No Grilled Onion

Cold Sesame Noodles is one of those mainstay recipes I know Cook and I will make over and over again in years to come.  The simple peanut sauce hugs the noodles quite deliciously. Every Cook and Chef should have such a recipe in their back pocket. If you like Satay chicken skewers, you’ll love it.  You can control the heat level by the type of chili you choose.  It would be a great dipping sauce for chicken, wings, just about anything!  Definitely check this one out… Tyler Florence outdid himself!  It really is the ultimate peanut sauce!

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Autumn provides so many opportunities to make salads interesting and beautiful. We saw some blackberries on sale in the grocery store and decided to make a very simple, yet elegant salad.

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Here’s a perfect soup to make during half-time of the Michigan football game. (You might not know this, but Chef is a HUGE Michigan football fan and schedules her Saturday plans around their games.)

This is not only a great soup for Saturday (or Sunday) afternoon football, it also falls perfectly into the Fall season and into Latino Month! It is one of the easiest recipes ever, AND it tastes great! (And did I mention that it is healthy and low fat/low cal at only 200 calories per cup if you don’t add the tortilla chips!)

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Tired of setting out the same old canned mixed nuts at your parties? Want something that will gain attention but not simply because your guests arrived starving? Homemade roasted chili almonds are the ticket. With a nice blend of fire and warmth, your guests won’t know what hit them. BUT— this is the first sucker-punch they will thank you for. Total prep time is around 10-15 minutes; really worth that small investment. Let’s get cooking! Continue Reading…

I recently got a Facebook message from one of our favorite readers, Kenny. He was looking for a dish that would incorporate eggplant. Now I personally love eggplant, but not battered in bread crumbs and covered with marinara sauce. To me eggplant should be kept fresh and light. It is often best hot off the grill. Here are a few eggplant ideas for you Kenny! Continue Reading…

About 6 years ago, I was living in Cambridge, Massachusetts and my mom and I went to a Thai restaurant at Porter Square and saw something on the menu that looked interesting. It was a fresh roll and mom and I decided in addition to our usual Thai dish, we would try these things. What we found was delightful and quickly turned into my personal favorite. Continue Reading…

So I LOVE Thai food and have been wanting to make Pad Thai for a long time now. I finally got up the courage yesterday to look up a recipe and dive in. What I found were two ingredients I had never heard of: Palm Sugar and Tamarind Paste. Matt and I didn’t find them at our faithful Wegman’s so I had to take the plunge and we went to an Asian market. Now, I live just outside NYC and I lived in Boston, so I have seen plenty of Asian food markets before… no big deal, right? As I walked up to a local Asian market in Somerville, NJ I realized that I had never actually bought anything at an Asian market before and realized I felt a little nervous. We didn’t NEED these ingredients, did we, Matt?????

I looked nervously at Matt and he opened the door and gave me a little shove. What I found was there was NOTHING to be scared of. The people inside were super friendly and helped me find exactly what I was looking for. I got into the car with Palm Sugar and Tamarind Paste and one hurdle down…. now I just have to make Pad Thai and some vegetable spring rolls. Easy, right?!?!?!?

Well, here I go- wish me luck! I will let you know how I make out.

The other day I promised Danielle I would make dinner for her. I was craving Mexican food, but had no clue how or what I was going to make. I jumped online and found a few good recipes, flew over to the local market, jumped out of the car, and left the recipes in my bag. As I dashed in I quickly realized I had no shopping list, and I would have to improvise. Continue Reading…