The idea of cooking dinner every night can be overwhelming. This quote I saw on instagram sums it up, even for me and I truly enjoy cooking. “Who knew the hardest part of being an adult is figuring out what to cook for dinner every…

Right now it’s all about tomatoes. Ripe, plump, juicy and bursting with the flavor that is really only possible to get this time of year. Yes, we’re lucky they are available all year long, but honestly when tomatoes truly aren’t in season I will take…

  Without a doubt, now is the best time to be cooking with fresh basil. Whether from your own garden or a farmer’s market, it is infinitely more flavorful than the packages available year round in the grocery store. This is one of my favorite…

Every so often I crave fried chicken. Not the thickly battered, slightly greasy bone-in pieces I associate with a not to be named fast food restaurant that showed up in a cardboard bucket at my childhood picnics. Instead a version using boneless, skinless chicken and…

The Blended Burger Project is the genius idea of the James Beard Foundation. It began as a way to encourage healthier eating that is more sustainable for our planet by blending ground meat with mushrooms. Unknowingly I had started doing my own testing for ways…

Tomato season is here and for me there is no greater sense of urgency then now to enjoy their sweet full flavor and plump juicy texture. It’s truly how nature intended them to be. Technology and farming techniques have made it possible to grow and…

Right now is perhaps my favorite time of year. The light beginning early in the morning and extending well beyond what’s typical, is reason enough to feel happy about what’s to come now that summer has officially arrived. It’s also reason to be eating more of…

With a little less than a week to spare before the official end of summer, here’s one last indulgence with what I consider summer’s savory candy. Promise me you’ll use homegrown or locally grown tomatoes for this modified version of the beloved Italian Panzanella salad.…

Sometimes I avoid cooking with peaches so I don’t have to deal with removing the skin. It’s lazy and ridiculous, I know.  And my loss to not be slicing, chopping and cooking with this luscious, melt in your mouth fruit. Particularly at their absolute finest…

I don’t remember the outcome, but the images from the watermelon eating contest between my older teenage sister and her best friend, are as clear as if it was yesterday. Not the typical something two sixteen-year old girls do, so it made an impression. Hands…

I count you one of the lucky ones if you’ve tasted a date shake. My husband introduced me to them many years ago at Hadley’s Fruit Orchard about 30 miles West of Palm Springs, California. Back then, their location was marked by a huge metal…

The first time I grew tomatoes I knew very little about gardening. But we had a small south facing garden spot between our walkway and house begging to be planted. So we put three Early Girls in the ground. The steady sunshine and heat thrown…

The stars line up just one time of the year for these four ingredients and lucky for us it’s now. Wild caught salmon, sweet corn on the cob, melt in your mouth cherry tomatoes and peppery fresh arugula leaves. There is nothing like eating whole,…

I’m not sure whether licking the cow’s salt block was a daring or a stupid thing to do, but my cousin always did it. Between that and the maze of hay bales in the attic of my Grandpa’s barn we were easily entertained when we…

They’re something satisfying about knowing what I am going to make for dinner as I sit at my desk working or if I’m off carrying on with my day somewhere. Admittedly there are many days when that’s not the case and I’ve waited long into…

It never occurred to me I’d lose my recipes. But many years ago the morning our house burned to the ground they were gone. It was a very sad and humbling day for our family. But there was a silver lining. We were not in the…

Grilled corn. I am posting another recipe using it because it’s just so darn good when used with the right ingredients. This recipe is actually a repost of one of my favorite ones from a few years ago that I recently made for dinner and…

A good chicken marinade is worth a lot. One that calls for just a few ingredients and still packs flavor is even more valuable. Smoky chipotle powder complimented with a bit of fresh lime and garlic delivers big flavor in this recipe for Chipotle Lime…

Kamut is one of the grains I have been experimenting with in green salads. The inspiration came from a salad I ate at the Whale Wins – Renee Erickson’s Seattle restaurant. Pronounced “kah-moot”, kamut is an ancient grain with origins in Egypt. It’s a high…

