making life delicious blog
Life is crazy enough during the holidays without adding complicated meals on top of the craziness. I try to keep weeknight meals easy any time of the year, but especially during December. This recipe for steak tips with mushroom pepper gravy from Cooking Light is an easy favorite, one that Hockey Guy requests regularly. It’s [...]
“Mommy, you know me so well!” That’s what I hear from Top Gun every time I tell him that we are having Chinese food for dinner. Seeing the excitement on his face always make me smile and feel happy that I’m making his favorite dishes, and that he has an adventurous palate and likes a [...]
I was out having lunch with my friend Michelle a couple months back, and we went to Sweet Basil Café in Herndon, a favorite lunch spot for the work crowd. That day they had a mango chicken salad on the specials, and it sounded so appealing that we both ordered it. The flavors really hit [...]
After my first taste of a sautéed Spanish padron pepper a couple years ago, I knew I had to grow them in the garden. Our first plant grew well, but only produced a few peppers, hardly enough for a tapa. The second year was slightly better, then this year I decided to go all out [...]
Last year we started growing heirloom Ivory Egg tomatoes using plants we bought at Debaggio’s, our favorite herb farm and nursery. They always have a fantastic selection of healthy plants, and we ended up with 20 tomato plants, 4 tomatillo plants, 6 bell pepper plants, and 12 hot pepper plants. That may sound crazy, but [...]
My boys don’t agree on many things, including food. Two like tomatoes, one doesn’t. Two like corn, one doesn’t. Two like carrots, one doesn’t. Two like melted cheese, one doesn’t. (I don’t get that one at all.) But one thing they all agree on is cucumbers. They’ll eat them sliced with lunch or dinner, plain [...]
Summer is always a busy time of year for us. The kids are out of school but involved in activities, so Chauffeur Mom is still on duty. The garden requires daily work harvesting, watering, and weeding, and then there’s all those tomatoes, about 50 pounds so far, that need to be eaten and preserved. Put [...]
It took a while, but I finally brainwashed my boys. When I make grilled pork chops, instead of grousing they now cheer, “Yay! We’re having chicken!” In my defense, I have never ever fibbed and said that we were eating one thing when it was actually another, but I’m pretty sure they got the idea [...]
Grilled vegetables have become a favorite at our home, partly because of the flavor and partly because they are often easy to prepare. Our boys help with slicing the vegetables and mixing the marinades, and Michael or I take over at the grill.
When traveling around in South America, I remember stopping at roadside stands to buy the local grilled corn, maize, with large meaty kernels. The texture is different from the sweet corn I grew up with and I became enamored with it. Now imagine those meaty kernels made into popcorn. When the maize kernels pop, that [...]
It's spring in the U.S. and the following foods may be in season in your area:
artichokes, fennel, fiddleheads, radishes, broccoli, rhubarb, kale, cresses, spinach, spring lettuces, chard, cabbages, chives, cilantro, collards, tatsoi, mustard greens, spring onions, asparagus, rosemary, wild garlic, ramps, strawberries, blueberries, cherries
Eat fresh seasonal produce to stay healthy and help your food budget.Learn more about seasonal and sustainable cooking at Sustainable Table - In the Kitchen.
