With summer comes the desire to eat cool, crunchy salads. My interest in Middle Eastern cuisine has give me a new appreciation for humble cucumber. So often cucumber is relegated to the side: an afterthought thrown in to provide a hint of green or an element of crunch. Here in a refreshing, herbaceous salad, this unassuming summer vegetable is ...
A Weekend in Nashville (with Kid)
My family took a whirlwind trip to Nashville this past weekend. It was like one of those New York Times travel articles, "36 Hours in Nashville." As soon as we landed, we unloaded my daughter who was to spend the weekend with her best friend who moved to Nashville a year ago. So me, my husband and eight-year-old JR were free to indulge our inner ...
Rhubarb Jam Bars
I made these delicious bars last year at this time as a dessert to bring to the Swim Team Potluck. Guess what event is this Sunday? That's right: the Swim Team Potluck. I think it's time to trot out this recipe again. It absolutely kills me that my husband doesn’t like rhubarb. WHAT’S NOT TO LIKE? Rhubarb is tart — not cloyingly sweet like ...
Green Garlic Chimichurri
I almost hesitate to call this sauce chimichurri because it deviates in a few key ways from the traditional Argentinian recipe. You know how the food police can be! But then again, any condiment with this much parsley and garlic and that goes as well as this one does with grilled meat deserves to be called a chimichurri. Chimichurri is simply a ...
Rhubarb Eton Mess
It's rhubarb season and I am tickled pink. (Get it?) I adore this old-fashioned early spring fruit that always cooks up in a brilliant shade of hot pink. I love to preserve it, bake with it and create rhubarb-flavored versions of classic desserts. With spring and farmers' market season upon us, you may be bringing home a lot of fresh, seasonal ...
Asian-Inspired Chicken Soup with Spring Onion
It's spring, spring, spring! Really and truly spring. Chicago had its soul-crushing, hibernation-inducing winter. Then it had March and April which count as spring elsewhere but not here. Now it is finally May and gray has turned to green. We have traded parkas for trips to the park. Citrus and root vegetables have given way to strawberries, ...
Three C’s Granola (Coconut, Cherry, Cacao)
I curdled a Hollandaise sauce tonight. Looking at that oily, grainy mess was like a dagger to the heart. The stakes might have seemed low to an outside observer. It was only a family dinner. No one in my family cared about the split Hollandaise. Hell, no one in my family was even planning to eat the Hollandaise except for me. My husband and ...
Cranberry Ginger Granola (Nut-Free)
For years I have struggled to find a packed lunch that JR would eat. More often than not, sandwiches came home with only a few bites missing. I tried to pack his favorite dish, macaroni and cheese, in a thermos but even that came back half-empty at best. When I asked him why, he answered that it wasn't very good at room temperature -- something I ...
Roasted Garlic Hummus for National Hummus Day
Did you know that May 13 was National Hummus Day? I for one did not. But why not celebrate this made-up holiday with everyone's favorite chick pea spread? After all, hummus is delicious, healthy, and a great source of vegetable-based protein. It works well as a dip with veggies or as a sandwich spread. Yes, hummus is a kitchen ...
Cabot Creamery Cookbook and Gift Box Giveaway
Two of my great loves, cheese and cookbooks, together at last! Earlier this year, my friends at Cabot Creamery released their first-ever cookbook, The Cabot Creamery Cookbook. This stunning book features recipes for every meal of the day that are filled with all kinds of dairy goodness. The dozens of recipes, for baked goods, soups, salads, dips, ...
Cold Asparagus Soup
It is definitely asparagus season and although I won't be seeing any local asparagus for a few more weeks, if you live somewhere south of me, you may already have them at your farmers' market. Lucky. Meanwhile, I will content myself with fat, prosperous-looking, organic asparagus flown in from California. I gravitate towards thicker asparagus ...
Mother’s Day Gift Ideas for Food-Obsessed Moms
A Mother's Day present is best when it is something indulgent. Something that a woman would absolutely love to have, but that she would never buy for herself -- because it is too expensive, or frivolous or impractical. Some women dream about gardening; some about music. Some dream about decorating and others about fashion. Me, I dream about ...
Mother’s Day Brunch Idea: Cinnamon Babka
I hope you guys are ready for a project. Because babka, a rich, yeast-risen bread swirled with a sweet filling, is definitely a project. However, it is a very worthy project, especially for a special occasion such as -- I don't know -- Mother's Day, which is right around the corner. Don't know how to tell Mom how much she means to you? Babka will ...
