Last week, when I was planning my week of meatless meals, I had intended to make a baked pasta dish with cauliflower that I had read about in the April 2013 issue of Food and Wine. When my husband saw the recipe, however, he practically had a heart attack -- a preview of the actual heart attack that he would have had after eating the dish, which ...
Chunky Red Lentil Soup
Since I started cooking with lentils about two years ago, I have become increasingly enamored of these little pulses. They are a great source of vegetable protein -- the third highest level of protein by weight among legumes -- and relatively quick-cooking. Unlike dried beans, which need to be soaked prior to use or take long to cook, lentils are ...
Change Up Your Squash with Risotto
I'm making all meatless meals this week. No, it's not in anticipation of Lent. Rather, we are atoning. Last weekend, we took the kids to one of those Brazilian steakhouses where men dressed as gauchos circle the room and slice hunks of meat off pitchforks for gluttonous guests. And that's after you have loaded up on vegetables, cheese and cold cuts ...
Family-Friendly Brunch at GT Fish and Oyster
When you are a parent who is passionate about great food, you usually have to choose between exciting food and being with your family. In other words, when you are with your kids, you eat at safe, inexpensive, family-friendly places that leave you uninspired. Other times, you hire a babysitter, leave your kids behind and venture out into the world ...
Make Gougeres (and Feel a Little French)
As longtime readers of West of the Loop know, I am a confirmed Francophile. There was a time in my life when I thought I might become an ex-pat and live in France when I grew up. A year of actual living in France cured me of that notion, but I still love all things Gallic, the food perhaps most of all. If you go a French person's house for ...
Roasted Red Pepper Dip
Dip is a sore subject in my house. With a husband who doesn't like mayonnaise, sour cream or even really cream cheese, I struggle to come up with a dip that people in my house will actually eat. Under normal circumstances, I might not even try. If I were hosting my book club or some similar event, I might indulge in one of those Barefoot Contessa ...
Homemade Tortellini? You Can Do It!
2014 is turning out to be the year of fresh pasta. Ever since I took the Pasta Workshop at The Chopping Block, I have been cranking out homemade pasta -- literally -- every few days. I have a habit of getting obsessed with a new skill or piece of equipment and when that happens my poor family ends up eating the same food for weeks. At least with ...
Chicken Tinga Tostadas for Easy Weeknight Mexican Flavor
If someone asked me to name my favorite trick for making weeknight meals easier, it would be this: roasted split chicken breasts. If you roast several chicken breasts over the weekend, or whenever you have time and then shred the meat and save it in the refrigerator, you have the makings for at least two or three quick and easy weeknight dinners. ...
Asian Steak Lettuce Wraps
I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper amplification for Collective Bias and its advertiser. If you are like me, you are always wondering what chefs know that the average home cook doesn't. Without access to restaurant equipment and ingredients, can home ...
Chicago Restaurant Week: Naha and Blackbird
Chicago Restaurant Week ended yesterday, although I hear that many of the restaurants extend their special menus for an extra few days. I took advantage of the special $22, three-course Restaurant Week lunch menus to return to two of my favorite restaurants in the city: Naha and Blackbird. Naha is one of the most reliably excellent restaurants ...
Pasta-Making Class at The Chopping Block
One of the kitchen skills that has eluded me for years was how to make fresh pasta. Despite purchasing the right ingredients -- hello, semolina flour! -- and following instructions, my dough never became smooth and elastic enough to roll into long sheets. My noodles always ended up dense and chewy instead having that perfect toothiness that fresh ...
Kid-Friendly Valentine’s Day Treat: Chocolate-Drizzled Popcorn
My daughter, Zuzu, started middle school this year and she takes her new responsibilities as a Tween very seriously. She showers in the morning and spends twenty minutes fixing her hair into the perfect messy bun. Her mission in life to collect every variety of EOS lip balm and all the Bath and Body Works shower gels. She wants to buy her clothes ...
Valentine's Day Cheesecake Brownies
In my view, the best reason to make brownies from scratch is so that you can add cheesecake to them. I'd turn down the chocolatiest, fudgiest brownie any day for a swirly, marbleized cream cheese brownie. The slight tanginess of the cream cheese is the perfect foil for the richness of the chocolate. online dissertation Better than either cheesecake ...
