While I have always thought of collard greens as something eaten mainly by southerners, an article from the website “What’s Cooking America” notes that even the ancient Greeks and Romans enjoyed the leafy greens. For the U.S., the tradition of cooking collard greens with pork—often using a ham hock to simmer in the broth—came from …
Continue reading “Tasty collards will ‘leaf’ you wanting more”
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 …
Continue reading “Spring is time to come out of your shell”
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’”
Often, I launch this column by telling you a story that ties into whatever the week’s recipe is going to be. This week, however, I wanted to talk ingredients, because if you’re like me, this recipe is going to be a bit of a scavenger hunt through your local grocery store. My sister-in-law makes amazing …
Continue reading “Yummy Puerto Rican food will help you have a ‘rice’ day”
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’ve heard a lot of folks complain over the years that they never know how many spaghetti noodles to cook when making pasta. A friend of mine literally just throws in an entire box every time she makes spaghetti and ends up with leftovers that last forever. That hasn’t been an issue for me, now …
Continue reading “Don’t get cheesed by too many leftovers”
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?”
If you’re bored and want to blow your mind sometime, I highly recommend doing a quick web search for how cashews grow. I have assumed for a long time that cashews, just grow inside a normal shell and look pretty much like a walnut or a peanut. But they don’t. At all. Instead, the nut, …
Continue reading “Don’t let me ‘cashew’ skipping this recipe”
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”
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’”