Cooking Articles

It's a Bird. It's a Plane. It's Super Food!

This morning, I made a preschooler very happy with his breakfast. I didn’t start out with grand intentions in mind. I was just throwing together a quick French toast using some leftover Italian bread,...

Back of the House 101

This week I thought I'd share some tricks of the trade with you. A good professional kitchen is run like a well-oiled machine. You can make your own back of the house an easier place in which to work...

Grilling Up a Hot Summer Salad

In the dead of summer, menu planning often revolves around two main elements: barbecue and salads. During the summer when we can’t stand the heat, we do what what we do to get out of the kitchen. We...

From Russia With Love

One of summer's great pleasures is vacation. I just returned from my summer vacation of two weeks in Europe. My husband, sister, grandfather and I finished our trip in Moscow, a city conjured in our...

On (Not) Loving Water

With the heat of summer upon us, I thought I would write something about the benefits of drinking water. You know…how we all should drink at least 8 glasses a day… what its many benefits are to our...

Gone Fishin'

Summertime should be full of activities that the snowy winters, rainy springs, and chilly autumns don’t allow. Playing baseball till the sun goes down, swimming all day until your skin is the color...

Seed Savers: Are You One?

Heirloom seeds. Hmmm, sounds like something that’s been discovered in my grandmother’s attic. I can just envision it: An avid gardener, she picked the seed heads off her favorites at the end of the...

Happy Fill-In-the-Blank Day!

With all the yummy, albeit obscure, fun food holidays that are approaching, it's so hard to celebrate just one. What's a girl to do on days like today, when it's National Milk Chocolate Day AND National...

The Red Beet Mystery

Guess which of these happened this week with a bag of week-old red beets in the refrig drawer (that I didn’t have a clue what to do with)? a) Ignored, they got more wrinkled daily, until I finally...

Tears Run Rings? Not With Vidalias

Who knows what Mark Almond is getting on about when he sings "tears run rings around my eyes?" Not me! But I'm pretty sure he's not singing about cutting a soft-celled onion. And even if that song is...

Great Grilled Cheese

Buttered, toasty bread. Oozing, milky cheese. The grilled cheese sandwich is simple yet perfect in every way. Somehow, though, it is possible to mess up this timeless and unfussy dish. Any competent...

What Not To Do When Cooking Fish

Much to my embarrassment, last week I had a night where I swear it were as though I forgot how to cook. I've been cooking all my life--plus there's the hospitality school and culinary school degrees--and...

For A Chilled Out Soup, Try Yogurt

In our Northern climes, soup is a dish we tend to relegate to colder temperatures. It is a dish we serve in order to warm bodies and cure colds. Yet this is not the way in other parts of the world, say...

Cioppino: An Everyday Delight

There are at least four or five dear friends of mine who would stake claim to cioppino as his or her favorite food. And it is not just my friends, for I have more than once overheard a woman talk about...

Yikes, Is That Green Rhubarb?

When free food shows up on my doorstep, I rejoice. It’s a surprise, an unexpected gift from the universe that sometimes requires a little stretching to actually use. But that’s also where creativity...

Deep In the Heart of Frito Pie!

My friend and favorite Austin artist Phil Trussell urged me to write this column, so here's to you, Phil! Here in the Great Republic of Texas in the early 1930s, a gentleman by the name of Elmer Doolin...