The Problem: Meal Planning to Please At the outset of adulthood, meal planning to please (or even impress) was my default. I poured over cookbooks, choosing meals that would impress friends or make me happy. To an extent, it worked. We certainly ate well! Where this broke down, however, was when the things that I wanted didn’t fit the budget. Paying full price for proteins based on whim can jack up that grocery bill quickly....
What really helps making an excellent hash is an old fashioned meat grinder. If you don’t have a meat grinder, you can use the grinder attachment of a KitchenAid. You can also chop the meat, potatoes, and onions very fine with a knife, though the resulting consistency will not be as blended as what you can achieve with a meat grinder. A grinder makes a big difference here because of the way it grinds the beef into the onions and potatoes....
This is sort of how my dad is with meatballs. All I have to do is say, “Dad, I’m making meatballs,” and he’s halfway out the door on the way over. He loves these turkey meatballs. It’s hard to go wrong with meatballs. You just need to make sure you don’t over-mix them, and you brown them slowly enough, and in enough fat, so that flavor develops and the meatballs cook through....
This recipe for enchiladas—made with corn tortillas, bathed in a spicy red sauce, and filled with roasted squash—just made my autumn meal plan more exciting! In fact, anything to do with tortillas makes the world go round in my house, so this meal is a guaranteed winner. Calabaza is the generic name in Spanish for hard squashes that grow south of the border, which are akin to butternut and acorn squash....
Crème fraîche lends rich creaminess to soups, pasta sauces, and pan sauces, as well as dressings and dips. It can be dolloped on fresh fruit or desserts, spread on toast or scones, and is excellent used in baked goods. About Crème Fraîche Crème fraîche is a French dairy product that translates to “fresh cream.” Traditionally it’s made by adding natural bacteria to unpasteurized cream. This causes the cream to ferment and thicken....
Evocative of typical lunchbox treats, they make great homemade snacking cakes. In Maine, we don’t need an occasion to eat whoopie pies; a whoopie pie creates an occasion, though they often show up at birthdays, parties, and even weddings. Why These Whoopie Pies Are the Best When you break it down, a whoopie pie only has two elements: the chocolate cake and the marshmallow filling. When a dessert’s flavor is so simple, a recipe needs to get the details right....
The two cornbreads are so different, Mr. Twain! And today, we’re paying homage to this sweet Yankee version. Northern bread is typically sweetened, which leads its critics to call it cake. (Though, in its defense, it’s not that sweet!) It’s also often made with more white flour than cornmeal – another point of contention. But New Englanders adore it. Yankee cornbread can play the part of a dinner roll at any meal, especially beside a plate of chicken, or more often, a bowl of chili....
It’s as if my garden decided to throw a prom, and the eggplants, zucchini, and tomatoes banded together to show everyone else up. (Clearly, they deserve best prize for something, don’t you think?) Normally I would look at something like this and think it’s waaaay too complicated. But this summer vegetable gratin is actually quite straightforward. To prepare these vegetables, you have to cut them anyway, so why not cut them in rounds and arrange them in a pretty pattern?...
Not all olive oil is created equal, though, and while there are different kinds—extra virgin olive oil, light olive oil, just plain ol’ olive oil —if you’re looking for an everyday oil you can use for almost all your cooking, the options get narrowed down pretty quickly. (Spoiler alert: we use extra virgin for almost everything). How Olive Oil Is Made Olive oil isn’t only food; it’s human history. A bedrock of the Mediterranean cuisines we love so well, olive oil is a cooking fat, a flavor agent, and a way of life....
If you garden, perhaps you’re tilling, or putting seedlings in the ground. Maybe you’re enjoying relaxing afternoons outside without the weight of coats, boots, and scarves. Either way we have more hours of sunlight and more time to spend on our patios, porches, balconies, and yards. With all this extra sun, spend less time in the kitchen and more time soaking up vitamin D. These 30 minute meals make quick work of dinner to help you make the most of the warming weather....
