Many moons ago, Mack’s Grandma, upon finding out about our cooking experiments, gave us a copy of a recipe she thought we might like to try – Kelly Ripa’s Red Velvet Cupcakes. We never did get around to the recipe, but with the advent of her 75th birthday celebration, I thought it might be nice [...]

Though I rarely eat raw bananas, the fruit, unlike others, are useful even when overripe and nearly black. To use up the four remaining bananas in Mack’s fruit bowl, I hunted for a recipe that required oil and not softened butter (as I didn’t have time to wait for the butter to cool to room [...]

Chocolate chip cookie recipes never seem to jive with me – I usually have issues with the cookies spreading too much, or not rising enough. As such, I was hoping an Anna Olson recipe for Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies would end up okay. The recipe called for an unusual ingredient not usually seen – cornstarch. Apparently, it is [...]

To break in Mack (and Kimmi)’s new kitchen, we decided to make Giada’s Cinnamon Pancetta Carbonara. I’d been meaning to duplicate a carbonara dish since returning from Europe last year, but didn’t get around to it until tonight. We picked up most of the ingredients this afternoon (being within walking distance of both a Save [...]

After being repeatedly exposed to photos of Giada’s Chocolate Amaretti Cake, I decided I had to try out the recipe. Being without a large food processor, I wasn’t able to follow the instructions to a T. After grinding the sliced almonds and amaretti cookies separately, I incorporated the morsels into the butter mixture by hand. [...]

Since beginning this (food) blog last year, my interest in the culinary arts has not been contained to cooking and eating out alone. Due to repetitive exposure to Giada de Laurentiis and Ina Garten’s entertaining strategies, I had embraced the notion of hosting my own dinner party for some time. I had purchased paper invitations [...]

As a practice run before my (fingers crossed) dinner party this month, I decided to make Giada’s Herb Stuffed Tomatoes for my Mum’s birthday potluck this weekend. Guided by many user comments that indicated that parsely was too strong, I substituted the recommended spinach instead. But who knew spinach was so hard to wash? Besides [...]

Hands down my favorite back pocket, make-in-advance dessert, Giada De Laurentiis’ Panna Cotta with Fresh Berries is a saving grace when striving for easy elegance. I started experimenting with it last summer, and have been cooking up batches ever since. Needing a red-and-white themed dish for a potluck at work in celebration of Anna’s new [...]

To befit the end of Gilmore Girls, I planned on making a diner-style dinner to precede the viewing of the finale. My original intention was to recreate Ina Garten’s Turkey Meatloaf, but after being confronted with the very uneconomical pricing of ground turkey breast, I decided on the more wallet-friendly Frittata. Dickson and I decided [...]

I’ve always been a fan of scones, but I’ve never before attempted a from-scratch recipe without the aid of Bisquick. After seeing Ina Garten’s Strawberry Scones on Barefoot Contessa, however, I figured it was time to give it a try. Besides choosing to use a pastry blender over my KitchenAid mixer, and substituting milk for [...]