A Savory Moment by Life At The Table

Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner!   Winner, winner, chicken dinner!  Have you ever wondered where that phrase came from? The legend is that back in the day a chicken dinner costs maybe a couple of dollars.  And if you happened to be a gambler and won a bet worth two dollars, the dealer would call out “Winner, winner, chicken dinner!” to note that you had been paid. Whether you have won your chic...

Baked Chicken Say hello to dining outdoors! April 23 is the National Picnic Day ! Picnics are a wonderful way to celebrate the beauty of nature and time together free from distractions. The picnic dates back to mid-18th century France where outdoors dining simply included a bottle of wine, a loaf of bread, cheese and fruit. The French word is “piquenique” which sounds very much like the American w...

Jump From The Merry-Go-Round Into The Kitchen Jump from the merry-go-round into the kitchen. As a child my favorite piece of playground equipment was the merry-go-round.  I would grab on, run as fast as I could, jump on, and then hang on for dear life.  Especially if the merry-go-round had the momentum of several kids giving it a go. With every dizzying rotation it was a battle:  Gavity vs me.  So...

Turmeric Egg Salad Not Your Grandmother’s Egg Salad A long held tradition is that the number of pleats in a traditional chef’s tocque, that tall, pleated white hat that chefs wear represents the number of ways that a chef can cook an egg which is 100. Eggs are delicious and I love them!  The simplest way to prepare an egg is  boiled.  In my previous post, I shared how to perfectly boil...

How To Perfectly Boil An Egg How to perfectly boil an egg. One of the best food advertising campaigns in recent history has to be the American Egg Board with their “ Incredible, Edible Egg ” campaign. Every time I eat an egg those words roll through my mind.   Eggs Are A Powerhouse of Nutrition That’s because eggs are a powerhouse of nutrition.  Although vilified for years,...

How To Flavor Food Flavor Is King   How to flavor food. There is a small counter space in my kitchen reserved for books that I like to have within spatula’s reach.  Several books rotate in and out depending on my focus, but one always stays. The Flavor Bible First published in 2008, The Flavor Bible is an alphabetical listing of modern-day compatible flavors. Got a carrot soup in the works? ...

Take Your Tastebuds Oceanside With A Weeknight Meal of Crab Cakes   There’s something about eating seafood that transports me oceanside with the sand between my toes, waves crashing, and the screech of seagulls. And crab is one of my favorites. While crab can be one of the more expensive items when dining out, it can actually be more affordable when you prepare it at home.  It’s going to be m...

Roasted Asparagus Screams Spring Is Here! Spring has sprung!  Warmer weather is quickly replacing the gray of winter, giving us a colorful landscape of flowering trees, green grass, and budding rose bushes. And we can see it in the grocery store.  One vegetable that screams spring is here is asparagus. From the farmer’s markets to the produce sections of the big box grocery stores, this lovely veg...

How To Make Sharing The Table A Priority It’s Never Too Early or Too Late How to make sharing the table a priority. It’s never too early or too late to develop good cooking and eating habits in your children. Teach Your Children The Value of Cooking and Sharing The Table When we make cooking a priority, we speak volumes to our children about the value of choosing healthy, nutritious food. When we...

 Soba Noodle Stir Fry   Take A Staycation On A Weeknight   Today I’m taking your tastebuds on a trip to the East with a soba noodle stir fry.  If that doesn’t give you enough to talk about around the dinner table, the flavor combinations of this dish certainly will. When you take that perfect first bite, allow yourself a slow moment to savor the combination of the sweet and spicy sauce,...

Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette   Capture The Brightness and Energy of Spring   Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette.  Spring is here and new life is blossoming, awakening us to happier moods, increased energy, and a desire to eat more fresh meals with vibrant-colored fruits and vegetables. My mission is to help you answer the most important question of the day, “What’s for dinner?”. One way to to...

Mise En Place for Weeknight Cooking   Organization In The Kitchen Means More Time For Creativity Mise en place for weeknight cooking.   A Successful Line Cook Excels At Execution Being a successful fine dining restaurant cook is all about execution. All orders for one table must come off the line at the same time for plating and presentation.  The sheer effort it takes to do this well is...

Maple-Bourbon Ham Glaze   Delight Your Guests At The Table With A New Take On An Old Dish Maple-bourbon ham glaze. Easter is just around the corner, and for many that means ham will take center stage on the dinner table. Ham is the high part of a leg cut from a hog.  It dates back to 100s B.C. when people were known to salt hams for preservation and flavor.  The Chinese also take credit for c...

