I married into a seafood-loving family. Apparently it’s weird that I am not nearly as excited about eating non-fried fish as the rest of them are. I maintain that it’s perfectly logical for a lifelong Kansan to want everything with gills to be dropped into a vat of oil and fried to a crisp. My …
Continue reading “Add more than a pinch of flavor with crab cakes for dinner”
My allergies are totally angry at me right now. I don’t know what kind of plant is surviving well enough in this late-July heat to attack my sinuses, but something certainly has been. So when I told you I was immediately attracted to a soup recipe, you’ll forgive my stuffy nose for wanting a hot …
Continue reading “Don’t leaf through your cookbooks for ideas, make this instead”
When I go to try a recipe I think sounds tasty, I often follow the directions pretty closely, only deviating here and there to kick some of the flavors up a notch. When Joey is inspired by a recipe, he looks up a few more versions of the same dish and then goes completely rogue, …
Continue reading “It’s OK to wing it, even with classic French chicken dishes”
Until I really started exploring some Asian recipes during the pandemic, the ginger in my spice cabinet was pretty much only for baking sweets. If you would have asked me, I would have said it was there merely for projects like pumpkin bread and ginger snaps. Boy, was I missing out on an entire, delicious …
Continue reading “‘Rice’ to the occasion with tasty caramelized pork”
Back before my married days, one of my favorite dishes to make for myself was a big nine-by-13-inch pan of good, old-fashioned tater tot casserole. Of course, being one person, that also meant I was dedicating one meal a day for the next week to eating plenty of leftovers. I’m a sucker for leftovers, though, …
Continue reading “This classic casserole is entering a new school of ‘tot’”
One of the iconic quotes in the movie “Jurassic Park” comes from Jeff Goldblum’s character, Dr. Ian Malcolm. “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could,” he says, “they didn’t stop to think if they should.” That seemed to be the collective sentiment from family and friends this week when I told them what …
Continue reading “I’m trying to get you on my side with this combo of classics”
I’ve read that one of the reasons podcast advertising tends to work well is because listeners grow to really trust hosts of those shows over time. I have several shows I listen to regularly, and I refer to the hosts as “my friends I’ve never met.” Having someone’s voice in your ear on a regular …
Continue reading “Easy crockpot dinner will make you think spice”
While watching random cooking shows over the years, I picked up the advice from several chefs that if you’re cooking with wine, you should choose a bottle you would actually want to drink, or it isn’t worth using in your recipe. I have never heard the same advice for beer. I have used some of …
Continue reading “Everyone will polish off their plates with this sheet pan meal”
I first met Joey when I was 19 years old, and even then, he was forced into being my recipe guinea pig. I decided that I wanted to make a fancy meal for him one weekend, so I hunted for some ideas and came up with a brisket dish for two, and I decided to …
Continue reading “Making this for someone special could create a ‘meat’ cute”
One of the best parts of hosting events in our office is that I can make food I know Joey will hate and share it with everyone who comes. Last week, when we hosted a ribbon-cutting to celebrate the newly finished windows on our Newton building, I pulled out one such recipe, which featured green …
Continue reading “‘Olive’ making snacks for a crowd of readers”