Cooking Articles

The Hidden Potential of an Unloved Vegetable

I’m a sucker for an under-appreciated vegetable. Usually this inclination results in the dramatic rescue of a forlorn cabbage, celery root, or bunch of chard from a stand at a Farmer’s Market. I...

Vegetarians Get Gumbo Too

If it's not obvious by now, y'all should know I love to eats-da-meats: chicken, steak, alligator, or snail--if it is seasoned right, I'll put it in my mouth. Okay, well, not everything: I turn up my nose...

Let the Sun Shine With Citrus

The dead of winter is typically not the time I think of a bountiful harvest. And yet in the midst of the blustery weather that is exactly what I have found: heavy tree limbs dripping with golden orbs...

Cooking That's Good For The Soul

Are you looking for some new dinner ideas to share with your family this week? How about honoring a couple of different monthly observances by making heart healthy New Orleans style food? You may be scratching...

From New Orleans, With Love

I love New Orleans even though I have never been there. With the city in full swing for Mardi Gras right now and multitudes of people from around the country pouring into New Orleans to participate in...

Freezer Foods to Get Through Busy Times

By the time you read this, I hope to have welcomed a new bundle of joy into our family (or at least be on the verge of having that bundle of joy). Although I expected this baby to be born early like my...

Leaving a Culinary Legacy

There are some recipes that have been passed down from generation to generation within a family, and truly stand the test of time. Grandmothers have been sharing their treasured recipes and cooking with...

Beef, It's What's For Dinner. Maybe

“Beef, it’s what’s for dinner.” For years I’ve laughed whenever I heard this slogan. Probably because it struck me as so pompous. But it certainly had the makings of a successful marketing...

A Simple Scoop of Rice

This is a dispatch from Southeast Asia. For the last 12 days I have been eating chicken with green curry and rice, seafood soup with coconut milk and rice noodles, and stir-fried beef with holy basil,...

The Many Ways to Bourguignon

A month ago I found myself staring at the defrosting hindquarters of a deer wondering how on earth I was going to prepare it. I was staying with friends at their rural Massachusetts farm. It is the...

Making Healthy Food Fun

Have you seen the guidelines recommended for kids’ healthy eating? They don’t mess around. For example, according to Jessica Seinfeld, author of the attention-garnering Deceptively Delicious, these...

One-Armed Slow Cooking

Just before the recent winter holidays, my husband had the misfortune to slip on a patch of ice and break his right leg in two places— the ankle and the tibia, while out walking our dog. This event...

Soup for the Soul

"Good soups I hold in as high regard as great breads and together they make some of life's sublime moments." -- Anna Thomas Soup, I believe, in all its simplicity, can be one of the most transcendental...

Drumming Up Some Chicken Memories

Chicken has been a very important part of my life from a young age. However, I’m not just talking about cooked chicken. No, I’m talking about the very alive, very annoying, real chickens that were...

Chicken Soup for the Ages

When the arctic chill of winter gets the best of you, the best thing you can do is eat a bowl of chicken soup. Packed with nutrients and loaded with flavor, chicken soup can cure the common cold and even...

A Prune In Plum's Clothing

If you’ve bought prunes lately, you may have noticed an interesting thing. They are undergoing a name change. Many packages bear both the words “prunes” and "dried plums.” This image upgrade has...