• Black beans and rice with chicken and apple pico

    Beans and rice: healthy, cheap, easy, filling… and kinda boring, right? But it doesn’t have to be. This recipe from Bon Appetit takes what is probably the most frequently eaten dish in the world and gives it a little extra oomph (without adding too much extra time). The most interesting part of this, for me, […]

  • Spinach salad with quinoa and chicken

    So, here’s the thing: I hate salads. Not all salads. Bean salad, pasta salad and fruit salad that doesn’t include cantaloupe or honeydew are fine. But I really don’t like raw leaves. And I despise cucumbers. So that eliminates the vast majority of salads. Unfortunately for me, though, raw leaves are a lot healthier than, […]

  • Kentucky hot browns

    I like a deal as much as the next girl, but getting up in the middle of the night to stand in line in the cold is SO not my thing. My mom and I did manage to get to the mall by about 9 a.m. yesterday (which is very early for us), since some of […]

  • Puff pastry pizzas

    Halloween is all about costumes and candy. But before the kids go out with their superhero pillowcases and plastic pumpkins (or before you rip open the bags of fun-sized Kit-Kats), everyone needs some dinner. And it seems like trick-or-treating gets earlier and earlier every year. We always had pizza before we went on our hunt […]

  • Super-fast fettucine alfredo

    Back in my days of super-high metabolism and super-picky eating habits (aka the 80’s), fettucine alfredo was my go-to choice at Italian restaurants. I don’t order it very often anymore (a lot of restaurant versions aren’t good enough to justify the fat/calories/etc), but I was intrigued when I saw this recipe in the “quick and […]

  • Bourbon-marinated pork tenderloin

    September is National Bourbon Heritage Month. But I didn’t realize it when I made this pork tenderloin. What I did realize is that Toby’s best friend, Joey, was coming for dinner, and I needed something manly and bourbon-y. After all, they’re from Kentucky. The first time I met Joey, he (accidentally) spilled beer all over […]

  • Bourbon-glazed grilled chicken

    If you haven’t noticed, we kinda like bourbon around here. So I decided to go out on a limb and try this bourbon-glazed chicken from Cooking Light when two friends/former co-workers came over for dinner recently. Sometimes recipes from Cooking Light taste a little… like someone took all the fun out of them. But we […]

  • Chicken and pineapple curry

    I still have a lot more from our Hawaii trip I want to share with you. But I also wanted to share one of the dishes I’ve made since we’ve been back — from a Hawaiian cookbook I bought at the Polynesian Cultural Center. This was the second thing I tried from the cookbook. The […]

  • Spaghetti alla Bon Appetit

    As you might imagine, I was all about Bon Appetit’s May “Italy” issue. Especially the pasta al pomodoro on the cover and the “How to Make Perfect Pasta” tutorial. Now, I am pretty sure this is what the cover says is “the simplest, silkiest sauce you’ll ever make.” I disagree. It isn’t difficult, and it […]

  • Cacio e pepe – Spaghetti with cheese and pepper

    When I was little, I didn’t like spaghetti sauce. I’m not sure why. I do know I hated (and still am not a fan of) large chunks of tomato in my sauce, but for quite a while I wouldn’t do any sauce at all. Instead, I had spaghetti with butter and parmesan cheese. Now I […]