I’m not ashamed to admit I’m a Food Network baby. Not in the sense that I was raised in front of the channel, but coddled and comforted by their flashy, entertaining programming until I was ready to cook myself. I also admit that I’m not one of those people has been experimenting in the kitchen [...]

It’s been pretty busy at work this week, but I was still really looking forward to participating in a lunch potluck with my colleagues. I didn’t have too much time to make a dish, and wanted something that could be easily transported on the bus, and served either straight from the fridge or at room [...]

Big batches of pasta dinners seem to become particularly handy during a busy week, where leftovers are a saving grace. This Giada de Laurentiis recipe for linguine with turkey meatballs and quick sauce was one such wonder, and did not diminish in flavour too much in the fridge over a few days. This was actually [...]

Among the goods I picked up at the final City Centre Market was a beautiful bunch of curly kale from Sundog Organic Farms. I had tried kale for the first time earlier this year in a recipe that didn’t highlight the vegetable very well, and though I probably should have stuck to something simple like [...]

Needing a last-minute starter to bring to a housewarming this weekend, I flipped through Giada de Laurentiis’ Everyday Italian for inspiration, as I knew the hosts would be serving lasagna as the main course. The recipe for Roasted Asparagus Wrapped in Prosciutto caught my eye, as not only was it simple and elegant, but it [...]

Comfort food was the name of the game on a cool Sunday, and I had two recipes on the backburner I’d been wanting to try for some time. The first was a Ruth Reichl recipe for Mushroom Soup that I found in Comfort Me with Apples. It seemed easy enough on paper, with just a [...]

While I love hosting parties, they seem to take a lot out of me. Mack (and Kim’s) housewarming party is a good example. They moved into their new apartment in May. I offered to help Mack with the housewarming preparations (mainly around menu planning), and started thinking about summer-appropriate foods to serve. June soon gave [...]

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 [...]

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. [...]