I had long wanted to go to Mexico City, but it never seem to be the right time until a few weeks ago.
Like everyone, I’ve heard what a great food and cocktail city it is, and it did not disappoint! I ate and drank at a higher level here than I have in any city that I’ve visited in the past five years.
Read MoreCraving a big bowl of pasta but not eating carbs? Spaghetti squash is the answer and it is almost as popular a choice as pasta these days.
The go-to dish is spaghetti squash topped with meat sauce but more and more the pasta-like strands of squash are being topped with the viral Baked Tomato Feta. I know that I’ve made both many times.
Read MoreThis summer I was lucky enough to travel to Slovenia for a barbecue contest. As it turns out, both barbecue and line dancing are big hobbies in Slovenia. I was invited by the US State Department and The Culinary Diplomacy Projectto be a culinary ambassador for the barbecue part of the Slovenian Country and BBQ Festival, a.k.a. Wild West Fest On Fire.
Read MoreWhen I am sick of cooking and sick of answering the question, what’s for dinner? I turn to breakfast for dinner.
It never fails to satisfy and it gives me an excuse to make fresh hot biscuits. There is nothing like splitting open a just-baked biscuit, slathering it with butter and watching as the steam melts the butter and it’s absorbed by the soft pillowy interior...except eating it—hits the spot, every time!
Read MoreValentine’s Day is a great excuse to bake heart-shaped desserts and indulge your sweet tooth. And, I can’t think of a better thing to make than a decadent bread pudding studded with strawberries and chocolate.
Read MoreI am a big Ina Garten fan. Her food is simple to prepare and delicious. I love her approach to entertaining and how she incorporates international flair into her cozy comfort food.
Read MoreMost crinkle cookie recipes are chocolate but these buttery cream-cheese crinkle cookies just might have you think twice about making chocolate crinkles.
If you love sweet buttery chewy cookies with a little spice, you will love these chai crinkle cookies.
Read MoreThere’s nothing sweeter this time of year, than an edible gift. Food gifts are the perfect choice for friends and family who already have everything they want or need. And, this selection of food gifts is so good that you may decide to give them to yourself.
Read MoreI am a diehard whiskey drinker, but I have always wanted to be a martini drinker.
That is one of the reasons why I have always been partial to an Espresso Martini. As a coffee lover, it’s a drink that I can embrace. It feels as celebratory as a Martini but is flavored with espresso.
Read MoreOnce you have the essentials in your kitchen, then the fun really begins. That’s when you can start adding special equipment that makes cooking and baking easier and more stylish.
The following is my eclectic list of next-level kitchen tools. Some of the items on this list are things that I never thought that I would buy, and now that I have them, I cannot live without them.
Read MoreWhen I lived in Chicago, there was an Italian restaurant that made a chopped salad that I was obsessed with. My favorite part of the salad was the crispy bits of prosciutto that they used instead of bacon. I’m assuming that they used prosciutto because they had a lot of it around and they were making good use of the odd pieces leftover from dishes that required beautiful flat slices of prosciutto.
Read MoreIf you are looking for a crowd-pleasing appetizer that is easy to make and extra special, consider making your own cheese.
Ricotta cheese that is. A few years ago, I took a cheese making class in California. It was an artisanal cheese class and we used ‘just milked’ cow’s milk and various starters. When I went home, I still wanted to make cheese but I didn’t have access to raw milk and I wanted immediate gratification.
Read MoreThanksgiving Day is right around the corner and that means you might have a little angst if you are hosting the holiday meal this year.
This anxiety was coined “turkey trauma” by the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line when it began in 1981. It opens every year for the all-important turkey feasts in November and December. The toll-free hotline is answered by trained turkey experts and in keeping with the times, you can get answers to your questions via text and even by asking Alexa.
Read MoreDo you have a favorite part of Thanksgiving? If you are like me, I look forward to Turkey Day all year long just so I can eat my fill of sausage dressing on Thanksgiving Day, and have a slice of pumpkin pie for breakfast on Friday morning.
Read MoreI’ve always loved grilled and smoked chicken especially a butterflied or spatchcock chicken but ever since I got my new Traeger Timberline XL pellet smoker this summer, I’ve been obsessed with smoked chicken.
Read MoreApple cakes abound in the fall and I am usually the first one to jump on that bake, but this year I was inspired by two ingredients to make something a little different—pears and a new spiced rum.
Read MoreLast Sunday marked National Lobster Day.
The week-long celebration came on the heels of an announcement from the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s (MBA) Seafood Watch program that placed Maine Lobster on its "Red List" of seafoods to avoid, citing protection of right whales.
Read MoreIt’s a Hot Wings Summer and that means venturing away from the bottle of hot sauce and stepping up your hot wings.
Read MoreThe harvest of Bristol Bay sockeye salmon, a long-running annual—130 years old—event is set to break records this month. Home cooks and chefs alike look forward to July when the running of the wild salmon occurs in the crystal-blue waters of Bristol Bay.
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