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A Cooking Curveball
On Monday, May 24th my life changed forever. My sister and I woke up around 5:50 a.m. to the fire alarm going off in our apartment building. We often have false alarms but we both still got up immediately. I opened the front door and the smell of smoke hit me instantly. We threw on street clothes, grabbed our wallets and got out. As we were grabbing our stuff two guys were going door to door yelling that the apartment next to us was on fire. They wouldn’t even let my sister put on her shoes when we left the apartment. We are so lucky that they cared enough to go door to…
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Why I Love Cookbooks
I love cookbooks and have for a very long time. Why? I have learned how to cook by using cookbooks and still continue to learn through them today. Learning how to make fudge, chocolate chip cookies and snickerdoodles are some of my earliest memories as a child. We always used recipes – some from packaging and some from family recipe, it was my first exposure to recipes and cookbooks. As I got older I was normally around the kitchen when my Mom was making dinner but never paid much attention to the steps she was doing. When I was in college and moved out of the dorms I had to learn to cook…
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The Tucci Table
“The dinner table is the anvil upon which we forge our relationships. Be they ties of family, of friendship, of new love or of old, it is a place where we share the events of our day, our feelings, our stories, our memories, and our hopes and promises for the future,” Stanley Tucci. One of my favorite movies is Julie & Julia, in which Stanley Tucci plays Julia Child’s husband, Paul. Having been a big fan of Stanley Tucci I decided to try out his second cookbook. The Tucci Table written by Stanley Tucci and his wife Felicity Blunt, offers a great variety of family inspired recipes. I love how they mixed his…
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Grilled Chicken Bruschetta
Chicken is something that I cook a lot of in my house. I find that I am always searching for a new recipe or technique to try to keep my meals interesting. Years ago I stumbled across a Cooking Light recipe for grilled chicken bruschetta. Since then I have made it many times and adapted it to what I love. When I serve this chicken bruschetta I almost always make parmesan couscous (from the box mix – so easy). I love to put some of the bruschetta mixture on top of the couscous. This recipe easily serves four people and if your tomatoes are giant, as mine where this past week, you can…
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Come On Over
“I definitely can help with the tried-and-true recipes that have satisfied my family for generations, as well as modern and whimsical twists on some of my favorites that I’ve developed over my career,” Jeff Mauro. When I started reading through Come On Over, I felt like I was hanging out with a friend who had a great sense of humor and even better recipes. It made me want to cook and invite people over immediately. Come On Over offers delicious, easy to follow recipes for any day of the week, whether you are hosting a large group or just your family. I believe this cookbook will be a go-to for me for a…
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My Go To Recipes
Lately it has been a real struggle to come up with what to make for dinner. I feel like at least once a year I hit a brick wall and have no idea what I want to eat or make for dinner. When this happens I normally refer to my list of my go to recipes to get some inspiration and start cooking again. It is really helpful to keep a list of things you love to cook and things you want to cook to help you plan your meal. Below are the recipes on my go to recipe list. BBQ Chicken Wrap I found this recipe in the Body Reset Diet Cookbook.…
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Now Eat This!
“My goal for this book was to take the foods we love-no matter how bad they are for us-and make them healthy and flavorful, something I really want to eat,” Rocco Dispirito. Comfort foods are my favorite things to eat and I love to find new ways to make them healthier. Now Eat This! offers great recipes to do just that. There are recipes for mac n’ cheese, onion rings and so much more. I have owned this cookbook for years and have made quiet a few dishes from it. The recipes and outcomes keep me coming back time and time again, it is a great cookbook to have in your collection.
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Voila! Effortless French Cookbook
“As A French expatriate in the United States for seven years now, I have spent hours adapting family recipes to what I can find at my local grocery store, so I hope it will be easy for you too to cook them in your own kitchen,” Cecile Delarue. If you have been reading my blog you know that I am a tad obsessed with France and I love French cooking. I bought Voila! Effortless French Cookbook a while ago and am just now getting into all of the recipes. The cookbook offers so many recipes all of which are easy to follow. It also has a chapter called French Cooking Class which gives…
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My Favorite Birthday Cake
Today is my birthday and I always want to have a cookie cake. I have been known to drive over an hour to get one of the cakes from Great American Cookies, they are the best in my opinion. I know there are other places that sell them but they just don’t taste the same. My birthday last year wasn’t much of a celebration, even though I was living close to my friends for the first time in ten years we couldn’t get together with all of the stay at home orders. Since the malls were closed so was the cookie store, which meant no cookie cake. As long as I can remember…
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101 Asian Dishes You Need to Cook Before You Die
“My goal is to get you as close as possible to the authentic and delicious. But more, I want you to understand the mechanics of these ethnic cuisines. If you want to cook authentic, delicious food, just follow my directions using the right ingredients,” Jet Tila. Growing up I was exposed to a lot of different cuisines as my Dad travelled the world while he was in the Navy and he liked to eat a variety of things. In regards to Asian food I remember my Mom making pepper steak and us ordering Chinese food for dinner. I’m not really sure when the first time was that I tried Thai food, but I…
