We decided to have a few friends over for dinner this past week, and I decided it was finally time for me to try this amazing-looking recipe for a baked Italian dish. Joey was gracious enough to help me out by manning the saute pan. He was busy cooking the sausage and onion and asked, …
Continue reading “Make a ‘rigaton’ of food with this sausage pasta bake”
In an online article, author Ossiana Tepfenhart explains that there are lots of foods we now consider “fancy” that were once “poor man’s food.” Dishes that fit the bill include lobster, oysters and even caviar. Another dish that she could have included? Ratatouille. The summer stew, native to Nice, France, was once considered a humble …
Continue reading “Want to be a French chef? You can d’ouille’ it!”
With the weather finally warming up, it’s about the time of year when you begin meeting yourself coming and going, it seems. There are so many activities outdoors, and staying inside after the harsh winter on top of a pandemic makes me want to spend every moment I can out in the yard or taking …
Whenever a friend or family member is under the weather or hurt or grieving, one of my first inclinations is to try to feed them. An article from 2016 by Adam McDaniel lays out the reasons human beings love to share food—part of it being sharing culture and part of being sociology. “Food has a …
Continue reading “A gift of casserole is not easy to ‘spaghett’”
One of the spots Joey and I chose to visit for our honeymoon over a decade ago was Philadelphia, Pa. As one must when visiting Philadelphia, we tried Philly cheesesteaks at several restaurants around the city. True die-hards will be sad to know that I was not brave enough to try any of my sandwiches …
Continue reading “Cheesy pasta is just the thing to ‘Philly’ you up”
I managed to hit the local grocery store at just the right time a few nights ago to score a couple huge steaks on a great sale. I was pumped about my luck, and I decided to grab a few sweet potatoes for a side dish to go along with them for a killer meal. …
Continue reading “How ‘yam’ I still surprised at this point?”
Is it just me, or has it been particularly difficult to decide what to make for dinner lately? OK, so I know it’s definitely not just me—it’s Joey, too. If you’re not having this same “let’s stare at each other until one of us breaks and makes a decision” moment every evening, I envy you. …
Until I began this column, I had no idea how many variations of pasta there are. I used to think I was pretty knowledgeable until I continued to discover new types that often were tough to find in small-town Kansas grocery stores. My recipe this week called for ziti, a tube-shaped pasta I’m definitely familiar …
Continue reading “Let’s embrace the ‘pasta’bilities this week”
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 recently came across a photo of an adorable indoor herb garden and immediately became interested in having one myself. I’m not much of a gardener, and I’m enough of a nerd that I love research, so I have spent more time than I’d like to admit over the past few weeks looking at which …
Continue reading “It’ll be tough to ‘leaf’ leftovers of basil sausage soup”
