I've always associated pork chops with autumn. I'm not sure why, but maybe because they pair so well with other flavors I associate with autumn: apples, maple syrup, butternut squash, to name a few.When I saw this recipe by fellow blogger Elly Says Opa!, I couldn't wait to make it. For one thing, it doesn't …
Main Course
I went on a seafood strike when I was young, maybe 8 years old. My parents took me to a seafood restaurant at a New Jersey beach town, and the smell made me feel sick. I refused to touch seafood for a long time.It wasn't until my cousins wedding in 2003 that I consented to …
Last spring, the local weather station did a summer forecast, a generalized "here's what we think the weather will be like this summer." The past few years, the summer heat has been unbearable. The summer of 2011 was the 5th warmest in history and August 2010 was the hottest month in recorded history. The forecast …
I have to confess, I think I have a problem. I think I'm addicted to sage. I use it every chance I can. I love it. I typically pair it with foods associated with autumn, like butternut squash. When I saw it paired with lemon in this chicken dish in Food Network Magazine, I put …
Hey folks! If you're looking for Munchkin Meals, it's moved to an every-other-week format, so check back next Thursday for a look at what Liam has been eating! I first tried chorizo almost two years ago. I was at the meat counter in Whole Foods, trying to decide what to get for dinner that night. …
If you've had difficulty baking fish, if it always gets too dry (not that I would know or anything), you need to try this quick and easy weekday dish. From pre-cook preparation to the table, it's ready in about 30 minutes. The recipe uses compound butter to baste the fish as it cooks. Compound butter …
The latest swap was Blogger's Choice, and my assigned blog was DeLish. If that sounds familiar, it's because I made her potato pancakes late last year for a holiday-dishes-themed swap. I perused her blog, and found a recipe called Ziti for Two Made with Bolognese. It sounded perfect, not only because it's just The Mister …
I love making new dishes and trying new ingredients. Sure, I have some "tried and true" dishes that make an appearance every now and then, but a big part of my love of cooking (and eating!) is tasting new things. I had ground chicken in my refrigerator for my son. The plan was to set …
Last July in Philadelphia was the hottest in the city's history, with 21 days reaching 90 degrees or above, many reaching triple digits. This summer hasn't seen that number of 90+ degree days, but the days that do reach 90+ degrees feel unbearable. Those are the days when ice cream seems a very reasonable option …
Summer, to me, is finger foods: burgers, hot dogs, chicken legs. Up until now, I don't remember ever making chicken drumsticks at home. They've always been from fast-food restaurants. But in an effort to get out of our food rut (chicken breasts, pork chops, fish and the occasional sirloin steak), I picked up some drumsticks …
The Mister and I seemed to be falling into a vegetable rut. As much as I love to cook fresh vegetables, we often buy frozen for the convenience. And we always buy the same ones: spinach, broccoli, carrots, corn and green beans. Occasionally, we'll get kale or mixed vegetables. Once in a great while, I …
I have to confess, I'm not the most mature person. The first time I heard the term "jerk" in reference to how food is prepared (oh, four or five years ago), I giggled and thought to myself, "Prepared BY jerks or FOR jerks?" Yeah, really original, I'm sure. I later learned that the word jerk …
My stack of magazines was perilously close to resembling the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Keeping a 6-month-old baby entertained all day and working from home at night leaves little free time to browse the latest Food Network or Bon Appetit magazines. I finally decide to tackle one or two magazines a weekend, bookmarking recipes I …
Steak is not often on the menu in our household. But it was important to me to make The Mister Steak and Eggs for Father's Day, and steak was on sale at our local grocery store. It had to be fate! I found a nearly-2-pound sirloin steak for under $10.00. I set aside 8 ounces …
It's finally summer time, which means plums are in season! If you remember, about a month ago, I wanted to make this recipe for Pork Chops with Plum Sauce, but couldn't find plums anywhere! Since I had already purchased the red wine for the sauce, I ended up making a red wine reduction to sauce …
It's Blogger's Choice Recipe (well, more like Blog) Swap again! Sarah from A Taste of Home Cooking assigns us a blog, and we get to choose which recipe to make. My assigned blog was Kylee Cooks. I found many recipes that I wanted to make, and finally settled on chicken taquitos. Taquitos are small corn …
For the longest time, the only wine I drank was White Zinfandel, mostly because I only drank wine with my family, and my parents only drink White Zinfandel. We toured the champagne house of Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin and the Louis Latour winery. When I traveled to France with my culinary school in 2006, I was …
After graduating from college with the "Freshman 15" still hanging on, I opted to try the South Beach Diet to lose the weight. It worked really well for me (I am not being paid to mention the South Beach Diet, nor suggesting it will work for anyone; just stating that it happened to work for me), …
This swap's theme was BBQ/Warm Weather food. I received this recipe from Hezzi D's Books and Cooks, which was originally adapted from Annie's Eats (one of my favorite blogs!), who had adapted it from America's Test Kitchen Healthy Recipes Family Cookbook. We are supposed to let the swap host know if there are any ingredients …
