I decided to make some tabbouleh for a potluck last month because I was in the mood for something fresh and herbal. It was a hit--one woman went back for thirds--and I found myself eating the...
Although I would never admit it in a job interview, I chose my career mostly because I really wanted to work in downtown Minneapolis. I fell in love with the hustle and bustle the first time I got off...
Over the years, I've had my fair share of dinner recipe failures. Sometimes it's just a matter of taste: the fancy pasta dish that led to the realization that Mike and I share a vehement dislike of Brie; the anchovy flatbread that ended up in the garbage (it was part of the Brooks Bakes Bread project); and a truly bizarre pasta salad that involved bow tie pasta, corn, salsa, and Italian dressing.
In general, I'm not much of a cupcake person. It's not that I dislike them; they just fail to entice me in the same way that say, ice cream does. (Although I do love frosting. My ideal cupcake would probably have about an inch of cake topped with two inches of frosting.) However, last month my mom made a batch of incredible key lime cupcakes for my grandma's birthday.
I spend most of my time on this blog writing about topics like the wholesome tastiness of obscure whole grains, the joy of opening a CSA box and finding the first strawberries of the season, and...
Lately, it seems like everyone and her second cousin is on the paleo diet. One of my coworkers seems to be subsisting on kale smoothies and hamburger patties, while another has brought in dairy-and...
Another year, another annual appetizer and dessert potluck. Since the avocado and tomato crostini that I made for last year's event were a hit, I wanted to make something in a similar vein. I was...
Even though I've had this recipe set up for blogging for a couple weeks now, I've hesitated to post it. Slow cooker chili seems like more of a winter recipe, something hearty for a January day, something to warm your stomach while your feet are tucked into shearling slippers and you watch snow gently fall on your patio.
When it comes to the technical aspects of how things work, I am not by nature an inquisitive person. I am perfectly happy to accept the electrical grid and internal combustion engines on blind faith. This particular aspect of my personality is immensely aggravating to Mike, who builds servers from scratch and knows what a torque wrench is.
The first cookbook I ever bought was the Betty Crocker Cookbook (I have the tenth edition; the fact that there's a newer one out is making me feel kind of old). It's still the cookbook I turn to most often, for the hummus that I bring to potlucks, the deviled eggs Mike makes whenever we have a party, and comfort foods like au gratin potatoes and macaroni and cheese.
Looking back, there are certain periods of my life that are inextricably linked with certain foods. One of my most vivid memories of high school is dipping bite-sized chunks of bagel into single...
With great reluctance, I finally returned The Heart of the Plate to the library. As you may have guessed from my enthusiastic posts about some of the recipes I tried--Lablabi, Hot-Sweet-Sour Soup with Tofu and Pineapple, Cheese Crusted Roasted Cauliflower, and Spring Farro--it's a lovely cookbook, with a wide variety of interesting recipes that would appeal to both vegetarians and omnivores
Since St. Patrick's Day was filled with work deadlines and my weekly yoga class, our annual corned beef and cabbage dinner was a week late this year (we instead had baked potatoes on St. Patrick's Day...
As a child growing up in northern Minnesota, I figured that the "first day of spring" note that appeared on my calendar at the end of March was some sort of mistake on the part of the printer. The end of March in Minnesota typically featured snowbanks, and the only flowers in sight were the tissue-paper versions that we made in art class.
Once in awhile, I get the "Don't you miss eating meat?" question from acquaintances when they find out about my mostly vegetarian diet. Well, not really--I still ocassionally cook with chicken broth...
As promised, I have been coping with the (hopefully) waning days of winter by gleefully watching the snow melt and eating lots of soup. In fact, the last three recipes I've posted were for soups: Black Bean Soup with Cilantro and Lime, Lablabi, and Hot-Sweet-Sour Soup with Tofu and Pineapple. We actually made soup yet again for dinner last night, but since I've already given you my recipe Slow Cooker Minestrone, I'm writing about the cauliflower we had as a side dish.
If a market researcher was to come up to me in the street and ask me why I cook dinner from scratch every night, I would tell her "No thank you" and keep walking. This is my standard response to anyone who approaches me in the street, from panhandlers to proselytizers. But if I were to stop for the hypothetical market researcher, I could give her half a dozen reason reasons.
I've spent the past week poring over Mollie Katzen's The Heart of the Plate. Although technically a vegetarian cookbook, labeling it as such seems unnecessarily limiting--since many of the recipes are for small plates and side dishes, they could also serve as healthy, fruit and vegetable-packed complements to a meat entree.
As Minnesota has been buffeted with snowstorm after snowstorm, subzero temperatures, and polar vortexes, I have been making an effort not to complain too much. Mostly this is due to the fact that wallowing in negativity doesn't change the situation, but it's also because I made a conscious choice to live in Minnesota, winter, mosquitoes, road construction and all.
A few years ago, Mike and I made a trip out to Boston and Maine. Although it wasn't a fiscally irresponsible thing to do, it was our second vacation of the year, on top of the facts that lodging in...