There’s no substitute for a juicy, full flavored tomato. My Grandma’s garden at her farm in North Dakota was always overflowing with them. They were deep red colored and soft. My aunt would pluck one off the vine and eat it like an apple while…

When I find myself thinking… hmmm salmon again… I quickly quiet that inner voice. I should be saying “yes, salmon again” because it tastes good and is equally good for you. But being a bit spoiled living here in the Pacific Northwest, I am sometimes…

For a young Mom yearning for a night out of the house it was an easy thing to leave for the baby sitter. Anyone can follow those directions and make it.  And I redeemed myself by leaving instructions for steaming fresh broccoli and where to…

“Jeunes filles dans la cuisines, jeunes filles dans la cuisines”. Each time he said it his voice would get louder and his head would shake from side to side. I remember it like it was yesterday, particularly his tone and his French accent. And even…

Summer is nearly over and I am stubbornly and sadly hanging on. There have not been enough clear blue skies from dawn to dusk for me to accept that it’s Labor Day weekend. With a heart still hoping for more summer I am giving you…

A good salmon recipe should highlight and not overpower the naturally rich flavor and texture of this well loved fish. Whisking together soy sauce, hoisin sauce, honey and a bit of garlic and ginger doubles as a sauce to brush on and briefly marinate the…

I think this is the simplest recipe I’ve posted. Dungeness crab inspires this. So good on its own, it needs very little to enhance its sweet flavor and delicate texture. Just a little garlic carefully cooked over low heat to release its flavor then marinated…

My daughter brought home a take out salad a few weeks ago excited for me to try it because she thought it was amazing. Just one bite into it and I agreed. It reminded me of a salad recipe  I used in my summer salad…

Most people are more familiar with cooking and eating flank steak than they are with hanger steak. Hanger steak gets its name from its location of the diaphragm muscle that “hangs” on the underside of the cow. Flank steak is also from the underside but…

Dry rubs are a fast alternative to marinating. You can rub them on for as little as 30 minutes before grilling to impart flavor. They work especially well for something like boneless, skinless chicken breast that cooks quickly but needs the extra flavor that the…

Our Fourth of July dinner menu is always centered on barbecue pork back ribs (see June 27, 2011 post for the recipe). And this crazy side dish with beans, bacon and brown sugar. In the spirit of grilling and using recipes with olive oil rather…

I was homesick the first time I went to summer camp. All I could think about was getting through the week so I could return home. So the first time our daughter went away to camp I was nervous she might feel the same way.…

This recipe is a long-standing loyal member of my arsenal of dependable and favorite dinner recipes. I have been making it for many, many years and to date, my family or friends have never tired of it. It was also a favorite at my cooking…

You can enjoy the last remnants of summer and make this warm sandwich for dinner during Labor Day weekend. It goes together quickly, can be doubled for a large group of people and is the perfect way to enjoy fresh fragrant basil, juicy ripe tomatoes…

Even though summer is winding down, I know everyone is still looking for ways to spend as little time in the kitchen as possible and as much time outside enjoying what remains of the season. And summer cooking does not get any easier than this.…

These easy skewers feature the savory flavor combination of lemon, oregano and garlic that is so prevalent in Greek cooking. I love them for summer dinners as you can marinate the chicken the night before and throw them on the grill just before you want…

Some of my fondest food memories are from the summer months when the local Dungeness crab season is open. This began when our kids were toddlers and we lived on San Juan Island. In the beginning I complained about the piles of chicken bait crowding…

Summer might be arriving in Seattle. We all know it is long overdue. It is possible that the long cycle of gray, wet and cold weather is over and we can finally bring out summer clothes and recipes. Fragrant fresh basil and nutty pistachios laced…

I’m not sure how long you have to do something before it qualifies as a tradition, but this will be our fifth year barbecuing pork back ribs for our Fourth of July dinner, so its probably safe to say that it is for us. Pork back ribs…

It took a warm weather vacation and my girlfriend’s encouragement for me to take shortcuts with this salad. Until I visited her, I happily did all the chopping, measuring and whisking. But with a vacation mentality I didn’t want to do all the prep even…