BBQ Chicken Flatbread
I must make a pizza or flatbread for dinner at least once a week. It's my go-to meal for especially hectic evenings or when I'm just feeling lazy. It's so easy to make pizza at home and the results are delicious, and healthier than ordering pizza, not to mention less expensive. Not only are pizzas and flatbreads easy and quick weeknight meals, ...
Winter Fruit Pie for National Pie Day
When I learned that January 23 is National Pie Day, that was all the excuse I needed to plan to bake a pie. I am not an expert pie baker by any means. But pie appeals to me as a traditional and all-American dessert. You guys know that I am a sucker for lost arts -- hence all the canning -- and pie-making, these days, seems to fall into that ...
Spinach Lasagna Roll-Ups
There are so few foods that all four members of my family will eat. I can get three out of four easily. Zuzu, JR and I will eat bacon; my husband won't. Zuzu, JR and my husband will eat cantalope; I won't. And my husband, Zuzu and I will eat many, many things that JR won't. The best chance I have to get all four of us on the same page, ...
Cheddar Apple Chicken Sausage Bites
When my husband was living in New York City right out of college, he threw an annual Super Bowl party, the signature elements of which were a big pot of chili and a sign on his apartment door with the number of the game in Roman numerals. After he left New York for law school -- which was the best thing he ever did because that was where he would ...
Key Lime Curd for Teatime, Dessert and Beyond
I am still playing around with the Key limes that I brought home from Florida. But even if I had to rely on my local grocery store for citrus fruits, I would still find plenty of delicious varieties to chose from. This is truly the best season to be exploring the versatility of citrus fruits. A casual stroll through your grocery store's produce ...
Warm Up with Argo Tea
Today’s post is sponsored by Argo Tea. Argo Tea has a special offer for West of the Loop readers to warm up this month: receive a free oatmeal with purchase of a signature drink at any Argo Tea cafe location. Argo Tea is also giving away a special gift to two West of the Loop readers: a tea gift set and a $50 gift certificate to its website. See ...
Key Lime Meltaways
Continuing on my theme of cooking with citrus fruits -- a perfect January theme -- today I present the Key lime. Smaller than its cousin the Persian lime, which is the variety we usually see in stores, the Key lime is particularly juicy and acidic. It has a smooth rind, a greenish-yellow color when ripe and lots of pesky seeds. Key limes also have ...
Asian Chicken Noodle Soup
Is it cold where you are? Is the ground covered in snow? Yeah, tell me about it. After the coldest December in twenty years, Chicago is bracing itself for an even colder January. I came home from two weeks in sunny Florida to 18 inches of snow and below-freezing temperatures. It has been a shock to the system to say the least. What we all need ...
Meyer Lemon Sour Cream Pound Cake
In January, just about the only excitement to be found in the produce section is in citrus. All the other fruit has that anemic, flown-in-from-the-southern-hemisphere look. Summer vegetables like peppers, zucchini and tomatoes are expensive or tasteless or both. And while I love cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, root vegetables, and winter squash, by ...
Last Minute Gift: Thyme-Infused Sea Salt Caramels
I was running around Oak Park yesterday taking care of some last-minute holiday errands when I ran into one of my canning students. She pulled me aside to ask if I had any last-minute edible gift ideas. Apparently her son thought the gift that she had picked out for his teacher was not going to cut it. I could have acted all superior and claimed ...
The Ultimate Cranberry Orange Scone Recipe
This is perhaps the third scone recipe I have published. How often can one person make scones, you may ask. Well, you see, I often have some of my girlfriends over for coffee during the week and when I do so, I like to make a special treat for them. But I have a limited time -- maybe an hour -- in which to bake something between dropping my kids at ...
Lemon-Scented Jam Thumbprint Cookies for the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap
Since swapping food has become such a big part of my life, this year I decided to participate in the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap. The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap is just what it sounds like: the food bloggers who participate receive the addresses of three other food bloggers. You send each of them one dozen of the same kind of cookie. You ...