CONFESSION: To say my husband’s a little timid about cooking is an understatement. Still, occasionally he’s willing to tackle dinner, as long as he has VERY SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS. This is the email I sent him to make this delicious beef stew. You really can’t go wrong with this recipe, just season to taste (I season [...]

Since I started teaching in August, my 10-hour days plus my teaching schedule have made dinners at home generally boring and certainly nothing worth posting. Lots of repeats of previous favorite meals, that sort of thing. But I’ve decided to begin harnessing what time I *do* have to begin cooking meals ahead of time. As [...]

When I discovered Trader Joe’s had langostino tails (little, sweet lobsters) for only $9 a bag I about lost my mind. There’s little I love more than seafood alfredo, and now I would be able to make my own!!
It was really quite simple to do. I thawed and rinsed the langostinos before sautéeing them in [...]

Tonight’s dinner was the product of a fridge full of mustgo. A pound of ground beef, some multicolored cauliflower from the farmer’s market and some leftover curry paste. I’d never thought about making curried ground beef, so I was shocked when I found that ground meat actually had a name.

I kind of wished I could [...]

Who knew a crappy little hole-in-the-wall restaurant would have one of the best meals out I’ve had in a long time? My friends and I had dinner at Taste of Lebanon in Chicago before seeing our friend Don play Tom Cruise in a reenactment of Legend at the Neo-Futurists Theatre and were treated to a [...]

This meal had a couple different inspirations. A few years ago my husband and I went to Cleveland for a long weekend and ate at a wonderful little restaurant whose name I can no longer recall. I’ll never forget my lunch, though; they served a macaroni and cheese with pulled BBQ pork that was just [...]

Inspiration hit tonight and boy was it a good one. I present to you a new favorite. The flavor was complex and intense, sharp and sweet. It was kind of the perfect meal, and if I had a restaurant this would so be on the menu.
Since I don’t have a restaurant, I present to you [...]

CONFESSION: I am hugely skeptical about tofu that claims to be something else. Unless it’s made by Quorn. Then it’s cool.
That said, it’s not a surprise I’m not terribly impressed with Smart Strips Chick’n Strips. They simply tried to make them too much like chicken, which is awesome in its own way, I guess, but [...]

Chicken piccata is something I’ve never tried to make before. I used to love Lean Cuisine’s Chicken Piccata back when they had it (I think it might be spookily similar to the Lemon Chicken now)  so when I saw that Trader Joes carried a jarred chicken piccata sauce, I was ecstatic to try it. The [...]

I’m not afraid to mix my Asian cuisines. Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Thai—if it comes from Mitsuwa it all overlaps in my kitchen. Trader Joes also has pre-marinated Korean Boolgogi (or Bulgogi), but I prefer the stuff from our favorite Asian grocer.
Again using the peppers and onions from the taco party, I stir fried the marinated [...]

Okay, so our friends had this party that involved a taco bar. And they overprepared. Like OMG overprepared. Like after TWO dinner parties that weekend they still sent guests home with bags of chopped onion, tomatoes, peppers and cheese. My cooking usually features a lot of peppers and onions, but these formed the base of [...]

Trader Joes, how do I love thee. I don’t care that you’re Aldi in a fancy dress. In fact, I love that you’re Aldi in a fancy dress and your delicious foods are priced accordingly. And I do love thee. Let me count the ways.

First there’s their Garlic Naan, in the freezer section for < [...]