Spatchcock Polynesian Chicken ‘Lei’ the foundation for a delicious grilled chicken

As soon as the weather starts to warm up, it’s time for Joey and me to start going through all the grilling recipes he sent me over the winter. The first one up is this week’s recipe, which features a Polynesian-inspired sauce over a spatchcock chicken. If you’re not familiar with spatchcocking, it’s a technique …

Lemon Blueberry Crumb Bars You’ll have strong ‘peelings’ for lemon blueberry bars

Upon being invited to a barbecue recently, I announced that it would be a good time to try out a recipe for some cheesecake-y blueberry lemon bars. “No. No lemon,” one of our friends declared. “Lemon is gross.” (I think he was at least halfway joking.) The rest of the group immediately objected. “Yes! Make …

Brussels sprouts with bacon and pesto pasta Flex your cooking ‘Brussels’ with a new summer side dish

I don’t know about you, but I find myself searching the Internet every summer for new side dishes to take to barbecues. Joey is really, really not a mayonnaise fan, so the traditional offerings like potato salad and coleslaw are mostly out of the question. But then you also have the problem of how to …

Fresh Mango Lemonade Summer means it’s time for a ‘mango-nificent’ lemonade

You know summer is here when you start seeing area kids trying their hand at entrepreneurship with lemonade stands. This past weekend, I saw several friends posting photos of their children with toothy grins, sitting behind card tables adorned with homemade signs. As much as some things change, there are so many that seem to …

Sour Cream Lemon Pie The holidays are the ‘zest’ time for refreshing lemon pie

I’m constantly amazed by the things I don’t know, despite having spent a lot of time trying new ingredients and recipes over the years. One of my favorite discoveries over the past couple of years came from a random post I saw online about store-bought graham cracker crusts. I’m sure I am the last person …

Blueberry Crisp This crisp lets fresh berries’ true colors shine ‘blue’

The past two weeks, every time I walked through the produce department at our local grocery store, pints of blueberries have been calling my name. I tried to avoid eye contact with them, knowing that I didn’t have a good way to get rid of a lot of dessert. But when we were invited to …