My latest obsession is parsley root, a long, skinny root vegetable that resembles a white carrot or a parsnip. You will always be able to recognize parsley root however: just look for the bunches of -- you guessed it -- parsley growing out of the top. Yes, parsley root is the root of the ubiquitous herb. While admittedly root vegetables are more ...
How to Make Corn Broth
It is so corn season around here. Corn is one of my absolute favorite vegetables to buy at the farmers' market. Why? First, freshly picked corn is worlds better than grocery store corn. The sweetness and crunch of local corn-on-the-cob picked the same day, or at most a day before, is incomparable. I am a corn snob, plain and simple, and I won't ...
Penne with Black Olives, Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Feta and Spinach
I've loved California Ripe Olives since I was a little girl when I used to eat them off the ends of my fingers at Thanksgiving dinner. Black olives are prized for their unique flavor, striking black color and firm texture. But did you know that California Ripe Olives are as good for you as they are tasty? An essential part of the Mediterranean ...
Penne with Pesto and Peas
In one of her early books, Ina Garten of the Barefoot Contessa fame, has a recipe for pasta with pesto and peas. Now don't get me wrong: I love Ina as much as the next girl. To this day, I am holding out for an invitation to spend the day cooking with her in the Hamptons. But her recipe for pasta with pesto and peas is all kinds of wrong. ...
How to Use a Flat of Strawberries: Strawberry Maple Granola
It is time for my annual post on how to use a flat of strawberries in five days or less. Every year I remind you that at many farmers' markets the price for a flat of strawberries, which is eight quarts, is the same as the price for six individual quarts. That's like getting two free quarts! But buying a flat of strawberries is only a ...
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, ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Dominique Ansel’s Banana Bread (Sort Of)
When I saw that the inventor of the Cronut had created a banana bread recipe, I expected that recipe to make the best banana bread I had ever tasted. I probably expected it to be fattening. (Not as fattening as it turned out to be.) I did not expect that recipe for banana bread to be even easier than the fairly straightforward recipe that I was ...
Apple & Gorgonzola-Stuffed Chicken Breasts
Today’s post is sponsored by Riveridge Produce, a Michigan grower and distributor of twenty-four delicious varieties of apples. Look for Jonagold Apples from Riveridge Produce at a special price of only $.68 per pound in Mariano's stores all over Chicago from February 19-25. Did you know that it is still apple season? It is! Many varieties ...
Chicken Pot Pie with Puff Pastry Crust
Chicken pot pie must be such a great way to use up leftover chicken and vegetables. How often do you have leftover chicken and vegetables though? It's not a common occurrence around here. If I waited until I was stuck on how to use all this leftover chicken to make chicken pot pie, I would be waiting a long time. And my family is not that ...
Cheddar Apple Pigs in a Blanket
Super Bowl Sunday is right around the corner. Are you hosting a party, attending one or just watching with your family? Whatever your plans are, you will need a killer game-time snack. Enter, my Cheddar Apple Chicken Sausage Bites. I originally posted this recipe last year at this time, but it is still a winner. So I am posting it again for all you ...
Weeknight Dinner: Turkey Sloppy Joes
A high school classmate of mine recently referred to family dinner as a "nightly condom commercial." That's pretty grim. My kids are older than his, so my feelings about family dinner may be slightly less bleak. But family dinner is not the most relaxing twenty minutes -- because that is how long my kids will sit at the table -- of my day. ...
Healthy Snack Idea: Homemade Plum Almond Granola Bars
It's okay to snack. Really. Snacks are part of a healthy diet. No one should be expected to go from lunch until dinner without some fuel. What do you think will happen when you sit down to dinner utterly famished? That's exactly how overeating happens. In fact, smart snacking may be the key to that new year's resolution to eat healthy that you made ...
Duck Fat Roasted Root Vegetables
When I was growing up, my mother typically made dinners that had a protein, a starch and a vegetable. Dinner was always followed by a green salad. I realized recently that I almost never cook like that. Most of my dinners tend to be one-pot meals, like soups, stews, braises and casseroles. Perhaps I will serve bread or salad on the side. But I ...
New Year's Resolution Dinner: Nicoise Salad
Salad for dinner? In the middle of January? I know that it is comfort food season, but it is also the time of year when we atone for our sins during the holiday season and eat healthier. The goal of this recipe is to show you that eating light and healthy can still satisfy your soul, even in the dead of winter. Packed with protein from BumbleBee ...
Drunken Shepherd’s Pie with Potato-Parsnip Crust
Lamb is an underused ingredient in America. In Europe, in the Middle East and even in the Antipodes, lamb is extremely popular. But here it's an afterthought. Why is that? I know many people claim not to like the taste of lamb, and it does have a distinctive taste. But my belief is that Americans do not like the taste of lamb because they are so ...
Earl Grey Shortbread with Truvia and Bigelow Tea
This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #SweetWarmUp #CollectiveBias Have you tried baking with the natural sweetener Truvia? I enjoy Truvia as a sweetener in my morning Bigelow tea but had not tried baking with it until recently. Truvia Baking Blend bakes like sugar but with ...
Healthy Snacking with Pistachios
Are you looking to eat healthier in the new year? I certainly am. With several weeks of holiday parties and meals behind me, I am resolving to cut back on treats and start the new year off right with healthy, nutritious foods that satisfy. I have recently discovered a new ally in the fight to eat right: in-shell pistachios. Pistachios, a top food ...
Meyer Lemon Meringue Tart
Brace yourself for more citrus recipes. Today it is a show-stopping tart filled with Meyer lemon curd and topped with clouds of meringue. Looking for your next dinner party dessert? I have it right here. Why is lemon meringue a thing? Beyond the tastiness of the combination, there is a wonderful symmetry to the combination of lemon curd and ...