CONFESSION: I was unimpressed by Frontera Grill. I’ve been fortunate to eat at Rick Bayless‘ Chicago restaurant twice, and while the ceviche is incomparable with any other, everything else was way too smoky for my taste, which is sad because Mexico: One Plate at a Time is one of my favorite cooking shows and I [...]

Seriously. Chicken Helper. I know. Doesn’t it look awesome? Yeah, it was.
I make a mean jambalaya from scratch. But Tuesday night isn’t the night to make things from scratch, especially on Fat Cat Tuesday.
Tonight we added a new member to our family, our newly adopted fat cat Pippen, so naturally we needed some cajun goodness [...]

CONFESSION: I make the best lasagna. It’s true. Whether it’s my vegetarian lasagna or my combo, I do it best. I can’t order lasagna in Italian restaurants because all I can think is “mine’s better.”
The problem is, there’s no recipe for me to share. It’s different every time. But while I don’t have a recipe [...]

CONFESSION: I hate prepping tofu. I’m a huge tofu fan but extremely picky about density and texture. That’s why, whenever we visit Mitsuwa, our favorite Asian grocer, we load up on their fried tofu. Mitsuwa has large slabs of already fried extra firm tofu with vegetables embedded in it that take all the work out [...]

An easy recipe for shortcut Chicken Pad Thai using a prepared sauce.

CONFESSION: I just can’t keep anything simple. Even something as basic as sloppy joes I have to play around with, find a way to make it more interesting, usually by adding more vegetables and some herbs to a prepared sauce.
That said, I also make the best sloppy joes on the planet. My secrets?

Sauté an onion, [...]

There aren’t that many recipes that I make regularly, but this crustless breakfast quiche is definitely a favorite. I make one or two that end up being quick breakfasts throughout the week. I tend to use whatever’s left around from the week of cooking — the vegetables, meats and cheeses that MustGo.
CONFESSION: I love leftovers [...]

CONFESSION: I’m extremely picky about tuna salad. Extreeeemely picky. So much so that I’m terrified to try it anywhere else, even though tuna melts are a big favorite of mine.
There are three secrets to my tuna salad:

Miracle whip, never mayo
Dill pickles or dill pickle relish
Onions are only for cold, crisp tuna salad. Salad for tuna [...]

CONFESSION: I kind of love Hamburger Helper. Yes I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating. It’s a great starter for an interesting weeknight meal if you get creative enough.
Tonight I made the Cheesy Ranch Burger Hamburger Helper, but of course I added my own special touches to make it my own. I sautéed sliced [...]

CONFESSION: So often lately I come home from a particularly rough day at work with absolutely no desire to cook. It’s one of the reasons I keep a pantry stocked with convenience foods.
Aldi’s made great strides in the quality of their convenience side dishes, and I was astounded at the amazing flavor and texture of [...]

Artichokes are a giant pain in the ass. This did not come as a surprise. I mean, look at them. Even from the outside they look intimidating, and once you find out about their fluffy “choke”, it’s even scarier. But darn if they’re not pretty and delicious. So when they were 40¢ apiece at the [...]

CONFESSION: I know nothing about wine. Not even a little. I just know that red wine is good for cooking with red meat, while white wine is better for cooking with lighter meats and seafood. The good thing about this is, I’m totally not a snob. This allows me to try all sorts of new [...]