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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Brisket for Passover
With Passover only a few days away, it is time once again for me to share my brisket recipe. Brisket is just about the ideal food to serve a crowd, which is exactly what I am expecting for our Seder. What makes brisket so perfect for large meals? First, it is an inexpensive cut of meat. Second, you can do all the work in advance. Not only ...
White Cheddar Cheez-It & Rosemary Biscuits
This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #MVCheezIt #CollectiveBias March is a month of buzzer-beaters, bracket-busters and basketball. College basketball. This year's tournament has been filled with close, exciting games and my crowd does not want to miss a minute of the ...
Passover Dessert: Mini Pavlovas with Lemon Curd
This is the dessert that I wish I had made for my Seder last year: bite-sized meringues shells filled with luscious lemon curd and topped with a juicy strawberry. The dessert that I actually made was saucer-sized meringues filled with sliced, macerated strawberries and topped with a dollop of lemon curd. They looked great . . . but there was too ...
Passover Menu: Chicken with Dried Fruit
The Jewish festival of Passover begins next Friday, April 3, at sundown. Fridays are busy nights around here so I am planning to host a Seder on the second night of Passover, which thankfully is somewhat traditional. It’s still hectic to host what amounts to a large dinner party, so I am already starting to prepare some of the dishes ahead of time ...
Chocolate-Covered Matzo Toffee
Less than two weeks until Passover begins! Time to start planning the Seder menu. So much of cooking for Passover is about making up for what we can’t have during the eight-day festival. Many Passover recipes, especially those for Passover desserts, claim to be “as good as” a regular dessert made with flour and leavening. The author cheerfully ...
Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cream Pie
JR has loved the game Skylanders for years. He collects the figurines; plays the game with his friends on our Wii and proudly wears his favorite Skylanders shirt to school every week. So when General Mills teamed up with Skylanders to offer an exclusive Skystones game free with selected boxes of cereal, JR wanted to collect them all. JR loves ...
Cheddar Horseradish Spread
With warmer weather in sight, March Madness on television and spring holidays right around the corner, it is time to invite some friends over. My husband and I have attended several cocktail parties in the past few weeks to meet prospective members of our pool and tennis club and seeing so many friends and neighbors after the long winter reminded ...
Quiche Lorraine with Schmacon
I don't mind telling you that every since bacon became the hottest thing since sliced bread, I have felt left out. When I agreed not to have pork in my house many years ago as a way to bridge the gap between my heathen upbringing and the kosher home my husband grew up in, I did not know that bacon would become the darling of cooks everywhere. I did ...
Chocolate-Orange Cream Pie
One of the features of my upcoming book on food swapping are profiles of nineteen food swap groups around North America and Great Britain. I love this aspect of the book and thoroughly enjoyed interviewing all the different food swap organizers. But when it came time to write the profiles, I struggled. I was not certain how to approach it. Should I ...
Chocolate-Covered Blueberry Bread Pudding
This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #LoveDoveFruits #CollectiveBias You know how kids ask, as soon as they have finished eating: "Can I have dessert?" At least my kids do that. The truth is, I feel much the same myself. Forty years on this earth have not diminished my sweet ...
How to Make Hamantaschen
In the interest of keeping it real, I will confess that I tried very hard this week to create a recipe for salted caramel Hamantaschen. Doesn't that sound amazing? Well, don't get too attached because I never managed to make it work. First, the caramel leaked out. Then my attempt to make empty Hamantaschen shells that I could fill with caramel ...
Hamantaschen Galette
Wednesday at sundown, the Jewish festival of Purim begins. Purim commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish people from an evil government minister, named Haman, who plotted to destroy the Jewish community in ancient Persia. In essence, Purim is the Jewish “carnival” holiday — every culture has one — where people are encouraged to dress in costume, ...