Cooking Articles

Read and Eat: Chicken & Dumplings

It’s a meal that I haven’t made in over a decade, and I can’t even say I had plans to anytime in the near future either. But then it so happened that daughter read—and inquired—about it while...

Garlic Breath Recommended

Over the summer, I had the chance to guest teach at a friend’s dance school. We had gone to college together, and she graduated before I did, moved back to her home state of Pennsylvania, and took over...

Slow Cooking From Sea To Shining Sea

When you think of the term American cuisine, what often comes to mind first are hot dogs and hamburgers, French fries and apple pie. But there's so much more to American food than that. North American...

Revisiting Red Sauce

There was a time when “red sauce” was synonymous with Italian food. Thank the Sicilian immigrants to New York’s Little Italy who brought their grandmother’s meatballs and secret sauce recipes....

Mexican Melting Pot

Mexico City has just made my Top Ten List of favorite cities in the world. When I told people I was going to Mexico for a few days, they instantly thought of me and some crazy friends in Cancun making...

Can Nachos Really Be a Healthy Snack?

Crunchy, salty corn chips. Hot melted cheese. Tangy salsa. Add ‘em all up and what do you get? Nachos. It all started with one cheese stick and an 8-year-old’s ingenuity to kick off a super nacho...

Humdinger Hummus

The heat has finally let-up here in the Grand Republic of Texas, and so life is increasingly more comfortable outdoors. In fact, I'm typing this on my patio as a cool breeze wafts under my nose, birds...

Sunday Supper

Did you have a Sunday supper tradition growing up? When I was a kid we almost always had a big dinner on Sunday afternoon. Modern life has us so busy running around from obligation to obligation that this...

Racing to the Table

September and October should be officially renamed as the Marathon Months. Why? Because with some of this country's most popular marathons taking place in October and November, runners across the nation...

New Food of the Month: Eggplant

It wasn’t a vegetable I ate as a child. And the few times I tried it at a potluck or picnic as an adult, I was not pleasantly surprised. And yet several times this summer my daughter noticed the smooth,...

End of the Garden Season

My summer garden is winding down for the year. Each morning I go out and, if I’m lucky, I might occasionally find one small squash, a tiny eggplant, a dozen or so cherry or grape tomatoes, a bell pepper...

Delicious Dining For Tight Times

That these continue to be tough economic times for many Americans is no question. Even for those of us lucky enough to have the security of a roof over our heads with a rent or mortgage we can afford...

Tools of the Trade

There are so many kitchen gadgets available on the market today. Recently I saw an advertisement for a wand of sorts that slices the avocado right out of the shell. I have been asked what I think of...

Friends With Okra

My husband and I entertain frequently in our home. Our invitations are generally met with a quick “yes” unless I tell our guests that we are including okra on the menu. Usually this information is...

Beginners' French in the Slow Cooker

When you think of French cooking, what generally comes to mind are delicate, complex dishes that take hours of painstaking preparation. The masterpieces of French cooking are similar to works of fine art—anointed...

Battle of the Breadcrumb

Until recently in human history, when it comes to food we humans have not been wasteful people. Probably for as long as mothers have baked bread, the scraps of the loaf have been re-purposed in the form...