A macaroni and cheese recipe with a hidden surprise — cauliflower. ~~~ Thanks to the chameleon of the kitchen, cauliflower, what was once a naughty indulgence – mac and cheese – is now a (sort of) virtuous addition to your menu. Steamed and puréed cauliflower provides a great deal of oomph (and volume) to the …
Walnut pesto with shiitake and cremini mushrooms, chicken apple sausage and whole wheat penne — one of my favorite quick pasta recipes. ~~~ Now that we have a chest freezer, I’m going a little nuts. Literally. I went to Trader Joe’s and loaded up on pistachios, pecans, hazelnuts, almonds and walnuts. There’s something comforting (to …
Blue cheese is one of those love it or hate it ingredients. I’m in the love camp. If I’m having a salad before dinner, most likely it’s topped with some crumbled blue cheese. The Salemville brand has been on sale lately at Lowes Foods so I’ve been enjoying their Gorgonzola. So creamy with just the …
The food of our childhood is back in vogue, but it’s been rehabilitated – made from scratch, not a box or a can. One of my favorites to get this treatment is tuna noodle casserole. A while back I found a recipe for tuna noodle casserole redux on the Food52 blog. As I was looking …
Here’s a dish I made during the holidays. Usually I serve scampi with pasta, but since we were already busting out of our clothes, we skipped the pasta and served it plain with some vegetables on the side. You can find recipes for scampi in just about every Italian cookbook and all over the web …
Slurp, ahhh. I just finished the last of my Linguine with Walnut Pesto leftovers. I’ll confess: I hoarded it all to myself. I made it a few nights ago when we already had more than enough to feast on for dinner. I had it for lunch the next two days. I’m sad it’s gone. As …
In my last post I mentioned high cholesterol and now I’m making pasta carbonara with egg yolks and cheese? Yeah yeah yeah, blame Rachael Ray. The August issue of her magazine has several recipes featuring corn, which is in season locally right now. This recipe is on the page opposite her Sea Scallops with Creamed …
A classic pasta recipe with spicy Italian sausage, bell peppers, onion, mushrooms, garlic and herbs. Soul food. ~~~ I never intended to write a post about last night’s dinner, fettuccine with Italian sausage and peppers, because I made it with a jar of spaghetti sauce. I didn’t think a “semi-homemade” recipe merited a blog post. …
Marinara sauce is easy to make if you have time, but if you rather use a jar of pasta sauce, I’ve got some ideas (backed up by years of research) for taking it to the next level. ~~ In our house Wednesday is not Prince spaghetti day, Friday is. That makes no sense to you unless …
Many in the culinary world, and even home cooks, look down their nose at Rachael Ray, but I don’t. She is who she is. She doesn’t pretend to be a chef, she knows she’s not. She’s simply a gal who loves food, loves to cook and loves telling stories. You’re either going to like hanging …
Grabbing the Gusto 