You can blame the Super Bowl for this recipe.

I’m not as into football as you might have thought, but I love the food traditionally served at Super Bowl parties. I used Super Bowl Sunday as an excuse to make potato skins. read more+++

A couple of weekends ago I set out to recreate the famous Butterscotch Budino from Pizzeria Mozza. The real deal is delicious and I have wanted to try it at home ever since I first saw the recipe published online. When the Mozza Cookbook came into my life, I knew this recipe was my destiny.

Unfortunately, the quantity of cornstarch in the published recipe is incorrect. As I was measuring the cornstarch, I knew it seemed wrong, but decided to carry on and trust the book. Long story short, I ended up with some puddings that tasted like cornstarch. They were inedible. read more+++

This unusually warm winter has us eating differently than we normally do at this time of year. I am still interested in cold salads and ice cream, where normally all I want are soups and heartier fare. It is hard to complain when a normal winter in Chicago brings sub-zero temperatures and a lot of pain and suffering. But still, Chicagoans are all walking about confused by our….good fortune? Weather effects our eating in ways I hadn’t considered and so today, in late February, I bring you a cold beet salad. read more+++

Remember how much I love Kim Boyce? Last weekend I fell in love, all over again, with Good to the Grain . It was prompted by an article I read about Kim’s new Portland bakery, Bakeshop. Lamenting the fact that I couldn’t go visit the bakery right then, I pulled Good to the Grain off of the shelf. As usual, I wanted to make everything in the book.

I decided to try the apple and graham coffee cake, but realized I was out of graham flour. Quelle Horreur! I wrote to Kim for help (the perks of being a food writer?). She offered some good suggestions, but I stopped myself before trying any of them. I could tell that she wanted me to make the cake with graham flour. And with good reason! The recipes in her book are so perfectly formulated that you want to make each one exactly as intended to see what Kim had in mind.

I decided to make the hazelnut muffins.

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Burnt Orange Ice Cream.

Do I really need to say anything else?

Okay, I will anyway. Those of you looking for bright and shiny orange sherbet, look elsewhere, this isn’t the recipe for you. This recipe is all about the dark side of citrus. Heat is involved—caramel, to be precise. Anyone who liked the blood orange tart will like this ice cream. Friends of Grand Marnier will agree that this is one special scoop. Bryan declares this one of the best ice creams I have ever churned, and I completely agree. It is deeply flavorful and completely complicated. You’ll keep stealing another spoonful hoping to understand the flavor, but it remains elusive. It is a great recipe and I encourage all of you to make this now. Those of you without an ice cream maker, what are you doing without an ice cream maker?! Have you been reading this blog? Trade in your microwave.

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Francis Lam ain’t no fool. When he recommends a recipe as strongly as he did this ginger-scallion sauce, I listen.

I like making condiments. That is a weird thing to write, but it is true. I especially like condiments that are versatile and can help you with dinner (or breakfast or lunch). This seemed to fit the bill, which made me especially excited to give it a try.

Also, I liked the part where you make a “volcano” of oil (extreme cooking! rah!).

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They don’t all need to be showstoppers.

Sometimes, you just want a simple piece of cake, a weeknight dessert in the tradition of the Busy Day Cake. This orange and walnut flavored cake made with olive oil (practically health food!) is perfect eaten out of hand, or plated with some whipped cream. It is a thoroughly satisfying cake that will keep in your cake dome for a few days guaranteeing everyone in your home a satisfying dessert (or snack) whenever they need one.

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Lottie claimed she hated garlic. It was somewhat of  a mystery to my mom and me because she most definitely did not hate garlic. She loved foods that contained garlic— pizza, all Italian food, sausage, garlic bread (yes, garlic bread). I guess she just didn’t like the idea of garlic? Food preferences are weird and my grandma remains a mystery, but I know she wouldn’t have gone anywhere near this soup.

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In the immortal words of Alana from Toddlers & Tiaras, “My special juice is gonna help me win!!“.

Like Alana’s secret go-go juice (it involves Mountain Dew), this special juice really will help you win, not child beauty pageants, but the admiration of breakfast or brunch guests. It might also help you win beauty pageants, I just haven’t tried. Yet.

I’m getting off track.

This is my favorite juice blend and something that we make for very special breakfasts. I say “we” because Bryan juices the fruit. We don’t have anything to help juice, he uses a fork and sheer determination and then swears we are never making this stupid juice again, but of course we do. read more+++

If I could give each of you one cookbook, it would be The Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham. I’ve written about it before, but it seemed worth revisiting, especially after enjoying this custard-filled cornbread over the weekend. read more+++