The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking you've got to have a 'What the hell?' attitude. Julia Child It’s safe to say I finally took my biggest risk in the kitchen: I cooked a new dish for dinner guests. I don’t entertain much at all, and if I ever have people over, I stick to the basics (appetizers) or I serve a dish that’s been tested ad nauseum with my family. But, I figured it was time to leave my comfort zone behind and to face a new culinary challenge. You might be thinking I made the culinary equivalents of a … [Read more...]
Sour Cream Bundt Cake
January 11, 2013 By 5 Comments
The other day I had a hankering for Mom’s Sour Cream Bundt Cake. I’m not exactly sure why; I haven’t tasted it in over probably over 20 years. Maybe it’s because I am cooking dinner tonight for my dad who’s in town visiting and I always like to impress him by cooking from Mom’s culinary archives. It’s both cathartic and sentimental for us. What I loved about Mom's cake were those first bites of supreme moistness followed by the sugary center layer of nuts and cinnamon. We’d not only eat this cake after dinner but also alongside our … [Read more...]
Garlic Chicken
January 9, 2013 By 1 Comment
In the past week, I've received emails from at least a DOZEN random people telling me they made Mom’s Garlic Chicken recipe and it was delicious. This feedback warmed my heart as Garlic Chicken was also my all-time favorite dish for dinner as a child and still today as an adult. I decided to repost the recipe and abbreviated story again, 1 1/2 years later, with the hopes that even more people will benefit from this tasty dinner dish--- it's seriously that good. The juicy plumpness of the chicken breasts coupled with the sweet, buttery and … [Read more...]
Chicken and Cheese Lasagna Roll Ups
January 7, 2013 By 2 Comments
photo courtesy of iVillage.com It’s easy to get in a rut around dinnertime. How many times have you scratched your head trying to diversify your dinner options only to fall back on the same boring pasta dish? At the end of the day, there’s nothing more frustrating than having tired cranky kids who refuse to eat what’s being served. Don’t fret, sometimes that elusive new dish is just a tiny tweak away... For winter break, I allowed myself the latitude to close the kitchen—not literally but figuratively. We were traveling on a … [Read more...]
