One of my family's all-time favorite recipes, hot cocoa cookies taste like a mug of hot chocolate in cookie form. Leave some for Santa this Christmas Eve! I have probably made this recipe three times just in the past week. At this time of year, when my children want me to make cookies for a party, to give to teachers, or just to snack on, ...
Food Swap in Orlando
I'm going back out on the road tomorrow to do two book events in Orlando, Florida! On Saturday morning, at 10 am, I will be participating in a mini food swap and signing copies of Food Swap at Bookmark It, Orlando's premier independent bookstore. Bookmark It is located in the East End Market, a neighborhood market and cultural food hub inspired ...
January 2016 Chicago Food Swap Recap
Between my two-week vacation and my early January move, I was not prepared for the first Chicago Food Swap event of 2016. In fact, I had been quite lax about promoting the swap and, as a result, it looked like we were going to have quite a low turnout. But then, a whole bunch of last-minute registrations came in, and a few people even showed ...
December Chicago Food Swap
The Chicago Food Swap celebrated its fourth anniversary on December 6 with an outstanding swap. There were new faces, old friends, delicious food and prizes. Yes, prizes! To mark the occasion, we had two culinary-themed door prizes at the December swap: the new KitchenAid Precision Press French press, which I gather is the gift for the at-home ...
October Chicago Food Swap Recap
The Chicago Food Swap met this past weekend on a beautiful fall Sunday at the Peterson Garden Project's Community Cooking School. The group was made up almost entirely of veteran swappers, with only one or two new faces in the crowd. Having almost all experienced swappers in attendance certainly makes my job easier! The offerings were especially ...
August 2015 Chicago Food Swap Recap
The Chicago Food Swap had its August event on a perfect summer Saturday. A large group of returning swappers and some new faces joined together to trade and swap a diverse array of homemade and homegrown treats from backyard herbs and vegetables to South Asian curry and rice dishes to New York’s iconic black-and-white cookies. The offerings were so ...
Moroccan Fava Bean Dip
I buy ingredients on impulse. Buy first, investigate later; that's my motto. I never pick something up in the store, turn it over in my hands and then put it down with a "but what would I do with it?" If it interests me, I buy it. I will figure out what to do with it later. Why else do I have this collection of cookbooks that long ago outgrew my ...
July 2015 Chicago Food Swap Recap
The Chicago Food Swap met on July 18 for a warm midsummer swap that ended with a bang. Naturally, I am referring to the thunderstorm that hit just as everyone was leaving the swap. I don't know about everyone else, but I got drenched on the short walk to my car. Luckily, my swap items were all protected. Another reason to package your items ...
Arugula with Grilled Peaches, Hazelnuts and Parmesan
The July meeting of the Chicago Food Swap is less than two weeks away. I am very excited about this particular swap. Not only is it the height of the season for local produce, which means all kinds of delicious homemade and homegrown swap items, but we also have an amazing sponsor for this event: Villa Gabriella Organic. Villa Gabriella imports ...
Jam-Filled Hand Pies
I recently spoke at one of my favorite conferences for food bloggers, Eat Write Retreat. The topic of my session, naturally, was food swapping. Zuzu helped me put together my first-ever Keynote presentation -- that's like Power Point for Macs -- with a lot of photos and jazzy effects. Maybe a few too many jazzy effects, but that is the risk you ...
June 2015 Chicago Food Swap Recap
The Chicago Food Swap had its June event on the 14th and if you needed proof that summer was here, the fresh and delicious swap offerings would have convinced you. Not were there plenty of fresh herbs and even some healthy-looking plants on display, but one swapper brought homemade strawberry buttermilk ice cream. It tasted like summer in a ...
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 ...
March 2015 Food Swap at The Chopping Block
What a difference a month makes! While we all had to trudge through a blizzard to make it to the February swap, it was sunny and mild in downtown Chicago the day of the March Chicago Food Swap. For this event, we returned to The Chopping Block, Chicago's premier recreational cooking school, located in the iconic Merchandise Mart. This was the ...
