My journey of cooking, gardening, preserving and more
The first week of August here in Northern Illinois felt more like late September: cool and cloudy with a chance of meatballs. Sorry, I couldn’t resist. So, needless to say, I made meatballs twice in two weeks. These came out so great the first time …
When the thermometer is rising to a triple-digit heat index and then barely dropping to 75 in the coolest hours of the morning like it is in my area at the moment, heating up the stove or oven is not on my list of things …
This recipe is proof that food doesn’t have to be fancy or complicated to be delicious. One of my favorite ways to do Cornish Hens is to rub them down with minced garlic, cumin, cinnamon, red pepper and fresh lime juice; the hens end up …
La Quercia is a socially-conscious company I discovered a few years ago and one I’ve become a huge fan of. They came onto my radar back then as a group of people who were making a prosciutto here in the U.S. that was actually comparable to the Italian stuff. I …
Pork is not only a healthier alternative to beef, it’s also just as versatile. I do pulled pork 2 ways – one braised and simmered in beer or broth and the other oven roasted. Both are incredibly easy and both result in tender, delicious pork. …
It is cold, damp and cold here in the Northern Illinois area. Yes, I said cold twice and I mean it. Brrrrrrrr. But March is right around the corner so my braised dishes will be coming to an end soon, making way for brighter and lighter …
My local grocery store occasionally carries a fantastic selection of fresh mushrooms and, as luck would have it, they had a bunch of them the other day. I picked up some shitake, oyster and enoki mushrooms, thinking I’d make some soup with the first two …