This dinner was a team effort. I've never been comfortable cooking steak. Probably because past efforts have resulted in overcooked steak, and therefore I'm loathe to "practice." Steak isn't exactly cheap (is anything these days?), and I'm scared to potentially waste it. So, Dave cooked the steak while I prepared the spinach. I bookmarked the …
This recipe swap was themed "celebrity chef" recipes. It could come from a magazine, book or TV show, as long as the recipe was from a celebrity chef. What recipe would I receive? Would it be an appetizer, main course, dessert? Would it be Italian, Mexican, Indian ethnic food? Which celebrity chef would it come …
I seldom rave about the food that I make. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy most of what I cook. But only a few dishes make me say, "Wow!" This dish is one of those few. If you enjoy Asian cuisine, then I think you'd enjoy this dish, too. The ginger and the soy …
I love the herb sage. I love the woodsy flavor. I love that it pairs so well with a variety of foods. It's one of the "oldest" herbs in terms of use in medicine and cooking. It has been used to treat, among other things, throat infections, mouth ulcers, stomach upset, and excessive sweating — …
In college, I pretty much lived on Kraft boxed mac and cheese, Cheez-Its, and ramen noodles. It wasn't until I went to a boyfriend's home for dinner that I tasted "real" mac & cheese. And oh, how delicious it was! Real cheddar cheese, crunchy bread crumb topping . . . I could've eaten the whole …
I did my meal planning a little backwards this week. The Mister went food shopping, and I chose meals based on what he bought. We usually get the same kinds and cuts of meat, so seeing pork chops in the freezer was not a surprise. I've also taken on a rather large and intimidating project …
As much as I love the flavor combination of lemon and dill on salmon, I wanted a different flavor with last night's dinner. I searched the web for salmon recipes, and saw a lot for salmon with honey and Dijon mustard sauce. However, I can't stand mustard, and don't keep any in the house. There …
I don't know which swap style I like more: the themed ones or the Secret Recipe Club ones where I'm assigned a blog and can choose any recipe I want. I'm really glad our swap does both! My assigned blog was I Was Born to Cook. I was initially apprehensive, as I saw a lot …
I went through a phase as a child where I hated red sauce. I wouldn't eat spaghetti if it had been touched by red sauce (I had my spaghetti with butter and parmesan cheese on one plate, and my meatballs with a smidge of red sauce on a different plate). No lasagna. I wouldn't even …
Yes, I know, I did a tilapia post a week ago. But, we bought a two-pound bag of individual frozen filets, and there wasn't much else in the freezer. But, I like this recipe, because it's a quick, easy weekday meal. The fish cooks in 15 minutes. I chose to serve it with frozen veggies …
I had really been looking forward to trying this recipe, particularly the purée — it's one of my favorite flavor combinations, as evidenced by the number of times I ate Trader Joe's butternut squash ravioli with sage brown butter sauce last fall. I was actually worried I was anticipating this meal TOO much — that it …
I tend to be picky when it comes to soup, which is precisely the reason I signed up for this round of the What's Cooking board recipe swap. I thought it would force me to try something new. Instead, I received a recipe for French Onion Soup from Colleen's Kitchen Therapy, which, aside from my …
Whenever we do a recipe swap, I look at the other recipes that were swapped, and bookmark the ones that I'm interested in trying later. From the fish swap in September 2011, I bookmarked Parmesan Tilapia. It sounded quick and easy, and used ingredients that I almost always have on hand. And this week, a …
The Mister and I have been getting tired of our kitchen staples. For a change from pork chops, I bought a pork tenderloin from Trader Joe's. One my favorite impressive, yet simple, main dishes is a stuffed tenderloin. And we decided to give kale a try — neither of us have ever tasted it before. …
I was very excited when I received my assigned recipe for the latest swap round, themed "Healthy Recipes." I was excited because the dish was inspired by the author's trip to one of my favorite Philadelphia restaurants, Buddakan. It's Asian fusion food in a chic setting. From the waterfall wall in the waiting area, to …
When I turned 30 (and I'm not going to tell you how long ago — or not long ago — that was!), I made a list of "30 Things to Cook or Bake When I'm 30." I don't know what happened to that list, all I do know is that I didn't complete it. So, …
I'm finally starting to get back in the kitchen, in part because my son discovered the joy of afternoon naps, and in part because I discovered something wonderful called the Moby Wrap, which allows me to "wear" my son and still have both hands free to prep vegetables or throw together a marinade. Once the …
Because I haven't buckled down and gotten into meal-planning, I often pull a protein out of the freezer to defrost for the next night's dinner without really knowing how I'm going to cook it. Take, for example, the whiting fish I pulled out last night. I didn't even know what whiting fish was (no, I …
I apologize for the lack of photos with this post. I snapped a few, but I was so hungry that I sat down to eat before reviewing the photos, and none of them are post-worthy! I really enjoyed this swap. This round did not have a theme, and we did not submit recipes. Rather, we …
I received a request via the DNCWWO Facebook page for a beanless chili recipe. I made this turkey chili many years ago. I found the original recipe on AllRecipes.com. It is hearty and filling, and PACKED with vegetables! The original recipe has less 600 calories per serving. I substituted lower-fat options when possible. Healthy Turkey …