Air Fryer chicken nuggets are my favorite way to make this light lunch, simple dinner, or after-school snack for my kids (or myself, who am I kidding?!). They are crispy, flavorful, and so much better than any store-bought variety. The cleanup is SO easy! Why Make Chicken Nuggets in the Air Fryer I prefer to cook chicken nuggets in an air fryer because it doesn’t require any oil, which is a bonus for many reasons....
Amongst all the tinsel and colorful sugar my eyes were drawn to a small cellophane bag tied with a small bit of gold ribbon. In it were little pale cookies that looked ordinary but enticing nonetheless. When opened the bag released a heady perfume that overtook me and those around me. Its sweet almond aroma always takes me back to the Piazza and its surrounding cobbled streets and bridges. Amaretti are little cookies that are light as a feather, yet have an intense sweet almond flavor....
My father grafts several varieties of apples on to his trees, but the Granny Smiths are the ones that are the most prolific, and they’re also great for pies, applesauce, apple butter, and apple cobbler. One of our favorite things to make with our apples is this apple cobbler. The filling is seasoned with cinnamon, lemon, and vanilla and isn’t overly sweet. The buttermilk biscuit cobbler crust is speckled with bits of candied ginger....
This has to be one of the easiest ways to cook asparagus. Just trim the ends, lay out on a foil lined baking sheet, toss with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper, and Parmesan, and then bake until done. I eat them like French fries. Addictive? Yes. They’re a perfect side to salmon, scallops, shrimp, or ham and delicious with eggs of any kind—poached, fried, or hard boiled. Video: Baked Asparagus With Parmesan Asparagus can range in size, so choose stalks of a uniform length and thickness for even cooking time....
Never mind. Unlike her, I am all about seizing the (summer) day, and this one-pan recipe for halibut with loads of fresh vegetables does that for me. A Quick and Colorful Dinner! It’s colorful. It’s quick. It’s full of flavor and light but satisfying for these last days of warm weather. Plus there’s only one pan to wash at the end of the meal. Who doesn’t get excited about that?...
Dotted with spices and plump raisins, it’s a cross between pickled beets and an English-style chutney (the sweet-tart goopy kind). Fantastic with cheese plates, it’s also excellent tossed with green salads or spooned over the kind of grown-up sandwiches (open-faced braunschweiger or liverwurst) I turned my nose up at when I was a kid. If pickled beets are your thing, try this beet chutney. Since the beets are diced into small cubes, it’s easy to dole out with a spoon; you’ll soon find it becoming one of your favorite condiments....
You might be tempted to keep such a decadent dessert all to yourself, but caramel brownies are a quintessential crowd-pleaser! Make a few batches to share as Valentine’s gifts for the loved ones in your life, package them for a bake sale or serve them up at a birthday party. Who says cake gets to have all the fun? How to Make Caramel Brownies Follow the basic guidelines below and you will have a rich, fudgy brownie with caramel in every bite!...
But this Creamy Chai-Spiced Rice Pudding tastes so much like the original milk-based version that it took my family and friends by surprise when they found out it was completely free of animal products. I said to them, “See? Vegan recipes aren’t boring!” I wasn’t trying to fool anyone, but they were shocked it was vegan! How Do You Make Vegan Rice Pudding? Coconut milk is the key ingredient to vegan rice pudding....
If you think a sandwich built with chickpeas is a no-go for pint-sized eaters, I don’t blame you. But chickpea hummus is so popular among kids—this sandwich isn’t much of a stretch. It was such a favorite among all three of my kids that I included it in my first cookbook, Best Lunch Box Ever. How to Build a Chickpea Panini The filling for this sandwich is a combination of chickpeas, shredded carrots, lots of lemon juice, and soft goat cheese....
What Makes This Chocolate Bundt Cake Special In it, you’ll find close to 2 cups of strong coffee and a quarter cup of bourbon. Yes, you can sub the bourbon for another whisky or for just more coffee. But I do recommend using the bourbon if you have some on hand. Bourbon has a wonderfully smoky flavor, and the cooking process cooks out almost all of the alcohol. So the use of it is more akin to using vanilla, just a different flavor note....
