One of my favorite parts of book club every month is planning the menu beforehand. And since we meet once a month, it's fun trying to conjure up something new, maybe even a little unexpected. Since many of the main dishes fall squarely into the comfort food genre, I try [...]
While I've never met a pumpkin pie I didn't love—even the Costco pumpkin pie makes me happy—I know there are contrarians who don't find it quite as delightful as I do. So let me suggest a real contender for the pie of your dreams this Thanksgiving: cannoli pie. I made [...]
If you've ever watched any competition cooking shows (Chopped, MasterChef, Top Chef), you probably know that risotto has been the proverbial Achilles heel for so many contestants. But I promise it's not because risotto is difficult to make. It's just not a dish best suited to a pressure cooker environment. [...]
No doubt about it, the cupcakes at NYC's Magnolia Bakery are scrumptious. But I've always had a major soft spot for their banana pudding. More of a mousse-like texture with plenty of real bananas, whipped cream, and the quintessential vanilla wafers, it's outrageously good. Light and rich. But since I'm [...]
I've seen olive oil cake featured on a number of restaurant menus. I've enjoyed extra virgin olive oil drizzled on a crazy good ice cream sundae at one of my favorite Italian spots in Dallas. But I was never quite sure about baking a cake that didn't have (gasp!) butter, [...]
It totally made my day when a few of you DMed me for the recipe (!!!) for the pasta I whipped up on Saturday. Mostly because it wasn't so much a recipe as a strategy to use up a few things from the fridge. Since "leftovers" rarely leads to thunderous [...]
I still remember the first time I tried one of Jacque Torres' famous chocolate chip cookies in NYC. It was an ugly, rainy day during a weekend movie junket with my friend Emma, and she insisted these cookies would make us forget it was even raining. And she was right. [...]
If you've been checking in regularly, you already know I host a monthly book club where I love planning a menu that's a wink and a nudge to whatever we've finished reading. For February, we embarked on the twisty journey of Alice Feeney's latest Beautiful Ugly. And since a large [...]
When I decided on an Italian menu for January's book club meeting, I knew we needed a great big salad to accompany all the pasta. But instead of my go-to arugula or a bunch of mixed greens dressed with olive oil and lemon juice, I thought about my favorite pizza [...]
Even though Ina Garten has never steered me wrong, I was still skeptical. A cake that sets up in the fridge overnight with absolutely no baking involved? Hmmm... Well, it's true. And her mocha icebox cake is as scrumptious as you'd expect. Without all the pesky baking, the hardest part [...]
