Cuisine. Culture. Commentary.
Food Network Magazine had a mini “Family and Kids” mag in the back of a recent issue. In this section, they reinvented ants on a log, the classic after school snack of celery sticks filled with peanut butter and topped with raisins. I’m pretty sure this article was all about sneaking veggies into your kid’s…
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Believe it or not, but I had never made chili. There are two main reasons I never tried: I’ve never really liked chili. I’m a big fan of the chili toppings (sour cream, cheese, fritos…) but the chili itself…meh. I’m not big on beans and that seemed to be a major component so I’d just…
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Instead of having a cheese plate for supper two nights in a row, I recently incorporated some leftover Hungarian salami into a pasta dish. I boiled up some spinach and chive linguine (Trader Joe’s) and tossed it with some store-bought marinara. The trick here is to put in enough sauce to just coat the pasta.…
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Kofta is a Middle Eastern or Indian meatball. I was lucky enough to find lamb version with masala sauce in the freezer section of Trader Joe’s ($4.99!) that required no more than 8-10 minutes in a pan. They are so flavorful – coriander, cumin, cinnamon, turmeric – so many spices! As long as they like…
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When it came to cooking for my last book club meeting, I just wasn’t havin it. Oddly enough, I wasn’t even that busy; I just didn’t want to tie myself down to preparing a specific travel-well recipe for a group. My solution was to open up one of my “easy” cookbooks. Every recipe in this…
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This side dish is basically cheating it’s so easy. Cook some rice (I use a rice cooker because it’s easier than easy, but an old fashioned pot is totes fine) and while there’s about 10 minutes left, sauté mushrooms and onions in butter with salt and pepper. Or if you’re using a rice cooker, it…
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September is the official start of fall and while most people excite in the change of seasons because it signifies a change in wardrobe, I like the transition to fall because it means new ingredients. One thing that’s in season in September is arugula. Arugula is a lettuce, which usually means “salad base”. That’s still…
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I was recently in a café and noticed a lovely wild rice salad in the case. Or at least I thought it was lovely until I realized it was chock full of raw red onions and some other ingredients I’m not super fond of. Still, the idea of a wild rice salad appealed to me…
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I almost didn’t post this meal. It’s not a “real” recipe and it’s almost too easy. But then I remembered how much I enjoyed eating it and figured, hey, my loyal, deserving, super dee duper readers may not have discovered this preparation yet and probably want as many easy recipes as they can get. For…
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This month’s “Inspiration Station” is built around “The Fault in Our Stars.” I tried to wait for the movie mania to die down a bit and now feel like this is an appropriate time to revive one of the summer’s biggest hits. The Dish: Augustus tells Hazel that he’s using his wish on a trip…
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Peaches to Apples 