I’m not sure how traditional my crabcakes are, but I absolutely love them. This time I had some leftover cornbread to use up, so I decided to use that for the breadcrumbs and it made all the difference in the world! These were designed more for a snack than a meal and were probably a [...]

Without fail, whenever we go someplace where pan-seared tuna is on the menu, my husband orders it. For years I’ve been terrified to make it myself. It was just one of those things that was so deceptively simple, I knew it had to be easy to screw up. And when dealing with fish that’s $24/lb [...]

Tastefully Simple makes some really great sauces. When my friend Angela hosted a Tastefully Simple party a few months back, I picked up a number of things. Their Garlic Garlic has become a new staple in my house, and the beer bread has been a longtime favorite.
The Bayou Bourbon Glaze was appealing immediately, even though [...]

Yes, my dearhearts, this grown-up grilled cheese is exactly as good as it sounds. This recipe was born from the bargain bin. Two packages of brie, nearing their “sell-by” date, less than half price. Sign me up, right?
It was also born from a really bad day, and what better comfort food than macaroni and cheese? [...]

CONFESSION: By stereotypical “Mom’s home cooking” standards, I overseason everything. At least, that’s what it seems like when I read recipes in church and family cookbooks. I need a lot of flavor in my food and I don’t use much salt at all, so I compensate for [...]

Curses! I hate when I forget to take a photograph of the completed meal, and this chicken makhani (Indian Butter Chicken) was absolutely freaking phenomenal. It was, without question, one of the most amazing meals I’ve made at home. And yet, no photos. But I have pics of the biryani, which was also fantastic.
CONFESSION: You [...]

Okay, this recipe doesn’t make me terribly clever. Plenty of people have done this before, but boy do I feel like a genius for trying it and succeeding.
This was actually an improvisation on my part, but it worked out really well. When a local silicone cooking tools manufacturer had their outlet sale they had a [...]

CONFESSION: I buy too many vegetables. Like way too many. Way more than we can eat, and we eat a lot of produce. Oh, I have good intentions, and yet it’s embarrassing how much veg we throw away. This is an especially bad problem when I’m cooking for the week and I know all the [...]

This is no shortcut recipe, but it is really simple. It just involves occasionally babysitting while you go about your day. Also? I just made this recipe up. I call it Country French Turkey because the flavor reminds me of Chicken Tonight’s Country French sauce, but I don’t know how French it is. I just know it’s delicious. It’s beautiful comfort food and a super elegant meal that certainly doesn’t taste like it costs so little per serving!

Spaghetti Squash casserole is one of my signature dishes and definitely one of my favorite to make, especially when cooking for the week, when I spend a full day cooking and spread the leftovers over the course of the week. The flavor of this gets even richer when made the day before!
I love starting with [...]

CONFESSION: I was afraid of making my own stocks for a long time. It was tedious, quite frankly, and I’m all about the shortcuts, right? Well, who knew that spending a little time to make the stocks could be an awesome shortcut?
When I made my Shrimp Scampi a couple weeks ago I knew I’d be [...]

The Food4Less near our house has the most amazing seafood section. Almost every time we go they have piles of great seafood that’s marked for half-price, and it’s always excellent. With our FoodSaver we can stock up!
These enormous shrimp were so cheap it was amazing they were still fresh and delicious, but their seafood’s never [...]