Chicken Escabeche Tostadas for Cinco de Mayo
Chicago knows its Latin food. With a large and thriving Mexican population and some of the country’s best Mexican restaurants — need I mention Rick Bayless? — Chicagoans understand that the cuisine of Mexico is one of the finest in the world and extends far beyond tacos and enchiladas. With Cinco de Mayo right around the corner, it is a great time ...
How to Shop at a Farmers Market
With May right around the corner, farmers' markets are starting to open up all around the country. Sadly, I still have a few more weeks until my beloved Oak Park Farmers' Market, home of delicious, freshly made doughnuts, begins. I can hardly contain my excitement. For those of you in warmer climes, the wait may be much shorter. As a home ...
Whole Wheat Savory Galette: Butternut Squash and Kale
A lot of us try to eat as much locally grown food as possible. I know I do. Why? Well, often because it tastes better. Give me luscious cherries and blueberries from nearby Michigan please. I'll skip the ones flown in from halfway around the world. I like my corn on the cob picked that morning, thank you very much. I'll wait until Illinois corn is ...
April 2015 Chicago Food Swap Recap
The Chicago Food Swap's April event had a very special guest: food preservation expert Cathy Barrow of the blog Mrs. Wheelbarrow's Kitchen. Cathy is touring the country promoting her new, award-winning cookbook Mrs. Wheelbarrow's Practical Pantry and stopped by the Chicago Food Swap to sign some books and, yes, swap with us. Cathy had sent ahead ...
DIY Mango Fruit Leather
I was so inspired by the Kids in the Kitchen cooking class that I attended with the National Mango Board last week that when I saw the small yellow Ataulfo or champagne mangos on sale for $1 each at my local Whole Foods, I stocked up. Faced with a crop of ripening mangos and an upcoming Chicago Food Swap, I put my DIY hat on and decided to try my ...
How to Cook with Mangos (Beyond Just Smoothies)
Today's post is sponsored by the National Mango Board and I was selected to participate in this campaign by The Motherhood. Kids from India to Ecuador feast on mangos. In fact, mangos are the most consumed fruit in the world. But what about American kids? Do they love mangos? Do you know how to use this delicious and versatile fruit beyond ...
What I’m Cooking Spring 2015
You might think that because I have turned in the manuscript for my upcoming cookbook on food swapping that I would be more relaxed. But you would be wrong. I am trying to take advantage of this lull while I await my editors' feedback to work on the proposal for my second cookbook, an idea about which I feel particularly passionate. I know that the ...
Ploughman’s Lunch Grilled Cheese
Did you know that April is Grilled Cheese Month? Thanks to my friends at Cabot Creamery, my cheese drawer is usually well-stocked with multiple varieties of delicious cheddar. Cabot Creamery has some pretty amazing grilled cheese recipes on its website, including one for Philly Steak and Grilled Cheese and another for Hot Habanero Cheddar Grilled ...
Three Ways to Spring Clean Your Kitchen
Have you started your spring cleaning yet? For the past two weeks, I have been taking advantage of a short break in the work on my cookbook -- I have turned in my manuscript to my editors and am waiting (anxiously) for their comments -- to take care of accumulated household tasks. When changing those air conditioner filters and cleaning the carpets ...
Sweet Potato Fries with Spinach and Mint Yogurt Sauce
This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #SpringIntoFlavor #CollectiveBias Sweet potato fries with wilted spinach and yogurt-mint sauce. Sounds like a restaurant dish, doesn't it? But you can whip up this perfect spring side dish in your kitchen in under thirty minutes. The ...
Arugula with Slow-Roasted Cherry Tomatoes and Burrata
It is barely spring. Too soon even for the lead-off hitters of the local produce line-up: fava beans, asparagus and rhubarb. Yet, I am so weary of root vegetables, winter squash and even the exotic citrus that brought sun to bleak January and cruel February. I can't even look at that arugula-fennel-blood orange salad one more time. Although ...
Mexican Matzo Brei
For many people observing Passover, breakfast is the hardest meal of the day. Oatmeal is out. Cereal seriously not okay. Toast verboten. Granola a no-go. So, what is left to eat in the morning? On weekdays, my husband downs some yogurt and an apple, which is a very healthy, but maybe not the most satisfying, breakfast. The truth is, for those ...