Four for Dinner

Monday night, I made an old recipe for me, that is new to my family. It is a recipe for Black Bean Soup that was copied from the New York Times, given to me by a friend from work…about 16 years ago. I remember making it then, and loving it. I have made it since, [...]

Last time I checked, chicken was still supposed to be fully cooked when it was served. Juicy, but well done. Oops. Last night, mine came out medium-well. I had to boost the finished product with a little zap time in the microwave. Not the best solution, but if you have to give your medium-well chicken [...]

Day two of a nice heat wave. Like the last one, it is warm enough to eat outside in the evening, which is pretty unusual for where we live. So, we like to take advantage it. Tonight, we had a Salade Nicoise, which is something that you put together, more than something you cook. Though, [...]

When we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium a few weeks ago, it was noted that Tilapia was a good, sustainable fish to eat. In looking at the aquarium web site, I saw that tilapia farmed in the U.S. is considered a “best choice”, with Central and South American farmed tilapia a “good alternative”. I [...]

Throwing a party is very, very fun and very, very low stress when you share the work with good friends. Last Friday, I hosted a luncheon at my house with 2 great friends in honor of another great friend. The menu was inspired by a Russian theme, but we didn’t stick totally to the theme. [...]

Thankfully, mother nature is an indulgent parent. She makes lots of candy. I can think of so many incredibly sweet treats that are healthy, plentiful (depending on the time of year) and require no cooking. Fruit is the obvious candy-like provision that comes to mind. But, this weekend, we saw a treat that is just [...]

Lesson: read the recipe. For last night’s dinner, I tried a new recipe: Orecchiette with chicken sausage and broccoli rabe. Up until just this minute when I was looking for the recipe to link on-line, I thought I had followed the recipe. But, I hadn’t. The recipe said to blanch the broccoli rabe in boiling, [...]

When we were on the East coast visiting during winter break, we took a little side trip to visit my brother in Philadelphia. It was a quick visit, but we had a very memorable meal. My sister-in-law, AAB, is a great cook. She always makes special treats for us when we visit, an effort which [...]

It is at least 88 degrees outside and we just couldn’t deal with hot food tonight. We also went out for a big, Vietnamese lunch at a local restaurant we’ve been wanting to try. It was great and we all ate too much. So, for dinner, the request was Gazpacho. Love it. I cleaned off [...]

Some like soup and sandwiches for lunch. We like it for dinner. We have this combo frequently. It is such an easy meal. Vegetables in the soup. Protein in the sandwich. If you aren’t eating bread, for whatever reason, you could certainly substitute a salad. Tonight we had J’s request: Artichoke Soup. Everyone usually has [...]