Banana Cobbler
This recipe is great in so many ways. It uses up very ripe bananas (a nice switch up from banana bread), requires few ingredients that are almost always on hand, and is delicious.
Read MorePotato & Asparagus Salad with Maple Dijon Dressing
I have to thank my sister-in-law for finding this recipe. She was hosting for a family birthday and had a bunch of asparagus that wasn’t going to stretch far enough for everyone. The original recipe was only potatoes and asparagus, but she threw in some salad greens and now we are forever grateful. My husband grows organic greens for a living, so salad is an everyday thing. But we can get into a rut of the same old, same old. This was a welcome variation, and so dang delicious! Even the pickiest salad eaters enjoyed it. (The blended onion is sort of a revelation to me, and I want to play with it more.)
Read MoreChocolate Oatmeal Lace Cookies (GF & Milk Free)
I’ve loved these cookies for years. Though only five ingredients (six with the chocolate), they are interesting and addictive. They just happen to be gluten and milk free. I sometimes add spices like cinnamon to them to vary them up. They are thin, crisp, and almost melt-in-your-mouth.
Read MoreHamburger Buddy, or can we please name it something else?
When I first heard of hamburger buddy, I was skeptical. The name doesn’t sell it very well, calling to mind boxes of prepackaged, minimal assembly required meals. Convenient, sure, but not something I usually go for at the store. Though the recipe doesn’t explicitly say so, I’m positive this is supposed to be the homemade version of Hamburger Helper.
Read Moregreat British Bake Off Challenge July: Eton Mess
When I started thinking about what GBBO bake we should do for July, I immediately thought something light, fresh, easy and perfect for summer. Eton Mess is all of that and more.
Read MoreWhole wheat English muffins
These English muffins are so vastly different from our sourdough English muffins, both in terms of flavor, texture, method, and time. Our sourdough English muffins are bready and made in the traditional way of a yeasted bread - risen, shaped, proofed, cooked - and in order to develop the sourdough flavor, all of it done over the course of 12-24 hours. These whole wheat English muffins, on the other hand, are soft and wheaty, and the dough is almost more of a batter that gets scooped onto a griddle, flipped, and finished off in the oven - all in a wonderfully short 2 hours. They aren’t perfect circles and they look pretty rustic but they are undeniably yummy. You can get up a little early and make these for a same-day late breakfast or brunch. Kind of magical if you ask me!
Read MoreApple Kohlrabi Salad
This is one of those sides that are perfect for lightening and brightening a heavier meal, that is interesting and tasty, but requires minimal ingredients and almost no time. Simple, but perfect, especially in warmer weather.
Read MorePotato Kugel
For our household, I’m often looking for easy, crowd pleasing, economical meals. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve looked up how to eat a potato for dinner. But happily, one of my searches brought this kugel to light. The original recipe never mentioned serving it as dinner, but that didn’t stop me. Doubling the proportions, using a large casserole dish, and adding a sprinkle of cheese on top (or not), this seemed substantial and tasty enough if served along a nice side of greens or veggie or fruit. While I make it for dinner many times, it also serves as a stupendous brunch dish. Plus, I love how it takes under a half an hour to whip up. The rest is hands off time in the oven.
Read MoreBeef in Chipotle Sour Cream
I came up with the idea for this recipe after making chipotle sour cream to go along with baked bean & cheese burritos. The sauce was so good, I just wanted more of it. Then I remembered beef stroganoff, which is essentially beef coated with sour cream. If I just added chipotle to the sour cream, I’d have exactly what I was hankering after, right?
Read Moreapple oatmeal breakfast bars
I love breakfast, but 90% of the time I don’t eat it. On the weekends we’ll cook up a big breakfast...sausage, bacon, potatos, eggs, pancakes, waffles, crepes... But that’s when we have the time to make and enjoy it.
Most weekdays, breakfast is something you scarf down between cups of coffee, getting kids fed and dressed, washing your face, and preparing for the day.
Read MoreQuick tomato soup
Tomato soup and grilled cheese: it’s an American staple. Probably because it’s fast, and it’s satisfying.
The thing is, as a grown adult cooking for my family, I discovered that many cans and cartons of tomato soup are chock full of sugars. On the other hand, a lot of homemade recipes, although fresh and delicious, take time to make, and don’t yield that ultra smooth brilliant soup you get from a can.
Read MoreRice Casserole
Like any casserole, this is one of those meals that doesn’t look that impressive. I wouldn’t necessarily serve it for company. But, it is easy to whip up, works with what you have, and goes over well with both children and adults. So in my books, a weekday win.
Read MoreIndonesian Peanut Butter Chicken
I don’t know how authentic “Indonesian” this recipe is—I don’t even know where we got this recipe—but in our family it has gone by the name “Indonesian Chicken,” sometimes “Peanut Butter Chicken,” for years.
Read MoreBlueberry Muffins
You notice I don’t say “best” or “magic” or “the only recipe you need” blueberry muffins. Because these aren’t. In fact, there are so many blueberry muffin recipes out there, I was debating even to post these. But, they come from a much beloved family cookbook that has pages falling out and is missing its back cover. And, these are good. Really good.
Read MoreBreakfast week! potato feta scallion (or what you wish) Frittata
I love frittatas. They seem fancy, even though they are easy to whip together, taking just a little longer than regular fried or scrambled eggs. They make a great breakfast, but are more than suitable for lunch or dinner too. They are economical, easily vegetarian or milk free, and, best of all, adaptable to whatever you have on hand.
Read MoreChocolate kettle corn
Usually I just make my popcorn salty, but every now and then I want it to be more like a dessert. Like a chocolate dessert. I love kettle corn, so I thought, could I just add some cocoa powder? I tried, it worked, and this became a snack/dessert that satisfies me on so many counts. It's got the sweet/salty combo, it's crunchy, and it's chocolatey. It kind of reminds me of the chocolate rice cakes I used to eat when I was a kid.
Read MoreEasiest softest bread
Let me share a bread recipe with you. It is incredibly simple but so delicious. It's the perfect recipe to use to introduce new bakers to bread because it's so straightforward, unfussy, and reliable. It produces a loaf of bread like those soft, light-as-air baguettes that you see at grocery supermarkets, but it's BETTER because it's fresh and homemade. And it takes just 2 hours start to finish!
Irish Soda Bread
With St. Patrick's day coming up, I wanted to try out some new Irish soda bread recipes. My standby has been Simply Recipes', but a couple new ones caught my eye. Why not bake a few and compare? So that's what I did.
Read MoreBBQ Beef Sandwich
When we lived in Massachusetts, there was this great local butcher shop. They prided themselves on being known only by word of mouth. Living on a tight newly-wed budget, we would buy one of their "budget stretcher plans" every month or two. Basically, the plans offered a box package of a variety of meats and cuts for a set, discounted price. Not only did the plans save us money, but they also introduced me to new cuts of meat. "London broil? Okay, will look up how to use that." (It is delicious, by the way. Steak for almost nothing.) But most often, I'd think: "Gosh. More beef cubes." Which led to, "Is there anything else I can do with these besides making stew?"
Read MoreQuick & Easy Biscuits
Few things surpass a buttery, perfectly flaky, multi-layered biscuit. They are well worth the effort of thorough prepping -- freezing small-sized pieces of butter (perhaps even the flour as well), ensuring the liquid ingredients are sufficiently chilled, meticulously avoiding overworking the dough, using a razor sharp cutter, and only rolling the dough out once.
But.....
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