My dearest friend Tracy is not a shortcut chef. In fact, were I a superhero, she would be my nemesis. She bakes. From scratch. She makes sauces and breads and even makes her own damn brown sugar. But this is one of the many reasons I love her. Her food is always amazing and nobody [...]

So the Bento Lunch thing hasn’t gotten old yet. Monday’s lunch is in my new little 4-compartment case that I picked up at Mitsuwa for $3.99, and I LOVE this thing. Bento is a super fun way to make a nice light lunch with lots of variety and a surprising amount of food.
Red Compartment: Dried [...]

Rotisserie chicken is probably my husband’s favorite thing that I make. It’s also fun because it always looks terribly impressive to the people at work when I bring in a tasty 1/4 chicken meal for lunch and they ask “Where’d you get that?” They ask even though they know better, that I make my own [...]

This morning my husband ad I had very different ideas about what sounded good in our breakfast scrambles, so I decided to make two.
Mine, the one on the left, was featured egg whites, mushrooms, onions, ham and green peppers with Laughing Cow French Onion cream cheese melted in. My husband’s scramble is made with whole [...]

I’ve had my Bento Box for a little over a year, but this is the first bento I’ve really take a lot of time on making adorable. My friend Tracy’s on a bento kick and I decided to join in!
In the bottom tier I’ve got ants-on-a-log (celery with peanut butter & raisins) some cheese crackers [...]

One of the keys to keeping at-home cooking interesting is knowing how to put meals together, combining flavors in a variety of ways. Tonight’s dinner was grilled on my Mario Batali Grill Pan. For these great thinly cut pork chops I used Penzey’s Northwoods Fire, a nice smoky and spicy blend. I brushed the chops [...]

CONFESSION: Campbell’s taught me how to cook. The first cookbook I ever used regularly was Campbell’s Quick and Easy Cookbook. While my dad has a lot to do with my love of cooking, this was the first cookbook that taught me how to shortcut through recipes and how to begin experimenting with the possibilities of [...]

If you’ve been following this site for any time you know my penchant for taking leftovers and turning them into a delicious Crustless Bisquick Quiche (follow the link for the recipe!). This time I used the leftover potatoes from the lamb roast, gyros meat, chopped onion, tomato and crumbled goat cheese.
As always, it turned out [...]

This Mother’s Day we didn’t get together with family, since we spent the day before at my husband’s college graduation surrounded by both our families. After joining some friends for an absolutely amazing brunch at Over Easy—where I had the smoked salmon omelet and became inspired to host a brunch with friends, for Mother’s Day [...]

As we save up to buy our first home, we’re on a big money-saving kick. A big part of that is keeping up our lifestyle, eating the foods we love on a budget, so low-cost restaurant-quality meals are a big bonus.
Our favorite local gyros place (at least for cheap gyros) is about $4.50 for a [...]

CONFESSION: I hate eating at Italian restaurants. Italian food is one of my favorites to eat, but whenever I order traditional Italian at a restaurant I tend to think “I can make this better.”
To make restaurant quality meals shortcut-style I love the frozen pastas at my local Butera Market, and this cheese stuffed manicotti is [...]

This Sunday dinner was my first attempt at cooking a leg of lamb. With the helpful advice of my friend Tracy I made a delicious herb marinade. I started with the leftover mint from the chilaquiles and chopped it finely. To this I added dried basil and rosemary and 6 chopped cloves of garlic, salt [...]