Recipes for side dishes.
I recently found myself going on a whirlwind trip through the grocery store, quickly grabbing something to make for dinner on my way home from work. Joey and I were all geared up to watch a basketball game, and I (of course) ended up getting caught in the office far later than I wanted. And …
Continue reading “Sometimes speed is what cooking is all a’sprout’”
On our honeymoon, Joey and I visited a great Italian restaurant in New York City. It was the most expensive meal of our vacation, with us spending a generous gift from a family member that was earmarked for just that purpose. The place wasn’t all that fancy to look at, but when your waiter is …
I have apparently been misinformed about the difference between scalloped potatoes and potatoes au gratin for my entire life. I always thought they both had cheese involved. But after I decided recently to make scalloped potatoes, I discovered that the dish has no cheese at all, and it led me down a rabbit hole of …
A couple weeks ago, our family gathered around my maternal grandmother’s table, enjoying a meal with her along with all of the cousins and their children and spouses present. It was sometimes a bit loud and boisterous, and there was plenty of laughter as we all ate way too much while telling stories and catching …
Continue reading “It’s tough to see one more empty seat at the table”
I absolutely adore green beans. They’ve been near the top of my favorite veggies list since I was little. My normal ways of preparing them is to open a can, dump them in a microwave-safe container with some salt and pepper and heat them up or to fry up some bits of bacon in a …
Continue reading “I finally found the cooking method I’ve ‘bean’ looking for”
When we were kids, my sister and I often had conflicts over our favorite places to eat. Any time I was in the mood to visit the Chinese buffet, she balked, claiming she hated Chinese food. If my parents were kind enough to push the issue and decide to go anyway, she always seemed to …
Continue reading “Egg rolls in a bowl will get you ‘egg-cited’”
When I close my eyes and picture my grandpa, I see his mischievous smile—one that went clear up to his eyes—and I can hear his laugh. I see his large hands, calloused from years of hard work, which were always willing to help anyone who needed him. And I’ll never see a pair of suspenders, …
Although we had big crowds of folks in our house for the NFL playoff games this season, Super Bowl Sunday was a calm evening without company—something Joey and I were both very much in the mood for after a few busy weeks in a row. Despite the lack of a table full of food, I …
A few weekends ago, Joey and his best friend decided to fire up our smoker in the backyard and fill it with everything from several racks of ribs to a pork loin. They tended the fire all day, hanging out in the garage with a set of washer boards to get out of the sun. …
Continue reading “Make garlic pasta salad to be the ‘roast’ of the town”
I’ve mentioned before that my gardening ability is pretty sad to say the least. Part of that is due to my inability to figure out how much water to dump on my plants, and part of that is due to a thieving squirrel, who convinced me for most of a summer that my tomatoes were …
Continue reading “Make ‘mushroom’ for lots of fresh veggies this summer”
