R is for Risotto
If I had known that the only skill required to make risotto was chopping an onion (without cutting off my finger), I would have tried my hand at making one years ago. But since I had only seen the dish offered on the menus of hoity-toity, upscale restaurants, I figured it had to be as demanding to make as those prices were to pay. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Continue reading for recipe.
Saturday Morning Memories
When I was a tiny little girl, no more than five, Saturday mornings were my favorite time of the week. My internal alarm clock woke me up at 6 am, just in time to toddle downstairs to watch “Blue’s Clues” and “Gullah Gullah Island.” The latter was my favorite. I sang along to their theme song before lying down on the couch to watch the episode and daydream about dancing with their bright yellow frog friend.
But the best part was when Mom brought me breakfast during my Nickelodeon shows. Continue reading for recipe.
Thinking Outside the Pocket
Earlier, I made a batch of pita bread. Such a huge disappointment… After spending too much time rolling and shaping the little pockets, they looked so pretty when they puffed up in the oven but were completely lacking in the taste category. Because I made more than a dozen pita pockets, there was absolutely no way I could eat that many sandwiches and stay sane before mold invaded my bread, so I tried to think outside the box. What other recipes could pita bread be used in? I came up with…
- croutons
- baked as chips for hummus
- the crust for individual pizzas
- or…
Soup So Addicting, You’ll Lick The Bowl Clean!
(You gotta trust me on this… A few other people tried it, and they all asked for more!)
After a week of non-stop extravagant holiday meals, I was more than ready to eat something small, simple, and satisfying. Don’t get me wrong, I love the sweet potatoes (with marshmallows, mmm!), cranberry salad, and honey-baked ham, but lots of heavy food and then lots of heavy leftovers never makes for a happy girl nor a happy tummy. Instead, I left the last staling bits of our holiday feast for others to consume and made a trip to the grocery store. I walked out with a bag full of fresh ingredients and a craving for homemade soup. Continue reading for recipe.
Christmas Dinner Disaster
At our Christmas dinner, we completely forgot to serve the green beans. Wait, scratch that. We completely forgot to make the green beans. We served every other dish, but the green beans sat chilling in the fridge while we stuffed ourselves with honey-baked ham and Great-Grandma’s cranberry salad. When I went to put away leftovers, I realized that we still had a bag full of fresh beans to cook and eat in addition to what remained from our Christmas feast. Since I really didn’t want to throw together our typical green bean casserole after the fact, I decided to be a little more creative in preparing these crunchy veggies.
Continue reading for recipe.
M is for Macaroni & Cheese
I’ve been racking my brain trying to recall if I’ve ever eaten any homemade mac ‘n cheese, but all I’ve come up with is a big fat goose egg. Any time this comfort food appeared on our kitchen table, there was an accompanying blue box in the trashcan under the sink. Even though Kraft sells an amusing array of pasta shapes like Scooby Doo and Spongebob, I knew homemade just had to be more satisfying.
Continue reading for recipe.
Perfect Pairing
When I was younger, I always ordered ham and cheese, from sandwiches to omelettes. I must admit, it took years before I was ready to branch out and try different meats on my sandwiches, and it was even longer before I put any veggies in my omelettes. There’s just something completely comforting about the simple ham-and-cheese combination. So when I started craving that childhood comfort combo, I decided to branch out in the other direction – no sandwich, no omelette, and no quiche, all of the typical ham-and-cheese dishes. Instead, I went for… pasta! Continue reading for recipe.
You Say Falafel, I Say Waffle
The first time I heard someone say the word, I thought my ears heard them wrong, so I chimed in, “I love waffles! Where are you going to get some?” I got the weirdest look, and they replied, “Falafel, not waffle.” With a sheepish look, I made some (lame) excuse and walked away, making a mental note to do some research (and think before I speak!). Continue reading for recipe.
K is for Kettle Corn
Popcorn is a fairly common snack. It’s so easy to put those little packets in the microwave, press start, and come back in 3 minutes to perfectly popped kernels. Plus most companies have expanded their flavors choices to include more than just buttery popcorn, such as cinnamon, salty lime, cheddar cheese, and even spicy nacho, so there’s something for practically everyone. But despite all of those varieties, nothing beats simple stove-popped popcorn. Continue reading for recipe.
P Squared
Growing up as a California girl, we rarely ever served meat and potatoes for dinner. We ate lots of pasta, salads, and the occasional pork tenderloin or barbequed hamburgers (almost never ribs or steak), and potatoes were reserved for veggie stir-fries or mashing on Thanksgiving. Yet strangely enough, I was craving potatoes again. There’s something about this chilly winter weather that has me lusting after pan-fried potatoes, with their crispy golden skins and soft delicate insides. Add a generous sprinkling of salt on top, and they’re absolutely irresistible. Thankfully, this time I was prepared, and I had a couple of small red potatoes sitting in my fridge. And the perfect complement to potatoes? Pork chops! Continue reading for recipe.
Foods for the Soul 