Breakfast Casserole It’s Everything That Makes Breakfast Delicious! Breakfast casserole. If you’re like me, when the alarm clock rings every morning, life is a race.  While this daily pace helps bring home the “bacon”, it’s not a healthy, sustainable lifestyle.  It’s important to jump off the track and gather back together at the table for good food and conversation in the evening. But what about...

Top 10 Kitchen Tools | Part 2   Refresh Your Tools To Put Dinner On The Table In A Flash Posts Top 10 Kitchen Tools | Part 2. Julia Child once said, “In department stores, so much kitchen equipment is bought indiscrimately by people who just come in for men’s underwear.”   Be A Discriminating Buyer of Kitchen Equipment Last week I started my list of Top 10 Kitchen Tools For Weeknight Coo...

Homemade Tacos Forget Taco Tuesday! Everyday can taco day with homemade tacos. There is something simple and satisfying about eating a taco whether it’s a crunchy or soft taco. Chef Sandra’s taco seasoning works well with any variation of protein your heart desires, ground beef, chicken, steak, shrimp, fish, tofu, or tempeh. Then the fun begins; load up your homemade tacos with the top...

Chipotle Pinto Bean Salsa A Delicous Makeover For a Familiar Bean Chipotle pinto bean salsa. Beans, beans, the musical fruit, the more you eat… No need to continue, you’ve heard the rest.   Eat More Beans To Reduce Unpleasant Side Effects While eating beans can cause certain digestive challenges, the irony is this:  The more you eat beans, the less likely you are to experience bean-induced si...

Top 10 Kitchen Tools – Part 1   Refresh Your Tools To Put Dinner On The Table In A Flash Top 10 Kitchen Tools for Weeknight Cooking | Part 1 Several years ago, my upstairs washing machine leaked through the ceiling to the first floor.  In what now seems like a stone age experience, I used the yellow pages and my landline to locate a plumber in the middle of the night. He surveyed the ro...

Fried Chickpeas with Turmeric Be a super hero with a super food! Fried chickpeas with turmeric. In the spirit of International Women’s Month , I’m going to talk about a super chick – a chickpea that is! It’s not just any pea, and not the kind our parents forced us to eat.  It’s a “super” food, packed with protein and fiber, and made for versatility. From soups and salads to delicious hummus,...

Don’t Diet!  Make a Lifestyle Change Instead Do you think of the word diet as a noun or a verb? Is your diet a way of life or is it deprivation? Each year, 45 million people go on a diet to lose weight: this is the verb form of the word.   But the struggles are apparent.  Sixty-five percent of Americans are overweight and more than 36% are obese. Most diets fail because depriva...

Romanian White Bean Dip A Tasty Way To Explore Romanian Cuisine Romanian white bean dip. Besides feeding yourself well and spending less money than going out, here’s what’s fun about cooking:  It is a cheap and tasty way to explore the cuisine of another culture or a nation, without ever leaving home!  No cramped airplane rides or potetially dicey hotel rooms. Just you, your kitchen, your chef kni...

If You’re In Need of a Broccoli Makeover, This Recipe Is For You! Next to brussell sprouts, broccoli may be the next most hated vegetable in all of veggie land. When an advertising firm in Colorado was challenged by New York Times writer, Michael Moss, to create a campaign to market broccoli they uncovered the not-so surprising bad attitudes towards this cruciferous vegetable that looks like tiny...

Marinated Flank Steak with Ginger, Garlic, Orange, and Rosemary Flavorful, Fast, Easy, and Delicious! Marinated flank steak with ginger, garlic, orange, and rosemary. Have you ever thought about marinating a piece of steak, chicken, or pork?  Then you walk to fridge or the pantry and say, “Darn, I’m all out of marinade!”. Never again!  Create your own marinade from the ingredients you have in YOUR...

Pound Cake: A Cake Built for Slicing, Sharing, and Gathering Pound cake. I never had a sweet tooth as a kid.  This was much to my mother’s chagrin, I’m sure. She would pour forth as much effort on her desserts as the main dish.  Sometimes I would indulge in a forkful or two of the ooegy gooey sweet ending, but more often than not I would instead take an extra helping of vegetables or a p...

Two Tips For Making The Perfect Bowl of Rice How to make rice. Let’s talk rice. While we think of rice as a simple side dish at dinner, in many cultures rice is consumed at every meal of the day .  In some rural areas in Asia, rice is used to pay debts, wages, and rent. We don’t pay homage like that to rice, but every now and then, it does make a showing at dinner. Perhaps you don’t cook it o...