I hope you're not sick of pumpkin. Personally, pumpkin is a year-round ingredient for me, but I know that not all agree with me. Can we at least compromise that it's an all-winter ingredient? Pumpkin is comfort food to me, as is macaroni and cheese. When I saw that The Cookaholic Wife had made a …
Side Dishes
Are you on a sugar high from my posts earlier this week? Here's a delicious savory dish for you, brought to you from Jenna's Cooking Journey via the What's Cooking Swap, hosted by A Taste of Home Cooking. The theme this time around was side dishes. Side dishes are often over-looked, especially in this household. …
I swore for a long time that I hated sweet potatoes. Turns out, it was a case of mistaken identity. You see, my dear late grandmother hosted dinner every Easter. Though there were only ever 7 of us at dinner, she'd make a ham AND lamb, five side dishes, plus two kinds of dinner rolls. …
While making the weekly meal plan and checking the sale pages, I noticed that crab meat was on sale. We hadn't had shellfish, let alone crab, in quite a while. Now, I don't know about you, but the first recipe that jumps into my mind when I think about crab is crab cakes. I love …
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 …
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 …
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 …
Today's post was supposed to be about Sticky, Sweet and Spicy Chicken — pan-sautéed chicken breasts with a thick honey-ginger-soy sauce. Unfortunately, I skipped over the part that said to "reduce heat and simmer," and subsequently burned the sauce. Not tasty or blog-worthy. The side dish of honey-roasted baby carrots, however, was much tastier than …
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 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 …
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 …
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 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 …
It's finally starting to feel like winter in these parts. It's the perfect time for warm, delicious comfort food. When I received my latest swap recipe, Potato Gratin, from A Taste of Home Cooking, I knew it would be the perfect accompaniment to the pot roast in my freezer. This gratin dish is rich and …
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. …
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, …
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 posts lately. The newest addition to the family doesn't let me get much cooking done anymore. However, I have still been participating in the recipe swaps of the cooking board which I frequent. The theme this time around was "special occasion" dishes (appetizers, main dishes, or sides). I submitted …
Here's another "oldie but goodie" (recipe I made in my pre-blogging days, hence no photo). I made this Epicurious recipe as a Thanksgiving side dish a few years ago, and it was delicious. This recipe can be made a day ahead of time, instructions for doing so are included in the directions. Green Beans with …
If your family is up for experimenting with new dishes on Thanksgiving (unlike mine), this pumpkin sage polenta would make a seasonal substitution for traditional mashed potatoes. I've been going back through my archives of recipes I made in my pre-blogging days. That's the reason there is no photo to accompany this recipe. Pumpkin Sage …
This recipe swap round was "Thanksgiving Side Dishes." While in the past, we have always submitted recipes that we've made in the past, that was not a requirement for this round. I submitted a recipe for French Onion Stuffed Potatoes from Food Network Magazine that sounded really delicious. In return, I received a recipe for …