Cooking Articles

Muffin Mixes: Quick, Easy and Fun

When something in the grocery store catches my daughter’s eye, I usually try to stop and listen. That’s when I catch a glimpse of what life looks like through her eyes, what appeals to her 8-year-old...

Recipes, Baking and Creativity

One recipe: A list of common amounts and ingredients, yet it can hold many a memory—simple combinations that can bring forth hopes and dreams, from generations of family traditions to improved health...

Summertime Melons

There are plenty of choices for summer meal desserts. Ice creams, sorbets, and sherbets seem to be popular as home cooks try to beat the heat with a cool treat. But yummy as those options are, they are...

Camping, Gourmet Style

Like millions of Americans, I spent many a childhood summer holed up in a pup tent in the great outdoors along with my family, temporarily escaping reality for a chance to commune with nature. There were...

Recipes: Share 'em if You Got 'em

There are a few times in life when you stumble across a recipe that makes a lasting impression on you. It's when you can then take that recipe and share it with someone else that the circle is complete....

Just a Little Bit of Red

Over the past few weeks, The Monkey has gotten numerous requests for Red Velvet Cake. � This chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting seems to have lots of fans on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line....

Brown Butter, How Come You Taste So Good?

One wouldn't think that purposefully burning butter could be one of the tastiest things imaginable. Beurre noisette literally means 'hazelnut butter' but this is actually a misnomer. Also called brown...

Garden Fresh and Good For You

As a novice green thumb, I have become more and more interested in gardening as the years go by. I planted a couple of different kinds of tomatoes in pots this year, and lots of fresh herbs. And through...

Healthy Homemade Popsicles

Do you remember the pure joy you felt as a kid when taking the first lick of an ice pop? I'm remembering that feeling as I watch my son eat popsicles this year, and re-living that joy vicariously each...

Souperb Ideas For Summer

Summer is the perfect time for soup. Chilled soup, that is. Most of us think of soup as the start to a meal, or a single hearty helping to warm our bodies from the winter chill. Soup can be equally...

Seaside on the Home Front

Aside from the changing of the leaves in the fall, one of the best parts of New England is the romance of its coastal summers. In these dog days of summer, little sounds more rejuvenating that digging...

You Better Shop Around

"My Mama told me, 'You better shop around!'" Well, maybe she didn't, but I have definitely adopted that philosophy as my own. Geographic location has certainly affected that decision. Here is this week's...

The Dessert We Love to Hate

Let’s play Jeopardy: Kids love it. For over 150 years, this fruit-based food has been dressed up (and down) with a minimum of time and effort. Did you say, “What is JELL-O?” Good for...

A Day in Provence

Provence is one of my favorite places in France, if not on earth. It is undoubtedly the perfect combination of sea and mountain, the rustic and the sophisticated, old and new. I was recently in Provence...

Cool Drinks and Better Bar Food

As you read this, somewhere in the world it is Happy Hour. If Happy Hour is good for one thing, great deals on cool beverages, it should also be good for another: delicious bar food to go with those beverages. If...

Slow Cooked Side Dishes For Your Summer Barbecue

I am a big fan of the summer barbecue. Nothing is a better celebration of warm weather than some smoking hot grilled food eaten outdoors with your close friends or family, preferably with a frosty beverage...