February 2015 Chicago Food Swap Recap
Last Sunday, February 15, was the February meeting of the Chicago Food Swap As I trudged through the snow, wind howling around me, on my way to the Fearless Food Kitchen in the Broadway Armory Field House, I suddenly remembered that the 2014 February Chicago Food Swap took place in similarly bad weather. Note to self: perhaps skip February next ...
Valentine’s Day Gift Ideas
Did you catch me on WCIU's "You & Me This Morning" talking about homemade Valentine's Day gift ideas from the Chicago Food Swap? What a fun segment that was! If you would like the recipes for the projects that I demonstrated, you will find them all on the Chicago Food Swap website. I am posting the recipe for the Valentine's Day ...
January 2015 Chicago Food Swap Recap
The Chicago Food Swap started its fourth year off with a bang at the January food swap. A few timely mentions in the local press, such as the Chicago Reader and the Check Please Planner, brought a wave of new swappers who mixed right in with the returning veterans. And there was plenty of delicious food all around. One of the highlights of ...
Edible Gift Idea: Caramels
Despite putting up jars upon jars of jams and pickles all summer long, I still find myself scrambling at this time of year to make gifts for the friends, neighbors, teachers and coaches who have touched our lives in the past year. If you are in the same boat, be sure to tune in to Fox 32's Good Day Chicago on Monday December 8 at 9:45 am when I ...
November Chicago Food Swap Recap
The final meeting for 2014 of the Chicago Food Swap took place this past Sunday at Peterson Garden Project's Fearless Food Kitchen in the Broadway Armory Field House. Despite freezing temperatures, snow flurries and parking woes, the event was a tremendous success. Everyone left laden down with delicious homemade and homegrown food and a warm ...
Roasted Pumpkin Seed Brittle
Another Halloween has come and gone. As JR said to me on November 1: "Only 364 days 'til next Halloween!" Our house is full of Snickers, KitKat, and Twix, but I thought that what we really needed was some homemade candy. Okay, no. The last thing we need actually is more candy of any kind, but I had some free time and an itch to try something new. ...
October 2014 Chicago Food Swap Recap
The Chicago Food Swap had its October event this past weekend. It was our second event in our new home, the Peterson Garden Project's Fearless Food Kitchen. As is so often the case, the offerings reflected the best of the season, from the tail end of backyard garden produce to Halloween-themed treats. The October swap was smaller than the ...
September Chicago Food Swap Recap
Sunday marked the return of the Chicago Food Swap after a two-month break. The September swap was the first event in the Chicago Food Swap's new, permanent home, the Fearless Food Kitchen in the Broadway Armory field house. This roomy, light-filled teaching kitchen, operated by the community gardening nonprofit Peterson Garden Project, makes a ...
Can-It-Forward Day August 16
This Saturday August 16, Jarden Home Brands will host the first annual International Can-It-Forward Day with special guest, renowned chef and Bravo’s Top Chef judge, Hugh Acheson! I ate at Chef Acheson's Atlanta restaurant Empire State South last year and it was one of the more memorable meals of my adult life. Being a southern guy, Hugh knows all ...
July Chicago Food Swap Recap
The Chicago Food Swap returned to Wicker Park, and the funky confines of co-working loft Free Range Office, for its July swap. It was a small but lively gathering peopled mostly by returning swappers with a few new faces scattered here and there. Located on the second floor of a converted glove factory, Free Range Office is filled with light and ...
June Chicago Food Swap Recap
For a foodie event, there is hardly a more prestigious location than Sur La Table, the beloved kitchenwares emporium. So when Ali Banks, the resident chef at Chicago's swanky Sur La Table store on Michigan Avenue, reached out to me about hosting a food swap in her kitchen, I was falling over myself to say yes. While Michigan Avenue is inevitably ...
May Chicago Food Swap Recap
The Chicago Food Swap had its May event this past Sunday, May 18, at Green Home Experts, a "green" lifestyle boutique in Oak Park. This was the third time that owner Maria Moran opened her store's doors to the Chicago Food Swap and, just as before, it was a perfect location for a swap. On a sunny spring afternoon, Maria's garden center was a ...