnut soup in the Fall, but I want to remind everyone that chestnut season extends normally until the end of this month. Since we only have a handful of weeks left, I thought I'd pay homage to the very best chestnut soup I've ever had. A month ago, my girlfriend Wendy and I took a trip courtesy of Travelocity to enjoy NYC's Restaurant Week with my date, the Roaming Gnome. The unforgettable meal was at Bar Basque -- well, it really was so much more than the meal -- the entire evening was just surreal. And... Continue reading

Brussels Sprouts go so incredibly well with sweet, tangy dried cranberries! Last year, I posted a Brussels Sprouts with Cranberry Pistachio Pesto recipe and got so many great emails saying that the combination was perfect. I think people are finally realizing that brussels sprouts can be made with more than just drowning it in butter. Here's another version of the recipe, instead of pistachios, there's walnuts. It's a recipe from the book Vegetarian Times Everything Vegan It's a simple recipe, I've made it in less than 20 minutes. Brussels Sprouts with Walnuts and Dried Cranberries Recipe from Vegetarian Times Everything... Continue reading

The tomato plants in the yard are just going crazy - but this season, I decided to only grow grape and cherry tomatoes :-( so while i have an abundance of little ones, I have to turn to my friend and master gardener, Patsy for the big 'uns. Last week,... Continue reading

My good friend, Jennifer Perillo, just started a brand new food blog called "Simple Scratch Cooking" - it's lovely, I hope you take a look at what's she's doing and check out this gorgeous Arugla Salad with Blood Orange Vinaigrette (that's her photo above) For the young folks, the term,... Continue reading

Beef Stroganoff isn't a dish that you'd normally think of when looking for a healthy meal. In fact, my version that I cook at home is full of calories and I don't even want to know how many grams of fat with all the sour cream that I use! I love Cooking Light's version - using lean sirloin steak and reduced fat sour cream. My kids and I made it the other night - served it to my "Stroganoff Connessieur" husband and didn't say a word. He loved it. I've made a few changes to the recipe, adding more mushrooms... Continue reading

With the amount of food that we go through 1) as a family 2) as a work-at-home recipe developer, we needed a compost system that was massive. MASSIVE. We went for big and bought one of these Aerobin monsters at wholesale price from Exaco, a company that specializes in all... Continue reading

Are these not the cutest things ever? We were planning on buying Valentine's Day cards for the boys to give out, but when I saw these on Teach Mama, we ditched our previous plans and will be making these instead. Another great DIY Valentine's Day gift is from Craft Stylish... Continue reading

My friends at Inspired Taste blog has a great idea for pomegranate juice - they've cooked carrots with the juice and added a stick of cinnamon for just the right amount of spice and warmth. The juice thickens slightly and finished with butter (though feel free to leave the butter out if you'd like) The recipe is so simple, only a handful of ingredients! Carrots with Pomegranate Glaze recipe + photo from Inspired Taste 4 servings 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 pound carrots, (small whole carrots or cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices on a diagonal) 1 cup pomegranate juice 1 (3-inch)... Continue reading

Happy Year of the Rabbit! Chinese New Year officially began yesterday, but since I was traveling, we're celebrating this entire weekend, getting a wee late start, but we're celebrating extra big to make up for it. There's a whole bunch of new Chinese New Year books for children, all of... Continue reading

I say it's always good to have a faithful, easy-to-whip up sauce that instanting makes anything taste good. Preferably, a no-cook sauce and one that you really don't have to pull out a recipe. Well, this is Deen's "Sloppy Sauce" mde from Tahini with Miso and Almond Butter. I can... Continue reading

I'm a sucker for any type of noodle soup, I've been known to even sneak an instant ramen for a midnight...er...3am snack! Udon noodles are thick, hearty, wheat-based Japanese noodle. You can find udon dried or fresh in shrink-wrapped package. They last quite a long time fresh in the refrigerator, so it's convenient to pluck a package out and make udon noodle soup with it. THis recipe is from Kansha: Celebrating Japan’s Vegan and Vegetarian Tradition by Elizabeth Andoh, one of the very best cooking teachers and authors for Japanese food. It's beautifully illustrated and one of my favorite cookbooks... Continue reading

Here are just a handful of ideas for you! We used Lunchsense all of last year and loved it. It's machine washable, the "box" is unsnappable to make a nice flat placemat. The box holds its shape pretty well too - ours went through several rounds of kickball. The plastic... Continue reading

Doesn't this satay look so juicy!? I actually had to do a double-take, the dish looked like beef skewers! But nope, the chunks are seitan, which is wheat gluten, and actually very popular in Chinese vegan cuisine and especially Buddhist cuisine. I've always known it as "mock duck" or "mock... Continue reading