Every week there are new colors! Last week, the yellow and purple cauliflower caught my eye. Though tired of cauliflower, my family devoured a head of roasted yellow florets. Open your eyes and shake things up this week: shop by color! Take your little ones by the hand, head to the market and ...
Kitchen Chronicles
Instant Pot — Instant Gratification
Happy new year to all of you! I'm thrilled to have received an Instant Pot for Christmas (thanks mom and dad!). Yes, I know what you're thinking. Where has Alison been? Yeah, I know. . . it's been around a while already but sometimes I'm late in trying a new gadget or appliance. I sit back and ...
Food Prepping and Meal Planning
Back to school. Back to craziness. With this sweltering heat, the last thing you might want to do is cook, but as I crave some crisp fall days, I can at least write about how to make that task easier and of course enjoyable. We all have our shortcuts in the kitchen. Maybe it's using some prepared ...
Lemon Chips from Nuts.com
I'm a chip fiend -- cinnamon, chocolate, butterscotch, white chocolate, peanut butter chocolate, jammy bits -- you name it. So when I found out from one of my students who works at Nuts.com that lemon chips existed, I have to say I was beyond excited. I know, it's amazing that a chip can have such a ...
Zucchini Blossom and Ribbon Summer Salad
I've written much about the sudden and mysterious ways inspiration will strike. Whether it's the taste of something exotic or a new use for the mundane, you never know when or how it might happen but suddenly it will. Working full time, going through the process of a divorce and a big move, I ...
Pumpkin and More Pumpkin
You better like pumpkin or you're in big trouble. Pumpkin is everywhere! Cereal, cookies, cakes, breads, muffins, breakfast treats, ice-cream, Oreos -- It's the flavor of the year! Maybe even the flavor of the century! It seems like there's been a pumpkin explosion in the aisles of every ...
Apple Upside Down Muffins
With a reprieve from the summer heat, I welcome the fall season with open arms. It's apple picking season! For some reason, I never get tired of walking through the apple orchards with my kids, finding trees chock-full apples is like looking for the next clue in a scavenger hunt. Once you get there, ...
Vintage Canning Cone Sieve Colander Strainer Wood Masher Rolling Pin Pestle
Sometimes something from the past deserves a reinvention for a new time. Take this vintage cone sieve with wood masher which finishes your tomato sauce better than any sieve with a hand crank. I used it this afternoon to get the most puree out of the remaining seeds and skins which were leftover ...
Blueberry Cake with Lemon Glaze
This blueberry cake recipe is for Debbie and of course all of you! During our massive cooking date last week, the grease was splattering, pots of water boiling and the mixer was whirling as Debbie and I made Maryland crab cakes (the real stuff), blueberry cake (with Jersey berries) and a large vat ...
Farm Fresh Tomato Sauce
It's that time of year when I've always got a pot of sauce simmering on the stove. This past week, I made farm fresh tomato sauce three times. One batch for a bunch of hungry teens, another to break in my friend Debbie's new kitchen and another batch for the freezer. I've got the process down to ...